Povey Prattle

The following story in blue is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The highlights are mine (jmp) "By   Maureen Downey Cassy Blythe wants her daughter Maddy to play football again next season at Strong Rock Christian, a private school in Locust Grove, where the 12-year-old  girl had a great time playing this year.  Maddy is among the middle school players in the team photo on the school web site, But the school has changed its policy and decreed that Maddy can't play on the boys' team next year, devastating the girl and her family. In a telephone intervew today, Blythe said the decision came out of the blue. “I am still in shock. I don’t know where it came from. All we had received from the coaches was encouragement. ‘Maddy’s wonderful. We want her to keep playing. She has found her niche.’’’ Blythe said the school principal had even come to a game and watched Maddy play. “He told me he was looking forward to her playing next year,” said ...

I did a very old fashioned thing last Sunday and bought a book.  It is “Whitey Bulger   America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice”. (W.B. Norton and Company Inc, 2013).  The authors are Boston Globe Journalists Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy. They relate a ghastly tale of horrendous crime and murder, F.B.I. malfeasance and complicity, and the legal weaselling of the Justice Department which prevented most of the victim’s survivors to be compensated. Cullen and Murphy’s research in their preparation to write the book is comprehensive and telling.  They provide extensive and commendable footnotes to identify their sources. This means that the book lives up to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. I recommend the book without reserve.  And as a comma-phile  I rejoice in their extensive use of this bit of punctuation, It makes the text so very readable and intelligible.

I have been sent a Bristol, U.K. story for the umpteenth time. Here it is. "Outside England’s Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant..... The fees for cars ($1.40),   for buses (about $7) . Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing   a day of work,   he just didn't show up; so the zoo management called the city council    and asked it to send them another parking agent .    The council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the zoo's own responsibility.   The zoo advised the council that the attendant was a city employee.   The city council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the city payroll.  Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain or France or Italy is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own and then had simply begu...

B’s in my bonnet. In the U.S.A. national government -  (Senate, House, Presidency). The Republicans have no b rains. The Democrats have no b alls, The President simply b loviates.

I had the loveliest dream last night.  I was in some beautiful woodland with Jessica DeLand and Red Kickery (young people when I was the Rector at St. Stephen’s, Pittsfield), and with my oldest friend – Bristolian Jeff Davies (Jeff and I have known each other since I was six and he was five). The four of us were riding bicycles and adult tricycles on a wide pathway in the woods. The scene changed. We were sitting on some steps outside a boat-house, looking at a lovely flowing river. I exclaimed “I am so happy, and I will always be happy”. ------------------------------------------------------------ ‘Twas such a lovely thought, and it has remained with me all day. Truth to tell I can be a bit of a whiner/complainer but my dream “told” me that I have every reason to be happy, so very happy. (Dreams are often telling us something important, but of course the characters in a dream (e.g. Jessica, Red and Jeff)  are fascinating tricks of the mind, b...

This is my right arm as photographed on May 26 th 2013.  You will see my photo-dermatitis in full bloom. Now, after three weeks of taking strong doses of prednisone, and of applying lavish amounts of prescription strength “Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP, 0.1%” my arm appears to be (almost) back to normal. These days I smother my exposed parts with SP 50 sun-screen, and I wear long sleeved shirts when I am out of doors. I am not entirely certain that these precautions are 100% efficacious. I very much hope so, but I sometimes wonder if the dermatitis is triggered by certain foods, or even by the shampoo I use. I'll  wait and see, and  I'll   trust  my good dermatologist to make her best diagnoses.

I bought some casual shoes/daps/plimsolls for everyday use. Wow ---- what a splendid colour! I shocked myself by moving out of my "colour bland"  safety zone when I bought this footwear.  These shoes have been greatly admired by some of my pals.   (and why not!).