Povey Prattle

Many of we Episcopal Priests and other Ministers heard today of he untimely death (as a result of a very aggressive form of cancer) of the Revd. Dr. Ellen Bradshaw Aitken. Ellen was a superb theologian who taught at Harvard Divinity School,  and more recently  in the Department of Religion at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. I first met Ellen back in the days when we both served in the Episcopal Church Diocese of Western Massachusetts. She played an important role in my appreciation of the ordained ministry. When I went to St. Stephen's in Pittsfield, MA to be their Rector I was mildly opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood.   (Oh for goodness sake don't ask me why -  I was simply a slow learner!). My dear and beloved colleague (and now firm friend) was the Deacon at St. Stephen's. We stood together at the Altar Sunday by Sunday and enjoyed our shared ministry.  One day I asked myself  "would it make any difference if G...

Someone asked how Penne reacted when I met her at Ron and Charlotte's home (her holiday camp when I was away).  To put in bluntly -  she went stark raving mad with joy.   When we returned home she began to sing just as soon as we entered the driveway.  Then she whooped and hollered all around the house, sniffing the cats and flinging her toys every which way.   She will have a shock to her system quite soon.  I am taking a 48 hour break to attend a wedding in Lynchburg VA.  That's just before R and C take their trip to Normandy, so I have hired a pet sitter who advertised on the web.  She and Penne will have a "let's get to know each other" session on Saturday 14th.   By the by, when Penne was with R and C she was on an anti-histamine med.  Rather than placing the pill at the back of Penne's mouth, C decided to bury it in a scrambled egg.  That whetted Penne's appetite, so now I scramble an egg each  m...

Final re-posting of my Facebook entries from my holiday   2 June Back in Bristol 'Tis family week. Yesterday my brother Andrew met me at the Port of Bristol, so I was able to spend a good afternoon with him and his wife Izzy. My nephew Daniel Povey was also there with his fiancée.   Today I will have lunch with my friend for 65 years Jeff, his wife Mary, and our mutual friends Colin and Lorraine (I've known them for 50 years). Tonight I will have dinner with my youngest sister Ruth and her family.  Tuesday will see me take the train to Birmingham (U.K.) to have lunch with my twin Elizabeth, and on Wednesday I will have dinner with my brother Steve and his family. Oh the great joy of visiting with these friends and sibs. I am one of nine children and by the end of this vacation I will have seen all   of them. Cheerio!   Yesterday, Monday 2nd June , I had a lovely evening with my youngest sister Ruth and her family members. We ate Chines...

The penultimate reposting of my Facebook entries from my U.K. and Norway holiday     God kveld. Friday May 30th     Yesterday morning saw us arrive in Bergen, for an all too brief visit. We were blessed with sunny and bright weather for our three days in Norway, never was this more important than in Bergen which bosts more than 200 rainy days each year. We (sister Maureen, her husband Bern; brother Martyn, his wife Wendy; and I) took a 9:00 a.m. 'bus tour of Bergen's highligts. It was a public holiday (for Ascension Day) so traffic was non-existent to light. We drove by what remains of the Hanseatic.Wharf's high gabled buildings; by King Hakon's Hall (12th Century) and also the13th C Rosenkrantz Tower. Our guide Hannah was great, filling is in with all manner of information about what we were seeing. It was a whistle stop tour, with very little time off the 'bus (better that than nothing!) - yet with the bonus  of ascending the Mount Floie...

May 24th Today's the day. We embark in about three hours for the cruise to Norway (and back). WiFi will be limited on board ship, so I will be in touch when and if I can. Oh joy!   May 25 th (Using very slow Satellite Internet) We are on the MV Discovery somewhere between Scotland and Ireland on the Irish Sea. Weather OK, not too sunny, but no stormy waves. We are all well May 26 th 1.   Oh joy! My birthday celebrations started with card and gift opening at breakfast with family members, and ended at dinner with a special birthday edition of the menu and a hearty singing of happy birthday by dining room staff. Super! We travelled most of yesterday north of Scotland and south of the Orkneys in a slightly rolling sea, and with misty horizons, which had their own beauty. The... sun broke through later and we were followed for many many miles by eight snow geese, and passe through a small forest of oil wells. Sunset last night was 11:oo a.m., sunrise this mo...

Povey Prattle has been out of commission  for a while  as I have been on vacation.   Now I catch up with some reports of my three week vacation in the UK and in Norway. Facebook friends have probably read some of this.     17/18 th May   Saturday and Sunday: - good and safe flights, SRQ-ATL-LHR.   Spent Sunday with London friends, then took train to Bristol.   A quiet day with family today.   19th May 1.       The good English weather continues. Yesterday I took a 'bus (remember them?) to have a reunion lunch with three of my seminary classmates and their wives. They each had traveled for more than a few hours so that we could be together. We ate "Italian" and were in the restaurant for four hours as we shared stories and memories, and got caught up on each others' lives, It was a blessed time. Strangely enough we four men each sported a wh...