Povey Prattle

  I get a bit jaded with all the old traditional carols, those which are trotted out each year, as if there was not a world wide repertoire of Christmas music.   So here is a variant for our tired ears   -  it's a Catalan Carol  --- "Fum, Fum, Fum"     http://youtu.be/ECRD-aLngeE

Of course I would not create envy, nor would I want to "rub it in" for friends and family members in colder winter climes (ahem!), but I knew that you'd like to know that I enjoyed lunch out of doors today. I was at the Dry Dock Water Front Grill on the intra-coastal side of Longboat Key, FL  see http://www.drydockwaterfrontgrill.com/ I ate "Fish and Chips"  (for the first time since I was in the U.K. last May/June). The fish (haddock?) was entirely delicious , cooked as it was in a light batter. The coleslaw was no more than "O.K.".  (I find that most restaurant coleslaws have too much mayonnaise, and not enough seasoning. This was the case today. -  I prefer my home-made 'slaw ). The chips  -  well what to say about the chips? Chips  (french fries) should be crispy and brown on the outside, and fluffy in the middle.  I know that, 'cause my Mum's chips were the best ever. Maybe it was because she deep fried them in lard....

My nonagenarian friend Betty M has not been well for about three weeks.  She's had intense abdominal pain, with an accompanying lack of appetite.  Her primary care physician, (a good, competent, and caring man), has been unable to find the reason for her malady. With no relief in sight, and at the urging of Betty's neighbour (Linda), Betty went to the E.R. yesterday.  Betty called me from the E.R.  to tell me about this, and to let me know that she had been admitted to the hospital. So, of course, I visited her today. Today the "Front Desk" people at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital told me at first that that Betty was not in their data base ; and then they said that she had had been discharged. This seemed to be very unlikely, so I  'phoned Betty. She assured me that she had not been discharged, and that she was in Room 413. I relayed this to the front desk staff member who checked the computer records again, and told me...

Yesterday my blog was critical of E.R.D. and Amnesty International, and grateful for Sarasota's All Faiths Food Bank, and our local Cat Depot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier this  year I wrote a blog about  my modest investment account, (sponsored by the Church Pension Fund and administered by  Fidelity Investments). I stated that  F.I.  had confused me with another investor  (remember Mary Gilligan?), and that F.I. seemed unable to correct their own mistake You may remember that the Church Pension Fund computer system had trolled my blog entry, (because I had mentioned CPF in the title), and had contacted me by e-mail to offer their assistance in "righting the wrong". You will also remember that I had mixed feelings about CPF's trolling of my blog. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now I h...

A few months ago I sent money  to Episcopal Relief and Development (an agency of the American Episcopal Church).  My gift was designated for the rebuilding of the Anglican Hospital in Gaza, Palestine. I made it clear that this was a one time gift, and that I did not wish to be on ERD's mailing list. FAT CHANCE     I have since received four mailings from ERD despite the fact that I have requested (in writing and by mail)  to be removed from their list. A few years ago I joined Amnesty International.  I think that they do good and essential work.  When I joined I stated  "I do not wish to be on your mailing list.   If you send me multiple mailings I will not renew my membership next year". Guess what?   They sent me multiple mailings. Guess what again?   I did not renew my membership the next year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au contraire ...

I am reading an article in the 1st Dec 2014 edition of the New Yorker about the promising research regarding a new  therapy for persons with Crohn's disease. Odd as it may seem, this can involve the injection of another person's stool into the colon of a Crohn's sufferer, (fecal transplants, or "fecal microbiota transplantation"). You'll probably be able to find the article on line: "The Excrement Experiment" by Emily Eakin. This passage caught my attention: "Science writers love to cite the freakish fact that for every one of our cells we are hosts to ten microbial ones, and nowhere are there as many as in our digestive tracts, which house about a hundred billion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other tiny creatures. (As one gastroenterologist put it to me, (the author) with only mild exaggeration, 'We are ten percent human and ninety percent poo' " Humbling ain't it!