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Showing posts from February 21, 2016

ASLEF at 11:00 p.m.

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I awoke at 11:00 p,m.on Friday night, feeling utterly restless. For reasons which I cannot understand the acronym "ASLEF"  was in my mind. In my restless state I decided to wander into the kitchen to eat a few spoon fulls of Youghurt,  Before I got to the kitchen, Penne came rushing to the front all, all vibrant and excited. She was telling me that she wanted to walk.  I threw on a coat, leashed her, and ventured outside -   just in time! My dear dog pulled me to the grass across the street, there to evacuate her bowels.  She had a severe attack of diarrhea.   (Penne has always had a sensitive digestive system). How glad I was that my arising from bed was synchronized with her need to poop. GOOD GIRL! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile I mused on ASLEF.  What did this acronym stand for?  The answer came.  It is one of the important and noble Trades Unions in the U.K. The "Associated Societ

"Daisy Turner's Kin" - a fine new book.

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Sarasota County has a fine Library system which I use frequently. I live more or less equidistantly from three of the libraries:  Selby  (The central downtown library); North (in Newtown); and Fruitville. I rarely go to Selby .  Following a recent re-modeling I find that that the first/ground floor area is aesthetically barren and dreary.   (Public spaces are important -   and this particular one does not say "welcome". I like to go to North .    It is a fine modern building, though sadly under-utilized, (maybe because it's in the African-American section of town where even so-called white "Liberals" fear to tread. In  truth North is on a pleasant Campus where people of all economic and  racial backgrounds gather to further their learning. Shame on my liberal friends who are scared to venture into Newtown.   I often go to Fruitville mostly because it has a splendid "NEW BOOKS" section/ It was there that I saw and borrowed a book titled "

Photo's from my Pittsfield MA days

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Beverly Blaisdell a dear parishioner and friend at St. Stephen's Parish in Pittsfield, MA died on 2nd February 2016. About six months before she died Bev collated her photo's.  She set some aside in an envelope with my name on it.  Her son George gave them to me last Friday. What a delight it is to see them.  I thank God for Bev and for her thoughtfulness. Christmas 1985. a skinny and very red-headed jmp Undated.  L- R  Gloria Koch, Beverly Blaisdell, jmp, Al Koch. (The Koch's were beloved parishioners in Pittsfield, and great friend of George and Beverly Blaisdell.  1986 My step-father Len and my mother Evelyn on their "second honeymoon" Getting ready for the Eucharist of Blessing for Mum and Len's marriage. PITTSFIELDERS will recognize the Revd Gwen W Sears behind the lectern, and I do believe that the remarkable Ethelynd Hapgood is the woman standing next to the piano Crawling around with my niece Leah (visiting from England) 1st

A wonderful weekend in Raleigh and Cary. North Carolina.

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Twenty five years ago I officiated at the wedding of Keith and Annette at a Lutheran Church in Providence, R.I. We have "more or less" stayed in touch in the intervening years. A month or so ago they urged me to visit them at their home in Cary, N.C. (I was last there about seven or eight years ago). I accepted their gracious invitation, even as I remembered  that I had other friends in that part of North Carolina. So it was that I flew from TPA to RDU  last Friday. ===================================================================== On Friday evening I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with George Blaisdell Jr and his fiancée Deborah at the Nantucket Grill in Raleigh. http://www.nantucketgrill.com The Blaisdell family have been my friends since 1984.  George Junior's Dad (also George) died quite a few years ago. George's  Mom (Beverly)  passed from this life about three weeks ago, Some six months before her death,  Beverly took it into her mind to

Old and new friends in Raleigh and Cary N.C.

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With Kadi Kool. in Raleigh. We've known each other for years, but had not seen each other since about 1999 Hampton, who is a family member of my friends Keith and Annette Williams in Cary N.C.