Povey Prattle

We are a community of 197 or so smallish, but two bedroomed units situated conveniently mid way between 1 75 and downtown Sarasota (and within sight of the Bobby Jones Golf Club).. We are people of modest means, no one is very rich  (and a few are are barely hanging in there). I've just done a mental survey which reveals that  fourteen of the twenty four units in my immediate area are occupied by single people (divorced, widowed or never married). That's probably representative of the entire Glen Oaks Ridge community. Three other owners in my immediate  locale are also U.K. born. - from Newcastle, Windsor, and Sheffield. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a beloved first cousin in  Bristol U.K. who lives in a City owned urban cemetery.   It's an older place, probably created in the late 19th Century.  (The remains of my four grandparents  are interred there). ...

A couple of years ago I wrote that I often feel sad at the end of the day, when the evening shadows fall.   A dear friend in Massachusetts (N.D.) said that she often feels that way. I've begun to identify that feeling as being rooted in a sense of aloneness. I sometimes feel very alone.  Aloneness and loneliness are not the same.  I have a circle of good friends here in SRQ.  I enjoy their company and they like mine. I am not lonely. I have good brothers and sisters in England -  I love them all dearly, and three of them very closely . I am not lonely. There are a few very good people at Church who are my well loved friends in Christ.  But I know that it's very possible to feel alone even in a busy Church .  In my Church most of us like each other, but we do not know each other very well.   We can be like ships crossing on a Sunday morning.  And of course many of us know that Church is rarely a place to share our fears and weaknes...

Pastors and Priests are sometimes the objects of what is called "projection". Some worshipers want them to be the exemplars of a perfection which they (the worshipers) can never attain. (This projection can also be directed to Doctors, Teachers, Therapists etc) Projection is a dead end for the projector.  It leads to unrealistic expectations about the pastor/priest/ therapist. It is also a dangerous trap for Pastors. I speak for myself. How horrible and dangerous it is when I begin to believe  that I am an all wise, all compassionate and utterly inviolable Priest. I know that this is not true.  I know that such projection can help me to avoid the truth about my pride, my weakness and my arrogance. ------------------------------------------------------- I sometimes think that we Americans "on the left" project our phantasies about good and wise government on Canada. We want that Nation to be all that we are not. (Many of my liberal friends said that the...

https://www.allfaithsfoodbank.org At 8:00 this morning a score or more of St. Boniface Church members hooked up at our local Food Bank to assemble summer  food bags for children in Sarasota and De Soto counties. If I have it right more than 20,000 children in the two counties  (Sarasota, very rich; De Soto, very poor) depend upon food aid year round, and especially in the summer when schools are closed and school meals (breakfast and lunch) are sometimes inaccessible. During the school year most of these children get to school on a 'bus.  In the summer months many schools still offer breakfast and lunch, but it's often tough to access them, especially ipre-schoolf you are a young child and have to walk three or more miles to your school, just to get a meal. No carefree summers for the poor.  havehavehave Be that as it may,  these children are not starving on the streets, but they are often food deprived, and go to bed with empty bellies. This ...

E-mail from an acquaintance who had inquired about  Ben. "So glad that he has another greyhound as a companion. Thanks’ for letting me know."