Beauty and the Beast

Beauty (1) there is a Cactus in bloom just down the street from my home (3 pics)

Beauty (2) My peach coloured hibiscus is also quite lovely (2 pics)

The Beast. A neighbour favours pink flamingos - argh! (1 pic)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Memory is so odd, and so very random. (Farley's Rusks)

Image
Yesterday,  as I walked out,  for reasons which are beyond my ken, I began to think about "Farley's Rusks". According to Wiki. "A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food" The most famous brand of rusk in the U.K. was made by the Farley Company in Plymouth, Devonshire. Since I have five younger siblings I am very familiar with Farley's Rusks.  They were all but omnipresent in our home.    A s it says: "they were a baby teething food". T here were five babies in our  home  after me (from 1950 - 1956), each of whom needed Farley's Rusks as they "teethed" and moved from breast or bottled milk to solid foods. Lord alone knows if I cheated my younger sibs out of their fare shares of rusks, 'cause I liked them too. They were so tasty in warm milk, or smothered with butter. QUESTION.  "What trick of memory made me remember "Farley's Rusks" yesterday...
Read more

"A promise to Astrid" A book to buy.

Astrid Nicosia was a parishioner when I was the Vicar at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Chicopee, MA. (1980-1984). She, born in Norway, was a delightful, sweet, gracious and deeply intuitive woman. Her husband Dominic Nicosia was born in Sicily.  He was a bit gruff. But he had a nice and wry sense of humour. The Lord alone knows how and when a Norwegian woman would marry a Sicilian man! My beloved mother met Astrid on one of Mum’s visits from the U.K. to the U.S.A. These two fabulous women “hit it off” immediately. Michael and Cindy Tourville also attended St. Christopher’s. They were then a young and fairly newlywed couple, with two young sons.   As it happens, they lived right next door to Dominic and Astrid. Twenty eight years later, Michael Tourville has written an affectionate and moving account of his (and Cindy’s), mysterious and grace-filled encounters with Astrid. It’s a fabulous tale, one that gives me Goosebumps as I remember the ...
Read more

Laestadian Lutherans (and a tender novel)

Image
Many American Christians have some knowledge of the various Lutheran denominations in our country. The largest is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The word "Evangelical" in this denomination is, I think, from Germany where in Lutheranism it is more or less synonymous with Protestant rather than with the usual English speaking world's usage meaning "born again" Christians. The ELCA is a mainstream protestant denomination like the Episcopal Church.- indeed our ordained ministries are interchangeable. (Friends of mine attend an Episcopal Church in Wolfborough N.H.,which has a Lutheran Pastor). Then there is the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod -  very strict, and theologically conservative. Next comes the Wisconsin Synod, even more exclusive than Missouri. (ELCA members are not allowed to receive Communion in these two latter denominations, nor would LCMS welcome Wisconsin Synod members at the Lord's Table and vice versa. ( It...
Read more