Good food (Christmas Day) AND SOME SILLINESS!

CHRISTMAS DAY
 
After eating nothing but toast for seven consecutive meals  (I'd been under the weather and had lost my appetite), I was ready for a good Christmas Feast.
 
My good friends Fred and Diana Emrich invited me to join them for a buffet in the Country Club Ballroom at the Longboat Key Club.  I was careful not to over-eat, but "darn it all", the food was good.
 
I began with oysters on a half-shell, poached salmon, some shrimp, and a token salad.
 
This was followed by small portions of delicious braised chicken,  slices of baked ham and roasted turkey, and a small slice of the best prime rib you could hope to meet.  I was good - so I also had a generous helping of green beans - cooked to perfection.
 
I resisted the rich variety of desserts in favour of some good cheeses and sliced cantaloupe.
 
Fred and Diana had three other guests. Two of them had been stewardesses (as they were then called), and had worked with Diana for Pan Am, and then Delta. It all made for delightful and congenial company.
 
Fred, jmp, Diana


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
HUMA
 
I received a lovely Christmas Card from my friends Kate and Kevin Wallace up in New Hampshire.  Kate (she now tells me) had written the cards in haste, late in the evening.
 
 
My card was addressed to   Michae Povey.
 
 
I e-mailed Kate and said  "I get it":   NOEL
 
 
(with love to Noel Bailey)
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
DEPARTMENT OF LAZY JOURNALISM.
 
One of the news websites I visit regularly had this mind-bending headline today.
 
 
"Pope Prays For Peace"
 
 
What a shocker!  Is he the first Pope to have so done?
 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
 
 
My esteemed Cambridge MA colleague the Revd. J. Mary Luti today posted a thoughtful piece about Christmas carols.
 
 
She mentioned the naughty versions of carols which she and her classmates sang in Catholic Schools many years ago, much to the ire of the Nuns:  viz
 
"While Shepherds washed  their socks by night
All seated round the tub
The Angel of the Lord came down
And gave them all a scrub"  (OR and they began to scrub).
 
AND
 
"We Three Kings of Orient are
Trying to light a rubber cigar.
It was loaded, it exploded
BANG
 
and then "We Two Kings of Orient are" etc,  finally "I one King of Orient" etc.
 
Naughty children in the U.K. also sang this nonsense with glee.
 
I told  Mary of another silly parody which children of my parents' vintage (born in the 1910's) sang.
 
"Hark the herald angels sing,
Beecham's Pills are just the thing.
One for women, two for men,
Half for children under ten"
 
Beecham's Pills were originally marketed as a "cure-all".   They were no such thing, but they did prove to be an effective laxative.
 
The Beecham Company still exists as part of Smith-Kline Beecham. 
 
The pills were at one time marketed in the U.S.A.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not remember the words “ar
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were able to get together a few
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur
Read more