He was a credit to his Gender!

I've lifted the line from Linda Ronstadt's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me." Have been having a bitch of a week, on top of which I've come down with that cold "everyone's" been passing around. Yesterday, I absolutely had to get down to Home Depot [a mega store for hardware] for a few items. I must have looked like the Dawn of the Living Dead as I schlepped through the parking lot. I smiled a tad at a male employee a bit older than me as our paths crossed. Rather than just return the smile and say "hello" or "welcome" [not unusual in the US] he said "Hello dear, nice to see you!" [the "dear" was above and beyond the call of duty] and gave me a big smile. I'd felt the pits all day, but that little bit of kindness went a long way on an otherwise crummy day. Now that's what I call "customer service."

(Sorry, meant to post this last night, but I fell asleep in the armchair! I zoned out trying to come up with a suitable pic. Still fighting this stupid cold, and I've still got to go downtown today. Ugh.)
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God Almighty, Please forgive Me

Welcome to my Daymare



I wasn't going to do it, but I'm in a b*tch of a mood, and I can't resist the thought of having a winning entry for the Carolina Cannonball's Ugly Vestment Contest stashed away in a deep dark corner of a closet in my parish's own sacristy. I got the entry in just under the wire. Click the photo for full impact.

Given how deep in the sacristy this "garment" has been tucked away, it is safe to say some loving, but misguided hands made it for the pastor at some point in his life. He is an only child, and his mother is long dead -- I'm hoping he doesn't have any crazy cousins. He can't have commissioned or picked out this chasuble himself. Every other one in the sacristy shows good workmanship and fine taste.

I expect, perhaps at one time he felt compelled to wear it once (probably said something like "gee, because you made this chasuble for me, how would you like me to say Mass for you in your very own home?") But frankly, I 'd be surprised if it's seen the light of day since. The colors have not been photoshopped in any way. The stole is a solid yellow with a green cross on each end. It has a charming? red zipper on it's left shoulder along the seam. The cloth is about the consistency of a heavy cotton table cloth. Not polyester, but don't hold that against me.

The pastor is a big bruiser who could probably knock out the teeth of anyone should he have been "forced" to wear it at some point. I'm just sorry his dog hasn't grabbed it off the hanger and made off with it to some far distant exile.

CC will be organizing a poll on her blog about Dec. 14th or so. I do hope you'll go vote for my entry if you think it "worthy" enough. There's something really kitschy in the offing, and that thought alone pushed me over the edge.

Almighty God, forgive me, for I have sinned without number.

Update: Carolina Cannonball has her poll on line on her front page -- this one is number 38 "Daymare", for some generous reason she put it under "Men's vestments" -- apparently there isn't a "transgendered" category. To peek at the whole shebang of men's vestments look here. My dial-up chokes on loading them all up, but believe me, I think mine easily fits in the top three of "all world bad."

As they say in Cook County - vote early, vote often. And remember, this "thing" wasn't even found on line but in my own sacristy. So help me if the church ever catches on fire, it will be the first thing I throw in.
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Adoration. It's where it's At

Besides bene-
diction my favorite devo-
tion has always been to just sit with the Blessed Sacrament. Friday night, I went to the vigil Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception at my "sometimes church" - St. Therese. It's not too far from my house. I go there for Holy Days of Obligation when I don't have an assigned Mass at my normal parish. St. Therese was built at the end of an era, and the beginning of the next. It's a "modern" parish church, but with lots of very pretty stained glass windows and you don't have to do a hunt-and-search for the tabernacle. Not centered, but just to the left still in the main sanctuary, and it's nice to be able to sit right in front of it while at Mass. Hate the lighting in the church over all, too much track style lighting in visible evidence, and the sanctuary isn't as "warm" as I'd like it to be. Walls too blank, save drapings in the correct liturgical color, and a big crucifix. They also had a huge advent wreath. If it's me, I'm putting cool paintings in there.

The pastor seems rather nice, a shade chummy, but still in the range of where it's not going to bother most people, including, overall, me. [Just don't do those weird introductions at the beginning of Mass "Today we celebrate...." - I KNOW Father, that's why I'm here. ] He got "snaps" for doing Eucharistic Prayer #4. The cantor did a superb and really moving Ave Maria post communion. They have both piano and organ, and a good musician. I don't know what people have against the piano at Mass - I like it for some things, and I think it was just the perfect accompaniment for the Ave.

The thing I like most about St. Therese is they have a little side room attached to the church where they have perpetual adoration 24/7. I usually find a lot of solace in taking advantage of this. There's always at least one person there. Quite frequently more. There's room for about 9 people or so. After Mass one boy, about 8 came in all on his own, and prayed on his knees right in front of the monstrance. So sweet. A mother brought in a different boy later, and they knelt right in front too. I could hear her whisper to him to be still and quiet. The boy whispered back "Is that Jesus in there?" [pointing every so gently at the monstrance] Mom assured him it was and they prayed for a bit. I was in there for close to an hour, the bulk of the time there were 3 men with me. One the "assigned guy" who had "relieved" another. Another fellow came in and prayed a rosary. It's nice to know that there are men out there who carry a rosary with them. I don't think people carry a rosary with them as often as they used to - and it's a pity, but it's nice to see people still do it.

It's always so peaceful in there. Time seems to stop, and generally people are so still and quiet in someone inhales deeply it sounds loud. From the descriptions of heaven in Revelations, heaven seems like a noisy busy busy place...almost like a cross between a holy airport, with comings and goings and arrivals and a musical jam session with angels and choirs carrying on. My hope is that my part of the garden is beside those restful waters from Psalm 23. At adoration I can sometimes "lose myself" pretty good in the Real Presence. I want to be able to lose myself entirely in God's will. Forever. I hope that's what heaven's like.

Christmas Meme

My first set of wheels

How cool. Esther tagged me. And Angela Messen-
ger indirectly tagged me too. Gotta play.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? When I was younger, wrapping paper. Gift bags didn't "exist" then. Now that I'm older, lazier, and never could wrap something decently to save my soul anyway: gift bags. It doesn't have zip to do with saving the planet by recycling. I've been known to wrap gifts in Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil. My bestest friends "understand." If' it's "really important" I've been known to have someone that doesn't have two left thumbs wrap it.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real or nada.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually been a late putter upper, from way back. The earliest would be a week before ... BUT there are times when it's only the night before or two days before. Right after college I got my first apartment in San Diego. My mom and dad were living in Oregon at the time and they came down to visit me the day before Christmas. I'd "waited" so we could put it up together. Christmas Eve about 9 p.m. my mom and I went down to a place near the Sports Arena, where they had a few scraggly trees left. The guy deadpanned and said: "Looking for something special?" We died laughing. Ever afterwards that's what we always said when going out to get the tree.

4. When do you take the tree down? Some times it stays up until right after Jan 6. sometimes, depending how dry it get, and then factoring in the trash schedule, it may go sooner.

5. Do you like eggnog? Adore it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? For Christmas: Probably the pair of skis I received when I was 13. Best gift of all time was not at Christmas and completely unexpected. It was an encyclopedia set called "Our Wonderful World." 24 volumes. And I read them cover to cover. Except for volume 14. Which had some articles on spiders. With pictures. Of. BIG. ones. That volume is still pristine. If there's something I don't know about, it was probably covered in volume 14. I got this set when I was nine. Mom had bought it from a door to door salesman. The articles were from a variety of sources, magazines, books etc. and were arranged topically. It was aimed at about a high school reading level, which I had then, or quickly picked up. For instance -- say you looked up, oh, "Greek theater" - you got that...and next articles might be on Greek literature, history etc. etc. Then ... hey, Roman stuff.... etc. It also came with a 10 volume set of books that could be used by about aged 8 to about 18. There was a book on art/music -- a lot of famous paintings with an article about the painting/art work and the artist. I could recognize and tell you, for instance, why Gainsborough's Blue Boy was famous, what techniques were used, why the painting was done and so forth. Other volumes had "fun activities for kids" anything from basic star gazing to making a bird house. Others had biographies of famous people, written in a way captivating to the young. I had them about the year Churchill had died, because I remember reading about him in one of those books about then. I don't think they make this set of books anymore. Pity. For me, at a young age, it had it all over encyclopedias that just stayed on the shelf and never got read. It was probably the beginning of me being more or less an autodidact. I picked up a tremendous amount of general knowledge from these books. I'd like to meet and kiss the salesman who sold them, because he changed my life.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, my favorite figures were bought when I was about 9 or 10 when we lived in Virginia. We were in someplace that sold fairly inexpensive things (a Woolworths for all I can remember) and the figures were nicely molded and brightly, but beautifully painted. HOW we wished we had bought more than just the few basics. We had an angel, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Crib, Camel, Shepard and a sheep....but wish we'd gotten the who shebang. We NEVER ran across any we liked as much. The figures I see now are all either such muted tones or badly made, unless they're really expensive. *sigh* No. They don't make 'em like they used to.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Dad was always the hardest. All dads are fabulous actors. Especially when their kids are little. You'd get a something really cool and dad would get stuck with a can of his favorite Simonized wax. [Well....not that bad, but I bet dads will know what I mean.]

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I believe it was the butt ugly doll (I'm pretty sure I received it for Christmas) I'm seen running over with my tricycle which I posted about previously. She had it coming. Trust me. That dame is on the far right here. No jury would convict.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. There was a year or two I hand watercolored some and sent to friends/family.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? I HAVE to watch Holiday Inn. Next favorite is a toss up between A Christmas Story and Meet Me in St. Louis. Meet Me in St. Louis contains one of only two songs that are guaranteed to make me cry my behind off. "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The reason it makes me cry is because when I was young, we moved quite a bit with my dad's job transfers. I really did come to like something about every place we lived in and was always able to make friends easily - but oh, how the moment of parting friends ripped me up inside. Today's kids who have access to things like instant email and the ability to send photos don't know what it was like to have to correspond sporadically. What a blessing it would have been to get a photo, a letter, etc. "just like that." A phone call was a rare treat. Anyway, the song rips me up because in it, the dad announced he was moving the family from St. Louis. The young Margaret O'Brien has just whacked the HELL out of all her snowmen, and says that they'll never have friends like in St. Louis etc. Judy Garland sings the song to comfort her. There's somewhere deep within me where that took a toll. The other song? Stars and Stripes Forever. I'm a wreck on 4th of July if I'm in a crowd and they play that - the part where the piccolo comes in kills me. And last night at the vigil for the Immaculate Conception I choked up on the refrain to Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above. I've been missing my mother terribly and it reminded me of all those rosaries and holy hours and stations and benedictions we used to go to when I was growing up. We went almost every week. It blind sided me. So I guess that makes three song, though whether or not there will be a repeat performance of crying I can't say.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? About 2nd week December.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope. Not even the crap exchanged at office Christmas parties.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade mushroom soup. Tollhouse cookies. Fudge. Homemade.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored. And if you have a dog -- NO TINSEL.

16. Favorite Christmas song? Angels We Have Heard on High - let 'er RIP on the Gloria.... Secular: Sleigh ride (preferably rendered by the Boston Pops.) (I may be stoned for saying this - but I've never liked Silent Night. Ever. -- Angela may kill me.)

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Almost always home.

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? Yes, and the 7 Dwarfs, should it come to that.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always after Mass, from an early age. When I was little I'd be allowed to open one SMALL one Christmas eve...usually some mittens or something to wear to Mass the next day.....

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds at the mall, which I try and avoid. I try and do most of what little shopping I have to do on-line.

22. Best thing about this time of year? Other than the birth of the baby Jesus, that people try to be nicer. ( I agree with Esther.)

I tag Adrienne, Mulier-Fortis, On the Side of the Angels, White Stone Name Seeker, Digihairshirt, and if those blogless guys Stephen F. and Dr. Peter H. Wright (if he's still speaking to me!) can feel free to do the meme in my com box. And if I didn't tag ya, it's because you've already done it, or I wanted to leave somebody for those other folks to tag.
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It's just what I wanted! ....sorta

Help me out here. Especially you guys. I like to indulge our 5:15 Sunday Mass servers with little gifts at their birthdays and Christmas. We have one boy and one girl who take turns alternating at that Mass. Both turn 11 this coming week. Our little buzzsaw, Catherine, presents no problem for me -- knowing that type intimately having been one myself. I checked with her mother, and she's not seen The Trouble With Angels nor the sequel, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows. So that should cover her.

But Francis....ah....I haven't any immediate family and it's a long time since my male cousins were 11.... I get a general feel for things, but I would *love* to nail the right gifts for him. Something with a max price range of about twenty bucks per gift. Less is good...a tad more is okay, if it's not in the "xboxy not happening" category. He *loves* baseball. Loves to read, is quite a good pianist for his age, and good at the arts. I got a note back from his sister, whom I'd written to see if he'd had "The Dangerous Book for Boys," and he hadn't been given it last year, So I'm pretty sure that will be one of the gifts.

But I am WRACKING my brain about that second gift for him. If this was the "pre-PC days" I would have just gotten him a small Swiss army pocket knife and been done with it - as that's what boys of 11 most wanted, by my observation, when I was 11. Can't do that anymore without there being a federal case out of it or "film at 11."
It used to be fairly standard for all males to "pack" one. (Some time back after Mass one night the discussion came around to "things confiscated at airports" and I mentioned how men of my dad's age always carried a pocket knife. The Sainted Msgr. S. promptly whipped a fairly substantial pocket knife out of his pocket and said "yup! from the time I was around 10-12 I had one."

If you're a guy, what did you get about age 11 (that wasn't overly expensive) that you REALLY enjoyed? What *specific* Books? Games? Objects? If you have sons around that age now, what do they really like? (Moms and others with male 11 year old relatives who scored a hit with a present recently feel free to add to this too.)

In Catherine's case, both movies have a nice religious angle to fun stories. Even with the movie lists I came up with I'm trying to think of if there's one that has a religious angle to it that an 11 year old boy might really enjoy... IF "the mouse" got their act together and re-released ALMOST ANGELS *(about the Vienna Choir Boys - quite fun and I think this particular boy would enjoy it.) I'd get him that - but for some reason, they haven't, AFAIK.

Last year I got them books about saints who had their same first names, and their "Saint Medals."

A virtual "gold star" to any blogger who can guess where the picture came from. My British bloggers will probably have a leg up on this one.

(*If you go to a certain well know video website you can *cough*cough* see most of this film ... keepvids.com comes in rather handy....)
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Stupidity: Why the US Congress Never Disappoints

In a well meant, but misguided attempt to curb child porn, Congress wants to fine your butt $300,000 smackeroos if you don't configure your wifi right. I guess since Gore's gone to pasture, none of them know how the internet works.

Next week they'll attempt to make sure that if cows fly at the opera, OSHA will be notified in plenty of time to be on hand to make sure no coloraturas slip and fall.
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Blue Vestments. Evil Wimmin Porters. Chaucer! Rabelais! Balzac!

Fr. Z. of What does the Prayer Really Say has an interesting "annual rant" (his words) about the use of the color blue for Advent in some Latin Rite churches. Not to focus so much on the blue vestment angle here, but Father Z. made this remark in the body of his "rant:"

"However, if blue is ever approved I will probably resent the fact that widespread abuse led to that approval! That how the liberals got Communion in the hand and altar girls and the domination of the vernacular over Latin, etc., etc., etc."

Ahem.

What I'd like to know from Fr. Z. (and others so like-minded) is when he's going to go on a tear re: those evil wimmen acting as porters? When exactly did the pope sign off on this with the right jot and tittle? They're helping to collect and count the money and sometimes lock up the church -- clearly they're getting ideas above their stations.

If altar girls are going to be railed against, to be consistent, why not attack the moms who serve as "stealth porters?" Who do these wimmen think they are? Oh, sure, TODAY they say they only want to help count the money -- just you watch, before anyone can blink they'll be taking a cut from the collection and absconding with Father's car off to some Protestant church basement jumble, Haddassah Bridge Tournament, or Indian casino.

Father can't be seen taking the bus to his Wednesday afternoon game with his golf bag in tow. What will his confreres say when he finally shows up at the links? "Hah---there ya go, Charlie -- I see your wimmin porters made off with the Ford Explorer again... yer hen-pecked over there in St. Elijah's." Imagine the humiliation! They'll stick him with buying a round at the 19th hole for sure. "Dude, it's not like you're DRIVING or something...."

The wimmen will be appropriating the key to the Knights of Columbus liquor cabinet, and drinking up all Rum and Coke. And we all know how Old Man Pruet gets when the sauce runs out. He'll have a stroke if he finds out those wimmin got into it. They oughtta stick to those female drinks like mai-tais anyway.

Look out for their sons too....I bet they rebuckle their knickerbockers BELOW the knee. Rebels! Everyone of them!



CHAUCER! RABELAIS! BALZAC!
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Why Americans Laugh when the Pope Wears a Red Hat

Knew I could find the right picture. Philip over at Carpe Canem probably thought I was kidding when I mentioned the pope's saturno makes most Americans think of a kid's cowboy hat gone wrong.

(Should we tell him or not? Nah....)

Geez, a blind man could spot it in a New York minute.

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That Dog Won't Hunt

Did some people ever make it out of the sixties? Drudgereport, called my attention to this item from Newsday, normally not something I'd go near with a 27 foot broken barge pole, but it's good for a laugh. Like today.

"Hillary should play her gender card to the hilt:

BY ROBIN GERBER |Robin Gerber is senior faculty with the Gallup Organization and author of "Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way" and the forthcoming novel "Eleanor vs. Ike."

December 4, 2007

Sen. Hillary Clinton has a trust problem. Polls in Iowa and New Hampshire show that voters give her very low marks for being trustworthy and honest. The media and her opponents have built and reinforced the charge.

But they're blaming the victim. Clinton is running for president in a sexist culture that persists in seeing strong, capable women as suspect.

It's not that voters and her opponents think Clinton's experienced and competent, and they don't like or trust her. It's that they think she's experienced and competent and that's why they don't like or trust her."

Oh please, Robin. I guess you are the only person on earth who doesn't remember:

* Hillary doing dirt in the White House Travel Office.
* Hillary and her minions hiring Craig Livingstone to rifle through over 1000 confidential FBI reports.
* Hillary hiding subpoenaed files.
* Hillary and Billy boy having hecklers arrested and thrown in jail at a "Taste of Chicago" event.
* Hillary and her ability to trade cattle futures and not have margin calls like other people.
* Hillary and her attempt at taking over the health care system in this country - trying to dictate the cost of goods and service, trying to dictate how many people could go in to which specialty, etc. ad infinitum.
* Hillary wanting to keep the Health Care Meetings secret, even though it was deemed she was NOT by any hallucination a "public employee."
* Hillary and her hubby shorting stocks which should have been put in a blind trust prior to his taking office.
* Hillary and Bill in the Castle Grande Deal -- sticking it to the "little people."
* Hillary and Bill sticking it to the "little people" in Whitewater.

* Hillary and Bill seem to know more than an average number of people who turn up dead who cross their paths. How many people did you know who died under mysterious circumstances? These people know knew dozens.

* Vince Foster, anyone? Anyone?

And this is just off the top of my head.

Nah, none of this matters in whack job Robin's world. Poor ickle Hillary, playing in a man's world. Boo freakin' hoo. She might have to answer some tough questions. Clue for you, Robin. I know people with donkeys tatooed on their backsides from birth. They HATE her too, and not because she's a woman - it's because she's a dishonest, corrupt, soul sucking, cattle rustling, thieving, conniving, backstabbing, piece of coprolite.

She could have an operation in Sweden tomorrow, and it ain't gonna change a thing.
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8 Facts/Habits Meme, Encore

Adrienne, over at Adrienne's Catholic Corner, tagged me for this meme. 8 facts/habits - I'd done this one back in the summer, but since Adrienne tagged me, I suppose I can come up with another set.

1. Fact - the first pet I ever had was a beagle called Mr. Mike. In this picture, he was barking, I was crying, and for some stupid reason or other my mom decided to take this picture rather than rescue me from the kisses of this puppy. As you can see below, I quickly secummed to his charms. I have never harbored a cat. They're okay - for *other* people.

2. Habit - When flying, I always ask for Ginger Ale. I don't know why. I might have picked up the habit on my first flight when I was 6 or so. Perhaps subconsciously I feel if I *don't* have a Ginger Ale, the plane will crash. So if I'm on a plane, and order Pepsi, which I hate, and you're sitting next to me - start saying your prayers - you may want to alert nearby passengers, depending whether or not they grabbed ALL the space in the overhead bins. You're still "safe" if I order a mixed drink with Ginger Ale.

3. Fact - My favorite president in my lifetime was Ronaldus Magnus. When I was young, I rather admired what I read about Theodore Roosevelt. I wondered "where are the larger-than-life American visionaries now?" Ronnie was *the man* as far as I'm concerned. I got to see him twice. Once the eve before he was elected president the first time. His last campaign stop was in the Fashion Valley parking lot in San Diego, a little to the east of where the trolley stop is now. The second time was at a rally at the San Diego Sports Arena prior to his second term.

4. Habit - In coin flips heads/tails - I always pick tails. Just. Because. Other. People. Always. Seem. To. Pick. Heads.

5. Fact - I've never made a cup of coffee in my life, and don't intend to! I like coffee ice cream, and coffee toffee, just not coffee. I've been known to drink a cold caramel coffee frappe, or whatever it's called, a few times a year. Given this is close to liquid caramel ice cream, I don't think it really counts as "coffee."

6. Habit - I never feel like making dinner myself after Sunday Mass. I order Chinese on my way home and pick it up.

7. Fact - I finally learned to play bridge last year from a 20 minute tutorial, whomever wrote it was a genius. I've only played against the computer so far. Bridge IS the king of card games. I've tacked on a funny bridge story* at the end of this, for you bridge fans.

8. Habit - If I'm in a church which is not my own parish, I always sit as close to the tabernacle as possible, unless some pinhead designed it so the tabernacle is somewhere you'd have to send out a search party to find. I haven't been caught out at those churches often, but sometimes when visiting a friend or relative, they have the misfortune of having had that foisted on their parish.

Generally, I end up sitting in the front row. Usually you can find "splendid isolation" up there and as a rule of thumb I refuse to hold anyone's hand at the Our Father - unless some 5 year old wants me to, in which case I do, because 5 year olds can get their feelings easily hurt. 35 year olds can too, but they should know better!

9. Fact - I prefer odds to evens, and I don't have the energy or time right now to see tag 8 given people and leave them notes (that's the longest part of the "Tag" to complete, writing is easy) So if you haven't done this meme and want to, consider yourself tagged. Oh, and Marie down in Australia, if you happen to read this, I'd have formally tagged you because I don't think you've done this one yet.

Sit NICE, or you don't get ANY!

*Murder, Mayhem, and Contract Bridge The quips just keep on coming in Jack Olsen's The Mad World of Bridge (1960). Bridge is "not so much a game as it is a psychosis." "In the 1930s, America's Bridge players spent an estimated $5 million a year on Bridge instruction, or roughly enough money to pay for 500,000 hours of psychotherapy."

But when Olsen wrote of Whist, "Take this simple game, add a dummy, the concept of no-trump, bidding, and an occasional felonious assault, and you have Contract Bridge," there was a smidgen of truth behind it. In a chapter called "Murder at the Bridge Table," Olsen detailed the many documented accounts of felonious assaults at Bridge tables all over America in the '20s and '30s.

Most of these accounts are of husbands and wives bashing each other after particularly tragic misplays. ("Nothing spectacular. Just a typical evening of Bridge as it is played in many homes.") But there were also a number of deaths (and critics claim that television causes violence!).

The most infamous case occurred in 1929 in Kansas City when Myrtle Bennett accidentally shot her husband, John, following an argument over a Bridge game. The Bennetts were entertaining their neighbors, the Hoffmans, when the game took a turn for the worse. John misplayed the hand, leading Myrtle to remark on his apparent lack of intelligence. John slapped her, then announced he was leaving. He went to their bedroom to pack. The Hoffmans tried to calm the Bennetts down, but Myrtle and John continued to argue and eventually Myrtle pulled a gun. John ran into the bathroom to hide, but as he was closing the door, Myrtle fired twice. The bullets ripped through the door, mortally wounding John.

Ely Culbertson, the first great popularizer of Contract Bridge, called the affair "a lesson in the importance of precise bidding valuation." Myrtle Bennett was eventually acquitted, and the hand that led to the shooting was eventually published in newspapers nationwide, along with commentary from Bridge experts. Culbertson contributed an analysis called "How Bennett Could Have Saved His Life."

After the hubbub had died down, it was discovered that the newspapers had been hoaxed. The published hand was a fraud. Neither the Hoffmans nor Myrtle Bennett could remember a single card that had been played that night. There's a lesson in this.
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Chasuble by St. Therese of Lisieux

While doing the previous post, I came across this photo of a chasuble painted by St. Therese. The chasuble garment itself was made from an old dress of Madame Martins. It appears to be a heavy brocade type fabric. It is dark green in color. St. Therese painted the Holy Face and the vines and roses. The book, Therese and Lisieux, didn't say who sewed the garment. You can see an enlarged version of the photo here.

The two roses at the bottom represent Mr. and Mrs. Martin. The two bigger roses above them the two eldest sisters, Marie and Pauline (also in the convent with Therese) the rose directly below the face is Celine - the last sister to enter the Carmel, after their father had died. Therese is the rose to the left of the face, and Leonie's rose is to the right. She became a visitation nun.

The other four buds represent the four other children the Martins had, who did not live past early childhood. Helene was a little younger than Leonie, and Helene died about aged and a half. Melanie Therese was the child born before St. Therese, and she died about aged one or two. Two infant boys, who did not live very long were born after Helene, Joseph, and Joseph Jean. All the children had the first name of Marie, including the boys.

Some of you may or may not know that initially, for the first 10 months of the marriage, the Martin parents lived as brother and sister, not consummating the marriage. The book, had this to say:

"Louis approached marriage with very specific views: he wanted to live with his wife as brother and sister. He even copied a passage from a theology book, which confirmed his way. [That's some theology book! - kh] Zelie, for her part, wanted to have many children; but she finally accepted her husband's point of view.

There was no selfishness in the young household. No sooner had they set up house, when they took charge of a little five year old boy, whose father had just died, leaving his wife with eleven children. After ten months of life together, the strong intervention of a confessor led the Martins to change their minds. From that time, nine births followed in succession from 1869 to 1873."

I say "Hurray, for that good confessor!" [And boo-hiss to Mr. Martin if he didn't tell his intended before the wedding. When did he spring that one on her? The wedding night? I'm going to have to plough through Zelie's diary to see if she mentioned it there. Let me also guess a situation like that wouldn't be easy to handle in a keep the line moving "Penance Service."]
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St. Therese and Tom, Redux

Someone had run across an earlier posting of my blog re: St. Therese and her dog Tom. She wondered if there were other pictures of this dog. Here's another I have, also from the book "Therese and Lisieux" by Pierre Descouvemont and Helmuth Nils Loose. When I was in Lisieux I was able to buy a postcard of this picture.

(Marie Guerin, Leonie Martin, Celine Martin - flanked by two servants - Mr. Martin, and his brother and sister in law, the Guerins)

The photo was taken in 1892 at the Guerin home, where from that time Mr. Martin lived until his death in 1894. Later the same wheelchair used by Mr. Martin was given to the Carmelite convent. In June of 1897, Therese would sit in it in the garden at Carmel and write her last manuscript.

By accounts Tom was a spaniel, and you can see he looks more spanielly[sp?!] from this angle than in the other photo. Also breeds of dogs can undergo changes in appearances over time. This one would be around 130 now if he'd lived! And that's "people years."

(Here he is in isolation. My guess is that he's wagging his tail, to judge by the blur.)

The book is well worth getting, it has a lot of things about Therese and the Martin Family I had not seen elsewhere.
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49th Anniversary of Our Lady of the Angels Fire

Many of us from the US baby boom generation were particularly haunted by the tragedy of the Our Lady of Angels fire at a Catholic parochial School in Chicago throughout our growing up years.

This fire, on Dec. 1st, 1958 claimed the lives of 92 children and 3 nuns. The fire, as it turns out, had been deliberately set by one of the school children.

If you are unfamiliar with this tragedy, it was a national heartbreak. There is a website here, which is dedicated to the event. The story of what happened is here.

I was only a little over two years old myself when it happened, but I do remember it. When I was little, I used to kneel up in bed and say my prayers and my mother would say them with me. That event marked the first time I can ever remember praying for someone outside my immediate family and friends. My mother had not told me of the tragedy during the day, but waited for evening just before prayer time. She said something along the lines of "Almost 100 children died in a fire at a school today, and some nuns too, we will pray for them tonight." She reassured me that my cousins and uncle were fine, and the city was far away from us. Ever since then I have always feared death by fire the most. The fire was the first "big news story" I remember hearing about.

I can still see now the mental picture I had of those poor suffering children and their teachers. When I got older and read about the tragedy myself, I confirmed the childhood memory of praying for these children and nuns with my mother.

All through our grade school years, our teachers had been exceedingly diligent in making sure we took our fire drills very seriously. A few of them, when we were older, referred to the Our Lady of Angels fire. After the fire, schools across the nation upgraded their safety standards. For those of you with children - would they know what to do in case of fire? What exit to take from any room in your house? What about their schools? Regular fire drills? For very young children, are they aware the kind of damage "playing with matches" can do?

When I was in first grade, our nun would always have us stop for bit if a fire truck went by with its siren on. We would pray for the firemen and those who needed help. I still do that to this day whenever I hear a siren. Do many of you do the same? How many of my fellow bloggers either remember the story or have heard of it? [ma beck, I think you would, though I searched your blog to see if you had written about it in prior years and you hadn't.]

Some news events can affect a person his whole life. This was one such event that ended up being that way for me.

Update:

The 49th Annual Memorial Mass of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire will be celebrated on Sunday, December 02, 2007 at:

Holy Family Church, 1130 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Il.

Service will begin at 2:30 P.M
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100 Movies Meme

More fun with movies

Jean over at Catholic Fire, has tagged me with the 100 Films meme that's been making the rounds. Go to the AFI top 100 films list and pick:

1) Top 5 on the list you liked:

The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, It's a Wonderful Life, Patton, Sound of Music

(I can't stand it: my second 5 = All About Eve, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, My Fair Lady, American Graffiti)

2) Bottom 5 you didn't like:

Grapes of Wrath (Hank Fonda and the whole communist Joad Family can take a hike or a ride on top of his model T)
Rocky (too "something.")
Raging Bull (Go rage elsewhere)
Silence of the Lambs (it was well acted but Anthony Hopkins gave such a throughly convincing tour de force portrayal of this creepy[!] guy I never want those nightmares again.
M*A*S*H (saw it once, for whatever reason didn't like it)

3) 5 movies you haven't seen on list but want to:

A clockwork Orange (so sue me! I never got around to it), The Manchurian Candidate (ditto), Maltese Falcon(Ditto), Chinatown(Ditto), Taxi Driver (Just to see what all the hoopla was about)

4) 5 movies on the list you don't care to see:

Dances With Wolves, The Wild Bunch, Unforgiven, Pulp Fiction, Midnight Cowboy

5) 5 favs that aren't on the list:

Stalag 17, Holiday Inn, Easter Parade, Father Goose, The Trouble with Angels

(Can't stand it, next five = Meet Me in St. Louis, McClintock, To Catch a Thief, The Twelve Chairs, the Producers)

This meme concerned a list of American made movies only - but I'd like to add my favorite non American made Films:

Millions(UK), Hope and Glory(UK), Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Russian), The Twelve Chairs (Russian), Gallipoli (Australian), Au Revoir Les Enfants (French), Diva (French), 400 Blows (French), Small Change (French), The Bicycle Thief (Italian)

Anyone who loves movies and wants to do the meme, consider yourself tagged. And if you haven't a blog of your own, but would like to add your favs/dislikes feel free to use my comments box. I'd love to hear what your favorites are. If you are not from the US and would prefer to discard the AFI angle, just list whatever you like and go for it.

I've written other movie threads with detailed comments.

Favorite Movies with Religious Themes
More Movies with Catholic Appeal
Appealing Movies with Military Themes/Background
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