Book Meme Tag

A big howdy to Ebeth who tagged me.

This one made the rounds a while back, but it was quite a fun one.

Grab the book CLOSEST to you,. [No cheating!] Go to page 56 and [I had to go to page 57 because there was just a picture on page 56] and type the 5th sentence. And then the next 2-5 lines after that. Name the book. [Duh!] Tag 5 folks.

When I saw the instructions, I thought, "oh, gee, there's only one book within reach..not even two equidistant to select from, and given the book, it's bound to bore." But how wrong I was.

Especially when it's taken out of context!

"This element of risk provides excitement for me, and I hope also for the onlooker."

Wow.

:-D [It wasn't *really* in bold, but I had to coke back laughing.] Wow. Too bad I have to give the next couple of lines:

"Flowers are inherently transitory and delicate. They live and change almost as you look at them and in a day or two they may have withered away. In this study I have tried to capture some of their ephemeral nature."

The book?

"Step-by-Step Watercolor Painting" by the Alexander Brothers

Which is quite a nice book to pull down if you're trying to refresh the memory on technique if you haven't done it in a while.

Now the fun part. Tag five people and tell them in their comboxes.

1. Esther in Hawaii

2. Mac in England

3. Digi 'cuz.

4. Fr. Owl

5. And Jackie, because I know she actually has a lot more books than kids.

And if you're saying "dammit I want to do the meme" I would have tagged Dr Peter, and if he reads this he can use the combox and post as Peter of the Amazing Wolverine Tribe.

[Stephen? combox is open dude. Do you have any friends who work for the Royal Shakespeare Co. A young American College student I know who's been doing a semester in the UK will work under the table licking the dust off the stage with her tongue in exchange for a cot and a hot meal now and again! One hesitates, because you might have the script of "Taboo" next to you. :-D]]

I was delighted to see a full church

this morning at Mass. The ideal way to start Thanks-
giving.

Sunday, someone (who should have known better!) asked me if it was a Holy Day of Obligation. Somewhere along the way they'd received faulty catechesis for not knowing this. OTOH, the silver lining is that the person at least was concerned about meeting the obligation for Holy Days.

BTW, we had a good bit of rain the last 48 hours. It pours, then the sun comes out. Drizzles, sun comes out. It's spectacularly clear. A real blessing. Unless you are in a mudslide area.

On a fun note - I've always liked "der Bingle's" "I've got plenty to be thankful for" from "Holiday Inn." [one of my favorite movies.]*



A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to you all.

[* - on a historical note, the business of the turkey jumping back and forth between the two different Thursdays, was no joke! FDR, in his stupidity bowed to political pressure from largely democratic party voting states to move the holiday forward by one week to help "get the holiday out of the way" so Christmas shopping could begin in earnest. (the Fri. after Thanksgiving has traditionally been the busiest shopping day of the year) Republican states held out and said "NO WAY, we are staying with tradition." So for a few years some states held the holiday in the next to last week of November, and other states hung tough for the tradition to be the Fourth Thursday of November. Sanity eventually prevailed.]

Ca Ma Fait Rigole

An Aunt sent this to me, and I've been laughing all day.

Turkey Time Again

...just about here.

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

Yes. I know the holidays are coming and everything. But I just can't STAND how dark it is this time of year. Today: Sunrise - 6:26, Sunset 4:43 AND IT ONLY GETS WORSE. 2 months more of this **** until it gets better! [I know, I know, my UK readers are getting about an hour, 45 less than I am, and my Aussie readers are saying "are you NUTS? It's GREAT out here...."]

I guess that's the solution move way south of the equator November through March, and to northern latitudes the rest of the year. "Studies" always blame the holidays on the high suicide rate. I bet it would be even higher without them!!! No wonder the church grabbed those heathen holidays and replaced them with holidays of our own.

Get up, go to work, it's barely light. Knock off work, it's DARK already.

[Where's that sign my mom had made up for me in college? The wooden sign that normally has something over the mailbox like "The Johnsons." Mine has "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch" on it.]

45 Years On

May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963

I pray that he had time to make "the perfect act of contrition." We know not the day or the hour.

If you're old enough to remember, you do.

Who knew Nobama studied Machiavelli?```

Okay, so if Monica's competition gets the nod as Secretary of State, does this mean Nobama did it to get her out of the senate....and then will wait a respectable 6 months, and then find something to fire her for?

If so...bama, you're a genius.  But he'll probably prove me wrong.   Or is this a case of keeping your enemies closer?

Jocelyn Elders, please pick up the white courtesy phone....

Good thing they didn't ask any Algebra questions!

There Are 0 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge: No Gaps! Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge: Philosophy Religion Economics Literature History Science Art

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

I must have been sleeping like a rock

4.1 Earthquake northern S.D. County

When we first moved to California in the summer of 1970 I found it hard to adjust to the different seasons.

I had always lived back east where there were 4 distinct seasons, but here in Southern California that all changes.  We have: Drought, fire, monsoon, mudslide, and earthquake..  Fire is far the most frightening, as you can be taken unawares and lose everything in minutes.   Last year a co-worker of mine's neighborhood was evacuated middle of gthe night with almost zero notice with reverse 911 calls.  [This is a relatively new system where the emergency service calls *you* to tell you to get out if a bad fire breaks out.)  

 About 2 months afer coming to California there was a bad fire that broke out not too far from Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley where we lived then.  I missed it, the family being in Las Vegas for a bottler's convention my dad went to.  I missed all the "drama" - but you could smell smoke for days.  Then in following Feb. there was a huge 6.1 about 6 miles from where we lived.  Hospital wing collapsed.  Once again I "missed it" we being in Vegas again for another convention.  We drove home that day, expecting to find some damage to our house.  Nada.  About a foot of water spashed from the pool, an overturned water cooler in the kitchen, and a top row of books from one of my bookcases which was tightly packed "jumped" onto the floor, in a neat row. That was it.  I was secretly disappointed I missed the "big one" that all my new friends at school eperienced.  My parents were somewhat amused that I had slept through a few fairly good aftershock for 4 and up that night.  For a week or two afterwards, however, I was introduced to a new sport common in souther California called "quess the magnitude."  What you do is wait until it's over and then say "4.5" and someone else says: "no way, 4.7 and no less."  Then you wait 10 minutes for CalTech to get its act together and say "SEE I TOLD you...."

Truth be told I'm kinda bummed I "missed" the quake this morning!  Those in the 4 point ranger are "Hey theres"  Same sensation you feel just before the first drop on a rollercoaster.  Giddy anticipation.

If you want to avoid all this, apparently the deal is:  Live in Vegas.  You can only lose your shirt.

fergeddaboutit

I see the "Campaign for human development" donation is coming up again this time of year.  Well, they were the ones who'd given a big chunk of money to an organization which funded ACORN - which is under investigation in numerous states for massive fraud in voter registration.

CFHD can kiss my behind for now and evermore.  And it's not like "they just found out" this was a bad organization.  Before the turn of the century over a million dollars had been embezzeled from same.  So whomever "vets" these things isn't doing a very good job, and I don't trust their judgment.  Best give to a local charity, where gravy train outright socialists don't get their fingers on it.  A home for unwed mothers would be a good cause as well as any local St. Vincent de Paul societies.

High Fire Potential Alert Warning...San Diego County

We've been having unusually warm weather, even for us, in San Diego this last week. Temps into the high 80s and low 90s and low humidity. So far no wind...

BUT THIS:



PLUS THIS (which just showed up on my "weatherbug" application):

Produces THIS:


Say some prayers for the folks up in Montecito too, who've already had 13 injured plus lost 100+ homes so far, and no sign of containment of the fire at last report. Usually by this time of year the danger has passed, but not so lucky this time.

Mandatory Volunteerism

It seems ironic to me that people can propose forced "voluntary service" hours. It seems to be an oxymoron at best. It may be well intended for didactic purposes, but in the long run I think it has a contrary effect.

Many of our Catholic schools, for instance, now have "required service hours" in order to graduate. In other words, you must get your "ticket punched" for doing so many hours at a nursing home, helping sister clap the erasers together, doling out soup in a soup kitchen. Now all these things may well be noble endeavours, but what *precisely* is learned by making someone do something that is supposed to come from the goodness of one's heart?

In other words, instead of learning by example from mom, dad, the community at large, doing something good is now done as a quid pro quo. I.E. "You do something good for X, and I'll let you:

Graduate,
Have a better parking spot,
Get your name in lights on the company bulletin board after the next subbotnik."

Yes, that's right - because no matter how well intended, it's a subbotnik. Just like Dear Uncle Joe made "the workers" give one free day to the state.

It makes a mockery of REALLY doing something that comes from the heart. You do good for the sake of its own intrinsic worth. Not because you'll get something tangible.

Ditto this idea of "Getting a monetary reward for doing the right thing." It used to be in school we were taught (in the parochial school anyway) that if you saw a wallet, you returned the wallet, you didn't expect a monetary reward...you did it because IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Virtue for its own sake. You didn't return the lost dog for the "reward" - you returned it because you knew how bad you feel if your pet was lost, and you wanted to do right by the other person. [I'm not talking about accepting what it might have cost you ... i.e. you were reimbursed for the dog food or whatever if you needed it. ] I'm talking about the $1000 bucks if you return my dog" stuff that people seem to expect merely for doing the right thing. And ditto kids who get paid "X" if they get good grades in school. The knowledge gained should be reward enough. You learn for the joy of learning.

Don't put it past evil minded people to use the collective guilt trip of not doing voluntary service as a way to push their own agendas either. Sure a parochial school may be thinking that a few hours in a soup kitchen is a good thing. But don't expect others not to co-opt this notion. If I'm not mistaken Maryland schools, public ones at that require "service hours." IIRC some of these "service hours" can be for things like Planned Parenthood. Comprende?

I also wonder where Nobama is taking HIS "dear leader" agenda with his wish for enforced youth mandatory service scheme.

What was it the Jesuits said? "Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man." Don't give your children over to be indoctrinated by anyone. At best, [when a cause is good], they can still easily pick up the "quid pro quo" mentality and don't really do good works from the heart. At worst, their minds can be poisoned into a lockstep "cadre." And question whether even meritorius "required service hours" are teaching your teen something beyond a jaundiced view of REAL volunteerism.

Psst!!! Don't say anything, but Fr. Blake's Birthday is coming up

....he didn't exactly shout it from the rooftops last year, but only noted it AFTER the event. He mentioned in passim that he didn't like to celebrate his birthday much, given it fell on the date of the death of "Catholic England." i.e. the day Queen Mary I died. Historically minded as I am the date is Nov. 17th.

So would some of my English bloggers friends make sure he doesn't sit home in the dark listening to dirges? [Remind him England at the time was still on the old Julian calendar, and it's "safe" to celebrate is birthday.]

He claims he'd like an icon or two for Christmas...but I bet he wouldn't say no to one on his birthday. And I'm sure he wouldn't say no to a spiritual bouquet!

Nice to know it's all about skin color after all

I don't know who scares me more. Obama, or his followers.

From the Topeka Capital-Journal:

Planning underway for Obama Holiday.

"The Capital-Journal

Published Sunday, November 09, 2008

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

"Yes We Can" planning rallies will be at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the downtown McDonald's restaurant, 1100 Kansas Ave., until Jan. 13. The goals are to secure a national holiday in Obama's honor, to organize celebrations around his inauguration and to celebrate the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12 1809.

At 7:30 a.m. on Inauguration Day, Obama Cake will be served at the downtown McDonald's, and a celebration is scheduled for 8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 20 at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, 420 S.E. 6th." [boycott anyone?]

Okay, so he was born half-black...and that entitles him to a "National Holiday" BECAUSE? What has this Marxist ideologue actually DONE for the country? [Apart from the mental masturbation "gratitude" from his supporters?]

Delusions of grandeur. And for those of you who've already outed themselves as Nobama supporters. Too late, you were a little too vocal in your support. We know now who the "kapos" would most likely be drawn from. I'm sure you'll be in the shock troops in his plans for mass indoctrination of youth in his "voluntary" national service plan. Suckers.

But what would you expect from a guy who "campaigned" for his blood thirsty cousin in Africa. Google "Obama" and "Odinga" if you're not too lazy - while you still can.

Somehow I'm betting this is something the Daily Telegraph forgot to tell you about in its "50 things about Barack Obama you didn't know.

So much for "content of character." RIP, MLK.