Day 2 Day radishes

February 27/Academy awards

Well, there was lots of press about how bad the Academy Awards were, but I still say that I liked them.
Many of the critics would not like anything that was presented. Some critics are back in the days of Bob Hope.  It was long, duh. Everyone knows they are going to be long.  I did not see everything, actually some of it important like Helen Mirren, but I did not hear long, long speeches.  You get an Academy Award, you are going to thank some people.  Get your fast forward button working.  That or mute.

I actually could not take Al Gore seriously, so I was not offended.  But had he been honest, he would have said that the average American household uses 10,656 kilowatt-hours per year, and he uses 221,000,or 20 times as much. In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas last year for his Nashville estate in 2006.  That is in the land of energy plenty in Tennessee. 

February 26/ Academy Awards

Three cheers that Hollywood did not snub their noses to the conservative community last night at the Academy Awards.  Aside from Al Gore and Leonardo, politics were pretty much left out of the affair.  No Susan Sarandon to leave the guilt trip.  The timing was good, the speeches appropriate, we got to see a lot of clips of films we might later want to rent, and the gowns were divine.  I would say that the show was "tight".  All of this is a good thing, because middle America has stopped attending films as they one did.  Hollywood can not live on teenager money alone.

The big news is that we watched the Academy Awards at all.  We had to give up Dog Fights of World War II  to watch.  Here at our two person house we gave up watching the Awards in the past when the show became outrageous.  Today I suspect that there will be criticism that the awards were too  conservative, in script, dress and program.  But I got hooked when Will Ferrell, and his partner from Talladega Nights, John C. Reilly did their song and dance routine. John C.Reilly was great.  I loved the dress that Little Miss Sunshine wore and there was an unscripted  moment when she leaned over to see if her mother was crying, which she probably was, and Abigail then turned away in disgust.  Even in her dress, she was still ten. 

February 23/ Praying for the President

I posted this post on Friday.  I later looked at it, and decided that even I could not understand it. And I can understand everything I write.  I was having a pity party for my self so I removed the writing.
Try this again. 

The Episcopal church includes a " Prayer for the People" in the liturgy. We pray for a lot of things one of which is is the President of the United States. In my past congregation we actually used the name of the President.  "Bill Clinton"was hard to insert as it got stuck on my tongue.   But insert it,I did. I came to feel that he needed prayers like everyone else. 

This is true story.  A semi prominent, single woman became pregnant, by a man whose name was not disclosed. Being Catholic, she did not abort.  But in fact, in the end she hated the man with whom she became pregnant.  She went to her priest and discussed this hate.  The priest said that she should pray for the man.  She said, "But I can't, how would I pray for him?" The priest said that she should pray that God takes the man  to his bosom, and sooner rather than later.

This Lent I am going to pray for George W. Bush and Iran's Areminejad. I am going to pray that God walks side by side, minute by minute in their lives, in their hearts and in their heads. I had one priest that said that you should want God to walk so close to you, that you can smell his after shave. 

PS.  If you find that you honestly can not pray for someone, then it is okay to ask God to do the work. 

February 22/Geo Washington

When George  Washington was inaugurated he had only one tooth of his own.  The rest were other peoples, animals, and lead.  He was six foot two inches. 

Have some cherry pie,  and give thanks. 

February 21/ Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, and my husband and I went to get the ashes at church .  It is the start of Lent, and at its best it is 40 days of self-examination and repentance: by prayer, fasting, self denial, and by reading and meditating with God. If I manage to accomplish two of these, I feel I have had a good Lent. I am going to try to exercise rather than fast.  And I am going to try to get a prayer list going again.  Any one wanting me to add some one  can write to me with a brief description  and I will add it to the list on the blog.  Perhaps others might pray too.

I think our church still makes its own ashes from the burning of palm fronds from the previous Palm Sunday.  But the Seattle Times today reported that  a man in Florida sells ashes for $3.50 an ounce. Two men working an 8 hour day can make 20 pounds.

One traditional phrase of an Ash Wednesday  is, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." It is a sign of our mortality.  This is spoken at many funerals.  It always leaves a chilling moment for me. The Catholic church in Los Angeles has replaced the ashes bit with, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."  I guess the old way was too scary.  We would not want to be out of our comfort zone, especially when it comes to death.   

February20/

I am currently in a cranky  phase.  The primary reason is that I have all these damn gadgets I have purchased or programs I am trying to do.  I have purchased a book to learn my Nano. I can turn up the volume.  Just about period.  But even with the book you need to know a lot.  I am working on a new blog for the church. I have had to write to help 5 times in order just to get the name right and password entered correctly. I was thinking that creating this web piece would be a lot of fun and creativity.  Bong. I now have an address for my site.  It took me four days to do it.  When I could not reset my new stupid pedometer, that was the final straw. This is enough to make  a grown,aging woman weep.  When is too old to be trying this stuff.

I have been reading The Sad Truth About Happiness, a so-so book. Anne Giardini, the authoress, writes  about  Happiness. "Deeply happy people  are noticers and thinkers.  They are attentive.  They are aware of, and appreciate beauty, goodness, and complexity.  They find a way to do meaningful work,or have the knack of investing the work they do  with meaning.  They stay connected with people they enjoy.  Happy people believe that the future will be good.  A set back is only temporary.' I have copied her words, but I think Anne copied Jane Smiley. 

As I  seem pretty happy at the moment, I guess I will  shut up about these mechanical problems.  It is only a temporary set back. Today for snack I will have some cottage cheese, a product known for happiness.

February 19/ Carnival

A daughter who lives in Brazil, called last night from Rio.  She and her husband were back at the hotel after their time in the huge parade to the Sambadromo.  There is a parade that lasts all night for two nights. She was in the first night.  We had to laugh.  She had told us that she was taking Samba lessons.  Even she did not know that there were five thousand in her school alone, that would parade.  What drew my attention, there was every human smell imaginable along the way. 
I encourage you to go to www.expatprincess.wordpress.com for more Mardis Gras. The costumes will be over the top.  Carnivali in Rio is the wildest party in the world. 

Today is President's Day.  Whoopee. Another shopping day at the mall.  Really when you think of it, apparently no one seems to care about our current George, especially Congress. I think today I will ask that God  be now with George as he faces our country and what he must do for our country. There I said it and I will probably have only two readers on this blog. I will make this a day of prayer for George Bush and save my President's celebration for the birthday of the Father of Our Country.  Does anyone know what day that is? Cherry pie will be served, even if it is the second day of Lent.

February 18/Surrender all the way around

Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows that I am unhappy about the Congress rebuking the President, and surrendering Iraq.   I think we should bypass Hillary for President and have Bush and Cheney choose to resign tomorrow, go directly to Nancy Pelosi for President.  Let her deal with the ensuing blood bath.  We can all wilt, or be mowed under, by her pacifism. This should be done immediately because with any luck, we could use  this bloodbath to the Republican use, maybe just in time for a Victory in 08.

This scenario would  save us money because Nancy P who wants the President to give to her a jet the size of Air Force One for her use, the use of her family, and other congressmen.   We would not have to redecorate the interior of her jet as President.

In closing: "In war there is no substitute for victory."  Douglas McArthur

 

February 16/

Since Christmas, for various reasons, I, or my husband and I, have done a lot of acquiring. 
Here is a list:

Krups coffee pot                          good coffee, but very messy
Cuisinart food processor              good, and still messy
Cusinart Bread Machine                very good, pretty tidy
Radio Shack pedometer                tidy, but complicated
IPOD Nano                                   sweet, sexy, but because I drop things, I have a rubber black cover
Panasonic telephones                   black, button comfortable, and still clean
Sony digital camera                    still out of control               

In addition am starting a new blog.
I have a new recipe software program.
And now I am taking minutes at church, which is a real laugher for my family.

     What do all of the above have in common?  A steep learning curve.   I am going crazy.         

February 15/Valentine's Day

Yikes!!! Yes, I did get a pedometer and a fancy one at that.  Not only does it count steps, but I think it can take your pulse. 

But Mr. V bought me an IPOD!!!! He and the rest of the family hope that I will keep exercising, and this will help  with the boredom of the treadmill and walking.   I especially like that Mr. V. thought I can learn to use it, when in fact I can not turn on the downstairs television.  This is very affirming. 

I have never really picked out music for myself,as it has always been done for me,  so this should be really interesting.  Also, I plan to download books, and Podcasts.

There is a lot to be said for older relationships.