This is never more true than during music festival week

But it's true most of the time.

Unfortunately, this is also true of me (so I'm not sure why it annoys me so much that some of my kids organize themselves thus as well): 

More silliness at Ephemera.
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So sad: good-bye, Gilbert Blythe

Jonathan Crombie has died.  Thank you for sharing your art with the world. May God rest your soul.

Do you laugh or cry?

I guess you should laugh. I like this webpage, a service of the University of Regina. It's got lots of good info and interesting facts about my beautiful province, Saskatchewan. But the poster boy for "Arts and Culture?" Oy vay. (We DO have symphonies, ballets, operas and Broadway plays here too.) I love "Corner Gas," by the way. It's funny because it's frighteningly true to life. (Think Napoleon Dynamite, but further north.) Truth is far stranger than fiction. The stuff that takes place in my own small town is so funny/crazy/scary, it actually makes Corner Gas look like the Parliament Channel by comparison.

Corner Gas: buy the Complete Series here. 
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Why we don't have ads on our blog.

I suppose at some point we might, but for now, I just find this kind of thing scary. This is a copy of the sidebar of another Catholic web page, which need not be named, because it's not their fault. I'm not sure you have any control over the ads that pop up on your site. But when I'm researching saints and stuff, I just don't need to see what's at the bottom. In fact I never need to see it, not even by accident in the bedroom mirror. (Oh and please don't take the quiz. The photo is there to make a point, not to tempt you.)

Do you pray for your priest? Often Sometimes Not really    See Results    Poll Archive Most Popular    READ        SEARCHED      E_MAILED    1. Jesus Breaks the Habit of Putting Limits on Our Love 2. Don Alvaro, witness of fidelity 3. Vatican warns against misinterpreting international law, human rights 4. Pope Francis: Satan Seduces Us by Disguising Evil as Good 5. HOPE: Here is your part 6. St. Francis of Paola, Saint Ebba the Younger and Companions 7. Introduction Synod of Bishops on the Family 2014 8. The Gift of Grandparents 9. Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time 10. Bl Mother Teresa of Calcutta; St Bertinus; St Lawrence of Justinian

Because laugh you must. There is no try.

Oh my. I haven't visited CakeWrecks for soooooo long. But it's as funny as ever. Her commentary is as good as the photos.

Decided to post something light-hearted, so that I don't get accused of being negative all the time. And besides, it's THE EASTER SEASON!!!
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I suddenly need another coffee mug

I don't know why, because I don't even have a job in an office where I can show these off. But I guess it's about things giving you joy, not about making an impression on other people.

Abandon the one true God

And idolatry comes tripping along, in many forms. You'd think this would be self-evident, but we live in strange times.

Don't make food the most important focus of your life.

For so many of us, no matter where we sit on the spectrum, it's easier said than done. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. One man's kale is another man's triple fudge brownie cake.
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Hammersley teacups and other delights

Hammersley china is truly lovely. I'd never heard of the company before, but then I am relatively new to the whole antiques/vintage thing. You can find out more here.  This teacup was given to me last Christmas season by an uncle who was divesting himself of some of his kitchen stuff (some of which had belonged to his late sister/my aunt). There were several pretty things, but this teacup absolutely stood out from the pack. 

Looks so cute beside my little Brown Betty English teapot. 

See more teacups here. 

Would you like to post a comment on DOH?

Good luck with that! I'm so frustrated by the way this blog server "functions" (not). I can't tell you how often people have told me (either by phone, email, or in person) that they have tried to leave comments on the blog and not been able to. And being computer-illiterate, I have no idea what to do about it.

I mean, what part of "Anyone" does Blogger.com NOT understand? Mrs. Beazly, maybe it's time to find another server/host/thingy.

Who can comment?

Anyone - includes Anonymous Users   Registered User - includes OpenID   User with Google Accounts   Only members of this blog

I put this to the young gentlemen of my acquaintance who may be considering priesthood

Recently hired Diocesan Minister

 for Coordination and Facilitation

  

For example, would a sight of two priests twirling a-tippytoe like big-bellied ballerinas at an Easter Vigil service, along with a troop of girls waving scarves and sashes, for six minutes and more,to Aaron Copland’s arrangement of The Lord of the Dance, have any natural appeal whatsoever to the overwhelming majority of boys and young men who know to what sex they belong?

Bwahaha! Anthony Esolen again. 

At one point, he muses: "I sometimes wonder whether we Catholics actually want vocations to the priesthood." 

Oh Buddy, I don't "wonder"--I've heard it from the horse's mouth. In this case a priest (now deceased, God rest his soul) who said, "The Vocations Crisis is GOD'S WILL, so that the laity gets more involved in the Church." 

Do Catholics want priests? First you have to assume "Catholics" denotes a homogeneous group, which it does not. Some of us want priests, and some of us want the Church to be a Big Comfy Couch...with Communion. 

Clown Minister, dialoguing/collaborating with 

Puppet of St. Therese, to whom the women at the Healing Workshop are encouraged to "speak their pain."

Oh yes, there is pain.

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George Orwell, call the head office of your Hymnody Division

Yo, God, I did you a favour and came to church; 

you're welcome.

Anthony Esolen. Oy, but this guy is brilliant. And funny (to wit: "Muddlesome broke out in hives at leadeth and feedeth.") He had me laughing out loud at, "Fetch the smelling salts, Nellie..."

"Rescuing Hymnody from Stupidity":

To Muddlesome, “the vernacular” meant the colloquial: an office memo ending with an amen. That’s all. He’s no linguist; just as the people who vandalized our churches were not painters or sculptors. He can’t imagine that a mother tongue might “contain multitudes,” including the register of the sacred. He’s a subtractor. If peasants want to be courtly in their oral poetry and folk hymns, too bad for them. Drag them into Future Church for their own good.

 So he had to eliminate those pronouns...

Thus openeth the first Can of Worms.

And my, how far those worms can travel. I actually heard an ordained personage (who has been through like, a hundred years of university and everything) say (out loud) from the ambo: "God calls us to Godself." (Not "himself". Godself.) So allergic was he to masculine pronouns, even referring to GOD THE FATHER (is Jesus' testimony in that regard not enough? Gee, I don't think the chain of authority for Christianity goes any higher than that, but whatever), that instead of uttering a grammatically correct statement, he was willing to sound as though he was having a stroke. But I digress. That was a homily, not a hymn. But church "music" has fared no differently. Read Mr Esolen's article if you share my frustration that we began the century* with hymns like this:

 To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring,
And thanks and adoration.

Refrain:
Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

2. Thy reign extend, O King benign,
To ev'ry land and nation,
For in Thy kingdom, Lord divine,
Alone we find salvation.
(Refrain)

3. To Thee and to Thy Church, great King,
We pledge our hearts' oblation,
Until before Thy throne we sing,
In endless jubilation.

--by Msgr Martin Hellreigel

ex-pat German priest, *1941, so... a comment on Fascism

And ended the century with campfire songs like this:

Thank you, God, for giving us us.
Thank you, God, for giving us us.
Thank you, God, for giving us us.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiii-ght where we are!
--ex-Rev. Carey Landry

Peace out.


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Code Blue

I feel another business opportunity coming on: manufacturing T-shirts in blue (or really, any colour) that read: I WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO WEARING PINK.

The Prophet Steyn (pbuh):

"Awareness-raising"? I think we need to raise awareness that, unless you've got the T-shirt concession, all these Pink Days are worthless crap that do nothing for the problem they claim to be addressing. If you've chanced to see me in person, you'll know I often wear a pink shirt. Like the country song says, "I Was Pink Shirt When Pink Shirt Wasn't Cool — Er, Mandatory." But, on Pink Shirt Day, I would wear mauve or turquoise or chartreuse or anything but pink, because, when the state is committed to coercing a ruthless conformity, that's the time to show that a flickering flame of the contrarian, iconoclastic spirit still flickers in the Canadian schoolhouse. You may get bullied for not wearing pink on the Day of Pink, but you'll feel better for it.

You are not supposed to be weary of the world, only 4 days into the Easter Season, but I'm getting there. Time to stop reading current events and Pray.
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Ice and snow, bless the Lord.

Thank goodness for Morning Prayer, which puts things in perspective. 

The angels would have to wear winter coats in my neighbourhood this morning. 

Happy Easter! (I typed a Freudian slip and initally wrote Happy Eater!) Actually, I am not a happy eater this morning, having passed my sugar threshold two days ago. I'm craving unsweetened oatmeal at this point. We also woke up to gloomy skies and SNOW on the ground this morning. I am not alone in being totally ready for spring. But Christ is Risen! So that sun has to come out sooner or later!
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"Millennials don’t polish silver."

Well, good for you, kids! Actually, a lot of Boomers won't polish silver either. However, some of us don't mind doing it  (once every 20 years, that is), so kindly just leave us to our silver tea sets and vintage flatware. You've got your "Likes" on Facebook, your Instagram, and your Twitter--just don't y'all go feeling smug and self-righteous about your tiny homes and your not having stuff (sadly, some of the "clutter" that Millennials have given up on having includes "kids").

Everybody seems to like shiny things. I personally prefer drinking out of mine (with a friend is best), where others prefer watching YouTube videos or texting on their shiny things. Same difference. I love my recently acquired vintage Kings Crown (ruby red flashed) "thumbprint" wine/water goblets, cordial glasses, and footed dessert bowls (photos to follow), but if you feel all cozy and homey and fulfilled by the sight of your iPhone on your minimalist acrylic coffee table, more power to you.

By the way, I have yet to cash in on all (or any) of these people who are allegedly selling lovely vintage or antique dining sets. I've been searching for nearly two years, in two provinces, and still haven't found one in good shape. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the influx of cool vintage stuff to thrift stores. My kids can trash it all when I'm gone, and according to the article linked above, they will. C'est la vie.