The tag line for Emmanuel-Brinklow Seventh-Day Adventist Church is We Are Family, which seems fitting for what I've been dealing with over the last week. (More on that some other time. Suffice to say that I am doing fine, more or less.) Read more →
And you get through almost anything, and you live to be 96. And sometimes you wonder why. But when you look up into that blue sky, you think, "it's gonna be all right." Anna S. Wise June 9, 1911 - January 24, 2010 Read more →
Here is a huge, evangelical Christian house of worship, Immanuel's Church. This picture shows just a small piece of the building. There is an inlaid cross in that brownish section to the right; the main entrance seems to be those doors to the left. There is always something happening at Immanuel's Church; I've never seen an empty parking lot here. I like the tagline of this church: You will be loved here. That's comforting, at... Read more →
More than once today I asked Mom what was going on. She didn't respond. She hasn't been awake for days; hasn't eaten any food or drunk any appreciable amounts of liquid. She doesn't swallow anymore; the nurses give her meds as liquids slipped under her tongue. She breathes in great gulps, the oxygen tank by the bed gurgling as she drinks in the air. And yet, she holds my hand. Her thumbs quiver as they... Read more →
I've whirled around the sun 58 times now, spun around the earth's axis far more than that. No wonder I get dizzy! Thanks to everyone who sent cards (e and otherwise), wrote on my Facebook wall, and tweeted with birthday greetings. I love you all! It's been a really nice, laid back kind of day -- of course it helps having my birthday fall on a holiday! I have to say that this horoscope, which... Read more →
Set back from New Hampshire Avenue is St. Luke's Episcopal Church, a simple but lovely chapel built in 1870. Strictly speaking, this church fronts on Brighton Dam Road, but it's so pretty and so close to New Hampshire Avenue that I had to include it. So here it is. This building is the second chapel built on the site; the original was built in 1761. It's a Chapel of Ease, which means that this church... Read more →
Some of you may remember Joe's rather short-lived blog from a couple of years ago. Well, he's at it again, only now he's contributing to a really great site devoted to stories from those valiant folks who work retail. The site's called Retail Hell Underground. It's run by a gent named Freeman Hall, who has also written a pretty hilarious book of his adventures as a purse handbag sales associate at "The Big Fancy." The... Read more →
Welcome to the Cambodian Buddhist Temple. Here, excerpted from their site, is the Fourth Noble Truth: The way to end suffering is to follow the Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Path (Magga Sacca), namely, Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right mindfulness, and Right Concentration. Read more →
There was a Three Stooges marathon on AMC on New Year's Eve. I know, I know; the Stooges are crass and violent and stupid and they teach bad things to children and... I love 'em. Sorry. There it is. But I digress. One of the episodes was called "Violent is the Word for Curly". You might think that's just an extraordinary example of truth in advertising, but it's actually a spoof on a movie called... Read more →
Joe just woke me up and told me to go to bed. It's only eight o'clock, but he's right. I've been snoozing for about an hour, the result of some Coricidin night time cold remedy. "Oh!" I hear you cry. "Have you forsaken your beloved NyQuil?" Actually, yes. The good doctor at the Doc In A Box told me that Coricidin was better for folks with high blood pressure. I hear and obey. Yes, I... Read more →