Sweet

A Good Man - It's a cartoon but you still might want a tissue.

Nostra Maxima Culpa

I watched this powerful show on HBO and was really appalled by the amount of child molestation that has gone on in this church for so long with little or no accountability. Sullivan calls the current Pope the J. Edgar Hoover of the Vatican. Worshiped like a God on earth he lives a lie every day. Link here to article about this horrid situation. I know of one Catholic Priest here in Ames in the 1970s who did these things because he was at the resort my family went to and I heard about him later. 

The family that brought him to the lake did not know of this until after he was moved from Ames. He was young, pleasant and fun but he had dark secrets.  He came here from Rhode Island where there was a long history of abusing boys. This was reported in the Des Moines Register. I looked him up on-line and found that he had been moved around to cover-up his crime. He is dead now but I wonder what damage he did to so many young boys. If there is a just God surely Robert Marcantonio is not with him now. More here, here, and here.

Andrew Sullivan (a Catholic) has written an excellent post on this show.  Even if you cannot watch the show I recommend you read Sullivan't article here.  Sometime the Vatican must be held accountable for what has happened to far too many young victims.

The Parable of the Angels

A friend sent me this story. He is a very deep thinker and this story is one someone told him a long time ago and he wanted to share it with me and I wanted to share it with you

There were these two angels traveling Earth. They were exhausted from walking all day long, and it was now nightfall. It was cold and dark and they were hungry and so tired. The older one pointed out a huge mansion and said, "Let's go there and see if the will put us up for the night."

So they go to the door of this big huge beautiful old mansion and knock. The rich man comes to the door and says, "What do you want."

The younger angel says, "Please sir, we are traveling and we are exhausted and cold and hungry. May we please stay in your lovely home this evening?"

The rich man rolls his eyes and leads them to the basement. He says, "Well I guess you can sleep down here, it's just an old dirt floor in the foundation of the house, and the foundation has these big drafty cracks in it, but it's better than outside. Just be gone by dawn." And he leaves them. 

The younger angel lays down to sleep but sees the older angel inspecting the foundation. The older angel begins to work, and spends the night fixing all the cracks, sealing up the foundation. The younger angel says to him, "What are you doing? This wealthy man could have been so generous to us and it wouldn't have affected him at all. He barely let us stay in his basement, and you're helping him? You're fixing his foundation?"

The older angel shrugs and says, "You can't judge what you don't know. Things are not always what they seem."

So for another day the angels walk and walk until nightfall and again, they are exhausted and cold and hungry. They come to a small house. It is tiny and obviously the people here are poor. Before they can even decide if they should ask the small home owners if they could stay the night, the owners came running out to them on the road.

The young husband and wife put their arms around the angels and said, "Come inside! You must be so cold out here! We have a warm fire. You will spend the night with us. Whatever we have we will share with you." They are smiling and happy, they are not at all upset that they are poor and have a meager home. They smile at each other and explain that they are newly weds, and very much in love. "It's a small home and we don't have much but we have this cow, so we have fresh milk and cheese. It's how we survive. And we have our deep love for each other. So therefore it's a good home. Come inside!" 

And they bring the angels into their home. The angels happily sit down in front of the warm fire, and the husband and wife gladly give them the little food they have, and they gladly share the few blankets they have. The young angel soon falls asleep.

In the morning the young angel wakes to find the couple sitting at the table crying. The older angel is no where to be seen. The young angel jumps and asks them, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, it's so terrible!" The young couple tells them. "Our cow has died! How will we live! What will we do?"

The young angel runs outside to see, and there he sees the older angel with Death. The older angel is shaking Death's hand, and Death walks away, with the cow.

The younger angel is furious. He begins screaming at the older angel. "How could you do this!! What is wrong with you! First that selfish horrible wealthy man won't even give us a crumb or a candle, and you spend all night repairing his foundation! And as if that's not enough, last night, this wonderful young newly wed couple invite us into their home and they give us everything they can give us unselfishly, but here you are allowing Death to kill their cow?? How horrible are you!"

The older angel says, "This is your lesson in our travels. You can not judge what you don't know. Things are now always what they seem."

The young angel cries, "What is that supposed to mean!!"

And the older angel explains, "Two nights ago at the mansion, I spied hidden gold bars in the foundation of the house. Treasure hidden unbeknownst to the wealthy man. I repaired the cracks so he would never see and find the gold that he did not deserve. And last night, I spent the entire night out here. I begged and pleaded with Death all night long. Last night, Death came for the wife. I begged him to take the cow instead."

A Short Story

I went to the store a couple of weeks ago and among other things I purchased two canisters of coffee.  One French Roast and another smaller Brazilian.  

I bought a lot of groceries that day and filled several cloth bags with my purchases.  I got them home and unpacked some of them and put the other bags (unpacked) on the counter.

I used to get my coffee through the mail.  subscribing to Gevalia Coffee and I truly love their coffee.  However it got to be rather expensive so I decided to cut down somewhat and just get some Folgers.  Folgers is owned by the Smucker's Company who make Smuker jams and jellies and who have the motto.  "with a name like Smucker's it has to be good."  The original Smucker family were Christian Scientists, a church I used to belong to and still feel a closeness to the teachings.  (Funny they would buy a coffee company as CS aren't supposed to drink coffee.)

I ran out of the old coffee and looked around for the Folgers coffee.  I could not find it anywhere.  I unpacked the bags, no coffee.  I looked every place I could think of where they might be and no coffee.  So I called the grocery store and gave them the receipt number and details of the sale and asked if they would have any way of checking on what happened to my coffee.  He had me call back the next day to talk to the manager, which I did.

The manager told me to come in and pick up new coffee and I did and they did not charge me for it.  I got it home and opened up the small canister and made some coffee.

A few days (or maybe a week) later I was sitting on my chair and I turned to open the refrigerator.  I looked into the refrigerator and there at eye level was the original two canisters of coffee which I had placed in the refrigerator on a shelf still in the original bag and on the lower shelf where I would not have seen it while standing.  Embarrassing.

So Sunday when I went to the grocery store I took two coffee canisters off the shelf and took them to the cashier paid for them and then told her the story and had her put them back on the shelf.  The Universe is in balance again.

Since I am not sharing on Facebook right now I found this to share.

As I said.  They forced me to have Timeline and I don't like it.  If I had control over the Timeline half and could choose what goes there it would be different.  But I don't and I don't like it and I feel like the Republicans are in charge and I have no control of anything and they don't care.  So I am not posting there right now.

Happy Wednesday.  Hugs.

The Ballad of Johnny Sands

I was reading "Rules by the Meanest Mommy" the other day and came across this entry.

Part A – Do not tie your hands behind your back and tell your cousin to push you off the porch.

Part B – If your cousin ties her hands behind her back and tells you to push her off the porch, don’t.

Part C – If you hit your head because your hands were tied behind your back while your cousin pushed you off the porch (per your request), do not blame your cousin.

It reminded me of an old song which I learned as a child.  Not sure whether my grandfather or his brother taught it to me but I found the words on line. I changed a few of them to the way I remembered them

Johnny Sands

Johnny Sands

There was a man named Johnny Sands.
Who married a Betsy Hague.
Although she brought him gold and lands,
She proved a terrible plague.

The old man vowed he would drown himself;
In the river that ran below."
"Pray do," said she you silly old fool.
I wished it long ago."

"For fear that I might courage lack,
And try to save my life,
You tie my hands behind my back."
"I will," replied his wife.

She tied his hands behind his back,
And when securely done,
He said now I'll stand on the brink,
And you prepare to run."

So down the hill this lovin' wife
Came running with all her force
The old man stepped a little one side,
And in she tumbled in, of course.

Now Dashing splashing like a fish,
"Oh Save me, Johnny Sands!"
"I can't, my dear, though much I wish,
For you have tied my hands."

(Traditional Appalachian)

My Tony Curtis Story

My friend Dianne has a post about Tony Curtis over at her Blog. You should read it. Click here.

I have two Tony Curtis Stories I can tell. I will only tell one.

In 1968 I was visiting my Aunt Ellen in Los Angeles. One of her house mates, Cathy, needed to go to Cedars Hospital every day to see her father. I would drive her over and sit in the waiting room and watch people while she visited her father. I really enjoyed watching the people all of whom seemed to know each other.

One day there was a Rolls Royce parked in the lot where we parked and the parking lot attendant told me that it belonged to Tony Curtis. I didn't know much about him but I had enjoyed his movies. The Rolls was parked away from other cars and across three or four parking spaces. (Listen if I had a Rolls, I would have parked it the same way.)

I walked over to look at it up close and saw a red cardigan sweater in the seat. I assumed it belonged to Mr. Curtis. As I leaned in to look at the sweater (which I can still see in my mind's eye) I noticed the label. Tony Curtis purchased that sweater at Sears. I thought it was kind of neat. Big Hollywood Star and he still bought his sweater at Sears. Just thought I'd tell my Tony Curtis story. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs. j

From the Soup Kitchen

The Soup Kitchen is the Newsletter of Mt. Vernon Lodge. When I read this story I laughed out loud. I got permission to share it. I do hope it is true.

The Kohl’s Shopping Trip

(Thanks to Bro. Bruce Scott, who sent it to Bro. Chuck Jacobs, who sent it to us.)

Clutching their Kohl’s shopping bags, Ellen and Kay woefully gazed down at a dead cat in the mall parking lot. Obviously a recent hit…no flies, no smell. “What business could that poor kitty have had here?” murmured Ellen.

“Come on, Ellen, let’s just go…”

But Ellen had already grabbed her shopping bag and was explaining, “I’ll just put my things in your bag, and then I’ll use this tissue.”

She dumped her purchases into Kay’s bag and then used the tissue paper to cradle and lower the former feline into her own Kohl’s bag and cover it. They continued the short trek to the car in silence, stashing their goods in the trunk.

But it occurred to both of them that if they left Ellen’s burial bag in the trunk, warmed by the Texas sunshine while they ate, Kay’s Lumina would soon lose that new-car smell. They decided to leave the bag on top of the trunk, and they headed over to K & W Cafeteria.

After they went through the serving line and they sat down at a window table. They had a view of Kay’s Chevy with the Kohl’s bag still on the trunk.

But not for long! As they ate, they noticed a woman in a red gingham shirt stroll by their car. She looked quickly this way and that, and then took the Kohl’s bag without breaking stride. She quickly walked out of their line of vision Kay and Ellen shot each other a wide-eyed look of amazement.

It all happened so fast that neither of them could think how to respond.

“Can you imagine?” finally sputtered Ellen.

“The nerve of that woman!” Kay sympathized with Ellen, but inwardly a laugh was building as she thought about the grand surprise awaiting the female thief.

Just when she thought she’d have to giggle into her napkin, she noticed Ellen’s eyes freeze in the direction of the serving line. Following her gaze, Kay recognized the woman in the red gingham shirt with The Kohl’s bag hanging from her arm.

She was brazenly pushing her tray toward the cashier. Helplessly they watched the scene unfold.

After leaving the register, the woman settled at a table across from theirs, put the bag on an empty chair and began to eat.

After a few bites of baked whitefish and green beans, she casually lifted the bag into her lap to survey her treasure. Looking from side to side, but not far enough to notice her rapt audience three tables over, she pulled out the tissue paper and peered into the bag.

Her eyes widened, and she began to make a sort of gasping noise. The noise grew.

The bag slid from her lap as she sank to the floor, wheezing and clutching her upper chest. The beverage cart attendant quickly recognized a customer in trouble and sent the busboy to call 911, while she administered the Heimlich maneuver.

A crowd quickly gathered that did not include Ellen and Kay, who remain riveted to their chairs for seven whole minutes until the ambulance arrived. In a matter of minutes, the woman with the red gingham shirt emerged from the crowd, still gasping, and securely strapped on a gurney.

Two well-trained EMS volunteers steered her to the waiting ambulance, while a third scooped up her belongings.

The last they saw of the distressed cat-burglar was as she disappeared behind the ambulance doors—the Kohl’s Bag perched on her stomach!!

God does take care of those who do bad things! (AND once in a while...He allows us to witness it!)