Friends of a Selkie

28 December 2009 @ 02:21 pm

A chill wind with bright
sun is just what the fuzzy
kitties demanded

We opened the windows to let in the cool air and the fuzzier of our cats seem to think it is the BESTEST THING EVARZOMG! They are sitting in the cold air just purring without even any pettings going on.

We're cleaning the house, pre-spring cleaning, I suppose, since we're going to have guests this weekend and next. The guest room sheets are in the wash, and there's a new cover on the chair, and everything is all sparkly in the guest bathroom. I'm pleased, if tired.

I get to rest with Dragon Age, though, so I'm happy. :D

Speaking of happy, this weekend was Unexpected Presents galore! C got me a gorgeous necklace, I got a necklace from Mom,

stonetalker sent me a meditation bag with fetish, and I got a box of goodies from

ici1011! Chicory coffee and beignets mix, and cajun spices! I was SO surprised and pleased! Thank you, everyone! It was like Christmas all over again! :D

I've got one chore left to do: folding clothes, so I'm going to do that and then curl up in my chair and just chill the rest of the day.

Current Mood:

grateful

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 05:34 pm

QUAERITUR: odd elevation style

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/quaeritur-odd-elevation-style/

From a reader:

My family attended a Novus Ordo Christmas Vigil Mass with a visiting priest. During the major elevation (This Is My Body), he elevated the host with one hand (his right) while the other held on to the altar. He did the same at the next elevation of the cup. I have never seen this done in the fifty years I’ve attended Catholic Masses (both old and new rite). The elevation has always been two hands, thumb and forefinger. Is this valid or licit, both or neither.

Maybe the priest has bursitis. The would have been improper for sure in the traditional form of Mass in the Roman Rite. Both hands are designated and for good reason: to steady the chalice. You also create a symmetry that way. I do not believe there is ant indication if both hands for the Novus Ordo. Thus, while what you saw is a departure from the Roman way, a rupture of continuity as it were, I don’t think it was illicit.

NOTA BENE: If I am not mistaken, and I am dredging my memory here, does the Novus Ordo GIRM instruct the priest at the offertory to raise the paten with the host and the chalice with the wine with water using both hands? If that is the case, then it seems fitting that the elevation would similarly be with both hands.

I have seen older priests do this one-handed, btw, because they have shoulder troubles.

Don’t assume a strange motive.

Post from: WDTPRS

QUAERITUR: odd elevation style

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 05:28 pm

Card. Daly

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/card-daly/

Prayers are requested by some readers not only for the Church in Ireland, but especially right now for retired Cahal Card. Daly.

Ireland’s most senior Cardinal, Cahal Daly, has been taken Belfast City Hospital where he is said to be seriously ill. It is understood he being treated at the coronary care unit. Cardinal Daly, 92, became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in 1990 and served in this role until his retirement in 1996. He was created Cardinal in 1991.

Post from: WDTPRS

Card. Daly

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 04:51 pm

Benedict XIV

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/benedict-xiv/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8744

After the time I spent in a course from the Congregation for Causes of Saints, my fingers – mainly from muscle memory I think – tend to type Benedict XIV instead of Benedict XVI.

Here is a wonderful painting of Papa Lambertini (+1758) by Pierre Hubert Subleyras at the Met. It is a relatively new acquisition.

Benedict XIV was a fascinating guy and there are many amusing anecdotes about his ways and wit.

He was a brilliant canonist who gave us what is still pretty much still today the procedures followed for the causes of beatification, miracles, martyrdom, canonization, etc.

Post from: WDTPRS

Benedict XIV

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wakeup_and_live

28 December 2009 @ 04:46 pm

The Holy Innocents

http://scg-wakeupcall.blogspot.com/2009/12/holy-innocents.html

The Massacre of the Holy Innocents by Duccio di Buoninsegna

If there is one day in the twelve days of Christmas that's liable to put a lump in your throat, I would say it would have to be today. For the calendar for this date commemorates the round up of all the male babies in Herod's kingdom for slaughter. The King was afraid; there was a new king that had been born, one more powerful than himself. And so Herod knew what had to be done: kill him.

Isn't that how so many respond to the threat of someone or something else that challenges "the norm"? Kill it. Kill them. Kill the "others". I can't help but think about the situation in Africa with the LGBT community... or the senseless murders of transgender people in this country... when I think of how Herod sought to stamp out Jesus through a massacre of all Jewish males of a certain age. Fear of the "other" has always led to horrible actions.

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy

innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray,
into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your
great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish
your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit,, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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ladycinnahster

28 December 2009 @ 11:14 am

Writer's Block: Bottoms up!

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Tags: writer's block

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 02:25 pm

Where you are

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/where-you-are-12/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8742

Here is a small snapshot of the last few minutes of visitors to the blog. The locations are in some cases estimations.

Rome, Lazio
Carnwath, South Lanarks…
Waterbury, Connecticut
Cheshire, Connecticut
Orlando, Florida
Nashville, Tennessee
Louisville, Kentucky
Chicago, Illinois
Greenville, North Carol…
Tucson, Arizona
Correggio, Emilia-Romagna
Madrid
Boone, North Carolina
Dublin
Pearl, Mississippi
SHREVEPORT, Louisiana
Manila
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Farmington, Michigan
Bismarck, North Dakota
Norfolk, Virginia
California, Maryland
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Waterford, Michigan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Markham, Ontario
San Diego, California
Sweden
New York
Keansburg, New Jersey
Houston, Texas
Pennsauken, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Dartford, Kent
Stony Point, New York
Perryville, Missouri
Louisville, Kentucky
Forth, South Lanarkshire
Cranberry Twp, Pennsylv…
Saint Petersburg, Florida
Toronto, Ontario
Vienna, Wien
Dallas, Texas
Toronto, Ontario
Vienna, Wien
Dallas, Texas
Lans, Buenos Aires
Olathe, Kansas
Tyler, Texas
Peoria, Arizona
Cleveland, Ohio
Pineville, Louisiana
Columbus, Ohio
Madison, Wisconsin
Corbin, Kentucky
Indianapolis, Indiana
Toronto, Ontario
Simpsonville, South Car…
Breda, Noord-Brabant
Bradford, Ontario
Austin, Texas
Cincinnati, Ohio
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Victoria, British Colum…
Danbury, Connecticut
Bolton
Bergen, Hordaland
Marlborough, Massachuse…
Clinton Township, Michi…
Fort Myers, Florida
Itapema, Santa Catarina
Wake Forest, North Caro…
Boise, Idaho
Topeka, Kansas
Granby, Massachusetts
Kearny, New Jersey
Wilmington, North Carol…

Post from: WDTPRS

Where you are

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 02:21 pm

Good news?

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/good-news-4/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8741

What’s going on? Have any good news to share?

Post from: WDTPRS

Good news?

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 02:06 pm

Card. Etchegaray

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/card-etchegaray/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8740

We read on VIS from yesterday that Roger Card. Etchegaray, 87, underwent an operation for the broken femur (upper leg bone) he received as a Christmas gift from the wacko who pulled Pope Benedict down.

Please remember Card. Etchegaray in your prayers for a smooth recovery.

Post from: WDTPRS

Card. Etchegaray

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sinfestfeed

28 December 2009 @ 01:00 pm

2009-12-28: Sinfest

http://www.cartoonlabs.com/comics/index.php?date=2009-12-28&show=sinfest

Sinfest
Tatsuya Ishida

by Tatsuya Ishida

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wdtprs

28 December 2009 @ 05:17 am

A day in New York

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/a-day-in-new-york/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8739

A wonderful day in NYC.

It was warm and sunny. Here is a nice view of my favorite tall building, the Chrysler Building, with its shining hubcaps.

After lunch we caught a train to Columbus Circle and then had a stroll in Central Park.

And then into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for a few hours.

I hadn’t seen the Ancient Greek holdings for a while, so we spent some time in that collection.

Here is a fine Attic red-figure terracotta kylix from about 515-510 BC. It is even signed and has the owner’s name incised into the bottom in Etruscan letters.

An illuminated MS with the 1st Psalm.

This is a Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli from 1480.

"But Father! But Father!", you might be saying. "Why is there a cucumber hanging from the corner? Isn’t that a little strange?"

Perpend.

Here is my take.

What is interesting here are the symbols that form a chiasmus or X in the composition, therefore a Cross.

At your 2 and your 7 are respectively symbols of Original Sin and Evil One, the apple and a nasty little fly.

The Christ Child doesn’t like the look of the fly at all.

The other symbols are at your 10 a cucumber or gourd and at your 5 a crack in the balustrade. The lines of the chiasmus pass through the center where the Christ Child’s hands gently clutch a type of goldfinch.

The cuke, very much like the gourd, is associated with the story of Jonah and the whale and therefore the Resurrection.

The goldfinch is a little tougher, but I recall something about a legend that a goldfinch tried to help Christ on the road to Calvary by landing on His Head and pulling out one of the thorns. The red feathers on the heads of some species of goldfinches suggest this.

I figured you might be missing shots of birds at my feeders. Here are some substitutes.

The crack in the balustrade, because it is juxtaposed to the gourd, I am guessing is a reference to the cracking and splitting in the Holy of Holies.

So here we have a story of our redemption in the shape of a Cross in the composition. And the Christ Child, recoiling from the nasty fly, symbol of corruption, finds comfort in the little goldfinch.

Okay.. this is why it takes me a long time to explore galleries.

My guy St. Augustine in a polychrome statue from 15th c. Burgundy

And we were at the lighting of the Christmas tree!

I have a video of the lights coming up on the tree, but it is too big to transfer at the moment.

Post from: WDTPRS

A day in New York

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snopes_dot_com

28 December 2009 @ 03:00 pm

Top Drawers

http://www.snopes.com/business/names/bvd.asp

Is men's underwear referred to as 'BVDs' because the term is an abbreviation of the phrase 'Boy's Ventilated Drawers'?

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soldiergrrrl

27 December 2009 @ 09:01 pm

Am I the only person...

Who really doesn't care about seeing Avatar?

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mntnlaurel

27 December 2009 @ 06:32 pm

(no subject)

Whoever the Fuck is playing games and going behind my back to Shaun you are proving you do not belong on my friend list. Today he came to me about this I had supposedly posted on FB and here...some of which are to be more than a year old. I really really appreciate that. ....and you wonder why I have been so quiet about my personal life. Shit!!!!!

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sannion

27 December 2009 @ 12:04 pm

The world is a magical place

So, this morning I was waiting for the bus and out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure pass by. At first I thought it was an old friend - roughly the same build and height, and wearing a coat similar to the one I'd last seen them in. But upon closer inspection it was someone else entirely.

Naturally, this got me thinking about my friend and wondering what she's been up to over the last year or so. We used to work together, and

erl_queen and I had invited her to attend a couple of our festivals (including the lovely Bast Journeys one) even though she's more into Afro-Caribbean stuff. Well, my bus eventually arrived and I got in line to board ...

... and up walks Cheryl herself. My jaw dropped and I laughed aloud. I mean, I haven't seen or heard from her in almost a year! Then poof, this happens. I explained the wonderful synchronicity and we chatted for a bit until I had to actually get on.

I'm still tickled by it. The world really is a magical place and the more you lead a magical life the more this stuff seems to happen. I don't know if you attract it to you through magic, or if the magic just opens your eyes to what's already there, but either way I love it and love our world which is so full of awesomeness.

Tags: strange happenings

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wakeup_and_live

27 December 2009 @ 06:02 pm

The Feast of St. John

http://scg-wakeupcall.blogspot.com/2009/12/feast-of-st-john.html

Today, our services at St. John's went off the well-worn path of the Christmas lectionary to celebrate our namesake saint, the evangelist and loved disciple John.

The Gospel According to John is much different than the other three synoptic gospels. In fact, in my study of John from EfM, the we can see the entire layout of the gospel as being like an opera with overture at the beginning sounding like an overture echoing the first creation story of Genesis ("In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.") There is the announcement from John the Baptist to make straight the way of the Lord as the opening aria of the opera, and then Jesus, the man (not the baby) is on the scene. This Jesus is philosophical and engages in complex discussions with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well. He reveals to his listeners some of the keys to his identity by using the "I am" language ("I am the bread of life" "I am the true vine" "I am the light, the life, the truth"). And, as with the synoptic gospels, there are many who do not believe and the unbelief will eventually be the undoing of Jesus as a human, and will lead to the crucifixion. And, what might be seen as a tragic opera, does not end that way because Jesus is resurrected and returns to his disciple called Simon Peter and reverses the poor man's transgression by asking him three times, "Do you love me?" (Remember, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times at the time of his trial).

The sad part of John's gospel is that because of his references to "the Jews", this book has often been misquoted and misused to demonize the Jewish people and has led to persecution of Jews at the hands of Christians. As with all Scripture, those with evil intent will use the Bible as a bomb, not a book. When reading John, one has to understand that he was writing at a time when there was increasing tensions in the Temples as the olden day Jews for Jesus were showing up, and the Jews who did not recognize Jesus as Messiah were not interested in having Jesus held up to them all the time. In this way, John is the evangelist who might well be seen as the one who brought us closer to having a Christian identity. And that's OK, but shouldn't be seen as giving us license to crack on those who don't think and believe as we do. As I've said often here, God is a whole lot smarter than we are, and we have no idea how God is working to get the light to pierce through the darkness. Our mission is to look for it, and move along that lighted path.

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light; that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
--The Collect for St. John

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wdtprs

27 December 2009 @ 06:53 pm

Lunch under the bridge

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/lunch-under-the-bridge/

I met two friends after Mass for lunch at Pershing Square under the bridge at Grand Central Terminal.

Best. Corned Beef Hash. Anywhere.

Post from: WDTPRS

Lunch under the bridge

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threeorfour
[tallahassee]

27 December 2009 @ 12:55 pm

(no subject)

So I want to go back to school @ FSU. Does anyone know a really good admissions officer that will help me out? I don't want to the run around.

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wakeup_and_live

27 December 2009 @ 03:33 pm

R.I.P. Arthur B. Ward III

http://scg-wakeupcall.blogspot.com/2009/12/rip-arthur-b-ward-iii.html

Yesterday I learned of the sudden death of 76-year-old Arthur "Art" Ward. Art had a short on-stage association with the Mickee Faust Club.

For many years, he had become a fixture in the background because his late wife, Dr. Maryanne Ward, had been one of our writers and a very large presence in her motorized wheelchair which sometimes doubled as a tank, or Pharaoh's throne. Art's biggest breakthrough as an actor was in a video short I wrote called, "K-Tel Kurt Weill" in which he played the title character at the piano. With the glasses, Art was a near dead-ringer for the German composer. And Maryanne was a very grumpy looking Lotte Lenya. It was fitting to put him at the piano. He loved music, and had picked up the accordian. We also used his sense of rhythm to be our drummer in Maryanne's masterpiece, "MacBeef; a fast-food tradgedie". The "Braveheart" make-up and costume were hysterical.

Art had devoted much of his life caring for Maryanne as her illness debilitated her more and more. Since her passing, he was able to take care of himself and do things he'd always wanted to do. He had bought a place outside of Aspen, so that he could enjoy some R&R there.

Art was an avid runner, so his death by a heart attack was particularly unexpected. I am sorry that his life ended just as he was getting a second-wind. His brother, sister-in-law, and niece, his companion, his running family, and the Faustkateers will miss him.

Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord;
And let light perpetual shine upon him.

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wdtprs

27 December 2009 @ 04:43 pm

Other incidents concerning the Vatican and security

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/12/other-incidents-concerning-the-vatican-and-security/

http://wdtprs.com/blog/?p=8736

The intrepid Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli has an interesting piece today. Here is my fast translation of a key bit:

A car driven by an unbalanced young man entered at high velocity into the Vatican bypassing both the check of the Swiss Guard and that of the Gendarmes, and almost hit a priest who was coming out of the ceremony for the 1st Vespers of Advent presided over by the Pope. Moreover, some days later, a car of the Vatican Gendarmes with a Vatican City State license plate was struck by a few pistol shots while parked near a Rome restaurant on the via Aurelia Antica.

Post from: WDTPRS

Other incidents concerning the Vatican and security

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