Well, long time no write. Not for lack of things to write, just too lazy to put 'em down.
Took my trip I have dreamed about for years. UK and Ireland. My son went with me to "baby sit" me. Probably a good thing or I would have worn myself out the first full day I was there. We started in London and I believe I could spend a month and still not see all I want to see. I did get to Westminster Abbey and Poet's Corner. Also saw the tombs of a lot of English monarchs including Elizabeth I and Edward I (Long Shanks, the hammer of Scotland). Hard to believe I was walking in the steps of English kings from Harold II (Harold Godwinson, not recognized since William the Bastard slew him at Hastings) to William the Bastard (the Conqueror) to Queen Elizabeth II. I felt the same way at the Tower of London. I saw the execution sites of Anne Bolyn and Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's wives), Henry's armor, the Chapel where the bodies of the executed were born, and Traitor's Gate where Elizabeth I was brought into the Tower when she was arrested by her half-sister Bloody Mary.

You might be able to detect my love of British history. I also love seeing the places I have read about, seen on television, in the movies, or in magazines. Stonehenge, Bath, Cardiff, the Ring of Kerry, and soooo much more. I feel like I just completed a survey course in the sights and sounds of Ireland and the UK, now I want to explore some places in depth. I doubt I will have the chance to go back, but boy I wish I could. I would love to have the leisure to walk around some of the cities and villages. I would love to spend a couple of days in Grassmere, England where Wordsworth lived, died, and is buried. It is a most beautiful village, peaceful and calming.

More later.

February 5, 2012
Super Bowl Sunday. Watching the commercials, interrupted by snip-its of football. Reminds me of  admitting I had bought a Playboy, back in the day, "I only buy it for the articles." Yeah, right. I did admit to a clerk in a convenience store once, "I only buy it for the pictures." I think there are so many watching the game for the commercials. It is half-time and an old blond woman is lip syncing some bad music that is hard to understand, much less appreciate (?). I think I would have enjoyed thirty minutes of Super Bowl's best commercials.

Just saying...

Well, it seems our president is invoking the scriptures to validate raising taxes on the wealthy. "To whom much is given, much is expected..." Is it only money that the scripture refers to? If so, then perhaps he is correct. But many theologians and lay people believe that the admonition applies not just to fiscal property, but the words refer to our talents and abilities also. If that is true, then how is the government to tax our ability to sing, to write, to care for a loved one, to care for the poor? I am sure someone will devise a plan. It will just increase the size of our 1040 forms, but that will be a boon for the paper industry, CPA's, and tax lawyers and courts. 

I now must ask: Is this invocation to validate increased taxes so that we might wipe out poverty? Like the War on Poverty declared by LBJ? I am not sure that is his intent, but if it is, we must needs look at another bit of scripture. Jesus told Judas not to rebuke the woman who anointed Him with a costly oil which Judas contended should have been sold and the proceeds used for the poor, as the "the poor will always be with us, but He would not. I understand this to mean that we cannot reach the perfection of wiping out poverty, but we will always have the opportunity to help those we find less fortunate.

Whether you believe in tithing or not, our giving (monetary, goods, services, or otherwise) is a measure of our belief and commitment to these scriptures. In that regard, I noted that when the tax returns of presidential candidates were released for the public our president had donated 1% of his approximately 7 million dollar income and another candidate had donated almost 15% of his 20-something million dollar income. It occurs to me that to talk the talk is easy, but walking the walk requires more than "lip service."

Just saying...

Someone wiser than I am once said, "When all is said and done, there is usually more said than done." I have been in so many meetings that were the epitome of this quote. In education, it seems to be the norm.
"It goes without saying..." is, unfortunately, followed by everything that should not need to be said. It is such a misleading introduction.After all, if  you know it without having to be told, why do we still get told?
Happiest words uttered on a Sunday morning: "And in conclusion..." Pardon me all good members of the congregation who listen carefully and receive a blessing from the message, but admit, if only  in that secret self we reveal to no one, that you perk up and begin thinking about your empty stomach and a chance for a nap on the sofa after filling the stomach.
"How are you feeling?" Why is that what my doctor asks me as he walks in the examining room? I usually respond with, "I don't know. That's why I'm here." Duh? Same problem with a dentist, who must have been a waite-person during their college years, because he waits until your mouth is stuffed, and then asks, "How are things for you?" Dentists have learned to decipher your "Umph-oop-shugu." The waite-person seems pleased that you are not rude and speak with food in your mouth. After all, they have no desire to bring you another napkin, or water, or more bread.
Every husband cringes when he hears, "We need to talk." There is no telling what will be discussed and that is where the fear is. Are you going to be asked to explain pass interference, or why you can't seem to get your underwear in the hamper? Or, are you going to be confronted with that glance you took at the girl in a halter top at the mall? Last summer!? What man really remembers something over six months old? We need a list for the grocery store even if it is only bread and milk!
Just saying...

But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?
Mark Twain

It seems to me that Twain had an honesty of thought that stuns most of us. Who of us ever thought to pray for Satan? In the Bible Paul says to pray for those who vex us as it will be like pouring hot oil on their heads. Did we not ever think that might work on the old devil?
Other odd thoughts: Why do we get a hair cut and not all our hairs cut? Why do we brush our teeth with a tooth brush? Why do we call the time after sunset as "after dark"? Should it not be "after light"? I understand a pair of socks, but why a pair of underwear or pair of pants? Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? I admit that these are not original thoughts of mine; I read a lot and listen to comics. Comics seem to have the most critical minds. They have the slightly bent point of view that leads to such interesting questions. 
That bent point of view, I think, comes from not accepting the normal as normal. Why is anything "normal"?  Is it because it is what we grow up hearing and are discouraged from questioning? If we question what "everyone" says or believes, does that single us out as "odd"? Like, why do some men wear a belt and suspenders? Are they safety engineers? What if our legs bent the other way at the knees. What would chairs look like? Where would our lap be? What makes a word a "dirty word" dirty? What if a group of people got together and decided that "groom" was dirty, obscene, profane, and socially unacceptable in polite company? Would we all begin to whisper "groom" and snicker at how bad we are? I think maybe my old favorite writer Willie Shakespeare said it best about this last set of questions, "Nothing is either good or bad but thinking make it so." That doesn't answer some of the dumb questions I posed above. It does make me stop and consider my beliefs and the beliefs of others which are in contradiction to them. 
These are just some disconnected musings. I might disagree with myself tomorrow, or I might figure out some answers, or, most likely, I'll have even more questions.
Just saying... 

I have waited three days and there just does not seem to be any difference. Every year everybody gets all het up about a new year. Like things will be different just because we add a another 1 to the year designation. I can only see one thing that is significant. When you write a check, if any of you still do write checks, then you might still be writing "2011" not "2012". That is it. Just that. A new year is just a blip on the time line. No big thang (as some would say).
Big whoop. People make resolutions because it is the "time". But then they don't keep them. Why wait until January 1, to make a resolution? Why not pick some other random date and lie to yourself. Actually, why not make a resolution on the first of each month, after all the first is the first. Then by the middle of the month you can forget it and then start again the next month.
I make the same resolution every year. I resolve not to make any "New Year's" resolutions. That way I am not guilt ridden about failing myself, again. I can stay my fat, slovenly, unimproved self. I enjoy being my own cantankerous self. Maybe that is what I should resolve: I resolve not to change anything about myself -- for good or bad.
Just saying...

I just finished updating my 2012 calendar and address book. I am the joke. More of my addressees begin with Dr. than Mr. or Mrs. Not only that, but I have doctor and lab appointments in to April. My only consolation is that I am still able to walk in and tell 'em where it hurts. "All over mostly more than anywhere else." You know  I do believe it is better to be seen than viewed.
Just saying...