The dog that shares (runs?) our lives is a Puli--a breed of Hungarian sheep dog. The national dog of Hungary, I've been told. (We had a Puli earlier {and didn't learn our lesson!} and I was walking him in New Haven when an old Hungarian man saw him and burst into tears....)
Puli's first came to Hungary with Atilla and decided they liked it better there than on the steppes of Mongolia.
Anyway, DNA runs deep in Puli's and they are genetically incapable of letting anyone leave the house without throwing a fuss. Bela's job, after all, in the keep the herd together and not let sheep wander away. It's a real pain: he throws his 50 pound body at you to try to keep you indoors....
When our children were small and we had Finney (who's real name was Templamkirte Palak Suba--bred in Hungary by a Jesuit priest..."Templamkirte" means 'church yard') he'd herd Josh and Mimi when we were in Wooster Park, circling and circling and keeping them inside the circle.
When our granddaughters are here, Bela is always laying in front of or across the nearest door. When they start running (we have back stairs as well as front stairs--a house built to make children run) Bela freaks out and either positions himself in front of the front door or porch door.
When you gather your things or put on a coat, he starts barking and dancing between you and the front door. Very annoying.
But today Bern was making a grocery list and asked me if I needed anything--no purse or coat in sight--and he started barking that way.
"Why is he barking?" I asked rhetorically.
"He knows I'm making a shopping list," Bern said calmly, 'and will be going soon.'
She gives him more credit than I do. But who knows how deep the herding DNA runs.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
My kinda church...
The Right Reverend Marcus Bishop (which would make him 'Bishop Bishop', if I'm not mistaken, is the pastor of The Life Center: A Spiritual Community in some beach town in Florida.
During Spring Break this March, Bishop Bishop turned The Life Center into a club for Spring breakers with a 7 day, $20 a night, BYOB with naked painting and slumber parties.
The parties were called "Amnesia: The Tabernacle".
Ponder that if you dare!
Bishop even installed an ATM machine in front of the church in case college folk didn't bring cash to Florida.
County authorities didn't get the spiritual implications of nude body painting inspired by alcohol you brought with you and (spoil sports that they are) took The Life Center's tax exempt status away.
Shame on them! Spiritual folks like to party too! I'm sure at the drunken slumber parties they were discussing matters of the soul.
Man, you just can't hear enough about Florida, can you?
Marco Rubio, what a state you come from and what a state you're in. Marco could detract from my support for Ted Cruz who comes from only the second craziest state, Texas.
During Spring Break this March, Bishop Bishop turned The Life Center into a club for Spring breakers with a 7 day, $20 a night, BYOB with naked painting and slumber parties.
The parties were called "Amnesia: The Tabernacle".
Ponder that if you dare!
Bishop even installed an ATM machine in front of the church in case college folk didn't bring cash to Florida.
County authorities didn't get the spiritual implications of nude body painting inspired by alcohol you brought with you and (spoil sports that they are) took The Life Center's tax exempt status away.
Shame on them! Spiritual folks like to party too! I'm sure at the drunken slumber parties they were discussing matters of the soul.
Man, you just can't hear enough about Florida, can you?
Marco Rubio, what a state you come from and what a state you're in. Marco could detract from my support for Ted Cruz who comes from only the second craziest state, Texas.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Falling down
So, I went through this whole ice and snow winter without falling down (thought this winter taught me I'm not 35 anymore...I walked slowly, carefully all winter).
And today, going out to get in my car, I slipped on black ice and fell in our driveway, loosing all my coffee from my Starbucks cup.
I fell on my knees and hands and laid there for a minute or so. I wondered if I had my cellphone to call Bern inside our house to come out and help me.
Mercifully, I didn't have my phone with me or it would have been another note on how I needed to go to "the Home".
After a minute or so, I got up and drove to Northford and Church.
Nothing hurts anymore--but for a minute or so there I thought, "I'm an old man who just fell down on black ice in his driveway on Palm Sunday."
Humbling that was.
And something to ponder--getting older....
And today, going out to get in my car, I slipped on black ice and fell in our driveway, loosing all my coffee from my Starbucks cup.
I fell on my knees and hands and laid there for a minute or so. I wondered if I had my cellphone to call Bern inside our house to come out and help me.
Mercifully, I didn't have my phone with me or it would have been another note on how I needed to go to "the Home".
After a minute or so, I got up and drove to Northford and Church.
Nothing hurts anymore--but for a minute or so there I thought, "I'm an old man who just fell down on black ice in his driveway on Palm Sunday."
Humbling that was.
And something to ponder--getting older....
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Never before...perhaps never again....
When people ask me who is my favorite college sports teams I always say, "West Virginia University and whoever is playing Notre Dame."
I hate Notre Dame in an irrational way (I admit it). I'd like to think it is the arrogant thing and not the Roman Catholic thing...but, truth be known...I'm not sure.
But tonight for 2 hours, I rooted hard for Notre Dame to beat Kentucky in the NCAA Elite Eight basketball tournament. And they almost, but not quite (2 points) did.
It was liberating to root for the Fighting Irish for the first time in my life. It felt good, in many ways.
So who is my favorite sports teams?
West Virginia University and whoever is playing Notre Dame: unless Notre Dame is playing Kentucky.
That works for me.
I hate Notre Dame in an irrational way (I admit it). I'd like to think it is the arrogant thing and not the Roman Catholic thing...but, truth be known...I'm not sure.
But tonight for 2 hours, I rooted hard for Notre Dame to beat Kentucky in the NCAA Elite Eight basketball tournament. And they almost, but not quite (2 points) did.
It was liberating to root for the Fighting Irish for the first time in my life. It felt good, in many ways.
So who is my favorite sports teams?
West Virginia University and whoever is playing Notre Dame: unless Notre Dame is playing Kentucky.
That works for me.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Hanne
Tomorrow we're going to a 90th birthday 'tea'. Sounds fancy.
Hanna Howard is turning 90. She is a remarkable woman. She was born in Germany and had a Jewish grandmother who was taken to the camps and never came back. She came to America and married Lee Howard.
Hanna and Lee were members of St. Paul's, New Haven when I was Rector there. Lee was the organist/choir director and Hanna was in the choir, even though she and Lee were divorced before I met them.Theirs was a divorce that defies the adage that one of the divorced couple "gets the church".
I always admired them for that.
Hanna is an accomplished musician herself--a pianist of no small measure. A long time ago--20 years maybe--she developed macular degeneration and is legally blind. But she still teaches and plays. Once a year or so I go to 'concerts' she gives in her home in Hamden. She still lives alone and manages to have a full life in spite of her limitations.
Every few months I go to her apartment and read her stuff I have written. She loves that--being read to since she can hardly read at all, even on her computer that has a special attachment for extra-large type, about five words a page.
Once, when she still lived in New Haven, I was at her house and noticed she had a picture of Bern and Josh and Mimi and me on her cork board along with pictures of her children and grandchildren.
That was deeply moving to me, to realize she thought of us as 'family'.
Bern and I have no 'family' near by so we have Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with our 'adopted family'. Hanna is on the Thanksgiving list. She loves to see Mimi and Tim, Josh and Cathy and our granddaughters.
"Adopted family" is really important to us. Bern told me when she and Sherry Ellis (where we were tonight for John Anderson's birthday dinner) went to Jacob's Pillow to visit Mimi, Mimi introduced Bern to a co-worker as 'my mother' and Sherry as 'my other mother'. Sherry, Bern said, fought to hold back tears of joy and wonder.
You can't 'choose' you blood family. But you can choose you're 'adopted family'--that may be why they're so important.
Do you have 'adopted family' in your life? I hope so. And ponder how fortunate you are if you do.
Hanna Howard is turning 90. She is a remarkable woman. She was born in Germany and had a Jewish grandmother who was taken to the camps and never came back. She came to America and married Lee Howard.
Hanna and Lee were members of St. Paul's, New Haven when I was Rector there. Lee was the organist/choir director and Hanna was in the choir, even though she and Lee were divorced before I met them.Theirs was a divorce that defies the adage that one of the divorced couple "gets the church".
I always admired them for that.
Hanna is an accomplished musician herself--a pianist of no small measure. A long time ago--20 years maybe--she developed macular degeneration and is legally blind. But she still teaches and plays. Once a year or so I go to 'concerts' she gives in her home in Hamden. She still lives alone and manages to have a full life in spite of her limitations.
Every few months I go to her apartment and read her stuff I have written. She loves that--being read to since she can hardly read at all, even on her computer that has a special attachment for extra-large type, about five words a page.
Once, when she still lived in New Haven, I was at her house and noticed she had a picture of Bern and Josh and Mimi and me on her cork board along with pictures of her children and grandchildren.
That was deeply moving to me, to realize she thought of us as 'family'.
Bern and I have no 'family' near by so we have Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with our 'adopted family'. Hanna is on the Thanksgiving list. She loves to see Mimi and Tim, Josh and Cathy and our granddaughters.
"Adopted family" is really important to us. Bern told me when she and Sherry Ellis (where we were tonight for John Anderson's birthday dinner) went to Jacob's Pillow to visit Mimi, Mimi introduced Bern to a co-worker as 'my mother' and Sherry as 'my other mother'. Sherry, Bern said, fought to hold back tears of joy and wonder.
You can't 'choose' you blood family. But you can choose you're 'adopted family'--that may be why they're so important.
Do you have 'adopted family' in your life? I hope so. And ponder how fortunate you are if you do.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
OK, give me a few minutes to dream...
John Calapari is the coach of Kentucky's men's basketball team.
Only one coach has a winning record against Calapari.
That coach is Bob Huggins. He's 8-2 against Calapari.
Bob Huggins coaches West Virginia University's men's basketball team.
They play--Kentucky and West Virginia--in about half an hour.
Kentucky is 36-0 this year. West Virginia is 25-9.
No way West Virginia can beat Kentucky--which has probably 8 players who will play in the NBA. West Virginia has, maybe, two.
But let me dream for a few minutes.
WVU beats Kentucky and goes to the Elite Eight!
Imagine that!
Even I can't quite imagine it, but let me dream for a few minutes.
OK?
Gooooooo Mountaineers...............!!!!
Only one coach has a winning record against Calapari.
That coach is Bob Huggins. He's 8-2 against Calapari.
Bob Huggins coaches West Virginia University's men's basketball team.
They play--Kentucky and West Virginia--in about half an hour.
Kentucky is 36-0 this year. West Virginia is 25-9.
No way West Virginia can beat Kentucky--which has probably 8 players who will play in the NBA. West Virginia has, maybe, two.
But let me dream for a few minutes.
WVU beats Kentucky and goes to the Elite Eight!
Imagine that!
Even I can't quite imagine it, but let me dream for a few minutes.
OK?
Gooooooo Mountaineers...............!!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Going to the 'young retired' meeting
Come the end of April, I will have been retired 6 years. I retired the month I had 30 years in the Church Pension fund and was old enough to take SS at 62. (I know people tell you to wait before taking social security) but I figured out I'd be 82 before waiting until 66 would draw even with the amount of money I'd get taking it at 62. Seemed a good bet to me (my father lived to 83 and hopefully I will as well, but by then I'm sure I can live on what I get from the Pension Fund and SS--'free money'...well, not really, it's my money the Pension Fund and the US has been holding for me all these years.)
So, I get invited to a 'young retired priest' gathering at the Commons--what used to be called 'the Diocesan House' but our bishop has re-branded things and moved the headquarters from a mansion in Hartford to a former ball bearing factory in Meridan. Much better, for my taste, and calling it "the Commons" is so New England and so inclusive.
I called my dear friend, Bonni McKinney, at the Commons and asked, "Am I a young retired priest?"
She assured me I was and I look forward to the meeting.
Our Bishop, Ian Douglas, (call me "Ian", he always says just as I tell people to call me "Jim" rather than "Father Bradley"...so I like him a lot) says their are four 'buckets' of priests. This is a fascinating thought and, I believe, so true.
Bucket One is seminary trained priests who work full time as priests. That group is shrinking. In the Diocese of Connecticut 20% of 'full time jobs' have disappeared in the last 5 or 6 years. Places that had 2 assistants now have one. Churches that had a full time assistant no longer do. Places that had a full time priest (just one) might not now.
Bucket Two are seminary trained priests who thought they would work full time but don't anymore. Their jobs were down-sized or there just aren't enough full time jobs around. So, they work part time and figure out how to make more money.
Bucket Three are folks like me--seminary trained, full time priests who are retired and work part time in the church. There are lots of us (baby boomers, after all) and we are holding the places for the priests, who don't exist in large numbers, in Bucket Four.
Bucket Four are priests, either seminary trained or ordained in some other way, who never expected to be 'full time' in ministry. Connecticut no longer accepts folks into the ordination process who can't 'make a living' outside the church. This is the future but there aren't many of them yet so recently retired 'full time' priests are filling in until this bucket of priests is finally available.
I even like the image of 'buckets of priests', swimming around like bait minnows in a bucket of water. I like that image, I really, really do.
And moving from bucket one to bucket three has been a joy for me. I love what I do and look forward to sharing a few hours tomorrow with people like me--first bucket folks who leaped to bucket three....
So, I get invited to a 'young retired priest' gathering at the Commons--what used to be called 'the Diocesan House' but our bishop has re-branded things and moved the headquarters from a mansion in Hartford to a former ball bearing factory in Meridan. Much better, for my taste, and calling it "the Commons" is so New England and so inclusive.
I called my dear friend, Bonni McKinney, at the Commons and asked, "Am I a young retired priest?"
She assured me I was and I look forward to the meeting.
Our Bishop, Ian Douglas, (call me "Ian", he always says just as I tell people to call me "Jim" rather than "Father Bradley"...so I like him a lot) says their are four 'buckets' of priests. This is a fascinating thought and, I believe, so true.
Bucket One is seminary trained priests who work full time as priests. That group is shrinking. In the Diocese of Connecticut 20% of 'full time jobs' have disappeared in the last 5 or 6 years. Places that had 2 assistants now have one. Churches that had a full time assistant no longer do. Places that had a full time priest (just one) might not now.
Bucket Two are seminary trained priests who thought they would work full time but don't anymore. Their jobs were down-sized or there just aren't enough full time jobs around. So, they work part time and figure out how to make more money.
Bucket Three are folks like me--seminary trained, full time priests who are retired and work part time in the church. There are lots of us (baby boomers, after all) and we are holding the places for the priests, who don't exist in large numbers, in Bucket Four.
Bucket Four are priests, either seminary trained or ordained in some other way, who never expected to be 'full time' in ministry. Connecticut no longer accepts folks into the ordination process who can't 'make a living' outside the church. This is the future but there aren't many of them yet so recently retired 'full time' priests are filling in until this bucket of priests is finally available.
I even like the image of 'buckets of priests', swimming around like bait minnows in a bucket of water. I like that image, I really, really do.
And moving from bucket one to bucket three has been a joy for me. I love what I do and look forward to sharing a few hours tomorrow with people like me--first bucket folks who leaped to bucket three....
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