Here's something I wrote 10 years ago

   Requim in Pache

Robin Roberts died this week.

He was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.

When I was but a child.

 

He won at least 20 games 7 times.

He completed over half the games he started.

(Unheard of in the pitch count crazy present.)

He's in the Hall of Fame.

And now he's dead.

 

I can still remember, 

four decades later,

his baseball card.

A beefy, smiling man with a great fastball.

 

When I went away to college,

for reasons I'll never know,

my mother threw away

the two shoe boxes full

of baseball cards.

"I didn't think you'd mind,"

she said.

 

Mourning Robin Roberts

and my baseball cards

seems vain, even to me.

 

Mourning childhood gone through....

Well, that makes perfect sense.

 

5/10/10

 

 

 

This last thing

This final thing

 

       The older I get, the fewer things I find I have to believe. I think I've got it down

to the basics of my 'creed'.

          These are the things I still need to believe:

          *God loves me (us) unconditionally. Everyone, no matter how twisted or even 'evil' is a child of God.

          *Treat others as you want to be treated.

          *Welcome the stranger always, even if the stranger means you harm.

          *Give to those in need.

          *Be thankful always, for everything.

          That may be enough for me. I'll ponder it, but right now I can't think of anything else I need. That will be quite enough I think, to carry around. “Travel lightly” has become my motto as I've moved into Medicare years.

          There's lots more I could write about—events and people...oh, so many people that made my life as an Episcopal priest, though I never wanted to do it, the best life ever. Really. I can't imagine, looking back, being  more joyful or more fulfilled or more complete in any other calling. (I actually teach at the University of Connecticut in Waterbury every other semester or so in a program for those over 50. So, I've gotten to be a 'professor', though when I think it through, that's what I've been all along—a professor—one who professes, just about God rather than Hemingway and Fitzgerald.)

          I do miss having not written the Great American Novel—though I've written a couple of novels...three in fact: one straight fiction, one mystery and one fantasy...just the kind of books I love to read. The novel is titled The Igloo Factory, with the sub-title “a romance of the 60's”; the mystery is Murder on the Block, about a crime on Block Island, RI; the fantasy is called The Princess and the Sailor. If you want to read any of them, get in touch and I'll send them to you. My son, the lawyer, is frustrated that I've never got them published. He doesn't understand that the 'writing' is the gift to me. The business of trying to get them published is just too complicated for my aging mind. Maybe he'll get them published after I die. Good for him! That's the only way I could pay for his 3 daughters' college education....

 

 

It's really not time

 I'm really not ready to pounce on the president and republican senators for trying to fill RBG's seat on the Supreme court.

Oh, I will. But it's really not time.

We need mourn for her and let her public services happen before getting too political.

She was one of the most influential Supreme Court justices of all time.

Her tireless, dogged work for equal rights bettered life, not just for women and minorities, but for all of us.

We have a more just system that would have had without her. There is lots more to do, but she plowed the field so others can plant freedom and democracy to a greater level.

My daughter texted to say, "I wish I could sleep until 2022!"

In another text she said it wasn't her life, but the loss of Ginsberg and the grave uncertainties in our country she wishes she could sleep through.

Lots of us probably feel the same.

2020 has been a brutal year.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcFflZ7LjKCAqPJyfVmdNA8L7eeADtTSW

link to my video blog. All opinions in this blog are mine and mine alone.

 

 

I won the bet!

I won the bet!

Already the president and Mitch the b**** are salivating about replacing RBG on the supreme court.

That, even though Mitch wouldn't have a vote on Merrick Garland, Obama's appointment--NINE MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION!!!

With only 45 days before the election the pres and mitch are scrambling to nominate and get a vote.

Two Republican senators have already said 'no' to this move. Come on Mitt--make it three!

The political two-faced hypocrisy of this move is beyond imagination.

And it might just backfire on Mitch and the President. The overwhelming opinion, not just among democrats, is that the 'next' president should fill the seat.

If you bet against me, pay up!

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcFflZ7LjKCAqPJyfVmdNA8L7eeADtTSW

link to my youtube blog. All opinions here are mine and mine alone.

 

A contrast of opposites

(ok, very political, if you want to avoid that)

Both the president and Joe Biden held town hall meetings this week. The president was in a hall in Philly and Joe was at a drive-in movie theater in Scranton.

That wasn't the only contrast.

George Stephandopilis (if I could spell his name) hosted the president and was fact checking him all the way through the 2 hours or so. Anderson Cooper didn't have to fact check Joe at all. He told the truth.

The president contradicted things he had said about the pandemic and health care and George called him on it.

Joe spoke with compassion and care to everyone, even the Republicans who asked him questions. There was genuine concern for the people asking him the questions. The president just tried to make political points.

Joe pointed out things he disagreed with the president about while the president downgraded Joe several times.

The president has made a big mistake in calling Joe names and labeling him 'slow' and 'not smart'. It lowers the bar for Joe so he'll sound brilliant in the debates if he merely makes sense!

Such a contrast between two men and two opponents.

(Just found out)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died today.

Want to make a bet the the president and Mitch will try to replace her even if the president loses in 45 days?

I bet they will.

She was a champion of the Constitution and human rights. She will be missed.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcFflZ7LjKCAqPJyfVmdNA8L7eeADtTSW (link to my youtube blog)

all opinions here, under the castor oil tree, are mine and mine alone

 

Masks

What is this nonsense about not wearing masks because it violates your constitutional rights?

I watched a video today of dozens of people storming a Walmart without masks, shouting and singing, spreading whatever germs they have around the store for those there and those to come later.

I may always wear a mask when I go out in public.

Experts say the flu season won't be as bad this year because people are wearing masks.

People in hospitals have always worn masks to protect themselves and those they go home to.

Put on a mask you idiots!

It's not about you, it's about the people you love.

It's about me and everyone else.

Our constitution says we are all created equal.

So put on a mask to protect your equals.

Just do it. It's not hard. I'm used to it now and actually feel uncomfortable without one, just walking down our street.

Save lives. Wear a mask. Socially distance. Wash you hands more than usual.

It's common sense--and common sense is what created our constitution.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcFflZ7LjKCAqPJyfVmdNA8L7eeADtTSW  link to my video blog. All opinions here are mine and mine alone.

 

I have nothing much to write

I have nothing much to write tonight.

I want, at all costs, not to mention the president or the race for president.

The Yankees (my team since childhood) have hit six home runs in two straight games--a record for even a team called the 'Bronx Bombers'.

The day was so cool I have on jeans and a light sweater. 

Brigit is completely well from her sickness. Not only does she eat breakfast and dinner all down, she wants treats and stuff from our meals. It's so good to have her back. We love her so.

I thought today was Thursday so that I tried to get on a zoom that IS for Thursday.

Life is so weird I forget which day it is from time to time. Nothing is regular.

Pinot Ggrigio is what I drink, though my spell check doesn't recognize that wine.

I miss Josh and Cathy and the three Bradley girls so much. We haven't seen them since Christmas.

We have seen Mimi and Tim and Eleanor 3 times since then, but they're in upstate New York and can come to CT. You can't go from Maryland to CT or the other way around yet because of the virus.

See, I got through this without being political at all.

But wait for tomorrow's post! 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcFflZ7LjKCAqPJyfVmdNA8L7eeADtTSW (my video blog)

I shouldn't have to say all opinions here are mine and mine alone for this post.