Thanksgiving Dinner

Three days away, but already I'm anticipating it!

Our whole little family will be here--Josh/Cathy/Emma/Morgan/Tegan and Mimi/Tim/Eleanor, plus John Anderson, our dear, long time (48 years). John went to WVU with Bern and I for a couple of years. He's a psychologist for the VA. Also from West Virginia. So 5 of us are Mountaineer born--John, Bern, me, Mimi and Josh.

Both our children are in their 40's but still join us for Thanksgiving. That's something I'm deeply thankful for.. By their ages we had Thanksgiving away from parents.

I make the dressing (apples, raisins, pecans, onions, garlic and broth, plus some turkey juice). I do the hors devours (this year three cheeses, two Italian meats, olives and dates). Bern does most every thing else--this year a sweet potato dish, corn pudding, green beans, mashed potatoes and turkeys with the back bone taken out and flattened. Two small turkeys instead of one big one so we'll have 4 legs for the girls. I wouldn't eat a turkey leg on a bet, but the Bradley girls love them.

Salad and gravy and cranberry sauce too--plus wine and beer and juice.

I love anticipating the meal--even though my anticipation doesn't come near to the event's surprises.

Bern also gives everyone a Thanksgiving present--this year in brown paper bags with their names on them. She got all 4 girls amazing hats that look like animals, hair and beard jell for Tim and I don't know the rest.

I have to get her something this year, just so she won't be left out.

Though Bern never feels 'left out' if every one has something and she doesn't. She's like that.

I stopped typing for a minute or so and took several deep breaths.

I love Thanksgiving so, so much. I just have to savor my anticipation and know the event will far exceed all my expectations....

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, a bit early....

A cold to write home about...or, on my blog

I've had the cold of the century, the grand-father of all colds, the cold to write home about, one home-made shit of a cold for a week.

It started last Sunday. I was afraid my snot would fall into the communion wine. I had tissues in both pockets of my alb and used the sanitizing lotion up at the altar half-a-dozen times.

It started with Bern 4 or 5 days earlier. She graciously shared it with me--who says married couples should share everything!!!

Her cold had gone to her chest when my cold was still in my head. But mine got lower down soon enough. If I didn't use a C-path machine at night I would have never slept. But sleep I did--10 hours a night every night. With cough syrup, chest congestion pills, nose spray and finally, prednizone, I've gotten better and better. Food still doesn't taste right and if I do anything physical I have a shortness of breath.

But I do believe I'll survive.

May you remain cold free--it's a bitch, let my tell you.

And whatever else you do as Thanksgiving approaches--pray for the people of California and the fire fighters and the environment.   And give thanks if you don't live there.

Be well and stay well, Umfandusi....

Brigit's first snow

She didn't seem to like it.

I took her out just after 9 p.m. on November 15 into 4 or more inches of snow.

Brigit is from Georgia before she was brought to CT this summer, so she's never been in snow, I'd imagine. But she peed like a champ and ran like a sprinter back to the back porch. Bern toweled her off, she got her treat and now she's upstairs, covered up.

Welcome to New England, Brigit.

Snow can be a pain--but being a 'glass half-full' kind of guy, I much prefer it to hurricanes and wild fires. (Pray, beloved, for the people of California.)

Plus, if you're inside looking out at it, it is beautiful. Being out in a car in it dulls the beauty.

But if the current administrations EPA policies take full effect, Connecticut could be like Georgia in a couple of decades.

Thanksgiving is coming. I'm certainly thankful for Brigit in our lives.

And deeply thankful for Mimi, Tim and Eleanor and Josh and Cathy and Morgan and Emma and Tegan and our friend John, who will all be with us for that wondrously American holiday.

Bern and I are blessed by our son and daughter and their mates and our four granddaughters. Blessed beyond measure.

Two kids who turned out better than we could have ever hoped or dreamed and married so wondrously and gave us such miraculous grand-daughters.

How thankful can you be?

Probably not thankful enough.

And as we count our blessings in this season of giving thanks, all of us must remember all those who suffer and are homeless and driven from their lands by conflict and violence.

Not something the current administration in Washington seems to notice or understand.

But the mid-term elections give me hope--so much diversity, so many women, so much openness to the real issues ahead.

One more thing I'm thankful for.

Though it's a week away--Happy, Happy Thanksgiving to you all.....

Something's off

I average around a hundred views of this blog  a day. I know who lots of them are.

But today, so far, I have 615 views.

Yesterday, get this--5337 views!!!!

All I can tell about them is they are mostly from the US and almost all over Google.

It's really going to skew my stats and I can't believe it's real.

I certainly haven't found any particular posts whose views have swelled that much--but then, there are over 2200 of them,

Did someone sign on in a way that every time they used their computer it claimed to view my blog

I seriously have no idea what to think.

Any computer nerds out there with any explanations???

Email me at Padrejgb@aol.com if you can't 'comment' on the blog--some folks can't.

What's off--that's what I want to know.

Stay calm and keep counting...

Anyone who knows me knows I am a Democrat--and I don't just mean a political party...I mean I believe with all my  heart and mind in 'democracy', rule of the people, counting every vote.

I don't believe the re-count in Florida is going to change the outcome. The two Republicans will win in the end. But why on earth are Republicans so afraid of every vote being counted? With no evidence and with an argument rejected by an independent oversight group and the state officials themselves, our president and Rick Scott are claiming voter fraud.

After his election, our president, with much fan-fare, assembled a committee to ferret out "voter fraud" across the nation. Several months in, the committee quietly disbanded because there is no evidence whatsoever, in any way, shape or form, that 'voter fraud' is a problem in our democracy.

And in Georgia, counting every vote might not elect Stacy Abrams, but it would trigger a run-off in December if neither candidate gets over 50% and votes yet to be counted for the third-party candidate could bring that about. But Republicans are screaming like banshee's about finishing the count.

In Arizona, had we believed the results last Tuesday, the Senate seat there would be Red. But as the votes that hadn't been counted in places like Phoenix, have put the Democrat in a burgeoning lead.

Stay calm and count all the votes.

That's the only way to run a democracy.

Period.

Kathy and Willis

Today I officiated at the wedding of Kathy and Willis at St. John's, Waterbury, where I spent the last 21 years of my full time ministry.

Kathy was a child when I first knew her. She was precocious beyond her years.

As a teen she was one of 10 or so kids I took to West Virginia with two other adults to do a work week helping people who needed help. She was wondrous. Some of the kids were problematic, sleeping in a church like we were. But not Kathy.

After college she went to the peace corps and spent time in Africa. Her maid of Honor is still there and came back for Kathy's wedding.

Both Kathy and Willis are progressives who live their lives working for change. Kathy works for a non-profit liberal group.

They are wonderful people committed to each other and to causes I believe in.

God bless then, I pray.

I blessed them today and hope their commitment to each other and to this world will help us all.

What a joy to be a part of their marriage and their lives.

Often this deal of being a priest is a joy beyond imagining. Thank God for that.

Kathy and Willis--be well and be happy and do good.....

Finally over

This long Autumn captivity is finally over.

The final coats of paint were put on our back porch today!

Yesterday they finished the front porch after over two weeks of having it totally sealed off from the world and coverings across our front door and windows.

Our house is totally ours again as soon as the back porch--which is probably already dry--is ours again tomorrow.

It has been a nightmare--only one way in and out for over a month. Workers most clear days.

At first I thought the repair and paint price was a tad high--but more than half of the flooring of each porch was replaced, all the trim on the front was sanded down to bare wood, and everything on both porches had a primer and two coats.

After all the labor expended, the price seems a bargain--and both porches look wonderful!

If you live in Cheshire or near--by and need a contractor, ask me about Paul Bowman.

Once I'm finished telling you, you'll call him....