“without debate, without criticism
no administration and no country can succeed
and no republic can survive.”
― john f. kennedy
—
photo credit: national archives
Feb19
Author Archives: beth
Feb18
idea mark.
me – “can you tell about what you wrote?”
kinder – “look up at the top.
the brown part is the idea mark.
all the rest are the ideas.”
i thought this to be brilliant
and perhaps should be our newest form of punctuation.
move over semicolon; the idea mark is here to stay!
—
“words are but the signs of ideas.”
-samuel johnson
Feb17
stag.
the priests saw the funny side of it all
Pub bosses have apologized after asking a group of trainee priests to leave their Cardiff venue, mistaking them for a stag party in fancy dress.The seven Roman Catholic seminarians had gone to The City Arms to toast Father Peter McClaren’s ordination when they were asked to move on.
Assistant manager Matt Morgan said they received a free round of drinks when the situation was explained.”They were all dressed in their black and white clothes,” he said.”The staff thought they were a stag. We do have quite a few issues on the weekends with parties wearing fancy dress so it is our policy to turn them away.”
six of the priests who were turned away
Father Michael Doyle, who knows the group, said the seven went to the pub on Quay Street to celebrate the ordination at the nearby Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David. The pub was a favourite of his colleagues including the Archbishop of Cardiff, George Stack.”They arrived at The City Arms and were dressed wearing the clerical collar,” he said.
“The doorman said something along the lines of, ‘Sorry gents, we have a policy of no fancy dress and no stag dos’. “The students had started to leave when they were approached by the bar manager. “He basically said, ‘you’re real, aren’t you?’,” said Fr Doyle.”He invited them back in and when they walked back in the entire pub burst into a round of applause, and they had a free round off The City Arms.”
Fr Doyle said the group stayed at the pub most of the afternoon chatting to customers.
Mr Morgan said the priests were “all great sports and saw the funny side of the situation”.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cardiff added: “We’d like to thank The City Arms for being good sports through all of this and their kind gesture to our seminarians.”
the priests enjoyed a few pints in the pub at the end
—
“any band that doesn’t have a sense of humor has a little bit of a problem.”
-jens lekman, swedish musician
—
credits: wales news service, j. lloyd, the city arms
Feb16
lunar dog.
happy lunar new year – the year of the dog.
—
“you can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be.”
-captain beefheart
—
image credit: google images – vintage
Feb15
sorry, jerry lewis.
when i was 7 or 8 years old
my father came home
from his job at the ad agency
with a new pet for our family
and it just happened to be a baby alligator.
he was not more than 9 or 10 inches long
in a small box and cute as could be
i was really excited
and pictured myself playing with him and his friends
(just as in the vintage postcard above)
i thought he would just fit right in
with my family
in our colonial house
in the suburbs
though, there were a few ‘glitches’ with this scenario.
- my family had no idea how to choose or take care of a pet.
- i had no idea how to take care of and raise an alligator.
- my father had become the owner of the alligator through some sort of crazy ad campaign, so it had probably been through a rough time in its life already.
- i felt sorry for him and he looked scared.
- i was determined to mother him and make him feel better, though no clue how.
- i had no idea what to feed an alligator, so i fed him lettuce and water and thought my sisters would help me catch flies for him.
- he already had a name given to him by the agency – “jerry lewis”
- my parents pretty much left me on my own to figure it out.
- writing this out, it all seems even crazier than it was.
i had my alligator for a few days and i was very excited to have my friends in my class meet him. when the big day came for show and tell, i carefully carried him in his little cardboard box, climbed onto the bus, and jerry and i headed off to school. i remember it was a bit chilly that day, but i didn’t know anything about natural alligator habitats, so i didn’t think much of the weather. i was bursting with excitement.
i put my box on my desk and when i was called up for the big reveal, i opened by box, only to find that jerry lewis had passed away on the way to school and was now stiff as a board. i couldn’t believe it and i felt so sad for him. looking back, i’m sure that any baby alligator given away in a promotion, was not long for this world, but i had hoped that we would be together for a long while. my teacher was very nice about it, and helped me wrap up his box and i rode home that day on the bus with jerry, ready to have a funeral for him. i learned so many life lessons from my short time with jerry lewis. – r.i.p.
(not me, or jerry, but how i imagined us at show and tell)
—
” i go where the action is.”
-jerry lewis
Feb14
heart.
“write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
-ralph waldo emerson
happy valentine’s day
—
-‘dried reeds’ created by roadsworth, montreal, canada
Feb13
rough road.
the kinders begin the process of digging out their cars
and clearing the road after the storm.
—
“it is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
-lucius annaeus seneca
Feb12
voyage.
what adventures do you keep coming back to, time and time again?
—
image credit: book riot
Feb11
shovel.
one day
at the beginning of this long winter
a sweet kid not more than 14 years old
showed up at my front door
shovel in hand
wearing sweatshirt and gloves
quiet and polite
asking if i wanted to hire him
yes!
without a moment’s hesitation
soon he was at work
clearing my walks, my driveway, my porch
he charged me a very fair rate
looking to make some cash before christmas
lives with his mom
in an apartment nearby
i know nothing else about him
except that he works very hard
often appears without warning
just in time
to clear my path and then
is gone again as soon as he’s finished his work
i’ve no way to contact him
sometimes i see his steps and shovel marks
signs that he’s stopped over
but our timing was off
and now
on this weekend
with the long days of deep snow
he’s nowhere to be found
oh, where, oh, where,
is the kid with the shovel?
and so
i am paying myself
getting a free workout
day after day
i’m sure i’ll see him again
maybe when it’s time
to move dirt
for the gardens.
—
“never doubt the power of love or one woman with a shovel.”
-carrie newcomer
Feb10
olympics.
let the games begin!
—
“olympics for me is love, peace, united. “
-jackie chan
