Peony Moss: September 2003 Archives

Happy Birthday, Bella!

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The feedlot mentality

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Fall is finally here

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The weather here is just magnificent -- clear blue sky, a bit on the cool side outside but not too cold.... Soon we'll have that scent of leaf and wood fires in the air. How I love this time of year.

Today I took on another Napoleonic homekeeping project, and tried to bake a triple batch of pumpkin muffins and two loaves of banana bread, all before 11:00. I barely made it with the banana bread but didn't make it with the muffins. A triple batch (actually, I multiplied the recipe by 3.5) is really a lot of muffins, and I only have one muffin pan. I'm doing all this baking because I was in the mood, I wanted to get those bananas out of my freezer, and because I wanted something to feed the contractors (we are having some more work done around the Prussian Green Money Pit over the next few weeks.) Hambet loves pumpkin muffins and so does my husband, so I am going to have to be clever if I am going to have anything left for the contractors.

Late to the Party, but....

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have you checked out Summa Mamas yet? "One fun, one granola, one old..." (although the "old" mama seems to be in the market for a more um descriptive sobriquet....)

On Friday, I got a flat of pansies and a couple of little mums for our front flower bed. I set out yesterday to plant them. When my husband came out a little while later to see what they looked like, he found the pantries still in the flat and the front bed in complete disarray -- some strange fit came over me and I was compelled to dig up the perennials, divide a few, and move them all around. And I mean all around -- I left only one in the same spot, and that's because I had just planted it last Sunday.

So I dug up the lamb's ears -- they looked crowded -- and spaced them all out along the front border. They didn't look like they're thriving, so I hope they like the extra room and aren't too traumatized by the move. I dug up and got rid of the black-eyed Susans; yes, they're the Maryland state flower and all that, but they just looked so straggly all the time, and their leaves scratched. I divided the big purple coneflower and moved it and the two volunteers to the back of the bed, and stuck a couple of rust-colored mums between them. The three rosemary plants got moved to the back southwest corner, closest to the house, and the two purple sages moved in front of them; I'm hoping they'll all successfully overwinter there. Finally, all the pansies -- little white ones with purple faces -- went in the middle of the bed. They're supposed to be able to overwinter.

I have bulbs on the brain now. The smart thing to do would have been to plant bulbs while I was doing all this moving around, but I'm not sure if it's too early here or not. I would like to plant tulips, hyacinth, and maybe some crocus. I'm also thinking about making a layered planter with my pansies -- one of those deals where you plant the bulbs in the pot and then plant pansies on top. The bulbs bloom first, and then the pansies rebloom (and their foliage covers the bulbs' dying foliage.)

At some point I should turn my attention to the indoor garden. I have exactly one houseplant (a Pothos, in the kitchen.) I have not done well with houseplants in the past, even with the hardiest "you-can't-possibly-kill-this" plants, so I'm timid about trying them again. I also am lacking places to put them; we don't have a lot of end tables, and no plant stands or attractive planters. I'm not sure about the light issue -- I don't think I have bright, direct light anywhere in the house except in the guest room. Then there's the Hambet factor -- keeping the little gardener from doing his own repotting. So a lot to think about. But I want to start soon, perhaps by starting cuttings from my outdoor herbs. If I succeed, we can just put the herb garden in the guest room.

We are also going to plant a new flower bed in the back. At first I was thinking about planting those big, splashy Asiatic lilies (perhaps in succession with tulips) but maybe I'll try... peonies.

Happy Blogiversary to Chirp!

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Terri update

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Check out the latest developments on the Terri Schiavo case!

There are two letters, from Bishops Paul Loverde of Arlington and Raymond J. Burke of LaCrosse, reiterating Catholic teaching on this issue:

"The inherent worth of the life of Theresa Schiavo obligates all concerned to provide her with care and support and to reject any omission of nutrition and hydration intended to cause her death." --Bishop Paul S. Loverde

The site has also posted the latest documents from the Federal court hearing the case. Judge Lazarra has ordered transcripts of Michael Schiavo's testimony from the 1992 Medical Malpractice suit, Mr. Schiavo's rehabilitation experts at the same trial, and testimony from the September 15th hearing. (Adobe Acrobat needed to view.) He has also set October 10th as the date to consider the Schindlers' case that Terri's constitutional rights are being violated, and to consider guardianship issues.

I hope Cacciaguida and the Mighty Barrister will consider blogging a little more on this legal stuff. Does this mean that Governor Bush's administration has the opportunity to intervene on Terri's behalf? (or to intervene by not defending the Florida law?) Meanwhile, we can start another novena on October 1 -- the feast of St Therese -- or OCtober 2 -- the feast of the Guardian Angels....

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

-Saint Francis de Sales-

Thanks to The Lowly Pilgrim for this quotation.

Organizing your Spiritual Life

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Bobbi has a really helpful new article up at her website, Revolution of Love, on the nitty gritty of the spiritual life.

I think I'm going to print this article out and staple it to my forehead or something.

Culinary ennui

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Usually I like cooking, but lately I've been in a real funk about it. I'm talking about the ordinary, what's for dinner on the weeknight kind of cooking (with two hot lunches on the weekend) That comes out to seven meals a week. It shouldn't be that difficult to come up with seven meal ideas a week, but my culinary Muse has forsaken me. I'm sick of my own cooking and bored with my recipe repertoire.

My past strategy was to have a kind of loose "schedule" -- pasta night, chicken night, meatless night, etc -- and fill it in using whatever was on sale at the grocery store. It worked for a long time -- it was a good way to stay out of ruts and stay within budget. Lately, though, the sales have gotten less and less helpful -- sorry, $1.00 off ribeyes or fresh lobster isn't going to help me that much -- and the selection at the markets continues to shrink. The cases are packed with the special of the week and precious little else. (Let's see, what kind of chicken would you like? Thighs, thighs, or.... thighs?)

I am also getting really, really irritated with the Invasion of the Brine at the meat case. I just came back from the supermarket, where they had a nice price on turkey breast. I was all set to pick up Sunday's dinner until I saw that the turkey was "self-basting." Sorry, I'm not paying good money for salt water. Same thing goes for all that pork injected with "flavor solution" and ground poultry with "up to 15% flavor solution added." Isn't there anything left for people who want to do their own cooking?

I'd love to shop at Whole Foods more often, but I'm trying to keep our grocery bill under control and I hate the creepy, "Earth First" vibe of the place. There's also the little fact that I really should be making an effort to cook more healthfully, but a lot of the "lean" recipes I come across rely on processed foods (fat-free non-dairy whipped topping?) or very expensive tidbits (yes, filet mignon is lean, but come on!)

So now it's 5:25 PM, my hungry husband will be rolling in in 20 minutes, and I have no idea what I'm going to fix. I did "breakfast for dinner" yesterday, so I don't want to try that again. Maybe I'll thaw out some pesto. No, that won't work -- I forgot the Parmesan cheese.

In the Bag

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Classical CD: Bach's solo suites for cello, the Rostropovich recording

Pop Song: Kokomo, by the Beach Boys

Painting: Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose by Sargent

Film:
Persuasion (dir. Robert Michell, starring Amanda Root)

Book: Emma, by Jane Austen.

But if we are all headed to a desert island, maybe Erik will let me borrow Don Camillo.

Something for everyone

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martha stewart living easy chicken parmiagiana (uh, have you tried here?)

Greg Popcak brother (oh no, not this again)

rerum novarum shortened version (Owners, pay a just wage. Workers, save your money and don't get envious and greedy. How's that?)

clomid catholic teaching (It's permitted. More info in our links.)

in maryland is it illegal to spank a child (not yet.)

homeschooling three year old won't sit still (perhaps because he's three?)

lady elaine scary (Peony begs to differ)

popcak NFP (why not go here?)

linsday lohan lyrics

lindsay lohan homeschooled

sahm with friend jealousy

rhubarb crisp recipes (hope we could help)

lizzie maguire the movie spoilers

lizzie maguire shoes

puerto rican food pasteles banana cornmeal

what do jamaicans eat on a daily basis

hispanic and mouthwash

bulldog swimming tee shirts designs

lyrics "little voice inside my head" boys of summer

"veggie tales" eggplant

depressed overweight middle aged housewives (ummmm....should we be scared you found us?)

renting kids inflatable entertainment in St Louis

fancy older kids clothing dressy

rubbermaid composter

seamstresses that sew modest clothes

mothers manual Francis Coomes (hope we could help.)

Billy Joel excommunication

authentic pastele recipe

calories "deep fried oreo" (if you have to ask, perhaps you can't afford them?)

catholic homeschool blog (this is the place! Check out Ellyn's and MLynn's blogs, too)

granola (glad to be of assistance)

clifford the big red dog/ritter

michigan assistance programs for single parent

Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle

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A few weeks ago, the Algonquin Round Table came up in the comments box of Catholic Light. Last week, I saw the film Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle available for loan at the public library, so I thought I'd check it out.

My thoughts on this movie (oh, excuse me, film):

Taking out the cassette: whoa! I didn't see this thing was rated R! How am I going to watch this with Hambet around? We'll just have to distract him with toys, and fast-forward through any bad parts....

Watching the previews: I haven't heard of a single one of these movies, but they all seem as arty-trite as arty-trite can be.

Watching the movie film: What is going on? What year is it supposed to be? A little context, please? Nice costumes, though.

A little further in: Oooops, fast forward here. They really could have left that out. So when are they going to get to the writing part?

A little further in: I wish I were watching this movie with Lee Ann, it would be so funny to see get her started on this thing....

Halfway through the movie: Okay, I'm done. Where's the eject button?

It must be hard to make a movie about writers; there's not much visually interesting about watching someone stare at a typewriter, even if the writer is dressed in the best the costume department has to offer. It's even harder to pull off a movie stuffed witty remarks -- one or two are funny, but a constant stream of scathing repartee is like a steady diet of Russell Stover's. After a while, the stomach starts to quiver. It's also hard to be self-consciously witty (must... write... something... witty!); the dialogue in a party scene is particularly contrived ("Look to your own flanks before you go hunting, dearie..." -- that kind of thing)

Jennifer Jason Leigh does a good job as Dorothy Parker, including impersonating a really grating accent. The movie itself looks great -- I love period pieces with great costumes and art direction, and thie movie does a swell job showing us the '20s and '30s. But, as I said, the moviemakers seemed to think that showing Dorothy Parker sitting at her typewriter would have been a little too dull, so instead they focused on Dorothy Parker's love and sex life, and there is a great deal of focus on that. The pattern: Dorothy making witty remarks at the Round Table, next scene showing how unhappy she really is, next scene showing her either pining for someone or happily jumping in bed with someone. Okay, unhappy and starved for love, got it, but what else?

Memo to Hollywood: A movie about a writer is not necessarily an "artistic" movie. Costumes and art direction are not substitutes for a script that has some direction, some story with momentum. And it really is possible to make an art film without nudity! No, it is, really! Look at everything Hitchcock achieved without a view of Harvey Keitel's rear end!

More on Semiotics

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Yesterday, when I was out driving, I was passed by a big white tractor-trailer. The only decoration on the truck was on its rear doors: a name and a picture of a penguin. I thought, "oh, this truck must be one of a fleet of refrigerated trucks."

Was this a semiotic moment? Would semiotics concern itself with how I came to this conclusion -- the study of the way I, in one glance, made the metonymic association penguin + cold + truck (- brand name) = one of a fleet of refrigerated trucks? Would semiotics concern itself with the guy who chose the picture of the penguin, with my brain seeing the picture making the association, or with the cultural associations that the truck owner and I share (the associations of penguins and cold)? Or is semiotics all of the above?

What if I had missed the point and thought that the truck was full of penguins? Would semiotics examine how and why I missed the point of the picture?

All moved in

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RC, our benefactor and guide, brought the archives over last night so now we're all moved in! We'll be indexing the archives as we have time.

The old site is still up, with comments and archive links, for any who are interested.

Pansy's Italian Soup

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(I am taking the liberty of reposting Pansy's Italian Soup recipe (and, for those who are wondering, it was not made with real Italians....) She originally posted this in a comments box over at the old blog and I wanted to be able to index this with the other recipes --Peony)

The soup I make in Italian is pronounced "ee-drake" but I have no idea how it is spelled.

I make it by boiling boneless chicken thighs all day long and straining the scum off the top. I add chopped up carrots, celery and onion. Let that simmer like all day long.

I take some farina mix it with an egg, parsley and romano cheese (grated) with my hands. I roll it up and let it dry out. When it dries up and gets hard, I grate it into the soup. Before serving I add some fresh spinach leaves and cover for a couple of minutes. I do not usually make the little meatballs too out of laziness.

You serve the soup after antipasto with grated romano on top.

The find!

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I gave in to book lust again yesterday. Hambet had fallen asleep on my lap and resisted my efforts to put him to bed, so I spent a little time surfing around the 'net with a sleeping baby on my lap. I had been thinking about a book I thoroughly enjoyed as a pre-teen and thought I'd see if I could find a copy. I remembered the title, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, but couldn't remember the author.

Googling the title alone was not much help, but adding a few words from the book itself helped. I tried "Elizabeth "Elizabeth" + aunt + Scotland and finally found a good hit in a Scottish tourism site that referred to the book and its author, Eileen Dunlop.

The book is hard to describe, but it's a real page-turner. (And I liked it for more than just the obvious reason!) It's a time-travel fantasy, in which a modern-day Elizabeth finds herself spending the summer at a Scottish castle with her aunt. Her aunt is a historian who has been spending several years researching the history of the great noble family that once lived at the castle. Elizabeth had once been close to her aunt, but recently her aunt has grown distant and cold.

The summer has a dismal start. Elizabeth is bored and unhappy, until she comes across an antique mirror stuck in the back of her bureau. She finds that the mirror has the power to transport her back to the castle as it was in the 18th century. Elizabeth finds herself living that life as another Elizabeth, the daughter of the lord of the castle.

Modern-day Elizabeth finds this spooky, but fun. As the summer wears on and her aunt grows more and more difficult to live with, Modern-day Elizabeth finds herself spending more and more time in Past Elizabeth's life. She is immersed in past Elizabeth's world -- in past Elizabeth's family, her studies, her accomplishments -- and that past world becomes more compelling to her than her own modern-day world. And the beckoning of the mirror grows almost irresistible.

The pacing and momentum in this book is just incredible -- it's been almost twenty years since the last time I saw a copy, and I still remember my heart pounding as I tore through the last chapters. I'm looking forward to reading it through an adult's eyes, especially reflecting on Elizabeth's immersion in the past compared to modern-day forms of escapist fantasy (especially in media such as computer games.)

Alas, this book is out of print -- truly there is no justice under the sun. I was astonished to find used copies going between $44 to almost $100! I finally found one for a much more reasonable price, and it's on the way. I'm so looking forward to this.

This book has also been published under the title Robinsheugh. Libraries might have a copy. Mine does not, and I was not willing to wait for inter-library loan.

Imitation....

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I do hope dear Steven doesn't mind my shamelessly copying so many of his category titles, but he comes up with such good ones!

I especially like "Commonplace Book." Steven is only the third person I've ever heard use that phrase. I first encountered it in college, in a little article in Victoria magazine. A commonplace book is basically a personal book of favorite quotations. The magazine featured books that were true works of art, decorated and illustrated by their owners. That kind of intimidated me from starting my own -- I would keep putting it off for when I had time to copy each entry in perfect Italic calligraphy, with appropriate illustrations. Meanwhile, I just kept sticking copies of poems I liked into a file folder (a folder I recently discovered I'd lost! ARRRRGH!) I finally started a new book the other day (one entry so far.)

Many people are comparing blogs to commonplace books, and I certainly see the similarities. But the humble notebook still has its advantages as well.....

Let the little children....

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Eloquent reflections from Alicia, Steven, and Steven's commenters (don't miss MLynn's comments) on taking little ones to Mass.

I wish I had something to add. Even when alone, I fall so easily into distraction and sloth at Mass, and now I am struggling with keeping my child from running berserk in the Church as well. For a while my husband and I took turns going to Mass, but we missed going as a family. We also suspected that leaving Hambet at home wasn't going to teach him a thing about behaving at Mass, and was depriving him of whatever baby graces the Lord has for His littlest ones.

It is getting better. Hambet is getting older, and that helps a lot. Having only a few rules, enforced swiftly and consistently, seems to help too:

Whisper voice!
Stay with Mommy and Daddy! (no running in the aisles)
and the newest, Sit on the seat! (no crawling under the pews)

Yesterday was a particularly bad day (three ejections.) I hate the feeling of the glares in my back: Why can't she keep that kid under control? Maybe I am just imagining that part, but I know Hambet has become widely recognized around the parish -- whever I attend Mass alone, people come up and ask me where he was!

And as I haul him out for the second or third time, I always see other little boys his age sitting placidly on the seats. Sometimes it's because they're munching their way through a bag of Cheerios, but often they're just sitting there. (I see this other places -- Hambet simply refuses to sit still and participate in organized activities, such as a story hour at the library. He'd much rather run around and check the place out.) I always wonder if I have an atypical child, or whether I'm just a bad parent....

Around the Prussian Green Money Pit

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As it turns out, we did have a little Isabel damage: the dome on the roof that covers the attic fan was blown away. The fan itself fanned its last rotation this summer, so it's definitely time to just replace the fan. I was worried about this being some huge multi-step process, but I found an electrician that can do the work -- all the work -- today. They called about half an hour ago to let me know they were on the way. So now I'm just waiting.

Grandma Update

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I talked to my mom this morning. It sounds like Grandma's fluid balance got way off and she developed pulmonary and pericardial edema (fluid around the lungs and heart.) She is responding well to treatment and is in excellent spirits -- when my mom was getting ready to pick up some of her things from the farm, she told my mom to bring her a nice outfit to wear home!

Mom says Grandma's not out of the woods yet, but I'm feeling optimistic. I hope her doctor manages to hit that fluid balance "sweet spot" again with her medication.

Another Prayer Request

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My sister called this morning to let me know that our 93-year-old grandmother is in the hospital. Apparently she had chest pain and shortness of breath. Our mother is with her, so perhaps she'll be able to give us an update tonight or tomorrow.

At this point, that's all I know. Grandma still lives by herself (with plenty of people checking up on her) in the farmhouse where she's lived for over 70 years. Up to now, she has firmly refused to even consider moving. but she has grown much more frail this summer. So I'm not sure where this is going to lead. I just hope it's not to a nursing home.

Times Against Humanity brings us glad tidings indeed:

A recent study published in the Danish medical review, Dagens Medicin, reports that women who choose a glass of wine over beer or spirits are more likely to conceive babies.

And the good news gets even better!

According to the research, directed by Mette Juhl of the Danish state serology institute, Statens Serum Institut, the women least likely to conceive children were those who drank no alcohol whatsoever....

ARRRRRRRRRRRRR

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Disputations reminds us that today is Talk like a Pirate Day!

Bye-bye, Isabel!

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The storm swung well to the west of us, so we didn't catch it as hard as some people did. Everything in the yard survived (including my tomatoes on their little bamboo frames!) We have power and water, and the water is in the taps and not in the basement.

Virginia took it on the chin, though, all over the state, and at this writing, Fairfax County -- home to many in St Blogs, including several of the Catholic Light crowd and Davey's mommy and daddy -- doesn't have clean water. Not sure which side of the county line KTC lives on, but either way she got a good taste of Isabel, too....

The New Neighborhood

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I am so loving stblogs.org (especially when I have to go back over to the old blog and see that it's still not loading correctly!) Stblogs.org truly is a neighborhood as well as a domain (and if that domain's a kingdom, I want to be Lady Elaine!)

Thanks to everyone who's helped us get the new place running.

I still want to figure out how to link the category at the end of each post to the archives, and I still need to bring the Blogger archives over. But otherwise I think I have our template more or less the way we want it. Any suggestions? Is the type big enough?

Isabel

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We do not live close to the Potomac or even Rock Creek, so I can't see the water rising. But I do see the rain getting heavier and the wind kicking up. I just looked at the latest map and it looks like Virginia's going to bear the brunt of this storm.

We have been having a complete play day here. My husband stayed home, and Hambet is enjoying having Daddy around. I put some chili in the slow cooker this morning; I'm gambling that we'll have power long enough for our dinner to finish cooking!

Things to do

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I think I have the idea behind CSS, but when I make my changes and rebuild I'm not always seeing the changes reflected on the blog. I'm having trouble with the index template -- when I was using Blogger that template used tables, but I don't get how the MT templates structure the page.

  • I want to change the fonts on the banners: Lucida for the title and Palatino for the description. I've set the headline and the description using the stylesheets but nothing seems to be working.
  • I want to stop the top box on the right from squashing into the calendars. I want it to be its own little discrete box.
  • I want the posts to be over on their own side of the line instead of squooshing the sidebar.
  • I want a box on the sidebar listing the categories.
  • I want the category listed at the end of each post.

Later on I can go back and play with color schemes and so on. I wish I had more time to play, but between my mother-in-law's birthday and Hurricane Isabel, I simply don't have time to play.....

More on Terri's Fight

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Wesley J. Smith on the latest legal maneuver. Perhaps those who want Terri dead have been outflanked. Pat Anderson, the lawyer for Terri's parents, is arguing that Michael Schiavo is only petitioning to end Terri's tube feedings -- Terri still has the right to eat by mouth, and she still has the right to rehabilitation -- rehab she still hasn't received.

Test post

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Thanks so much, RC, for setting this up for us!

On Preparation for Confirmation

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I attend an informal doctrine class, and today was our "first day" back after the summer. Today the class was on the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

Sometimes it seems to me that Confirmation is almost a "forgotten" sacrament. For myself, I feel like I don't know enough about it. I was confirmed in the eighth grade, and our preparation consisted of a year and a half of a very, very elderly Benedictine nun beginning each class with either "What...is...a sacrament?" or "Time.... is running out!" (meaning, Confirmation is coming soon and we still haven't written our letters to the bishop!) Sister was a good and kind nun, and perhaps her intercession helped draw me back to the Church. But looking back on it, I wonder if poor Sister was perhaps a little unprepared for the challenges of coming out of retirement and teaching a group of spoiled, uncatechized suburban middle schoolers. Those two phrases are the only things I remember from Confirmation prep. I remember thinking, "I know this is important, but I don't really know what this means."

I get the impression that every diocese seems to approach Confirmation a little differently. Some kids are confirmed in junior high, others not until their late teens. Some kids prepare for a year, some kids for three. It seems like every year the kids have more and more service hours to complete. And every year you hear about a kid or two who does not want to receive the Sacrament.

I wonder if there's something amiss with the way we're approaching Confirmation in this country. (I'm speaking primarily of Confirmation of children who were baptized as infants or little children and raised in the Faith.) It seems like a lot of people approach it as "the time you make your adult committment to Christ." Well, what does that mean? To me, that kind of approach seems to on some level belittle the actions of Baptism, and seems to be heavily influenced by the idea of the bar mitzvah or the way some Protestant churches approach Baptism. Is that why some kids resist Confirmation -- because they are doubting, and they don't want to commit themselves? (And yet how many of those same kids are receiving Holy Communion on Sundays?) Would they desire the sacrament if there was more emphasis on the very real graces of the sacrament, that it was the beginning of a lifelong journey instead of Signing on the Dotted Line for Life?

Then of course there's some people's attitude of "Confirmation means the end of CCD." Perhaps this is why some dioceses choose to delay Confirmation until later in the high school years -- to keep the kids in class longer. But doesn't that just send a hidden message -- "Yes, religious ed is a drag, so we're going to force you to go?" Meanwhile, the kids are deprived of the gifts of the sacrament all through their teen years, at a time when they could really, really use the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it seems like there's a punch card mentality in the way we approach the Christian life in this country: You're born, you get your little Catholic card and you get the Baptism punch. You roll along the conveyor belt and pretty soon you join the herd of kids your age. Penance and First Holy Communion -- punch punch. Confirmation -- punch. Then the tracks diverge -- a few get the Holy Orders punch; most of the other folks get the Matrimony punch. Finally the conveyor belts converge again and you get your Anointing punch before you die. (This punch card gets clipped to your time card that you punch at Mass, by the way -- the "how late can I be for it to still count" time card. So you show up at Mass and receive Communion, and then you slide out early -- you've punched your Mass card for the week.) Hatched, matched, and dispatched.

I apologize for the Eeyore tone, but sometimes parish life seems organized on the model of a feedlot or a school cafeteria instead of a Heavenly Banquet. Don't kneel when you receive Communion, or take too long to bow -- it'll clog up the line! Time for Confirmation? Here's your checklist: go to 80% of your classes, do 15 hours of service, go to the retreat, write the letter to the Bishop, and choose a saint's name. (Never mind that many of these kids have never even seen a book of the Lives of the Saints, have no idea what's going on at Holy Communion, and have not been to Confession since their first one...)

And I do know these requirements are necessary, especially in an age when we have parishes serving more than 30,000 souls! This whole post probably says more about my own personal hang-ups, lousy catechesis and poor understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation than anything else. But it's also coming out of my own experience. I've known some of those kids who have come close to refusing Confirmation because they weren't sure they wanted to commit themselves as being Catholic. I've known kids -- and adults -- who have dropped out of the Church because they hated the impersonal feedlot mentality -- "nobody believes this stuff anyway." Since they had never been taught about the Reality of the Mystical Body of Christ, they saw no reason to stay. How many Protestants have been scandalized by that same punch-card, feedlot atmosphere?

I know myself I have to constantly struggle against the idea that God is a big, indifferent Boss in the sky, kind of the principal of a very large high school, interested in His people's welfare in a general way, but uninvolved in their day-to-day lives unless they do something really out of the ordinary to bring themselves to His attention. The principal knows his delinquents and his most brilliant honor students; God knows the notorious sinners and the most virtuous saints, but the rest are just faces in the crowd. The high school student checks off the required classes, makes the required GPA, and heads across the stage when it's all over to shake the principal's hand for the first and last time (as the vice-principal misprounounces the graduate's name at the microphone.)

Surely I'm not the only one who's felt this way. In this impersonal world, how many more would-be confirmandi are parroting the line about we are God's gathered community, the sheep of his flock, etc, but in their heart of hearts percieve God as no more interested in them as individuals than their school principals?

What if Confirmation prep included more practical instruction on how to develop in the devotional and spiritual life? How about instruction in meditation or mental prayer, with follow up? Perhaps set up a book table after class, so the kids could have the opportunity to pick up some good spiritual reading? Maybe some programs out there already do this; all I know is I went through 12 years of CCD, but never heard of mental prayer until I was 30! The only instruction I got in prayer was a rosary and a couple of leaflets.

I'm not sure that shoving the kids (or the grown-ups) into small groups and commanding them to "share their faith journeys" is the answer, either. I've been shoved into those groups in both high school and college, and I hated them. Forced intimacy is not intimacy at all.

There is such a thirst out there for sound doctrine and good instruction. There is so much need. It's not the thirst of a herd, though, it's the thirst of one soul at a time.

Look who's blowing into town!

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Hurricane Isabel


Looks like Isabel could be arriving in the Washington area on Thursday evening -- just in time for rush hour, too! Another Isabel link.

So it looks like I'll be shopping today for batteries, bottled water, and canned goods. I have never been directly in the path of a hurricane, so I'm not sure what else to do.

Looks like our Floridians are going to get a pass on Isabel (at least on a direct hit.) Are there any St Bloggers in the Carolinas?

A complaint about Moveable Type

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Why can't I select and copy text from blogs using MT? It makes quoting these blogs inconvenient and printing particularly good posts impossible.

The semiotics of the dunce cap

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Poor Erik and Steven! Erik has been posting on semiotics (parts i, ii, iii, music) and I have been hanging out in the comments boxes, sniveling "I don't get it! I don't understaaaaaaaaaaand!" Erik and Steven have been patiently explaining semiotics to me, but to no avail. Every time I think I have a grip on the concept, it slips away from me.

Part of my problem is that I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around the lingo. I guess I am a very concrete thinker; I don't like using words unless I have a really tight grip on what they mean. (Pansy says, kyeah! Just ask her about my dogged attempts to learn the correct usage of certain slang words.) This is an obstacle when I go up against a totally new topic with a very specific (and very abstract) vocabulary -- even the clearest authors (like Erik and Steven) must sometimes use those new words to express themselves precisely.

(I still suspect there are more than a few of people out there throwing the word "semiotics" around without really knowing what it means, just aping their professors and stringing it together with a bunch of other buzzwords.)

But maybe I really do, at some level, understand what the semiotic approach is, and I'm just trying too hard. I've started dipping into this on-line book, Semiotics for Beginners; parts of it are beginning to make sense, particularly when they illustrate a semiotic approach by examining advertisements. This section has a good (and funny) example at the end of the page, involving cigarette ads. This section has another example (the tomato sauce ad.)

In college, I was once assigned to select a print ad and analyze the ad's use of metaphor and metonymy to make its pitch. I chose a pantyhose ad, in which the speaker told a little story about going to the supermarket looking for out-of-season peaches and instead coming back with a pair of the pantyhose. The peaches were a metaphor for the stockings: luxurious, but not too extravagant (the metaphor wouldn't have worked with diamonds, for example) and pleasing to the touch (the metaphor wouldn't have worked with kiwi fruit or pineapples, either.) So was I taking a semiotic approach to this ad without even realizing it? I think ads are interesting to analyze -- they're not too difficult (it's not like wading into Finnegan's Wake, for instance) and I think it's easy to avoid reading too much into them. You know that everything in that ad is there for a reason -- the admen spend big bucks getting those things just so, and they're not going to throw in any red herrings or Babylonian dog references to distract you from the product (unless they throw them in to appeal to your sense of vanity at being in on the joke. Which itself is probably some kind of semiotic topic involving the use of irony and metalanguage, or some such thing.)

Maybe I would understand more if I saw more good examples of the semiotic approach in action -- for example, a sound semiotic analysis of a movie (preferably an easy one, and one that I've actually seen.)

Erik and Steven discuss the dangers of getting carried away with semiotics; in their police report, Erik's semioticians discuss keeping in mind both the author's intent and the reader's intent. That reassures me a great deal. I suppose I am a very conservative reader. I think critics should keep close to the text. I detest far-fetched interpretations -- the ones that have more to do with the prejudices and outlook of the critic than of the author -- and the faintest whiff of deconstructionism or Marxist/ feminist cant leads me to throw down the book and head for the door. For example, in the example about the cigarette ad, I think Robyn starts getting a bit carried away when she starts speculating about masochistic women; my take would be that the ad was designed to appeal to men. Similarly, in Erik's example, are the good semioticians reading too much into the Italian motorist's use of a certain gesture? The self-accusatory root of this gesture is very interesting, but did that meaning persist through history? Is that what the Italian meant on even a subconscious level when he made the gesture? In English, the words "conceit" and "nice" don't mean the same thing that they did in the 17th century, and I think it would be unwise to try to read those old meanings into contemporary uses of those words. When is semiotics useful and when is it just showing off?

I am also having trouble comprehending where the border is between semiotics and plain old literary criticism. Let's say we're looking at Brideshead Revisited. My approach to carefully reading this book would be to look first at the story Waugh presents, look at the actions of the characters and at the results of their actions. I would then look more closely at the book for more clues. I would look at things like the names of the characters and the places in the books -- is there a reason that Ryder sounds so close to "writer"? Is the name Cordelia supposed to remind us of something, or did Waugh just think it's a pretty name? Is the light in Nanny's room supposed to remind us of something? (I try to avoid the word "symbol"; in my old book group I usually led the discussions of novels, and I had to fight hard to keep some of our members from trying to approach symbols as rebuses -- this equals this, and this equals this.) What do the titles of the two halves of the book tell us about the story? --that kind of thing. I don't think it's inappropriate to bring modern ways of looking at things -- for example, a psychological approach -- to literature, as long as your conclusions are supported by the text. For example, if you're going to tell me that Lady Marchmain is a codependent, you'd better tell me exactly what you mean by that and provide plenty of evidence from the book itself.

Now, I guess this is not the semiotic approach. Can one even take a semiotic approach to a book or poem, or is semiotics the "everything else" field? Would you take a semiotic approach to the film version of Brideshead? And if you did, what aspects of the film would you be looking at? What makes a semiotic approach different from ordinary film criticism.

Can you take a semiotic approach to architecture? Would it look something like, "The architecture and lack of adornment of certain churches suggests metaphorically that God is bland, uncomplicated, and boring?"

I'm trying hard to understand semiotics both because I'm interested in anything that will help me better understand what I hear and see and because it sounds interesting for its own sake. A big key to understanding Peony is that I am a frustrated English major (I did not have the pluck to go up against the disapproval of my parents and the deconstructionism of the English profs who seemed to have a lock on the introductory courses.)

I've been nibbling away at this post over the course of the afternoon, and every time I read Erik's posts, I think it becomes a little clearer. Maybe if I just repeat "semiotics is semantics applied to all of human communication" and keep mulling it over, things will become a little clearer.

Actor John Ritter Dies at 54

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Actor John Ritter Dies at Age 54

Good thing Davey and Hambet are little enough so that Davey's mommy and I won't have any explaining to do about what this means for Clifford the Big Red Dog (Ritter played Clifford's voice on the TV show.)

Pansy insisted that I also note Ritter's appearance in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which he played Ted, an evil robot who sought Buffy's mother's hand in marriage. Pansy: "That role is what endeared John Ritter to me."

"We dodged the bullet again...."

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If I am ever tempted to embark on amateur economics and social history again....

perhaps I'll save myself a whole lot of typing and just say, "What Jeff said!"

Oh, and "what Jeff said here, too!"

Prayers are urgently needed for

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Prayers are urgently needed for Terri Schiavo!

Elinor Dashwood weighs in on the Terri Schiavo case:

Mrs. Schiavo collapsed in 1990, and here is where the questions begin: her husband says that her many broken bones - in the hip, leg, chest, back, knees, and ankles - were injured in her fall when she collapsed. My opinion is that they might all have been broken if she'd fallen off a three-story building onto a concrete pavement, but hardly in a fall onto a household surface; her femur (thigh bone) was broken, for heaven's sake, and that's a large, heavy bone that takes some breaking....

Here is a link to the results of the bone scan that revealed these fractures.

I like Elinor's post for all the big reasons: her spirited defense of Terri, her spot-on analysis of the case, her observations on the culture of death, and her tying it all in to one of her favorite topics, the necessity of being guided by justice and duty instead of self-gratification.

(I also like it for a little reason: her introducing me to the word "stemwinder." What a perfect little word!)

Prayers are still needed for Terri! Tomorrow, September 11th, Judge Greer is scheduled to set a date for removal of the feeding tube. If Judge Greer does not defer this, pending the resolution of the actions in federal court, Terri will soon begin her slow, agonizing death by starvation and dehydration.

The Nightmares of Choice: The

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More on day care for babies

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In her comment on Pansy's post, Ellyn suggests:

Should it be daycare [in Circle VII] or those who have created a society necessitating the tearing of tiny ones from their mothers' bosoms (literally and figuratively) that gets relegated to that circle? While we're at it...could you add all day kindergarten and pre-school? At least in the cases where the children obviously don't want to be there.

I second that. My husband and I were talking about this last night. When feminists proclaimed that in order to Be Truly Fulfilled, women needed to work instead of wasting their intellects caring for children, it couldn't have worked out better for corporate America. The mass entry of women into the work force drove down the cost of labor, both because there were more workers available and because the custom of "the family wage" went out the window. Then, since Mom was at work, there was nobody at home to do the things she used to do, so the corporations got to take her place by selling those same things back to the family: convenience foods, day care, pet-walking services, restaurant and take-out meals, after-school activities, maid services, ready-made clothing. The upper-class women who wanted to self-actualize themselves at work walked right into the day-care trap, and they dragged the women of the working class in with them.

I also wonder if having the perceived extra money from having two incomes leads some couples to buy things that that they really could live without? I say perceived, because for some couples, by the time they subtract out the cost of working (clothes, gas, taxes, day care, restaurant meals, and so on) their second income doesn't amount to very much. Does all that extra buying drive inflation? I'm sure it has something to do with the high cost of housing around here -- the Washington, DC area has one of the highest numbers of two-income families in the country.

During my second year of nursing school, I had a part-time job as a nursing assistant in a hospital. While I was there, one of the nurses was expecting her first baby. She and her husband had already bought a spiffy new house in an outer suburb, but in order to meet the mortgage, she had to go back to work. She was able to leave her six-week-old baby with relatives, but she was still crying buckets of tears on her first day back at work because she missed her baby so much. But I guess it never occurred to her to sell the house and move to a cheaper one. Another co-worker used to talk about how she longed to stay home, but her family just couldn't afford it. I had to bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that perhaps skipping the yearly vacation to Disneyland would have been a step in the right direction.

Why do so many people now think that normal mothering is finding somebody else to take care of the children? Why are some mothers dropping off their kids at daycare while they themselves go off to work -- as nannies? Why are so many families blind to the changes they could make in their lives to enable a parent to stay home with the kids? Why are so many politicians so committed to the idea that caring for kids and helping families equals even more daycare -- to the idea that the village daycare is the proper place for little children? Is our society blind because it's forgotten how to see? or because it doesn't want to see?

By the way, one of the articles Pansy posted concludes with a good discussion of public policies that would enable more families to have a parent at home with their children.

Stretch out your hand

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I have been struggling with frustration in matters great and small. Why won't my garden grow? Why can't we have another baby? Why can't we get ahead of the home repairs? Why won't my two-year-old play with his toys instead of my mixer and kitchen knives? Why can't I find any local SAHM chums "in real life?" Why is our parish singing this pseudo-Broadway stuff instead of chant? Why is The DaVinci Code a bestseller? Why can't I break these bad habits of mine -- procrastination, carrying grudges, allowing myself to be a captive of regret? Why am I skimming ten lightweight books at once (curiositas) instead of slowly, carefully reading one book at a time and actually learning something (studiositas)?

It is this way with miracles of grace: when confronted by deficiencies which seem... too lofty or difficult, the Lord asks of us a special kind of effort. On the one hand, this attitude consists in confidence in him, shown by having recourse to the supernatural means available. On the other, it consists in doing what we can, listening to what He tells us in the intimacy of our prayers or through spiritual direction...

We do this by performing small acts of the virtue we are seeking to acquire, taking small steps toward the goal we wish to reach. If we concentrate on what we are doing, God does wonders through our seemingly small efforts. If the man with the withered hand had placed his reliance on his own previous experience rather than on the word of the Lord, he might not have done the little our Lord asked of him, and perhaps would have spent the rest of his life with his disability uncured. Virtues are formed day by day. Sanctity is forged by being faithful in details, in everyday things, in actions which might seem irrelevant if not vivified by grace." -- F. Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 4-94.

From the mailbox

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....As director of Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE), I would like to thank you for calling your readers' attention to the plight of Terri Schiavo. I know that the Schindler family and all of us who love Terri appreciate your efforts on her behalf.

As a fellow member of St. Blog's Parish, I call your attention to the latest report on Times Against Humanity. Additional coverage is available on CURE's blog, Epivalothanasia, and, of course, on the excellent site maintained by our friends at the Terri Schiavo-Schindler Foundation.

Let us continue to pray with and stand with Terri and her defenders. Please call on me whenever CURE or I may assist you in any way.

God bless Two Sleepy Mommies and all those whom they love!

Yours for Life,

Earl

Editor, Times Against Humanity
Director, CURE

PS—If you find a moment to write a note to Mary Jane Owen of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, I am sure it would encourage her in vital work for life and for our Holy Mother Church. (Please see A True Friend of Terri … and of the Church for the background of my request.)

Earl E. Appleby, Jr. 304-258-LIFE/5433

Director, CURE, Ltd. 304-258-5420 (fax)

303 Truman St. cureltd @ ix.netcom.com

Berkeley Springs, WV 25411 cureltd.home.netcom.com

Mary Jane Owen's email address is: mjowen AT ncpd DOT org

Well, I had intended to lay off the 'net for two weeks, but everyone can see I only made it for about a week before I started backsliding. It started when I was checking the net to see what the latest was on the Schiavo case.... so then I wanted to blog what I found.... then it was adding a link to our blog.... well, while I was viewing the page, why not see what some of the folks in St Blog's have been up to? So that's how my resolution crumbled.

I did get some of the things done that I wanted to do, including catching up with about three month's worth of filing (ugh). I also caught up with some of the reading that I wanted to do. (I have a bad habit of skimming three or four books at a time.) I finally got to see The Two Towers. (If Peter Jackson had to make a three-hour movie, couldn't he have filled it with events from the book instead of this made-up stuff? His treatment of Aragorn and Faramir makes me wonder if he, like so many others, was so distracted by battles and orcs and wizards that he completely missed the point of the books.) Later that weekend, I did get a chance to enjoy 30 minutes of solitude with a copy of Emma and a slice of homemade devil's food cake -- a superb literary and cultural experience.

Another reason I'd wanted to take a break was to get away from the testiness of a couple of weeks ago that seemed to be everywhere around St Blog's. A week away seemed to do the trick, and now blogging is fun again. I have a strong critical streak, and I have to work hard to keep it under control and avoid giving in to a carping, critical spirit. (My husband was only half-kidding this Sunday when he suggested that perhaps I should have a beer before we attended a particular Mass at a particular parish again. Leaving enough time to observe the Eucharistic fast, of course.)

And to our dear reader who exhorted me to have a beer during my time off: I did indeed, just for you. My husband got it for me.

Happy Birthday to Our Lady!

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Happy Birthday to Our Lady!

copyright 2003 Pavel Chichikov, all copyright restrictions apply, used by permission

"Tenderness", copyright 2003 Pavel Chichikov, all copyright restrictions apply, used by permission

Happy Birthday to Elinor Dashwood!

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Flos Carmeli now blooms here.

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Flos Carmeli now blooms here.

Archbishop Dolan's response to the

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Archbishop Dolan's response to the Celibacy Letter

I admire Archbishop Dolan's directness and his blunt rebuttals of certain media-driven cultural assumptions:

...the impression is often given that, as an archbishop and a so-called "Vatican loyalist," I have to support the church's tradition of priestly celibacy, but that my heart, as the hearts of most other bishops, is really not in it. This impression is simply wrong.

[Celibacy] is not some stodgy Vatican "policy" that has been "imposed," but a gift savored for millennia. I wholeheartedly support it, not because I'm "supposed to," or because I reluctantly "have to," but because I want to, and because I sincerely and enthusiastically believe it is a genuine gift to the church and her priests....

the reports would have us believe that this letter is revolutionary and novel, requiring "courage" in a climate where free discussion on this issue is rare. Courage, I would propose, characterizes rather all our priests -- those who signed and the 72 percent who did not -- who live their celibate chastity with fidelity and joy; courage characterizes our married couples who generously and obediently live out their vows; courage is found in our young people and unmarried adults who follow the teaching of Jesus, the Bible, and the church on the beautiful virtue of chastity; courage is found in those writers -- priests, religious, lay, Catholic and non-Catholic -- who defend such a countercultural virtue as celibacy in a world that feels one cannot be happy or whole without sexual gratification.

...As one priest wrote me, "The problem is not that we don't talk about optional celibacy; the problem is that we've talked it to death the last 40 years."

...Finally, I worry about the timing of the letter. I'm not talking here about the fact that it was released to the media before Bishop Gregory ever received it, or that it came out when I was on my announced vacation. No. I mean that this is the time we priests need to be renewing our pledge to celibacy, not questioning it.

...The problems in the church today are not caused by the teaching of Jesus and of his church, but by lack of fidelity to them.

Abandon all hope... KMartCircle I

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Abandon all hope...

KMart
Circle I Limbo

Republicans, Democrats
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Hipsters
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton
Circle IV Rolling Weights

PETA Members
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Katharine Graham
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

The Jesus Seminar
Circle VII Burning Sands

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

NAMBLA Members
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Thanks to Michelle for this link.

At this moment.... my little

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At this moment....

my little boy is marching around the family room waving a whisk, reciting snatches of Green Eggs and Ham: "I eat them, wif a mouse! I eat them, in a house! I eat them, on a truck! I eat them, on a bus! I eat them, on a train, Sammy Yam!"

Actually there are no buses or trucks in the original book. I am surprised Hambet has not gotten around to fire engines or steam rollers.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Louise Gluck named

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Pulitzer Prize-winner Louise Gluck named poet laureate

The Gift

Lord, You may not recognize me
speaking for someone else.
I have a son. He is
so little, so ignorant.
He likes to stand at the screen door calling
oggie, oggie, entering
language, and sometimes
a dog will stop and come up
the walk, perhaps
accidentally. May he believe this is not an accident?
At the screen
welcoming each beast in
love’s name, Your emissary.

--Louise Gluck

RSS/XML syndication for dummies We

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RSS/XML syndication for dummies

We have received a very nice letter inviting us to consider adding RSS/XML syndication to the weblog.

We would be happy to consider it, but we have no idea what RSS/XML syndication is. (I always thought it was some kind of Moveable Type thing, invisible for those of us in the steerage of Blogger.)

Can anyone explain this to us, using short words and plenty of visual aids, or links to pages that will clearly illustrate what this is?

Federal Judge Kills Bid To

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Federal Judge Kills Bid To Bar Schiavo Ruling

At an emergency hearing, Lazzara openly doubted whether he has jurisdiction to intervene in a right-to-die case that has been winding through state courts for five years. He termed the Schindlers' new federal lawsuit a ``quintessential shotgun pleading,'' but added: ``given the importance of what's at stake here, I'm going to proceed.''

Thanks for this link to the Mighty Barrister, who explains why the headline is misleading. Basically, the federal judge wants Terri's parents to polish up their complaint. They have ten days to do this before they can be heard again in federal court. They'll be bumping right up against September 11 -- the date that the Florida judge set for removal of the feeding tube.

Terri's case goes to Federal

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Terri's case goes to Federal level

The judge will be hearing Terri's case at 2PM Eastern time. Anyone care to join me in prayer at that time?

Pansy and I have been following this case closely, and it seems like every day there's some new appalling detail. How I hope that this is the beginning of the end of Terri's mistreatment! Do take a look at Terri's parent's Complaint -- some of the details, especially about the husband's kooky lawyer, will curl your hair:

30. Mr. Felos' book, Litigation as Spiritual Practice, contains numerous bizarre anecdotes about his ardent desire to end the administration of food and water to severely disabled or gravely sick patients.

31. On page 63, referring to his landmark Florida state court case, Estate of Browning, Felos writes: "Such a deep, dark, silent blue. I stared as far into her eyes as I could, hoping to sense some glimmer of understanding, some hint of awareness. The deeper I dove, the darker became the blue, until the blue became the black of some bottomless lake. 'Mrs. Browning, do you want to die?...Do you want to die?' - I near shouted as I continued to peer into her pools of strikingly beautiful but incognizant blue. It felt so eerie."

32. On page 73, Attorney Felos writes: "As I continued to stay beside Mrs. Browning at her nursing home bed, I felt my mind relax and my weight sink into the ground. I began to feel light-headed as I became more reposed. Although feeling like I could drift into sleep, I also experienced a sense of heightened awareness. As Mrs. Browning lay motionless before my gaze, I suddenly heard a loud, deep moan and scream and wondered if the nursing home personnel heard it....In the next moment, as this cry of pain and torment continued, I realized it was Mrs. Browning. I felt the mid-section of my
body open and noticed a strange quality to the light in the room. I sensed her soul in agony. As she screamed I heard her say, in confusion, 'Why am I still here... why am I here?' My soul touched hers and in some way I communicated that she was still locked to her body. I promised I would do everything in my power to gain the release her soul cried for. With that the screaming immediately stopped. I felt like I was back in my head again."

33. On page 75, Felos says: "Before our son was conceived, my then wife and I went through a long and arduous process trying to decide if we should have a child. Given that our marriage was never very stable, the familiar arguments against creating progeny seemed at times hard to overcome....One morning, while still generally engaged in that process, I walked into my office, and about half way to my desk was hammer-struck. While almost seeing stars like a comic book character, I heard the soul of my yet-to-be-conceived child emphatically shout: I'm ready to be born... will you stop this fooling around!'...The voice I heard was distinctly male, and I beamed with the idea I had a son - or was going to have a son - or sorta had a son out there - or something like that."

34. On page 216, again discussing Estate of Browning, Mr. Felos writes about the late Estelle M. Browning: "As I always did, I looked into her eyes and shouted to her, hoping for some response or sign. After a minute or two I sat in the chair by the foot of her bed, closed my eyes, and started to meditate. Having 'soulspoken' with Mrs. Browning when we first met, I decided, with a measure of earnest self-inflation, to purposefully initiate such contact. I settled into my breath and noticed all the passing sounds move through my consciousness. As I deepened my relaxation, I reached out with my awareness to see if I could touch her soul-presence. From deep inside I repeated, 'Mrs. Browning, it's okay to leave your body. There is no reason to stay in this body. It is all right to die now.' A few minutes into my meditative encouragement, I was jarred by a high-pitched sarcastic cackle and the words, 'You're telling me to drop my body - and you can't even get out of your head.' Apparently, Mrs. Browning had a spirited sense of humor!"

35. On pages 181-182 of his book, Felos claims that merely by visualizing a plane crash during a flight he was taking back to Florida, he caused the plane to begin to crash and that God spoke to him at that moment to warn him: "Be careful what you think. You are more powerful than you realize'.....I was startled, humbled, and blessed by God's admonishment."

36. Co-conspirator Felos clearly is not simply an advocate for Michael Schiavo in the Florida state courts; he is an investor in Mrs. Schiavo's case who stands to profit financially via her judicially-sanctioned death and the book he told the St. Petersburg Times he wants to write about the case and his "spiritual journey" with Theresa Schiavo.
As his first work, Litigation as Spiritual Practice, indicates, Mr. Felos is an egomaniacal visionary who views Terri's hoped-for death as a fulfillment of his personal messianic mission as the savior of severely disabled and seriously ill people who need to die. He is a protagonist in a drama in which he sees himself as a lead character....

45. Non-party co-conspirator Felos has been paid approximately $550,000.00, virtually the entirely of Terri's estate, for his professional services to defendant Schiavo in the Florida courts, and no funds from the estate have been used for her rehabilitation."

And then there's the affadavits filed by three nurses who had cared for Terri, such as this one by Carla Iyer, RN (emphasis added):

To the best of my recollection, rehabilitation had been ordered for Terri, but I never saw any being done or had any reason at all to believe that there was ever any rehab of Terri done at Palm Gardens while I was there. I became concerned because Michael wanted nothing done for Terri at all, no antibiotics, no tests, no range of motion therapy, no stimulation, no nothing. Michael said again and again that Terri should NOT get any rehab, that there should be no range of motion whatsoever, or anything else. I and a CNA named Roxy would give Terri range of motion anyway. One time I put a wash cloth in Terri's hand to keep her fingers from curling together, and Michael saw it and made me take it out, saying that was therapy....I made numerous entries into the nursing notes in her chart, stating verbatim what she said and her various behaviors, but by my next on-duty shift, the notes would be deleted from her chart. Every time I made a positive entry about any responsiveness of Terri's, someone would remove it after my shift ended. Michael always demanded to see her chart as soon as he arrived, and would take it in her room with him. I documented Terri's rehab potential well, writing whole pages about Terri's responsiveness, but they would always be deleted by the next time I saw her chart. The reason I wrote so much was that everybody else seemed to be afraid to make positive entries for fear of their jobs, but I felt very strongly that a nurses job was to accurately record everything we see and hear that bears on a patients condition and their family. I upheld the Nurses Practice Act, and if it cost me my job, I was willing to accept that."

So this nurse alleges that on top of everything else, there's been tampering with legal documents, sanctioned by the hospital where Terri was staying. This hospital probably receives Medicare funding. I hope the Inspector General gets involved.


Di Fattura Caslinga: Pansy's Etsy Shop
The Sleepy Mommy Shoppe: Stuff we Like
(Disclaimer: We aren't being compensated to like this stuff.
Any loose change in referral fees goes to the Feed Pansy's Ravenous Teens Fund.)


Pansy and Peony: The Two Sleepy Mommies



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