"Life's a Beach"

On Sunday morning at 2:00 AM, I heard moaning from my Dad's room. I rushed in to find him prostrate on the floor, his left arm bleeding and his speech slurred. My son and I managed to get him seated, but it was obvious, something was dreadfully wrong.

I have no idea how long he had lain on the floor. We noticed that the left side of his mouth was sagging and he was constantly moving and waving his left arm. Eva felt he had had a stroke. He is now in the hospital going through numerous tests and only God knows where we will be going from here.

He is an amazing man. Would that I were only half the man he is. He has a strong personal constitution and seems determined to "hang in there." But the most precious moment happened when Ben and I managed to get him seated after his fall. He looked up at me and managed to say, "Big Guy, life's a beach!!"

Yes, Dad. Life with you is a beach: the comforting warmth of sun and sand... the coolness and refreshment of breeze and surf...knowing that you are always there to make sure I am safe and able to savor it all.

Christus

Christe, Deus es.
Christe, resurrexisiti.
Mortem vicisti.

Cycling with Grace

For forty years, (weren't the Jews in the desert that long?) I wanted a motorcycle. But St. Eva the Good wasn't buying it, literally or figuratively. And so I waited and suffered through my own desert experience. Finally, when the last of the eight children reached 18, my wife relented. "If you wrap yourself around a tree, at least I won't have all those kids to raise by myself," said St. Eva the Good. She's always so sensitive to my feelings.

So a few years ago, I got a Honda VTX1100 Shadow Sabre and riding is as wonderful as I imagined it would be. It is my alone time. And now, the fragrances of Spring are everywhere and the experience is definitely contemplative.

Last Saturday, another Dozier has joined the group, which we are calling Purgatory's Angels. JJ bought a Honda VTX1300, with special pipes that can awaken the dead. He has named his bike: Grace. Since his garage is too crowded to accommodate his new girlfriend, I have graciously obliged him a space in mine. And I must tell you, Grace is, indeed, a thing of beauty. Those Harleyesque pipes give me such an adolescent thrill and the lower center of gravity of his 1300 makes the riding experience even more glorious.

The time will come when his garage will be cleared and Grace will leave me for another. However, until that unhappy day...It's just you and me, Gracie, just you and me!!!

Symmetry

The accountant's art.
Debits,credits in balance.
A thing of beauty.

No More Maher

I have never been a fan of Bill Maher. On the few occasions I have seen him, I do not see how the words comedian and Maher can appear in the same sentence. My daughter, however, loves him. It just may be a generational thing.

Nevertheless, today I heard some of the excerpts of his program of yesterday where he maligns the Pope, the priesthood and the Catholic Church. He called him a "Nazi who wears funny hats." Priests are pedophiles and the Catholic Church is no different than the Mormon cult in Texas.

Don Imus was S$%#canned for saying much less than Maher. The black community saw to that. ( And not unjustifiably.) So where will 30 million Roman Catholics be on this matter? Or were millions of them watching and perhaps thinking the tirade was amusing.

Well this one papist in North Carolina is "Mad as Hell and not going to take it anymore." I am commencing a one man RC Jihad. I am never going to let insults against the church slip by without some sort of action: the least of which will be an email or a letter flying from my computer. If there is lethargy in the remaining 29,999,999 American Catholics, than so be it. We deserve what we will get.

Presence

God is most present
When I, alone, am riding
My Honda Shadow

Oh Canada

My daughter who blogs under the name Goodnight,Mom, is currently in Canada. In her recent post, she began to "sing" Canada's anthem. What a song! If you are a hockey fan, I am sure you have heard it. When a US Team plays a Canadian team, the anthems are sung before the game. Canadians lustily sing one of the true great national anthems. Then the Star Spangled Banner is played. Americans awkwardly attempt to muddle through, wondering what they are going to do when they get to that high part: ...and the laaaaaannnndddd of the FREEEE!!! Rather than risk embarassment, they don't bother. Other good anthems are from Britain, France, Germany and the former Soviet Union.

Can't we do something about this? I don't think it is a lack of patriotism that causes those in the stands to sip their Bud Lite rather than try to croak out that 18th century drinking song. Sir Francis Scott Key loved the tune. But he forgot that you had to be completely wasted to sing it!

So let's steal the Canadian anthem. They'd probably be complimented. I can hear it now. Thousands of hearty american voices joyfully and melodiously singing: "OH, U..S..A... we love our native land... OH, U..S..A, we sing that you are grand..."
OK. So maybe the lyrics aren't so great. But at least the tune doesn't have a high, freaking G in it!!

The Queen of Clean

Several years ago when I fully retired, my spouse, St. Eva the Good, remained gainfully employed. Since I had to fill my days with something, I took over the household duties of cooking and cleaning.

One Christmas ( as a joke, I believe) the kids gave me a copy of the NY Times Best Seller Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean, by Linda Cobb. What a treasure this book has become. If you want a complete lexicon for stain removals, spot cleaning and cleaning techniques and products, this is the book.

I love to share information with others about helpful products that work. If you have odor stains in carpet (urine, food, you name it) use Odorzout. You can get it at PetSmart. Works like a champ. For your wood floors, try Quick Shine and Quick Clean from Holloway House.

We just got a glass top cooking stove. It is attractive to look at, but cleaning can be difficult. Now I am a Nazi when it comes to clean. If I can't clean it, I don't want to use it. That's how bad it is. I am tyring a multi cleaning product called Barkeeper's Friend. So far, with a little elbow grease, that cook top looks great.
Yes. I need to get a life.

Halleluia, Haiku

OK. So it isn't "Bad Haiku Friday." But I am into this thing. I taught English to Middle Schoolers 40 years ago. We studied Haiku poetry but that was it. Now I am humming in Haiku...singing in Haiku..thinking in Haiku. While listening to the Gospel this morning, two stanzas just popped in my head. Is the Holy Ghost speaking in the 5-7-5 syllabic mystical metre of Haiku? I really don't know!!...(See, 5 syllables!!! I'm going quite mad, With Haiku inspirations, From the Holy Ghost) AAYYYYY!!!!

Emmaus

Remain with us Lord
For the day will soon be spent
And the night is nigh.

We recognized Him
In the breaking of the bread,
And how our hearts burned.

Bad Haiku Friday

Laura Fetters (www.teachermuse.blogspot.com) has inspired me to participate in "Bad Haiku Friday." ( I still am resisting "Confession Tuesday." Too personal)
Nevertheless, here goes:

The cell phone's a noose.
Its constant ringing robs me
Of my solitude.

Oh well, its a beginning.