Governor Palin

I was happy that John McCain picked Governor Palin for his running mate. I was pulling for her all along. She's pro-life, shoots, didn't use childbearing as an excuse to turn into a slob, eats carribou instead of worshipping them and is my kind of woman. I'm totally down with Sarah. Plus, when faced with baby with Down's Syndrome she and her husband chose to let him live. Most Americans don't. I hardly ever see a person with Down's under the age of 20 anymore. God bless her for that.

However, if the McCain/Palin team shoudl win, I worry for her family. Her husband's a fisherman. He's either going to have to give up his livelihood to come to DC with her or the family will be apart even longer than the regular fishing season. She has young kids who will have to leave beautiful Alaska and go to school in DC or VA. That might be a culture shock. And then what about her marriage. Her husband will really be forced to play second fiddle and that is rarely a good thing. I'm happy for the country but I hope it's not too big of a sacrifice for the Palins.

Having said all that, I still suspect that Obama is going to win. I've never seen people act so weird about a candidate before in my life. His supporters seem to think he's Jesus, their absent dad and dream lover all wrapped into one. God judges the nations with the leaders He allows them to have. We'll see come November. Oh and, no matter who wins, the professional race hustlers and the folks who blame whites for their miserable failed lives will hate white folks just like they did before.

holy card meme

The jolly Vir Speluncae Catholicus of the Lair of the Catholic Cavemen tagged me with this meme:

What picture I would use for my holy card, should I make it to Saint, and of what cause(s) I wanted to be patron."

Well, that would be some kind of miracle but here goes.

For my holy card I'd want a pic of me with one of my veils. And I'd be the patroness of book lovers, generation X Catholics, and moody teenage girls who write bad poetry and love

wearing lots of black.

I tag anybody wants to play.

Score one for the archbishop

Archbishop Wuel has not impressed me but then I didn't expect much. However, I have to give credit where it's due and when Nancy Pelosi spewed vile crap the archbishop called her on it.

a visit to the St. Anthony shrine

When my mother was in the hospital I promised St. Anthony that if he'd help her I'd visit his shrines in Ellicot City, MD and in Pittsburgh. Today Rocky and I went to the Maryland shrine. It's beautiful. The friars are very kind and the grounds are perfect for meditation. They have a small Grotto of Lourdes and while we sat there a dove and hordes of butterflies flew around us. All we could hear was the sweet sound of the bubbling spring and our own voices. The shrine is about 30 miles from Baltimore. If you are ever near that way do stop in.

Next we went to the adoration chapel of St. Louis. It was lovely as well and we were delighted to see several people besides us, adoring.

Finally, we found a place to eat and I pulled a couple of muscles getting out of the booth. I'm not sure how I managed that.

I love... Ioathe ....in no particular order

I love....

• John Wayne movies
• Bear Grylls and Les Stroud
• cream cheese
• clouds of incense
• Wagner
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Puccini
• Stonefly brand shoes
• Vera Bradley bags
• pigs
• cows
• big dogs
• small dogs
• cats-- the fluffier the better
• the sound of cicadas in the Summer
• the sound of crickets
• silence in church
• the smell of incense
• Irish butter
• Maria Callas
• Phil Specter's music ( I know he's nuts but the wall of sound gets me every time)
• Madam Bovary
• Gone With the Wind
• The Little Lame Prince
• A Little Princess
• Gymnastics
• goats
• ponies
• Llamas
• The big red oxen that they raise in Colonial Williamsburg. They slobber when they're happy!
• Photos of Jackie Kennedy
• lace veils
• October mornings
• Jamestown, Virginia
• turkey vultures flying overhead
• Youth Dew perfume
• priests or cantors with strong tenor voices

I loathe...........

• cantors who think the mass is a concert, starring them
• network television
• sit coms
• people who whine about the commute to DC. (Look, we all do it. Either quit your job and move or shut up)
• the sound of Bob Costa's voice
• sports writers who've never played a sport
• the sight of nun in a pants suit and a man's hair cut
• the stench of buffalo wings
• raisins, dates and prunes
• being cold at night
• a dirty bathroom
• being kissed or hugged during the sign of peace (Dude!)
• being forced to be social ("Would all the newcomers to the parish stand up please?"
  Uh, no Fr., I'd rather not.)

Sometimes I wonder

Fr. Frank Pavone's order, the Missionaries of Life, has aparently disbanded. The reaction in Catholic blog land seems to be smug glee. You may not like Fr. Pavone, but heck, he's out there doing something to fight abortion. I wonder if the people who seem so happy about the demise of the Missionaries have even said a prayer asking that just one woman today changes her mind about killing her child.

Fornication can lead to some dark places

An exorcist points out that sexual sin can lead to demonic possession. I first read about this on another blog that was dismissive of the priest (it was one of those too cool for words Catholic blogs) but I think he's right. When we turn away from Jesus and embrace mortal sin we are dancing with the darkside. And who lives in the darkness of hell? Who's always waiting for an unwitthing dance partner to destroy? Demons, baby.

Hypocrital me?

After Mass one day, the gentleman who runs the group that prays the rosary in front of our local abortion clinic asked me if I'd like to come along. I declined. They pray early in the morning on Saturdays. I'm not even awake yet at that time and since Rocky has the car (he works on the weekends) that would require either a cab ride or two buses. Those are valid reasons but the poor man looked so disappointed. I could see in his eyes and whole expression what he was thinking, 'Hypocrite!' He immediately dismissed me and turned his attention to someone else. Was he right, I wonder? It's only once a month. I could rearrange my schedule for once a month. Perhaps someone in the group could give me a ride to the Metro (our subway system) afterwards. I don't know. I'll be thinking about this some more.

New veil

I got a new veil for my collection. It's a pretty little thing from the fantastic ladies at HaloWorks.com Rocky really likes it but surprised me by saying that he likes my long ones best.

Sugar and spice? Yeah right.

I love this picture. It's two little girls having a....uh... disagreement at a church festival in Spain.

well that was stupid of me

I take two medications every day. I've been dragged out tired and forgetful all this week and yesterday I forgot all about them until late in the evening. Today I took the morning medicine late. Soooooooo, of course by the time we got to Mass this evening I felt lousy. As soon as Fr. Gollum said, "the Mass has ended." I was ready to bolt and right after he passed by I did and made a bee line to the car. Thank God nobody was in my way or there would've been a collision.

call me a philistine if you like,

but I really don't like this painting of St. Gianna at the new Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Wisconsin.. You know gnats and flies always buzz around your head? That's what the blonde cherubs look like their doing. I almost expect the saint to swat them.

out of the inferno

Well, my mother spent 5 days in the hospital. She was released on day 4 but fainted on the way to the car. She was taken back to the emergency room, we stayed there for 10 hours and then she was returned to a room. She's at home now and I just want to sleep... really sleep, not just fall unconsious from exhuastion. I can't describe how hideous it was in the waiting room. Rocky thought it looked like a scene from purgatory. I, the dramatic one of the family, thought it looked like Dante's inferno. Last night I saw people come in with stab wounds, gun shots, and the sniffles. Patients were sitting in recliners, and lying on stretchers in the halls. I have to say that the staff was kind and professional. I especially want to to thank and pray for the young doctor who helped Mama when she fainted in the elevator on the way to the car.

Her heart is fine, thank God. The night before her heart catheter test I asked St. Anthony, St. Rita, St. Jude and my three favorite girls, Therese, Bernadette and Joan for help. I told St. Anthony that if ma came through this with no heart problems I'd visit his shrine in Ellicot City, Maryland and the one it Pittsburgh. So next week I'll be hiting the road to Ellicot City. We'll have to delay the Pittsburgh pilgimage to next month.

There have been times when I wondered why I survived my ectopic rupture back in November. It dawned on me that if I'd died back then, Mama would've had to go through this alone. Thank you, God for loving us so. Thank you for your mercy.

Prayers needed

Yesterday my mother went to see her cardiologist who sent her to the hospital to have a heart catheter test. They only do those on weekdays so she's stuck in the hospital until Monday. I am worried but I won't freak out---- completely until Monday. If the results are what I think they will be I am going allow myself 20 minutes to carry on and then we'll all just get on with it.

Please, if you have a second, say a prayer for my mama.

The next time a feminist starts carrying on about how bad America is

remember this. The little Saudi Arabian girl in this photo is not playing dress up. She's not a flower girl. She's a bride. It's her wedding day. I can't find anything good to say about a culture that does this. And please don't tell me what used to happen in Europe back in 1457. That's irrelevant to this poor babe's tragedy.

ironic

When Rocky and I visited the Amish Mennonite visitor center and took a tour of Amish farmland I was reminded of the old saying, "like priest, like people".

The Mennonites and Amish heresy began because a priest went bad and took a bunch of souls with him. I wonder if any Catholic priest has ever tried to seriously evangelize in Dutch country?

Not this crap again

While we were on vacation, Rocky and I went to Mass at a church in Pennslyvania's Dutch country. I won't say the name because the priest and people were very nice. The problem was that the priest must have been ordained back in the 70's or early 80's becuase he spoke in that horrible sing song voice that the seminarians were taught to use back then.

It is the same tone and inflection a nursery school teacher would use or perhaps a therapist for the severely mentally handicapped. His homily was on "the miracle of sharing". The real miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was not that Jesus did anything supernatural but that He got the crowd to share. I sat in the pew and thought, ' For Pete's sake, not this crap again.'