my life in a pie chart

So, I ran across this picture in not one, but TWO different places, and so I figure that the universe is speaking to me. I love to see the cute and quirky things at The Pursuit of Happyness, and this one tickled me for its spot-on capture of…ME!

I like my job. I can do THIS and get away with it. Mostly.

Happy Halloween (part deux)

There’s this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the lovebirds:

Happy Halloween

Whether you like the traditional Candy Corn, Whoppers malt balls (if you know what’s good) or those silly Red Twizzlers, I hope you get what you like.

so appropriate the day before Halloween

…mostly because right about now I am outraged by both the Santa displays in the stores…and the PC Police making sure that I proceed with enthusiasm to provide plenty of Winter Soltice merryment while carefully keeping Jesus out of it.

Sorry guys, I’m busy planning first for Thanksgiving, then Advent. Christmas is still quite a ways away, thankyouverymuch. Plus, I really need to pick up some candy for the little cutie pies who will come ringing my doorbell tomorrow in the hopes that we are the cool house with the chocolate candies. Those little munchins don’t have a political or religious agenda, and aren’t going to be dogmatic. They just want the goods, and I’m in the mood to deliver. With chocolate.

So, Fr. Z’s brilliant blog post about the minimalist Nativity scene cracked me up. Actually, it was the first comment, which I’ll post here, that truly tickled me, but I demand that you follow this link over to read the whole thing.

The fact that the grain on the Joseph-stick is more dense is clearly a sign of the patriarchal hermeneutic of the individual who put this together; the inclusion of wise men, while failing to include the wise women who were certainly there is patently sexist; putting Mary and Joseph on either side of the Jesus-stick is pure, unadulterated heteronormativity gone amok; lastly, whoever assembled the display, by putting the human person-sticks upright, while laying the animal-person sticks horizontally is displaying an unacceptable speciesist tendency. For shame! I will have none of this backwards-thinking, close mindedness under my eco-friendly, live, midwinter holiday tree!

more pics…this time post flooding

If you are familiar with That Catholic Show you might recognize one of those pictures from Black Shoals Park, where the water episode was filmed. There was a severe drought at the time of that filming, so you probably won’t actually recognize this at all, but I assure you it’s the same place. We took these pictures from the covered bridge, and to our amazement and delight, a sailboat blew into the scene! In all the years we’ve been going to that bridge I’ve never seen the water deep enough to support a boat that wasn’t built for the shallow waters, let alone a sailboat.

Family Values

Gotta love this pair–truly my favorites. Thanks to Deborah for passing it along.

a mature palate…[doesn't that sound sophisticated?]

When I was a kid one of my favorite books was Harriet the Spy. I first read it in the fourth grade, and I think that my love of people watching was greatly influenced by Harriet and her penchant for spying on people and keeping a notebook with her observations.

A little itty bitty part of me started blogging to do just that.

Another thing that I picked up from good ole Harriet is a love of tomato sandwiches. Weird, I know, but oh so tasty! When I was a kid I would lather plenty of mayonaise on a couple of slices of Wonder bread, slice a tomato over it, and mash it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.

I hate to say that it’s been years since I ate a tomato sandwich, and I can’t really come up with a reason for not having eaten one. I guess I found more interesting things to do with tomatoes.

Until today.

I came home from work with the hungries and stood in front of the open refrigerator door contemplating cottage cheese, yogurt, and leftover pot roast. Then I spied a red, juicy tomato. Jackpot. Only, this wasn’t Harriet’s 11 year old-style sandwich. Oh no. I used a multigrain wheat bread with a light tangy mayo, and sprinkled garlic salt and parsley over the tomatoes before carefully placing a second slice of bread on top and…mashing it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.

Heaven.

it’s Banned Books Week!

I am giddy with joy. After all kinds of silly weeks and months through out the year, you know what I’m talking about, Smile Day, Hug a Panda Day, Drink your Favorite Beer Day (well, I won’t take issue with that one), and every other manner of silliness, Banned Books Week is something I can sink my teeth into. Or, maybe, curl up with. Forgive the prepositions.

Banned Books Week is something that appeals to me, not just as a student and teacher of literature, but as a rebel. Ever since Sister Dawn caught me with Abby Scott’s big sister’s super secret copy of M*A*S*H in my desk and made me take it home, anticipating, I’m sure, an explosion from my parents (I was in the sixth grade and there were some morally objectionable components to that book) I embraced my right (even though it really wasn’t) to read everything I could get my hands on. Even if Sister Dawn objected.

In fact, ESPECIALLY if Sister Dawn, or any other adult, objected. I know, scandalous. In the end, though, it made me pretty well-read.  Here is my top 10 list of favorite [not effectively] banned books. What’s yours?

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

2. Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain (that was censored and published posthumously!)

3. The entire Harry Potter adventure by J.K. Rowling

4. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

8. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

9. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

10. Earth’s Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear) by Jean. M. Auel

I suppose I could chime in about Captain Underpants, too. Funny books. Give ‘em a try.

Avast ye!

Well, it’s another talk like a pirate day. Here’s my favorite pirate, Captain Hook:

“Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,

A-pirating we go

And if we’re parted by a shot

We’re sure to meet below!”

“Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,

The flag o’skull and bones

A merry hour, a hempen rope

And ‘hey’ for Davy Jones!”