And she has a great personality . . .

Meet Kamilla the Fruit Bat. Kinda cute, isn't she? She is one of the largest bats in the world, having a wingspan of around 5 feet, and loves to be fed by her handlers. She's a very healthy girl - she really does eat fruit!

I still have hope that someone can prove me wrong . . .

I've come to the conclusion that there are three types of men out there (among those who don't get married by the time they are in their early 30s).

Type 1: The Bad Boy
This category has two subtypes. The first is the Bad Boy who just wants another notch on his belt for getting a Good Girl in the sack. The second subtype is the Bad Boy who thinks a Good Girl will help him reform.

Type 2: The Good Guy
These are really, honestly good guys. They enjoy your company, your rapier whit and sparkling conversation. But they never think of you in that way.

Type 3: The Rotten Sod
These are the guys who do think of you in that way, but they neglect to tell you they are already married. Hence the category title.

I am convinced that these three types account for 98% of the men who find themselves still single into their 40s.

But I am willing to be proven wrong.

Chesterton quote of the day

In a confused and complicated age, it is possible to speak too plainly to be understood.

- GKC

This sounds like my kinda church . . .

http://www.kyriosity.com/2008/09/truly-useful-church-sign.html

Discernment and thorns

How do you know when to quit and when to keep pushing forward? How do you discern when closed doors are supposed to be closed and when you should pick the lock? What do you do when the doors you can't go through are open, beckoning you to come through?

It's difficult. It always is. But it is especially disconcerting when it seems to make no sense which doors are nailed shut and which remain open despite your best efforts to close them.

And then there is the persistent thorn in the side. You know the one that runs so deep it becomes a physical ache, and you reach for the Motrin even though you know that's not the kind of medicine that will heal this thing. Prayer doesn't seem to help. Nor do tears. Nothing helps, not really.

Not even when you get whacked over the head with a 2x4:

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, [1] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ESV

It's just NOT our week . . .

The "powers the be" changed the scheduled and so our birthday guy isn't coming in until 9pm to work the night shift!

But our potluck was good, as usual. And the Jicama Slaw was a hit.

3 Strikes and Yer Out!

In the hospital lab where I work, our second shift team is known for our birthday potlucks. We rarely forget one and most of us are good cooks. However, after tonight, one of us will no longer enjoy the privilege. This is the third year in a row one of our PRN (as needed) gals has called in after signing up to work a shift during her birthday week.

Well, we had lasagna and Caesar salad with garlicky bread sticks and chocolate chewy cookies and fruit pudding - and all without the birthday girl.

Friday I'm making my new recipe for yet another of our birthdays. It's Jicama Slaw, yummm!

Kamilla

Why are my fingers sticking to the keyboard?

Oh, right, kettle corn. I stopped by the farmer's market after brunch today just in time to catch the Kettle corn folks and the german sausage guy. Oh, and here's a scary idea - at lunch I was complaining to a friend that I didn't have any photos of myself I could post and so she snapped some. I've uploaded one to my profile page if you're brave enough to have a peek.

Otherwise - what are you doing inside on this gorgeous fall afternoon? Go out and play!

Another Freudian slip?

Well, Kamilla sicing the Hound of Heaven on Molly and praying that he bites her neck and saves her from her rebellion, is crystal clear to me . . .


This appeared on another blog a couple of weeks back in response to a discussion here on this blog. And, frankly, nothing about this poster's recap is crystal anything to me. Is this another Freudian slip from the Egalitarian camp? How did the image of someone being grabbed by the nape of the neck so they can be made to face their rebellion get morphed into a "draculan" image if neck biting?

Seems clear as mud to me.

The paradox of "liberation"

I'm just going to post something short here -- something I've been mulling over for a few days now and will likely mull some more (I've got spices for that, you know!). Religious feminism (in one incarnation aka Egalitarianism) seeks liberation from the norms of sexual orthodoxy. Now, I know that is a new term for some, but it is really only what the Church has always and everywhere taught regarding how the sexes are to relate. The funny thing about that is, it often turns out to be not so liberating after all. Chesterton said that when you get rid of the big laws, they are replaced with small laws. Roger Kimball had something similar to say in the New Criterion (/1/26/05):



The demand for excessive freedom is a curious thing. Born in wholesale rebellion against restraint, it grows up erecting its own restraints -- often harsher and more irrational than those it intended to replace.



The curious thing about Christian sexual orthodoxy is not its restraint, but the liberty you have once you choose to live within its bounds. For more on this:

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=17-08-042-f

It's definitely Fall

I made a pot of tea this morning - second of the season. I will also admit that I make it the old fashioned way with water boiled in a proper tea kettle, the tea pot warmed, a cozy (makeshift though it may be) and I even go to a special shop to get Britain's "favourite" tea - PG Tips.

Between that and the baking supplies I recently bought (a dozen and a half eggs, Guinness - for bread only, cheddar, sugar for cookies, etc.) . . .

Yes, it's definitely Fall.

Kamilla

Fun, SCARY and I STILL can't believe I just did it!

It turned out rather nicely. I haven't done it in years, and it turns out I haven't lost the touch - I can still do it.

Coincidence of Opposites

Recently here in Denver, there was something of a coincidence of opposites. The Democrats gathered for their convention. It was a week of festivities and conflict - though, it seems, the folks who vowed to "ReCreate '68" were more talk than action. The object and center piece of their convention was the nomination of an infanticidal man who is the very antithesis of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's dream. Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois was to be their nominee. He is a nearly empty suit - rising to prominence in what is likely the most corrupt political machine in this country. Here is a man with very little on his resume. He was president of the Harvard Law Review and a professor of law at the University of Chicago's Law School - and yet he never managed to publish one law review or journal article in either position. This is unheard of. And, after his supporters criticized a McCain ad likening him to a rock-star, Obama provided nothing less than a rock concert atmosphere for his acceptance speech in the ultimate venue of rock concerts - a football stadium.



Obama's record in opposing measures designed to protect the youngest survivors of violence - babies born alive after attempts to murder them by abortion - is a matter of public record that has been well documented by Jill Stanek and others. His ostensible reason for opposing the legislation was to protect Roe. This is a smoke screen as he also opposed adding a provision to the legislation that would accomplish precisely that goal. He has also promised to sign in to law the Freedom of Choice Act - a law which negates every state provision designed at restricting even late-term abortions and protecting young women from being forced into abortion by their rapists (parental notification guidelines, etc.). In short, Obama is the most radically pro-abortion candidate in our country's history.



This isn't Dr. Martin Luther King's dream - Obama represents the antithesis of the Dream. He is being judged by the color of his skin rather than the content of his character.



On the night Mrs. Obama took the stage to laud her husband, a different sort of gathering was taking place across town from the DNC at the Pepsi Center. There was a vigil outside of the Planned Parenthood Clinic of Stapleton. At this gathering, Dr. King's niece, Dr. Alveda King spoke of the fight against abortion as the newest frontier in the battle for civil rights. Denver's Abp Charles Chaput also spoke and I will leave you with a few words from his address to the vigil:



Killing an unborn child is never the right answer to a woman's or society's problems. Acts of violence create a culture of violence -- and abortion is the most intimate form of violence there is. It wounds the woman, it kills the unborn child and it poisons the roots of justice and charity that bind us all into one human family.