All Purls. No Swine.
My maternal Great Granny was a fearsome old bat. She was born in 1869, just four short years after the US Civil War ended and (only five days subsequently) Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She died a few months before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. What a lifespan. I was fourteen when she died, and… Continue reading Easter 2024: On Silk Purses, Sow’s Ears, and Horse’s Asses
So, there I was, yesterday, out and about in my nearest small town, leaving the local Tractor Supply (chicken, sheep, and bird feed) and pulling out onto the closest major highway (State Route 19 which runs North to South the entire length of Western Pennsylvania, from the West Virginia Border to Erie, just south of… Continue reading Karma Delivery–If Only
Matthew 5:44. We are instructed to pray for these appalling people. This Easter week, I can't help reflecting that it's one of the hardest things to do in all of Christianity. Because my own Christian charity extends only so far, I resolve the dilemma in my own mind, thus: "You have to live with yourselves… Continue reading A Prayer for “them which despitefully use [us] and persecute [us]”
A man who is often dubbed "America's favorite poet," Robert Lee Frost, was born 150 years ago today, on March 26, 1874.* Those who've stuck with me for a bit may know that modern American poetry isn't really my wheelhouse, but Robert Frost has some merit, never more so than with his poem, "The Road… Continue reading Plain Speaking: Robert Frost
I am totally in your ballpark! But, first, you need to decide: Are you after "authorised" long-lasting images that will follow your son (the future king) into eternity? Or is every photo just a "one-off," the "best amateur sort of shit that could be accomplished at the time by even a person like me with… Continue reading William and Kate: Wanna Post Photos of You and Your Kids? Go for it!
With very few exceptions over the years, I’ve never minded being defined in terms of my familial relationships. Dad’s daughter. Mr. Right's wife. Peachy’s granny. Sam, Mike and Jenny’s stepmother. I’ve never thought of myself as an appendage or a cipher, nor do I function as anybody’s foil. Although by no means perfect, I’m generally… Continue reading The Stepmother Diaries, 2024
You remember him. He’s the United States Marine who–while still on active duty–excoriated his chain of command regarding their decision to leave Afghanistan in August of 2021. There were several posts about it on Ricochet at, and just after, the time (some of them even by me) Here are a few of them: https://ricochet.com/1036403/honor-courage-and-commitment-a-usmc-ltcol-speaks-out/ https://ricochet.com/1036424/pointed-questions/… Continue reading Whatever Happened to LtCol Stuart Scheller, USMC, Fired?
Oh, my giddy aunt. Such excitement in the US this evening. Joe Biden was to "speak" at 7:45pm Eastern time (12:45GMT). Could he be resigning? Or at the very least, announcing that he wasn't going to run for President again later this year? Oh, pleeze, pleeze, pleeze, God. Let it be true. Umm. No. Ever… Continue reading You Thought Biden Was Going To Resign? Have You Been Living Under a Rock? Or Just Floating in an Otherworldly Bubble With Two or Three of Your Loony Friends?
It was sixty-five years ago today, on February 3, 1959. I was four years old. Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed when their plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza, crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, when the pilot lost control of the plane in bad winter weather, and… Continue reading The Day the Music Died: 65 Years Ago
Thirty-six years ago this month, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera opened in New York, and went on to become the longest-running show in Broadway history. I've never seen it. I don't hold much brief for ALW, and I've only seen two of his musicals over the past fifty-three years. The first was… Continue reading From Andrew Lloyd Webber to Angora Goats