Incidentally, anyone ever hear the one about Our Lady and the Infant of Prague--
Our Lord: "I'm just going outside."
Our Lady: "Not dressed like that you're not!"
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Sainte Anne Trinitaire
13 hours ago
Thursday, November 09, 2006
A little more Catholic humor
HT to Matthew of the Shrine of the Holy Whapping, a dazzling blend of college knowledge, talent, Catholic devotion AND geeky wit:
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Read all the comments in this post.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Banana Bikes and Moth Balls
Happy Halloween!
We've been weakening our dental work in the office all week with an assortment of Halloween candy. The bags of candy these days are so much classier than when I was a kid. We considered a Snickers Bar the ultimate in generosity, pawing through piles of that orange- and black-wrapped oddity that is apparently stale when it comes off the assembly line, gyppy Saf-T-suckers and off-brand life savers, and boxes of raisins (the hugest gyp of all; a laxative on Halloween!)
Now, the norm is the miniature name-brand candy bars, as well as gummy everything.
I miss some favorite candies of my childhood (1960's) - what we called "moth balls," which were malted milk balls, which I still love, and "Banana Bikes" which I SWEAR I thought was the right name until only about five years ago, when I discovered that they were Banana Taffy from the Kathryn Beich company. Not until I read a newspaper account of a factory fire there did I learn the right name. I like the Bike name better. They were about as "banana" as Circus Peanuts are...vanilla?....what flavor are those, anyway?
I miss the days when candy like Banana Bikes and
Now and Laters made your mouth sweat.
I'm a candy fogey.
We've been weakening our dental work in the office all week with an assortment of Halloween candy. The bags of candy these days are so much classier than when I was a kid. We considered a Snickers Bar the ultimate in generosity, pawing through piles of that orange- and black-wrapped oddity that is apparently stale when it comes off the assembly line, gyppy Saf-T-suckers and off-brand life savers, and boxes of raisins (the hugest gyp of all; a laxative on Halloween!)
Now, the norm is the miniature name-brand candy bars, as well as gummy everything.
I miss some favorite candies of my childhood (1960's) - what we called "moth balls," which were malted milk balls, which I still love, and "Banana Bikes" which I SWEAR I thought was the right name until only about five years ago, when I discovered that they were Banana Taffy from the Kathryn Beich company. Not until I read a newspaper account of a factory fire there did I learn the right name. I like the Bike name better. They were about as "banana" as Circus Peanuts are...vanilla?....what flavor are those, anyway?
I miss the days when candy like Banana Bikes and
Now and Laters made your mouth sweat.
I'm a candy fogey.
Monday, October 23, 2006
A little Catholic humor
Saint Dominic, Saint Francis and Saint Ignatius of Loyola are transported back in time and place to the Birth of Our Lord.
St. Dominic, seeing the Incarnation of the Word, is sent into ecstasy.
St. Francis, seeing God become a helpless child, is overcome with humility.
St. Ignatius of Loyola takes St Joseph and Our Lady aside and asks "Have you given any thought to His education?"
St. Dominic, seeing the Incarnation of the Word, is sent into ecstasy.
St. Francis, seeing God become a helpless child, is overcome with humility.
St. Ignatius of Loyola takes St Joseph and Our Lady aside and asks "Have you given any thought to His education?"
Sunday, October 22, 2006
I get book recommendations from dead people
When I was in college, I worked at a public library in my home town. People whose personalities and wit I enjoyed would check out books, or bring them back, and I would take note of what they read and gave the books a try myself. It was a sort of stealth book club, and I found lots of authors and subjects I enjoyed reading about.
One of my favorite fictional characters is Lord Peter Wimsey, an English gentleman detective in books written by Dorothy Sayers in the 1920's. In the book Busman's Honeymoon, Peter's mother the Dowager Duchess makes reference to the book The Stars Look Down, presumably the linked one by A.J.Cronin, and the "latest Angela Thirkell."
Finally, after years of reading and re-reading about Lord Peter, I read both and I found a new treasure of English wit and life in Angela Thirkell.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw the Dick Cavett interview series on the Turner Classic Movie channel. Bette Davis was being interviewed and mentioned that she considered the best fictional presentation of what Hollywood was like at the time she was beginning in movies to be What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg. I just finished it and it was a great story expressed in a writing style contemporary with the period.
Next on my list is The Playboy of the Western World, written in 1911. It's a play, and I'm not much for reading plays, but it was mentioned in another book, and I'm darned if I can remember where I saw it, so what the heck.
When we leave school, how can we be directed into new paths of literature, theatre, the arts? The media? Yeah, right. That Amazon avatar or whatever you call it that says "people who bought A also bought B" is actually kind of helpful, too. But right now, I'm using dead people.
Have you had success finding one book from another?
One of my favorite fictional characters is Lord Peter Wimsey, an English gentleman detective in books written by Dorothy Sayers in the 1920's. In the book Busman's Honeymoon, Peter's mother the Dowager Duchess makes reference to the book The Stars Look Down, presumably the linked one by A.J.Cronin, and the "latest Angela Thirkell."
Finally, after years of reading and re-reading about Lord Peter, I read both and I found a new treasure of English wit and life in Angela Thirkell.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw the Dick Cavett interview series on the Turner Classic Movie channel. Bette Davis was being interviewed and mentioned that she considered the best fictional presentation of what Hollywood was like at the time she was beginning in movies to be What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg. I just finished it and it was a great story expressed in a writing style contemporary with the period.
Next on my list is The Playboy of the Western World, written in 1911. It's a play, and I'm not much for reading plays, but it was mentioned in another book, and I'm darned if I can remember where I saw it, so what the heck.
When we leave school, how can we be directed into new paths of literature, theatre, the arts? The media? Yeah, right. That Amazon avatar or whatever you call it that says "people who bought A also bought B" is actually kind of helpful, too. But right now, I'm using dead people.
Have you had success finding one book from another?
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Close, so close
The sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills and the plains -
Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him who reigns?
Is not the Vision He? tho' He be not that which he seems?
Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?
Earth, these solid stars, this weight of body and limb,
Are they not sign and symbol of thy division from Him?
Dark is the world to thee: thyself art the reason why;
For is He not all but that which has power to feel "I am I"?
Glory about thee, without thee; and thou fulfillest thy doom
Making him broken gleams, and a stifled splendour and gloom.
Speak to Him thou for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet -
Closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.
God is law, say the wise; O Soul, and let us rejoice,
For if he is thunder by law the thunder is yet his voice.
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
Hallowed be thy name - Halleluiah! -
Infinite ideality!
Immeasurable Reality!
Infinite Personality!
Hallowed be thy name - Halleluiah!
We feel we are nothing - for all is Thou and in Thee;
We feel we are something - that also has come from thee;
We know we are nothing - but Thou wilt help us to be.
Hallowed be thy name - Halleluiah!
- by Alfred Lord Tennyson (of all people)
"Closer than He than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." Right here. Right now. Glory be to God.
