How low can we go . . . ?

On the news, last night, the commentator said that a middle school class wanted to do some musical event or something. They wanted to sing "When the Saints Go Marching In" but the powers that be in the school objected to the use of the word 'saint'. They got to perform with one word change: saint was changed to ant. What? I don't know about other people but I would not want to sing a song about wishing I could join a bunch of 'ants' marching where ever it is they will be allowed to go in this song change. You have to wonder about the fear some people have at the mention of  God, Saints, Faith, . . .

Marriage counseling - shared from the Internet . . .

After 35 years of marriage, a husband and wife came for counseling. When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionate, painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married.

On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her long and passionately as her husband watched -with a raised eyebrow. The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze. The therapist turned to the husband and said, 'this is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?'

'Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I fish.'

Abstract Tomato?

 

My husband insists he was trying to take an abstract photo of one of his tomato plants. I contend he just got the sun in the wrong direction when he snapped the picture. With a little touch up, here and there, I think I improved the initial picture. My husband now says it represents isolation, man's inhumanity to man, a fearful world . . . I'm sticking with my first observation - he didn't watch his lighting when he took the picture!

For when you are down and troubled . . .

“The Immaculata permits our falls to cure us of self-love, pride and the rest, and to bring us to humility that we may be dependent on the graces of the Lord...  In case of a fall, do not be saddened for that is a form of decadent pride; rather with great love and joy of heart arise at once and go forward! Make up for the fall with a perfect act of love and, of course, with constant, constant effort. … Let us always put our foot on the first rung, as St. Therese of the Child Jesus says, until we win over God, who will come and pick us up and take us above.”  ~St. Maximilian Kolbe

Be kind to your potential lunch . . .

I know that a lot of our tax dollars are wasted but this article from the Washington Times was funny yet very sad. It is more than just a lot of our tax dollars going down the drain! Here is the link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/26/tax-dollars-shrimp-treadmills-jell-o-wrestling/

In case the link doesn't come through for some reason, this has to be my favorite excerpt from the article:

In another instance, the agency paid $559,681 to test sick shrimps’ metabolism, which one researcher said was “the first time that shrimp have been exercised on a treadmill.”
Mr. Coburn’s report noted that the researchers found sick shrimp “did not perform as well and did not recover as well from exercise as healthy shrimp.”

Seems we all should get in line for some research money . . . no experience required!

Castles, castles, castles . . .

 

I enjoyed visiting all these castles but they sure put a end to childhood dreams of every living in one of these stone mansions. I can only imagine how cold and damp they were in winter. We were there in temperate weather and needed a jacket inside!

Although the Bavarian King Lugwig was eccentric, he wasn't stupid. He invented a flush sort of toilet in one of his castles. Good thinking as it would have been a long, winding staircase of a walk to be comfortable in any other circumstances.

All the castles were in Germany except the one on the upper left which was the Hohen Salzburg in Austria. Didn't hear any mention of ghosts in any of them. There is, according to my mother, some ghostly monk that hangs out in and around the Hohen Salzburg. We did not meet him!

Always finding new favorites . . .

"Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment."
       -- Evan Esar

 

"A girl phoned me the other day and said "Come on over, there's nobody home." I went over. Nobody was home."
       -- Rodney Dangerfield

 

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. "
       -- Thomas Jefferson