Quote of the Day

The news of today: There will be a zombie, a minotaur and a cowboy walking the streets tonight, in search of candy. The minotaur is upset because his face will not be hairy enough. The zombie is upset because she doesn't want messy hair. The cowboy is upset because he doesn't actually want to wear any clothes at all. Just boots. So, when you see the non-hairy minotaur, the perfectly coiffed zombie, and the naked cowboy, be sure to say hello.

- Haiku of the Day

Dress Rehearsal with Cousin Ava

Happy Halloween

The Turducken of Desserts

It weighs 15 pounds, stands a foot high and packs 1800 calories per slice. I give you . . . the Pumpple:

That would be a pumpkin pie baked inside a chocolate cake and an apple pie baked inside a white cake - stacked together and slathered in frosting.

LINK

Annie and her CC (Cousin Crystal)

Mormon Missionaries Pay Me a Visit

by Ken Hada

I'm sitting on my lawn
enjoying a nice blunt cigar
watching children ride scooters
up and down the street
twilight gently falling,
swallows circling,
Mississippi Kites high overhead,
tree frog, sounds of sweet shadows

Then I see them in the corner of my eye,
two bikes slow
they can not pass a lost soul –
I'm too conspicuous –
I don't want this feeling, I want them
to pass me by

Good evening sir they say
I'm Elder Hansen says the first
I'm Elder Olson the second chokes
and then they wait
but all I can think to say:
You're kind of young to be elders, aren't you?
They launch into their sales pitch
about Restoration and Heavenly Father
while I recoil in smoke, then interrupt
If I convert do I have to give up this cigar?
They are not sure
but soon get back on track
like a loose wheel wobbling
until they finally bid me good evening.
I watch them roll away
and wonder
what gives them the audacity to interrupt me
while I am at worship

Happy Halloween - Keep Those Reflexes Sharp!

Prosciutto, Pear, and Blue Cheese Sandwiches

You’ll feel like you’ve entered a gourmet deli when you take a bite of these sandwiches. Bonus: They’re quick and easy to make.

RECIPE HERE

Lit

I recently read Lit on the recommendation of a friend and I am glad I did.

This is the third installment in Mary Karr's memoir series. Born to an alcoholic father whom she adored and an alcoholic mother whom she feared, she became an alcoholic herself. Lit is a memoir written to her son in an effort to explain why he grew up with an alcoholic mother.

The book chronicles her struggle to make a living as a poet in New York, dealing with the success of her first memoir, The Liar's Club; her journey through Alcoholics Anonymous and her wrestling with the idea of a higher power.

In the end, it is a chronicling of a struggling, alcoholic, atheist, poet who becomes a successful, sober, believer and writer.

It is a fascinating tale and one that I would recommend.

Punkin' Pancakes (Oh yeah, she's a fan . . .)

Soul Food

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.

"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

Jesus wept.

- John 11:32-35

Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned

I finished this book about a week ago and really enjoyed it. It basically hits the high points and buzz-words of American History. I would call it conversational history. It gives you enough info to hold your own in a conversation without burying you in every little historical factoid.

Although I read this one on my schmancy Kindle, it is one of those books that I would like to have in hard-copy on a shelf as a reference book. Funny, I used to envision a big beautiful personal library. Now that I have a Kindle, the only books I can imagine owing in hardback are reference works. But I digress.

I really enjoyed this book and anyone wanting a primer on American history from the beginning to about 2006 will enjoy it as well.

School Without Walls

Among other things, we want Annie to be exposed to music - not just enjoying it, but making it. Obviously piano is the place to start but I would be happy if she played any instrument for a few years (except maybe the drums, accordion or violin).

So whenever we see someone playing on the street, I try to stop and give Annie and ear/eyeful.

This guy is a fixture at Pike's Place Market in Seattle and Annie was glued!:

Soul Food

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

- Luke 16:13

Soul Food

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

- Luke 14:12-14

Soul Food

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

- Luke 12:48b

Soul Food

Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

- Luke 11:46

Greeeeeeeen Acres Is The Place to be!

As part of our road trip, we stayed with some friends in Oregon who are currently living on their family's farm.

Everything in this video was "shot on the farm" (BTW - in the shotgun segment, I am shooting at a milk carton full of water . . . b/c we couldn't find any fluffy white bunnies to shoot . . . uh, dat's a joke der . . .):



(Hopefully YouTube won't scrub out the music - anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid having your music backgrounds scrubbed by "the man"?)

My Daughter Can Whoop Your Honor Student Sitting Down

This past summer our niece worked at Camp Korey.

The camp is situated on the original Carnation Dairy company family farm and caters to children with various disabilities. We drove out to see their pumpkin patch and tour the facilities this past weekend.

The facilities are incredible. As I understand it, the camp operates 10 Monday-Friday camps during the summer. Each camp is sort of geared towards children with similar disabilities so one week might be primarily children with downs syndrome and the next week might be paraplegics etc. When camps are not in session, the facility can be rented for corporate retreats, weddings, etc.

Camp Korey has one of only two wheel-chair-accessible ropes courses in the United States:


They also have a zip line that can be accessed by wheelchair bound teens.

Add to all that a swimming pool, horseback riding, rock wall for climbing etc and you have a great opportunity for disabled kids. The cost is in excess of $2000 per camper but the camp's foundation picks up the tab. That's right - everyone goes for free.

Having summer camp in my blood, I thought it might be great to send Annabelle here one day. But then again, I would also like her to go to a "regular" camp as well - one where she is surrounded by typical children and is forced to make-due.

So two camps every summer.

Then it hit me, Annie is going to go swimming and zip-lining and horseback-riding etc at camp Korey and then head to "Camp Typical" where they probably won't allow her to swim, tube and what-not for liability reasons.

So I guess we will just have to put together a "Why I Kick A$" photo album that Annie can carry around and say "See? Here are photos of me zip-lining, horseback riding, inner-tubing, four-wheeling, climbing a rock-wall etc. - can I please go swimming now?"

Here is a promo-video for Camp Korey:

So Awesome It'll Make You Queasy

Quote of the Day

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

- Elizabeth Stone

Your Punishment in Hell

by Gary Leising

Someone will douse a cobra in gasoline,
light the sucker, and shove it headfirst
down your throat. It'll speed straight
through your esophagus, unfurl
its hood to fill your stomach
then begin to strike and strike and strike
and strike and strike: fangs pierce
your stomach, venom pours in,
the little burn of incipient ulcers
grows quick, paralysis sets in.
Your lungs stop before your brain,
before your hand, which lifts
to your mouth the plastic-lidded
paper cup holding the caramel
macchiato cappuccino with a double
shot of espresso and frothed soy milk
topped with two shakes of cinnamon
and no, NO (yes, you said no twice)
sugar that was made for you
slowly, while I, already running late,
waited behind you for a simple,
already-made black coffee.
You will lose all motion before
that drink reaches your mouth,
but you recover and the drink,
strangely, has vanished, and barrista
and cobra-douser-slash-lighter do it all again
and again. I know this because,
for my angry impatience,
I am behind you in line in hell
forever, the pot of black coffee
behind the counter steaming,
turning, I know, bitter.

Quote of the Day

I accept the universe

- Margaret Fuller

Soul Food

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

- John 10:10

Quote of the Day

The road to Lourdes is littered with crutches, but not one wooden leg.

- Emile Zola

Soul Food

"Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."

- John 7:24

Soul Food

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

- Matthew 18: 21-22

Physician, Heal Thyself

So yesterday morning I posted to an SB bulletin board at Babycenter.com. Here is what I wrote:

We are on a 5-week road trip to visit family and friends. While staying at my wife's parents, they were excited to have us watch a movie called "Letters to God": http://www.letterstogodthemovie.com/ . You can check out the link for the story-line.
I usually don't much go in for the overtly-christian-made-for-Sunday-afternoon-movie thing. The production quality / acting is usually poor and the message is usually heavy-handed. This movie is all of those things.

However, there were a couple of gems in the story (I had to watch the WHOLE THING as my in-laws were there).

In one scene, a grandfather explains to the boy with leukemia that his condition causes people to think about themselves in a way they have never had to before. When people see a bright, happy, cheerful boy with a debilitating disease, they are forced to examine the things that they are constantly complaining about that are small by comparison.

People can't always and don't always know how to react. Some will tease, some will run in fear, some will over-compensate in kindness.

Our kiddos rock people's world on a daily basis - in some of the same ways they rocked ours when we first got the diagnosis.

I guess my point is, when I counsel with parents who are expecting an extraordinary child like ours or I pass by a stranger at the mall who stops dead in their tracks when Annie zips by in her wheelchair, I try to muster compassion for them and think to myself, "I know - I didn't know how to react when I heard the news either".
People respond in nutty ways sometimes - and the nuttier the response, the bigger the opportunity for grace.

Later in the day, the wife, wee-one and I headed to Pike Place Market and a woman stopped dead in her tracks, mouth hanging open, and stared at Annabelle in her wheelchair. Which is FINE. Except that she stopped RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CURB CUT-OUT-RAMP and I had to ask her to step aside so I could get Annabelle up the ramp.

In related news; there was an acappella quartet singing gospel on the sidewalk for tips. We stopped and listened and I dropped a tip in the jar as we resumed our walk. The lead singer asked us to hang out as he had a song he wanted to sing for Annie. They busted into a rocking version of This Little Light of Mine.

I wiggled and spun Annie's wheelchair to the music and a small crowd gathered. It was only afterward that Holly told me that at least three families had their video cameras out and were taping Annabelle boogieing in her w/c.

Which, I suppose, is fine too - sorta creepy - but fine.

I thought to myself, "How am I going to teach Annie to deal with all the stares when she starts to notice them?". I guess I will just tell her that it is not often people see a girl so beautiful and that her challenge is to make her inner beauty stop people in their tracks just the way her outer beauty does . . .

er . . . something like that . . .

Soul Food

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

- Matthew 17:14-20

Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"

"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

- Mark 19: 21-24

Saying stuff that is important and not fooling around . . . .

Mom

This past weekend I was honored to attend the funeral for Lois Hawkins. Nothing can be said that will do justice to such a great woman. But this comes close:

I was the favorite

Lucky

26.2 booya

Finished. Pr. Trashed (but I repeat myself)

18.5 and still sexy

Camping out at the 18.5 mile mark

Time to gear up

Oi. You should at least get to sleep in b4 running a marathon

Live Blogging the Long Beach Marathon (sorta - maybe)

So I find myself in a Best Western in Long Beach tonight. My buddy is running the LB marathon tomorrow (not me) and I am going to do my best to take photos as well as post from my cell phone.

And yes, that IS his lucky leprechaun.

Quote of the Day

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

- Mother Theresa

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Thing Is

by Ellen Bass

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Easy as Falling Out of an Airplane

Most of us have been at an event where a parachutist comes sailing in with smoke trailing from their boots. Here is a first-hand look at all that goes on during the decent. I am amazed by the fact that the jumper is apparently working all the way down.

An shoot-dang effin he dint nail that gall-dern target down thar . . .

On Punctuation

by Elizabeth Austen

not for me the dogma of the period
preaching order and a sure conclusion
and no not for me the prissy
formality or tight-lipped fence
of the colon and as for the semi-
colon call it what it is
a period slumming
with the commas
a poser at the bar
feigning liberation with one hand
tightening the leash with the other
oh give me the headlong run-on
fragment dangling its feet
over the edge give me the sly
comma with its come-hither
wave teasing all the characters
on either side give me ellipses
not just a gang of periods
a trail of possibilities
or give me the sweet interrupting dash
the running leaping joining dash all the voices
gleeing out over one another
oh if I must
punctuate
give me the YIPPEE
of the exclamation point
give me give me the curling
cupping curve mounting the period
with voluptuous uncertainty

Quote of the Day

"True love is a discipline in which each divines the secret self of the other and refuses to believe in the mere daily self."

- William Butler Yeats

Quote of the Day

Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes I have trouble doing it.

- Tallulah Bankhead

Splish, Splash, I was takin' a bath . . . with my cousins on a Sunday Niiiight . . "

Get Off of Grandma!

So we visited a bushel of family recently and someone had the bright idea of getting a photo of (Great) Grandma Lucille with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Once everyone piled on / around the couch, and the wee-ones started howling, Great-Grandma Lucille exclaimed, "Are you all trying to kill me?"

I think she was only half kidding.

Common Ground

by Paul J. Willis

Today I dug an orange tree out of the damp, black earth.
My grandfather bought a grove near Anaheim
at just my age. Like me, he didn't know much.
"How'd you learn to grow oranges, Bill?"
friends said. "Well," he said, "I look at what

my neighbor does, and I just do the opposite."
Up in Oregon, he and his brother discovered
the Williamette River. They were both asleep
on the front of the wagon, the horses stopped,
his brother woke up. "Will," he said, "am it a river?"

My grandfather, he cooked for the army during the war,
the first one. He flipped the pancakes up the chimney,
they came right back through the window onto the griddle.
In the Depression he worked in a laundry during the night,
struck it rich in pocketknives. My grandfather,

he liked to smoke in his orange grove, as far away on the property
as he could get from my grandmother,
who didn't approve of life in general, him in particular.
Smoking gave him something to feel disapproved for,
set the world back to rights. Like everyone else,

my grandfather sold his grove to make room
for Disneyland. He laughed all the way to the bank,
bought in town, lived to see his grandsons born
and died of cancer before anyone wanted him to, absent
now in the rootless presence of damp, black earth.

Annie and her CC (Cousin Crystal)

Balloons!

I will admit that the idea of hanging from a balloon in a basket hundreds of feet in the air is not my thing - but this is beautiful!

Balloon Fiesta from Michael Salisbury on Vimeo.

Sunday Morning

Wife: I can't believe you are wearing Birkenstocks to church

Me: (In a condescending tone) I am not going to church to make a fashion statement - I am going to church for Jesus.

Wife: Well I am pretty sure Jesus would have at least trimmed his toenails first . . . .

Me: You may have a point there . . .

Applebees!

Annabelle's Great Grandmother, Lucille.


Why Applebee's? Because when you're 92-years-old and you tell the group that you would like to go to Applebee's for chicken strips - no one sasses you.

Punkin' Patch

This year we went to the Patch with 3 generations of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and grand kids. Unfortunately, we DID NOT go to the patch with extra batteries for the camera . . . . So here is what I was able to cobble together before the juice ran out of the gizmos . . .

Smell Like a Monster

Smoove

Scatman

Quote of the Day

"Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle."

- Amy Bloom

The Signature Mark of Autumn

by Gary Young

The signature mark of autumn has arrived at last with the rains: orange of
pumpkin, orange persimmon, orange lichen on rocks and fallen logs; a copper
moon hung low over the orchard; moist, ruddy limbs of the madrone, russet
oak leaf, storm-peeled redwood, acorns emptied by squirrels and jays; and
mushrooms, orange boletes, Witch's Butter sprouting on rotted oak, the Deadly
Galeria, and of course, chanterelles, which we'll eat tonight with pasta, goat
cheese, and wine.

Rain Dance

These Boots are Made for . . . Wheelin'

Due to Annabelle being born with clubbed feet, she needs to wear Ankle-Foot-Orthodics (aka; AFO's) about 20 hours a day.

The purpose is to keep her feet at a 90-degree angle so that they don't regress to her pre-surgery position. As you might expect, after a year of the same plastic shoes, we are all a little tired of them.

The wife's idea was to go shopping for boots that would fit over her AFOs but I argued that it would look like Annie was wearing galoshes everywhere she went. So, naturally, we went boot shopping anyway.

We found these cute little uggs and tried them on:


They aren't big enough to go over her AFOs but as we stood there pondering how to make these boots work, it occurred to us that these boots actually provided just as much support as her AFOs do. After all, it's about the position of her foot - not whether ugg boots or AFOs are holding it there. We bought the boots and they have been a great success.

So now, we are on the boot hunt. Annie's feet are so small, and our support requirements are pretty stringent (not to mention the wife's fashion requirements)that it has been a little tough to find boots that are a good fit. But we did find / purchase these the other day:


So Annie is going to be bootsie girl - all kinds of boots. I commented to the wife how ironic it is that we are choosing to have fun with footwear and potentially draw more attention to Annie's feet when most people would probably consider her feet the source of her disability.

Then it hit me: 13 years from now the wee-one will be begging for the latest bling-boots and she will pull out her Ace-in-the-hole:, "You know dad, I have a medical condition that requires these boots . . . ."

A-yep, my daughter has a note from her doctor to go shoe shopping . . . .

Quote of the Day

"One out of every three Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of two of your best friends. If they are OK, then it must be you."

- George Carlin

Graduates of Western Military Academy

by George Bilgere

One day, as this friend of my father, Paul,
was flying over Asia,
he vaporized a major Japanese city.

True story. They'd been chums
at a military academy in Illinois
back in the thirties.

My father was the star: best in Latin,
best in riflery and history,
best in something called "recitation,"

and best at looking serious.
In the old yearbooks he has exactly the look
you were supposed to have back then:
about fifty-two percent duty, forty-eight percent integrity.
Zero percent irony.

But somehow, all my father got to do later on
was run his own car dealership. A big one,
but still. While Paul
got to blow up Japan. My father
ushered in the latest models.
Paul ushered in the Atomic Age.
It seems unfair, but there you are.

Paul had been an indifferent Latin scholar. Weak
in history and recitation. For these and other reasons
My father took a refreshing swim
across a large, inviting lake of gin,
complete with strange boats and exotic shore birds,

which resulted in his internment
under some shady acres I occasionally visit.

While Paul went on for decades,
always giving the same old speech. Yes,
he'd done the right thing. No doubt about it.

He improved his skills at recitation
and developed a taste for banquet food.
To this day he struggles with his weight

Quote of the Day

"Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women."

- Elsa Schiaparelli

This Little Piggy

I have three strong memories of visiting my Grandpa and Grandma Linden in Yukipa, CA:

1) They always had suction-cup bows and arrows and we would spend hours in the back-yard shooting at plastic targets


2) The plastic elephant cigarette dispenser that my Uncle Harold would store his cigs in.

3) Pennies in baby-food jars


My grandmother would sort silver change and pennies into jars which she kept in her pantry. When we came over, she would open a jar and lets us have a few coins.

I thought it might be nice to set up some change jars for Annabelle but I discovered that while baby-food jars of change were wondrous to me as a child, they are just a little to depression-era for me. Sorta like fried bologna sandwiches.

So the wife found this at target for $10 or so.


I think it is beautiful and it sits on Annie's shelf in the nursery. We keep all our loose change in it but I am chagrined to say that every six months or so, dad has had to dip into the piggy to get us by until pay-day. Annie is usually good for $25 or so every six months.

I rationalize it all by reminding myself that the wee-one does not yet do chores - she has to pay her way somehow . . . .

Individually Baked Eggs

“Eggs surrounded by a strip of bacon and topped with a square of cheese. These eggs take on a very pleasing flavor just by baking instead of cooking them in the more conventional manner.”

RECIPE HERE

Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man

Banned Books Week

My friend Sean has a post up about banned books week.

Here's the quote that got me thinking:

Of course there will always be subjects that you don't discuss with children because it is not age appropriate. But by high school, I think most topics are on the table. Other than the language of the time, I don't think anything in the book would offend the sensibilities of a high school reader. To pretend that you can 'protect' them inside a bubble of innocence is both unrealistic and hardly helpful in raising mature adults. And I think if parents and teens read To Kill a Mockingbird together, it would lead to some very worthwhile discussions.

Now that I have a daughter of my own, my opinions of what is on the library shelf have come into sharper focus. I don't think I have changed my mind in anyway - it's just that the theoretical has become practical.

First of all, public libraries should be able to stock whatever they want. But when it comes to Elementary school, I want Annabelle to be exposed to positive and uplifting literature that helps her to see the beauty in the world - keep the political and controversial stuff to yourself.

When Annie hits middle school, I would expect her to be exposed to thoughts and ideas that are outside her belief system - in a way that affords her opinions respect but upholds dignity of those with whom she may disagree.

By the time Annie hits her senior year of high school, I would expect her to be exposed to literature that challenges her to defend her own opinions - possibly even persuade her to change her opinions about some things.

By the time Annie is 18 - she should be able to pull anything she wants off any library shelf in the world and deal with it in a thoughtful manner.

The trouble is, many parents do not feel the way I do. They fail to raise their children to be mature thinking adults so when they are challenged at school, their kids are wholly unprepared to deal with differing opinions.

I guess, in the end, I really don't much care what books are or are not banned from the school library - Annie is going to have her own library at home that will do the job. Raising my daughter is MY job - not that of the school system.

Annie will read To Kill a Mockingbird one way or another. If she doesn't she will at least watch the movie with Gregory Peck.

But not Catcher in the Rye - because that travesty is just a sophomoric waste of space.

www.GirlEffect.org

Hee Hee . . .

Okay, It's an Ad - But It's a Good Ad . . .

Work

Jesus Won't Be Happy . . .

So we recently visited our good friends the Monticelli's as part of our West-cost road trip. We had a great time putting the meal together and when the time came, six adults and four children sat down to eat.

As is common, one of the kids was asked if they wanted to say grace and four-year-old Santino agreed. Before I knew it, everyone around the table made the sign of the cross and said the pre-meal prayer in unison. Everyone, that is, except for my wife and I - the two protestants at the table. We, of course, would have been happy to join in but we didn't know the words so we sat quietly with our heads bowed and joined in with the "Amen" at the end. Our silence did not go unnoticed by our four-year-old friend.

Just as everyone was reaching for the platters, little Santino spoke up: "Um . . . you have to pray before meals because Jesus likes us to and if you don't pray, Jesus won't be happy . . ."

Everyone around the table stifled a laugh and I replied, "Well, Holly and I don't know the prayer you just said but if you like, I would be happy to do another prayer that I know."

Santino considered this and said that would be fine. So we all (including myself this time) made the sign of the cross and I gave a short prayer of thanksgiving. We all said "Amen", laughed and raised our wine glasses in a triumphant toast that holy war had been averted and that we ALL now had the assurance that Jesus was, once again, happy.

God bless little Santino for keeping his protestant friends in God's good graces.

Quote of the Day

It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not.

- Mignon McLaughlin