Pentecost

Today's Link
Reverend Mommy

Today's Saying
Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Today's Picture
From the Archives

Today the liturgical churches will celebrate Pentecost. The color for the day will be red. I used to encourage people to wear red to remind them of the tongues of fire that came to the disciples on this day.
It is a day of promise fulfilled and power delivered.
In some sense it is the birthday of the Church.
The Gospel for the day is Acts 2:1-21
Here the power of God is on display.
It is a different kind of power.
It crushes no one .
It destroys no one.
It breaks nothing.
It brings fire but it doesn’t burn.
But it changes people.
It redirects their lives.
It frees them to be what God intended them to be.
It empowers .
I have experienced that power.
I have seen it’s miracles.
I saw lives changed, made new.
I , who started off hating Catholics ended up best friends with a Catholic Priest who started off hating all Protestants.
It took real power to make that happen.
Today the liturgical churches celebrate the coming of that power to the Church.
It is worth celebrating.
Today I will celebrate.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Over at Last Lutheran they have a problem. Pastor Joan came down with some kind of flue like illness on Friday and the Doctor has ordered her to stay in bed for a few days to protect the baby. They don’t have time to find a substitute since this was definitely not planned. Herman has been asked to preach and handle the services in her place. Herman feels that this is such an important Church holiday they should get somebody else. But He will do it. Here is an excerpt from his sermon:
“ I never went to seminary so I can’t tell you all the things that Pastor Joan might have told you about this text.
I was asked to late to do the proper research. I was told in the preaching class Lutherans don’t preach without really studying the text.
But here I am and I’ll have to do.
I look at the experience of the early Church as described in this text and I marvel.
There were tongues of fire. If that happened today I think we’d call 911 and ask them to send the fire truck.
People spoke in other languages.
Wow! They spoke real languages they didn’t know.
I’ve never done that.
But I have run into that same Holy Spirit.
That’s why I’m standing here instead of up at the bar at the Fly Inn.
I used to be a drunk. I wasn’t good for much.
If it wasn’t for God’s power I would still be a drunk or perhaps I would be dead.
God’s power changed all that.
I don’t know how.
But I know why.
He loves me.
He loves you too.
He really does.”

Wrap UP

It was one of those days you wish you could grab hold of and keep in a box. The church service was fabulous. The choir was superb. The pastor's sermon was better than great. The confirmands seemed so sincere. I got Communion. A nice lady from the Church that heard me whining at coffee the previous week that I couldn't get currants to make currant cookies brought me a box. God lead Betty and I to such a marvelous fellowship. Came home and had the fun of reliving much of what happened as I posted the Confirmation service, the choir, the sermon, and pictures from the day to the website. Betty andPennie went shoe shopping and I got to stay home ( didn't I tell you it was a wonderful day). Then I visited all the blogs that left comments yesterday. There were some great blogs today. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Raven's Challenge 65

Today's Link
Abraham Lincoln's Provocative Prose

Today's Saying
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. ~Richard Bach

Today's Picture
Finally -Oiur Hanging Garden

It is Saturday and time to play with words supplied by Raven's Wordzzle

This week's ten word challenge will be: parasite, meals on wheels, crows, it's my fault, everything but the kitchen sink, on sale, patriotism, the love of my life, library card, common sense
And for the mini: blackmail, California, stethoscope, postage, crank

The Mega Challenge as
The Ongoing Adventures of Agent 012

Agent 012 spent two days at an old Indian temple before the Agency realized the entire message was phony.. It was the internet equivalent of a crank call. While this was going on the mute agent known only as the Parasite had stolen everything but the kitchen sink from the California Meals on Wheels program. And their best intelligence which was equal to that of the CIA said he was going to hit the local area next. So they called Agent 012 back to headquarters.
He stopped at home to see “ the love of my life” , give his son his library card which he had taken with him, and leave some money for postage which had gone up again. He also took the time to drive the crows out of his garden or what was left of his garden. “Weren’t you supposed to keep those dang birds out of the garden ?” he asked his son.
“So now ! It’s my fault there are crows in the garden” his son snapped back.
“Common sense says that if you had done what I asked they wouldn’t be there” Agent 012 screamed.
“ I was going to build that scarecrow as soon as the materials went on sale” his son screamed back.
“Calm down both of you. I don’t need a stethoscope to know your blood pressure is up..” Agent 012’s wife said in a very quiet voice.” What materials do you need?”
“ Well I wanted an uncle Sam hat and shirt for the scarecrow so the garden would have a patriotism theme.” the son said in a much softer voice.
“ I don’t care what theme you want. I want that scarecrow up by the time I come home or I will take away all your video games”. Agent 012 responded but also in a much softer voice.
“ That’s blackmail” his son said in disgust.
“ Blackmail or not I have to go to work and it better be done when I get back.
So Agent 012 went off to chase the Parasite on a day that so far was not looking like his day.

The Ten word challenge-By the Gut
The story continues -You can see the first part HERE.

Common sense told Chief Ican that the DA was guilty. His gut told him possibly she wasn’t. It was the look on her face when he pulled out the gun. It was a look of surprise. It was not the kind of look that said “ I’m caught and it’s my fault . Why did I put the gun there?”No! It was the look people get when they see something they didn’t expect to see. Like the man at an auction when an item comes on sale that he didn’t expect . He turns to his wife and says “look at that” and he has that expression on his face. Now the gun didn’t surprise the Chief. He had seen in safes everything but the kitchen sink. But unless the DA was a great actress her look was one of surprise.
So Chief Ican was going back over what he knew.
He had the murder weapon. But it had no fingerprints. If she was the murderer and had put the gun in the safe to which only she had the combination then why wipe off the prints. The moment the safe was opened her guilt would be obvious. It made no sense.
She had been cheating on her husband who saw her as “ the love of my life”. But he swears he didn’t know that. But if he did there was motive.
He also swears he didn’t know the combination but if she didn’t put the gun in the safe somebody else had to know the combination.
She was there when the murder was committed . But she swears she got scared when somebody shot and she just ran.
Meanwhile the parasites from the press were acting like crows around road kill. They tried the DA on the front page of the paper and found her guilty. They even printed that she had used her library card to take out a book on safe gun use. They maintained that she had no patriotism as she cheated on a Vietnam vet. Chief Ican thought that his staff should be at least half as good at finding material as the press but of course they weren’t.
His thinking was interrupted at this point by the noise of the meals on wheels truck delivering a meal to the old lady next door.” Why do they bother” he thought “ she just sticks them in the refrigerator and never eats them.”

The mini challenge-Questions

Sitting at his desk in the little room he called his office Chief Ican decided it was time to get out and ask questions. Questions were for a detective like a stethoscope for a Doctor. With them you could collect valuable information that might crank out some answers and give you some possible solutions. When he was a tyro detective he had gone to a seminar on blackmail in San Francisco , California. Over and over the leader of that seminar stressed the importance of asking questions and listening to the answers. According to that leader even lies can be helpful in seeing the whole picture. The best postage money he ever spent was on the card he sent in for that seminar.
So off he went to ask questions. He started with the DA. “Who else had the combination to the safe “ he asked.
“Nobody” she responded “ but it wasn’t always locked. I wanted my uxorious husband to see the love letters. But I knew he would never look.”
Chief Ican filed this away. It had never occurred to him that the safe might have been left open but he had a feeling she was telling the truth.
Next he would interview the Mayor’s housekeeper and see who the visitors were after the murder. But he was beginning to think the Mayor could be the killer.
To be continued next Thursday.

All fifteen words in one sentence

Say no to blackmail

Parasite Crows, from California, known country wide for his patriotism and common sense while running the meals on wheels program thought “ It’s my fault I had to put everything but the kitchen sink and personal postage on sale to pay the blackmail to the man who found my stethoscope, and library card at the murder scene where the one I called “ the love of my life” was beaten to death with a crank from an automobile when I’m not guilty”.

Of course the dragons were busy today you can see them HERE.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
It’s Saturday and time to look back on the week in Pigeon Falls.
Monday– Wink’s Woods had one of its famous sales where everything but the kitchen sink was on sale for 20% off. Mrs. Smith said that she should get postage stamps for 20% off because the add said everything in the store. They tried to explain to her the postage machine belonged to the Post Office but she kept pointing out it was inside the store. When she makes up her mind about something it is hard to change. Just ask the meals on wheels people. Finally Wink gave her the stamps at 20% off. “ It’s my fault” he said,” I will have to be more careful with the next add.
Tuesday-The DNR was disturbed to find some crows dying from a parasite they had never seen before. They took the odd looking tick like creature and sent it to the State Agricultural Lab. They used common sense sterile methods to collect them as they didn’t know if humans could be infected by the little bugs.
Wednesday-With the Fourth of July not far away Tommy TW used his library card to check out several books on patriotism. He is thinking of making one of the characters in his next book very patriotic.
Thursday– Freddy tried to blackmail Tammy by threatening to tell Tommy TK that he heard her say that Tommy TK was “ still the love of my life”. Freddy now has a black eye. But he did learn a valuable lesson. Never try to blackmail a girl that can beat you up.
Friday-The Nurse Practitioner at the local clinic ordered a new stethoscope form a California based company with the odd name of Jose Crank and Brothers. She says she has ordered from them before and their products are always up to the highest medical standards.

Wrap Up

It has been a busy day. I updated the Church website with a new bulletin, the June calendar, and the June Newsletter. I visited everyone who was on Raven's Linksy. Then we went out for lunch and went shopping at Pick and Save. Coming home I visited all the blogs that left comments on this blog yesterday. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Friday 55-Technological

Today's Link
India is a Curious Place

Today's Saying
The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S. is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems. ~John Kenneth Galbraith

Today's Picture
The Tomato plant-Still growing

Flash Fiction 55 -A Technological Mom

His name was George Smyth that was plain to see as it was written on the collar of every shirt he had in big letters.
His mother said it was the very latest thing, very modern.
He was the first in his group to have it.
Being ahead of the technological curve he had

collar ID.

Since I discovered it was okay I am writing a second flash 55 which will be a continuous story but a complete story every week. Here then is the seventh chapter in the exciting ongoing adventures of Sir Laughsalot and Robberhood

Because laughter is contagious and Sir Laughsalot laughed so loud Robberhood and his men also laughed. In fact they rolled on the ground in laughter.
Sir Laughsalot could have arrested them but he was laughing so loud he missed them.
For it is true that Laugh and crooks laugh with you, but weep then at home.

Three Weeks ago Thursday I started a story which I thought would be done on Saturday but it spiraled out of control and is back today. I hope to finish it tomorrow.
The story continues -You can see the first part HERE.

In his gut Chief Ican knew something wasn’t right but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
He replayed the events of the last few days over in his mind.
Then suddenly it hit him. He knew what was bothering him.
It was her face when he reached into her safe and pulled out the murder weapon.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal

Not much happened in Pigeon Falls yesterday.
Eino is waiting for the video cameras and floodlights to come. They should be here today.
Willie says he saw a green man with arms on his head come out of the trench.
But then Willie had just left the Fly Inn and wasn’t exactly sober right then.

Of course the dragons will be busy today you can see them HERE.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

For some reason that I can neither understand nor explain today's Pigeon Falls after the ordinary introduction ended up as a flash 55. Must be some kind of learned response.

Wrap UP

I spent a lot of time this morning visiting flash 55 blogs. What fun. Then I looked for battery run TV's with Google for my sister. Talked with her on the phone three times. Betty and I finally got the hanging garden thingy fixed so it didn't fall over. I visited the people who left comments yesterday. Now I really need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Go Detective Go

Today's Link
Kavi's Musings

Today's Saying
The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. ~Jules Renard

Today's Picture
A Visitor on our back porch

It is a Quilly day. Time to take Quilly’s three words for the day and write a story. The words are niddering, amanuensis, and tryo
Click on any blue word for a definition.

The story continues -You can see the first part HERE.

Chief Ican watched as the DA opened the safe . He hadn’t been this nervous since he was a tyro detective a long time ago. The door was open and he asked her to stand back. Reaching in he pulled out a large stack of letters which the DA tried to grab.
“ Those are personal and none of your business “ she screamed with high impigrity .
On close examination Chief Ican found them to be love letters from Philmore Noteworthy III, the director . They were filled with purple prose of the worst kind with lots of glowing descriptions of lambition.
“Motive” said Chief Ican.
Reaching into the safe he pulled out a Colt 45. “Means” he said.
“ I never saw that gun before . I don’t know how it got there” the DA responded, looking very pale.
“But you’re the only one with the combination to the safe” Chief Ican pointed out. “ You had to put it there.”
“I know that’s the way it looks but I didn’t . I couldn’t hurt Philly I loved him.” She said as she broke down and became a lugent woman.
It was at that point that Ican noticed the Mayor , the uxorious husband, was also crying and saying over and over, “ How could you do this after all I’ve done for you.”
Ican decided that the best thing he could do would be to take the DA down to the station and get her booked and locked up. Despite her protests he and the deputy got her cuffed , transported, and processed.
It now looked like they had the right person for the crime.
Chief Ican contacted the State’s Attorney’s Office and they agreed they would send a special prosecutor to try the case.
But still several days later something bothered Chief Ican. From the time that he started as a detective and lacking an amanuensis he had learned to pay attention to details and put them in little compartments in his brain, to process later. He had never been a niddering when it came to going with what his gut told him as a result of that process. In that sense he was like Gibbs on NCIS. His gut was a major factor in determining his actions. His gut was telling him there was something wrong.
It wasn’t that the DA denied that she killed him. It wasn’t her story that she was there to meet him but the shots came from behind her and she ran to keep from being shot. He knew, nobody ever said “ I am the guilty person. You got me”. They always lied.
The evidence was convincing. The crime lab said the gun from the safe was the murder weapon. It had no finger prints. There were love letters. She was at the scene of the crime. She alone had the combination to the safe. It was open and shut. But still his gut said something was wrong.
But what?
To be continued tomorrow.

And of course with Quilly's words comes the required quivel. Remember to write quivel you must write something that looks like a poem, any style , but is so bad that if it was printed in a book of poetry a true poetic zoilist would tear it out and burn it. What looks like bad haiku is really qiku where the middle line must always contain a Quilly word.

Word to Nidderings Everywhere

Because a niddering she be
The amanuensis refused to see
That her tyro boss was wrong
In that job he wouldn’t be long
Her lambition of his boots
In her childhood had roots
A lugent woman she became
When he was fired all the same
So if a niddering thee be
Repent with high impigrity .

Brave
Niddering
Soldier

words
amanuensis
lost


Stupid
Tyro tyro tyro
Unlearned

Of course the dragons were busy today you can see them HERE.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Yesterday Uncle Eino asked Tammy if she had any ideas about the trench. She didn’t. In fact she had been so busy breaking up with her last boyfriend that she hadn’t even heard of the trench. But she promised him she would think about it.
Well she went straight to Tommy UK and told him her problem. She remembered all the things they had worked on together and decided that despite the problems they were having they both cared about Eino and should try to help him. Tommy agreed but he made it clear he would work with her only for the sake of Eino. So together last night they went and looked at the trench. Tommy said that he could feel some kind of strange power in the trench but it was more like an echo or a residue of that power.
Then they went and talked to Eino. Eino told them Sam’s story. Tommy UK said that Eino should have the trench lit up at night and covered with two movement sensitive cameras. But he wasn’t sure even that would help given their experience with video at the museum . If there is something with the power to create the trench it probably has the power to prevent videotaping or to alter it.
But Eino is making arrangements this morning for floodlights and video cameras.

Wrap UP

One of our blog friends has a book for sale on Amazon.com go HERE to learn about it. My sister called this morning and I went looking on the web for an analog converter that runs on battery power. They aren't easy to find.Betty and I worked again on the hanging garden thingy. It still isn't right. I visited all the blogs that left a comeent yesterday.
GBYA

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Creativity

Today's Link
Matter of Gray

Today's Saying
I think the world really boils down to two types of people - those who see shapes in cloud formations, and those who just see clouds. ~Danzae Pace

Today's Picture
Pennie making coffee for Sunday fellowship

I am amazed at the creativity of Americans. People who don’t wait for the government to rush in and finance them but have an idea and put there own money into it.
Such a man is James Peret. He wondered why restaurant owners gave away their excess grease instead of using it to power their business. Then he discovered that no one had given them the option .
So he put $300,000 of his own money into the development of the Vegawatt.
The Vegawatt takes the used grease from a restaurant and turns it into electricity and hot water. It can save the average large restaurant $ 1000 a month.
The system has been installed in the Finz restaurant in Dedham, Massachusetts where it seems to be working well.
It is ideas like this and the willingness of the inventor to take the risks necessary to bring them to fruition that gives us the possibility of ending our dependence on foreign oil.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
This morning the trench was back. Sam, the man Eino paid to watch the area said “ One minute it wasn’t there and the next minute it was. Nobody came. Nobody moved any dirt. The trench just suddenly was there. Eino is sure Sam fell asleep since it is unreasonable to assume that a trench just appeared.
Mrs. Trumble decided that until they better understand what is going on they will block off the area to keep people from falling into the trench.
Tammy broke up with her latest boy friend and nobody knows why. The last eighth grade dance of the year is this Friday night and she now had nobody to go with. Neither does Tommy UK but he wasn’t planning on going.
Nancy says that because of the trench people actually miss Petrovich who is away on vacation. They are sure that in one of those old driblets there is something to help them understand what is happening.
Jon Bergall’s dog came home covered with something that looked like pieces of a big spider web and looking like it had been a fight. Jon took a piece over to the DNR man because he thought maybe he could tell him what it was. But he had no idea either so they sent it down to Michigan State and the agricultural lab.

Wrap UP

Eleven people in yesterday's contest. Waiting for Betty to get up and draw the name.
Betty is up and she has drawn. The winner is. Here we need a bit of a drum roll.
Mama Zen. Congratulations to her and thanks to the other ten people who played " Dr. John Sent Me".
A good day today. We went to Wal Mart for some things we need for tomorrow and then went to the Church for the quilting pot luck. I got to take pictures. I also visited every blog that left a comment on mine yesterday. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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The Contest

Today's Link
Rinkly Rimes

Today's Saying
Poets are like magicians, searching for magical phrases to pull rabbits out of people's souls. ~Glade Byron Addams

Today's Picture
Pick a Priceless prize

Today we go back to an old contest I used to run for a week at a time.
But now I have decided to do a short version.
To enter is simple .
1. You go to Tuesday's carefully hand picked Today's Link.
2. You read the blog.
3. You leave a witty, intelligent, or passable comment containing the words :

" Dr. John sent me"

You could say for example " Dr John sent me from his fantastic Fortress just to visit you"

or
Dr John sent me to find a real blog instead of that thing he writes.
or
Dr. John sent me for some water but I got lost and ended up here.

In other words be as plain or as creative as you wish.

Tomorrow I will go to the assigned blog. I will collect the names of everybody who left the Dr. John sent me or its equivalent in a comment and put them on 4" by 1/2 " piece of paper. These will be folded twice and placed in a Mayonnaise jar that might once have been on Funk and Wagnall's porch . Then we will shake them up and Betty will draw out one of the names. That person wins a priceless prize.

Now the prize.

This is the start of a new contest so we have outdone ourselves

You have a choice of :

One full gram of saffron ( World's most expensive spice-$3000 a pound)

OR

A Silver plated collector's spoon from Scotland ( Priceless)

OR

A Laughing box -You can have laughter wherever you go ( Priceless)

OR

The Platinum Edition of Mahjongg ( Note not the gold or silver edition but far better)


With prizes like that how can you not enter.

Now just a word about Rinkly Rimes . Here you find poetry written by a great 78 year old woman. She writes very good and sometimes very funny poems. But she doesn't get many comments. So I thought it would be nice to give her a day with a lot of comments. You might even discover you like her style and go back from time to time. You can get to today's link by clicking HERE.

Have fun.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Eino’s Engineer arrived and examined the trench. “ It is definitely not a sink hole” he said. “ It is much to even and has a ramped end. It looks like it was carved out by a bulldozer driver that really knows how to use his equipment.”
Eino then asked “ Where is the sand that he bulldozed out? And how do you sneak a loud piece of equipment like that in and out of town without being seen?”
The engineer frowned and answered” I haven’t the foggiest idea but I am sure it isn’t a sink hole Why don‘t you have it filled in again and post a guard. Then if it comes back you will know. And that‘s the best advice I can give you.”
So this morning Eino sat down with Mayor Trumble and together they decided to have the hole filled in and then have the area watched all night. Eino got one of the men from his repair shop to agree to watch tonight. It took three truckloads of dirt to fill the hole.

Wrap UP

It has been a very dull day. Betty got some flowers planted. I got some blogs visited and comments left. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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A Good Meme

Today's Link
Another Black Conservative

Today's Saying
The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. ~H.L. Mencken

Today's Picture
Memorial Day 2009

In my ongoing attempt to share who I am with you I came across this meme.

I. Did you do any sort of research in the last week?
Yes I Blingoed

a.Was it for work or play?
For my blog

b. Learn anything you’d care to share?
A good clock picture is hard to find

c. Do you have a hunger for knowledge or are you more passive?
Depends on the day.

d. Do you like the learning (aka school?)
Love learning but hated school


2. Was there anything in this past week that you couldn’t wait to be done with?
Oh! Yes

a. If so, what?
Rebuilding the hanging garden stand

b. Did you clear it out of the way or will it face you once the new week resumes?
It’s out but no plants on it yet

c. Do you now know how to prevent such a thing from occurring in the future?
Keep all plants on the ground


3. Have you forgotten anything in the past week?
Of course I’m old. What do you expect?

a. If so, what?
I don’t know. I forgot.

b. Are you usually scatter-brained or more organized?
Well I’m not organized if that’s a clue.

c. Do you use any sort of planner or agenda for your dates?
Then I would be organized wouldn’t I.

d. What do you feel about the phrase “forgive and forget?”
The older you get the easier it becomes.


4. In the past week have you played any games?
Yes

a. What were they?
Canasta, Ricochet –Lost Worlds

b. Do you often play games?
Once a week

c. What are your favourite types? (Board, card, video, other)
Card

d. What is your all time favourite game?
Canasta

e. Have you ever set/broken any game records?
You have to kidding. I’m lucky if I win once in a great while.

f. Are there any games which are a family tradition?
Black Jack during the holidays and canasta


5. In the past week, have you made or gone to any appointments?
Yes

a. If so, what were they?
To have a lift put in the car

b. Do you generally live on schedule or are you more of a walk-in type of person?
Walk in type person

c. If you make an appointment do you try to show up early, on time or fashionably late?
Always early if I can get Betty moving


6. Do you watch American Idol?
NO!

a. Have you ever auditioned for American Idol?
You have to be kidding. Never

b. Did you actually vote for an American Idol contestant?
No, Since I never watched.

d. Do you watch any other reality or contest TV shows?
No they are too unreal.

7. Are you a picky eater or do you eat everything?
Picky

a. What food do you like best?
Saffron buns ( At least today)

b. What food don’t you ever eat?
Tomatoes

c. What vegetables do you like?
Raw carrots, radishes, peas fresh from the pod, and corn on the cob ( Did you know broccoli can kill dogs )

d. What would a good meal consist of ?
Meat, potatoes, saffron buns, ice cream ( strawberry) and coca cola.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Since last Wednesday they have filled in the trench behind the Town Hall twice but it keeps coming back. Eino has asked a friend from the State Highway department to come and look at it. He thinks it might be one of those sink holes one reads about since there are Iron Mine tunnels under Pigeon Falls. His friend is an Engineer in what Eino calls the DMI ( Department of Maximum Inconvenience) . This is the group that decides where road work will go so that as many people as possible can’t get where they want to go without time consuming detours. The Engineer is supposed to arrive some time today.
Last night Wille the town drunk, left the Fly Inn at about 2:00 in the morning . He swears he saw this big spider like thing with a zillion legs ( Willie’s words) coming out of the trench. But when Willie has been drinking , which is most of the time, he tends to see things that aren’t there. In any case he staggered home as fast as he could and bolted the door. He didn’t see where the creature was going.
Tommy UK had a horrible weekend. He and Tammy had to light candles together at Last Lutheran Church. The chill in the air between them was even noticeable by Pastor Joan. She is now reworking the acolyte schedule so they won’t be assigned to the same service.

Wrap UP

Spent some time this morning giving thanks for those who served and praying for a day when we will make war no more. Pennie went to the parade. In the afternoon we went to Country Buffet for lunch then we went to see Star Trek. We really enjoyed it. When we finally got home I visited some blogs. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Joy and More Joy

Today's Link
Lutheran Hymn Revival

Today's Saying
John 17:13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. "

Today's Picture
Our hanging garden-Then came the wind

In the liturgical churches the season of Easter comes to an end on this the seventh Sunday in Easter. Next Sunday is Pentecost and an entire new cycle begins. The text that the common lectionary gives us ( John 17:6-19) for this Sunday seems perfectly fitting. It is Jesus praying for his followers.
I have always loved this text. Jesus turns to the Father and asks Him to care for the disciples and us. He knows how heavy it can be to try to share the glory of God in the World. He knows the pain. He knows the rejection. He knows the sadness that comes when people walk away. He knows how hard it will be for them and us to carry on. But he knows something else as well. He knows the joy of walking in the light of the Father. He wants the Father to insure that the disciples and you and I don’t lose the joy.
Every time I read this text I am amazed.
I don’t usually think of joy and Christianity as belonging together.
So much of what passes for the faith is so joyless.
But here is Jesus the founder of the Faith praying that we might have a full measure of joy.
He who died for us wants us to have joy.
More than that he wants us to have a full measure.
Not just a little bit of joy.
Not just occasional joy.
But a full measure of His joy.
Joy upon joy.
Sometimes I think if you want to test to see if somebody is a Christian we only need to ask one question. Not “ How great is your faith/” Who really knows that.
Not “ How holy are you?” Who really knows that?
Not “ How many good deeds have you done?” God isn’t counting
Just ask “ How joyful are you?”
No joy! No Jesus!
Of course , it would be wrong to try to decide if somebody is or isn’t in.
That isn’t our job.
Our job is to share the joy as best we can.
Jesus prtayed for me that I might have a full measure of joy.
It is my prayer for each of you that read this blog that you might have joy upon joy.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
Over at Last Lutheran Pastor Joan is getting ready to preach today’s sermon. This is part of it:
“ How many of you have ever prayed that your members of your family would be filled with joy?
How many of you have prayed that your in-laws would be filled with joy.?
How many of you have ever prayed that your neighbors, the good ones, would be filled with joy?
How many of you have prayed that the not so good neighbors would be filled with joy?
But shouldn’t we?
Isn’t it our prime task as Christians to share the joy that we have in Christ?
Isn’t prayer part of that task.
But then I suppose that’s bad news.
Any time we are reminded of something God expects of us that we aren’t doing that’s bad news.
The Good News is that Jesus is praying that our joy will be full.
He is praying that we would have joy , upon joy, upon joy.
Why?
Because we belong to Him and He loves us.
We are his friends, his disciples.
He does not want us to go without joy.
That6’s the Good News.
Now when you have been filled with the joy let a little spill out and touch others.
They need Good News too.

Wrap UP

It was a great day. The Church service was great. The choir was fantastic . So, of course, I hit the wrong button on the camera and failed to record them. But I did get the sermon. Our saffron buns went very well at coffee time. I came home and brought St. Mark's website up to date. Then I visited all the blogs that left comments here yesterday. On Quilly's blog I found the weirdest set of comments on yesterday's entry. It was over my shoelaces. You never know what your going to find. I ended the day by reading all the comments on today's entry. I have such nice internet friends and they leave such wonderful comments that I almost cried with joy. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Raven's Challenge 64

Today's Link
Nobody asked Me

Today's Saying
Sometimes I give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.
~Mary Wortley Montagu

Today's Picture
Our upside down tomato plant-still alive

It is Saturday and time to play with words supplied by Raven's Wordzzle

This Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: albino, trench, marble, assistant, Indian, What's that supposed to mean?, sound first principles, the key thing, moat, curtain
The mini challenge: under the surface, doomed, grand design, temple, aspirin

The Mega Challenge as
The Ongoing Adventures of Agent 012

Agent 012 popped another aspirin and sat down on the steps of the only marble temple ever built by North American Indians. It had just been explained to him that what he thought was the remnant of a moat was in reality an Indian burial trench. He knew so little about Indian history and nothing about this temple which had so recently been discovered. If only he knew its original grand design so he could tell where the curtain had been.
The Agency had intercepted a message from Mute saying that somebody was to meet the Albino at the curtain in the temple sometime today. But Agent 012 following his fundamentally sound first principles of detective work had walked through the temple five times without finding a curtain or a place where a curtain had been hung. Either there was more of the temple under the surface or the word curtain was a code.
So Agent 012 sat on the steps saying to himself “What's that supposed to mean?, “ over and over as he looked at the message. Finally he went behind a large rock pile and called an assistant at the Agency Office on his shoe phone.” The key thing” he said to her,” Is that I can’t observe the meeting if I don’t know where it is and I’m doomed to fail. So please try to break the code for me.” She told him to call back in a couple of hours. Just at that point a little boy came around the rock. “ Look mommy” , he hollered there is a crazy man here talking into his shoe.”
This was not going to be his day.

The Ten word challenge-Out of a Job?

The story continues -You can see the first part HERE.

Chief Ican was now following sound first principles of detective work and searching the Mayor’s house. He knew that if he was wrong he had no job but then it wasn’t the greatest job in the world. The key thing was the blue car he had sold to the DA. It was driven by the Director’s lover to the motel and was caught on tape at the murder scene. Now he hoped to find the gun and if he was lucky some other evidence.
On entering the living room Ican’s chief assistant opened the curtain to let in some light. On the far wall hung a massive painting of an albino polar bear swimming across a moat toward a marble castle where an Indian waited to shoot it with a bow and arrow. The Chief looked at the picture for several minutes asking himself “ What’s that supposed to mean?”. It certainly isn’t fine art.
Pushing the picture aside he found a large wall safe behind it. “ Now that I understand”, he thought. He asked Mrs. Trench, the housekeeper to open the safe. But she didn’t have the combination.
It was at that point that one very angry Mayor arrived.
“Your fired”, he said as he came through the door. “ Your all fired. Now get out of my house”
“I am afraid , your honor, you can’t do that” , Ican said , as respectfully as possible under the circumstances. “ I have an order issued by the judge preventing you from doing that until this case is concluded. Now please open the safe.”
“No, I won’t’ the judge replied.
“ Then I will have to arrest you for obstructing a criminal investigation and have it drilled open”.
Now looking like somebody who was just hit by a two by four the judge muttered “ I mean I can’t only my wife has the combination. It‘s her safe. I don‘t even like the picture”.
A search of the remainder of the house turned up nothing.

The mini challenge-So Open the Safe

Chief Ican took two more aspirin as they waited for the DA to arrive. On the surface everything looked fine but under the surface a lot was going on. Chief Ican was waiting in the full knowledge that if there was no evidence in that safe his job was over. He wondered if that was part of some universal grand design by an omnipotent being with a warped sense of humor.. He was trying to do right but it was ending up so wrong. Now like a doomed man he was just waiting the moment of his execution. He felt like the polar bear in the picture swimming toward the marble temple but knowing he was going to be shot before he got there. Finally he understood that stupid picture.
Then the DA arrived and though with multiple protests on how her rights were being violated she opened the safe.
To be continued next Thursday.

All fifteen words in one sentence

Get it Right the First Time

“What’s that supposed to mean? “ asked the albino Indian, Marvin Marble of his assistant Moat Trench as he tried to show that sound first principles, the key thing, in any grand design for a temple curtain built under the surface had not been followed and they were doomed to need many more aspirins before this was over.

Of course the dragons were busy today you can see them HERE.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
It’s Saturday and time to look back on the week in Pigeon Falls
Monday-Tammy was in love with somebody else and Tommy UK felt like a doomed man. Crazy thoughts filled his head:
“ Could it be part of God’s grand design to make me suffer like this?”
“ I have to keep the big curtain closed so I won’t see her if she walks or bikes by.”
“ She is so beautiful that she would stand out like an albino deer.”
“If only I was an artist I would have make a marble statue of her so that her beauty would be captured forever.”
“ I should build a moat around this house and hide ..”
“ The guy she’s in love with is a real loser I should teach him a lesson or two.”
Of course, if you looked at him you wouldn’t have known all that he was thinking. He was keeping it under the surface and pretending to be happy.

Tuesday – Bonnie McGregor got a book to help her with the twins. It was titled “ Sound First Principles of Parenting” It started with this statement in big capital letters, “ THE KEY THING IS NEVER TO LOSE CONTROL”. Bonnie read that over and over thinking “ What’s that supposed to mean?” How do you maintain control when one kid dumps a bowl of spaghetti over her head while the other is screaming like a wild Indian in the other room. She wondered if the people who wrote these books lived in some sheltered golden temple instead of the real world. What you needed to parent in the real world would be a large bottle of aspirin and your husband to act as an assistant.

Wednesday– This morning a large trench was discovered behind the town hall. Nobody seemed to know where it came from.

Thursday– Tommy UK and Eino discussed the recent crisis. Tommy suggested that the poltergeist was the only rational explanation for the defeat of the demon. Eino responded that demons aren’t rational, Tommy’s power ring isn’t rational. Dragons aren’t rational, ghosts aren’t rational. How could Tommy say it was a rational explanation. According to Eino everything in Pigeon Falls is outside of reason so there is no rational explanation.

Wrap UP

Busy day today. We started at 7:30 mixing up saffron buns. We put them in two bread machines but we put one on dough bake and we intended to pull the other before it began to cook. While the dough was getting ready we made brownies. Then the buns themselves. After that we put one more batch to rise and Betty started on muffins. All of this because tomorrow we take our once a year turn at serving coffee at St. Mark's. I also visited all the blogs on Raven's linksy and left comments. Then I visited all the blogs that left comments yesterday. Both my sister and my son Peter called. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Flash 55- Rough Youth

Today's Link
Every Blade of Grass

Today's Saying
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~Carl Sandburg

Today's Picture
Melli's Birthday Gift

Flash Fiction 55 -Youth Brutality




The gang of ten year olds invaded my house and knocked me to the floor.

They stamped on my hands, my glorious hands. I can never, ever, use them again.

Now I am no good, not at all what I was before Who wants me.
Without my hands I’m not even any longer really a

clock.

Since I discovered it was okay I am writing a second flash 55 which will be a continuous story but a complete story every week. Here then is the sixth chapter in the exciting ongoing adventures of Sir Laughsalot and Robberhood

Sir Laughsalot , Knight of the Square Table was sent to Shearwood Forest to kill or capture Robberhood.
Laughing as he got on his horse he said , mostly to himself, “I would rather tickle the guy.”
This thought caused him to laugh so hard he almost fell off his horse, and the big horse didn’t even laugh.

Two Weeks ago Thursday I started a story which I thought would be done on Saturday but it spiraled out of control and is back today. I hope to finish it tomorrow.

The DA and the Mayor were at work when Ican and his men arrived at the house. The housekeeper was dully served with the warrant.
She called the Mayor , who became so angry the loyal staff thought he was going to have a stroke.
You can’t search my house, he said.
Ah! But they could.

To be continued tomorrow

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal

Vivki East has gotten a group together to practice singing the Pigeon Falls song.
This year she wants it to be just perfect, not like last year where they messed up the coo coo coo.
Somebody sang whoo instead of co.
That sounds more like owls than pigeons and must not happen again.

Of course the dragons will be busy today you can see them HERE.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Wrap UP

Just for fun we did the News from Pigeon Falls as a flash 55. A fairly good day. I visited all the flash 55 people that I could find. There are really creative people out there that can pack a lot into 55 words. In the afternoon Betty and I redesigned and rebuilt the hanging garden thing destroyed by the 40 mile per hour wind. Now we think it will hold up. If it doesn't my hanging plants will just have to learn to love the ground. I visited all the blogs that left comments yesterday. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Quilly's words get a warrant

Today's Link
Way Up North

Today's Saying
I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

Today's Picture

It is a Quilly day. Time to take Quilly’s three words for the day and write a story. The words are rubefacient, senticous, & divagations. Click on a word for a definition

Chief Ican Getum was now in possession of some very senticous information. He was sure of who the woman was that met with the orchestra director the night he was killed. But he could not prove it. He needed more to get a warrant to search her house. He did not want to end up looking like a rubefacient had been applied to his face. He had to get this right.
So he went back to the crime scene. He noticed that around the corner from the opropolist's shop there was an all night gas station with video surveillance. Why in the world hadn’t his men seen that ? He went to the owner and asked, well demanded, the tapes for the night of the murder. There on tape he found what he was looking for . Just fifteen minutes before the shooting the blue car , in question, had parked across the street from the station. A person had gotten out and gone around the corner. At that distance, however, there was no way to identify the person but it certainly looked and walked like a woman. Right after the murder that person had come running back to the car and driven rapidly away. All of this could be verified by the time stamps on the tape.
He was ready to go to the judge. As he waited for the judge he thought that all of these divagations would not have been necessary if he had had a decent staff. The judge looked at him like he was out of his mind when he told him what he wanted. But when he saw the evidence accumulated thus far he agreed there were grounds for a warrant.
“ You know, if your wrong and even if your right, this could get you fired.” the judge reminded him.
“ I’m thinking I might quit anyway. There is a quiet little town called Pigeon Falls looking for a man. In a town like that there would be lots of time to fish. I just need your word you will prevent me from being fired until this all plays out”. Said the Chief.
“ I can do that” the judge said as he signed the warrant.
Chief Ican laughed and said, “ Now I’m off to see the Mayor, the wonderful Mayor of Oz”
To be continued tomorrow...


And of course with Quilly's words comes the required quivel. Remember to write quivel you must write something that looks like a poem, any style , but is so bad that if it was printed in a book of poetry a true poetic zoilist would tear it out and burn it. What looks like bad haiku is really qiku where the middle line must always contain a Quilly word.

The Prickly Lady

If senticous one could be
Surely it applied to she
She of all the divagations
Not one for accommodations
Inventor of a rubefacient
Her one big achievement
But now she delighted in
Exposing other people’s sin
Editor of that awful tabloid
Which one really should avoid.

Face
rubefacient
Red

Cactus
Senticous
Rush

Many
Divagations
Lost

Of course the dragons will be busy today you can see them HERE.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
At the regular meeting of the Town Council Mrs. Trumble shared some of the resumes of people applying for the job of Constable. There were , so far, one hundred and ten applications. It seems that in this bad economy any job is better than none. Some of the material was funny. One man wrote “ My last three jobs were as a janitor so you can see I have been cleaning places up all my life. I would be perfect as Constable in Pigeon Falls as I could clean up the town.”
Another wrote “I am very much aware of the problems in small town bars , having spent much time there. I think I could control the local rif raf.”
One applicant even had a Ph.D. in English History.
Mrs. Trumble gave the resumes to the employment committee and asked them to narrow the group to six applications.
In other business the Pigeon Falls Days Committee reported that the tentative schedule for the big week should be ready by the next meeting. They don’t see a lot of changes over last year.

Wrap UP

I had a great birthday7. Both my sisters and Melli called ( How great is that) Betty made me special saffron items for breakfast and lunch.I visited everyone that I knew were using Quilly's words. Melli sent me a tasty birthday gift. Betty went to Bible Study. Betty has ordered an Olympus digital camera for my birthday. Peter just called. I visited all the blogs that left comments yesterday.Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Liberals Lie?

Today's Link
The Breda Fallacy

Today's Saying
The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity. ~André Gide

Today's Picture

I am so upset. I have discovered that liberals lie.
I already knew that conservatives lie.
My liberal friends are always pointing that out.
No conservative has any respect for the truth. And the worst of them Fox New, Rush and Glen haven’t told the truth in years and are just plain evil.
But at least the liberals still told the truth.
They might at times be very hateful but they always spoke the truth.
But now along comes the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
She has been caught lying about what she knew about the CIA’s use of waterboarding. To cover the first lie she has had to tell more lies.
It is sad to watch her.
I want to shout out what my mother used to say when I would lie to her.” You can tell a more believable lie than that if you really try.”
I mean she is the Speaker of the House after all. She has talent.
But she looks like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar saying “ Ma, that isn’t my hand” and then shifting to “ The devil made me do it.” In this case the devil is the CIA.
This makes me so sad. I wanted to believe that liberals who are so righteous would never lie like the evil conservatives.
I knew , of course, of liberal Keith Olbermann taking real facts and using them to support false conclusions but that isn’t the same as lying. Besides he’s part of the media and we all know they lie.
But a dyed in the wool, top of the line liberal like Nancy lying to us. I never thought it possible.
Perhaps she believes that if she says something it is true because she said it. She knows what’s best for us. She’s a liberal, after all.
Sort of like President Nixon saying when the President does something for the people it can not be against the law because the President did it.
But then he was a conservative, sort of.
But don’t worry. The true believers will continue to believe her.
They will see a gigantic conspiracy to get her.
But me, I’m just going to sit here and be sad.
There is nobody left to believe.

News from Pigeon Falls

The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal
The Liar’s Club met last night. Buddy East announced that they should be thinking of a theme for this year’s Liar’s Club Story Contest. So far people have suggested:
Dragons ( they always suggest dragons)\
Life in a Small Town
Funny Parades
Animals in strange places
Fairies
Alien Visitors
It Happened in a Bar
A committee was appointed to decide on prizes worthy of such a distinguished body.
A committee was appointed to clarify the rules.
Buddy reminded them that the club was open to outside suggestions.
They want this year to be the best year ever.
There will be two contests. One for local residents and one for people on the internet. But both will have the same theme.

Wrap UP

Readers can suggest themes for the story contest in a comment. Not the greatest day in the world. We lost in the bidding for the old family home. We just couldn't go over $16,000 and it went for $ 17,000. My sister sounded so sad when I told her. Then the forty mile and hour wind gusts knocked over our hanging plants. After that I got the Wal Mart cart stuck in the entrance to the handicapped bathroom. But everything is okay now. I visited everyone that left a comment yesterday and the day before. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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