Because there’s nothing else to do with these random photos — it’s either delete them, have prints made so they can sit in a box on a shelf, or store them on yet another hard drive — I’ve decided to share them with you.

These type of demanding, cutting edge editorial decisions need to be made daily here, to keep this website spinning like a top.

These cool cats were the hit of the Bacchus route in our neck of the woods. I asked to take their picture, and one day that spread could make a great photo essay just watching the changing group dynamics

Winning smile, wonderful costume.

It was a pretty relaxed morning…

My good friend Adele.

The Japanese Magnolias were in bloom again… Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion.

There’s a story here. I think these costumes are great for many reasons. I posted the pic on a Facebook page, and someone said “What’s so great about this?” Then I second guessed myself, un-posted it and curled into a ball and sucked my thumb for twelve hours. But I’m perfectly fine now, thank you.

The Creole Queen… It’s such a beautiful boat. Years ago a friend dragged me onto this boat to play the slot machines. I had a quarter on me, and walked out with $31 and was on top of the world.

We hit it off immediately, and nodded knowingly as we passed on the street.

And this is St. Joseph’s Church, which I post pics of every now and again. It’s grand and beautiful, but it needs a huge pipe organ way back there. Still, it makes me glad to be Catholic whenever I walk in.

Well, it re-affirms my gladness… it… you know what I mean.

And that’s it for now… but exciting things are happening, and it’s all good.

Surely you remember last year’s unforgettable installment of Better Gardening Through Photoshop, where we first viewed the garden out back here at the Rectory. Actually we first viewed it almost exactly one year ago, in Into the Garden, followed closely by Garden Redux.

But if you’re new here, take a gander now:

Ah, one could gaze upon it for hours in peace and serenity.

But not really.

This year, what with our warm winter, warm spring and early summer, it’s looks like this:

Totally overgrown and random.

A parishioner restored the Marian statue, some plants grew in to fill up the empty spaces, and there’s a bad case of Elephant Ears, which I don’t think anything can be done about.

Just yesterday via my iPhone:

Still it’s a huge improvement, and with a little tweaking it’s going to be great, even though the simplicity in the first photo is pretty nice. Nonetheless, it will be a perfect place to pray I tell you!

We just need some wax myrtles in the background beyond the fence, maybe some holly trees. Then some giant liriope where some of the stones are, with a box hedge and some cast iron plants… Something like that. Easy and low maintenance.

Splash, out.

Today’s readings find us out on the road with St. Philip where, filled with the Holy Spirit he is instructing the Eunuch in his chariot and then Baptising him.

Gone are the days where the disciples are blundering about, three stooges-like in their encounters with Jesus, gone are the days of cowering in fear after his Ascension. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the Apostles are on the go! Here the Word is spreading to Ethiopia, then Philip travels over to the Mediterranean coast, and up past the Sea of Gallilee into Ceaserea Philippi to continue the work of salvation history there. They are all over the place!

Divinely fitting too, the words we read in today’s Gospel, “They shall all be taught by God.”

The Apostles are taught by Jesus Christ, who is God; the Eunuch is taught by the Holy SPirit, who is God; Philip is filled with the Holy Spirit and following the promptings of spirit when he is led to the Eunuch’s carriage, engages him while the Scripture from Isaiah is being read, and then gets in an instructs him, and opens the Eunuch’s mind to the Truths of Scripture.

Interesting to note that all Philip really does, we read is ‘opened his mouth.’ We’re directly called back to many of the prophets, who wanted not to speak, yet God said he would ‘put the words on [their] lips’, in their mouths.

The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets; and in Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist we are further strengthened through grace to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We’re all prophets now.

So a thought for the day; before you open your mouth today, pray for an outpouring of the Hoy Spirit. You may not end up baptizing a eunuch, but you just may offer a prophetic word, a healing voice, or be an instrument of God’s love to someone.

Amen!

As we all know it’s been 100 years this weekend that the Titanic sank like tons of iron to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

Charles Lightoller was second in command on board the ship, and was one of the few surviving crew. His testimony has been crucial throughout the years in all of the hearings and subsequent recreations. What’s often gone unsaid is that Lightoller was a devout Christian, and ascribed his survival to his faith in Jesus Christ and a Biblical spirituality. Here is his testimony to the Christian Science Monitor:

While the Titanic was sinking, and during the whole time I was working at the boats, I held to the truth, thereby eliminating all fear.

I was on the port side where all boats were got away without a hitch, the last one, a flat-bottomed collapsible, floating off the deck. I called on men to follow me up on top of the officers’ quarters to cut adrift the last boat. We had no time to open it up, so just hove her down to the deck.

I ran across the deck and could see that all material work was finished, so from where I was above the bridge, I walked into the water.

The sudden immersion in this penetratingly cold water for a few seconds overcame all thought, and I struck out blindly for the crow’s-nest which is on the foremast and then just above the water. I found myself drawn with great force against the grating covering the mouth of the huge forward blower. In this position I went below the surface with the ship.

A doubt never entered my mind as to the ability of divine power to save me. These words from the 91st Psalm came to me so distinctly: “”He shall give His angels charge over thee.”

Immediately, I think, I was thrown away from the blower and came up to find a piece of wood in my hand which seemed to be attached to the top of the funnel by a wire. A second time I went down and again came to the surface.

My piece of wood was gone, but alongside me was the flat-bottomed collapsible boat which I had thrown down on the other side of the ship. This I laid hold of, but made no attempt to board it.

It was clear to me there was a divine power and it seemed perfectly natural to rely on it with the spiritual understanding spoken of in the Bible. With the sinking of a great ship like the Titanic, there was also the fear of suction to overcome, and at this time the forward funnel fell, throwing the boat, me, and other survivors about twenty feet clear of the ship, so that of suction we felt nothing.

About thirty of us floated the remainder of the night on the upturned boat. At daybreak we found two life-boats floating nearby, into which we were taken. Reaction or effects from the immersion were none; and though surprise has been expressed by very many, it only goes to prove that “with God all things are possible”.

An interesting view of the ceiling at St. Patrick’s Church downtown the other day…

This is our statue of St. Mary Magdalen, from this Palm Sunday.

It’s a beautiful statue, but the backdrop could use some work, because the cafeteria doesn’t really make for a very scenic panorama in the background here.

So, we’re working on that.

We considered bulldozing the cafeteria and installing a hardwood forest and a pond, but… you know how it is, change can be so difficult, and that’s a pretty big change. So we switched to plan B, which is maybe a nice cloth backdrop for Easter.

We’ll see what comes of this!

Splash, out.

Lot’s of gardening going on, and lots of spring bugs making themselves at home… This pre-butterfly view of a caterpillar is pretty cool.

A few months back I took this shot of the old Charity Hospital.

It’s abandoned since Katrina, and there’s talk of using it for residential purposes. My grandmother learned nursing at Charity in the 20′s, in the old wooden buildings.

These buildings (or this building) has served since the building sprees during the great depression, and remains as an iconic sense of art deco architecture, and/or of loss, depending on how one looks at it. It’s huge, and inside the hospital is made of of long wards in many areas. Covered in mildew, and rotting at the seams, it stands as a silent witness to indecision.

But why not look at the bright side: it’s got lots of potential.

Splash, out.

Who am I kidding? I “recently retired my website” my earlobes.

Ben Franklin’s Rules of Personal Finance, is just what it implies. And it’s very good advice (obviously.)

Non-Native Native Art is, well this is just what it implies also. Web names have taken on a whole new trend in becoming exactly what they mean. Not that there was never not a trend towards that. But there wasn’t. Was there? Whatever, it’s a fun site.

Medjugorje Documents is a collection of documents from the Diocese of Mostrar relating to the Medjugorje phenomena.

Medjugorje with a Mask is another collection of documents which examine the Medjugorje phenomena more closely.

And that’s that for these links, which have been sitting open on my desktop until I locate them somewhere. And I am entirely more likely to find them here than anywhere else! Hence the return of the weblog…

Mental note to buy one of these albs….