Monthly Archives: April 2014

Lent – Day Forty-Six

Saturday, April 19, 2014 – It is the Saturday before Easter Sunday or the Easter Vigil. I am actually doing an Easter Vigil by watching The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille. I watch it every year. I have seen TTC almost as many times as I have seen GWTW. It came on TV at 6:00 pm and it is currently 10:31 pm and there are still 15 minutes left as I write this. See what I mean about a vigil? I am in another room and can only hear God giving Moses the Big 10 on the mountain while the people below are smelting the gold and making the golden calf down below and being wicked, vile and wild. The voice of God is really good, but Morgan Freeman could be slightly better. It is one of the greatest movies of all time. This is the movie that defined “epic.” There was no computer generation back then. There was no green screen. Those were real animals being herded. The musical score is outstanding. And of course, there’s that Red Sea parting scene and tremendous other special effects. Well, Moses is down from the mountain and boy is he pissed. And so is God. So the Jews get to wander for 40 years. This after 400 years of enslavement. That is a long time for guilt to build up. Well, I must go to bed and wait for the Easter Bunny to come. Oh wait, wrong holiday. I hope you find the Golden Egg tomorrow.

Lent – Day Forty – Five

Friday, April 18, 2014 – Good Friday of Holy Week. I have always wondered about the name “Good” in Good Friday. Certainly wasn’t that great of a day for Jesus. And why if Maundy Thursday has so many different names, then why does this one only have one? How about Shadow Friday? Maybe Dark Friday? Or Not a Good Day to be King of the Jews Day? For me, I can call it “Almost Made It, Damn It Friday. I did this last year. On the last Friday of Lent, as in NO MEAT Friday, I forgot when I ordered my bacon, egg and cheese biscuit at Whataburger this morning. Now I am going to Hell. I hope it is one of the higher levels of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno and not the deep levels where the politicians and judges are. Actually, I think God already took care of it because – the reason I went to Whataburger was to try the jalapeno biscuit. I am so accustomed to my usual breakfast sandwich, I blurted out BACON before I remembered it was Friday and I was already forward in the queue. So I get my sack of food, drive away, and stop in parking lot to eat, and realize I have a regular biscuit. Not a jalapeno biscuit which was the reason I went in the first place. I also had to wait at the window because they forgot my coffee too. It was lukewarm with no sugar. God really does work in mysterious ways.

Lent – Day Forty-Four

Thursday, April 17, 2014 – Here come the big holy days in the Christian calendar. Today is Maundy Thursday. It is also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, Thursday of Mysteries and Half-Price off Ladies Drinks at The Dallas Night Club Thursday. No, wait. I think that is every Thursday, not this one. The name used for this Thursday which, which falls on the Thursday before Easter, may depend on which geographical area and religious allegiance you are. In other words, the Anglicans call it one thing, the Methodists call it something different, and the Roman Catholics call it a couple of different names. Whatever the name used, it commemorates the Maundy. Maundy comes from the Latin term mandatum or mendicare. Goodness, I love Wikipedia. And yes, I thought it said Medicare at first too. But it means foot washing. You can look up the rest of the story yourself. Maundy Thursday also commemorates the Last Supper. This event was posted on the Facebook of the day by the great Leonardo Da Vinci, poster child for the ultimate visionary and gifted person. This of course is the painting depicting his idea of the event that night. It has Jesus with the Apostles sitting at a long table celebrating the feast of Passover. The event is described in the Canonical gospels (Wikipedia again). I am not sure if those are the Full Gospel Churches of East Texas or not. Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum commemorating the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Now if you do not observe Lent or the Easter Triduum, like the Baptists, the Church of Christ and others, you should still read this to learn the word triduum. I think triduum is a great word. It has seven letters, two of the letter U together, and will score many points in Words With Friends. Something for everyone.

Lent – Day Forty-two

Holy Tuesday, April 15, 2014 – I am not sure there is such a day as Holy Tuesday. That is probably an exclamatory from Batman and Robin. I am pretty sure Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday got the holy designation prior to Easter – especially if your church of choice is one of those kneeling kind with all of the Halo Statues standing and hanging around. But today is the beginning of Passover, income tax day and a full moon. I suppose if you are a Jewish accountant you are a little bit crazy today. I mailed my taxes this morning. When I owe money I always mail the envelope on the last day. I have owed money to the IRS for the last several years. I make too much money (thank you, General J.) and need some deductions. My options seem to be: get married, have a baby or buy a house. I am going to go with option number three and buy a house. A house doesn’t care if you leave your underwear throughout the place. One does not have to put braces on its teeth or send it to college. You do not have to post bail to get it out of jail. Definitely, going with the house purchase. More about that later. Tomorrow, which I am going to name, Willie Wednesday, I am playing golf at Willie Nelson’s golf course on the Pedernales River or what is left of it. All golf courses have rules, but Willie’s golf course rules are a bit different. For example, there are no tee times; Willie always gets to play through. One never questions the aroma in the air. Shirts are required except for the ladies. Should be interesting.

Lent Day Forty – One

Monday, April 14, 2014 – “But that was yesterday and yesterday’s gone” is not by the Hollies. It is by Chad and Jeremy. It is also a song by Foreigner. I at least got the country correct for Chad and Jeremy as part of the English invasion.  I see where we missed National Scrabble Day yesterday.  The celebration of the day coincides with the birthday of its inventor Alfred Mosher Butts. With a name like that, I bet he had a difficult time in school. This week is National Library Week. If you go to a library, you should look up Abraham Lincoln. If you do, you will see that April 14, 1865 marks the day John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the back of the head while he and Mrs. Lincoln attended Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC.  Booth jumped over the balcony and broke his leg in the process.  He escaped and was able to get to a farm house owned by the Samuel Mudd family.  Here he found a doctor who set his leg.  However, because the physician set the broken limb of the assassin, his name was vilified and the phrase “your name is mud,” became popular in referring to one who does a dastardly deed. Mudd went to prison because of his association with Booth. Even though President Andrew Johnson pardoned Mudd from any part of the conspiracy, the stigma remains. Repeated attempts by grandchildren to clear the doctor’s name have failed. This is as late as 2003, but with no success.  So if you do not know this story, then your name is… you got it, Mudd.  Would you rather your name be Butts?

LENT – DAY FORTY

Sunday, April 13, 2014 – Palm Sunday and the fortieth day of Lent. The four Gospels provide the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. I suppose this is the Full Gospel as several of the churches in East Texas are called. Jesus rode into town on a donkey. The symbolism of the donkey refers to the Eastern tradition that the donkey is an animal of peace. The donkey is in contraction to the horse, which is a symbol for war. By riding on a peaceful animal it was perceived that Jesus was declaring he was King of Israel in order to anger the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish Judicial Body. Another Eastern custom was to cover the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honor. According to the Gospels, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks in front of him, and also laid down small branches of trees. The Gospels seem to disagree on what exactly was laid down as Jesus on the donkey proceeded through the city. Some report garments and cut branches. Only John specifies fronds of palm as being laid in the path. The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, and became the most common attribute of the goddess Nike or Victory. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Palm Sunday was marked by the burning of Jack-‘o’-Lent figures. This was a straw effigy which would be stoned and abused. Its burning on Palm Sunday was often supposed to be a kind of revenge on Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Christ. In Luke 19:41 as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it (an event known as Flevit super illam in Latin), foretelling the suffering that awaits the city. So Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week for all of us who observe and celebrate Lent. Yes, I had to look all of the facts for this paragraph, but now you have it.

Lent Day Thirty Eight

Friday, April 11, 2014 – Today’s entry is not really late. Rather it is going to be pretty nonexistent. I got nothing today. The Masters Golf tournament is being played this weekend. It appears several of the golfers are playing as I do. OVER PAR. I saw where Phil Mickelson’s history of the Master’s is 14 over par. That is what I usually shoot. Of course, fourteen over the course par is just eighteen holes for me and several years for Mr. Phil. One either plays golf or doesn’t. There is not an in between. One either loves it or hates it. Now even though I play and enjoy being outdoors, even I find golf boring on television. In fact I am pretty bored right now as I sure you are reading this. I told you at the beginning “I ain’t got no words for today.” So there you go.

Lent Day Thirty – Seven

Thursday, April 10, 2014 – I am late again. I see there is another festival in Austin this weekend. It seems as though there is a festival every weekend. In addition to traffic reports, there are the road closure reports for festivals. This weekend’s festival is the Texas Burlesque Festival. It seems that burlesque is making a comeback and Austin has companies, training schools and amateur clubs. Burlesque was in its heyday during vaudeville. In today’s paper there is a story about Toni Elling who will be dancing at the festival. Ms. Elling is 85 years old. Most people I know that are 70 or 80 years old would not look good taking off their clothes. But this 85 year looks pretty good – at least on paper. Just the fact that she can dance let alone take off her clothes impresses me. Ms. Elling disapproves of today’s stripping. It is “too much nudity and no class.” She continues that “it really isn’t stripping, it is acrobatics.” So if you are looking for something to do this weekend, and the roads are not closed, perhaps you could enjoy a burlesque show. Even if the main attraction is 85 years of age. The Texas Burlesque Festival has performances and competitions. I hope Ms. Elling wins her age bracket. I wonder how many others are in that age bracket?