War of the Roses...

Clinton and Obama are beginning to fight like a couple having marital problems...

While it looks as if Oprah is in trouble with women because she campaigned for Obama...

Yet Bill just dreams about interns.

kids...

Nobody knows the trouble you feel

Nobody cares, the feelin' is real

Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home

We worry, won't you come on

What is wrong in my life

That I must get drunk every night

Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on...

Use the phone, call your mom

She's missing you badly, missing her son

Who do you know, where will you stay

Big city life is not what they say

Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home

We worry, won't you come on

What is wrong in my life

That I must get drunk every night

Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on...

You'd better go, everything's closed

Can't find a room, money's all blown

Nowhere to sleep, out in the cold

Nothing to eat, nowhere to go

Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home

We worry, won't you come on

What is wrong in my life

That I must get drunk every night

Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on. home

We worry, won't you come on home...

.........................fine young cannibals.

And then: Why do you blog?

Because you have a "savior of the world complex" like Bono?

I ask myself this question all of the time. Why do I blog? I think, no matter what the initial altruistic reasons one may have had for beginning to write a weblog, it comes down to one's ego, satisfying self-love. (Or, maybe just for me?)

So anyway - why do you blog?

Who blogs?

I think more women than men blog.

Yep! I do.

Dior Homme by Kris Van Assche Spring Summer 2008

See - male models can be anorexic too, and these look very sickly.

Fashion isn't real you know - it is just a marketing thing to get the rich and vulnerable to change their clothes every season.

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible

It is amazing how fat the models look in this video... which tells you how far thin has gone today!

He shall drink from the stream by the wayside,..

And therefore he shall lift up his head. - Psalm 110

The above photo is St. Bernard drinking from the wound in Christ's side, it is painted by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. I have searched the web for a larger reproduction and cannot find it. (I had seen one about a year ago.) If anyone has a link to a larger image, would you mind posting it for me? Many thanks.

Poetry Thursday

Did You Ever Know...

It must have been cold there in my shadow,

To never have sunlight on your face.

You were content to let me shine, thats your way.

You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,

While you were the one with all the strain.

A beautiful face without a name for so long.

A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that youre my hero,

And everything I would like to be?

I can fly higher than an eagle,

For you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,

But Ive got it all here in my heart.

I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.

I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that youre my hero?

Youre everything I wish I could be.

I could fly higher than an eagle,

For you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you youre my hero?

Youre everything, everything I wish I could be.

Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,

For Cathy, you are the wind beneath my wings...

*

------------------an original poem by Jane Hudson.

*

*

[I'll be offline until I get some respect.]

American Idol tryouts...

A study in mental illness.

I watched the tryouts for American Idol Tuesday night - many, many, desperately sick people.

[I'll be offline until further notice.]

i can't tell you why

it's just a favorite song of mine...

We now know who she was...

Although we don't know what she did...

German academics believe they have found definitive and authoritative documentation proving that the Mona Lisa is actually a portrait of Lisa del Giacondo. The story here.

Well, slap my butt and call me Gladys - I always thought it was Leo in drag - which BTW, was J. Edgar Hoover's excuse for wearing prom dresses at his special candle-light dinners - or so I was told.

I have sold everything...

I have sold everything

and given it to the poor.

But they said,

"No thanks."

That's what friends are for...

Thinking of Santa Fe...

El Greco's Toledo really reminds me of Santa Fe. Driving up into the mountains and coming upon the city - this was my impression - even though in reality I was looking down at the city - or just a few buildings. Otherwise the city was enshrouded in clouds, as I had written awhile back, which created the illusion that the city towered into the clouds, since it seemed the mountain tops poked through the fog as well. Why didn't I try to photograph it? So that I could paint it. In my mind, I continue to imagine it looks like Toledo. I drove by Toledo years ago, and the Spanish city does look like the painting, although the day was crisp and clear, and very sunny - not at all as nostalgic as El Greco's composition.

Searching for photos, I came upon this painting by Beverly Decker, entitled "Sunlit Hills" which happens to be a view of Santa Fe. This comes close to my impression, although I was in New Mexico in February, and there was snow cover. I think I must have been having a mystical experience as I drove. New Mexico is very spiritual and enchanting you know.

Macy's Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota: Macy's fired 400 people today.

Originally the stores were called Dayton's, then Dayton-Hudson's, then Dayton-Hudson-Marhall Fields - and finally Marshall Fields, until Target Corporation sold the department stores to May company, which in turn was bought out by Federated Department Stores - which owns Macy's. Aside from losing a dedicated customer base - Federated is now cutting their loses and getting rid of long term, highly paid employees. (Federated now goes by the name, Macy's Inc.)

For months the company has been telling long term employees there will be no more wage increases, they took away commissions from sales people, and have been quietly laying off personnel here and there. Many people did see the handwriting on the wall, yet, as in the case of one friend, who received a glowing review just two days ago, today's termination came like a sucker punch.

So there you have it - Macy's is cleaning house and most operations are moving to NYC.

Macy's sucks.

Shop Nordstrom's instead.

And pray for the people who have lost their jobs.

Devotion to the Precious Blood

"To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must (otherwise the mystery will be lost on us), we must get some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable. But we believe that we are here for only a very short time. We further believe that Christ when He told us the way that leads to damnation is broad and many there are who walk that way, that the way that leads to eternal life is narrow and there are few who walk that way. I am watching every syllable I am saying.

The Church has never pronounced infallibly on the number lost and the number saved, but she has canonized St. John of the Cross and made him a Doctor of the Church. Says John of the Cross: "I believe that the majority of the human race will be lost." - Fr. Hardon

Family matters...

My uncle died. Please keep him in your prayers. A friend notified me today that he had died. It seems my family forgot to tell me. Oh - and the funeral was this morning - I only found that out after I looked up the obituary online - a half hour after it was over. (See - It isn’t always my fault I don’t show up for family events.)

Thanks to eveyone who had prayed for him.

I wish I said that.

"The higher you climb on the flag pole the more your butt shows." Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes

Art on Sunday

The wonderful work of James Christensen.

Top: "Saint with white sleeves"

Middle: "Ten lepers"

Bottom: "One light"

Bye Santa!

I'm reluctantly taking Christmas down today. I'll leave the exterior lights and decorations up for awhile longer though. I loved Christmas this year - it was so unusually peaceful and quietly contemplative. I hate to see it end. I keep Christmas from December 6th through January 6th. Despite the fact some people consider it liturgically incorrect, I can do that because I am neither a church or a religious community.

[Art: "Brendan the Navigator" - James Christensen]