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Pic of the Day

Root Canal

I’ve been dreading this day for months. Today is the day I have to have a root nail,performed on one of my teeth. The tooth quit bothering me when I took the antibiotic my dentist prescribed, but I guess if I don’t do something the pain will come back. My dentist says these people are fast and easy. I hope he’s correct. My neighbor said it was cheaper just to have the tooth pulled. I want to keep all my teeth for as long as possible. I’m really dreading this root canal.

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Wednesday’s Woes

Yesterday, I found out that my favorite great aunt had died. I know I shouldn’t have a favorite, but not all great aunts are created equal. Also, I probably spent more time with this aunt than any of the others. When my grandmama got too sick to do house cleaning and laundry and that sort of thing, this aunt (my grandmama’s youngest sister) came and did those things for her. It’s sad because she was so healthy until she became unsteady on her feet. She had a series of falls, that while she didn’t break anything, left her black and blue. That’s when she was basically in her chair most of the day and began crocheting like crazy. I think she made everyone in the family a beautiful blanket. If you’d supply the yarn, she’d crochet it. Mine is a beautiful yellow and black. My grad school colors are black and gold, though the gold is more yellow than gold. I didn’t want my undergraduate university’s colors because they are an ugly orange and brown. I’d also bought s luxurious wool or cotton yarn. I can’t remember, but I do know it was a natural fiber. She had loved working with it. Most people gave her cheap yarn. I wanted a luxurious blanket so I got the good stuff. Isabella and I still love to cuddle under that blanket. After a few years of crocheting, her health declined more and probably because of athritis or seomething she couldn’t crochet anymore and began doing puzzle books, word searches mostly. My grandmama had done the same thing. But my aunt’s health continued to decline and she couldn’t be at home by herself anymore. Her daughters tried to stay with her at all times but one lived north of Montgomery and one lived in Mobile, and it was taking its toll on them. My aunt decided it would be best if she entered the nursing home, where her health seemed to rapidly decline until she passed away yesterday. She was greatly loved and will be missed.

Family deaths like this always hit me hard. It’s a time when I want to be with family, share in the memories of the person, and attend the funeral. However, I’m eleven hundred miles away and just can’t get home or the time off for a funeral that is not immediate family. Sometimes, I just want to be home.

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Before Quiet

Before Quiet

 by Hazel Hall

I will think of water-lilies

Growing in a darkened pool,

And my breath shall move like water,

And my hands be limp and cool.

 

It shall be as though I waited

In a wooden place alone;

I will learn the peace of lilies

And will take it for my own.

 

If a twinge of thought, if yearning

Come like wind into this place,

I will bear it like the shadow

Of a leaf across my face.

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Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day, let us not forget the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

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Are You Afraid?

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? (KJV) ( Mark 4:40 ) 

The disciples had been with Jesus enough to see many miracles done but yet they underestimated the power He had to control the wind.  You may not be aware of your fears, but they drive at the heart of your words, actions, and attitudes.  Take a moment and think about your fears.  Now, think about each time Jesus has performed miracles in your life.  When you uncover your fears and approach them with His past faithfulness, your fears will lose all control.  Do you allow your fears to overtake your faith? 

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Moment of Zen: Breakfast

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Off the Deep End

 Alabama has gone off the deep end. The legislature can’t even pass a fucking education lottery to get the state out of the bottom in education, but they can pass some of the most asinine laws. First they made it a 99 year prison offense to get an abortion, and the governor signed it. A woman herself and the senile old bitch signs the most anti women’s rights bill in America. Now they’ve outlawed marriage licenses. Just because some probate judges couldn’t follow the fucking law and issue marriage licenses to gay couples in their county. I think you need a marriage license not a marriage “document” for a legal marriage. To me this law invalidates all marriages in Alabama. It makes me a bastard, when my parents have been happily marriage for nearly 50 years. I know that it is extreme to think that way, but I can’t help feeling that they are doing away with real marriages. I’m so pissed at my home state. A Republican legislature. A Republican governor who not only is a traitor to women everywhere but has long been rumored to be a lesbian and a traitor to the whole LGBTQA community. Then there is the all Republicans Suoreme Court which will uphold these laws. Thank God they will have to go to SCOTUS, which I hope they both do and are both overturned.

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Television Endings

Two of my favorite shows came to an end: Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory. One had the perfect ending, the other was an utter disappointment. Let’s look at the disappointment first: Game of Thrones. Nothing in the whole episode was satisfying. The whole last season was one disappointment after the other. For seven seasons, the show had been excellent, but season eight came along and it all fell apart. On the other hand, The Big Bang Theory ended perfectly. Things were wrapped up nicely and it was one of the funniest episodes of the series. So one disappointment and one perfection. That’s just the way television ends sometimes.

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Pic of the Day

Getting Home: The Nightmare Version

(For the sake of simplicity, all times shown are Eastern Daylight Time)  

 

Last Saturday, I was scheduled to fly from Midland, Texas to Burlington, Vermont via Dallas and Washington, D.C. then drive to my apt; I would have arrived there early Saturday evening. Sunday would be a day to unwind before going back to work on Monday. 

 

SATURDAY morning, I was notified that due to severe weather, my flights out of Midland and Dallas were cancelled. I was given a new itinerary for Sunday leaving Midland on a 6am flight (much earlier than the original Saturday flight time), again flying via Dallas and Washington, D.C., and arriving in Burlington late Sunday afternoon. Although this change in plans was annoying and disruptive, a one-day delay was still somewhat acceptable even with no day off before returning to work.

 

I arrived at Midland Airport SUNDAY morning at the ass-crack of dawn to begin my journey. I got as far as Dallas. While waiting to board my 9:57am flight to Washington D.C., a notice went up that my flight was delayed. Eventually, it was cancelled. There was no co-pilot! I then had to wait on a loooong line to speak to an agent to rebook the rest of my trip home. I didn't fly out of Dallas until 1:45pm that afternoon now flying via Birmingham-Philadelphia-Burlington. 

 

If this nightmare had a silver lining, it would be that the Birmingham Airport has a Jim and Nick’s BBQ restaurant. With 34 restaurants in 7 states, Jim and Nick’s BBQ has been a Southern institution since 1985. 

 

But I digress. The nightmare continued. We were supposed to leave Birmingham at 5:53pm. We boarded on time, but sat on the tarmac for an additional 90 minutes for reasons which were never explained. This delay was just long enough for me to miss my connecting flight from Philadelphia to Burlington. When we landed in Philly, I already knew there were no more flights to Burlington until the next afternoon. I stood on another loooong line to speak to an agent about a hotel voucher and to verify I could fly out of Philly on Monday’s afternoon flight. The flight to Burlington and my seat on it were confirmed, but there was no hotel voucher. I had to find a nearby hotel, book a room, and pay full price for it. I also had to pay for a taxi to get there. There was airport shuttle service, but by then, I wasn’t up to waiting for it. It was already after 11pm. I had been up and trying to get home for almost 20 hours!

 

MONDAY, I checked out of the hotel late morning and cabbed it back to the airport. I had lunch there, and worked on my Museum Studies homework until it was time to board for the last leg of my journey. The flight left Philadelphia on time at 4:29pm arriving at Burlington Airport at 5:50pm. My luggage, having taken other flights on Sunday of which I have no knowledge, was waiting for me in Baggage Claim. After stopping for dinner on the drive home, I finally… finally… walked in my apt. door at 8pm.

 

A trip from Texas to Vermont that should have taken less than 12 hours instead took 3 days. For me, that is a true definition of a nightmare.

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Lost in Travels

Actually, just stuck in Philadelphia. I’ll write more tomorrow when I’m not quite so tired.

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God Is At Work

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (KJV) ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 ) 

Jesus is the main character in a story still being told. God’s great work began at creation and continues until the end of time as we know it. Moments of our lives can feel so far from the masterpiece we are promised. Be encouraged, even if you don’t understand it, God’s story is still being told. God is making something beautiful out of you! 

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Moment of Zen: A Pickup Man

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Odessa

What a sad little town! I’ve been staying with my fiend in Midland, which is okay, but Odessa is like a step down. We went to the only gay bar there which happens to be in Odessa. Turns out, it’s no longer a gay bar; it’s a sports bar. They quit being a gay bar last week with its last drag show. They even shut down their Facebook page. When we got there, there were only two people plus the bartender. We played a game of pool hoping it would pick up, but it did not. In fact one guy left. Another guy showed up, had one drink and left. We talked to the bartender and the guy who was sitting at the bar. He was a drag queen. He was in the mood to gossip. We didn’t stay much longer and eventually got an Uber back home.

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Texas Thursday

We’ve got a lot planned for today. We are going to the Museum of the Southwest. While I’d read a lot of great things about the museum, I’ve heard quite the opposite from “actual” people I know. I’m reserving judgment. We are planning to have BBQ a for lunch and Mexican for dinner. Then for tomorrow night, we will be going to The Recovey Room, a gay bar in Odessa. It should be a fun night.

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Texas Trivia Night

Tonight was trivia night with my friend Jen. We did okay, but we didn’t win, it was a lot of fun though, and I had a fair number of margaritas. I’m not sure what we will do the rest of the week, but it’s a lot of fun hanging with my best friend.

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Ten Thousand Texas Rangers

Ten Thousand Texas Rangers

Written in March, 1917, at the time when Germany proposed
to Mexico that they retake the "lost provinces" of 
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Ten thousand Texas Rangers are laughin' fit to kill
At the joke of the German Kaiser, an' his fierce, imperious will --
For he sez, sez he, to the Mexican boob, hidin' behind his beard,
"Old Uncle Sam is an easy mark, or so I've always heerd --

"Go up and take his cattle, and take a state or two, --
Texas, New Mexico, Arizone -- don't stop before you're through;
For we shall make war together, and together make peace," he said,
Now ain't it a joke -- so easy-like -- as easy as makin' bread!

Now if he had wanted a gun-man, he could n't have chose a worse,
For Pancho Villa has gor more knack in fixin' a man for the hearse,
And if he had though that a gun-man could swipe that piece of earth,
He should 'a' remembered we got the trick of handlin' a gun from birth!

Ten thousand Texas Rangers are shakin' with wicked glee
At the joke of the German Kaiser in his fierce perplexity;
They are bustin' their buttins with laughin', they are laughin' fit to kill --
"By Gawd," sez they, "But that's one on him, by Gawd, that's one on Bill!"

 by Alice Corbin (Henderson) from Songs of the Cowboys, 1921

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In Texas

I’m in Texas visiting my best friend for a week. Yesterday, I was in a plane most of the day or running from gate to gate. Not only were my planes delayed numerous times, but they also kept changing gates on me. It was a long day. I got up at 2:30 am eastern time and went to bed just after 11:00 pm central time. That makes for a really long day. 

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Failure

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. (KJV) (Psalms 73:26) 

One hard truth about being human is that failure is unavoidable.  Solo, our strength runs out.  If you are feeling defeated by your lack of ability, the good news is, we have a source to go to that is so much bigger than us! God is faithful to breath new life and hope into our failures. 

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Moment of Zen: Coca-Cola

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LGBTQA Gala

Tonight I am going to the Pride Center of Vermont’s 21st Annual Community Celebration. It’s not really a gala, but it’s as close as it comes in Vermont. It’s supposed to be a joyous celebration of the LGBTQA community as the Pride Center honors the media, journalists, and newsmakers that have helped tell Vermont's LGBTQA story for decades. It will be hosted by my friend Emoji Nightmare and her often drag companion, Nikki Champagne. The evening will include inspired food stations with tantalizing culinary delights by Vermont's best chefs, an amazing live and silent auction chock full of items from generous local businesses, and a sunset patio dance party. There is one thing I want to bid on, but there is no way I could bid enough to win it. It’s the Queen for a Day! package. It would be loads of fun to win. I love the House of LeMay. They are all so sweet.

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Pic of the Day

Fell Asleep

I fell asleep as I began to write this. I completely lost the train of thought in the process. I will hopefully do better tomorrow.

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Trees

Trees
Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

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