2011 CANNONBALL CATHOLIC BLOG AWARDS™©!

Katrina is still accepting nominations ... hint hint ....

The Crescat...: oh yeah, I forgot to mention...

Hope and joy in Madrid

"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

One and a half million bright, happy young Catholics ... and a mere handful of angry, bitter atheists and anti-Catholics. No real contest. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to disrupt World Youth Day, the assembled anti-Catholics might just as well have taken the approach of the MSM and just ignored it. Not that that's working too well; WYD just seems to get bigger all the time no matter how forcefully and vigorously it's ignored.

In response to WYD, Richard Dawkins, pushing his "Secular Europe" agenda, is promoting a march in London for Sept. 17th. Let's see how many hundreds this march draws, shall we?

Someone really needs to tell these people that committed Christians love opposition. We're a wierd bunch ... we're happiest when we feel we're being oppressed. "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Mt 5:11-12).

The difference in numbers and reactions also illustrate the disadvantage atheism has when compared to Christianity. Despite its hard moral code and sometimes harsh teachings, Christianity is at its center a religion of hope, joy and affirmation of the goodness of life. That's probably why religious people tend to score better in mental and physical health than non-religious people. (Dawkins is convinced religious people are by definition mentally ill ... which shows you just how "scientific" his approach to religion is.) While there are statistics and studies about the decline of religious practice that are cause for concern, World Youth Day is a seed planted in fertile ground, a seed from which the Church shall find new life and new strength.

Seven Quick Takes Friday! (Vol. 11)

Not my picture ... or Bob's new bed.

ONE:

Under certain circumstances, Medicare and Medicaid will pay for a hospital bed in your home. My invalid brother Bob now has one ... which makes me a little envious. Hospital beds are a wonderful combination of chaise lounge and La-Z-Boy with sheets and pillows thrown into the bargain. And they're pretty comfortable to sleep on, too!

TWO:

So just how many people come to visit Bob during the week? Well, there's the nurse/coordinator, Ann, a lovely, no-nonsense woman who is Bob's best cheer-leader; Robin, the occupational therapist, an older, slightly pushy woman with a heart of gold; Mara, the physical therapist, a young woman who only seems retiring; and there's Rachel, who gives Bob his sponge baths (until we get done converting the shower in the main bath). Plus, this week we had an X-ray tech come in to take pictures of his chest. Taken all things together, it's good incentive to keep my room and office clean.

THREE:

Central Market in Southlake: foodie heaven. If you can't find it at Albertson's, Tom Thumb or World Market, look there. 

This next weekend and for the next couple of weeks it's the annual Hatch Chile Festival at Central Market. I was born in Albuquerque, and lived for a year there as an adult ... just long enough to understand the State Question: "Red or Green?" Putting jalapeños on your burger just isn't the same as putting on fire-roasted poblanos ... yes, yes, New Mexicans put chiles on just about anything (I can't swear to gefilte fish). Hopefully, my other brother Ted and I can get down there to stock up.

FOUR:

Speaking of New Mexican food: One item I can't get in my immediate area is carne adovada ... in fact, the only place I know of is in Lewisville. Carne adovada is pork marinated in a chile sauce then slow-roasted until it's fork-tender. It's a great filler for tacos, burritos, enchiladas and things. Two concepts Ted and I want to try are putting it on a kaiser bun, perhaps with cole slaw, like a pulled pork sandwich, or baking it in the middle of a baguette like a Runza sandwich (if you don't know what a Runza is, you're not from Nebraska).

FIVE:

Okay, here's your Friday morning rock-out tune: Elton John live with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1986, performing "Have Mercy on the Criminal"!

SIX:

Last year, I replaced my old Ensoniq VFX-SD sequencer-synthesizer with a new Korg M50 Music Workstation ... about five times the voices, a longer keyboard (76 as opposed to 60), and it hooks up to my computer via USB so I can use it in tandem with Sibelius 5, a heavy-duty professional writing and arranging application. However, with tending to Bob and trying to produce material for two blogs, it occurs to me that I haven't just sat and banged away at the keys for several months. So this weekend I'm going to try to make time to remember that I'm a piano player.

Yessir, that's my baby!

SEVEN:

When you get fairly busy on the home front, some things get neglected. The last few days, I've had very little presence on Twitter and Facebook ... in some ways, I'm just not mentally "plugged in" to the whole social media thing. In fact, I still think of "retweet" as the opposite of "charge" to Elmer Fudd.

However, I've been able to pop in here and there. In fact, my friend Julie Robison over at The Corner With A View posted a rollicking little romp on dresses you should read: "Dresses Rule, Pants Drool and Other Facts of Life". Trista at Not A Minx A Moron Or A Parasite also had a piece on dresses, "Dresses & the Apostolate of Beauty", which is quicker and comes at it from Abp. Fulton Sheen's angle while still being light-hearted. And Elizabeth at Startling the Day has a scene from a mechanics office in "Month of the Dress" that will have you grinning ruefully. Plus, I've been to visit The Crescat, Fr. Dwight, Father Z, Randy and a few other places. So just because I haven't been tweeting all that much doesn't mean I've gone away!

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And that's all for this week's installment. Have a great weekend!