• Dear Mom - Episcopal - Only in Utah...

    Spiritual caregivers: Salt Lake Trib mentions a friend

    Spiritual caregivers: Beyond physical healing – Salt Lake Tribune For 22 years, Lincoln Ure, an Episcopal priest, has been the clinical pastoral education supervisor at St. Mark’s Hospital, the one site in Utah that offers the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) training. Succeeding as a chaplain, Ure explained, “takes some serious internal work.” Father Linc spent some time with Mom and with the rest of our spiritually divergent family while Mom was at St Mark’s. He was such a good sport when she was throwing us out one by one – offered to go in and be thrown out,…

  • Dear Mom - Second Life

    Waiting

    We’re in the family waiting room at the day surgery center, waiting for the surgery of our dear family member to finish so the surgeon can come in and give us an update. There will be at least a couple more hours waiting after that while the patient is in recovery, and we’re most of us pretty much here for the long haul today. Unlike last time, which was marred by the unseemly haste the patient was booted out after surgery, this time there’s more personal choice involved, and the option to stay for at least two or three days…

  • Dear Mom

    Meanwhile, what’s happening?

    All this incessant blogging about politics, spiritual and secular, is just camouflage: I don’t really have anything that I can blog about that’s all that interesting, aside from several very personal family topics. Well, rather than maintain complete radio silence (and rely too much on sources other than myself) I’ll try to tactfully refer to some of the things that are REALLY on my mind (and not on the diversions I find on the Internets Tubes). Tomorrow, we’ll be spending much of the day at a nearby hospital, lending support to a much-loved family member who is undergoing surgery. AGAIN.…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Funnies - Mini-Posts

    All Humor Aside: Mentioned in passing

    First off, the folks at Conservapedia seem mighty obsessed with hot! gay! Sex!, which sets up this most excellent quip: Q: How many Republican politicians can you fit in the closet? A: Evidently, all of them. h/t to » Conservapedia: Still Obsessed » The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century : Joey deVilla’s Personal Blog.

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Episcopal

    Bishop’s Palaces on the block in Britain

    My friend Ellen’s husband runs a blog about archeology, and today it had an item about the Church of England’s current upheaval… no, not that upheaval, the one about the fancy bishop’s palaces going on the market because they’re perceived as an extravagance in an era when ordinary parish priests have trouble making ends meet. Archaeology in Europe: 02/01/2008 – 03/01/2008 Resplendent with moats, gatehouses and banqueting halls, bishops’ palaces are among some of the grandest buildings in the country.Now, however, the historic homes, which have belonged to the Church of England for centuries, could be sold off in a…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Mini-Posts

    In (Bad) Dreams

    Oh, dear: Woman’s dream of bomb results in oil rig evacuation – Boing Boing A woman who works on an oil rig in the North Sea had a dream that a bomb was on the platform. When she was overheard recalling the dream, it resulted in an evacuation.

  • Dear Mom - Home Improvement

    Waiting for the Shoe to Drop

    I’m still battling the cold and cough, hoping to avoid a 5-month bout of bronchitis like last year… when it finally went away after I started taking anti-acid reflux drugs in addition to some prescription and over-the-counter medications for general cough and asthma. There’s some kind of connection. In about half an hour, we leave to go to lunch with the family, at a deli up in Highland Park. It’s bitterly cold, and with the wind-chill factor it’s about -20 degrees, something that’s guaranteed to get my cold-weather asthma to kick in (something else I have to avoid if I’m…

  • Blogs Wot I Read

    Note the Rhino

    WorldRider: Journey of Adventure & Discovery Worldrider Allan Karl is in Africa, and having left his BMW “Doc” at the shop, he’s on safari. Photos like this are typical – his blog WorldRider has amazing stuff all the time about travel, food, new friends, and scenic wonders. This one is particularly stunning, and as he helpfully notes, “note the rhino.” [tags]WorldRider, rhino[/tags]