"Gamer Mode"

My Kansas City grandchildren just left after a week-end visit leaving me with a new label floating around out there which intrigues me.    "Gamer Mode" describes the irritable, snappish mood exhibited by one who has been completely absorbed in their computer games and who is forced back into human interaction.
I understand how this can happen after preoccupation with my iPhone.    A new hazard of living. . .

A plaque on the back of a car. . .

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
                                       Dr. Martin Luther King - 1963

Nine Lives

When my daughter Sarah and her family left their burning house last month, they had no time to pick up the two cats.       After the fire was out, a fireman found one of them in the top shelf of a closet with its little paws burned.   But burn cream is healing him and he is staying with her cousin.    The other one has always been a fraidy cat and hides whenever there is company.    They thought perhaps he was hiding and put out food in the shell of the house but it was never touched.    Eleven days after the fire, a worker with the restoration damage company found him in the basement, hiding.   His fur was singed and he had blood-shot eyes from smoke, but the vet said he is healthy!     His personality was somewhat strange before, and he will probably be really weird after this adventure.

Swimwear

Recently spent some time on the beach in Puerto Vallarta. . .read this item in the news.    In Brazil bikinis are now made in larger womens' sizes.    Perhaps The Girl from Ipanema now  wears a 2X.    No more
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

House Fire

Sarah and Darin and their family  lost their home in south Kansas City  to fire on Thursday evening.
Thanks to wonderful neighbors, friends and St.Thomas More parish. . .they have had support and comfort and all their immediate needs met.    Laura Story's words and music have meant a great deal to us this week.

          We pray for blessings.
           We pray for peace,
            comfort for family,
             protection while we sleep.
           We pray for healing, 
              for prosperity..
            We pray for your mighty hand to 
               ease our suffering.
            And all the while - 
           You hear each spoken need.
             yet love is way too much, 
              to give us lesser things.


             'Cause what if Your blessings come 
                through raindrops?
              What if Your healing comes through
                tears?
              What if a thousand sleepless nights are
                 what it takes to know You're near?
             And what if trials of this life
                 are your mercies in disguise?


                            Blessings      2011
                       Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing

Memorial for our friend, Diana

Adapted from an anonymous memorial contribution to the internet:

You can shed tears that she is gone, or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and wish she was still with us, or you can open your
  eyes and see she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you won't see her again, or you can be full
 of the affection you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday or you can be happy
 for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she is gone, or you can cherish her
 memory and let it live on.   
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what
  she would want - smile, open your eyes, love and go on.  .  .

The Merton Prayer

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.   I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.   Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I  think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.   And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.   I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.   And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.   Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.   I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
                                         Thomas Merton   Thoughts in Solitude