Real Men Wear Tights

On Monday evening I attended the BalletBoyz at Lakewood Cultural Center. When a friend asked me to go I thought I was going to a stage play. When I was told it was ballet the first thing that came to mind were two ballets I have seen; Black Swan and the Nut Cracker. It turned out to be a modern dance type of performance by ten, young, lithe, men who rolled, leaped, stretched in a gymnastics manner. Some of their positions looked impossible and I knew I would have had cramps in my legs if I tried it! My lack of expertise in this kind of dancing left me wondering what the dance was supposed to represent. The music seemed odd with lots of drum and shrill sounds. The dancers were in bare feet and their costumes were jeans, plaid shirts and t-shirts.

As the young men twisted their bodies into almost unimaginable forms I wondered if I had known what the Balletboyz was all about, would I have been sitting in the audience? Four persons sitting next to us left at intermission and did not return. In the second performance, the young men wore mid-calf tights and muscle  shirts. The music sounded like music and the dancing was more energetic. I liked when two men danced in center stage under the light while two other dancers mimicked their moves in the dimly lit area of the stage. It was as if the dancing was taking place in front of a mirror. I found it remarkable that all movements were synchronized.

What I can say about the performance, is that it is not my kind of entertainment. I enjoyed seeing my friends and having dinner before the show but the modern dance type of dancing is at the bottom of my list of things I want to watch!

Super Bowl vs. Downton Abbey

Watching Downton Abbey has become like a religion for me. I never miss the show when it comes on every Sunday evening. On February 7, 2016, the Super Bowl was being advertised repeatedly on television. Every where I went I saw orange. Stores, Facebook, or church, orange and blue seemed to dominate.

I am not a football fan and when the Broncos are playing I find other things to do. I will go shopping, to a movie, a drive,  read or watch television. This year, I had already decided I would not watch the over-popularized game and was flipping through the channels for a good movie. When I hit Channel 4 I
watched the hoopla of past games and somehow, I never changed the channel.  I got caught up in what was going on, what the half-time show would be and curious if we could beat the Panthers.The Broncos had disappointed me in the past and I wondered if the Super Bowl game would be another disappointment.

As I watched, the game became so exciting that I never gave Downton Abbey a second thought. It wouldn't be on until later and I figured I would switch the channel to the show. It was not to happen.  I found myself cheering, praying and enjoying the game. Of course, I do not understand  all that is going on but it always made me feel better when we intercepted a ball or we had the ball. What did happen is that I forgot all about Downton Abbey and it wasn't until I was watching the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and his guest, Will Ferrel,said he had not watched the Super Bowl because he was watching Downton Abbey that I knew I had missed my favorite show.

I now know why people get  caught up in loving the Broncos. Peyton Manning appears to be a sweet, kind, humble man. I like seeing his children celebrating right along with him. I like how he does not take any credit but praises the whole team. I understand the devotion to the team and I may have been fickle in not watching Downton Abbey but I enjoyed every moment of the game, the half-time entertainment, the commercials and the player's excitement. I felt proud that our team, the Denver Broncos, had won the championship!

This morning I went Sports Authority in Arvada and received a shock when I saw the lines and lines of people buying Bronco paraphernalia. T-shirts, caps, drinking glasses, mugs and sweat shirts were for sale. As for Downton Abbey, I know there will be a replay of the episodes I missed. For now, the Broncos have a brand new fan!

Lyrics by Queen

(Partial Lyrics)

"I've paid my dues

time after time.

I've done my sentence

but committed no crime.

And bad mistakes

I've  made a few.

I've had my share of sand 

kicked in my face

but I've come through,

my friends, 

and will keep on fighting 'til the end. 

We are the champions.

We are the champions.

No time for losers

'cause we are the champions."

What Next?

On the evening news it was mentioned that the Zika virus could be harmful to persons, especially pregnant women and their fetuses. The news made me think of the diseases that have been around in my life time.
Many of the diseases are carried by mosquitoes while others are viral or sexually transmitted diseases.
Researching on the Internet I found out that Malaria, which is a mosquito borne illness, has been around for ever. I remember two cousins of mine who were stationed in the Philippines during World War II and they contracted Malaria. I remember them saying that it was horrible and they never got completely over it.

The Spanish Flu which killed many persons  in 1918-1919 took my grandmother when my mother was three years old. From what I have heard from cousins, many relatives died during this time in New Mexico and all over the world!

Growing up I heard about Polio, a viral infection, that made my Mother keep us from going to the swimming pool. Rumors were that people could get polio from the water. Diseases I had growing up were measles,  scarlet fever, chicken pox and mumps. When I had scarlet fever our house was quarantined and my father and brother could not live in the house. My Mother and I were isolated until the quarantine was lifted. What I remember was that the room I was in was kept dark because light bothered my eyes. Tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, scurvy, and small pox were other illnesses I heard about as I was growing up. I had a friend who I was told had t.b., and we were warned not to eat at her home; a cousin who had whooping cough and I read about sailors having scurvy for lack of vitamin C.

Later, I became aware of Herpes (1940), Aids (1959), Ebola (1976), and the West Nile Virus carried by  mosquitoes.  Even though some of the diseases were already around while I was growing up, I did not know about them until I was an adult. Today I am hearing about Zika, carried by mosquitoes and effecting pregnant women and the babies are born with a smaller than normal head. It seems that mosquitoes are the cause of many of the diseases and I do not want to be out in the evening during the summer without covering myself from head to toe! I wonder if there is a way to eradicate the mosquitoes?

All the diseases made me think about the evils that befell the Egyptians when they would not allow the Hebrews to leave to go to the promised land. Blood in the water (Clint, Michigan and their drinking water.) Frogs and Locusts (mosquitoes); hail, (tornadoes, snowstorms.); livestock died, (salmonella); boils and blisters (herpes and aids); first born killed (Zika) and so on. I know it's not connected but it does make me wonder. Where do these diseases hide and then suddenly make an appearance? Why have we never heard of Zika?   I guess it will be a puzzle and I may never know, but I do wonder, what next?

"Death is the cure for all diseases."

Thomas Browne

A Game of Quiddler

Today I stopped by an Italian friend's home and was pleasantly surprised when she placed a plate of Quiche, slices of avocado, an English muffin with artichoke pieces on top, and a bowl of  red chile in front of me. After eating the tasty food I was introduced to a card game called Quiddler. I am not a card player and wondered if I would even enjoy playing Quiddler. It is sort of like Scrabble where one finds words in the cards. To my surprise, I liked the game.

A lot of laughter and snacking on homemade pizzelles and jam filled cookies. There were four of us as we learned to play the game of Quiddler and there was lots of interesting conversations. The conversation turned to knitting and crocheting and my friend brought out some of the work she has been working on. When she explained that when she was twelve years old, while living in Italy, she had crochet a bedspread, I wanted to see it.

When I saw the beautiful bedspread I was astonished. Perfectly made and it amazed me that she had been a young girl when she worked on it. She said,
"When it was cold we would sit around a stove and work on crocheting. The weather was cold but I was warm while I worked."

She showed us some of her handiwork of orange and blue scarves in honor of the Broncos.  In a potted plant there were two small orange hats that she had crochet. My thought was that here was one talented lady!

My thanks to the Italian lady for a lovely afternoon. She is a wonderful cook and a professional-like crocheter!

"I value crochet with good reason:

It is a very simple technique that is capable of 

producing very sophisticated results."

Judith L. Swartz

Almost My Mother's Bread Pudding

After a heavy snow storm and one is a prisoner inside the house, what does one do? After reading a good book, watching television, working on homework, playing games on the computer, writing in a blog and the question becomes, what will I do next?

I decided to make a Bread Pudding and try to perfect my version so it tastes and looks like what my Mother used to make. She never read a recipe and it was one of my favorite dishes during lent. I remember the  cinnamon smell in the kitchen. When I saw her tearing up bread, I knew two things were about to happen. We were either going to go feed the ducks at the lake or she was going to make bread pudding.

I found an easy recipe on the Internet and today I will make my version of bread pudding.

1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 l/2  c. water
5 cinnamon sticks (3 inch)
1 loaf of Italian Bread (Torn in small pieces and placed in 350 degree oven to dry and toast)
1/4 c raisins
1/4 c walnuts
2 T butter in small pieces
3/4 c cheese (cheddar, Colby or longhorn)

Bring to boil first 3 ingredients
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes
Combine dry bread, raisins, walnuts, cheese chunks and butter in large bowl
Remove the cinnamon sticks from the syrup
Pour syrup slowly over mixture until bread pieces are covered
Place all ingredients into an 8x8 greased baking dish

Cover with foil
Bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven

With a recipe so simple how could anything go wrong? And to my surprise, nothing went wrong and I had a tasty bread pudding. Not quite like my mother's but good enough!

 "The hunger for love

is much more difficult

to remove than the

hunger for bread."

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Did A Miracle Occur This Morning?

My computer stopped working. I could not get into any of my programs like Facebook, E-mails or my blog. Can you imagine how frustrated I felt? For about forty-five minutes I fooled with my computer but felt very much like "the blind leading the blind." No matter what I did, I did with trepidation for fear I would do something worse. But what could be worse than not having my computer? I know nothing about how the computer works and rely on it to be ready for me when I decide to use it.

Today at 10:00 I was to attend the Timeline Bible Study class that I am taking. Because of the snow I decided not to go. I glanced at the table where my Bible, Catechism, and work book have been since last Monday. With my decision not to attend class this morning, I now had another week to work on my homework. Even though this past week, I would look at the books on the table but always found something else to do. Now that my computer was on the fritz, I sat down to do my homework.

An hour and a half later, when I had completed reading parts of the Bible and struggled to answer questions I was happy when I finished my homework. Luke, John, New Testament, and Beatitudes were some of the readings and I felt I knew a bit more about my faith.

I entered my office and to my surprise, the computer was working again. It was as if nothing had ever been wrong with it. I do not understand but I have a sneaking suspicion that God wanted me to finish my homework and he knew that if I got on the computer I might not do it. All I can say is "Thank you dear God for showing me the way!"

February 2, 2016

Now I know it is truly a miracle! Today, once again, my computer kept coming up with a message that I could not get on and to try again later. I tried for about ten times with the same message coming up. I remembered yesterday and I said, "Okay, I know you want me to do my homework, so I will go do some studying. I became engrossed with Jesus and his parables and after about an hour and half I took a break from reading the Bible.

I came and opened my computer and was able to enter into my programs. "Thank you dear God, for allowing me to learn about you before checking Facebook, e-mails and my blog." Tomorrow I will go directly to my studies before even trying to open my computer. If anything, I can take a hint!

A Surprise Lunch

Sunday morning I decided to attend the 11:00 o'clock mass at the Shrine of St. Anne because it had snowed and I live closer to St. Anne than my own parish of Spirit of Christ Catholic Community. A Bible Study class member arrived and sat down next to me. After mass there was a spaghetti dinner being served and I decided to eat lunch at the church. It would save me from fixing something for myself at home and I would be helping the parish and the school.

The surprise came when in line to pay my eight dollars I saw another friend from Spirit of Christ. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "Oh," she replied, "there are about six people from Spirit of Christ here." One of the persons helping people find places (a YAH member) pointed to a table and said, "Go to table three." She asked if I wanted white or red wine and when I arrived at table three, I found a cup of red wine waiting for me.


At the table sat seven persons I know from my parish. The persons milling around helping were Young At Heart members. I saw about five persons who belong to our Young At Heart group and they told me that St. Anne is their parish. I felt very much at home with so many persons I knew. Young students served and I had barely sat down when a salad was placed in front of me. When I finished the salad, a plate of delicious spaghetti with two meat balls took the place of the salad. Celery and carrots sticks were on the table along with Italian bread and dishes of Parmesan cheese. When I finished my spaghetti I was given a cup of ice cream for dessert.

After eating, I wandered over to the tables that had items for sale and saw another YAH person selling the gift items.

It was impressive to see the organization at the dinner/lunch. From the purchasing of tickets, to being directed to where I should sit, to the smiling, young students serving, to the women who supervised, and to the table settings it was an organized affair and from what I could see, it was a huge success!

"No man is lonely

eating spaghetti;

it requires so much

attention!"

Christopher Morley