Paen to my Big Black Dog

Just about 13 years ago my ex partner and the kids and I brought home a little black Labrador puppy.  He was soon named Scout and joined our family.  He grew from a puppy to an adult and though a large dog he was always gentle and friendly.  He had a loud bark and terrified anyone who visited, but truth be known, he was harmless.  He had a great disposition.  He grew up with the boys (three of them) and was a friend not only to us (his people), but to the two Beagles and to the cats (there were many and various.)

Scout was enthusiastic and loving.  About six years ago I moved out of the house.  Scout stayed with my ex, but I still thought of him as my dog.  Whenever I visited he greeted me cheerfully, I was not forgotten.  As he aged he had developed gray hair so he was no longer all black.

Last week, Scout became unable to walk.  His rear legs became paralyzed.  My son and I took him to the Vet.  Apparently, it is common for large dogs to have spinal and hip degeneration in old age.  Scout could no longer be himself.  He couldn't go out and run as he once had loved to do. He couldn't control himself.  The decision was hard but Scout's final moments were with my son and I.

What can I say about a good dog other than I will miss him.  He was part of my family and I loved him.  I sure hope there is a doggie heaven and that Scout is with Lady and Max, the beagles who were his companions for so many years.   Goodby Scout!

Love,
Shel

PS:  This wasn't really a classical paen because it wasn't a song.  It was meant to be a tribute, and in that sense, I believe it is a paen.

Doing Something -Gulf Disaster Relief

Yesterday I took a large number of pictures of an event designed to help bring relief to the people of the Gulf coast who's lives have been so greatly affected by the Oil Disaster.  Yes, I call it a disaster!  Untold quantities of oil have been released in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That oil has to go somewhere!  It is currently going to the shore of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  It is almost certain to affect a much greater area in the near future.  We will be dealing with the effects of this disaster for many years to come I am sure.

I group of people, musicians and others, have started a project to privately raise funds for Disaster Relief.  This project called "Give to the Gulf" had a press release event yesterday and that is the event I photographed. I will put up some of the photos on a separate page.  Look for the tab at the top of the page.  I will tempt you with one here.

This young singer named Jackson has contributed his talents and music to help in the Relief effort.  For the web site of Give to the Gulf go to http://www.givetothegulf.org. You can find some of Jackson's music there to download from itunes.  The small price you will pay will all go to relief efforts in Louisiana and the area with the help of the United Way of Louisiana.  Musicians can contribute their talents by adding their music to the music to be downloaded and there is a link on the site for that.

I am in New England which is far from the Gulf but I hope to do my little bit to help those effected by the great and terrible oil release in the Gulf.  Visit the site and download a tune or two. For a news report follow this link to NBC 30 News.

Another News Channel, WTNH in New Haven put up a video report.


Love,

Shel

Loose Some Weight (Give to the Gulf)

There is all kind of weight.  What I am feeling and have been feeling for a while is weight in my soul.  To understand a little about this weight follow this link.  I had to use a link because I don't have any of my own pictures to use and I didn't want to steal someone else's picture. It's a picture of an oil soaked Pelican from the Gulf Coast and the article speculates on whether it is better to save animals so stricken or to kill them.  Which would be more humane? The oil (can one really call this a spill?) disaster in the Gulf of Mexico just tears me apart.  I feel for he animals that are damaged and killed. I feel for the people whose lives and livelihoods have for ever been changed (maybe even destroyed.) It all weight very heavy on my soul.

I think the great weight comes from a real feeling of helplessness. I also feel rage!  It just seems that one stupid move follows another.  Money and technology seem to be useless.  Don't get me going on the way politicians are behaving!  Members of Congress apologizing to the Oil Company?  Get real! 

There is going to need to be a relief effort in the Gulf area and possibly in other areas (dare I mention the possibility of damage to the East Coast of the US and maybe damage as far away as the coasts of Europe?).  People's lives have been changed and there is going to be a continuing need for clean-up (can there ever be a real cleanup from something like this?)

Someone local here in Connecticut is trying to do something to help in the relief effort.  Some Musicians and others have mounted a effort to put their Music up on the Web for sale through itunes with the proceeds going totally to the Gulf Relief Effort.  This is a wonderful thing for these people to do! The effort is called "Give to the Gulf" and you can find their web site by following the link or going to www.givetothegulf.org.

Buying a few tunes from itunes can make a difference.  Music can sooth the soul and these pieces of music might just lighten your soul a bit.

Love,
Shel

Car Woes ETC

I have spent most of the week stranded at home.  Monday, while driving, I lost the transmission in my car.  The car had no reverse and I made it home and ultimately to the dealership by going forward only.  Much money and several days later and many missed events I am back on the road.  It's was such a strange and helpless feeling to be without a car.  I literally felt trapped and I guess I was.  Hopefully everything is fine now.  My car isn't all that old but does have 201,000 miles on it.  Other than the transmission things all work.  I hope that I am not jinxing myself by this statement.  Thinking positively, I am now good to go!  (I just looked for pictures of my car.  The only ones I could find were taken in a snow storm.  I am so not putting them up now in June!)

There isn't much etc.  I am on the committee for the Connecticut Gay and Lesbian film Festival.  The Festival just finished.  It was great, but it also was a great deal of work.  It was fun, but I am glad for the rest from it.  We have two months off and then we start preparing for the next one.  It is a LOT of work.

We have a new Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.  So far things seem positive with him.  It is clear that he has a far different style that the previous Bishop.  I liked the previous Bishop, but a Bishop with a Different way of viewing things isn't exactly bad.  He is very new to his job so time and experience will tell the tale. The new Bishop is the Rt Rev. Dr Ian T, Douglas, PhD.  He is the 15th Bishop of Connecticut in the Episcopal Church.  I am listing the previous Bishops:
1 Samuel Seabury
     Diocesan Bishop, 1784-1796
 2 Abraham Jarvis     Diocesan Bishop, 1797-1813
 3 Thomas Church Brownell      Diocesan Bishop, 1819-1865
 4 John Williams      Bishop Coadjutor, 1851-1865
      Diocesan Bishop, 1865-1899
 5 Chauncey Bunce Brewster
      Bishop Coadjutor, 1897-1899
       Diocesan Bishop, 1899-1928
6 Edward Campion Acheson       Suffragan Bishop, 1915-1926 Bishop
      Coadjutor, 1926-1928
      Diocesan Bishop, 1928-1934
7 Frederick Grandy Budlong      Bishop Coadjutor, 1931-1934
      Diocesan Bishop, 1934-1951
8 Walter Henry Gray      Suffragan Bishop, 1940-1945 
      Bishop Coadjutor, 1945-1951
      Diocesan Bishop, 1951-1969
   Robert McConnell Hatch
      Suffragan Bishop, 1951-1957

9 John Henry Esquirol      Suffragan Bishop, 1958-1969
      Diocesan Bishop, 1969-1971
10 Joseph Warren Hutchens
       Suffragan Bishop, 1961-1971
       Diocesan Bishop, 1971-1977
11 Morgan Porteus       Suffragan Bishop, 1971-1976
       Bishop Coadjutor, 1976
       Diocesan Bishop, 1977-1981
12 Arthur Edward Walmsley       Bishop Coadjutor, 1979-1981
       Diocesan Bishop, 1981-1993
      William Bradford Turner Hasting        Suffragan Bishop, 1981-1986
      Jeffery William Rowthorn        Suffragan Bishop, 1987-1993
13 Clarence Nicholas Coleridge        Suffragan Bishop, 1981-1993
       Diocesan Bishop, 1993-1999
14 Andrew Donnan Smith         Suffragan Bishop, 1996-1999
        Diocesan Bishop, 1999-2010
   James Elliot Curry      Bishop Suffragan, 2000
   Wilfrido Ramos-Orench      Bishop Suffragan, 2000-2006
    Laura Jean Ahrens,       Suffragan Bishop, 2007-
15  Ian T. Douglas
      Diocesan Bishop, 2010 -


Connecticut is the oldest Diocese in the United States.  Samuel Seabury was the first Bishop in the United States and began the line.  Before that The Episcopal Church was the Church of England.  The naming changed with the American Revolution and the churches as well as the countries split.  I by the way was ordained by Bishop Hutchens, who ordained me for the Bishop Rhode Island.  I was canonically resident in Rhode Island but working in Connecticut.

We are experiencing several days of Thunder Storms.  I am trying to stay dry.  You do too.

Love,
Shel

A Beautiful Day

It has been a beautiful day in the midst of an otherwise wet and chilly week.  I took advantage of the great weather and took some pictures which you can see eventually at the Old Soul's Cemetery Blog site.  For now just trust me, it has been a great day.

I visited with a friend and we had lunch together.  I hadn't seen her for about a year, so there was a lot of catching up to do.  The good news is that she is well and happy.  Her work situation is a bit tense, but she is in a position where that is common.  I got home a short time ago and fixed a computer problem for a friend.  It's amazing what a little research can do.  So many solutions to computer problems can be found on the internet!  I probably shouldn't give away the secret, but I have anyway.  It does take some knowledge to understand and apply the fixes!

This is just a quick note on a very nice day.  I hope your day is wonderful!

Love,
Shel

Daffodils

I spent over 20 years living in Meriden, Connecticut.  As a town goes I guess you might say that Meriden is pretty average.  I do not mean to slight the community in the slightest by this.  I lived there a long time and raised children there and I still have family living there.  One of the very nicest places in Meriden is Hubbard Park.  Every year in the Spring Meriden has a Daffodil Festival in Hubbard Park. They have a parade and a couple of days of exhibits, rides and food of all kinds.  The kids liked it when they were young.  One of the nicest parts of this was Spring itself and of course the daffodils.  Meriden always made sure that there were plenty of daffodils.  The video below is made of slides I took just before the Festival.  

One of the more interesting things about Hubbard Park is that there are Dinosaur tracks in the park. The kids always liked them and me, being a big kid at heart, I still like them! Apparently Central Connecticut was a sort of Jurassic Dinosaur playground.  These are fairly large and are probably from a Theropod called Eubrontes.  Theropods were carnivores and we are probably all familiar with Theropods like Tyrannosaurus Rex which came much later.  Eubrontes is so common in Central Connecticut that it is the state fossil.  that's funny I thought I was the state fossil!  Guess not.  The picture was taken on a rainy day and some of the tracks have water in them. 

Enjoy the pictures.

Love,
Shel

Spring!

Spring brings all kinds of things.  Flowers are blooming and I do love that!  There is also the rain, not so great, but necessary for things to grow.  Inevitably it also brings a visit to the Ear, Nose and throat Doctor!  Alas, Shel is allergic to most all kinds of grass found in lawns and many of the common weeds found in Connecticut.  This means a great deal of sneezing and runny noses.  It also affects my sleeping at night and on occasion my eyes get itchy.
When I was younger my eyes would be the worse symptom.  I would swell up like a balloon (my eyes that is) and I would have to retreat from the world with ice packs on my eyes.  I have since learned not to rub my itchy eyes and to avoid problem things like mowing the lawn.  This last thing is a wonderful thing.  I basically hate lawns and they hate me.  I am allergic to them and they are a nuisance.  The best thing about lawns is the little flowers that grow in them this time of year.

In any case I made my pilgrimage to the ear nose and throat Doctor to get my medications renewed.  I am now good to go for one more year.  He does put me through some terrible procedures though.  He anesthetized my throat to put a scope in there.  My throat is normal and I have a small hearing loss, normal to my age (WTF?).  The summary is, all is good -almost.  Somewhere in the mix of what the Doctor said there was a mention of  "Deviated Septum" and "surgery."  OMG!  I have finally grown to like my tiny nose.  Surgery?!!  Oh, gosh.  Fortunately, he didn't say it was urgent!  I'll have to think about this one.

Today is another beautiful day.  Have a great one.

Love,
Shel