Yes, go ahead and
Observe the world around you
It is watching you
©2021 Annette Rochelle Aben
peekayou — Annette Rochelle Aben
peekayou — Annette Rochelle Aben
Month: June 2021
They looked and turned away — The Cheesesellers Wife
They looked and turned away
They looked and turned away — The Cheesesellers Wife
They looked and turned away
Londoners afraid to interact
With the girl sitting, weeping
On a stinkingly hot day in the city
Exclaiming that she had gone blind
Oversized suitcase abandoned near her feet
My feet
Someone pushed a cold drink into my hand
A woman’s voice comforted me
A stranger joined me on the step, asked where I was going
Told me that a long hot walk carrying a load
Had affected my sight
Sat until, miraculously, my sight returned
Then left
Pulling myself to my feet
I retrieved the offending suitcase
Slowly made my way to the Tube station
Continued my journey, moving from London to Oxford
Changing university, leaving friends and home city
Aiming for a Doctorate, I should have noted the omen
For I found loneliness and failure
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Fist published by Silver Borch Press:
David Bruce: 250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Practical Jokes, Prayer
Practical Jokes
• Knowing that yawns are infectious, a group of Quaker girls once played a joke at meetings while at school. Whenever a person of authority — a teacher, an elder, a minister, an overseer — looked at them, one or more of them would yawn. Then they watched with delight as the yawn passed from one person of authority to another. The girls felt that there was nothing wrong with this game, as they played it only when a meeting went past its normal closing time.
• Thomas Aquinas was a huge man, both physically and mentally. Once a brother monk decided to play a joke on him. The monk looked out a window and said, “Come quickly — look at the cow flying.” Aquinas jumped up and looked out the window — and saw nothing, of course. The monk began to laugh, but Aquinas told him, “I thought it more likely that a cow should fly than that a monk would lie.”
• Some gurus are also rascals. One rascal guru got great amusement from his more gullible students — if any of them asked how he had become so wise, he used to tell them that he was thousands of years old. One especially gullible student believed this and said, “It’s amazing how human you are.” The rascal guru replied, “After a thousand years or so, you go native.”
Prayer
• Rabbi Eliezer understood the proper length of a prayer. A man once prayed for a long time, and some people complained, “What a prayer elaborator this man is!” But Rabbi Eliezer replied, “Has he really prayed longer than Master Moses, of whom Deuteronomy 9:25 reports that he once prayed for 40 days and 40 nights?” Then another person prayed for a very short time. This time, some people complained, “What a prayer abbreviator this man is!” But Rabbi Eliezer replied, “Has he really offered a shorter prayer than our Master Moses, of whom Numbers 12:13 reports that he once offered a prayer of only five words, ‘O God, pray heal her’?”
• Christian author Judy Esway was feeling very discouraged, and she prayed, saying that she wished Jesus would walk into her living room, sit down in the striped chair, and say to her, “Judy, why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap and tell me all your problems?” Just then, her husband walked into the living room, sat down in the striped chair, and said to her, “Judy, why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap and tell me all your problems?” Ms. Esway writes, “Thank you for answering my prayer, God. And thank you for my husband, who follows the prompting of your Holy Spirit.”
• During family prayers, some friends of country comedian Jerry Clower took turns praying. When it was the four-year-old’s turn to pray, he started praying for Mr. Clower’s family. He said, “Dear Lord, God bless Mr. Clower, God bless Ray, God bless Amy, God bless Sue, and God bless ….” Here he couldn’t think of the name of Mr. Clower’s wife, so he started all over again — and still couldn’t remember her name. He tried to say the prayer a third time, but even then he couldn’t remember her name, so he finished the prayer with, “Lord, please bless that woman what lives with Mr. Clower.”
• Just before performing on the balance beam during the individual apparatus competition at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, gymnast Shannon Miller said this prayer: “God, I’m in your hands. I’m going to do the very best I can. I know I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t supposed to be — if I wasn’t capable of doing this.” She did her very best on the balance beam — and she won her second gold medal of the games.
• In Eastern Europe, many Jewish prayers showed a familiarity with God: 1) “Dear God, you help complete strangers — so why not us?” 2) “Lord in Heaven, blessed be Thy Name, we know You love the poor — so why do You help the rich?” 3) “Dear God, all we ask of You is a bit of bread to stave off our hunger and some rags to keep out the cold — the whiskey we’ll buy ourselves.”
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy the Paperback
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kindle
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Apple
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kobo
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
Music Recommendation: The Routes — “Hotwired”
BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “Hotwired”
Album: THE ROUTES — INSTRUMENTALS
Artists: The Routes
Artist Location:
Record Company: Groovie Records
Record Company Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Info:
“That is one of those bands I would love to release myself on VOODOO RHYTHM RECORDS, just to make that clear. I met CHRIS JACK back in Japan when I was touring with my band, THE MONSTERS. The gig in general was amazing and wild. We had naked men and almost naked girls at the show, and a rock’n’roll scene that I dream to have in Switzerland, with lots of girls’ bands.
“I was super impressed, then Chris told me he had a band. He gave me his recordings and I heard that like 20 times a day. It was something like 10 years after I met The Sonics. FUCKING KILLER. Anyway, time went by, and we kept contact all these years. Now THE ROUTES released an album on the fantastic GROOVIE RECORDS, from Portugal. A full INSTRUMENTAL album, a super fox on bass and an animal on drums, with the new Jeff Beck on guitars.
“That is RAW WILD and OUT OF CONTROL guitar instrumentals with sometimes an EXOTIC touch as in “Bossa Hossa Nova,’ in ‘Shove-it’ or in the beautiful ‘Yeti Spaghetti” and SURF instrumentals like ‘Luck Of The Devil’ or the SMASHER ‘Hang Eleven.’
“This album is a super INSTRO KILLER! If you like The Shadows only, it may not be your cup of tea, but if you live in the gutter and drink booze instead of water, this album will be the HOLY GRAIL FOR ALL YOU SURF PUNKS OUT THERE!
“Reverend Beat-Man (Master Of Disaster)”
Groovie Records: “Record label, distributor and music producer, been based in Lisbon since 2005. Since its founding, we have been dedicated to musical research, through compilations and re-releases of rare records, and the production of unpublished records of Portuguese and foreign bands.”
Price: €1 (EURO) for track; €7 (EURO) for 10-track album
Genre: Surf.
Links:
https://groovierecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-routes-instrumentals
https://groovierecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkAlXYtGOl7kox0p03mbiuw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkAlXYtGOl7kox0p03mbiuw
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David Bruce: 250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Patience, Persistence, Politics
Patience
• A Sufi teacher spoke about the virtue of patience. As he spoke, a scorpion stung his foot repeatedly. His followers eventually noticed the scorpion and asked the teacher why he had not moved his foot away from it. The teacher replied, “I was discussing the virtue of patience. I could hardly have spoken about patience without also setting an example of patience. I would have been ashamed before God.”
• At Ferney, Voltaire played a daily game of chess with Father Adam, a Jesuit. One hopes that the father was a patient man, for when Voltaire was losing, he would overturn the board, playing the game to the end only when he was winning.
Persistence
• A man named Pen-ju came to the Buddhist priest Si-tien and said, “In my life I have tried to accomplish something remarkable, but I have failed. Can you teach me how to do something remarkable?” Si-tien agreed to teach Pen-ju, and the first task he set for him was to make a pair of sandals out of straw. After many attempts, Pen-ju succeeded in making a pair of sandals that satisfied Si-tien. Next, Si-tien told Pen-ju to stand in the mud, then walk out of the mud, and clean his sandals. In addition, he told Pen-ju to do this over and over again without stopping, except for meals and sleep. Pen-ju complained that this work was completely unnecessary, but Si-tien said that unless he did it, he would teach him nothing. After several weeks had passed, during which time Pen-ju had cleaned his sandals thousands of times, Si-tien told Pen-ju, “Before, you were unable to accomplish anything remarkable because you lacked persistence. Now you have learned persistence, so go out into the World, apply your persistence to an important task, and accomplish something remarkable.”
• Hong-su asked the Buddhist priest Si-tien, “Can you teach me how to be more persistent when confronted with a difficult task?” Si-tien replied, “Find a four-leaf clover, then bring it to me.” Hong-su searched two hours for a four-leaf clover, but he was unable to find one, so he returned to Si-tien and said, “I can’t find a four-leaf clover.” Si-tien replied, “Find a four-leaf clover, then bring it to me.” Hong-su searched the rest of the day for a four-leaf clover, but he was unable to find one, so he returned to Si-tien and said, “I can’t find a four-leaf clover.” Si-tien replied, “Find a four-leaf clover, then bring it to me.” After searching for two days, Hong-su found a four-leaf clover, and he brought it to Si-tien and asked, “Now can you teach me how to be more persistent when confronted with a difficult task?” Si-tien replied, “Bring me another four-leaf clover.”
Politics
• Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina was active back when Joe McCarthy was making it hot for anyone who believed in the Bill of Rights. He once rose in the Senate and told a story about his Uncle Ephraim going to church although he was nearly crippled by arthritis. The preacher asked various members of the church, “What has the Lord done for you?” All of the members described various good things the Lord had done for them, but when the preacher asked Uncle Ephraim, he replied, “Brother, the Lord has mighty near ruint me.” Senator Ervin then said, “And that is what Senator McCarthy has done to the Senate.”
• Hillaire Belloc was noted for his honesty. He was warned when he was running for a seat in the House of Commons that being a Catholic was a drawback and if he wanted to be elected, he should keep his religion a secret. Instead, he told the voters, “I am a Catholic. I go to Mass every day.” Taking a rosary from his pocket, he continued, “As far as possible, I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative.” The voters did not reject him — they elected him.
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy the Paperback
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kindle
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Apple
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kobo
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
Music Recommendation: The Devil’s Daughters w/ Danny B. Harvey — “Pass That Bottle”
BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “Pass That Bottle”
Album: REBIRTH + REVELATIONS
Artists: The Devil’s Daughters w/ Danny B. Harvey
Artist Location: Austin, Texas (Danny B. Harvey)
Info: “Danny B. Harvey is best known as the lead guitarist, and founding member of Headcat, Lemmy Kilmister’s ‘other band.’ However, he has also played guitar with Wanda Jackson, Nancy Sinatra, Levi Dexter, Linda Gail Lewis, The Rockats, 69 Cats, Bow Wow Wow, 13 Cats & Annie Marie Lewis. He is also a noted film composer having competed the soundtrack to The Rage Carrie 2 for MGM.”
“This is the collection of the Devil’s Daughters (Annie Marie Lewis & Mysti Moon) two EP REBIRTH & REVELATIONS. They were recorded at the same time and released a few months apart.”
Produced and Mixed by Danny B. Harvey
Mysti Moon & Annie Marie Lewis : Vocals
Danny B. Harvey : guitar, keyboards
Pierre Pelegrin : Bass
Charlie Jones : Drums
“The Sirens of Americana, The Devil’s Daughters, have been reborn with a new frontwoman, superb vocalist and niece of the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis, Annie Marie Lewis! The Devils Daughters, Mysti Moon (‘The Brunette’) & Annie Marie Lewis (‘The Blonde’, along with Danny B. Harvey (guitar), Pierre Pelegrin (bass) & Paul Vezelis (drums) live on the TV show UP LATE AUSTIN with host Jake.”
Price: $1 (USA) for track; $10 (USD) for 12-track album
Genre: Rockabilly
Links:
https://dannybharvey.bandcamp.com/album/rebirth-revelations
https://dannybharvey.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcKtshsUFk0w6yPuU_yRIg
Jeff’s Place — Annette Rochelle Aben
Skilled fingers and an acoustic guitar Gets some to sing along quietly Everyone else has their eyes closed Each on their own little cloud Covers of music Mesmerizing When we were Coffee Drunk ©2021 Annette Rochelle Aben
Jeff’s Place — Annette Rochelle Aben
David Bruce: 250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Music, Names, Parents, Passover
Music
• During a rehearsal of “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” sung by the Royal Choral Society, Sir Malcolm Sargent was displeased. He admonished the singers, “Just a little more reverence, please — and not quite so much astonishment.”
Names
• When Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu announced her intention to become a nun, Lazar, her brother, who was a soldier, reacted with disbelief because his sister was a vivacious young woman. But Gonxha replied that Lazar was proud to be serving a king who ruled over a few million subjects, while she would be serving the King of the entire world: God. Later, Gonxha became better known as Mother Teresa.
• A warrior appeared before Mulla Nasrudin to ask for a honorific name. The warrior said, “Mulla, all the great warriors of the past have had honorific titles with the name ‘God’ in them; for example, ‘God-Gifted’ and ‘God-Accepted.’ What name can you give to me?” Nasrudin replied, “God forbid.”
• Before a United States men’s ice-skating championship competition, Evelyn Kramer, a coach from Lake Arrowhead, California, told skater Michael Weiss, “Hey, Michael, good luck. You could be our first Jewish national singles champion.” Mr. Weiss replied, “Uh, I’m Methodist.”
• At Ferney, Voltaire built a church. This inscription appeared over its porch: Dei Erexit Voltaire. Translated: “Voltaire Erected [This] to God.” Visitors used to look at the inscription and remark, “Two great names.”
New Year’s Eve
• Buddhists believe that there are exactly 108 sins, and at Buddhist temples on New Year’s Eve they hit a bell exactly 108 times, always waiting for the sound of one bong to die down before they hit the bell again.
Parents
• When Jay Leno was growing up, one firm rule he had to follow was to never take the Lord’s name in vain. His mother used to tell him, “People might steal money because they have to eat. Or maybe they get into a fight to protect somebody, then they go to prison. But there’s no reason to ever take the Lord’s name in vain.” After Jay grew up and became a famous comedian, he and his father were watching a fight between Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard on television. A fighter was hit hard and fell — and in the excitement Jay took the Lord’s name in vain. His mother heard him, walked into the TV room, and BONK — she hit him on the side of his head with a pot. Then she told Jay, “You’ll not say that in this house!” His father agreed with his mother.
• Someone once questioned Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s assertion that early Judaism promoted strong parent-child relationships. The questioner asked, “Isn’t it true that God’s first commandment to Abraham was that he leave his father’s home?” Rabbi Telushkin replied, “It is true. But he was 75 at the time; he was entitled.”
Passover
• During Passover Jews eat unleavened bread because their ancestors didn’t have time to cook leavened bread as they fled out of Egypt. Rabbi Israel Lipkin Salanter usually supervised the cooking of the unleavened bread (matzos) for Passover; however, one Passover eve he was too ill to go to the bakery to supervise the cooking, so two of his pupils offered to go in his place. Before leaving, they asked the rabbi if there was anything special that they should do while supervising. The rabbi answered, “Yes. See to it that the woman who does the mixing of the ingredients is paid well for her work — she is a poor widow.”
• In 1978, refusenik Yosef Mendelovich celebrated Passover in a Soviet prison. The candle was made of bits of string and a few drops of oil. The bitter herbs — maror — appeared in the form of mustard that had originally been intended as a therapeutic plaster for a back problem. The greenery was supplied by an onion bulb that had been soaked in water. The wine came from raisins in water. The most important item — the Haggadah — Mr. Mendelovich had previously copied into a small notebook before giving the original copy to another refusenik — Anatoly Sharansky.
• A rabbi once preached a sermon about rich people giving to poor people for Passover. After giving the sermon, the rabbi felt that the sermon was only partially successful — the poor were ready to receive, but the rich were not ready to give.
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy the Paperback
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kindle
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Apple
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Kobo
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
Music Recommendation: Brook Adams — “Treat Her Good”
BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “Treat Her Good”
Album: READY TO BURN
Artist: Brook Adams
Artist Location: Eugene, Oregon
Info: “Brook Adams plays guitar and ukulele in Eugene, Oregon. His style is 20th century pop music. He plays a lotta different styles but favors Surf Guitar & Ukulele.”
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $7 (USD) for 10-track album
Genre: R&B.
Links:
https://brookadams.bandcamp.com/releases
https://brookadams.bandcamp.com/releases
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