All Categories

Bishop Mariann Budde And The Ketchup-Covered Christians

1/24/2025

The way I see it, there are two kinds of Christians:
The first kind treat their religion like a sort of God-given holy ketchup of sanctified self-righteousness that they pour all over themselves. They go through life - and often on social media - spouting holy-speak, proclaiming their love for and personal attachment to Jesus to make sure everybody else knows what they themselves believe: that they're special, blessed, spiritual, good, right and, especially, above reproach because of their exceptional relationship to God, who is in them well-pleased. And don't you forget it.
But it's all just so much holy ketchup covering what's underneath, which might be fine, but which also might be rancid with self-satisfaction or unkindness or intolerance or greed or cruelty or all of the above that they can't or won't recognize in themselves because the holy ketchup has gunked up their consciences and leaked into their souls.

The second kind of Christians are all the ones who aren't first kind. The ones who, be they good, bad, or indifferent, nonetheless don't feel the need to cover themselves in holy ketchup and make sure everyone knows they're Christian. Subsequently they don't stand out like the first kind.
Now, it has come to pass that for the past several days since the Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, the ketchup-covered Christians have been in a state of outrage.
On the Friday before Trump's inauguration there was a massive D.C. Make America Great Again pep rally that kicked off with a veritable holy ketchup Christian fest led by holy ketchup Christian podcasters Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma, aka Girls Gone Bible,

...who thanked God for choosing Donald Trump to be His vessel and prayed mightily for God to empower Trump while granting America "power beyond belief." They likewise prayed for the condemnation of anyone who opposed Trump, declaring that, as God was for Donald Trump, who could be against Donald Trump?
The holy ketchup continued to copiously flow all weekend long in the D.C. area with several worship and prayer services led by Christian Nationalist MAGA worship leader and entrepreneur Sean Feucht,

...who sang the praises of the Lord and Donald Trump and said things like, “The weapons of our worship are ready to praise over our nation’s capitol” and “What a truly historic day to have this many BOLD BELIEVERS serving in the top positions of government in our nation!” and "Take back territory for his kingdom."
And all this holy ketchup made Donald Trump as happy as having a big glob of regular ketchup on his cheeseburger.

But then came inauguration day and the traditional inaugural interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral where Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C.,

...said the following words during her sermon:

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
"There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They…may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples.
"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.
"May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
And with those words Bishop Mariann Budde hosed off the holy ketchup and went at the consciences of Donald Trump and his entourage with a roto-rooter. They did not like it,

...and have been howling ever since over the affront. On his Truth Social site Donald Trump petulantly wrote:
"The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people...Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job!"

Others of Trump's ketchupy minions have called for Bishop Budde to publicly apologize to Donald Trump, called her a national embarrassment, called for her to be deported, called for her death.
But Mariann Budde's words asking for mercy, compassion and humanity are the heart and soul of of the Gospels. And for saying those words there are those who would like to see her crucified.
But here's something I keep wondering: Among that crowd of hundreds in the National Cathedral who heard Bishop Budde speak, and in the millions of holy ketchup-covered Christians who've read what she said, might there be one whose heart her words changed?

References:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/who-is-rev-mariann-budde-bishop-who-drew-trump-s-ire-at-prayer-service/ar-AA1xKCrD

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5270918/bishop-mariann-edgar-budde-trump-interview

AA1xKaRghttps://baptistnews.com/article/when-worship-becomes-an-act-of-cruelty/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/22/what-did-the-bishop-say-to-trump-during-prayer-service-heres-the-full-transcript/

1 Comment

The Longest Day

1/21/2025

0 Comments

Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"   http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
   "Hail Mary"    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
"Tropical Depression"       https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

The Longest Day

It's been determined that the longest day of 2025 will be June 24, the Summer Solstice.

But I swear, for me the longest day of this year - maybe the longest day in a lot of years - was yesterday, January 20, 2025.
I woke up yesterday knowing what would be going down on this day of days and I just didn't want to think about it. And yet I knew I'd be thinking about it all day, even if I put myself on a media blackout, which I pretty much did for the day. And so I wanted the day to be over. Rational or not, I just did.
Which was a shame. Because it really was a beautiful January day,

...and also because I've always believed that it's a shame to wish away a single day of your life. Not that I've never before had one of those days that I wished to be over; I have. And I wanted this one to be over, too.
And so I attempted to fill the day with all kinds of time-consuming activities.
I shoveled snow and chatted a bit with my wonderful neighbor who was also out shoveling snow.

I cleaned out the fireplace,

...then built a cozy fire.

I did the laundry, washed the floors, vacuumed the rugs, then changed the vacuum filter.

I practiced my ukulele,

...and piano.

I did The Crossword,

...worked on my next novel,

...and spent a long time talking with a lot of people on the phone.

And still, try as I did, on this day there seemed no way to hurry the sundown.
Any more than there'll be any way to hurry the next for years or what we're going to be in for.

0 Comments

ByeBye TikTok. Wait, Just Kidding.

1/19/2025

2 Comments

Last night at 11:32 pm I received the above image in a text from one of my children.
OMG, thought I, did they really pull the trigger on TikTok? I checked my own TikTok app, and sure enough:

Now, I can't say I was personally broken hearted at the news last April that the United States Congress passed with broad bipartisan support a law giving TikTok, a Chinese-controlled interest, 270 days to sell the app to an American buyer or be banned in the U.S. Nor did I grieve last Friday when the Supreme Court stood up for the validity of that law.
That being said, though I have a TikTok account, I'm not much of a fan. (But then, most of the stuff on TikTok isn't particularly Boomer-centric). I really only plugged into the app in hopes that it might be a platform upon which I might advertise my books. To that end I made a few videos which, alas, did not, as far as I could discern, boost my book sales very much, if at all.
I then thought that I might take a whirl at being a TikTok storyteller.
Here are a few of my TikTok efforts (most of which are re-runs from a blog from a couple of years ago, www.ailantha.com/blog/youre-never-too-old-to-tik-tokoo-old-to-tik-tok).

However, as it turned out, making even a minute-long video took time and effort, and, as most of these efforts received only a few hundred views - less than a nano-micron in the TikTokverse - after posting about half-a-dozen vignettes I ran out of TikTok-making mojo, and, for that matter, much further interest in TikTok.
In any case, it’s since come to light that China has been using the TikTok app as an espionage tool to harvest vast amounts of sensitive data and spread covert disinformation, which makes TikTok as it exists now a threat to American national security. Which is why Congress decreed that TikTok must be bought by an American company or be banned in our country.
Yesterday TikTok's 270 days to find an American buyer were up, though if TikTok had been under contract to be sold to an American buyer by yesterday the deadline could have been extended for three more months. But it wasn't, which meant that the platforms that carry TikTok in the U.S. - Google, Apple, and Microsoft - were required to shut off TikTok or face a fine of $5,000 for each of the 170 million American TikTok users. So last night they did shut TikTok down. Because 5,000 x 170 million is a lot of dollars.
But then, there was that notable little quirk in the shut-down message,

...which suggested that TikTok's American carriers were in league with Donald Trump, who in fact promised to sign an executive order the very second he was sworn in as President tomorrow cancelling the law banning TikTok.
And sure enough, today TikTok was back on, and note the tribute paid to Trump,

...indicating that its carriers were betting on Trump legalizing them on his own power, and also that he'd pardon them from paying the 5,000 x 170 million dollars they now owed for breaking the law by running TikTok after the deadline.
All of which is interesting, because during his first Presidency Donald Trump led the battle cry for either 100% American acquisition of TikTok or the banning of the app. That was on his list of to-do's-that-never-got-done, along with an infrastructure initiative, health care reform, and an immigration solution.
But then, lo, during his latest campaign, Donald Trump's supporters used TikTok to spread pro-Trump ads and messages, which resonated in particular with those millions of young people for whom TikTok is their main news source. Trump has said himself that TikTok may have won him the election.
And so to Donald Trump the TikTok-China connection and the national security threat it engenders no longer matter because the TikTok platform now benefits Donald Trump, which is why he intends to bring back TikTok by executive order.
Except here's the thing: A President may not issue an executive order to allow something that's against the law. And issuing an executive order to allow TikTok to operate while still under Chinese ownership will be breaking the law.
And so on his very first day, his very first minute in office Donald Trump intends to break the law.
But will anyone stop him? Will anyone even care?

References
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/19/tech/tiktok-ban/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5258396/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-new-law-could-ban-tiktok-in-2025-heres-what-happens-next-111917426.html

https://factmyth.com/factoids/presidents-can-use-executive-orders-to-do-whatever-they-want/

2 Comments

Shame On You, Mike Johnson, You Ignorant Schlub!

1/15/2025

0 Comments

It's bad enough that Southern California is burning, that tens of thousands have lost their homes and all their possessions, and that those of us with loved ones there are worried and heart sick.
Bad enough is the stress, sorrow, fear and suffering of those wildfire victims who've lost everything,

...including their neighborhoods, which will need to be cleaned of the toxic mess left behind from burned cars, houses, chemical products, and horrific amounts of other things before those areas will even be habitable again.

All of that is terrible enough without Republican Speaker of the House - and by extension steward of the distribution of Federal disaster aid - Mike Johnson,

...making the statement that emergency disaster aid to the devastated areas of California needs to be tied to "conditions." Said Johnson about whether he and his fellow Congressional Republicans would in fact put conditions on the distribution of aid to California:
"I think we ought to have a serious conversation about that. Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is. Conditions (will definitely be) part of the discussion."
How cruel. And how unseemly for a man in a position of great power whose responsibility is the welfare of all Americans, not just those living in states that reliably vote for his political party. And how far from the Golden Rule written in the gospel of Saint Matthew - do unto others as you would have them do unto you - is the attitude of this publicly self-proclaimed, self-righteous, uber-pious Bible-quoting Christian,

...whose own state of Louisiana was devastated 20 years ago by Hurricane Katrina and to whose residents massive aid and help were sent not only from the Federal government and the Red Cross but from compassionate Americans all over the country.

And on top of that...how ignorant. How ignorant to call California's state and local leaders derelict in their duty. Has Mike Johnson not been following the news and all the information and analysis that's been on new sites everywhere since the fires broke out?
Does the Speaker of the House not know that California is the best equipped state in the country to deal with wildfires? That fire prevention is built into the state's building codes and that all local fire departments are backed up by CalFire, the state agency with a multi-billion dollar budget and some of the world's best-trained firefighters? That California residents living in fire risk zones are required to create "defensible space" around their properties by clearing away vegetation? That climate change has made for higher temperatures, drier vegetation, and more and hotter wildfires in the American West that, as we've now unfortunately learned, can defy the wealthiest, most resource-rich state with the most stringent fire prevention regulations? Does Mike Johnson know that?
I learned all that from one news article in the New York Times by climate reporter Christopher Flavelle. Didn't Speaker Johnson have access to that article?
Didn't he read anywhere that, thanks to good rain and snowfall last year the reservoirs around Los Angeles were filled to brimming, that there was no water shortage, even with one reservoir in the fire zone empty and off line for repairs?
Doesn't he know that the reason some fire hydrants went dry was not because there wasn't enough water or hydrants or hoses or fire fighters, but because these fires were so enormous, so strong, so fast moving and relentless that the flames sucked up water faster than the main storage tanks and reservoirs could supply the water to the hydrants? Does he understand the power of the Santa Ana winds that are propelling the flames, and that each burning ember flying through the air can ignite a house or a tree or brush that will produce a hundred more embers to ignite the next flame? Does he understand the problem of firefighting in wildland-urban interface - that is, where human activity and development intermingle with natural areas?
Does he understand that fighting wildfires depends greatly on the use of planes that drop water and spray fire retardant on the ground but that this time the ferociousness of the Santa Ana winds has been preventing the planes from aiding the ground battle against the fires? Does he realize that those winds, in tandem with a mass of dry vegetation, are what's keeping the fires alive and growing and that as long as the winds blow the fire will grow and dwarf our human efforts to contain it?
Is Mr. Johnson not aware that not all wildfire management policies are in the hands of the state? That current Federal environmental laws place considerable obstacles to controlled burning of vegetation that would reduce the risk of wildfires but also cause dangerous smoke pollution?
Hasn't Mike Johnson been educating himself on the history and circumstance and attendant factors regarding the California wildfires? Has he been reading any of the news articles that have been disseminating all the above information and more, making it clear that the problem of the California wildfires is far more complex than the simplistic, inane, uninformed, at times false or misleading and, of course, politically-driven verbiage that he and some of his fellow Republicans have been spouting?
In truth chances are that Mike Johnson is in fact at least as much up on the news of the California wildfires as I am and subsequently knows at least as much about the complex reality of the situation as I do. He probably knows quite a bit more. In which case his ignorance is not of the mind, but of the soul. Shame on you, Mike Johnson.

References
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/conditions-should-be-placed-on-california-wildfire-aid-house-speaker-mike-johnson/ar-BB1roZvz

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/climate/california-fires-climate-change.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/los-angeles-fire-water-hydrant-failure.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/us/wildfires-pacific-palisades-water-shortage.html

https://www.newsweek.com/controlled-burns-california-forest-management-los-angeles-fires-2012492

0 Comments

A Prayer For Los Angeles

1/10/2025

0 Comments

Here in Columbus, Ohio it's a calm, chilly snow-covered day.

But as I look at the lovely winter scene outside my window all I can think about are the images from two thousand miles away of vast, sweeping monster fires propelled on the strong, fast-moving Santa Ana winds blowing through the mountain passes of Southern California and bringing down burning destruction on Los Angeles.

The fires have so far burned down the homes of tens of thousands of people and destroyed acres and acres of beautiful, iconic areas of Los Angeles county,

...and more people and places are in danger still.

For the past two days the Southern California fires have been on my mind all day long. This is a place where I spend weeks several times a year. I have friends and loved ones there.
My niece and her husband and children live in Studio City a few miles from the Sunset Fire.

Fortunately they're safe so far.
I have other dear ones living in the South Bay area about twenty miles south of the raging Palisades Fire.

They're safe as well from the flames, but are suffering from the massive smoke and stench and need to stay indoors or wear face masks when they go outside. They sent me this picture of the volleyball beach two miles from their house:

I have a close friend in my neighborhood who has a niece living between the and the Palisades Fire and area of the Sunset Fire, but she is also safe so far.

My sister and her husband live 75 miles to the south of Los Angeles in Fallbrook.

They're safe so far as well but have been notified to be ready to evacuate should the winds change direction and carry fire their way.
My loved ones in Southern California have been in ongoing communication with each other, those in less danger offering shelter to those in more.
And all I'm able to do for them is to tell them that here, two thousand miles east in the snow and 14 degree weather, my home is always open to them all. That and pray.

0 Comments

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" That Almost Wasn't

1/5/2025

0 Comments

It was New Year's Eve, we had a houseful of out-of-town holiday visitors, among them some children, and we were powwowing to come up with something to do to ring out the old year and ring in the new that would be fun, festive, and family friendly.
It was one of my daughters, who was among the visitors, who suggested doing what our family used to do to celebrate New Year's Eve: We'd go out for dinner at Friendly's, then go to a movie. (I should add that when our children were young we seldom took them to the movies and almost never out to eat, except on New Year's Eve, which made doing both quite a special, and apparently in my daughter's case memorable, occasion).
However, I had to break it to my daughter that Friendly's was no longer in business in Columbus, Ohio, which she was sad to hear. Still, everybody generally liked the idea of dinner somewhere else and a movie.
For dinner we came up with Bibibop, a fast food Asian eatery that everyone liked. Finding a family friendly movie playing around town turned out to be more of a challenge.
There were Wicked and Moana 2, but the kids had already seen those. I suggested Mufasa until I looked at the stanky Rotten Tomato reviews.

There was also Sonic the Hedgehog, which did pretty well Rotten Tomato-wise,

...except that none of the adults, myself included, felt that we could handle watching almost two hours of an animated video game.
Then I found this movie playing at the nearby Easton Town Center Mall:

I'd seen the stage version of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and had memories of a funny, poignant, entertaining story of a family of naughty children who highjack the town's Christmas play with an unexpected outcome. And the reviews were top of the line.

The kids and I checked out the trailer and a thumbs up was given all around: Bibibop for dinner and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" it would be.
Now, here's something I haven't mentioned. Some of our holiday guests, including the children, were Jewish. But I didn't think that would matter, and neither did the children or their parents. A comedy is a comedy, and every comedy needs a setting, but good comedy will transcend its setting, which, as I recalled, this particular comedy did.
And so when evening rolled around we headed for the mall,

...which was full of families who, like us, had come for a New Year's Eve outing.

We had our yummy Bibibop, strolled around the mall for a bit, then headed for our movie.
Now, for me the first red flag popped up - well, maybe not exactly a red flag; more like a pink flag - anyway, it was during the opening credits of the film when the name of the production company showed on the screen:

To me the word "Kingdom" suggested - just a tad - a purveyor of evangelical Christian content. But, of course, I thought, I could be wrong. Except that by about three minutes into the movie I saw that I wasn't wrong. The story was preachy, churchy, and Christian-y, and the characters of the renegade children weren't just naughty, but downright nasty, a passel of raggedy, terrorizing little thugs.

I found the movie alternately treacly and disturbing, and I wondered how the children in our group and their parents were taking this mix of religious Christmas corn syrup and juvenile delinquency.

I dearly wished we'd gone to see Sonic the Hedgehog. (And how in the world, I wondered, did this goopy flick snag a 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes?).
About fifteen minutes into the movie there was a loud siren which I - and it later turned out, other members of our group - though was part of the film, a police car, say, coming after the bad children.
But that wasn't it. A moment later the screen went dark, the theater lights came up, and a voice over the loudspeaker told us that there was a fire in the mall and requested that we leave immediately by the nearest exit. Which we did, so quickly that the children left behind their popcorn and candy.
(Note to all Easton Town Center movie goers: should you ever be in theater 22 as we were and have to make a quick get away from the theater, take an immediate left as soon as you exit the theater. There's an emergency exit leading to the outside right there. On the left of theater 22, that is).
Now, I would certainly never wish a fire emergency on any person, place, or thing. But dare I admit I was never so grateful for a fire emergency as I was for this one that rescued us from this movie and my embarrassment at having taken our Jewish guests and their children to see it? I now wondered if - and worried that - they might have been offended.
In fact, nobody was offended by the movie, but imagine my surprise when one of the kids asked if we could go back later and finish watching it.
"What, you liked it?" I asked.
"Yeah," they replied.
As it turned out, the children, themselves middle schoolers, were not strangers to the problem of school bullies, and so this plot line resonated with them. As for the rest of the movie, they were curious and intrigued. They wanted to find out what was going to happen next.
And so I volunteered to bite the bullet and, provided the mall had reopened (it had; it turned out that the fire was not critical) to take the kids back a couple of days later to see the rest of the movie. Which I did. And which they really liked.
But here's the punchline: This time I ended up really liking the movie, too.
Almost immediately after the point in the movie where we left last time there was a major plot turn...and what to my wondering eyes should proceed to develop but an engaging, funny, heart-tugging story about a family of impoverished children who were hungry for food, care, knowledge, acceptance, and a sense of self-worth. And about a town full of church-going Christian folks who in fact could be self-righteous, self-important, judgmental, and unkind. And about how it took a crew of children who were themselves poor outcasts to bring to life the story of a baby born in a stable and laid in an animal feeding trough full of hay.
By the end of the movie I was roaming through my purse for a Kleenex. It turned out that the comedy and humanity of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" did, in fact, transcend its setting.
And I'm more than willing to grant the movie its 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

0 Comments

A Christmas Cookout? Eh, Why Not?

12/27/2024

0 Comments

A Christmas Cookout? Eh, Why Not?

I had the holiday schedule mostly planned out:
On Christmas Eve we'd set up luminaries on our block as we do every Christmas Eve, then afterwards our in-town children would come over for dinner.
And then a few days after Christmas our out-of-town family would come for a visit, some staying for a few days, some for a week, which would be filled with the celebratory feasting, and for which I'd been food shopping, food prepping, and baking for the past week and a half.
But on Christmas day it would be just Tom and I, home alone, and I was at a loss as to what to do about Christmas dinner. Cook up something fancy for the two of us? Go out for dinner at the Iron Chef, a local Japanese steak house that's always open on Christmas? Or forgo the whole Christmas Dinner concept altogether this year and just sling up some leftover hash from whatever was hanging around in the refrigerator?
I asked my mate for his input on my what-to-do-or-not-do-about-Christmas-dinner dilemma.
"How about if I cook up some burgers on the grill?" he said.
"A cookout on Christmas?" I gave it a moment's thought then said, "Sure, why not?"
Actually, a grilled burger served up with some coleslaw and fries did sound pretty good. Not to mention simple, a little oasis in the midst of the storm of all the food preparation, but kind special all the same, since we don't normally grill out on our old, old-school grill in the middle of winter.

And so my Christmas-dinner-for-two dilemma was solved, and a Christmas Day cookout it would be.
On Christmas Eve morning I lit my bayberry candle, as I do every Christmas Eve, following the directive of my mother, who was taught by her mother that:
"On Christmas Eve,
A bayberry candle burned down to the socket
Brings health to the body and wealth to the pocket."

Then at sunset Tom, Theresa, and I set up our neighborhood luminaries.

Later Tommy and Emily came over for pasta primavera, green beans almondine, salad and hot rolls,

...and for dessert a fruit salad and a Kroger's Christmas Tree cookie .

On Christmas morning I woke up all anxious to try out my Christmas present, a Cuisinart deluxe waffle-maker.

That I gave to myself. So that I could make waffles. Which I did. They were great.

As it turned out, Theresa ended up spending Christmas with us after all, which was nice, because there were now three of us for our Christmas cookout, which we all enjoyed.

"These burgers taste so good," said my daughter. "From now on we should always do a cookout on Christmas."
Tom, our burger griller replied, "Just as long as it's not too cold outside, guys."

0 Comments

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Christmas Arch

12/25/2024

0 Comments

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Christmas Arch

It had been two years since my hubby Tom and I last erected our Christmas arch over the sidewalk between our yard and the tree lawn.
I had gotten the idea of putting up a Christmas arch back in 2021 from an arch I spotted a couple of neighborhoods over,

...whose creator was kind enough to share with me his design and construction details so that we could build a variation of his on our block, which, with the help of our son Tommy and daughter Theresa, we did (see post from 12/15/2021, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-christmas-arch),

...and subsequently added to it a ball of mistletoe, turning it into a kissing arch.

(The idea of adding the mistletoe was in fact suggested to me by my friend Jan, who, so suddenly, so sadly, left this world for what lies beyond just the week before Christmas. (See post from 12/17/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/good-bye-dear-friend).

The Christmas Kissing Arch was a grand success and greatly enjoyed by our neighbors and other passersby, and so we constructed it again the following year, but didn't the year after, since at that time I was down with COVID.
This year, however, we were ready to put up the arch again. And so on Saturday, December 7, we once more gathered our arch construction crew, Tommy and Theresa, here fueling up before the job,

...along with a friend of Theresa's who showed up later to help and who was a great asset to the project.
After lunch we got to work, and were soon enough reminded of what we'd forgotten: That putting up the frame is a walk in the park,

...but getting the lights up is a headache and a half. In times past, and this time as well, we wrapped the lights around the ribs of the frame and secured them with zip ties. The problem has always arisen from trying to figure out at where and how to connect the strands.

It's kind of a mathematical conundrum that takes hours to solve and effectuate.
However, after the four of us had worked all afternoon and into the evening we finally got the arch together, complete with the kissing ball (except for a few candy canes that we simply couldn't seem to configure in but decided to maybe come back to later).

The day after we got the arch up, Sunday, December 8, Tom and I left for Chicago for a few days (See post from 12/23/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/seeing-the-chicago-christmas-sights-mostly-on-foot). When we arrived home on Thursday, December 12, we saw to our horror that half of the arch lights were out, but not in any discernable pattern. We spent a dejected moment pow-wowing over whether, considering how much time and effort we'd put into it, we should live with a randomly half-lit Christmas arch.
We came to a pretty quick conclusion that a half-lit arch was a half-a**ed arch, and the light situation would have to be rectified, Herculean task that this might be.
And, as it turned out, was. Tom went out the following morning and began fiddling with the light strands. Three hours later he returned to the house a beaten man. He could not, for the life of him, figure out which were the bad strands or the rogue connections. From which again rose the dilemma: leave up the sorry-looking arch or put it and us out of its and our misery.
We were on the verge of choosing the latter option when I was suddenly hit with a bolt of inspiration. I remembered the towering arch we'd seen at the Chicago Botanic Garden light show the week before, and how I'd noted that the lights on this arch were draped over the top rib, and what a nice effect was created by the draping.

I suggested that we take down all the lights from our arch, test each strand, then try draping each strand over the top rib rather than wrapping the strands around all the ribs. And so we each pulled in a deep breath, girded out figurative loins, and decided to give this idea a last-ditch try.

We got to work, Tom, Theresa and I, snipping the zip ties then taking down and testing each light strand.

All that snipping, unwinding and testing took the rest of the day.
The following day we set to draping the lights, securing them to the ribs and also to the candy canes - which I had to run out to Home Depot and buy more of - for stability, and which also offered us more connecting plugs.

We likewise added two horizontal rows of lights.

How did this new method work out?
Beautifully. Draping the lights was exponentially easier, faster, and less complicated than wrapping them.

And the outcome was oh, such a joyous one.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

0 Comments

Seeing The Chicago Christmas Sights, Mostly On Foot

12/23/2024

2 Comments

Seeing The Chicago Christmas Sights, Mostly On Foot

...Continued from previous post:
The following morning, Monday, December 9, Claire again biked to our hotel, the Aloft (see previous post), as she would do each morning during our visit.

Our plan for the day was to visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, but first on the agenda was breakfast.
To this end we walked a mile (which is not all that far when you're taking in the city sights along the way),

...to a cute little place called the Kanela Breakfast Club.

...where the staff is nice, the food is yummy,

...and the coffee cups match the sculpture in front of the restaurant.

And the view is nice, too, if, like me, you're into cityscapes.

After breakfast we walked another mile or so across downtown,

...to the other side of the Chicago River, where we caught the bus to the South Side of town, where the Museum is located.

The Museum of Science and Industry.

...which, luckily for us, did not charge retired military. So Tom and I were able to enter the museum free with our military I.D.'s.

The museum was full of engaging exhibits,

...beautiful holiday displays,

...and legions of school kids.

The following day, Tuesday, after we met up with Claire in our hotel lobby,

...we walked a couple of short blocks to another of our favorite Chicago breakfast spots, the Yolk.

...where the eggs and potatoes are well worth the walk.

...as are the light, fluffy pancakes.

After breakfast we strolled the Loop,

...then we headed over to Daley plaza,

...to the Christkindlmarket, Chicago's German holiday market,

...where one can find all sorts of beautiful items,

...as well as all sorts of yummy food and drink.

We went into one of the tents to warm up and have a hot drink.

Tom had a cup of gluhwein - hot spiced wine - and I had a hot spiced cider.

We then took the train back to Claire's neighborhood,

...and we relaxed for a while at the house with the kitties.

Later in the afternoon Claire and Miguel rented a Zip car and we drove out to the the suburb of Glencoe to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see Lightscape, the enchanting holiday light and music show set amidst the Garden's flora and fauna.

After Lightscapes I requested that for dinner we return to a restaurant in that area that we'd gone to last year, a Middle Eastern place called Libanais, where the food had been out of this world.

The food was as good as we'd remembered it.
We had among us hummus,

...vegetarian Stuffed Grape leaves,

...vegetarian and shawarma wraps enveloped in a light, crunchy pita,

...and the hottest, crispiest, tastiest fries.

Claire ordered tea, which was served in a beatiful tea set.

And then there are the spectacular Libanais desserts.

I would, however, take exception to a special Arab dessert I tried last year when we were there called Kanafa, a cheesy item the taste of which I could not at all abide. (See post from 12/20/2023, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/a-visit-to-the-chicago-botanic-garden-a-cheesy-dessert-then-back-home-for-a-surprise .

However this time I chose more wisely, and went with the delicious carrot cake, which had a firm fondant icing and a cream filling on the inside.

Tom, meanwhile, had the pear tart,

...and Claire tired a couple of little pastries.

There was also a display of beautiful trays of sweets, which one of the staff told me were Turkish,

...which inspired me to buy a tray of Turkish Delight to bring back to Columbus for a Turkish friend of mine.

The next day, Wednesday, was Tom's and my last day in Chicago, and I had a yen to return to the Christkindlmarket.
However, Claire suggested that we first have breakfast at a new place she'd heard of called Sunny Side Up which was about a 15-minute walk from our hotel.

The Sunny Side Up was in what appeared to be an old house,

...charmingly repurposed into a restaurant,

...where the food was yummy.

After breakfast we set out for the Christkindlmarket which, according to Claire's Google Maps, was a 33-minute walk. After about 15 minutes Claire came to the realization that we'd been walking in the wrong direction. So we had to do an about-face, walk 15 minutes back to our starting point, and restart our 33 minute walk in the opposite direction.
But it was a nice walk all the same, and we definitely got all our steps in.

Finally we reached the Christkindlmarket, which was as crowded, lively, and cheery as the day before.

Then we returned to Claire's house.
When dinner time rolled around we walked to a nearby Cuban restaurant.

...with a cute interior,

...and the Cubano sandwiches and fries were good,

...but the service definitely left something to be desired - in filling their carryout-orders, the staff lagged in serving the restaurant customers.
Early the following morning, Thursday, December 12, Tom and I were on our way to catch the bus to the train to O'Hare,

...and soon after we were on our way home.

2 Comments

Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe

12/22/2024

0 Comments

Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe

On Tuesday, December 3, Tom and I arrived home from a two-week trip to California for my sister's wedding. (see post from 12/13/2024).
On Sunday, December 8 we were back among the crowd of Sunday morning travelers at the Columbus airport,

...and soon on our way to Chicago for our Christmas visit with our daughter Claire and son-in-law Miguel.

We love to visit Chicago at Christmas time. With the twinkling lights and the chilly weather and the streets filled with people, Chicago does have a wonderful Christmas vibe.

When we arrived at O'Hare we made our way through the terminal,

...to the train station where we caught the Blue Line train to the city.

We got off at the California stop near Logan Square,

...from where we walked to the nearby Cozy Corner, a popular neighborhood eatery,

...where we met Claire, who had biked over from her house.

Claire is one half of The Biking Vikings - my nickname for her and Miguel,

...as they don't own a car, bike to work and almost everywhere else they go, and every July they bike 500 miles across the mountains of Iowa (who knew Iowa has mountains?)

Fortunately we arrived at the Cozy Corner in the nick of time - around 9:30 am - so that the place was only medium busy (by am10 the waiting line would fill the counter area),

...and we were able to get a booth right away. (We made a note to ourselves never to arrive at the Cozy Corner later than 9:30 am on a weekend).

After breakfast we walked through the Logan Square neighborhood,

...until we arrived at Claire and Miguel's house.

...a cozy place which they share with their three kitties, Rosie, Siri, and Frank.

After Tom and I dropped off our luggage we went out again with Claire to get some groceries. We walked through the neighborhood,

...passing on our way the Block-Bock Club,

...the charming neighborhood chicken coop which matches the house of its owners, who sell the eggs,

...and we also passed the circus school,

...where, apparently, one can learn the circus arts.
We caught a bus,

...our destination being a supermarket called Mariano's. On our walk from our bus stop to Mariano's we passed the Chicago Actor Studio.

I don't know if this place is renowned or important in any way, but it looked kind of exciting,
Mariano's, as it turned out, was quite splendid architecturally,

...for a Kroger's affiliate supermarket, that is. And it had some nice lighting on the inside, too.

After we made our purchases we walked back to the bus stop,

...and caught a bus back to Claire's neighborhood.

Tom and I then collected our luggage and Ubered to the Loop, as downtown Chicago is known,

...to our go-to Chicago hotel, the Aloft off Michigan Avenue.

...where the rooms are basic, but cute and spotlessly clean.

Our view from the 14th floor.

Alas, gone was the little R2D2-esque service robot that used to tool around the hotel lobby communicating via its face screen,

...its only remains being its former charging station.

I can't say I was terrifically sad over this. That little automaton did used to kind of give me the creeps.
A few hours later, when the lobby was lit-up and festive-looking,

...Claire and Miguel, who'd biked the six miles from Logan Square to the Loop, met us there in the lobby, from where we walked along Michigan Avenue,

...until we arrived at Labriola, an Italian restaurant off Michigan Avenue that we'd tried and liked during our last visit.

Though we all agreed that my margherita pizza ( which I shared with the others as it was too big for me to polish off on my own) was very good,

...the others didn't like their pasta dishes quite as well as they had on our last visit.

After dinner while walking back towards our hotel we came upon an interesting-looking Italian market and eatery called Eataly,

...where people appeared to be eating delicious-looking pastries,

...so we decided to join them, even after we saw that the pastries were a tad - well, more than a tad - on the pricey side.

But then, they were sooo good.

There were also bins of colorfully wrapped candies,

...and we were having such a nice evening that I wanted to make it last a little longer, so I picked out a piece of chocolate candy for each of us to round out our dessert.
It wasn't until I arrived at the check-out counter with my four pieces of candy that I saw the sign that the candy was (gulp) $55.60 per pound!
While the cashier rang me up I silently prayed to the candy gods that those four little pieces of hazelnut chocolate weren't too heavy. Fortunately they weren't.

Still, I don't know who buys all that $55.60-a-pound candy. (Well, besides me).
After our high-class and high-priced desserts we strolled down Michigan Avenue for a bit, I, for one, feeling that magical Chicago Christmas vibe.

To be continued...

0 Comments

<<Previous

​​The Longest Day

​A Christmas Cookout? Eh, Why Not?

​The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Christmas Arch

​Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe

Archives

Categories

The Longest Day

A Christmas Cookout? Eh, Why Not?

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Christmas Arch

Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe