I went to the Barbie movie. I shouldn’t have done that. We didn’t have a penny to spare. But it was the second of the month and I was doing the big grocery shopping, and I knew I would end up treating myself to a lunch or something superfluous. Might as well spend the nine dollars on a movie ticket. Barbie was excellent. I haven’t seen a movie in a theater since about 2016. I used to love going to... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew: Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.... Read more
I’ve just watched the footage of the horrific killing of 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young. Young, who was pregnant with a baby girl, was shot in the chest by a police officer as she tried to flee arrest in her car at the Kroger on South Sunbury Road in Blendon Township, Ohio. I’d been told that the officer was just defending himself, so I wanted to look for myself and see if that was believable. I do caution my readers that this... Read more
Adrienne started middle school. The IEP is still forthcoming, so I had to explain things to teachers, but so far there hasn’t been a catastrophe. All the teachers are friendly. Her favorite subjects are math and gym. She’s come up with a brilliant way to do her homework. The social studies teacher wants paragraphs written in a notebook, but her severe dysgraphia makes it nearly impossible to picture how to spell a word in the abstract. Her dyslexia is much... Read more
I’ve already given you my opinion of the second string Republican presidential candidates— the ones who might have a chance at the nomination if Donald Trump was abducted by aliens or fell into a volcano. I wasn’t a fan. I mentioned that I was especially leery of Vivek Ramaswamy, who seemed like a bootleg Trump right down to his stilted hand gestures. He is the obligatory candidate who blurts out nonsense nobody believes in order to seem like a... Read more
I watched the Republican Candidates’ Debate, not expecting much, and I didn’t get more than I expected. I was a Republican for most of my life, prior to mid-2016 when it became obvious the party stood for something I couldn’t conscience. I can’t imagine that I will ever be a Republican again. But I watched anyway. I kept track of the candidates, with as open a mind as I could manage. Based entirely on what I saw from the debate,... Read more
We went to Belmont County, on the last day. It was the last day before Adrienne’s first year at a public school began. I will never be a homeschooling mom again. We had to go to Belmont County because I am a fool. I got a phone call on Monday from the friendly school secretary, telling me that Adrienne couldn’t start school until they saw a social security card and a birth certificate. The card, I had. I didn’t... Read more
It was one of those stretches when nothing works out. Summer continued to be a terrible slump. The past-due bills just got higher. I had to go to the food pantry again. Jimmy came by asking if he could borrow fifteen dollars, but I didn’t have anything to give him, and that always irks me. The heavy rain knocked over my tomato cages, and the tomatoes swelled up and cracked from all the extra water. I can cut out... Read more
I went for a walk in the woods, not knowing. You might recall that a little over a year ago, fresh with the stinging realization that the sect of the Catholic Church I was raised in was not only eccentric but nothing but an abusive cult, I went hiking. I felt absolutely certain I was going to hell the whole time. Now, I’m not so sure. I got into Serendipity, absolutely uncertain whether I was in a state of... Read more
I’ve been trying to keep track of the case of Father Alex Crow. I’m going to try to get the facts straight, as more information seems to come out every minute. It seems that late last month, a 30-year-old priest by the name of Alex Crow, who had only recently been ordained and who had a lurid obsession with exorcisms and Marian apparitions, fled the country with an 18-year-old girl. There was speculation that he’d taken the girl to Europe... Read more
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