I should point out that lots of other things happened over the weekend. I mentioned that the monastery was every bit as bucolic as any co-counseling site; but, what I didn't mention was how much historic value the surrounding river valley brought to the table. We were literally within a few miles of the FDR presidential library. The view of the ( Read more... )

July, 2016 has come to an end. It will go down as the single most appallingly surreal month of my entire life. It began with the rhythms of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" being played on a portable dvd player set precariously by my mother's one good ear in a hospital room in Flushing and would end in a train station on the Upper West Side, saying goodbye to ( Read more... )

Bing was the first to put his finger on it. He was waving me towards the seat next to his at Crosby's Gray Lounge presentation and in so doing made the crack, "Without [Huggy Bear] here, that makes you the designated best friend." It was a perfectly executed Crosby family zinger and all I could do was agree with him. Because it was true: In all the ( Read more... )

Something strange is going on. HB is posting a lot of photos from Scandanavia on his FB page as though he is there right now. But, how can that be? Why would he schedule a trip to Scandanavia the same weekend as the Moonshot?

Operation Vivien Leigh is T minus 5:30 hrs. If this fails, I'm aborting the entire mission.

At Table went pretty well. It was very close to what The Rector wanted, a sit down meal that was part picnic and part Sermon on the Mount. Not everyone could keep up with the e-mail traffic leading up to it, and that led to some ruffled feathers. But, what would At Table be without ruffled feathers? One good thing about mania is that it becomes ( Read more... )

So...one thing I haven't mentioned yet is that just before the Mid-Winter party started and while I was still helping Huggy Bear with the centerpieces (little shooting stars on wires and battery-powered votive candles), he causally mentioned that Crosby said, "Hi." I knew that Huggy was in almost daily Skype contact with him and the merest ( Read more... )

I left the nursing home just in time to make it back to Intersection, feeling a little abashed at having had my fill of football without Jesus. I came out of the subway shed with a little bit of time on my hands and bought a cup of coffee. I brought it with me into the sanctuary as I must have done at least a dozen times over the course of the year ( Read more... )

Mom's condition has eased up a bit. A tiny bit. I was with her until about 9:00 last night. I left after she had fallen asleep for the umpteenth time, her face under a ginned-up oxygen mask, her short, shallow breaths turning into long, hearty snores. It was music to my ears. If she has any chance of making it out of the hospital, Mom will have to ( Read more... )

Crosby and Huggy Bear turned me on to Key and Peele many months ago, I'm guessing just before New Year's. I googled what I could remember of the name and found that it was one of those words and phrases that popped up instantly, no matter how badly you screwed up the spelling. I tried a few Youtube examples of their work and my initial impression ( Read more... )

Crosby is due back from a short vacation at Bingland, in California. I think he will find St. Michael's a changed place in his almost a month away. August is the traditional high point of informality in the morning Eucharistic Mass. The doors to the outside are thrown open and the sounds and odors of the street are allowed to seep in during the ( Read more... )