Want to be a free thinker but still a nice person

Why boys need parents

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Thanks to my friend Kumar for sending these in. He has two girls so he can't know what it's like to have a boy child after having a girl. I was shocked by how destructive and wild boys are - as these photos demonstrate.

Vatican going after American nuns

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:20:00 +0000

From the New York Times. Vatican -- Leave our nuns alone!

"The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build the Roman Catholic Church in this country, planting schools and hospitals and keeping parishes humming. But for the last three decades, their numbers have been declining — to 60,000 today from 180,000 in 1965.

While some nuns say they are grateful that the Vatican is finally paying attention to their dwindling communities, many fear that the real motivation is to reel in American nuns who have reinterpreted their calling for the modern world.

In the last four decades since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, many American nuns stopped wearing religious habits, left convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and married men as priests.

Some sisters surmise that the Vatican and even some American bishops are trying to shift them back into living in convents, wearing habits or at least identifiable religious garb, ordering their schedules around daily prayers and working primarily in Roman Catholic institutions, like schools and hospitals."

Singing in Salisbury

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:48:00 +0000

Spent Independence Day singing in Salisbury Cathedral, not a hot dog, American flag or firework in sight.

We rehearsed all afternoon at the cathedral. Here's the view from my seat:

It was such a beautiful place.

My husband and daughter stayed a little while for the rehearsal then went off to explore Salisbury and find someplace for us to eat dinner. (I had a few hours off between rehearsals and the performance.)

When I met them later, they complained that Salisbury, while a charming medieval town, was a bit dull and there wasn't anything to see.

"Nothing to see!" I exlaimed. "Didn't you look around the cathedral? It's huge and there's so much to look at."

"We walked around it a little," my daughter said.

"And what about the Magna Carta?" I asked. "They have an original Magna Carta here at the cathedral. Signed by King John in 1215. Did you see it?"

"Oh we didn't know about the Magna Carta," they said lamely.

"Then how can you say there's nothing to do in Salisbury? There's the Magna Carta and you say, oh Salisbury...it's so boring."

Bad tourists, aren't they?

The town of Salisbury is so old and charming. Here's an old sweet shop we stopped at. It was filled with sweeties that British kids eat such as gobstoppers, whopper stoppers, sherbert lemons and dolly mixtures. (Next to this shop is the pub that Anonymous, a longtime commenter, told us to visit, but we didn't have time.)

On the way back to the cathedral from the performance after dinner, I looked in some shop windows. This sale amused me. The shop has blouses made with Liberty fabric, but only in size 12, so any other size desperate for a bargain -- too bad.

How I'm spending the 4th of July

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:30:00 +0000

Spare a thought today for Americans who live abroad as we are unable to celebrate Independence Day in our native land, and must spend our time with our former oppressors, the British. Luckily, they are friendlier now than they were in colonial times but still...someone out there eat a hot dog for me, OK? And munch on some Fritos. Oh now I am feeling nostalgic.

I'll be spending the day in Salisbury. The chorus I sing with has a concert at the cathedral there tonight. I've lived in this country for almost 20 years and have never been to Salisbury Cathedral even though I have seen it out of train windows for years.

For over 750 years pilgrims have come to Salisbury to seek inspiration in the glory and peace of the building and surrounding Cathedral Close. Whether you come to worship, to marvel at or climb up to Britain's tallest spire, to be awed by the beauty and scale of the cathedral interior or to study the original Magna Carta in our Chapter House, we welcome you.

Hand sanitizers are no help against swine flu viruses

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Nokia just distributed germ-killing hand gels to each desk to protect us from swine flu. A colleague was dubious so I looked it up, and he's right, it's no protection.

A nurse writes: "Anti-bacterial hand gels - hand sanitizers do not kill viruses. They have a protein 'coating' of sorts that makes them harder to denature or 'kill' than bacteria."

And also, there's this:

Water was the most effective at removing stomach bug viruses from the hands, Emory University researchers find. They planted stomach bug viruses on volunteers' fingers and allowed them to dry. The results, presented this week at the American Society for Microbiology Meeting in Orlando, Fla., showed the percentage of the viruses removed by water, hand soap, and alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Water removed 96 percent of the virus; liquid antibacterial soap removed 88 percent; and the hand sanitizer removed only 46 percent.

Eliz again: so these hand sanitizers are just there to make us feel complacent?

Rest stops closing down

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:07:00 +0000

No...this can't be happening (rest stops closing down with budget cuts -- below). One of my favorite things on a long road trip is to stop at the Welcome centers after crossing a state line. Louisiana, especially, had good ones where you used to be able to get Coke (to drink).

My British husband loves rest stops. He said when he first came to America, he thought it was the most civilized country he'd ever seen with all these areas 'to rest.' He was feeling quite tired with jet lag on his first trip over so decided to go to one of these places to rest. But he was so shocked because all it had in it were toilets.

Eventually he figured out that 'rest rooms' were euphemisms for toilets.

from the Wall Street Journal:

This holiday weekend, remember to use the bathroom before you hit the road: States are closing rest stops as a part of new budget cuts. Louisiana has shuttered most of its rest stops already; Virginia has announced it will save $9 million a year by closing 19 rest areas; and Maine, Vermont, and Colorado will soon follow. The Wall Street Journal reports that as this all-American staple becomes scarce, people aren't just learning to hold their bladders: The closings have generated a backlash in states, with the American Trucking Associations opposing the move and town hall meetings in Virginia focused on reversing the cuts.

Public Enemies

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:02:00 +0000

The release of the new movie about John Dillinger reminded me of secret family history that I wanted to make sure I told my daughter so the information wasn't lost.

I had a great-aunt who fell in love with one of the Dillingers -- Frank -- got pregnant and wanted to marry him. My great grandfather was so mortified that she would think she could marry into the mobster family (when John Dillinger was Public Enemy Number 1) that he refused and made her give the baby up for adoption. This destroyed her; she was never the same again.

Isn't that sad that she would have to give up the love of her life and her baby because of public opinion against the family? I wonder what happened to her child. She must have worried about the baby for the rest of her life.

What happened with her and the Dillinger boy was considered so terrible, however, that no one spoke of it in the family, and it wasn't until the funeral of one of the elder members of my family that someone told me so I would keep the information alive for another generation.

Imprecatory prayer

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:06:00 +0000

Now this is something I've never heard of -- imprecatory prayer. Do any of you out there do this? Let us know.

"The former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention said he’s practicing the age-old art of "imprecatory prayer" — a theological term for praying that bad things happen to bad people.

Imprecatory prayer can turn a verse into curse through reciting Scripture aimed at one’s foes. Rather than asking for, say, healing or a win in the big game, these prayers request that God smite one’s enemies with—among other things—plagues, death and eternal damnation.

"That doesn’t mean I spend every waking hour praying for the death of the president," said Drake, who leads Buena Park Southern Baptist Church, near Anaheim, Calif. "Of our prayers, 98 percent should be good prayers and 2 percent should be imprecatory."

Though Scripture says Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and pray for them, the Bible also depicts King David pleading with God to vanquish his adversaries. While famed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis found such imprecatory psalms distasteful and “devilish,” even he could not deny their existence.

Derided by some as a bad Judeo-Christian imitation of voodoo, the literal practice of imprecatory prayer has some newfound fans.

Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, posted an online prayer on April 25 that targeted his old foes, the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State; and Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Klingenschmitt asked God "in Jesus’ name" to "cut off their descendents" and "replace them with Godly people.""

Alabama is gaining on Mississippi

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Latest obesity figures out today. I did my part to help the obesity rate when I lived in Mississippi by eating fried catfish and Krystal hamburgers. I sure do miss that food even though I know it wasn't good for me.

WASHINGTON — Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.

It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year olds _ the oldest boomers _ than among today's 65-and-beyond.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:26:00 +0000

This YouTube video featuring a Mark Sanford lookalike is so funny. (He's the governor of South Carolina who went to visit his girlfriend in South America but his staff told people he was out 'hiking the Appalachian trail.')

Wistful thinking

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:04:00 +0000

Dr. Leo J. Scanlon Jr. M’52, Brandon, Miss., a physician; July 2, 1994.

That's a line on a University of Pennsylvania website above announcing my father's death. (He graduated from the Medical School there.)

It was 15 years ago that I got a call at 5:00 in the morning telling me he was suddenly and unexpectedly dead.

I've gone through a lot of emotions since I got that phone call but the overwhelming feeling was one of relief that he was gone, and I wouldn't have to endure his craziness again and neither would he have a chance to inflict it on my children.

I read articles about people being sad they weren't reconciled with abusive parents before they died but I think that's just wistful thinking. The parent hadn't changed by the time they died and as Bette Davis once said, death doesn't change anything so how can you be reconciled?

Here's a photo of my mother and father at their wedding rehearsal, the night before they said their vows. How emotional this picture makes me feel. There's my mother, about to make the worst mistake of her life, and I can't stop her. She has no idea of the hell she is about to enter. If only I could have been around to advise her, as silly as that sounds.

I'm always reminded of the Delmore Schwartz story, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, where the main character watches a movie of his parents' courtship and shouts at the screen, trying to stop them from marrying. (Thanks to Michigan Mom for telling me about this book in college.)

Here's a snippet:

I think it is the year 1909. I feel as if I were in a motion picture theatre, the long arm of light crossing the darkness and spinning, my eyes fixed on the screen. This is a silent picture as if an old Biograph one, in which the actors are dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes, and one flash succeeds another with sudden jumps....then he asks my mother to marry him...and she, to make the whole business worse, begins to cry and says, "It's all I've wanted from the moment I met you."...

I stood up in the theatre and shouted: "Don't do it. It's not too late to change your minds both of you. Nothing good will come of it, only remorse, hatred and scandal."
...
I shut my eyes because I could not bear to see what was happening.

Remind me: Which political party is "decadent" and "sick"?

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I thought this article by Joe Conason in Salon was interesting. Here's an excerpt:

Whenever the latest Republican politician is caught with his zipper undone, a predictable moment of introspection on the right inevitably ensues. Pundits, bloggers and perplexed citizens ruminate over the lessons they have learned, again and again, about human frailty, false piety and the temptations of flesh and power. They express concern for the damaged family and lament the fall of yet another promising young hypocrite. They resolve to restore the purity of their movement and always remember to remind us that this is all Bill Clinton's fault. What they never do is face up to an increasingly embarrassing fact about themselves and their leaders.

They're really just liberals in right-wing drag.

The proof is in the penance, or lack thereof, inflicted on the likes of Mark Sanford, John Ensign and David Vitter, to cite a few names from the top of a long, long list. For ideologues who value biblical morality and believe in the efficacy of punishment, modern conservatives are as tolerant of their famous sinners as the jaded libertines of the left. Even after confessing to the most flagrant and colorful fornication, the worst that a conservative must anticipate is a stern scolding, followed by warm assurances of God's forgiveness and a swift return to business as usual.

Mark Sanford may have forfeited his presidential ambitions, but the South Carolina governor seems determined to hold onto his office despite his escapade in Argentina - and if he is thrown out, the reason will be his offenses against good government rather than his betrayal of his marriage vows.

According to the Old Testament -- a text regularly cited by these worthies as the highest authority in denouncing reproductive freedom and gay rights -- the proper penalty for adultery is death by stoning. Leviticus is quite clear on this point (as any truly strict originalist could hardly deny). Fortunately for all of us, biblical law doesn't rule this country, despite the zealots on the religious right who disdain separation of church and state. Very few Americans believe that we should impose state sanctions, let alone the death penalty, on private peccadilloes. But civic tolerance doesn't excuse the limp, smiling attitude of the Republican right toward the infidelity of its leaders.

That flabby acceptance contrasts sharply with right-wing screaming about the iniquity of the opposition. As understood by conservative commentators, this is not mere rhetoric but a theory of civilization's rise and fall. Ann Coulter believes that liberals actively "seek to destroy morality" by "refusing to condemn what societies have condemned for thousands of years," including "promiscuity" and "divorce." Dinesh D'Souza once recommended sarcastically that the Democrats adopt the mantle of "moral degeneracy" by forthrightly advocating "divorce, illegitimacy, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality and pornography."

Swine flu edging closer

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Don't you wonder when you are going to get the swine flu? It's getting closer to us every day here in England.

My daughter the 2/5ths doctor (she's completed two out of her five years of med school) works at a practice in London, and they've had three cases diagnosed. The first time it happened, everyone panicked and wanted to go home, but now my daughter says people are more blase. There's a sense of fatalism about it, and she says it's better to get the flu now before the virus mutates further.

Last Friday a case was diagnosed at my husband's work, a French bank in London. The man had flown over from Paris and spent time in the London office before being diagnosed.

Someone left work early yesterday at Nokia feeling ill so we wondered if that was our first case.

I woke up this morning to hear that the school two roads away from our house has three cases diagnosed yesterday.

Have any of you got it yet?

Swine flu parties

I thought this was an amusing article that just appeared online. It sounds really dubious that parents would arrange 'swine flu parties', doesn't it?

Parents have been warned not to take their children to "swine flu parties" in the hope they will catch the disease now and build up immunity. Skip related content Although no firm evidence has emerged of such events taking place, family website mumsnet.com has witnessed discussions over whether parents should take steps to ensure their children acquire immunity before the main flu season in the winter, when some people expect the virus to be more potent.

British Medical Association expert Dr Richard Jarvis warned against taking such an approach.

Postscript

My friend Amy Meeker in Boston reports:

Don't worry, it's not that bad! My son had it two weeks ago (it swept through the schools here--some weeks 1/4 to 1/3 of the kids were out with it). He was sick, but fairly mildly, for about 5 days, then had to stay home another 2 (7-day quarantine in schools here). I did not get it, nor have most other parents I know (just a couple of exceptions). Nobody we know has been very sick--achy, tired, sore throat, controllable fever... the worst part was the cabin fever, honest.

My husband the oil mogul

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:15:00 +0000

I'm from a Southern family in America. Both of my grandfathers worked in the oil business. It was a big employer in their day.

When my grandmother died a few years ago, I inherited about 1/500th of an oil well in Mississippi. My husband, a poor English boy who grew up watching Dallas on television, almost died himself of happiness.

"Relax," I said. "I didn't really inherit a complete oil well. We aren't moguls now." The checks I get from the oil company might be up to $100 a month but then I have to pay a share of the operating expenses too so that takes a lot out of it. So basically we might get 20 bucks a month out of it.

But Mel is so happy being an oil mogul -- he pores over the statements we get, just like he is JR Ewing.

Today we got papers about investing in some new deep-drilling operation. Mel is in heaven right now, looking over seismic surveys of the area, aerial maps of the proposed site and mineral leases.

I thought it was cute how excited he gets over nothing so took a pic.

The right to offend

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:45:00 +0000

One of our regular commenters (Steve) has his own blog and put up an interesting post today. Here's part of it with a link to the full post at the end. Thanks Steve for letting me cross-post it.

"I've been having some interesting conversations and thoughts about where the line is these days in terms of offending people by pointing out what I think are fallacies, flaws and inconsistencies in their beliefs. Religious people especially like to blur the distinction between themselves and their beliefs; it seems to be a commonly held position that faith based opinions should be respected regardless of their obvious flaws. This is strange to a rationalist like me, in no other field of human conversation are ideas respected simply because someone believes them to be true. Look at politics for example, sport, entertainment, there are as many opinions as there are people but somehow religion demands special treatment.

Other people say things like "aw leave them alone, think of all the good things that religions do", well yes that may be true but so what, many totally objectionable political parties do good things to, for example Hezbollah provides excellent health care and yet that is not a valid reason to give them a free ride when it comes to debate on the middle east. Another frequent claim is "you can't criticise religious stupidity because they aren't the only ones who can be stupid", absolutely, politicians can be incredibly stupid, as can financiers and sports people but just because MUFC donates money to UNICEF it doesn't mean I have to respect Christiano Ronaldo's views on abortion."

Read the full post here:
Naws

Gone with the Wind published on this day in 1936

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Gone with the Wind was published on this day in 1936. Every Southern girl of my generation knows the story well. And as we know today, and here I am quoting a source on the Internet: "Many historians regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the Confederacy and a romanticized view of the culture of the antebellum South."

Whatever you think about the book, Southerners know it well so I thought some background trivia would be appropriate today.

"As several elements of Gone with the Wind have parallels with Margaret Mitchell's own life, her experiences may have provided some inspiration for the story. Mitchell's understanding of life and hardship during the American Civil War, for example, came from elderly relatives and neighbors passing war stories to her generation.

While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with the Wind characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew or she heard of.

Mitchell's maternal grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens, was born in 1845; she was the daughter of an Irish immigrant, who owned a large plantation on Tara Road in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, and who married an American woman named Ellen, and had several children, all daughters.

Researchers believed Rhett Butler to be based on Mitchell's first husband, Red Upshaw. She divorced him after she learned he was a bootlegger. Other historical evidence suggests the Butler character to be based on George Trenholm, a famous blockade-runner.

Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt may have been an inspiration for Scarlett O'Hara. Roosevelt biographer David McCullough discovered that Mitchell, as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal, conducted an interview with one of Martha's closest friends and bridesmaid, Evelyn King Williams, then 87. In that interview, she described Martha's physical appearance, beauty, grace, and intelligence in great detail. The similarities between Martha and the Scarlett character are striking."

Tomorrow is another day.

Blogging equals narcissism

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Thanks to a sometime blog reader for sending this in. "If you say who sent it you," she added with a smiley face, "I'm not sending you anything else!" I have been warned...so this is a completely anonymous contribution.

I love this though -- very amusing and probably true.

Dumb Britain

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:33:00 +0000

My sister-in-law in London sent me this. I found it very funny.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE (BBC2)
Questioner: What is another name for 'cherrypickers' and 'cheesemongers'?
Contestant: Homosexuals..
Questioner: No. They're regiments in the British Army who will be very upset with you.

BEG, BORROW OR STEAL (BBC2)
Questioner: Where do you think Cambridge University is?
Contestant: Geography isn't my strong point.
Questioner: There's a clue in the title.
Contestant: Leicester

BBC NORFOLK
Questioner: Who had a worldwide hit with What A Wonderful World?
Contestant: I don't know.
Questioner: I'll give you some clues: what do you call the part between your hand and your elbow?
Contestant: Arm.
Questioner: Correct. And if you're not weak, you're...?
Contestant: Strong.
Questioner: Correct - and what was Lord Mountbatten's first name?
Contestant: Louis.
Questioner: Well, there we are then. So who had a worldwide hit with the song What A Wonderful World?
Contestant: Frank Sinatra?

LATE SHOW (BBCMIDLANDS)
Questioner: What is the capital of Italy ?
Contestant: France
Questioner: France is another country. Try again..
Contestant: Oh, um, Benidorm.
Questioner: Wrong, sorry, let's try another question. In which country is the Parthenon?
Contestant: Sorry, I don't know.
Questioner: Just guess a country then.
Contestant: Paris .

THE WEAKEST LINK (BBC2)
Anne Robinson: Oscar Wilde, Adolf Hitler and Jeffrey Archer have all written books about their experiences in what: prison, or the Conservative Party?
Contestant: The Conservative Party.

GWR FM ( Bristol )
Presenter: What happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963?
Contestant: I don't know, I wasn't watching it then.

Monday cartoon

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000

More on women and their bodies

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:02:00 +0000

My first post today has sparked some excellent comments, and I saw something else today that enlarges on the subject.

"We are a society that bases everything on age: our rights, our behaviors, our health habits, our family priorities, our looks: all of these things are centered around the number of years we've been alive.

There's a shot in the opening credits of What Not To Wear that declares "No Mini Skirts After 35," a sign that plays into the notion that women should cover up once
they hit that number, as if a 34-year-old can rock a miniskirt like nobody's business, only to turn into a hideous freak the day she turns 35.

On the other hand, we have celebrities like Gwen Stefani, 39, who wear whatever the hell they want, because they can, and why shouldn't they? When it comes to "age appropriate" clothing, perhaps it's not so much about numbers as it is about one's own confidence and ability to pull off trends and styles without looking like they are trying to be anything but themselves.

Shane Watson of the Times of London takes on the shady ground of "age appropriate" clothing, noting that magazines praise women over 40 who make the attempt to be trendy and shrug off old "rules," such as Michelle Obama and Helen Mirren, who wear gorgeous, skin-baring ensembles instead of, oh, I don't know, Quacker Factory sweaters or whatever the hell it is that people think women over 35 should wear.

However, Watson notes, the old "rules" are still stuck in the minds of many women, who feel that they can't do certain things, like show their arms, because it's not considered appropriate after a certain age. "We still fall back on the same old mantras: fortysomethings shouldn't wear short skirts; bikinis are undignified past 35," Watson writes, "Every time we open a magazine, we see confirmation that what counts is not age but body shape and confidence. But still those rules that applied to the pre-Pilates-and-sushi generation keep sucking us back to what is and isn't age-appropriate."

I have seen my mother struggle with these rules when she puts outfits together for special occasions. "I can't wear that," she'll sigh, looking at a beautiful gown, "I'm too old." Bullshit, Mom. You can wear it and you should. Unfortunately, my mother, like many other women, has internalized these old rules, and instead of buying clothing that makes her feel beautiful (and that looks great, too) she plays it safe, for fear of offending anyone."

from Gawker.com

Eliz again: I know all about these rules but I've been hit by double rules by moving to a different culture. What's preferred in Mississippi is fuddy-duddy in London, and what's fine in London is seen as too tight or revealing in Mississippi. I get caught in the middle.

On the other hand, my mother bought very conservative clothes for me so I looked middle-aged at 20. So I figured maybe I could dress like I should have then now, even though I'm 100 years older. I feel like it's owed to me.

Ending Fat Talk one anonymous post-it at a time

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:15:00 +0000

A woman started a blog aimed at getting other women to leave random notes of support for other women in public places. She wanted women to stop feeling so bad about their bodies. It's an interesting idea, and her website is here:
Operation Beautiful

This is what she writes:

"My name is Caitlin, and I'm the editor of Operation Beautiful. I started this blog because I truly believe in the mission of Operation Beautiful, which is to encourage positive body image in other women. Join me on my quest, and discover how beautiful YOU feel when you post a random note!"

Eliz again: I don't know if this would work in England as people here tend to be more cynical than Americans. But I'm sure I would be cheered up if I saw a friendly note from a 'kind stranger.' (That's how you are supposed to sign them.)

Strawberries and cream

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Beautiful weather in England. I spent a lot of today lazing around outside. The neighbors gave us a bowl of strawberries from their garden; Mel whipped some cream and we indulged in that traditional summertime activity in England -- eating scones with strawberries and cream.

Here I am taking scones to my daughter Katie who was reading under my favorite apple tree. Sitting under the apple tree on a summer afternoon reading is one of the great pleasures of my life.

Saudi women to be trained to sell lingerie

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Thanks to Derry/Drew for sending this interesting article in:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Using colorful bras donated by employees at Victoria's Secret, a group of 26 mostly Saudi women completed the first course of its kind to be offered in the kingdom - how to fit, stock and sell underwear - a training organizers hope will help boost a campaign to lift the ban on women selling underwear in the kingdom.

The graduates held a small ceremony at a college in the western seaport of Jiddah on Tuesday, capping 40 hours of instruction during which they learned to overcome their embarrassment at doing bra fittings, deal with customer complaints and display the stock in an appealing manner.

"It was a beautiful experience," said Faten Abdo, a 32-year-old coordinator in the offices of a lingerie company.

"The most shocking thing for me was the bra sizes," she added. "We didn't know how to get proper measurements before."

The 10-day course comes three months after a group of Saudi women launched a campaign to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women. Almost all the stores in the kingdom are staffed by men. The only exceptions are a few women-only boutiques, some of them inside popular shopping centers.

The restrictions are ironic in a country that goes to great lengths to segregate the sexes. Men and women, for instance, who are not close relatives cannot stand in the same line at fast-food outlets or even be in the same car together. Conservative clerics have strong influence on government and society, and they ban anything they believe might lead to women's emancipation, such as driving or voting.

But those pushing for saleswomen in lingerie stores say they were tired of discussing intimate details with male staff and enduring their scrutiny when they ask for a particular cup size.

Sunday morning

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:07:00 +0000

A reader sends in this question. "If the number of Christians in the next generation is declining, as recent surveys suggest, what will happen to all the churches in America? There are so many new ones in the South with huge parking lots to accommodate the faithful. These will be empty someday if numbers continue to decline."

The reader goes on to make a suggestion of his own. "Turn these into big movie theatres." He wonders what other readers of this blog might suggest for unused churches. In England, churches are resold as private houses, but buyers can be put off thinking something bad will happen if you use a former church as a domestic residence.

Another reader from Mississippi wrote yesterday: "Like you, I'm an atheist, but not quite as polite about it as you are. It's especially difficult here where there's a scripture of the day every day in the paper. I've been reading a lot of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Philip Pullman, all highly recommended."

Thank you for sending me your thoughts and opinions. I love to get e-mail from previously unknown readers.

Continuing on with the religious theme:

GIVE Richard Dawkins a child for a week’s summer camp and he will try to give you an atheist for life.

The author of The God Delusion is helping to launch Britain’s first summer retreat for non-believers, where children will have lessons in evolution and sing along to John Lennon’s Imagine.

The five-day camp in Somerset (motto: “It’s beyond belief”) is for children aged eight to 17 and will rival traditional faith-based breaks run by the Scouts and church groups.

Budding atheists will be given lessons to arm themselves in the ways of rational scepticism. There will be sessions in moral philosophy and evolutionary biology along with more conventional pursuits such as trekking and tug-of-war. There will also be a £10 prize for the child who can disprove the existence of the mythical unicorn.

Domestic notes:
Another beautiful day in the UK. The sun is beckoning to me so I am going to abandon my chores and sit outside in the morning sunshine before it gets too hot.

I made ice cream last night. I have a little European ice cream maker so it can only make a quart but it broke so I had to put the ice cream in the freezer and stir it manually until it froze. It's delicious. I 'tested' a spoonful of it this morning and kept going back for a few more Quality Control tests with my spoon until my husband said, "Why don't you just put some in a little bowl and eat that?" But then those calories would count. As long as I'm only 'testing' it with a spoon, that's not real eating, is it??

Recipe:

1 pint double cream
1 pint full-fat milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

What could be easier than that?

Going out into the sunshine now. See you later.

What is your most relaxing place?

miss_mudpie@yahoo.co.uk (Elizabeth) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I was reading an exercise to lower your stress. This is what it says:

Imagine a place where you feel at your most relaxed. It can either be a real place or somewhere that you've made up.

What can you SEE?
SMELL?
HEAR?
FEEL?

Everyone tell me what their special place is in the comments section.

For me, I can see brilliantly blue skies, smell the sea, hear the waves slamming the shore and feel sunshine on my skin.

My Day So Far
It's been beautiful in England. Sunny and warm. I slept late because I'd had such a tiring week. Mel brought me coffee and the cat jumped on the bed as I read the paper.

My daughter came home so that made me happy. I came downstairs and saw my husband playing Michael Jackson's The Way you Make Me Feel so I began to dance to that and my daughter said I was crazy.

Later I cycled to do errands -- take my ball gown to the cleaners, get prescriptions filled, buy beautiful apricots and cherries at the fruit and veg shop.

Then I went into town to meet a friend for lunch. We discussed her problem with a friend. It was very interesting as I could try to analyze her situation as an outsider as I only know her friend slightly.

I came back home and Mel whipped up some cream for scones. My daughter Katie asked for scones, and we got them. She was so pleased with us that she's announced she 'might' come home next week.

My son has a friend over who has a nut allergy, and I have no idea what to get for dinner. We were going to get Indian food from a local restaurant but can't take the risk now. I have about an hour to figure this problem out.

And how is your day going?