Bfth's Boring Blog

  I recently wrote an article for a church newsletter about scams.   They are all around us and I know we all try to be vigilant, but… I wrote the article because I had recently gotten an email from church rector.   The note was brief:   “Do you have some time.   I have a request I need you to handle discreetly.   I am currently busy, no calls so just reply to my email.” Seems reasonable…or does it? Now of course I’m willing to help (anyone in the congregation would be because like most religious organizations [at least the ones that I’ve been involved with], members are supportive, caring and always willing to help) but a few things caught my eye.   It was signed using his full name.   That’s not typical.   Under that was the title “Pastor”.   He is indeed a pastor, but in the couple of years that I’ve known him, he’s never signed email that way.   Nor does he usually include the church’s name and address at the bottom of his...

  It's banned books week again.  So I thought I'd talk about 7 of my favorite banned books.  They are not my favorites because they are banned.  They are my favorites because I really enjoyed them.  Some of them have appeared on my annual "Best Books I Have Read This Year" list.  In my opinion, they are good books.  They tell a good story.  They have stuck with me.  They mean something to me and I think they mean something to others as well.  So here they are in no particular order (because that's just too hard to do): 1.        To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Okay, this is one of my all-time favorite books. It may very well be my favorite book.  I read it as a freshman in high school.  (Again I say thank you to Mrs. Y for having it as part of the curriculum.)It might have been the first book we read during the school year.  And nothing else I would read that year could even come close. (To t...

 I haven't written in a week, which is unusual for me, but then we are living in unusual times.  (At least I hope these times are unusual...if our current "climate" [and I'm not just talking weather here, although that's what I'm going to be mostly talking about] then we are in deep trouble.  Really deep trouble) It's another overcast Sunday, although nor'easter to content with.  There's going to be rain again and it's colder than I'd like.  (You know me, I'm NOT a cold weather person, so I was hoping we could stretch out the warmer and sunnier todays for a bit longer.)  I'm hoping that I might be able to get outside for at least a quick walk, but you never know.   In the meantime, I am sitting here typing this blog post and blowing my nose because suddenly my allergies seem to be kicking into high gear. (You've heard of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer; let me present to you Bfthie the red eyed/red honking nose semi-human.) N...

  It's officially autumn.  A beautiful time of year.  This weekend should be one of apple or pumpkin picking.  Or maybe a harvest stroll? Nope...this the first weekend in autumn in the Northeast means...a Nor'easter.  Rain. Wind.  Ick. The crisp air is soggy and the leaves that were just starting to turn to the crisp colors of the season are dripping and drooping. On this crappy weekend I should be grateful that I'm in the Pocono Mountains and not the NJ Shore.  I still LOVE the NJ shore.  (I always will.)  I'm happy that I sold the house on the barrier island, even though from what I can see/tell it looks like the worst of the flooding (and there IS flooding; there will always be flooding) is further south.  If I still had a house there I would be a wreck.  I'm wreck enough without that, so it's a good thing that I am no longer invested in that.  Again, love it and miss it, but don't miss the anxiety.  And I DO wonder...

  Happy Dolly Parton Day!  We should ALL celebrate.  (Why not?) We probably SHOULD have celebrated while Dolly was still alive (wouldn't she be tickled pink?), but hindsight is always 20/20. Why should we celebrate Dolly on 9-2-5?  Why SHOULDN'T we? Why shouldn't we celebrate a woman who: 1.      Was born in poverty; one of 12 children living in a 2 room house.  When she died she was worth over $450 million. 2.      Wasn't afraid to laugh at herself. (Google some of her quotes...she knew how to use laughter.) 3.      She founded a charity in 1995 that mails free books to young children worldwide every month...  (Approximately 330 million and still going.  Sources say that in 2017, her Imagination Library gifted more than 40 million books to children. )  And she did so in honor of her father who couldn't read. 4.      She had her own theme park since 1986.  (I've n...

So, I may spend most of my time in the Poconos, but when "my" church needed someone to fill in one Sunday, it was back to NJ.  (I've yet to transfer my membership to "my" church in the Poconos.)  So here's what my meditation was about.    Matthew 20:1-16   20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius [ a ] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He sai...