Bfth's Boring Blog

I was going to do a year wrap up, or even a decade wrap up, but then I heard Jerry Herman died.  Hence this post. Jerry (I didn't know him, but I'm going with Jerry anyway), wrote some of my favorite songs and favorite musicals.  And my family has a bunch of memories to go along with them. My mother went to see "Hello Dolly!"  when it was first on Broadway.  (She didn't go with my dad!  Shocking!)  She still remembers how amazing Carol Channing was when she walked down that runway to the title song.  I can imagine how thrilling it must have been as the music swelled.  The songs and the cast!  In addition to the legendary Carol Channing there was Charles Nelson Reilly and Eileen Brennan! There have been plenty of amazing revivals, but I'd give my eye teeth to have been in the audience for the original production. The first musical I did in high school was "Mame."  It remains one of my favorite memories of high school theat...

On the 4th Sunday in Advent we light the candle of love.  Hope, Peace and Joy have come and now is a time to be reminded of the love that is the reason behind the season.  Love comes in the form of a baby.  And that is how it SHOULD be, two people coming together to express their love for each other that can result in a new birth; the ultimate expression of love. On this Sunday, however, I am reminded that love is so much more as demonstrated in today's New Testament lesson:  "Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.  But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wif...

We're in the home stretch for the holidays and the end of the DECADE is less than 2 weeks away.  (How the heck did that happen???)  It's time for me to spend some time spreading my special brand of Bfth cheer with rants and maybe a few raves too... As I write this we are technically still in autumn.  Yet, we have already used up a snow day and this Tuesday's ice storm looked like nothing...until I hit the backyard.  My usual ice coated driveway was clear, but each blade of grass was engulfed in ice.  Sure the trees looked pretty, but when one uprooted in my backyard...not so pretty.  (And not so cheap to get removed!)   If this is what late autumn looks like, what is winter proper going to be?  I'm shivering in my shoes and it's not from the temperatures!  (Although I would LOVE a day where the temperature actually hits freezing or above!) This entire month has been one g...

" Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright" It's clear that Franz Gruber (who composed the melody to the much loved song) and Father Joseph Mohr were living in a different world than we face today. And I doubt either had to deal with children/family on the week leading up to Christmas. All is NOT calm...and looking out my window all isn't bright.  (The tune playing in MY head is "In the Bleak Midwinter" even though we aren't even officially in winter yet!) One of the reasons I made this past Sunday a family day of fun and relaxing (sort of) is because I knew this week was NOT going to be calm.  This week was (and is) chaotic. Let me give you a picture of what this week before the holiday break at school looks like for my family: Monday:  After school my son had choir rehearsal, rehearsal for the spring musical and then walked home.  (I was going to pick him up, but I got delayed at the office and no surprise, traffic was horrific...

On this third Sunday in Advent is a time of joy, so rejoice!  As it says in Isaiah: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you." "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall...

Charlotte:  6 Daniel:  7 Rachel:  29 Olivia:  6 Josephine:  7 Dylan:  6 Dawn: 47 Madeline:  6 Catherine:  6 Chase:  7 Jesse:  6 Ana:  6 James: 6 Grace: 7 Anne Marie:  52 Emilie:  6 Jack: 6 Noah: 6 Caroline:  6 Jessica: 6 Avielle:  6 Lauren: 30 Mary: 52 Victoria:  27 Benjamin:  7 Allison:  6 They have been dead for 7 years now. What have I done in the last 7 years?  What purchases have I made? What parties have I gone to?  What celebrations have I enjoyed? They have been dead for 7 years now. In the last 7 years I have laughed and cried.  I have been happy and sad.  I've been angry and I've been elated. They have been dead for 7 years now. How many sunsets have I seen in the past 7 years?  How many stars in the sky have I admired?  How many times have I shoveled snow?  How many waves in the ocean have I jumped?  How many...

Recently I had an experience where I felt...nothing.  I don't want to get into all the details because it's just a bit too personal and raw right now to share.  (Go and say that I'm copping out!  I am!)  But I was expecting something; in the past I had felt something, but this time there was:  nothing. The best example I can give of this experience (and this is totally made up) would be perhaps to have gone to see the Beatles perform live in concert in the 1960s and NOT have screamed, yelled or fainted.  Imagine being in the middle of such an experience and feeling nothing. This nothingness really bothered me.  It continued to bother me.  What the heck was/is wrong with me.  I SHOULD be feeling something... Then the lyrics to a song from "A Chorus Line" popped into my head.  The song is of course titled:  "Nothing."  And even though I haven't seen the show (or even the not so great in my opinion movie) in age...

Caroll Spinney died on Sunday.  Do you know the name?  Most people probably don't.  But most people DO know who Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch are.  And if you know then, then you knew Caroll. I never met Caroll Spinney.  I know people who have.  And they all have nothing but lovely things to say about him.  I have my own non face to face story, but I'll get to that in a minute. I grew up with Caroll Spinney.  I was 3 years old when Sesame Street premiered.  I can remember it airing twice a day on our local PBS station and I usually watched it twice.  Big Bird was a friend to us all, but Oscar he was the grouch for me. I am so old that I can remember when Oscar was orange.  When I used to say that people wouldn't believe me.  But I had the Sesame Street record album to prove it.  And on page 52 of his wonderful treasure of a book Caroll confirms it. '...and I finally met the Grouch when Don pulled him out of an over...

Peace; it is the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Peace; it is something we are sadly lacking. Peace: it is something we all need in our world. Peace; it is something we all need in our souls and in our spirits. Peace; it is difficult to find. Peace; take a moment, for most have not much more than a moment.  But we need the moments.  We need to FIND the moments to allow ourselves solace.  To embrace calm and lock out the chaos.   On this second Sunday in advent, the lectionary reading is one of my favorites.  It is one of peace.  It is Isaiah 11:1-10:”A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;  from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his...

I know they are out of vogue, but I still love Christmas cards.  I love sending them.  I love receiving them.  They are the only good thing that comes in my mailbox.  (That is if they come at all, but I think the post office is actually working on that!)   I take my carding seriously.  It's part of my annual holiday routine and I can't imagine NOT doing so.  In years past, I have tried to cut down on my card sending.  Every year I fail miserably. Ok, maybe I have weeded it down from 75 to 60...is that really culling?  Even with the advent of social media, I still like to send out cards.   It can be a pain in the you know what, especially with the multitude of obligations we all seem to have as the year wraps up.  But I can't and won't stop.  Let me tell you why. Sending a holiday card is my way to connecting; of telling friends who I may not get to see or even talk with during the year that they are i...

Cold weather is here.  (She said looking out the window as the snow covers the already iced ground.)  Not my favorite time of year.  I'm a big fan of warm weather and sandals.  (Or even better bare feet.)  But that's no longer going to happen.  When it gets cold and I'm wearing a skirt or dress, pantyhose just won't cut it.  (Truth be told, I'm not a big pantyhose fan either.)  It's time to get out the tights. I wasn't a fan of those either, until the late in the last century; by which I mean the late 1990s. I had this great maroon suit that and my husband bought me a pair of tights that matched perfectly. However, these were not just any tights.  These were E.G. Smith tights.  They were pretty amazing.  The advertising on the package showed a large MAN and a tiny older woman, BOTH wearing the same pair of tights.  The claim was that the one size fits all tights actually did fit all.  I was skeptical.  Especiall...

Advent is upon us again.  Thanksgiving may have been late this year, but it still seems like the holiday season has been thrust upon us with a sudden shove.  I'm not ready. I'm NOT in the right frame of mind.   So it is important that I am reminded that this Sunday, December 1st is the Sunday of Hope.  I NEED hope.   For some reason or perhaps for a variety of reasons, I've been a little depressed lately.  Just feeling down.  Having this Sunday be one of hope is a reminder for me.  A much needed reminder; and I am sure that I am not the only one.  (Although it may feel like it at times.) Part of this Sunday's lectionary readings come from Isaiah.  "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.  Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the ...

This month has flown by and as it wraps up, I'm realizing that while November is often considered the month of gratitude and thanks, I've done neither.  I'll admit that it's been a difficult autumn.  I've spent too much time focusing on the difficulties.  I've whined and complained, and sadly, GAINED poundage.  (Feeding my emotions with "stuff" that makes me "feel good" in the moment, but not so much in the long run.)  So I want to end the month on a better note.  I want to end on a note of thanksgiving. So let me take some time to look at the good instead of the bad. For example, I came down with a cold last week.  Nothing horrid, but enough to make me feel crappy and uncomfortable. I'm still not completely healthy (there's that darned nagging cough), but I am better.  And too look at it from a position of gratitude; I'm grateful that I got sick when I did.  AFTER the run of my son's school play and BEFORE Thanks...

Thought it might be time to bring some updates on previous blog posts. Is this a cheat for writing?  Who knows. Let's start with the not so serious, although serious:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/missing-oprah.html Yes, I am STILL missing Oprah.  AND its time for the December Holiday issue.  Yes, I can read it on my device (and I WILL), but I really want those glossy pages in my hand.  Since calls to the local postal service in the past as fallen on deaf ears, I've recently submitted a customer service complaint on line.  My lack of mail doesn't fall into the categories that they necessarily have outlined, so I fudged it.  I hope to get a response and give a better update soon.  More importantly, I hope to get a physical magazine in my hand (and continue to receive my circulars as I miraculously have for the past 2 weeks and NOT have to depend on my coworker to get Shoprite coupons!) Moving on to the emotional: ...