Folk Medicine That Works

As Constant Readers know, Fellow Traveler has been struggling for the past few weeks with walking pneumonia. One of the miseries of this ailment is uncontrollable coughing jags that have left FT's throat sore and kept her awake much of the night.

One of our friends just sent us an e-mail -- one of those spammy e-mails that make the rounds -- about a cure for nighttime coughing. I was skeptical -- but now I'm not. This trick works. FT had her first cough-free night in weeks after trying it.

You will need a jar of Vicks or other mentholated rub, and a pair of clean cotton socks.

Just before retiring for the evening, slather a healthy amount of Vicks onto the soles of your feet. Put on the socks. Go to bed.

I'm here to tell you -- this stops the coughing. I don't know how it does, but it does.

It also keeps the dogs from stealing your socks.

Here's the Church...Here's the Steeple...Here's the Glock

This is absolutely batshit crazy:

More Churches Employ Armed Guards

I wonder what the "white-robed martyrs" would say about the cluster-canoodle of bellicosity, cowardice and poor-me melodrama afflicting today's churches?

Quotable Quote

Andrew Sullivan, urging patience in the struggle for marriage equality:

And we need patience and relentlessness in explaining our lives.

I think that is especially true in the faith community.

Making the Band

Several RevGalBlogPals have shared this meme. It's pretty cool.

1. First, pick a band name from a random Wikipedia link.

2. Next, find a name for your latest album. (Go to the Random Quotations website and use the last four words of the first quotation.)

3. Finally, select art for your album cover. (Find an interesting photo on Flickr.

Here's my band:

Band Name: Finite Group Presentation.

Our Latest Album: Better Than the Best Memory. (Okay...I used five words. But "the" shouldn't count anyway.)

Our Album's Cover Art:

I'm thinking this album goes over in the ambient-music section in Barnes and Noble, and people listen to it while they're doing yoga or getting a massage.

Of course, the very coolest thing of all would be if a group of musical friends got together, did the meme...and then actually recorded an album for the Internet. This could be done.

Friday Five: Comic(s) Relief Edition

This week's Friday Five is all about the comics:

1.What was your favorite comic strip as a child?
Definitely Peanuts, because I identified so totally with good ol' Charlie Brown.

2. Which comic strip today most consistently tickles your funny bone?
Um...er...none of them. Even into my thirties I used to turn to the comics section of newspapers first -- before the editorial pages, even -- but I honestly can't tell you the last time I looked at the funny pages. I wonder what the demise of paper-in-hand newspaper reading will do to the cartoon industry.

3. Which Peanuts character is closest to being you?
See Question 1. I am Charlie Brown.

4. Some say that comic strips have replaced philosophy as a paying job, so to speak. Does this ring true with you?
Not anymore; perhaps in the days of Peanuts, Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes. Now I think the lucky few bloggers-for-pay have stepped into that role.

5. What do you think the appeal is for the really long running comic strips like Blondie, Family Circus, Dennis the Menace as some examples?
I think there's a certain comfort in turning to the funnies and seeing familiar faces there. The other day I picked up a Detroit Free Press -- a newspaper I've been reading online for a couple of years now -- to read with my lunch, and I was startled to turn to the comics section and find row after row of unfamiliar characters. And as far as serial comic strips...I've certainly gotten caught up in the plot lines of cartoons like For Better or For Worse and even, God help me, Brenda Starr.

Bonus question: Which discontinued comic strip would you like to see back in print?
Well, for humor I'd have to say Bloom County, back when it was at its funny and insightful peak. And "The Far Side." And I miss Bill the Cat ("Ack!") But for style points, my vote goes to:

What Century Is This, Anyway?

In the wake of Reformation Day, perhaps it's worth noting that, in this election cycle, we have had to deal with both a few Roman Catholic bishops and a few exciteable Evangelicals warning voters that they were imperiling their immortal souls by voting for Barak Obama.

What century are we in, again?

I don't think that the increasing irreligiosity of society -- and persons identifying not only with no Christian denomination, but with no belief system in particular, is the fastest growing religious demographic in this country -- is much helped by paternalistic religious blowhards who treat their constituencies like errant children who can be scared into desired political behavior by bogus claims of divine authority and spurious threats of damnation. Thinking adults in contemporary society don't put up with this kind of crap. Come to think of it, they didn't put up with it during the Reformation, either.

Palin Out of the Closet!

Looks like Sarah Thrift Shop has somewhat more refined sartorial tastes than she's willing to admit publicly. And that credit-card thing...uh-oh!

The Morning After

One of our fine upstanding area citizens reacts to the President-Elect.

Closer to home -- which is to say, the office -- it was not a happy morning for my coworkers, grousing about "black people voting for Obama just because he's black...that's no reason to vote for someone!"; of course, when Sarah Palin joined the McCain ticket, these same people were waxing ecstatic about "a real small-town working mom just like us" in the race for high office.

Sigh.

On the other hand...another co-worker, whose high-school-aged daughter has been working hard for the local Democratic Party office this fall, and who knows my own political sympathies, greeted me this morning with a bear hug.

"My grandfather was a Southern racist," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "Once my grandfather hit my grandmother after she stepped off the sidewalk to make room for a black man to pass. And now -- now I've lived to see the day when a black man could be elected President in this country. Thank God!"

Now Serving Boor and Whine

How sad, but unsurprising, that John McCain's gracious concession speech was marred by the bad behavior of his audience.

And From the Sanctimonious Sour Grapes Department....

A respondent's comment from Rod Dreher's blog, in the wake of Obama's victory:

Things can go well for Christians even under nations with "wicked" rulers.

Oh, for Christ's sake get over yourselves.

It's Official...

President Obama.

I'm smiling as I'm saying it.

The Voice of "Yes on 8"

From the comments section of the LA Times (original spelling intact):

YES on Prop 8!! We need to ban quiere marrige. Is is unconstitutional. The DOMA act signed your very own Bill Clinton defines marrige between a man and a woman! I'm sick of this paper taking the Liberal side on everything. I think this state is politically retarded! Go McCain Go Prop 8!!
Submitted by: Michael (Moscow,ID)

Yeah -- you go, Sparky.

Which reminds me...I would like to express my appreciation to the McCain-Palin campaign, especially the latter half of of that equation, for helping me again appreciate and embrace the good gift of a university education; and for strengthening my resolve to re-read Classical (and I do mean Classical) authors, learn another language, take some classes, pay more attention to world affairs and otherwise distinguish myself from what appears to be the preferred Republican constituent. So thank you, GOP -- you betcha! -- for sending me on the road to intellectual self-improvement.

My Election Day

On this foggy, unseasonably warm morning I arrived at my township hall about a minute after 7:00 a.m. It was difficult to find a spot for my vehicle; and a significant line already snaked down the main hallway, out the door and into the parking lot.

I got in line, and was quickly followed by others. My township is heavily skewed toward retirees, and usually on election days I'm one of the few people present discernably under 70. But this morning a good proportion of voters were younger people; I saw many younger men in work jackets embroidered with their names. A couple of teenagers were nervously shifting from foot to foot in the queue.

The man behind me started talking to me. "I got two guys at work who are always complaining about 'the government' this and 'the government' that. I tell them, 'If you can't bother to vote, then you can't complain.'" He paused for effect. "And I don't see them here this morning."

The conversation in line was quiet; mostly non-political; talk about going to work or going out for breakfast when we were done.

And we waited. And waited. And waited.

As the line slowly crept inside the hall, I started feeling uncharitable toward the voters up ahead, already at the machines. What is taking you so long? I thought as one guy in Carhartts lingered in his station for a full 15 minutes, head in hand. Have you not thought about how you were going to vote until now? What could you possibly still be deciding?

It was 7:40 when I finally got a ballot in my hand.

I voted.

I hope you did, or do, too.

The Ground Game in Outer Podunk

Fellow Traveler decided to spend a few hours this morning helping out at our beleagured county Democratic Party headquarters.

She was assigned the task of calling registered voters and encouraging them to vote for the Democratic Party ticket.

Direct quote from one of the callees: "I ain't votin' for no nigger."

Sadly, I'm not terribly surprised.

"I Can't Stand It!"

I'm sitting here at work reading one of the area senior newsletter that pass across my desk each month. On the front page is the sort of badly rhyming doggerel about old-age decreptitude that is in very nearly every issue of every newsletter. I'm reasonably sure that if I actually open the newsletter I will find an account of yet another scam aimed at gullible seniors...more half-hearted pleas to visit this or that senior center and see dancing chihuahuas or play Canned Fruit Bingo or learn "Facts About Fiber"...ain't-it-awful editorializing by someone who probably should be reading about fiber...

In the words of Charlie Brown: I can't stand it!

If I have to take much more of "the senior network," I am going to be reduced to babbling disassociation, in full fetal position under the desk.

There must be more to working life than this.

Daily Bread

I finally upgraded my battered old bread machine for a snazzy Breadman Ultimate Plus, and last night I made my first loaf of bread in it. You can find a photo of my maiden effort, plus the recipe, on my food blog .

More Gertie!

For All the Saints

For your listening pleasure:

Meet the Family

Just because we haven't posted many pet pictures lately:

This is Cassie, who has a hard time relaxing. (The quilt underneath her, by the way, is the work of our church quilt ladies.)

Here's Gertie. Gertie loves her sissie, and Mamas, and her sister Mollie.

For awhile we feared that Gertie was the canine equivalent of those Eastern European orphans with attachment disorder -- that her appalling upbringing had left her incapable of bonding with us or with Cassie. But Gertie has grown to be an incredibly loving dog -- every morning she explodes into our faces with kisses and doggie "petting" with her paws. Our vet and groomer both say she has one of the sweetest dispositions of any dog they've ever dealt with. Now -- if we can only wean her from her love of chewing shoes and electronics.

And finally...below you will see Miss Mollie, also known as The Mollinator. Fellow Traveler has shared a life with Mollie for at least a decade. When I first met Mollie, she was a quiet, stealthy little ghost of a cat who very rarely made public appearances in the common rooms of our home. Now she hangs with us whenever we're together. She has also discovered her voice; formerly silent, she now converses with us in a variety of chirps and meows. Gertie, especially, loves Mollie; in unguarded moments we wil find them sharing a nose-smooch.

We love our girls. They bring so much joy, and humor, and affection to our lives -- and to one another's. We are blessed to have them in our lives.

A Fall Feast

Just because I'm too lazy to cut-and-paste...read about our fabulous Sunday dinner here .