Making History

We visited St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Dansville today. Dansville is a historic place. It is where the first American Red Cross was established in 1881. In fact, the church pulpit which Ms. Barton used in founding the ARC is housed at St. Paul's. Well, I've seen it a lot of times but I never really had the chance to take a picture of it. But today I grabbed the opportunity of snapping a couple of pictures to prove that I am not making false claims.

Also, I am honored to be a part of St. Paul's history. Thanks to Mr. David W. Smith who dedicated a hymnal for me and also for my late father, Mr. Anito Fajardo Rodriguez.

The worship area of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Dansville, NY.

I found the hymnal which has my father's name on it at the church organ.

Yes, it's those red books. Mine's on that chair to the right, partially hidden.

My appreciation to your kindness, David.

Dansville Sojourn

David decided that we head to Dansville, his hometown, today. We were supposed to go there tommorow for a meeting at his church for their 200th year anniversary celebration, but the sun was up and there was no sign of snow or rain, although the air was so cold. The forecast said it's going to be colder tomorrow. So he decided it is better to go down to Dansville and attend the potluck dinner in his church there than suffer the cold weather tomorrow. (There's a feast anyhow.

On our way, we stopped at our favorite antique place. It is nice to look at items which you thought nobody would ever save but are really valuable items. The store is four floors. You need a day and a half to go through all the itmes being sold there. I was looking for buttons. I saw a bottle of it last year when we visited the place. But today I only found a bag of old old buttons which I cannot use for my craft. I decided I'd rather buy my buttons at Michael's.

It is funny to hear David scream whenever he finds a thing similar to what he has or had at his house. "Oh, we used to have this kind...," "Oh, Lord, I can't believe I saw this thing again. We used to have this at my mother's house," etc. etc.

Anyway, if you ever head out to Hornell, hometown of Bill Pullman, please visit Erie Line Antique Center.

The antique store.

The Deer Hunter

I was having breakfast today when I saw several deer jumping and strutting on the snow in the backyard. It was a marvelous sight. You seldom see them come out in the open, especially in the morning looking for food. You might seem out in the country where are a lot of bushes and secluded area to protect them from harm. But there are bushes in David's backyard and a sort-of mini-forest just down the road near the nuns' place. My excitement notwithstanding I ran to David's room and pointed to him where the gorgeous creatures were. And I had to run to my room to get my camera and fortunately I was able to take a snapshot of the moment. There were funny when they galloped (I hope this is the right term) away. David said, "they were in a single file with their tails wagging like a windshield wiper." And he wondered why they were in that order as we haven't seen them do that before. I said they probably don't want predators or even people to know that they were several of them who passed by that area- only one set of tracks will be found and that would probably fool everybody.

There were eight of them, although David said there were nine. It doesn't matter.

Kathy Griffin's Mom Arrested

Television superstar Maggie Griffin was arrested yesterday for driving under the influence of an intoxicating substance.


The mother of comedienne Kathy Griffin was arrested by the police after a brief chase at her daughter's humongous mansion in Chicago.


"I can't believe she would do this. I mean, she drove off with her scooter in the house drunk. In my house! She had a box of wine on her lap. I knew I just have to report her," the younger Griffin said who stars her own reality-based show, My Life on the D-List. The vehicle, the comedienne said was a gift from her last year.


"After stealing my gays from me, she has the courage to do this?" Ms. Griffin said. "I have to enroll her in Scientology to cleanse her system. I'm calling Tom Cruise right this moment!"


"We have to chase Mrs. Griffin around her daughter's house, but we were able to stop her. She didn't resist arrest," representative of the police said.


Mrs. Griffin was taken to her room for a 24-hour detention, but the police said she has to undergo community service by watching full episodes of her daughter's show over BravoTV.

"Suck it, Kathy!" Mrs. Griffin said when asked for comments.

'Praise Song for the Day'

This poem was composed and read by poet Elizabeth Alexander during Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration:

Praise Song for the Day

by Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what's on the other side.

I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.


Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

Ryan Lochte Caught Drinking

I wasn't even half-done reading the magazines I received when when *gulp another magazine came in the mail. This time Vogue! Well, I am not sure if I am becoming a fashionista, but who knows. Watch out Tim Gunn.

Hey, it's Britney b*tch on the cover of Glamour magazine.

Olympian Ryan Lochte shows he can pose better than Michael Phelps. Nobody could refute that Mr. Lochte is betterlooking and I hope he does more modeling projects.

There he is caught drinking a cola.

Ryan shows he looks superb aside from wearing a Speedo swimwear.

Fashion Miss

First lady Michelle Obama of course received tremendous criticism with her choice of wardrobe for the inaugural event. Let's leave out the comments of anchors and hosts of morning shows who said her choices were magnificent. While the first dress she wore received critical acclaim, the gown she wore at the inaugural ball was (okay, let us be nice) a painful sight to behold. It doesn't take one to be a fashion designer or critic to know that the gown was a bad choice. Or to say it more clearly- "a major fashion disaster."

Well, come on, let us face the fact that it didn't made her shine unlike the first gown did. The young designer was so ecstatic about the whole thing that he appeared (and even called) on several shows and you know talked about the usual tittle-tattle thing about the design etc. Well, what can the designer say about the criticitism but brush them aside. He'd probably say, "Well, my gown was worn by a first lady." Sigh, we know it was an honor to have designed the first lady's gown but you don't want to be noted in fashion history books as "the designer who made that awful looking gown a first lady wore at the inaugural ball." Well, you may have found fame in this, but it wasn't positive.




Why didn't Mrs. Obama choose a gown similar to what Renee Zellweger wore for a Marie Claire photoshoot? It would have made the fashion industry beam with pride.








I know I've read something about the said designer somewhere. So, I went through my magazines and true enough there he was being noted as the next designer to shine in the fashion world.

The white coat with black embellishments costs more than $5,000.

Heck, I could probably find a smiliar coat at Goodwill for $5 and it would be brand new and unused.

Learning from History

David did tell me last night he had to get up early for his doctor's appointment. But not too early when America was still living the moment after its first African-American president was inaugurated yesterday.

Yikes, David, was up and thumping around the house at 4 a.m. Then the garage door opened at 5:45 a.m. and I thought he has a laboratory appointment to go to before going to the doctor. Later, at 7 a.m. he came back - with a plastic bag in tow.

I asked, "How was the everything? " And looked for a bandage on his arm. He said he'll be at the doctor's office at 9 a.m. and the blood work was already done last week.

I wondered where he'd been? Apparently, he went to Barnes and Noble in Pittsford to purchase copies of newspapers- The New York Times, Democrat and Chronicle, and USA Today. It was afterall the day after the momentous inauguration.

"I've learned from the past," he said, his lips pursed and head shaking.

The day after Pres. Barack Obama won against John McCain last year the New York Times and other major publications were sold out in a whim. The next day copies of the papers were being sold on e-Bay for as much as $100 a copy. So, David, the former school teacher/librarian for 38 years went to the bookstore early in the morning and bought not one but two copies of each paper. O, he also bought a copy of The WallStreet Journal this evening.

I had to ask permission to read the contents. However, he somewhat got mad at me the way I folded the pages.

"You don't know how to fold newspapers properly," he thundered. Well, yeah, like I haven't worked for a newspaper before. Then he showed me how to put the pages back together properly.

"You're destroying your inheritance," he said.

Feast of newsprints

What do you do after a snowstorm?

Shovel of course.


Here are some pictures to show that snow isn't really pretty all the time (well, that is, after a snowstorm hit Rochester early this year).

Moi, showing how deep the snow was. This was taken after we shoveled the driveway of snow 10 inches deep. The snow on the car had also melted. Good thing David's other car was placed in the garage or we would have had a hard time cleaning it. Good thing it was just snow flurries and not wet, heavy snow.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

The night the snowstorm hit Rochester.

I'm dreaming of a white new year.

There it is!

Charice to Perform in Obama's Inauguration?

Maybe.

Kate Winslet Triumphs at the Golden Globe

Wow, as in wow! Kate Winslet won both major acting awards in the Golden Globe. Is this a first in the Golden Globe?


Winslet won best supporting actress for The Reader and best actress for The Revolutionary Road.

Gifts

Last year I received a gift of a year's subscription of Men's Vogue and GQ magazines. This year I received a year's subscription of Elle, Glamour, and Marie Claire. Hello, Nina Garcia!

[I guess, my GQ subscription is still on. I just received the recent issue with Jennifer Aniston on the cover, and Ryan Lochte inside (!)].


Other gifts I received were:

1. A laptop computer
2. A 10MP 15x camera
3. An 8GB USB
4. Jose Garcia Villa's book published by Penguin
5. A cologne, soap, and aftershave cologne set (well, it's from a set of gifts from David that included a lot of stuff. Now, where are my chocolates?)
6. Barnes and Noble gift card from the College's provost
7. Barnes and Noble gift card from David
8. Barnes and Noble gift card from my scholarship (well, it's for my textbooks)
9. Gift card for A.C. Moore from David's brother and his wife
10. Stamps and other cardmaking products from Big Tim (Big Thanks!)
11. Gift card for Pittsford Cinema 9 (used it to watch Doubt and Slumdog Millionaire)
and a lot of love from my friends...

Recent Acquisitions

1. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
2. The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun by Martin Prechtel (autographed copy)

(I am missing one book and I can't remember what it was?)