31 October 2011. It’s Halloween… SMILE!

______________________________

As far as I’m concerned, one of the most exasperating things in this world are the earnest sorts who try to convince one of the evils of this or that. Some are “global warming” nutters… I simply say that the climate’s fluctuated in the past, it’ll do so in future, and there’s nothing that mankind can do of it, as we weren’t the cause of it in the first bloody place. Therefore, I’m persona non grata to the Passionately Left… as I deny that mankind’s got anything to do about “warming”. I’m also persona non grata to the Slobbering Right for admitting that there’s any “warming” at all. Earth to activists on both sides: the earth’s temp is merely increasing to the point that it was when it was warm enough to live in Greenland. Case closed…

The “Halloween Dispute” is much the same, I fear. Much of the brouhaha is absolute hooey. It merely gives the terminally religious another occasion to feel superior to their fellows and fill the air with loud Jeremiads about how everything is going to hell in a handbasket, yadda, yadda, yadda. As for me, I observe that much of what goes on in American society on Halloween is just harmless kid fun… let’s leave it at that. In any case, the thing with ghosts and spirits had nothing to do with Satanists or any other oddball cult. It’s because Halloween is “All Hallows Eve“… the day before the Feast of All Saints on the papist calendar. Evangelicals would do well to remember that, but then again, they’re known for their long faces and disapproval of anything remotely FUN.

The bears are enjoying Halloween… and so should we. God honours innocent fun. There’s a particularly cold place in Hell for those who rain on others’ parades in the name of God. I find that’s an especially noxious form of blasphemy. Do think on that…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 31 October 2011

Albany NY

31 October 2011. Some Good Links for Russian Cooking and Russian Cuisine

Of course, some of the best links that I know for Russian cooking are in Russian, but that doesn’t help those of you who don’t have facility in it. Therefore, I went off in Search of the Lost Chord… where, oh where, had my little recipe gone? I found some good links… I hope that you find them useful.

BMD

******

http://www.ruscuisine.com/

******

http://russcooking.com/

******

http://russianchef.blogspot.com/

******

http://www.russianfoods.com/recipes/view/default.asp

******

http://www.russianrecipes.co.nz/

******

http://www.russlandjournal.de/en/recipes/

******

http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/sli/admin/cookbook.html

******

http://www.food.com/recipes/russian

******

The little animation below was a gift from my late friend Denise Bohush Ryan… spare a prayer for her, won’t you? It’s been almost a year… I miss you so, dear… damn, it’s not fair! Younger than I am… and a free spirit, like the wind. Memory eternal…

******

31 October 2011. Lil’ Mizz Ginny Screws Up Again… Where’s A Post About “Sobor Opens in Seattle Today?”

Let’s keep this focused. As of 13.15 EDT Monday 31 October 2011, there’s no post on oca.org stating that today’s the opening of the OCA Sobor. If Lil’ Mizz Ginny were a pro, and not JP’s and Lyonyo’s shill, she’d have had a detailed schedule up FOUR WEEKS IN ADVANCE. Then, she’d have a follow-up post ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE of the Sobor. On the Friday previous to the Sobor, there’d be a post asking everyone to pray for the success of the meeting, plus interviews with leading figures. Today, there’d be TWO posts… one in the morning, announcing that the Sobor would begin, and another in the evening giving an account of what happened that day. That’s how a pro like Vlad Legoida would do it… and you can conclude from that that Ginny Nieuwsma’s no pro… she’s Fathausen’s running-dog lackey, nothing more. This is ridiculous. As I wrote last night, JP’s spat in your face and in your coffee with his secrecy. It’s up to you to do something about it. All that I can do is to point up the situation.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR THE LORD TO ACT…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 31 October 2011

Albany NY

The Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God will Visit More Russian Cities…

The Belt of the Most Holy Hoy Mother of God, which is touring Russia with a delegation from Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, is going to go to more cities than was originally planned. The press service of the St Andrew the First-Called Foundation, which organised the tour of the relic, told Interfax-Religion, “Due to the unprecedented number of believers who wish to venerate the belt of the Most Holy Mother of God, with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all the Russias, we’ve expanded the number of cities that’ll host this great Christian relic”. The new cities on the list include Tyumen (3-4 November), Volgograd (12-13 November), and Stavropol (16-17 November). So far, the delegation has taken the relic to St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Norilsk. At present, it’s in Vladivostok. It will also go to Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Diveyevo, Saransk, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Kaliningrad, and Moscow. On 23 November 23, it’ll return to Mount Athos.

The Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God arrived in St Petersburg on 20 October at Pulkovo Airport, where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met the delegation carrying the reliquary. The relic left Greece’s borders for the first time since it was taken to Vatopedi Monastery. About 20 monks from Mount Athos are in the delegation taking the relic to Russia. As he told reporters earlier, Archimandrite Ephrem, the abbot of Vatopedi Monastery, said that the reliquary with the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God is usually brought once a year to a Greek city, in response to fervent requests from believers. He explained that, earlier on, Vatopedi Monastery had refused all requests from other countries, particularly from the USA and Romania, to bring the reliquary there. They made an exception for Russia.

For many years, Vatopedi monks made small belts, blessed them by pressing them to the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God, and distributed them to the faithful. The procedure is to take a reel with 300 metres (985 feet) of cloth, which the monks press to the reliquary, whilst they consecrate it with the reading of special prayers. Then, the reel goes to monks whose obedience is to cut the ribbon into half-metre (1.65 feet) lengths, twist them, and place them in plastic bags, which also contain a text that tells about the relic and on how to properly pray and fast before it. Orthodox Christians believe that the Mother of God helps, through these belts, with infertility in women, healthy pregnancies, and normal births. As the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God is kept on Mount Athos, where women aren’t allowed access, then, Russians will have a very rare opportunity to venerate the relic and pray for the gift of offspring, health for their relatives and friends, and for the welfare of the Russian land. In every Russian city visited by the delegation, the belts made by pressing them to the relic are distributed to believers.

31 October 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42836