1984 (2, 10) A Hopeless Fancy

It was only an 'opeless fancy.
It passed like an Ipril dye,
But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred!
They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye!

They sye that time 'eals all things,
They sye you can always forget;
But the smiles an' the tears across the years
They twist my 'eart-strings yet!

-- “1984” by George Orwell

Our sleepyheads get up. They think it is still heading toward evening, when they have actually slept around the clock and it is a fine morning - summer, I think. They hear the fat, proletarian woman singing that song again. Orwell also has our lovers immediately get dressed. In the movie version, starring John Hurt, they correct this unfortunate, prissy step. In the movie, the lovers remain in their prelapsarian nakedness as they look out the window at the woman “pegging out more diapers, and more and yet more.”

Winston is in such a fine, transcendent mood, sated with sleep and sex, he begins to feel that the prole woman is beautiful.

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It had never before occurred to him that the body of a woman of fifty, blown up to monstrous dimensions by childbearing, then hardened, roughened by work till it was coarse in the grain like an overripe turnip, could be beautiful. But it was so, and after all, he thought, why not? The solid, contourless body, like a block of granite, and the rasping red skin, bore the same relation to the body of a girl as the rose-hip to the rose. Why should the fruit be held inferior to the flower?

“She’s beautiful,” he murmured.

“She’s a meter across the hips, easily,” said Julia.

“That is her style of beauty,” said Winston.

He held Julia’s supple waist easily encircled by his arm. From the hip to the knee her flank was against his. Out of their bodies no child would ever come.

-- 1984 by George Orwell

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Pope Francis

There has been some buzz that the new pope is set on marking a new direction in his work. But we are not talking about accepting the equality of women and gays. He still maintains the traditional line. However, Pope Francis is more emphatic in demonstrating that Christianity exalts poverty and should serve the lowest people of society. In one gesture, he does not dress as ornately as others popes have, saying something like "Carnival time is over." And now we have this dramatic gesture.

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In his most significant break with tradition yet, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of two young women at a juvenile detention center — a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.

No pope has ever washed the feet of a woman before, and Francis’ gesture sparked a debate among some conservatives and liturgical purists, who lamented he had set a “questionable example.” Liberals welcomed the move as a sign of greater inclusiveness in the church.

Speaking to the young offenders, including Muslims and Orthodox Christians, Francis said that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service. “This is a symbol, it is a sign. Washing your feet means I am at your service,” Francis told the group, aged 14 to 21, at the Casal del Marmo detention facility in Rome.

“Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us,” the pope said. “This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty. As a priest and bishop, I must be at your service.”

-- Sully's Dish

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It is a striking and rather biblical move, if you can imagine, and it does appear to be a healthy step, but, by itself, it does not connote a big turn-around in a very dysfunctional Church. But it makes you take notice, and you are a little curious to see where this will be heading, to see if this is just about making gestures, or if it is something more.

Today's Sexy

“I want my guy to get more tattoos, I love the idea of a man in a perfect suit looking clean cut and underneath being covered in tats. I just don’t know how to bring it up that I think he should get some…”

-- Filthy Sex Secrets

Friday, March 29, 2013

A busy, busy Grocery Day. This one was our biggest yet since I started going with him. I marvel a little to think how he handled such loads on his own over the past decade since Mother’s decease.

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Pop is not going to Walker’s place for the weekend. Great, she spends three nights over here and I do not get my weekend break. I guess I should be thankful that she is not spending the weekend here, but how long will that last, do you think?

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I see Pop ended up buying a new TV for the kitchen, after all. He likes to call it an upgrade. For a little over three hundred dollars. At least he got a new mower. And don’t forget the $85 charge for Amazon Prime membership! How does the man do it?? I’m sure Social Security is not that great. I would think that he must spend twice as much as he gets in retirement and social-security checks. Well, good for us! Especially good for him, of course, but I certainly benefit as well, I guess.

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Pop is lying on his bed, playing with his gun ,like he is firing it, complete with recoil. The Mexican Clint Eastwood. Well, at least he is younger than Clint.

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