NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

15 SECRETS THE VATICAN DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW

WHEN MUSICIANS GROW OLD

 I see that Richard is complaining about the clutter of his musical instruments over on his blog.

It's just as well that he doesn't own a piano or ...

DOWNSIZING

 

No, not that, although The Old Girl does cast aspersions along with her sideways look at me sometimes.

If we, in the next couple of years sell our house and move to either a smaller house or an apartment then we will have to get rid of a hell of a lot of stuff.

When it comes to junk, out of condition and well-used stuff this isn't a problem as it wouldn't take long to give it away or take to the tip.

What would take longer is selling those things that are worth a lot of money (based on original purchase prices) or have value that has increased since purchase many years ago. The kind of stuff  I'm talking about is:

• Artwork. We have lots of lovely original paintings and prints along with some sculptural pieces we've collected. There's no way that a future dwelling would accommodate these so, sadly we'll have to drastically reduce the quantity.
• Ceramics. We have some very special pieces that we wouldn't be able to take with us. These include the 100+ piece Copeland Spode 'Buttercup' dinner service, an 45 piece set of  Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque dinner service and other artisan bowls, dishes and plates along with crystal glasses and decanters. The beautiful  Stephen Scholefield  plate that Richard and Shelley gave us will not be sold - that will be going with us.
• Valuable things in the basement like my Avanti mountain bike, the EGO lawnmower and other EGO tools, the STIHL waterblaster.
• Snooker table and accessories.

Actually, thinking about it and making a list makes me think that there's not going to be a lot of stuff to sell. We'll carefully go through our book collection and keep the rare and valuable ones with the hope that a new residence will have space for a decent bookshelf and furniture and appliances by then will all be in need of replacement anyway.

Just by writing this post I think that I've taken the pressure off but will make an effort to sell the dinnerware to start with.

Hey! It gives me something to do (and blog about).

****************

Copeland Spode Buttercup from the internet. Ours has extra items.

Belle Epoque dinnerware from the internet. Ours has extra items

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The Scolefield plate

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 The Religious Curmudgeon has responded to a recent post of Robert's.

WOO-WOO!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

 Looking on Facebook's 'Neighbourly - Old Wellington Region' I think I spied Richard in this photograph:

What a hoot!

AND NOW FOR A LOAD OF OLD COCK

Readers, well, a random reader may have noticed that Richard (of RBB) in comments on my posts and on his own blogs, is obsessed by penises. One of his blogs is named Phillip Edward Nis!

Here's just one example:

There are many, many others.

Anyway, I realised that it's a laugh that all three of the principal bloggers names have connotations with penises.

Richard (Dick):

Peter:

 

Robert (Bobby):

DENNIS TOADY?*

* No, that's what I thought The Old Girl asked me this morning and I answered "who"? 

She often speaks to me from another room and unless I have my hearing aids in I can't make out what she's saying. She asked if I was playing tennis today. Yes I was regardless of what that old fake news promulgator from Wainuiomata says. I played tennis, not golf.

It's been a marvellous morning - warm and sunny. My tennis was OK once I reverted back to my normal serve. I started off experimenting with a new serving style that I leaned from the internet yesterday.

It didn't work for me.

After that I played quite well and enjoyed it except for the fact that Roger turned up.

The other old duffers at tennis welcomed him, obviously forgetting how much of a nuisance he is.  They also forget the score and are forever getting line calls wrong. I ignored him. Even though I'm a nice curmudgeon at tennis I can still be an unforgiving bastard so don't feel the need to be nice to him. Maybe I can suggest that he moves to the Hutt Valley.

I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER ...

 It's a funny thing but every-time I hang the washing out and it's a warm sunny day but windy, I'm immediately transported back to Norfolk Island.

It's like Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu which I have mentioned before - many times. A memory trigger like his madeleine - the wind and sun transports me back. I guess it's because it's a happy memory. 

Norfolk Island is located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres directly east of Australia. It has a maritime-influenced humid subtropical climate with warm, humid summers and very mild, rainy winters. It can also be quite windy. I remember enjoying the subtropical garden at the motel we stayed in with the warmth counteracting the windy conditions. 

I'm not a 'beach person' and neither is The Old Girl. Sunbathing on a beach is boring to us which I guess is why I preferred Norfolk Island to my previous holidays in Tonga, Fiji and Rarotonga.

I just thought I'd share that with you. No doubt it'll make Robert chuckle.

Richard will probably do a bit of the old Marcel Proust-type reminiscing himself since I mentioned New Caledonia ... but, that's another story.

IT'S A LAUGH INNIT? (2)

 IT'S A LAUGH INNIT?

(I hope you went to that link and saw the excellent 'The Young Ones' segment).

According to Richard (of RBB), Robert (of I think, Rob) has been laughing a lot recently.

Robert himself is given to a chuckle here and there in between being a downer with his depressing Jesus parables ...

... although, he has slipped a bit in the intensity of his hilarity:

and then,

Maybe his chuckling has been forced like a brave face to the ribbing that Richard and I give him about his Catholic beliefs.

If so, it makes me think of the excellent and very, very scary painting by Yue Minjun - The Execution (1995, oil on canvas).

Make of it what you will.

NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

 The Music Curmudgeon say's he's written a seven act opera and wants to share it.

I've convinced him to pare it down a little so he's published an excerpt from it on his blog. 

Enjoy?

INFAMY!

.

LA DONNA E MOBILE*

* I'm not sure that The Old Girl agrees.

Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851.

The work, Verdi's sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by her father.

OK, I guess that you might have guessed that we are going to see Rigoletto tomorrow in Auckland. I'm looking forward to this as we love opera and Verdi's Rigoletto is a good one.

We'll drive down late morning, visit a sick friend and then check in to our hotel. The performance is at 7.30 but we'll grab a quick bite earlier at one of our favourite eating places - The Federal Delicatessen which is in the same street as our hotel.

It's crappy weather up here but hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow. I hate driving in the rain and, with heavy downpours there would likely be slips and delays on The Brynderwn Hills road. We'll leave early just in case.

I'll have to pack tonight as I'll have to wear my 'grown-up clothes' as The Old Girl won't like attending the opera with me weraing shorts and T-shirt. There's always a downside. Heigh-ho.

"THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS ..."

 

" I FEEL LIKE DANCING"

 It's Tuesday today. We woke to a cold and rainy day - 13 degrees inside and 13 degrees outside. I won't be playing tennis today.

I wonder what the Catholics are doing? Probably celebrating the feast day of Saint James the Dismembered or Mother Hermione the Dysfunctional.

Either one brings tears to your eyes.

Music schoolteachers no doubt, even if there's a polar blast blowing up their skirts, can take solace in the fact that the government is welcoming back the old, the infirm, the incapable and the cacographic into the teaching fold to make up numbers. I guess they can reinstate the old values.

As a treat I might drive into Onerahi and pick up my medication prescription.

Oh the thrill!

AND NOW FOR SOME HIGH BROW STUFF

 OK, I've got the low-brow stuff out of the way now. While it's good for sparking interest amongst the other bloggers I find it basically unsatisfying  - like going to see a chimps tea party at the zoo. So ...

... onto something important.

WHO'S TRUMP SCREWING NOW?

Apart from all of us of course.

One of the funniest things I've seen in US politics this week is that old sad sack Marjorie Taylor-Greene (MJT) showing her jealousy at her idol Donald Trump throwing his hat (and probably his 'tightie-whities') into Laura Loomis's circle.

MJT vs LOOMER

MJT  said that Laura Loomer is a problem and doesn’t represent MAGA as a whole. This is pretty funny coming from someone as extreme as Taylor-Greene who is as far right as it gets and a loony to boot.

It really does sound like a lover's tiff although I'm not saying that Trump and MJT have been an item - give the old guy some credit. She however has, over the last year been trying to cosy up to Trump to get into his inner circle which is where she sees the power is and it must be very disconcerting for her to, at the last moment be gazumped by another right-wing loony.

Laura Loomer certainly has quickly inveigled her way into that inner circle with Trump seeming to make a fool of his old self, fawning over her and pawing her like a dirty old uncle at a Christmas party.

It's sad to see and, even if the speculation of something going on is wrong it's not a good look for a married man especially one who is trying to make everyone believe that his wife supports him.

I wonder what Robert's Pope thinks of this?

STILL AT IT

 

OK - AFTER THE SECOND SONG

 

MEANWHILE OVER AT THE JAM IN WELLINGTON TODAY

 

SEEING WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HATS

 Richard has been showing off his new trilby hat.

Can you find him?

A

B

C

D

E

F

WHO'S A SILLY OLD C ... CODGER THEN?

 No, not that silly old ex-schoolteacher who wears funny hats it's ... hold on, another silly old ex-schoolteacher who wears funny hats.

Pope Francis on Friday slammed both US presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming US elections.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ Francis said.

Here's the full story: 

POPE LOSES IT

I think that he's treading on very dangerous ground here in an election that is closely run and could result in the worst president ever getting re-elected. This is likely to have dire consequences to world peace and stability and will affect the health and living standards of millions of Americans and maybe billions of people around the world and ... this silly old man in a frock and a funny hat thinks that it's a good idea to rally the Catholic and Christian vote to support Trump.

I previously had some admiration for Pope Francis, seeing him as a force for change in the Catholic Church and Vatican policies but he has been disappointing of late. It may be due to old age or more likely that the cardinals and the Vatican power base have worn him down. 

He's lost it. Let's just hope that many millions of American women who under under the influence of Christian patriarchy vote against Trump.

SILLIER THAN RICHARD'S HAT

Did you watch the US Presidential debate on Wednesday?

It was pretty good. Harris started off slowly and missed a few easy lobs but eventually nailed the silly old fool to the wall. Professional news agencies and reputable analysts have given Harris the nod as winner and polls are clearly showing it like this one.

 This hasn't stopped Trump with coming out with lies like:

In the after debate interviews Trump came out with absolute garbage about poll numbers he's been told of, throwing out numbers like 90%. 72%, 89% etc margins of him winning. The guy is deluded. Watch this:

I haven't seen stuff like this since Robert's last blog post defending Catholicism.

WASP IT SOMETHING I SAID?

Someone on Facebook (Neighbourly) posted a pic of the Brit TV series Are You Being Served recently.

I put up a comment:

"Amongst the worst of the low brow British comedies, On The Buses was worse though."

Boy, did this get some response - over 150 replies, overwhelmingly anti and vicious with denigrating comments about my character, 'wokefulness', having no sense of humour etc. etc. It actually confirmed my belief that low brow is the default setting for most people. I've written on this before: LOW BROW and GROWING UP

Facebook can be like a wasp nest where posting or commenting is like poking a stick into it and watching or fleeing as thousands of angry, mindless insects fly out at you. While it can be funny it often is sad to see how many stupid people are out there which reminds me - my last comment on that Facebook post was:

"It’s amazing how making a comment based on a personal view can elicit so much hostility. There are a lot of angry and stupid people out there."

I'll return later to see the results of that grenade I lobbed in. 

CUTTING THROUGH ALL THE CRAP

 I was baptised as a Catholic. I attended Catholic schools. I was an altar boy and a sacristan. I was indoctrinated in the idiocy of the Catechism and, at secondary school given a bit of an insight into theology. The result of all this is that I'm an atheist.

Atheism isn't a belief or a 'religion'. It's just a commonsense view that all this belief in deities and the trappings of religion - all religions - is rubbish.

Robert throws into his blog posts regurgitations from Catholic Apologists and Sunday Mass sermons peddling the 'Vatican line' of the month and occasionally publishes treatises from some very clever yet deluded historical theologians. The whole thing becomes turgid and stultified and quite frankly, not worth reading. That's why, today, Richard, another ex-Catholic-educated and indoctrinated atheist brilliantly cut through all this bullshit with a rather concise view of it.

Now I know that I'm a curmudgeon. I know that I can be acerbic. I admit to using irony wherever I can (Donald Trump would mistakenly describe that as sarcasm) but I'm being honest here. Richard cut through all of Robert's bullshit in this post HERE

If you can't be arsed going to the link then, as the post is short, I'll copy and paste it for you.

"Robert admires a Catholic apologist, named Trent Horn*, who likes to use big arguments to prove that Catholics are correct in their beliefs**. Okay, let's take a look at God's number one enemy - Satan. Okay, God creates the angels. Let's assume that he gives them free will so that, if they fuck up, it's their own fault. Remember, if He doesn't give them free will, God is responsible for whatever they do.

Now you must remember that God is all knowing and therefore sees the future (which, incidentally, must make His 'life' a bit boring). As He is about to make the angel Lucifer, he knows what Lucifer's fate will be - Hell forever***. Wouldn't a kind, loving God think, "Ah, look, I just won't make him." Remember that He knows how much Lucifer will suffer.

Anyway, Lucifer rebels and tries to defeat God. This is an impossible task, and not a fair fight, because God can do anything - He's always going to win. It's like the All Blacks playing a primary school rugby team. Hey, no mean jokes about the ABs!

Make no mistake, God is responsible for Lucifer's (now known as Satan) actions. He just won't own up to it.

Brilliant.

IT'S A FUNNY THING

I see hat my last post appealed to the old music and religious bloggers Fiddle & Diddle.

 I'm pleased to be of service but it's a funny thing when I, a confirmed* atheist get compared to either The Holy Spirit or to Satan. I must be doing something right - or wrong.

Robert has suggested that this blogging community is some sort of holy trinity not unlike his Holy Trinity I guess. He infers that I'm needed to make up the third as the Holy Spirit. 

Whether that's due to my experience in the liquor industry I'm not sure but it raises the question about the other two. To make up Robert's Holy Trinity we need God and his son Jesus. Who's god and who's Jesus then?

I guess that Richard has more gravitas along with the fact that he's a lot older and can appear quite grumpy at times. It's not a stretch of the imagination to see him smiting hordes, drowning civilisations and getting a thrill out of duping Adam so maybe he is god (the father).

Robert, with his prissy Christian and Catholic sermonising and going about loving everyone is Jesus (the son) I guess. The way he bangs on about religion it makes sense that people might 'get cross' with him.

Oh well, I'd better 'confirm' this post so that it's published.

* Nothing to do with that silly Catholic ceremony of Confirmation: