Another Saturday night...

...and if you bear with me, I'll have some more pictures for your viewing pleasure.  But first, I shall bore you with hockey.

In today's matches, we saw Tappara win their way into the Finnish finals; however, Jyvaskyla won a 2-1 OT game to stay alive at 3 games to one down to Assat.

Bern survived a 3-goal second period rally to down Fribourg 4-3 and take a 2-0 lead in the Swiss finals.

Lulea got a 2-1 OT win over Farjestads to win their Swedish semifinal and move on to face Skelleftea in the finals.

In Norway, Stavenger rolled over Valerenga 4-1 to take a 2-1 lead in their final series.

In France, Rouen rallied for a 3-1 win over Angers, setting up a final game seven on Tuesday.

And in the UK, Belfast's Craig Peacock had two goals and an assist to top Coventry 5-1 and advance to the winner take all EIHL championship game.  They'll face Nottingham tomorrow, after Canadian Bruce Graham had a hat trick in their 6-3 win over Cardiff.

Which got me thinking about the different nationalities scattered across the various leagues.  I looked up the top ten scorers in each of the leagues I follow (including the NHL).  Canadians took 64 of those spots.  Czechs had 16, but that was skewed by having all ten spots in their own league.  Slovaks made 13, nine of them in their league, followed by Sweden with 12, USA with 10, Finland with 9, Russia-surprisingly- with only 8, Poland with 6 (all in their league), Italy with 4, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark with three, South Korea and Japan (Asia League) with 2 each, and one each from Latvia (in Germany) and Hungary (in France).  Canadians were the leading goal scorers in 9 of the leagues.  The other interesting (to me) thing was a result of the NHL lockout.  The NY Islanders' John Tavares finished in the Swiss top ten- and is currently in the NHL's top ten!


Okay, here's some pictures!

Here's a still taken before the video last night.

Down the street this morning.

 

Noisy blackbird along the canal trail.

Yeah, we crossed this.  Well, at least I did... somebody thought it was better to go through six inches of water and muck and try to pull his daddy into it.

Scrappy vs the Squirrel

It got to be funny- the squirrel attacks the bird feeder, Scrappy goes after the squirrel, squirrel runs away, Scrappy walks away, squirrel comes back.  Here, see for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

In other funny things, I see that now, once he's safely elected, worm  Senator Joe Donnely is now supporting gay marriage.  I wonder if that means he's re-owned the gay son he unofficially disowned during the election.  Speaking of worms, I hope all the alleged Republicans that voted against Richard Mourdock because he ousted their hero Richard Lugar are happy with what they let in.  Good jobs all around!

 

 

And we have our Fourth hockey champion.  KAC Klagenfurt fell behind 2-0 but tied the game on 2 goals by Canadian Tyler Scofield (who exactly matched his regular season point total of 7 goals and 14 points in half the games in the playoffs).  KAC went on from there to take a 5-3 win over first place Vienna to capture the Austrian title from a fifth-place finish.  Klagenfurt, a city of 90,000 near the Slovene border, is the Yankees of Austria with 30 titles now, including 11 straight from 1964-74, and last won in 2009.

 

 

Skelleftea won its way into the Swedish finals today, awaiting the winner of Farjestadt and Linkoping.  Yesterday Traktor (the Meteor guys) downed Ak Bars (the Russian Snow Leopards) for the second straight game to win that series and a date with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL finals.  Another bit of KHL news is the application of Medvescak (the Bears) of Zagreb, Croatia, to the league.  They'll be queuing up behind Milan, Italy, and Gdansk, Poland, as new teams for next year.

 

 

Finally, I'm beginning to lean towards the "Why I blog" topic for that 1,000th post, since I still have only three suggestions for that post.  C'mon, everybody!  Every idea will be considered- except the one you don't send me!

Time Machine #62

The annals of polar exploration are full of tales of both the heroic and the tragic- and sometimes a mix of both.  Thus it was with eager anticipation I set out to learn about Fran Phipps, the first woman to set foot on the North Pole, on April 5th, 1971.  That soon turned to despair as site after countless site told me just that- and no more (except for a handful of foreign sites that had her erroneously reaching the South Pole).  But then I learned yet again, behind every good woman is a good man.  I happened to stumble onto the obit of the Canadian adventuress' hubby, one "Weldy" Phipps.  Weldy, a long time aviator who was a POW in WWII, ran a polar airline called Atlas, which made trips to the pole for medical emergencies for the Eskimos and other such.  And it just so happens that one afternoon, he brought the wife along, and the rest is history.

What she lacked as a courageous heroine she made up as a courageous mother, raising nine children for Weldy.  Weldy, himself, was quite the character, achieving a rescue for himself and a mate in Holland by waving the only white flag he had- his underpants.  He was quite quotable:  After one rough landing, a passenger exclaimed, "You could fly without wings!", to which he replied, "But I couldn't carry cargo!"  Another time, he told a co-pilot, " The problem with passengers is that they are always laughing when they should be praying."

Hey, Sarge?  Whose flag is white with a brown bar down the middle...?

And welcome to this week's Time Machine, where I will attempt- even with the sinus cold to end them all- to top Weldy Phipps with: a "you can't do that" six degrees; the short career of the highest charting British male of the fifties;  the Trashmen who stole a hit; and a new #1!  Seal the hatch and let's roll!

As always, we begin with the hot 100 debuts for this week in 1971, and out of 10, 4 get a mention.  One of them, however, doesn't get a mention here, because it breaks in as the high top 40 debut as well!  Of the others, you have John Lennon with Power To The People at #58, my very bestest group, the Doors, at 79 with Love Her Madly; and one I'd like you to get to know.  With Bee Gee Maurice Gibb producing and playing bass, here is Aussie band Tin Tin with Toast And Marmalade For Tea.





That delightful little tune comes in at 82 this week.


Our birthday songs this week total EIGHTEEN!  Turning thirty, Irene Cara's Flashdance Theme; ZZ Top's breakthrough Gimme All Your Lovin'; U2's powerful New Years' Day; After The Fire's big hit Der Kommissar; and a song longtime AOR-heads might remember- a tune called Why Me?  by the Planet P Project, which was fronted by former Rainbow keyboardist and eventual solo act Tony Carey.  Turning thirty-five:  Patti Smith's Springsteen cover Because The Night; Heart with the appropriately- named Heartless; Seals and Crofts' You're The Love; and Little River Band's Happy Anniversary.  Big week for Australia, eh?

Turning 40:  Elton John's Daniel; Alice Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy; and the last top 40 hit for the fabulous Perry Como, a cover of Don McLean's And I Love You So.  Hitting 45, Archie Bell and the Drells with Tighten Up (did you know that Archie's younger brothers included Dazz Band (Let It Whip) lead singer Jerry and late Tampa Bay Bucs RB Ricky?); and the Rascals' A Beautiful Morning.

Hitting the big 5-0, My old boss Lt. Larry's favorite song, Lou Christie's Two Faces Have I; the Beach Boys' Shut Down; and the original The Birds' The Word by the Rivingtons.  Soon afterwards, the nasceant group the Trashmen would find this song and the Rivington's other hit, Oom-Pa-Pa-Mow-Mow, combine the verses and delete the choruses, and make a hit called Surfin' Bird (for which they would be sued and not only end up sharing credit on that song but on another future tune).

Wrapping the birthdays up, the Platters turn 55 with Twilight Time.  Blow out the candles...


The big dropper this week is If You Could Read My Mind, falling 49 spots to pause at 78 on the way out.  The big mover- stop me if you've heard this one- is in the top 40.

That brings us to our Where Are They Now victim, and at 50 this week we have the Impressions with Ain't Got Time.  The Imps are probably best known for the band that gave Curtis Mayfield his start, as well as the hit People Get Ready (which Rod Stewart would cover in 1985).  In 1961, they would hit the charts with the original of a song just recently on our chart via Brian Hyland- Gypsy Woman, reaching # 20.  The group had a series of ins and outs, during which they still hit the pop top 20 10 times and #1 R&B 4 times.  After Mayfield went solo, though, they fell on hard times, save for a flurry of hits in 1974-5.  Fred Cash and Sam Gooden are still touring with the group out of the set that were inducted into the Rock and Roll HOF in 1991.  Jerry Butler is a musician and a Cook County, Illinois, Commissioner for about the last 30 years; Richard and Arthur Brooks seem to have dropped off the grid.  The remaining HOFer, Mayfield, died in 1999 from complications from being paralyzed.  He was struck by falling stage lighting in Flatbush in 1991, and recorded his last lp lying flat down.

Next up, our top 40 debuts!  Coming in at 38, up 13 spots, is the vocal group Ocean with Put Your Hand In The Hand.  King Floyd, who just had the top ten Groove Me, moves up 8 to 35 with Baby Let Me Kiss You.  The aforementioned Sir Elton John rises 7 to # 34 with Friends...

Aw, c'mon!  It's been a long time since I've done the duck bit!

Our big mover within the 100 climbs 25 spots to #30- a song called Stay Awhile by a Canadian band called the Bells, who once claimed Music Box Dancer Frank Mills as a member.  And finally, the high debut this week on both the hot 100 and the top 40- the Jackson Five with Never Can Say Goodbye at 29. 


Our lookback was in 1958 this week, and landed a big mover- jumping from 24 all the way to 8!  It was a 13 year old boy from the UK named Laurie London and a song you all know well- He's Got The Whole World In His Hands.  This major hit, which peaked at #2, made Laurie the highest charting British male on the American charts in the decade.  It did not, however, make him a career, as various other ventures flopped and he retired (for the most part) from the music industry at the age of 19.  He's been rather more successful on the business end of things, and currently owns and manages the Ship And Castle pub in Portsmouth, whose website you can visit at your leisure.

Two songs get almost but not quite shoutouts this week:  The Grass Roots peak at 16 with Temptation Eyes, and Chicago's Free peaks at 19.

Likewise, two songs get bounced from the top ten this week.  Bobby Sherman Cried Like A Baby but still got shoved from 10 to 11, and One Bad Apple fell from the tree and rolled all the way from 7 to 22.

Santana leads off the top ten, climbing 3 to 10 with Oye Como Va.

Paul McCartney moves 2 to 9 with Another Day.

Fellow former Beatle George Harrison holds at 8 with What Is Life?

And our six degrees victim is next.

The Carpenters slip a notch to 7 with For All We Know.  Richard Carpenter first heard the song, sung by Larry Meredith, in the Movie Lovers And Other Strangers, and immediately decided to record it.  On the heels of its popularity, it won the best new song Oscar- but at the awards ceremony, the duo were not allowed to perform it because they had not been in a film.  They picked Petula Clark for the honor- and she paid them back by singing it again at a concert just a day or two after Karen's tragic death.

The oboe part was to have been a guitar part- and not just any guitar.  Jose Feliciano was a big fan, and wanted to play on a Carpenters song.  He recorded a guitar intro for the song- but the next day, his agent called Richard and said under no circumstances were they to record Jose's intro.  Thus, the oboe.  Jose was new to fame, only recently having had his big hit with a cover of the Doors' (my bestest group) Light My Fire.  Although the Doors apparently didn't mind Jose's version, a far different story emerged later.  While Jim Morrison was incommunicado, the rest of the band was approached for permission to use the tune for a Buick Opel ad ("C'mon Buick light my fire...").  The rest of the band agreed; but when Morrison found out, he threatened to destroy an Opel with a sledgehammer on worldwide TV if it ever saw the light of day.  Jeez, testy people...

Marvin Gaye knows What's Going On- he's moving up 3 spots to # 6.

Ike and Tina hold at 5 with Proud Mary.

Janis Joplin and her friend Bobby McGee slip a spot to #4.

Which means the Temptations reverse course, climbing back up one spot to #3 with Just My Imagination.

Tom Jones retreats a notch to #2 with last week's top dog, She's A Lady.

And that means that our new #1 this week is....

Yes, the Partridge Family (with Laurie look-alike Susan Dey*) and Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted!!!!!


(*who says I use the same bits all the time?)

That's it for this week!! See ya next trip!

B is for Boofus

I'm kinda skeptical about this...

Okay, so this isn't an A to Z challenge post, but I thought it sounded pretty good.

Actually I only had a couple of assorted things to bring up.  First, we have three entries in the "what shall the 1,000th post be about" contest, and pretty good ones, I might add.  But Scrappy up there will choose by picking a random food item from a group of same to decide which post gets it, so he'd like a few more entries!

Second, our hero had a brief adventure this morning.  Warmer weather talked me into putting the one bird feeder back out, but when we went to let Boofus have his morning outdoors trip, Mr. Raccoon was sitting on the fence considering a raid, with a "Can't you all just go back to bed, please?" look.  Needless to say, our visitor hurriedly left, taking with him a lot of my desire to do the bird-feeding thing this year.

Third, fellow blogger Bobby G.  decided to pre-emptively declare war on North Korea.  I joined in quickly in the name of the Kingdom of Sambonia.  This was my childhood "nation", an empire back then, whose emperor was always the alpha pet (With a cat named Sambo being the first Emperor, hence the name).  In reply to my declaration, Bob replied thusly:

CWM:
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!
That's TWO of us...
(we could be on to something)
I'm dying to see your FLAG!
Well, yes, there was a Sambonian flag, and it looked something like this:

And there you have it, Robert!

Finally, a caller on Rush Limbaugh made an interesting observation on the growing partisan polarization:

" This isn't politics as usual.  It is a cold war, a cold civil war..."

Boy, that not only puts it in a nutshell, but puts in stark relief the need for everyone to back off from the abyss.  Unfortunately, from my POV, we have seen so much of not only lying from this President and his party mates, but the willingness to ignore, accept, or embrace the lie by those who voted for them- in order to protect their sacred cows- that it is hard for me to be the one to trust and step back first.  The problem is, we have obscured the issues that we should be "this far and no farther" on with all the so-called hot-button issues that no one will move on- but maybe shouldn't be a part of the debate at all.  The "experts" remain convinced that these issues are the way to gain support- but really, all they do is radicalize your base.  The caller thought that perhaps the way to break the cycle is for those in the middle- the independents- to stand up as a "fifth column" to move things forward.  Sounds like a plan to me, so get at it!  I'll be right here behind the barricades- hoping to see a parlay flag, but with weapon in hand for the first sign of a lie.

Lotsa Little Bits volume 12

ITEM:  If you didn't hear/read it, Pope Francis' Easter message was truly moving.  Here's a chunk of it:

What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.
Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!

We too, like the women who were Jesus' disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love of God can do this!

This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell - to the abyss of separation from God - this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.

For more, here is a link.  I have been greatly impressed with this new leader so far, not for the greatness of his actions or oratory, but by his focus being where it needs to be.

ITEM:  Not much more hockey to add.  Dynamo took out SKA St. Pete today, and the Muscovites will await the Ak Bars- Traktor winner.  And in Switzerland, Bern topped off a series-tying 4-3 win Sunday with a series winning 4-1 triumph over Zug today to advance to the NLA finals against Fribourg.  The UK Elite league has set the pairings for the semis (which didn't involve the round-robin I remembered). #1 Nottingham plays Cardiff in game one Saturday, followed by #2 Belfast against Coventry.  The winners play for all the marbles Sunday.

ITEM:  Here are the pics you didn't get to see from Saturday's walk, plus some Saturday night visitors:

Scenic views of North Bank.

No, I didn't goose him, we were quite a ways off.  Just caught him in mid-hop.

After two hours of walking, actually willing to sit in one spot for a couple minutes without whining.

Later that night, wanting water and taking the usual crap from us in getting it.

So later that night, Scrappy comes down from bed barking up a storm.  I investigated and found these two.

Yeah, hard to get good "no flash with a tripod" pics when a) no tripod and b) moving targets.  Though they were willing targets- even with Scrappy with me, bellowing as if war had been declared, the only time the pair looked up is when I used the flash.  That fourth picture is the last one going back into the woods as serene as she came out.

ITEM:  Speaking of the doofy dog, he finally got around to eating his "breakfast" at 6:45 this evening.  Guess he's doing a post-Easter fast.


ITEM: Four of my bloggy friends- Miss CB, Juli, DiscConnected, and of course Al Penwasser- are devoting the time and effort to the A to Z Blogging Challenge- where you post a post on a subject with the letter A on the first day, B the next, and so on through the alphabet and/or the month of April.  I thought it was neat that each of them have honed in on a particular subject for this year's challenge.  Miss CB, who works with a vet, is featuring pet health articles; Juli is featuring things she's pinned on Pinterest; DC is doing progressive rock music, starting with a review of Asia's latest lp; and Al claims to be doing a history/geography series, though where it will wander to is anyone's guess.  Will I be doing this?  Of course not!  I like the freedom of posting when I feel like it, and choosing completely random topics.  But those who do earn my everlasting respect for their endurance.

ITEM: Betcha Skippy's loving opening day- 2 Bryce Harper HRs and 7 shutout innings from Strasburg.  Reds are in extra innings and the A's won't start until I'm snoozing so the jury's still out for me.

ITEM:  Luckily you can't get laryngitis in your fingers, because I started sounding like Lauren Bacall sometime Sunday afternoon.  With Laurie starting second shift at that great monolithic corporation with the amusing customers, we're "baching" tonight, so I thinketh that after I hit publish, I shall shower, jammy, Nyquil, and try to hear the ESPN broadcast of whatever game is airing then.  I remember a time in life that opening day meant a radio, a box of HoHos, a couple of pepsis, the latest copy of The Sporting News, and an all-day date.  Of course, I was a schoolboy then, and it was warmer than 35 FRICKING DEGREES outside!!!

ITEM:  With this post, I shall be just 10 away from my 1,000th post!  So, I'll dare you all- leave a comment on what the 1,000th post will be about!  If I get what I deem enough entries, I'll have Scrappy pick the winner and do my level best on it!  How do you beat a deal like that?  So leave comments!  It's all up to you!

Sunday Message

Now, one might expect that, since the Lord is leading my reading, that this post would be about the Resurrection, and the holy day we celebrate today.  But God doesn't lead you TO things, He leads you THROUGH things.  Ask Moses riding in his bulrush cruiser, or David getting his OJT in Gath of the Philistines, or Elijah celebrating his great victory in a ditch.  And so, though we do get to Easter, it's in the VERY long run.

Because this week, the subject is hypocrisy.  Now I can hear you saying here comes a long discourse on the Pharisees and how they apply to us.  And you'd be 10% right.  But God recognizes a spectrum in the definition of hypocrisy, and they are just a part of it.

The first place I landed this week was the opening chapter of the book of the prophet Haggai.   Here we are 16 years since the Jews were able to return to Babylon, and when God looks around, He sees city walls and nice fancy homes with paneled walls- but the Lord's Temple isn't half finished.  More to the point, the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, and the people themselves, are going about their lives without seemingly minding.  "Consider Your Ways!" God shouts, not once but twice.  It's easy to get to that point where God has answered your prayers, given you everything you wanted- and then you just forget about Him.  This insidious form of hypocrisy  cost them a drought until Z and Joshua, and the people, got off the stick and paid attention to God's work again.  What does it cost you?

Tuesday brought me to the trailing end of Job 15, where Eliphaz the Temanite is accusing Job of hypocrisy.   Now it is well-established that Eliphaz et al were considered foolish counselors, but their fault was not in what they said so much as trying to apply it to Job, who had done none of what they accused him of.  So it is that Eliphaz points out another form of hypocrisy, in which wealth in material things not only causes a man to forget about God as in the first example, but to "(act) defiantly against the Almighty, Running stubbornly against Him with his strong, embossed shield" (VV25-26).  You can start to see that the point of hypocrisy is not as much saying one thing and doing another, but believing that God is there, but "I don't need Him", or "I'll get back to Him later".  Hypocrisy is the act of knowing that God exists and not giving Him the importance due in your life.  At the end of his message, Eliphaz brings up two important observations.  First, "Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, for futility will be his reward" (v31); and second, "...for the company of hypocrites will be barren..."(v34).

Wednesday took me to Paul reading the riot act to the Corinthian church in I Cor. 4 and 5.  In my Bible's translation, Paul repeatedly accuses them of being "puffed up", which it then gives a definition of arrogant (4:6. 4:18, 5:2).  Arrogant in knowledge as well as wealth, they have begun to argue over nits, setting themselves up as experts, "aligning" themselves with those they think they follow like Paul, Apollos, or Peter, and in the meantime allowing sins "as is not even named among the Gentiles" to go on right under their noses without reproach.  I have seen a lot of Facebook "discussions" that fit this category well.  The philosophic argument being of more weight than the life you live, the example you set for others.

Thursday we finally hit the Pharisees and scribes in Mark 12.  ³⁸ Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, ⁴⁰ who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
For them, it was all about the power they wielded over the people.  The appearance of religion but no true faith.  The law but not its purpose.  It puts me in mind of the gay marriage debate.  Do I think its wrong? Yes.  Do I think it will have a detrimental effect on this nation?  It already has.  BUUUUUT....  It is an affair of SECULAR government, and Jesus I think would put it in the "render unto Caesar" category- our mission is for US to give to GOD what is GOD'S.  I mentioned this on a FB comment to a relative of Laurie's who briefly replaced her profile pic with that damnable red-and-pink equal sign that's been popping up everywhere.  But that's a whole other post, and I've been there before.

Friday kind of brought the readings to an early conclusion, in Isaiah 6.  Here, the prophet has come before the Lord in a vision.

⁵ So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

 

Hypocrisy is defeated by constantly reminding yourself of your true condition.  And that is, no matter your wealth, knowledge, or comfort, your are a hopeless, fallen sinner, and the only ticket you have into heaven is the one that Christ bought you on the Cross.  If you forget what that means, go rent The Passion Of The Christ- or watch it again, if the case may be.  Let it remind you of just what price was paid for your well-being spiritually.

 

So at this point, we see categories of hypocrisy- the Pharisees brand of intentional "live one way, talk the other";  Z and Joshua's "I'll get to Him in a minute"; Eliphaz's "I don't need Him, I have X"; and the Corinthians arrogance, which is a lot like the Pharisee type except the emphasis moves from what you have to what you know.  But there is one more type.

 

And that brings us to Saturday, and my habit of sleeping with the radio on.  Waking up in the middle of the night, I caught a bit of a sermon on Easter and it made me think.  The final hypocrisy that we face (and I know some of you won't like this) is how we treat the evidence given us in the Bible.  Some of you will say that the Bible is a book written by human hands and put together by men hundreds of years removed from the events.  So be it.  But Peter tells us in his letter (2 Peter 1:19-21) that ALL scripture is certain; and common sense should tell you that a God that can fashion things so marvelous, from a flea's eyeball to a distant quasar, can keep what He wants man to know inviolate over the centuries.  Yet, some will say, as Thomas Jefferson did, that Jesus was a wise teacher, but not God.  Salvation is a myth; the miracles didn't happen.  Some don't go quite that far; they'll go along with the Bible up to the point where Jesus died and rose, but not that He was God made man.

 

But hear me- the Bible is plain on these things.  There is a resurrection- Jesus said in that same passage of Mark, God is the God of the living not the dead.  Jesus told us He was God- "Before Abraham was, I AM."  God agreed- "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."  The doctrine of the Trinity is there- "Let us make man in OUR own image, after OUR likeness".  And lastly, the resurrection of Jesus is attested to:

 

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (I Cor. 15:12-19)

 

So tell me- how much can you pick and choose to believe about the Bible before you are in effect calling God a hypocrite?  To me, the Bible is the ultimate authority, and Easter divides the believers from the hypocrites.  Either there is a Triune God, beyond our understanding, revealed in the part of Him that manifested as Man and died for our sins, and rose from the dead, and a spirit that proceeds from both to guide us, or there isn't.  Anything less than that lessens our God, and makes Him a hypocrite.  So, do we worship a lesser God that fudges the truth, or is it our preconceptions that is the problem?  How much of God do we sell off in the name of our Knowledge?

It's looking like spring

...and even though with the holy day weekend, I'm still gonna tell ya about it, whether you're around to see it or not.

As you can see, this dummy managed to survive last weekend's return to winter and is still out and about.  Kinda puts ya in mind of Tom Coughlin, don't he?

Anyway, today was a great day for a walk, and we were out for about two hours.

 

Nothing was green yet but moss.  This didn't deter us, amazingly enough from getting buzzed by a very confused black butterfly who was hoping my hat might be a food source.

Mrs. Cardinal - and you thought celibacy was a hard rule...

Yep, we found somebody's paddle.

Second attempt at crossing the swamp was a "success"  (Yeah, we went through there.)  At one point I was almost spread-eagled, with my left foot sinking rapidly and Scrappy pulling to the foreward right.  Now, I was prepared for a little bit of wet foot, but that was a little too close to the one-shoe mambo for me.

Lot of blackbirds down that way.  And they weren't shy about telling us to get lost.

Then we decided to go down North Bank.  So pretty- in spots.

Of course, you knew what Scrappy would be doing.


Moments later in the woods (and with a now-dead battery in the camera) , we saw a fox- and he was a big one.  He made it over a rise before we got a second shot at him.


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Hey, we finally have our first Champion in hockey, and despite blowing three chances to win it, it was Cracovia Krakow that finally got the job done in the Polish league.  After having seen a 3 games to none lead evaporate into a tie between last Saturday and yesterday, Krakow entered the final period of game seven with a 3-2 lead, only to see Jastrzebie score on a "bizarre" goal 18 seconds in when the Krakow goalie thought he had the puck frozen but someone poked it in anyway.  But Michal Piotrowski set of a flurry when he scored at 17:42 to make it 4-2 Krakow.  Leszek Laszkiewicz, the team's leading scorer who'd already scored twice in the game, hit an empty net for his hat trick 15 seconds later, and Piotrowski got his second goal in a minute and a half just over a minute later for a 6-2 win. 

And then, very early this morning, the season runners-up Tohoku Free Blades (whose home city got a nearly 8 foot wave from the tsunami this time last year) knocked out the Oji Eagles for the Asia League championship with a 1-0 win.  The only goal came from Go Tanaka, who was the highest scoring Japanese player in the league (eighth overall behind assorted Canadians, Americans, and Koreans).  The winners come from Hachinohe, about 170 miles from the earthquake's epicenter as the crow flies, and have now took two titles in three years, and might have been three if the earthquake (and damage to their arena) hadn't cancelled their final against Anyang Halla last year.

In other leagues:
France- Rouen leads first seed Angers 2 to 1 going into game 4 today.  Rouen can wrap up another Ligue Magnus title with a win today.
UK- The first round of the mystifying EIHL playoffs kicks off in about an hour from my typing.  The 8 quarterfinal teams will play a 2-game best goals series this weekend, and if memory serves, there will be a round robin knock-out round of the 4 survivors next week.  Not sure how they decide who plays who; first place Nottingham drew the sixth place team, and second place Belfast got #7, while 5 plays 8 and 3 plays 4.
Italy- Asiago can squirm their way to another championship with a win today against Valpellice, which trails 3-1 in the finals.
KHL- Viktor Tikhanov scored halfway through the third to tie and 17:58 into OT to win, and SKA St. Pete stays alive with a 2-1 win over Dynamo that puts the series 3-2 in favor of Moscow.  The Russian Snow Leopards can eliminate the Meteor Guys with a win tomorrow.
Denmark- SonderJyskE and Fredrikshavn kick off the AL Bank League finals today.
Switzerland- Zug can join Fribourg in the NLA finals with a win today over SC Bern.
Norway- Valerenga and Stavenger- the Yankees and Red Sox of Norway- Kick off the finals Tuesday.