After a morning relaxing, we go out in the afternoon...
...and I swiftly discover might be a bit windy for Floppy Hat
And, thar she goes
VARMINTAGE
Uh-oh...
The look of a dog going full speed draggin' a 175 lb man behind her
"Drat!"
Raspberries blooming! Won't be long...
Wild grape clusters, too
Him and his mate soaring over the hidden trail
Can she find it THIS overgrown?
Answer: No....
Meanwhile, at the duck pond
Vamintage, but out of sight
Still no shore for Daddy
Duck Pond, extended
Caught him swimming in South Canal
Saturday, AKA Laurie's birthday...
The thought process was, dinner and a beer at 2 Toms brewery
But, while the beer was here...
...food was not. Somebody needs to update their website!!!
After I had a couple to be neighborly, we adjourned to BJs for beer AND food. (Strangely enough, 2 Toms, the combination draws a LOT more people!) Laurie goes on to do some birthday shopping...
...at some point, I may have napped in the car...
Then, the kids gathered for Laurie's birthday and Mother's Day...
So proud of my daughter misspelling my name
And finally, a noisy meet-n-greet with Snickers and his Mom
Woo baby, they had some a' those McAllister spuds ever' now an' then!
That was not nice- possibly accurate, but not nice! So we are at target year 1978, and looking at this week's chart, I can tell you two things... what played here didn't exactly match what was on the charts, and I was about 2 weeks out from three "wonderful" weeks in Florida watching my Dad try his best to make a fool of my brother in law...
Not fun?
Well, without oversharing, there were two local stations for music. One station required that the song had to be a gold record, or nearing same; the other was all you, all the time!
ALL me? Couldn'a been too bad...
You want to listen to NOTHING but yourself?
Well, not me so much... but I bet a lot of others do!
Apparently. So this week's #1 in the USA and Canada was Yvonne Elliman's If I Can't Have You, a song that would peak #9 in Australia. They had their own Brothers Gibb comp at the top- Stayin' Alive, which had already run its course in North America, in it's 4th of 7 weeks at the top. Anyway, dude, why don... HEY!!! Button your pants back up!
Aw c'mon, I'm stuffed an' it ain't like we're on video, so...
I may have to borrow Roy Orbison's glasses! Just do the next debut...
So my top 5 has one song at least we all agree on, more or less! This week in 1978, I would have had...
5- Robert Palmer, Every Kinda People. His first hit here, he was at 31 on his way to 16 here, 12 in Canada, and a tip of the hat at 82 in Australia.
4- Love Is Like Oxygen, Sweet. This song and the next one remind me that I was spending most nights listening to WLAC-AM out of Nashville. #21 this week, we all had it finish the same way- 8 in the US and Canada, 9 in Australia.
3- Deacon Blues, Steely Dan. Both of these I first heard on that I-can-only-get-it-at-night station. 26 this week, it would make 17 here and 14 up north. Nary a peep in Australia, though.
2- This Time I'm In It For Love, Player. This is what really cheesed me about going to Florida. a ton of songs I like- ESPECIALLY notably this one- I didn't get to hear for 3 weeks, and when I got back, they weren't playing any more. This was at 16, and would probably be my #1 next week. Peaked 10 here, 12 in Canada.
And the #1....
Hey wait, lemme play the last debut, build up the suspense... At #7, this is the Purple Disco Machine!
Ah'm not exactly "stuck" on that video... see whut Ah did there...
Unfortunately, yes. So anyway, my top dog this week would have been...
...Andy Gibb and Shadow Dancing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was on the way up at 8 this week, and would be a #1 in North America, #11 in Australia, who really didn't like the Bee Gees as much as I would have thought...
An, lemme pick up the top 10, what's left, okay?
You're a ball of fire tonight!
Yeah, well, ah gotta hurry 'cause that spud's makin' a bud...
TMI, by the way...
10- Amira Elfeky down 1 with Secrets...
6- Lorde up 2 with Take Me To The River...
5- Up two for LSD and Good Together...
4- an' holdin' fer Real Estate an' Somebody New...
3- Slippin' one fer Bethany an' Bob Jr with Always (All The Time)...
2- back in the runner-up slot, Kacey Musgraves an' Cardinal...
An' four weeks at the top fer...
....Shannon and the Clams an' Real Or Magic!!!!!!
Now, scuse me, but I gotta go... oh no....
John Lennon: That's right mate, it's me, an' I got the key to the loo, I'm afraid! I wanted to have a word about Bologna Casserole....
Rev 3:14 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
Rev 3:15 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
Rev 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Rev 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Rev 3:22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"
Commentator Matthew Henry calls Laodicea "the last and worst of the Churches". I can't say I agree it's worse, for two reasons: Sardis was called dead, and can you be worse as a Church than dead? And, they have more reward at the end than the stripped down reward Sardis had to look forward to (Stripped down in the sense that it was the least you could expect from Heaven!). But it was bad. And there were two levels to its bad-ness. First of all, there was something in the contrast between what it was and where it should be that literally made Jesus sick. Second, they were under the illusion that they had everything, when they spiritually had nothing.
For that first, I ask the question- with the exceptions of Philadelphia and Smyrna, they ALL had some level of hypocrisy- why did that of Laodicea make Jesus sick? You may or may not know, the 'lukewarm' waters of this city were truly lukewarm- they received water from hot springs upstream, or pumped in from outside- no cold refreshing water here! Their lukewarm water was an institution that they considered a necessity- rather than just move the city to a more advantageous place.
Spiritually, they were the same- bringing in 'bad water' from outside instead of seeking the good. And I have an example that should clarify this ripped right from this past week's headlines. The United Methodist Church, long in a civil war over inclusion of the LGBTQ lifestyle, voted a few days ago to write inclusion right into their charter- WITHOUT DEBATE. This is absolutely against the word of God, and I want you to think on this. Loving/caring for a member of your family who has fallen to this lie of Satan is one thing. We are to love those who sin, and this is no worse than any other sin. We love them, show them Christ-In-Us, and pray that the Spirit will one day make a change in them. (Of course, they will demand you 'accept' their sin, because this is pride, evil pride, thus the name they claim for their 'movement', but that's for another day.) However, what the UMC has done is INSTITUTIONALIZE it as part of the fabric of their denomination- and that Jesus will not accept. He will spew them out, and they won't even understand why.
For the other: What was up with Laodicea's self-image? They were a rich city- rich from their trade in a special type of wool from (ironically enough) black sheep. In 60 AD, the city was leveled by one of their many earthquakes. Emperor Nero offered Roman funds to rebuild- and they turned him down, saying they were rich enough to handle it! To understand how this affected the faith of Laodicea, I point you to three little words in the letter, from v 18: "I counsel you..."
Counsel them? When He demanded of the other Churches, why would Christ "counsel" these guys?
Because, He wasn't their God. He was "their adviser". They took His Word as advice, keeping what they found beneficial to their self image, ignoring the rest. Just like the UMC and any other Church that abandons the clear edicts of the Bible in the name of "being inclusive". You can include sinners and bring them to Christ without approving their lifestyle.
Does this make a church like the UMC dead? No. 25 percent- over 7,500 congregations- have chosen to keep the Word of God over the votes of men. Sardis, if you remember, had "yet a few names", individuals who'd kept the faith, where Laodicea apparently had whole groups that rejected the mainstream take and stayed loyal. One thing I happened to hit in the commentaries hits home here:
So one oldest manuscript, B, and Vulgate read. But two oldest manuscripts, Syriac, and Coptic transpose thus, “hot nor cold.” It is remarkable that the Greek adjectives are in the masculine, agreeing with the angel, not feminine, agreeing with the Church. (JFB Commentary)
What does this mean? The ones that were 'not hot or cold' were the LEADERSHIP, and NOT the body! Just like in the UMC, the problem came from leadership that did not follow Christ, not the people who did! Thus, this is the church of worldly leadership, that think that by embracing the world they can gain all. They can't and neither can we.
I plan, Lord willing, to do a summing up post next time, and delve perhaps more into Revelation after.
So I was debating on the ingredients of my favorite foods: "Contains wheat, soy, etc." And I wondered about what the most common food allergies- and the least- were. One thing I learned is, there is little agreement on details, but the top eight are pretty well universally agreed on. Here, in order of how devastating they would be to my diet, are the big eight:
8: Peanuts
I am not a peanut fan. I could gleefully pass through life if they were the most poisonous thing on earth.
7: Shellfish
One site says this is the most common food allergy, with 2% + of the population affected. If this includes shrimp, it may go higher on the Chris scale.
6: Tree nuts
I only get them in occasional candy bars. Still pretty much in the 'annoyance range.'
5- Fish
Okay, now you're starting to get personal, but I could overcome.
4- Eggs
Here's where I would be up into the 'anger' range of the scale. I suppose I could make 'egg beaters' work, but only with loud grumblings.
3- Soy
I didn't bother to ask whether this included soybean oil when I ranked my list; it does NOT. Therefore, consider this between shellfish and tree nuts, with everyone moving up accordingly.
2- Wheat
Now we have moved into 'Armageddon' status. The dietary equivalent of taking my legs.
1- Milk
Well, wasn't that fun? BTW, I want to state right now I am not trying to make fun of those with these, or any other, allergies. I can't imagine having to keep an eye out for these items on ingredient lists; I was ready to run through a wall just trying to lower sodium! Anyway, the term "least allergic" is pretty much a moving target, so instead I ended up with a list of "some of the rarer allergies". Once again, ranked in order of how they would mess up my life...
8- Mangos
Since this is roughly in my "not even if it was the only food on earth" list, I'd say I'm safe here.
7- Avocados
Or here, with an entry from my "Never tried, no big desire to" file.
6- Marshmallows
Since I'm trying to be good on my "no excess sugar" diet, these are a no-no anyway.
5- Dried fruit
Good news is, I haven't had any in a while. Bad news, I do like raisins and dried blueberries.
4- Corn
Again, this would rate on the high end of the annoyance scale. My favorite is creamed corn, and that's another sugar casualty.
3- Hot dogs
Oh, come on, now. I guess there WAS more room at the high end of 'annoyance'.
2- Sesame seeds. I challenge this entry, since it was also on one list of 'most triggering'. Is it uncommon or not? Either way, I think I would just eat 'em and take my chances.
1- Red meat
The only "armageddon" level event on this list, though I have cut back considerably. In my 30's, I'd have just swallowed a handful of raw hamburger and let the dice fall where they may.
The FDA says there are some 160 foods that might have an allergic reaction. Of, course, they also make sesame the 9th big allergen, blowing holes in my "uncommon" list. So maybe remove sesame from that list and add in bananas, which Dr Edward Salko on Personalabs says is the rarest food allergy. He also adds to that list gelatin and coconut, another food that I would gleefully kick to the curb. I also saw another "uncommon list that included beef, lamb, pork, and ham, but being on the McLain Meats website, I wonder about bias.
Thankfully, beer allergies make the rare list. I'll need one after this!
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
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