Todd and Rob: Your Questions Answered

Those Georgia mountain boys, with the help of some good whiskey,  take a break from landscaping to answer questions from fans.

Among other interesting confessions, they admit they spent $4000 or $5000 on flowers and plants and stuff this year. Wow.  They are very fortunate.

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Sunday Drive: Tchaikovsky, Waltz of the Flowers

We usually hear this tune around Christmastime, but I thought my truckbuddies might appreciate a cool breeze now in high summer, with beautiful roses and some serene scenery too.  Peace be with you.

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Cavalcade of Food: No-Bake Noodle Doodles

Kevin shows how to make a quick, simple chocolate-and-butterscotch snack with a nifty improvised double boiler:

The peanuts are too crunchy for me at this late age, but I wonder if I can persuade M.P. to come up with a softer version.  I have to tell you all that he made a chocolate pie for dessert last Sunday, and it is out-of-this-world delicious!  Like going to chocolate heaven.  You never had anything better in your mouth.  Trust me.

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Do Not Be Afraid

I probably shouldn't do this, but today's reading from Forward Day by Day (a ministry of the Episcopal Church) is so very pertinent to this moment in time that I feel compelled to share it with my truckbuddies.  I hope you will draw comfort and strength from it in the parlous state of the world today.

Click to enlarge.

The text was written by Roger Hutchison, author, illustrator, and Episcopal lay minister.  If the good folks at FDD object, I'll remove the text image, but you can still read it at the FDD website here.

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Mike Wallace Interviews Oscar Hammerstein, 1958

I came across this video by accident yesterday, and I'm glad I did.  What Hammerstein says about his religion is quite touching.  He also talks a bit about politics.  Very interesting, even inspiring.

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Thou Shalt Not Kill

For the sake of my own peace of mind, in recent months I have deliberately posted less and less about politics and all the terrible conflicts going on in the world. This old man knows that his tiny voice will make no difference - a whisper in a whirlwind - but for my own self-respect I must at least say this about the new holocaust in Gaza.

My friends, do you recall this horrific, nauseating balcony scene from Schindler's List?

That is what I immediately thought of that when I read this in the Guardian the other day:

[D]ozens of American doctors and nurses who served in Gaza . . . last year testified they had received the bodies of Palestinian children shot in the head or chest by Israeli snipers. Israeli soldiers have confessed that they are deliberately targeting children. Nick Maynard – a British doctor working in Gaza’s Nasser hospital – says that he is seeing clusters of young teenagers who have been shot in different body parts: on one day, it’s the abdomen, on another, the head or neck, on another, the testicles. “So there’s a very clear pattern and it’s almost as if a game is being played,” he says.

What is the difference between the movie scene and what is happening in Gaza now?  The answer is, none:  it is murder for sport.  Just like the filthy Nazi in the film.  If that is not an abomination in the eyes of God and all mankind, what is?

This devil's work has nothing to do with religion.  It would be the same whether the perpetrators were Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or Martian.  Murder is murder.  And the word for murder of a whole nation or people is genocide.  If you need to see it with your own eyes, here are some videos that are very hard to watch - but the world is watching.  So is God.  And God is not partial.

A report from Turkish state television:

An American veteran describes the war crimes against civilians he saw perpetrated by other Americans working for the Israelis:

Dr. Nick Maynard, quoted above, describes the mass starvation and horrific target practice the Israeli Defence Force has been using on Gaza children:

A final comment from an editorial in the Guardian, emphasis mine:

Faced with the systematic destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, other states must together produce a systematic, comprehensive and concrete response. If not now, when? What more would it take to convince them? This is first and foremost a catastrophe for Palestinians. But if states continue to allow international humanitarian law to be shredded, the repercussions will be felt by many more around the world in years to come. History will not ask whether these governments did anything to stop genocide by an ally, but whether they did all they could.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"Team Players #1" by Clint Collide:

If you're pressed for time, just pause the video and arrow ahead through the pics.

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The Great Vacation Trains - Paris, 1958

A delightful record of the annual departure of a million Parisians for summer vacations in all directions, via the French National Railways (S. N. C. F.) and the Herculean efforts of its employees and train crews. A marvelous people-watching video from a bygone era.  All of those fresh-faced garcons are now old graybeards like me.

Tip:  open the video in YouTube and then hit the "CC" button to get a good English translation of the narration (you might want to slow it down a bit, too). 

Bon voyage!

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Todd and Rob's Steamy Weekend

Todd goes topless in this day-in-the-life record of the diggings and dawdlings at their mountain cabin on a hot summer weekend.  Don't miss the fascinating close-up at the 13:20 mark.

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Father David: Prophetic Voices

Father David's very timely homily is based on yesterday's reading from the book of Amos as well as Jesus's speech in Matthew 23:

It's almost as if Amos and Jesus were responding to today's headlines, isn't it?

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Sunday Drive: Mama

Boys, do you ever miss your mamas?  Mine has been gone from this life more than thirty years, but I miss her still. And I know her bright, shining love will meet me when I get to the end of my road.

An old favorite song of mine: 

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