Pope Francis | MountainMornings

Posts Tagged ‘Pope Francis’

A Delicate Balance

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Catholic, Christianity, Conclave, easter, Family Travel, Film, jesus, Pope Francis, Religion, Twins on April 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I’m slowly starting to drive again, to pick up my life from last November. I want to do it all _ Pilates, swimming, dancing, but i’m restraining myself. My ONE mission in life right now is Not To Fall...it’s not my golden years, it’s more like diamond years, building back bones as strong as diamonds. Living with osteoporosis is a Delicate Balance.

The Bride has been visiting her brother’s new family, bringing her big sister energy to Southern California. Since the twins received their first round of immunizations, they all ventured out to South Pasadena’s farmer’s market last week. I miss the huge avocados and baby bok choy, the non-stop music and synergy of craft/farm/artistisan vibes. But it’s almost strawberry season in TN, so there’s that!

One of the first things I had to tackle when we returned home was cleaning the bird bath. And I’m so glad I did; a cardinal has decided he needs to bathe every midday when the sun is out. First he perches on the edge, carefully watching the tiny solar fountain erupting intermittently, then he dives in and shakes himself silly. I love to witness this tiny red dancer and can’t wait to meet his mate.

And speaking of cardinals, on the day of the Pope’s funeral I watched the movie Conclave. If you’ve missed it, it’s streaming now on Prime. Growing up Catholic, it left me with mixed feelings. The pomp was still there, and I do love the pomp, but the cutthroat politics was new to me. Apparently if you want to become Pope, you have to pretend that you don’t. We had just celebrated Passover, traveling home on Easter Sunday when we heard the sad news.

I couldn’t help comparing Passover to Easter: one celebrates freedom from slavery, and one celebrates eternal life? Reality vs Myth.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re walking on a tightrope? I’ve been balancing my energy between my California family and my Tennessee family. The roses and lilacs are in bloom, but I was just strolling past lavender hedges as high as my eyes! The twins are starting to smile, and my Pumpkin is perfecting his magic tricks. We are all looking forward to the Love Bug’s Bat Mitzvah in the Fall!

My first granddaughter’s rite of passage is an ancient one, but it’s fairly new for women to step up to the bimah. In 1922, Rabbi Kaplan insisted his daughter should study the Torah and she was the first to be consecrated in this country. Today there are many women rabbis but in the Catholic Church women are still subservient to priests. But who knows, maybe the next Pope will be more progressive.

Meanwhile…

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Pretty Woman

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Catholic School, David Cameron, facebook, Helle Thorning Schmidt, Pope Francis, President Obama, selfie, social media, vanity on December 12, 2013| 2 Comments »

1993 A farm in PA

When I first joined Facebook, I thought it was a bunch of solipsistic nonsense, and I said so, all the while encouraging my friends to join. Why? Because for me, the youngest of 6 children to be raised as an only child, it seemed prudent. My foster mother didn’t know how to drive and she was old enough to be my grandmother – which in those days was really old! I was marooned, on top of a hill in Victory Gardens after the war, and to top it off I was sent to Catholic school.

Facebook was a way for me to reconnect; to see all the new baby cousins, to catch up with old friends, to stay in touch with our French summer student. Plus, it could interface with my blog!

Yet something was amiss. My friends noticed it too. And it’s not just people accounting for every minute of their day, or all the targeted ads popping up. It was all this preening in front of a camera, young people changing their profile pictures like you would change your clothes. The nuns would not have approved. And yet, here we are at the end of 2013, and President Obama is taking a “selfie” with David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/10/250027162/to-thy-own-selfie-be-true-but-not-in-all-places-at-all-times

Now who am I to say where one should take a selfie? After all, even our Person of the Year, the dear Pope Francis himself, allowed his selfie to be taken with a trio of Italian teenagers. He said he wanted to meet with them “…for selfish reasons … because you have in your heart a promise of hope.You are bearers of hope. You, in fact, live in the present, but are looking at the future. You are the protagonists of the future, artisans of the future,” the pope told the pilgrims.

“Make the future with beauty, with goodness and truth…Have courage. Go forward. Make noise.”

Well I certainly think it takes courage to attempt to take a selfie and post it anywhere on social media! Once I learned to actually push that little circular button to turn the lens around in my iPhone, I had to practice . Before, I might have snapped a picture in a mirror. Now I must hold the phone at arm’s length and attempt to push the button with the same hand – all the while getting into the “right” light and avoiding a double chin! Still a nearly impossible task.

As we are about to close 2013 and perhaps leave the word “selfie” on the scrap heap of history, I hope we can all laugh at my family selfies – a tasteful tutorial from the kids, and my feeble attempts at last weekend’s hospital party. OH, and at the top of this post is the latest profile picture for Facebook, which brings us into the 1990s with my Pretty Woman polka dot dress.