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Posted on 05/31/2011 10:41:31 PM PDT by JustAmy
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I am sitting here in stunned horror.
I was scrolling the menu on my TV and I saw The title: “Great Moments at the Met”
Oh WOW, says I, Opera! I love Opera!
So I click on the channel and it it what is arguable the ultimate, most heinous and EXTREMELY BAD Opera every written or performed.
“Nixon in China”!!!
UNGH!
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TIDBITS
In the Pacific Islands, natives pickle their foods in holes
in the ground lined with banana leaves, and use them as food reserves in case of storms. The pickles are so valuable that they’ve become part of the courting process, helping a man prove he’ll be able to provide for a woman.
Napoleon was also a big fan of pickle power. In fact, he put up the equivalent of $250,000 as a prize to whoever could figure out the best way to pickle and preserve foods for his troops.
During the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, H. J. Heinz used pickle-shaped pins to lure customers to his out of the way booth. By the end of the fair, he’d given out lots of free food, and over 1,000,000 pickle pins.
In his famous 1492 voyage, Columbus rationed pickles to his sailors to keep them from getting scurvy. He even grew cucumbers during a pit stop in Haiti to restock for the rest of the voyage.
The majority of pickle factories in America ferment their pickles in outdoor vats without lids (leaving them subject to insects and bird droppings). But there’s a reason. According to food scientists, the sun’s direct rays prevent yeast and mold from growing in the brine.
The Department of Agriculture estimates that the average American eats 8.5 lbs of pickles a year. In America, dill pickles are twice as popular as the sweet variety.
Every Sunday, a little old lady placed $1,000 in the collection plate. This went on for weeks until the priest, overcome by curiosity, approached her.
“Madam, I couldn’t help but notice that you put $1,000 a week in the collection plate,” he stated.
“Why yes,” she replied. “Every week my son sends me money, and what I don’t need I give to the church.”
“That’s wonderful. How much does he send you?”
“Oh, $20,000 a week.”
“Your son must be very successful! What does he do for a living?”
“He is a veterinarian,” she answered.
“That is a very honorable profession. Where does he practice?”
“Well, he has one cat house in Las Vegas and another in Reno.”
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GOD IS LIKE...
God is like a Coke...He’s the real thing.
God is like Pan Am... He makes the going great.
God is like General Electric. .He lights your path.
God is like Bayer Aspirin...He works wonders.
God is like Hallmark Cards...He cares enough to send the very best.
God is like Tide...He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
God is like VO5 Hair Spray...He holds through all kinds of weather.
God is like Dial Soap...Aren’t you glad you know Him/ Don’t you wish everyone did?
God is like Sears...He has everything.
God is like Alka seltzer...Try Him, you’ll like Him.
God is like Scotch tape... You can’t see Him but you know He’s there.
The Strong Man Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. JOHN 15:13
Dick has run several dozen marathons with his son, Rick, in addition to numerous triathlons. Mind you, this was not side-by-side but with Dick pushing his son in a wheelchair, towing him in a dinghy or propping him on the handlebars.
How in the world? More important, why?
During his birth, Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord, leaving him severely brain damaged. Eventually, however—through modern science and his parents’ love—he was fitted as a young teenager with a device that allowed him to communicate by controlling a computer cursor with the side of his head. One of the first things he typed was a request to do a five-mile charity run with his dad.
At the time, Dick had never run more than a mile at any one time. He was in his 30s and way out of shape. But he did it anyway, pushing Rick’s buggy in front of him as he ran the race. When they got home that night, Rick typed on his computer, “Dad, when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore.”
That did it for Dick. He started training for marathons—with a passion. Many have asked Dick why he doesn’t try doing one of these on his own, see what he could do. “No way,” he says. “I do it simply for the look on Rick’s face.” Recently, Dick suffered a mild heart attack during a race. The doctor said, “If you hadn’t been in such great shape, you probably would have died fifteen years ago.” Being a real dad is redemptive. It has a way of saving two lives at the same time.
DISCUSS Name and celebrate some of the things you and your children have done with each other. Is there some type of heroic achievement you could accomplish together?
PRAY Give thanks to God for the gift of your children, and ask Him for the continued desire to make them recipients of the full investment of your love and parental vision.
“Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.”
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“Would you like some cheese to go with that whine?”
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“Jealousy is all the fun you think they have.”
Illustration
“Someone Who Understands”
Featured Illustration items are well suited for introducing or illuminating a point in a sermon, speech, or devotional. Funny, moving, or perhaps even graphic, the point of them is the point you make with them.
Bob Weber, past president of Kiwanis International, told this story. He had spoken to a club in a small town and was spending the night with a farmer on the outskirts of the community. He had just relaxed on the front porch when a newsboy delivered the evening paper. The boy noted the sign Puppies for Sale. The boy got off his bike and said to the farmer, “How much do you want for the pups, mister?”
“Twenty-five dollars, son.”
The boy’s face dropped. “Well, sir, could I at least see them anyway?”
The farmer whistled, and in a moment the mother dog came bounding around the corner of the house tagged by four of the cute puppies, wagging their tails and yipping happily. At last, another pup came straggling around the house, dragging one hind leg.
“What’s the matter with that puppy, mister?” the boy asked.
“Well, Son, that puppy is crippled. We took her to the vet and the doctor took an X ray. The pup doesn’t have a hip joint and that leg will never be right.”
To the amazement of both men, the boy dropped the bike, reached for his collection bag and took out a fifty-cent piece. “Please, mister,” the boy pleaded, “I want to buy that pup. I’ll pay you fifty cents every week until the twenty-five dollars is paid. Honest I will, mister.”
The farmer replied, “But, Son, you don’t seem to understand. That pup will never, never be able to run or jump. That pup is going to be a cripple forever. Why in the world would you want such a useless pup as that?”
The boy paused for a moment, then reached down and pulled up his pant leg, exposing that all too familiar iron brace and leather knee-strap holding a poor twisted leg. The boy answered, “Mister, that pup is going to need someone who understands him to help him in life!”
OK...Watching “Nixon In China” on PBS. I thought it was over, but that was just the finale to act one.
They are starting up again! Aaaarrrggghh!!!
Intensely bad.
I think I am watching it to punish myself for my sins.
Self-flagellation is so yesterday.
What is really weird here is that there IS an opera about Nixon in China!!
Wasn’t the original bad enough??? LOL!
I think you should turn over to some great smooth jazz and
forget about this nightmare! :)
Ahhhh. Smooth Jazz!
The costumes are quite creative. All the Chicoms are dressed the same. LOL!
They just interviewed the “composer”. His next project is an opera about the Achille Laurel Hijacking.
That was a not a joke. he really SAID that.
I cringe at the thought of how he might handle a subject like that!
That is really “reaching” for artistic endeavor! Bad taste!
In your yard!! Absolutely beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!!
I love reading all of your clever posts! Thanks for the smiles! :)
Thanks for your kind words, Pam! They didn’t look quite so
full this year because of our lack of rain. :(
Maybe next year.......
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