For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a
routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an
unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. ... That
is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for
us to understand that. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)
Lazy sleep-in until 9:30 am after a pretty boisterous post-pre-wedding rehearsal evening for many of our guests, of tippling, nibbling and visiting. Cora Lee made a wonderful breakfast, (in the brand spanking new electric frying pan that Rosita and Dusty gave us for Christmas), of back bacon and omelet. I was even pleasantly surprised, certainly pleased with the java that I made, Starbucks Caffè Verona. I "doctored" the water intake by using only a third of a cup and was able to enjoy espressos!
As there is only one bathroom we almost have to draw up a roster so that everyone has a time to get ready for this afternoon's wedding. As Sarge says:
Wayne Sutherland Kamloops ·It is a great day for a wedding. Today we welcome Megan Omasta into the Sutherland family as she gets married to Ryan Sutherland. Two down one to go. Patrick James Dunn According
to Cora Lee the ballroom decorations that she helped arrange this
morning, along with many other guests, are wonderful! Place is going to
look fabulous for banquet this evening!
Must away as I have to pop over the the liquor store across the way to buy some dark rum for Dusty! Ended up buying Panama Red, 54%!
[Chloe Alexis Dunn Look Mom is guest starring in an Ab Fab reunion!!! Fasteners unite!! Ayn P I love it...I love her xoxo Ayn P More Downton than Ab Fab...kiss the bride for us! Sylvie Roy Toujours aussi belle Christina Tassell As usual she is the ultimate style queen! Patrick James Dunn "Fascinators", as opposed to "Fasteners", Unite, Chloë Alexis! Chloe Alexis Dunn They get it D!!! Patrick James Dunn She's not a barnacle although she can be very abrasive at times!]
Just
as of possible interest regarding a very strange charity school for the
waifs and strays of London! The Great James Cook Navigator and later CH
Head of Mathematics Wm Wales FRS inspired the Ancient Mariner poetry of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the sailing exploits of George Vancouver.
Good Morning, Christ's Hospital A School Like No Other This Vancouver lunch gathering is now well set with five so far confirmed for Thursday April 16 2015: John Stanger, Terence Bate, Anthony Sessions, John Daniel, David Taplin. With perhaps others attending, including: Graham Riches, Christopher Johnson, Peter O'Boyle, Roger Blackman.
Chris: as our BCOB Indefatigable Secretary please could you very kindly update the BC Islander/Mainland OB Fraternity - albeit at rather short notice?
We can order lunch from the pretty good RVYC Menu in the Marine Lounge (hosted by two Old Blue members of RVYC). There is good parking - even for a very special Tesla.
Sir John Daniel OC might happily please update us all on "Housey in 2015" following his recent visit to CH - including I believe a meeting with the HM (John Franklin) & the Clerk (Gregory Andrews). See you at noon on Thursday!
Proposed Programme: Roll Call & Reading of the Charge by the Senior BC Old Blue: Stanger J; Grace before Meat by Bate T; The Housey Toast by Sessions A;
"Housey 2015" by former Senior Grecian Daniel J; Grace after Meat by Riches G former Rugby Captain. Fraternally Taplin D. Lamb B 1950-1957 Former Commodore CHC&SC
The Charge I charge you never to forget the great benefits you have received in this place, and in time to come, according to your means, to do all you can to enable others to enjoy the same advantage. And remember that you carry with you, wherever you go, the good name of Christ's Hospital.
---------------
CH Toast The Religious, Royal and Ancient Foundation of Christ's Hospital. May those prosper who love her. And may God increase their number. HOUSEY!
--------------
Grace before Meat Give us thankful hearts, O Lord God, for the Table which thou hast spread for us. Bless thy good Creatures to our use, and us to thy service, for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen
[Rebecca Ann First Kiss as Husband and Wife!!!]
Grace after Meat Blessed Lord, we yield he hearty praise and thanksgiving for our Founder and Benefactors, by whose Charitable Benevolence though hast refreshed our bodies at this time. So season and refresh our Souls with thy Heavenly Spirit that we may live to thy Honour and Glory. Protect thy Church, the Queen, and all the Royal Family. And preserve us in peace and truth through Christ our Saviour. Amen ["In 1941, in Harlem, just
around the corner from the Great Black Way, stood the center of the
dance and big band world -- the Savoy Ballroom:
"The Savoy Ballroom in
Harlem [was] perhaps the most famous dance hall in the nation. ... That
was where the heavyweight battles of the bands took place, where [a
band] made it or lost it. There were no judges, in
the strictest sense, working the Savoy; that work was done by the
dancers who came intending to party the night away, twirling and bucking
and stuffing and pivoting and bending and putting rhythmic spins on the
balls of their feet for swirling combinations
of steps that counterpointed the slippings and slidings of their
partners, each couple a pair of torsos inspired to elasticity by the
swing of the band with the strongest beat. ...
"It was around the corner
from] Seventh Avenue and 141st Street. This part of Seventh Avenue was
known as Black Broadway, 'the Great Black Way.' It was the widest
boulevard in Harlem and the scene of the neighborhood's
famous Easter Parade, which Kansas City bandleader Andy Kirk called
'the most beautiful thing I ever saw in my life.'
[Michele Darrow-Sutherland Reception is on !!]
"Here was where the
cream of the crop and the cream of the crooks showed off their taste and
their finery or attempted to bring some polish
to the scurrilous ways in which they made their livings. The bulk of
those seen on that thoroughfare personified the viscous vitality of the
music -- a beauty so rich it stuck to the mind. The skin tones of the
residents rambled the gamut, inspiring the Negro
people to say of their race that it was like a flower garden, including
'everything from lily-white to blue-black.' There were Negroes from all
over the world there, some from as far as Africa. The aristocracy of
taste and individual grandeur set styles and
walked heads up, sometimes in creme-colored shoes, sometimes in suede,
sometimes in alligators or leather soft as the proverbial baby's ass.
They seemed the royalty of their race. ...
[Marvin Angelo Mercado First dance]
"The Savoy was owned by two Polish Jews, the brothers Moses and Charles
Galewski, who had changed their surname to Gale. Opened in 1926, the
dance hall was fronted by manager Charlie Buchanan, an uptown real
estate agent who played owner and supplied the Negro
mask for the public window.
"The Savoy was built for
continual ritual. Inside its mammoth dance hall, two bandstands stood
side by side, so that as soon as one band's set was over, the next could
pick up without a pause. The music went on from
nine until two. The Savoy had become the dance hall in New York --
because of the bands that played there, but also because of its
customers, whose reactions to the bandstand rhythms set standards for
style, giving rise to dance steps that would spread across
the nation. As the Savoy grew in fame and popularity, its clientele
spread to include rich whites, movie stars, visiting Europeans, and
Negroes from out of town who came to find out what all the noise was
about.
[Marvin Angelo Mercado Photo booth fun!]
"Bands in rehearsal at the Savoy would] set up their music stands and
drums, got the bass in place, and soon they could hear the illusory
sound of the hall -- a sound that would change so much once so many
bodies had crowded into the room, absorbing their
notes, adding sound of their own. You had to play two or three or four
times louder during a show than you did in a light rehearsal." Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, Stanley Crouch, Harper, 2013] Nadienka Wyss How about a skype round tonight? I'm at my parents' house.
Must away as I have to pop over the the liquor store across the way to buy some dark rum for Dusty! Ended up buying Panama Red, 54%!
Just as of possible interest regarding a very strange charity school for the waifs and strays of London! The Great James Cook Navigator and later CH Head of Mathematics Wm Wales FRS inspired the Ancient Mariner poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the sailing exploits of George Vancouver.
Good Morning, Christ's Hospital A School Like No Other This Vancouver lunch gathering is now well set with five so far confirmed for Thursday April 16 2015: John Stanger, Terence Bate, Anthony Sessions, John Daniel, David Taplin. With perhaps others attending, including: Graham Riches, Christopher Johnson, Peter O'Boyle, Roger Blackman.
Chris: as our BCOB Indefatigable Secretary please could you very kindly update the BC Islander/Mainland OB Fraternity - albeit at rather short notice? We can order lunch from the pretty good RVYC Menu in the Marine Lounge (hosted by two Old Blue members of RVYC). There is good parking - even for a very special Tesla.
Sir John Daniel OC might happily please update us all on "Housey in 2015" following his recent visit to CH - including I believe a meeting with the HM (John Franklin) & the Clerk (Gregory Andrews). See you at noon on Thursday!
Proposed Programme: Roll Call & Reading of the Charge by the Senior BC Old Blue: Stanger J; Grace before Meat by Bate T; The Housey Toast by Sessions A;
"Housey 2015" by former Senior Grecian Daniel J; Grace after Meat by Riches G former Rugby Captain. Fraternally Taplin D. Lamb B 1950-1957 Former Commodore CHC&SC
The Charge I charge you never to forget the great benefits you have received in this place, and in time to come, according to your means, to do all you can to enable others to enjoy the same advantage. And remember that you carry with you, wherever you go, the good name of Christ's Hospital.---------------
CH Toast The Religious, Royal and Ancient Foundation of Christ's Hospital. May those prosper who love her. And may God increase their number. HOUSEY!
--------------
Grace before Meat Give us thankful hearts, O Lord God, for the Table which thou hast spread for us. Bless thy good Creatures to our use, and us to thy service, for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen
Grace after Meat Blessed Lord, we yield he hearty praise and thanksgiving for our Founder and Benefactors, by whose Charitable Benevolence though hast refreshed our bodies at this time. So season and refresh our Souls with thy Heavenly Spirit that we may live to thy Honour and Glory. Protect thy Church, the Queen, and all the Royal Family. And preserve us in peace and truth through Christ our Saviour. Amen ["In 1941, in Harlem, just
around the corner from the Great Black Way, stood the center of the
dance and big band world -- the Savoy Ballroom:
"The Savoy Ballroom in
Harlem [was] perhaps the most famous dance hall in the nation. ... That
was where the heavyweight battles of the bands took place, where [a
band] made it or lost it. There were no judges, in
the strictest sense, working the Savoy; that work was done by the
dancers who came intending to party the night away, twirling and bucking
and stuffing and pivoting and bending and putting rhythmic spins on the
balls of their feet for swirling combinations
of steps that counterpointed the slippings and slidings of their
partners, each couple a pair of torsos inspired to elasticity by the
swing of the band with the strongest beat. ...
"It was around the corner
from] Seventh Avenue and 141st Street. This part of Seventh Avenue was
known as Black Broadway, 'the Great Black Way.' It was the widest
boulevard in Harlem and the scene of the neighborhood's
famous Easter Parade, which Kansas City bandleader Andy Kirk called
'the most beautiful thing I ever saw in my life.'
[Michele Darrow-Sutherland Reception is on !!]
"Here was where the
cream of the crop and the cream of the crooks showed off their taste and
their finery or attempted to bring some polish
to the scurrilous ways in which they made their livings. The bulk of
those seen on that thoroughfare personified the viscous vitality of the
music -- a beauty so rich it stuck to the mind. The skin tones of the
residents rambled the gamut, inspiring the Negro
people to say of their race that it was like a flower garden, including
'everything from lily-white to blue-black.' There were Negroes from all
over the world there, some from as far as Africa. The aristocracy of
taste and individual grandeur set styles and
walked heads up, sometimes in creme-colored shoes, sometimes in suede,
sometimes in alligators or leather soft as the proverbial baby's ass.
They seemed the royalty of their race. ...
"The Savoy was owned by two Polish Jews, the brothers Moses and Charles Galewski, who had changed their surname to Gale. Opened in 1926, the dance hall was fronted by manager Charlie Buchanan, an uptown real estate agent who played owner and supplied the Negro mask for the public window.
"The Savoy was built for
continual ritual. Inside its mammoth dance hall, two bandstands stood
side by side, so that as soon as one band's set was over, the next could
pick up without a pause. The music went on from
nine until two. The Savoy had become the dance hall in New York --
because of the bands that played there, but also because of its
customers, whose reactions to the bandstand rhythms set standards for
style, giving rise to dance steps that would spread across
the nation. As the Savoy grew in fame and popularity, its clientele
spread to include rich whites, movie stars, visiting Europeans, and
Negroes from out of town who came to find out what all the noise was
about.
[Marvin Angelo Mercado Photo booth fun!] "Bands in rehearsal at the Savoy would] set up their music stands and drums, got the bass in place, and soon they could hear the illusory sound of the hall -- a sound that would change so much once so many bodies had crowded into the room, absorbing their notes, adding sound of their own. You had to play two or three or four times louder during a show than you did in a light rehearsal." Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, Stanley Crouch, Harper, 2013] Nadienka Wyss How about a skype round tonight? I'm at my parents' house.
 |
| Satan distributing indulgences |
"One of the scandalous practices of the Catholic church was the sale of 'indulgences' to raise money. Indulgences allowed Catholics to buy forgiveness for their sins with cold, hard cash. Most remember that indulgences were one of the primary reasons Martin Luther made the cataclysmic decision to leave the Catholic church and start the "Protestant" movement. However, few realize that indulgences were used by the Catholic church as a primary source of revenue for over a thousand years, and that the practice did not end as a result of Luther's protests:
"The cost of running the church's kingdom while maintaining the profligate lifestyle of one of Europe's grandest courts pressured the Vatican always to look for ways to bring in more money. Taxes and fees levied on the Papal States paid most of the empire's basic expenses. The sales of produce from its agriculturally rich northern land as well as rents collected from its properties throughout Europe brought in extra cash. But over time that was not enough to fuel the lavish lifestyles of the Pope and his top clerics.
The church found the money it needed in the selling of so-called indulgences, a sixth-century invention whereby the faithful paid for a piece of paper that promised that God would forgo any earthly punishment for the buyer's sins. The early church's penances were often severe, including flogging, imprisonment, or even death. Although some indulgences were free, the best ones -- promising the most redemption for the gravest sins -- were expensive. The Vatican set prices according to the severity of the sin and they were initially available only to those who made a pilgrimage to Rome.
"Indulgences helped Urban II in the eleventh century offset the church's enormous costs in subsidizing the first Crusades. He offered full absolution to anyone who volunteered to fight in 'God's army' and partial forgiveness for simply helping the Crusaders. Successive Popes became ever more creative in liberalizing the scope of indulgences and the ease with which devout Catholics could pay for them. By the early 1400s, Boniface IX -- whose decadent spending kept the church under relentless financial pressure -- extended indulgences to encompass sacraments, ordinations, and consecrations. A few decades later, Pope Paul II waived the need for sinners to make a pilgrimage to Rome. He authorized local bishops to collect the money and dispense the indulgences and also cleared them for sale at pilgrimage sites that had relics of saints. Sextus IV had an inspired idea: apply them to souls stuck in Purgatory. Any Catholic could pay so that souls trapped in Purgatory could get on a fast track to Heaven.
The assurance that money alone could cut the afterlife in Purgatory was such a powerful inducement that many families sent their life savings to Rome. So much money flooded to Sextus that he was able to build the Sistine Chapel. Alexander VI -- the Spanish Borgia whose Papacy was marked by nepotism and brutal infighting for power -- created an indulgence for simply reciting the Rosary in public. The new sales pitch promised the faithful that a generous contribution multiplied the Rosary's prayer power.
"Each Pontiff understood that tax revenues from the Papal States paid most of the day-to-day bills, while indulgences paid for everything else. The church overlooked the widespread corruption and graft inherent in collecting so much cash and instead grew ever more dependent on indulgences. And as they got ever easier to buy and promised more forgiveness, they became wildly popular among ordinary Catholics.
"Indulgences were, however, more than a financial lifeline. They also helped medieval Roman Popes withstand challenges to their secular power. So-called antipopes -- usually from other Italian cities -- claimed they, rather than the pope elected in Rome, had the political or divine right to rule the Catholic Church. Although some antipopes raised their own armies and had popular backing, they never mustered the moral authority to issue indulgences.
"Indulgences were, however, more than a financial lifeline. They also helped medieval Roman Popes withstand challenges to their secular power. So-called antipopes -- usually from other Italian cities -- claimed they, rather than the pope elected in Rome, had the political or divine right to rule the Catholic Church. Although some antipopes raised their own armies and had popular backing, they never mustered the moral authority to issue indulgences.
Repeated efforts over centuries by pretenders to the Papacy to package and sell forgiveness for sins failed. Few Catholics believed that anyone but the Roman Pope had the direct connection with God to offer a real Indulgence. And when the Pope's armies were called upon to sometimes crush an antipope, it was usually the flood of cash from indulgences that paid for the war.
"By the reign of Leo X -- the last nonpriest elected Pope in 1513 -- a growing chorus of critics condemned indulgences as a shameless ecclesiastical dependence. Leo, a prince from Florence's powerful Medici family, was a cardinal since he was thirteen. He was accustomed to an extravagant lifestyle by the time he became Pope at thirty-eight.
"By the reign of Leo X -- the last nonpriest elected Pope in 1513 -- a growing chorus of critics condemned indulgences as a shameless ecclesiastical dependence. Leo, a prince from Florence's powerful Medici family, was a cardinal since he was thirteen. He was accustomed to an extravagant lifestyle by the time he became Pope at thirty-eight.
Leo made the Papal Court the grandest in Europe, commissioning Raphael to decorate the majestic loggias. The Vatican's servants nearly doubled to seven hundred. Assuming the role of a clerical aristocracy, cardinals were called Princes of the Church. Leo had no patience for critics who demanded he curb the sale of indulgences. He tried silencing his detractors by threatening excommunication. When that failed, he pressed ahead with a futures market by which diminution was available for sins not yet committed. So much cash flooded in that he could build St. Peter's cathedral.
"Pope-Kings unvaryingly were scions of a handful of powerful Italian families. When one of their sons became Pope, the by-products of a Papacy often included rampant corruption, pervasive nepotism, and unbridled debauchery. The cash from indulgences mostly became a bottomless pit.
"The licentious lifestyle of the Papal Court and the widespread abuses in selling indulgences became a rallying cry for Martin Luther and the Reformation. Pope Leo responded by excommunicating Luther. One of the few benefits from the schism was that since Protestants condemned indulgences, the Holy See remained unopposed when it came to selling forgiveness to believers in Christ.
"The licentious lifestyle of the Papal Court and the widespread abuses in selling indulgences became a rallying cry for Martin Luther and the Reformation. Pope Leo responded by excommunicating Luther. One of the few benefits from the schism was that since Protestants condemned indulgences, the Holy See remained unopposed when it came to selling forgiveness to believers in Christ.
"The steady flow of cash became ever more important as the Vatican suffered from the repercussions of the liberal political and social upheaval that swept Western Europe in the late eighteenth century, climaxing in the 1789 French Revolution." God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican, Gerald Posner, Simon & Schuster, 2015
Chloe Alexis Dunn Jordan Hamlyn what did you do??? Split your pants!!!
Jordan Hamlyn Dropped it real low Rich Mills Nice pooka dots Deb Roberts Whoa, way too low! Patrick James Dunn Now that is someone who really is wearing tails!
Lazy sleep-in until 9:30 am after the pretty boisterous post-pre-wedding rehearsal evening, mentioned above, tippling, nibbling and visiting. Cora Lee made a wonderful breakfast, (in the brand spanking new electric frying pan that Rosita and Dusty gave us for Christmas), of back bacon and omelet. I was even pleasantly surprised, certainly pleased with the java that I made, Starbucks Caffè Verona. I "doctored" the water intake by using only a third of a cup and was able to enjoy espressos!
Lazy sleep-in until 9:30 am after the pretty boisterous post-pre-wedding rehearsal evening, mentioned above, tippling, nibbling and visiting. Cora Lee made a wonderful breakfast, (in the brand spanking new electric frying pan that Rosita and Dusty gave us for Christmas), of back bacon and omelet. I was even pleasantly surprised, certainly pleased with the java that I made, Starbucks Caffè Verona. I "doctored" the water intake by using only a third of a cup and was able to enjoy espressos!
Since we only had one bathroom I went to buy Dusty a bottle of rum, to help him get through all the pre-wedding kerfuffle, while The Sisterhood showered and readied themselves. On way out I took a look at the ballroom where reception was to be held. Coriandre had helped decorate it earlier that morning. According to her report, over breakfast, the decorations that she had helped arrange, along with many other family members and guests, were wonderful! She was right as place looked fabulous! Quick trip to a Signature store down the highway and I was back to shower and change myself.
Happened to meet Grogg and Lurch in the hotel lobby on my way out so we arranged to meet back there at shortly before 2:00pm as he knew where church was located. We took Corinne's parents and Chloë went with another friend, Joanne, as G/L were chauffeuring more friends, Carmen Miranda and South-side Johnny. Wedding ceremony was quite simple but very moving. Bride was gorgeous and all went well. No slip-ups with rings or vows! Back to hotel by 3:30 pm and, once again, we hosted another gathering as reception didn't start until 5:30 pm. String of friends and family members drifted in and out until it was time to make for the ballroom. All of the people mentioned above we seated at table 10, except Chloë, who was with a "younger crowd!"
Lovely meal with two bottles of Tinhorn Creek, a white and a red, for each table. To tell you the truth I was quite surprised that for the rest it was a cash bar. First wedding that I've been at where this was so. Given that hotel's hootch wasn't all that interesting and quite expensive, Chloë volunteered to make a couple of runs up to our room and came back loaded with four or five bottles to see us through the evening! Grogg and Carmen Miranda did the same so we were well taken care of for the rest of the night! Loads of fun after meal was over with dancing and photo booth and that sort of thing. Durstons left around 11:00 pm and we followed shortly before midnight. Chloë stayed, with rest of hard-core to close place down at 1:30 am. I didn't hear her when she came back to our room around 2:00 am, she thought.
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