Photeugenic

Some people photograph well. I am not one of them. I had every intention of blowing off the new church photo directory, but the secretary called in her SWAT team and I was taken by the arm (resistance is futile, remember) and dragged over to the sign-up sheet. So I thought I'd be a good sport and go along. Mis. Take. Did my best imitation of a pleasant, friendly smile for the camera, and the result looked like Don Knotts playing an axe murderer. How any human face can succeed in resembling both a hamster and a bullfrog at the same time is beyond me. I was particularly taken aback by the maniacal eyes. Horrifying. I was, once again, forcibly reminded of the reason for my aversion to being photographed. Years ago I would have flung myself onto my bed and sobbed for hours, but having discovered that said hours of sobbing do nothing to enhance an appearance that already qualifies as objectionable, I gave that up. I did feel vaguely nauseous for a while, though. I'm grateful that none of my kids got visited by the Ugly Fairy in their cradles.

And so the challenge is once again before me, of rebuilding my shattered self-image and, to make it resilient, basing it not on what I or others see with eyes, but what God sees. And what might that be? "Beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Not only that, but "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Works for me.

Green eggs on face

Just in case you're still wondering about so-called "climate change," there's an informative recap of the whole sordid business here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/ipcc_international_pack_of_cli.html

What's shocking to me is seeing people like Dr Suzuki, who was once a scientist and should therefore have retained some small regard for facts, still desperately clinging to the AGW story in the face of all the revelations of rank stupidity and downright fraud. He must have been making very good money off it all along. Makes me wonder who's been signing his paycheques. Could it be some of the same people who bankrolled Obama's affirmative-action career through Harvard and the US Senate to the White House? There's an eerie similarity in the passion both have for pulling a lot of wool over many eyes, not to mention their willingness to let truth fall away in the service of ideology.

A rose: such a clatter

Heard The Last Rose Of Summer on Radio Swiss Classic the other day (this being the radio station I happily discovered when the CBC acquired a permanent case of dysentery a little over a year ago). I remember being at the piano while an aging mezzo demolished that one. Renee Fleming, with orchestra, was much more palatable. However, I object strenuously to the lyrics, the gist of which is, that the poet sees a rose blooming alone on the bush after all the others are dead, and to save it from being lonely, he rips it apart and throws it down. This horrifies me. Suppose that rose wanted to bloom by itself, without any competition? Suppose it had been saving itself all summer long, waiting for just the right moment to be the final crowning glory of the blooming season - and along comes this gumbooted halfwit who trashes it, then goes and makes flimsy excuses on paper. A horrific and senseless act, justified in the mind of the perpetrator.

Come to think of it, that sounds like most of humanity.