UNIATE

I am a baptized member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Uniate), and in fact already received last rites once from it too, though I am not an active member I retain it as my faith nonetheless. My home church is St Michael the Archangel (which is based, I think, on the original church in Kiev); the structure I knew was near Fells Point, but was sold and converted, and now a new, gorgeous gold-domed edifice now houses the congregation). I have never visited it. I saw this really beautiful picture of the dome of the St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Chicago and wanted to share it.

FATHER'S DAY

YOUNG PAUL

Herewith some pictures of my little brother Paul Brook Tidd, mostly from the 1980s. Plus a cute baby picture.

TAKE IT DOWN

You know, I don’t forgive him!
I admire those who say they do,
and they are better than me.
But I can’t just forgive a killer of
innocent, loving parishioners
because of the color of their skin,
and hatred ingrained, taught by
the ignorant and angry who
blame others for their failures;
politicians and legislators,
who protect and promote racist symbols;
false newspeople, who twist truth
to satisfy politics of their owners;
professors who promote disunion.
People must stand against racism,
and we can take a good first step,
by taking down the Stars and Bars.

PRAYER (HAIKU)

As I get older
I make a strident prayer,
Dear Good Lord. Please, Be.

FLASHBACK

Five years ago took the boys to the fair, Joey a new Boy Scout, Chimo still in Cubs.

FORTS

Since the camping trip was cancelled, and it was expected to be a nice, albeit hot, day, Chimo and I decided it was a good opportunity for a road trip. Joey opted out and we hit the road. We decided to try Fort Sumter. After a somewhat slow start to the morning, we got to Patriot's Point around twelve and then had to wait a bit for the next ferry out to the fort. The ride was nice, with porpoises and nice folk to talk with, and we soon were on the sand island that supports the structure at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. It was plenty hot, I can tell you. We explored and checked out the museum, which had some amazing relics, although somewhat fewer than I would have imagined. I wonder what they do when a hurricane sweeps in. Unfortunately most of the pics I took while we were there did not come out that well.

Here is a shot along the outside wall of the fort, looking out into the Atlantic.

Here Chimo stands just inside the entrance of the fort, with the parade ground and huge concrete structure placed there during Spanish American War, and used up to end of WWII. Why is was painted black I didn't discover while I was there. We only had an hour.

Then we headed over to Fort Moultrie and got there with only about a half hour to spare before they locked the parking area. Only one pic came out decent, of Chimo and I inside the battery displaying the WWII commander's office. It was mercifully cool down there. We tried to find where the soldiers would have been bunked, but didn't find it.

Then, since we were so close to the beaches, I convinced Chimo to let me take a quick dip. I need to visit the ocean once in a while. The water was pretty warm. Then we drove around and found dinner. Chinese. We had a nice time.