Palm Sunday

Behold beauty from Farrer:

AFTER Jesus had died on the cross, his disciples hoped to keep his body with them as a sacred relic. They shut it in with stone, they came to embalm it. St. Magdalen was disconsolate that she could not find it. But Jesus had given his body to them at the Supper in the form in which he meant them to have it, a form which did not inolve its being stored on earth. He would continually give it them from heaven, where he lives. It is a heavenly being he bestows on us, it is in his heavenly body that he unites us. Lift up your hearts; by this sacrament you are parts of Christ, and Christ is the heart of heaven.

God bless you all,

LSP

A Good Man

 

He was a good man and I felt privileged to deacon his requiem. He believed in the electric universe, to say nothing of Christ Himself, and here's a song:

Requiescat,

LSP

Get Off Of My Cloud

 

It's been busy here. No rest, gentle readers, for the wicked.

All Hail Our Rulers,

LSP

Just Strolling In The Rain

Most Anglican priests in North America typically stay in their parish or mission for about five years before moving on to moar cash greater and higher things. At least that's what the stats said a few years ago, and I reflected on that as I strolled through the sylvan boulevards of Olde Texas in the gentle rain. How can you possibly, as a clergyman, get to know the people and place of your cure in just five years?

Well you can't, not to any great extent, and there's a virtue in staying in one place for a length of time. Of course it helps if the place in question is congenial and involves riding, shooting, fishing and, today, gentle, soothing rain. Enjoy it while you can, fellow citizens of this bucolic rural haven in North Central Texas.

Weather reverie over, I strolled past a sign for the impending eclipse and into the food bank, which does a brisk business because no one can afford to buy food at the supermarkets, and talked to their leaderene who has to be pushing 90 but doesn't look a day younger or older than she did 15 years ago.

What a good woman and tough as nails, I used to shoot pistols with her husband, RIP, back in the day using pictures of Episcopal Church bishop figures as targets. Fun. Then it was a short saunter over to the Square, complete with its Confederate war memorial. No, no-one's even thought of taking that down, and from there to a shop I've never been in.

To be fair, it's changed hands a few times since I've been here and now advertises "alterations." Interesting, and I went inside to investigate. Sure enough, it's definitely an alterations shop and I visited with the owner who was inundated with work. Yes, she could create a suit, but didn't have the time. You see, what happens is that people, typically women, buy stuff online which doesn't fit them and then take it to be fixed. So she has a roaring trade and fair play to her, I'll go there in the future instead of driving to Dallas.

Speaking of which, Janey Tailor on the corner of Greenville and Mockingbird did a stand-up job fixing not one but four old but nice suits, DB, 3B, 2B. "You are wizards!" I exclaimed to the excellent Korean sewing crew at Janey Tailor, and they are, but now I want to shop local. I like the vibe of this shop. Next stop?

Gold Nugget Pawn. I bought my first Lee Enfield there back in the far-off mists of time and used to bring great containers of Holy Water for the staff. They said they needed it, which they doubtless did. Then the owner Miss Dale died, I buried her, and Cindy took over the operation only to sell the shop off. Now it's under new management who are staunch #2A, so we get on well. I'll offer to bless the place, maybe an exorcism'd be in order.

On the way back to the Compound, I passed by the Pick 'n Steal, still going strong after all these years, though I miss the Nepalese who used to run it, and swung 'round the corner past what used to be the Meth Shack. That's no more and's being fixed up by Jose who, is, I think, from El Salvador. A good man and maybe he'll go to Mission #1's new Spanish Mass.

Regardless, back at the front porch of the Compound I looked out on the rain of a Texan morning and thanked God for bringing me here. So much better than, say, Baltimore, Philly or the suburban ghetto Maryland suburbs of DC. 

You see, gentle readers, I've pretty much been a slum priest for much of my time, so this is most congenial, in a semi-abandoned railway town kinda way. You'll note, in passing, that priests tend to stay two years in this position before moving on, and I've stayed over fifteen, this is a record. No inclination to move either, and there you have it, and Devil take the hindmost.

In other news, my eldest texted me yesterday as I was collecting clothes from the Dallas Koreans, "Dad, they've promoted me to Sergeant." And so they had, right there in the field. I texted back, "WELL DONE. GOOD WORK." We must take our victories as we find 'em.

Stand Strong,

LSP

Stardust

 

Take it easy, kids.

Sleep tight,

LSP

SCOTUS Sides With Texas

 

The Supreme Court's sided with Texas by a slim 4-3 majority, lib justices dissenting, allowing the state to arrest and deport illegals. About time too. Here's a helpful infovideo:

WATCH: The Democrat Open Borders Plan to Entrench Single-Party Rule | Explained in Under Two Minutes pic.twitter.com/uWJxBiKive

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 19, 2024

 

The Biden admin's let in what, 10 million illegals? What a gang of criminal traitors. On topic, I always enjoy the blank, slack-jawed look leftists give when you ask them, "What will all this immigration do to workers' wages, will it make wages rise or fall?" They recover after a bit and ramble rainbow incoherently about the Statue of Liberty.

Go Texas,

LSP

Maybe You Scorn My Suits

 

Then again, maybe you don't.

All for the Cause,

LSP

Question - Two or Three Button?

 

OK, it's Lent here in the North Central Texas Exclusion Zone and everywhere else, so we're jousting with Gospel imperatives. Viz. Should a suit be two button or 3 button? Dege & Skinner, notables of the Row, seem to opt for two button, see above.

Nice, to put it mildly, no doubt about it, but perhaps three button gives that SuperTrad, strolling down St. James and Devil takes the hindmost look? I used to think so, back in the mists of time, but now? Maybe two button befits seniority. Whatever, here's cut-price Cordings by way of reference:

As you can see, gentlemen and women, we're talking salvation issues here, but hey, it's Monday and the Compound's taking a "day-off." Quite unlike Satan. Soteriology aside, what's your take on suits, two or three button? And let's not forget DB.

I say all means all, but your call,

LSP

PS. Aide Memoire, Prince Philip favored TWO BUTTON. And long cut KENT HASTE. So, there is that.

St. Patrick's Day

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, you lot, and you'll note the Rainbow Uniparty which rules formerly Great Britain hasn't dared, yet, to disband the Brigade of Guards. But I won't bang on. Happy St. Patrick's Day. And if Kate's still alive, and all the world hopes she is, let's give her Canada. Like... yesterday.

By the Left,

LSP

Juke Box Saturday

 

Juke Box Saturday's back by popular demand and what a line up we've got. Pat kicks off with the awesome Band Maid, hard rockers outta Japan:

 

Great result and Wild hits it outta the park with the Vapors, "Pat has me thinking I'm turning Japanese." Rock on:

What. A. Tune. And here's some superlative awesomeness via Jim. Check it out, Tiny Moore & Jimmy Gimble:

Man, that was good, Here's RHT's selection and it ain't shabby, a right toe-tapper:

And what about you, so-called LSP? Let's change it up with Lully, complete with trumpets. Keen-eyed viewers will note LL at the top of the stairwell. Enjoy Lully:

Keep 'em coming,

LSP

Yes We Do Requests

 

Sure thing. Here at the Compound we're pretty much always ready to fire up the juke box and play requests. This one's from Wild, and what a one it is.

Good call. And Wild, I see your BST with BOC. Turn it up:

Oh yes indeed. 

So don't be shy, send in your tunes,

LSP 

Boots On The Ground

 

A rambunctious young soldier walked through the door, "Hi Dad, what's up?" I took a pause from selling AI inventory (What?? Yes, it's true) and said, "Here, look at this," and showed off the new CZ 20, "Let's go for a shoot." Smiles all 'round. But first things first, clean up those dusty old boots.

That's right, a pair of Ariat Heritage which have been  all over the shop, from Africa to Canada and in between. Good boots, but here's the thing, if you don't look after 'em they fall apart, not unlike guns, when you think about it. So I gave the things a good going over with mink oil. This helps waterproof the leather and keeps it supple. It's not even hard to do, just put some mink oil magic on your mink oil brush and give the boots a sturdy scrub.

Well done, boots ready to go, you're ready to go, pre-mission objective accomplished, but then disaster struck. That's right, the climate changed. It does that, you see, and it did it again today, with thunder starting to rumble like opening salvos in the battle of Kursk, followed by rain which spat against the wooden walls of this old house.

We watched the storm from the shelter of the front porch, "I guess we're not going shooting, eh?" No, we weren't, so we talked Army.

Now, all the world knows that the US Army has a grievous recruitment problem, to the tune of a 40k+ shortfall. Not good, especially when our beloved rulers are baying for moar war. Solution? My eldest told me, "What they're doing is getting all these new E5s to become recruiters. Doesn't matter if they're unfit or whatever, make Sergeant and off you go. That's what I was told."

"Huh," I replied, staring out at a tumultuous Texan sky, "That's no good," and the kid agreed. "Did you know recruiters have the highest suicide level rate in the Army?" I didn't, and he continued, "But here's the thing, if I turn down Recruiter I can put in a Drill Packet."

"Now that, old chap, makes a lot of sense in your case, you'd be good at it," and he would, his face fits. Not only that, it's a two year thing and he'd have time to finish off a degree and then move on to OCS. That's his plan, and it's a good plan. But back to the recruitment crisis.

"You know, Dad, I was talking with our First Sergeant and he told me, 'How are we going to fix recruitment, by taking on a lot of recruiters or by paying our soldiers more than three bucks an hour?' Yeah, and I said hey, you're preaching to the converted."

Like really. Maybe, just maybe, we'd get more recruits if we actually paid our soldiers more than junior burger flippers, to say nothing of all the risible rainbow garbage and the fact that patriots, young men and women who want to serve their country, aren't too keen on signing up to fight for the Demented Old Crook and associates. The very people who actively hate them and everything they stand for.

We talked about all this, there on the porch as the rain crashed down, and have rescheduled our shoot till after the boy gets back from a mission in California. I look forward to that. Semper.

Your Old Friend,

LSP