le petit déjeuner extraordinaire !
"Damn! Apple pie and no cheese." Thirty or so years ago we were with Paint and Jim, Linda's mother and step-father, having supper at The Club on the mountain in Birmingham, Alabama - - the first time Linda and I were there was summer 1954, when Linda's parents had made an appointment with cardiologist Dr Edgar Givhan, for me to have my heart checked, and Linda's cousin Joe Farley treated us to dinner, just the two of us, at The Club. What I remember best, and it's all gone now, is the hellish, fiery mountaintop view of the iron foundries at night. Anyway, on this more recent occasion, and Jim loved taking us to dinner at The Club, where his special waiter, whose name I forget, made a point of making absolutely sure that nobody but himself took care of Mr Graham's table, likely because of Jim's tipping practice.
Again, anyway, what do I remember? Dessert time came, and we ordered our selections, Linda's mother ordering apple pie. The waiter arrived with our desserts, and when he set Paint's in front of her, she stared at it and murmured, "Damn! apple pie and no cheese!" The poor waiter was visibly shaken, apologized profusely and assured her, "I'll bring cheese, Mrs Graham." She laughed, "Oh, no, I don't want cheese, that's a line from XXXXX (I forget) and I've always wanted to say it!"
He brought the cheese anyway.
Apple pie: warm with cheese or vanilla ice cream. For dessert at friends' last night, and this morning, le petit déjeuner extraordinaire ! with hot & black.
We are up and about, waiting for my phone to ring so I can open the gate for the "white gloves" company to arrive from Dothan to fix my new adjustable bed, which evidently was not correctly assembled on delivery last month.
Our parents' age, Dr Givhan would have died long ago, and I'm sad to find the 2004 obit of his son, Dr Edgar Givhan II, also a heart specialist, twenty years ago at age 69.
Anyway, my preference was always vanilla ice cream, but if you prefer cheese with your apple pie, it needs to be a chunk, not a slice, of extra sharp cheddar, not white, but yellow cheese. And for me it's a close second to the ice cream. Linda's family were more sophisticated, but in my family growing up, having cheese with apple pie would have marked me as a communist, or at least a flaming liberal, or even a Damnyankee. .
Googling apple pie with cheese it seems that in Wisconsin, to serve apple pie without cheese may be a capital crime.
++++++++++
There needs to be Some sort of redeeming feature to these nonsensical ramblings, and this week I'm trying to make it about our Bible readings for Sunday. Here's our second lesson:
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.
Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
++++++++
It's St Paul going on about love, agape (lovingkindness, thoughtfulness, courtesy, consideration, generosity, mindfulness) - - that agape love calls us to be mindful of how our actions affect others, especially those who do not "know" the same things that we "know," and that we take care not to act in ways that offend or mislead folks.
Yes, Paul is affirming that eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols is meaningless, but he goes on to say that everyone doesn't realize that, and that we must not be jerks who ignore the feelings of others. It's one of my favorite Bible passages.
Hope your Friday is good. Mine is, so far. The technician came to service the bed, corrected the issue, I've had my apple pie with cheese, my second mug of hot & black, and the next thing on calendar is a haircut.
pax vobiscum, RSF&PTL
T88&c
sun promising to show up this morning
apple pie with cheese warm and waiting