how about drinking?

Dagnabbit, lets get to de next page alweady......dorkie ya gots me started.....

Dork ur so funny.--I'm trying to help.

AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ok, TAKE A BET.... will it be Cami, or Kathi or Dorki to get us to the next pg?

this is gettin exasperatin

This is a project here we'd better have the mods follow me around----MODS help.

Ya know, our Dorkster started twying to get to de next pg, now wese is all hailpin her, but she is MIA now......

OK Four score and 7 years ago--thats 87 years

I think it's done----now I still have to figure what I'm doint with my pics that no one else is screwin' up the screens.

Now we're all tired out. LOL

I hope we ll sleep well.

Darling D - legs behind neck - Oh er Mrs.

Naughty Orla - man in pic - Anthony and he has an identical twin brother.

A man is driving down a deserted stretch of highway when he notices a sign out of the corner of his eye...It reads:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS - HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
10 MILES
He thinks this is a figment of his imagination and drives on without second thought.
Soon he sees another sign which reads:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS - HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
5 MILES
Suddenly he begins to realize that these signs are for real and drives past a third sign saying:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS - HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
NEXT RIGHT
His curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls into the drive. On the far side of the parking lot is a stone building with a small sign next to the door reading:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS
He climbs the steps and rings the bell. The door is answered by a nun in a long black habit who asks,
'What may we do for you! my son?'
He answers, 'I saw your signs along the highway and was interested in possibly doing business....'
'Very well my son. Please follow me.' He is led through many winding passages and is soon quite disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man, 'Please knock on this door.'
He does so and another nun in a long habit, holding a tin cup answers the door. This nun instructs, 'Please place $100 in the cup then go through the large wooden door at the end of the hallway.'
He puts $100 in the cup, eagerly trots down the hall and slips through the door pulling it shut behind him.
The door locks, and he finds himself back in the parking lot facing another sign:

GO IN PEACE.
YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCREWED BY

THE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS.
SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU SINNER

Chrissy and Bernie, Not sure how much coverage you are getting, but all those homes that burned at the shore (now about 111) were mostly owned by current/retired firefighters, policemen/women, teachers, councilmen. What is doubly sad is when 9/11 happened, more firefighters/policemen died that had lived in that area than anywhere else. So they have had 2 great tragedies hit that one area. All the other losses are horrid too, and it is sad to see the homes either destroyed or full of water or sand, or both. And the boardwalk, and amusement park (roller coaster, etc in the water and damaged), that had been there soooo long. Dotty can tell you more, but I wanted to pass that along to you about the Seaside Community and the loss there.

Hugsssssss,

Kath

Samhain

The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year travelled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honour of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread.

The Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcille converted them to Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them evil devil worshippers.

As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it. In 601 A.D. Pope Gregory the First issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples' customs and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.

Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. Christmas was assigned the arbitrary date of December 25th because it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration of many peoples. Likewise, St. John's Day was set on the summer solstice.

Samhain, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan. While missionaries identified their holy days with those observed by the Celts, they branded the earlier religion's supernatural deities as evil, and associated them with the devil. As representatives of the rival religion, Druids were considered evil worshippers of devilish or demonic gods and spirits. The Celtic underworld inevitably became identified with the Christian Hell.

The effects of this policy were to diminish but not totally eradicate the beliefs in the traditional gods.

The Christian feast of All Saints was assigned to November 1st. The day honoured every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day devoted to them. This feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion of the Celtic peoples, and, finally, to replace it forever. That did not happen, but the traditional Celtic deities diminished in status, becoming fairies or leprechauns of more recent traditions.                

All Saints Day, otherwise known as All Hallows, continued the ancient Celtic traditions. The evening prior to the day was the time of the most intense activity, both human and supernatural. People continued to celebrate All Hallows Eve as a time of the wandering dead, but the supernatural beings were now thought to be evil.  Celtic belief in supernatural creatures persisted, while the church made deliberate attempts to define them as being not merely dangerous, but malicious. Followers of the old religion went into hiding and were branded as witches.

The folk continued to propitiate those spirits (and their masked impersonators) by setting out gifts of food and drink. Subsequently, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which became Hallowe'en--an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year's Day in contemporary dress.