The Party’s Over, Time For A Joke

Guess who slept till noon Monday and didn't post a journal entry?

Did anybody notice?

Anyhow, Sunday's cookout rocked.

The young lady I’d talked to Saturday did come and we laughed over our mutual embarrassment. She took a printout of yesterday’s blog home to show her mother. She hails from Maine and actually met Stephen King there. She told about his benevolence toward the town where she lived. She was a hit! Our kids want her to go to Europe with them in the Fall — that would make for not two, but three girls all with the same first name going.

At future cookouts, we’re going to make them all wear numbers!

We met my youngest daughter’s new friend.

I always feel as though we are under inspection in these situations and I hope we met with his approval. He seems like a great guy and treats our daughter with kind respect and attentiveness.

He hails from north Africa. He works as a waiter at an upscale restaurant and he aspires to be a printer. He explained the intricacies of process called web printing, which, if I understand what he said, involves running paper through a press eight times using a different color ink each time in register to produce a fine crisp quality.

He said he is a Coptic Christian and explained that some traditions trace that faith back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; other authorities trace it to the eighth chapter of Acts where the Apostle Philip talked with the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot. Still other authorities say that faith is of more recent origin.

He also explained the difference between idols and icons, but I have a hard time distinguishing the difference.

Coptic artists created a unique, exquisite and intriguing artistic style. The Newark Art Museum features an on-line exhibit at http://www.newarkmuseum.org/afterthepharaohs/index.htm ; another fine display can be found at http://touregypt.net/featurestories/copticpainting.htm

Here is one example of Coptic calligraphy in a book of prayers:

The one glitch developed at our cookout.

Certain women in the family — let me re-word that -- All the women in the family complained that the jokes I post in my journal are tasteless and terrible.

What do they know?

Anyhow, to avoid offending delicate female readers, instead of telling one of my jokes, I’ll just present one from my e-buddy Gene in Oregon. He is known through the web world as a man of culture, discretion and good taste.

He says that he is an atheist and that he’s enamored of dung beetles. Although I am a Christian, I enjoy his refined, genteel humor. He posts at http://oldhorsetailsnake.blogspot.com/

Here (instead of one of mine) are two of Gene’s recent jokes:

The blonde walks up to the librarian and asks, "How do you spell 'tequila'?" So the librarian obliges, and the blonde leaves.

Pretty soon, the blonde is back. "I still can't find it," she says.

The librarian says, "Find what?"

"Tequila Mockingbird."

----

So, this guy named Wayne is a painter, and a sly one at that. He discovered that he can make his paint go farther by thinning it with turpentine. And he thinned it a lot.

One day he got a contract from the First Baptist Church to paint their huge edifice. So he got out his scaffolding and began painting away. When he got near the end of the job, there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened and the rain poured down. It washed the thinned paint from the church and Wayne slipped to the ground, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.

Wayne is no fool. He got on his knees and cried out: "Dear God, forgive me! What should I do?"

And from the thunder, a mighty voice rang out: "Repaint! And thin no more!"

Satisfied, Ladies?