A Little Fun ... A Little Sun ... A Little Moon

That’s a not-so-good picture I took of the eclipse yesterday, but, hey, I’m no Ansel Adams, so there. Carlos’ office closed early and had a bit of a BBQ-Viewing Party, featuring Sun Pop—and Diet Sun Pop, a woman exclaimed—and Moon Pies for dessert. It was a cool experience watching the sun disappear—and I kinda wished that when the sun came back our long national nightmare ... _____ ... would be over; but, alas.

Tuxedo went into hiding as soon as the suitcases appeared last week and stayed there until it was time to say Goodbye ... and then he came out for Angry Smooches.

Off we went to ... Wilmington, North Carolina, right along the Cape Fear River. Carlos had to attend a seminar there and I tagged along for some time off. They say—and I don’t know who ‘they’ are—that Wilmington is a little like Charleston, but in reality, Wilmington is a little like Charleston’s older spinster sister who never got out much. It’s cute—lots of great restaurant, brew pubs and bars—but it lacks the elegance of Charleston, the snootiness if you will.

We stayed at the Hilton Riverside, right along Cape Fear River, though we had the ‘historical’ view and not the ‘water’ view; meaning we saw Old Town Wilmington, which actually was a pretty sight.

While Carlos was in meetings from 9 to 5, I wandered the Riverwalk and throughout the downtown area; Wilmington is an old city, so the architecture of the buildings and the houses is really something; it’s also known as Church City because it has so many churches and while I am not a fan of much of what goes on inside a church, I do love the architecture of them.

And I do love a good old church cemetery, to, though this one was gated and I couldn’t go inside.

Wilmington has some gorgeous homes in the historic district, as well as this Confederate Monument on 3rd Street, and not one protestor demanding it be removed ... yet.

I love this building—the original County courthouse—because of the architecture, of course, and because it looks strikingly similar in size and deign to the Bellingham Courthouse where Carlos and I were married; it was kinda fun seeing the sister building on this coast.

We found several very cool places to eat and drink and drink, from Tapas and Shrimp and Grits ...

to Reuben’s and Brisket sandwiches and beer, to pizza and beer, to pub food and wine; you could definitely eat your way through Old Town.

After Carlos’s meetings were done we stayed an extra day-and-a-half and we got to have some fun time, and relaxing time, and shopping time, and just get away time.

Then, after a two day work week, and a six-day weekend, it was time to return to real life ...

.

Luckily we’re off to Charleston next week, so there’s’ that!

Turn Or Burn Gays! Turn. Or Burn.

Love the sinner, hate the sin. That's what they say, right?

Maybe not so much at the Seagate Community Chapel in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the sign out in front of the church instructed gays to 'turn or burn'.

God is love. No?


Tammy Heuring, the moronic wife of the Seagate Community Chapel pastor, says, “It's kind of like salt in a wound. However, salt does heal a wound. It just hurts really bad at first.”

Does salt heal the wounds of a parent whose child kills him-or herself after being bullied for being gay, Tammy? Is that how your god works? Adding pain upon pain upon pain?

Pastor David Heuring says "[w]ithout having the space, the person who does the sign used the most concise wording that they could. Was that the best wording possible? I don't think so.”

But the sign wasn't rewritten or taken down, so what does that say about the good pastor?
The sign was, however, rewritten by vandals, who spray-painted over it, writing the words 'god loves gays.' Church members then added 'but he hates sin.'

Church members. Hate.

Wilmington Pride, an area organization that supports gay rights, wanted to do something about the message they called hateful and organized a peaceful protest across the street from Seagate. Pastor Heuring was outside, offering up a dialogue, no doubt about god and hate and changing your wicked ways; he also offered up lemonade. But neither group felt the protest would make a real difference.

“It's just a sin,” said Tammy Heuring. “We're all in it, so unfortunately they just need to realize it.”

Perhaps, Tammy, but do people expose your sin outright and ask you to turn or burn? Could your alleged sin result in you being beaten and battered and left to die? Does your sin make you a second class citizen in your own country?

Or just a sinner.

And the good Pastor Heuring says the 'turn or burn' sign is just the first in a series of signs they will be putting up about different types of sinners. But I imagine it'll be the only one that leads to death threats for the LGBT community.

God is love, except at Seagate Community Chapel.

Yet, after that peaceful protest, something more happened. Wilmington Police are now searching for a man who smashed the chapel's sign Sunday afternoon. witnesses say a tall, white man took a hammer to the sign, then left in a silver Ford Taurus. The car is reported to have bumper damage and a missing hubcap from the front, left tire.

I might be wrong, but I think that tall man was Jesus, and he wasn't happy with Pastor Heuring, his wife, or his alleged church.

Church Sign Spurs Protest
Church Sign Hammered