Yes, it's cold and damp here, and the sky is pretty dark at 4:30, but I'm feeling good. My speaking voice is mostly back again, although I can't sing. Still a little hacking and sniffling, but I'm no longer taking cold meds, just vit C and echinacea. Definitely an improvement over last week!
I got errands done at the office supply store, the video store, and the dry cleaners, had a good lunch with a friend, and found some lovely roses for cheap at Costco where I went to get soap.
All good things, but the best part of the day was weighing myself and finding out I've lost some weight. Now to see if I can sustain the loss and maybe even lose a couple mroe pounds over the holidays.
I have several sermons to write for the next couple of very eventful weeks. Should be fun!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Finding my Voice (Again)
TBTG, I had enough voice to preside today at Saint Middle School. Our candidate for the vocational diaconate, the wonderful Dana, gave an excellent sermon on "Impossible Possibilities" and the Search Committee did the Adult Forum, a presentation on the parish profile and the status of the search. We had a young couple visit who are interested in getting married, and our attendance was higher than it had been in months - slowly, our numbers are heading toward (and I hope past) the 100 person mark.
I took a bye on the St G's party to watch the Redskins-Cowboys game, coming home instead to tend to a few things that needed to be done, and to crash on the couch.
Next week will be exciting, with two baptisms (my first since doing emergency baptisms at the hospital during CPE) and new altar cloths (paraments) for Advent.
Two more Sundays doing Deacon's Mass, then I will be ordained a priest. I still shake my head in amazement that I have come to this place of grace. God is good!
I took a bye on the St G's party to watch the Redskins-Cowboys game, coming home instead to tend to a few things that needed to be done, and to crash on the couch.
Next week will be exciting, with two baptisms (my first since doing emergency baptisms at the hospital during CPE) and new altar cloths (paraments) for Advent.
Two more Sundays doing Deacon's Mass, then I will be ordained a priest. I still shake my head in amazement that I have come to this place of grace. God is good!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Semi-Normal Saturday
My voice is almost back - it will certainly be enough to get me through church tomorrow, I think.
I trekked to the Farmer's Market this morning - incredibly busy this Saturday before Thanksgiving. Still lots of lovely fruits and veg to choose from. I successfully avoided the croissants and French bread and chocolates.
Then on to icon-writing. I did the haloes on St Nicholas and the tiny insets of Jesus and Mary with gold leaf. I did most of the black outlines. I may get around to doing the shadows as well this week, then next Saturday I can begin using color. I suspect this one will go quickly. It won't be done by St Nicholas' day, when I am to be ordained to the priesthood, but that's okay. It will be a perpetual reminder of the marvel of that day.
In a fit of incredible stupidity I headed over to Costco for more Kleenex and TP, and it was utterly insane. I managed to get out in an hour, but the level of chaos in the parking lot and bad behavior in the store was exhausting.
Home again, to run some laundry and do some reading. PH is away at a conference until tomorrow afternoon, so I am having some quiet time and actually getting some stuff done. I should clean up the boxes of books in my office (I had packed them a couple of months ago, thinking we'd be moving soon, and have since needed to dig through them for various and sundry things). Two of my sisters-in-law will be coming out for the ordination, and I think we will turn the office into sleeping quarters for one of them, so I need to make order out of disorder.
Praying that tomorrow goes smoothly. I'll be presiding, and our candidate for the vocational diaconate is preaching. It will also be the final ingathering of our stewardship campaign, and I'm hoping that goes well and that the numbers hold to last years' or improve. If Saint Middle School wants to call a permanent vicar, they've got to step up to the plate.
I hope your tomorrow goes smoothly as well!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday Five: Thanksgiving Thoughts
A wonderfully poetic Friday Five from Jan this week:
The Cure
Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk,
I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.
--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)
So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?
1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?
Probably my cranberry chutney, and also making pumpkin pie.
2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?
The offspring will be either with their father or on the other coast working, so PH and I will enjoy a rare Thanksgiving with just the two of us - we're going out to our favorite French restaurant for a French thanksgiving...
3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?
...which means no turkey, which I can live without, anyway. I believe pate, Chateaubriand and pumpkin cheesecake will be part of the menu. And red wine. I'll give thanks, indeed!
4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?
You mean outside of the fact that we celebrate taking the nation away from the indigenous people, or Thanksgiving as a concept? I like the latter. I think we shy away too much from the former. I'll still eat, though, and thank God for the ability to do so.
5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?
Relatively good health, PH and the kids and grandkids, my impending ordination (two weeks!), the good folks at Saint Middle School, endless possibilities.
BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.
Oh, I suspect Aunt Bert lays out the old favorites, like tomato aspic, creamed onions, mashed potatoes AND mashed sweets, maybe also rutabagas, something with peas, a green bean casserole, and a massive turkey stuffed with cornbread. Giblet gravy. Cranberry sauce from the can that goes plop when the vacuum holding it in the can is released. Apple cider. Three pies: sweet potato (none of that pumpkin for her), pecan (mmmmmm), and chess pie. No apple pie, that's a northern thing, you know. Maybe some ambrosia as a digestive...and they ate the cake earlier in the week, and Thanksgiving isn't really a cake holiday, anyways.
The Cure
Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk,
I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.
--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)
So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?
1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?
Probably my cranberry chutney, and also making pumpkin pie.
2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?
The offspring will be either with their father or on the other coast working, so PH and I will enjoy a rare Thanksgiving with just the two of us - we're going out to our favorite French restaurant for a French thanksgiving...
3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?
...which means no turkey, which I can live without, anyway. I believe pate, Chateaubriand and pumpkin cheesecake will be part of the menu. And red wine. I'll give thanks, indeed!
4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?
You mean outside of the fact that we celebrate taking the nation away from the indigenous people, or Thanksgiving as a concept? I like the latter. I think we shy away too much from the former. I'll still eat, though, and thank God for the ability to do so.
5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?
Relatively good health, PH and the kids and grandkids, my impending ordination (two weeks!), the good folks at Saint Middle School, endless possibilities.
BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.
Oh, I suspect Aunt Bert lays out the old favorites, like tomato aspic, creamed onions, mashed potatoes AND mashed sweets, maybe also rutabagas, something with peas, a green bean casserole, and a massive turkey stuffed with cornbread. Giblet gravy. Cranberry sauce from the can that goes plop when the vacuum holding it in the can is released. Apple cider. Three pies: sweet potato (none of that pumpkin for her), pecan (mmmmmm), and chess pie. No apple pie, that's a northern thing, you know. Maybe some ambrosia as a digestive...and they ate the cake earlier in the week, and Thanksgiving isn't really a cake holiday, anyways.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
On Organization
I got a couple of emails from the Mother Ship this afternoon regarding events that we have held in the past during the Christmas season at the Mother Ship...we won't be doing them this year, for a variety of good reasons. The fact that we needed to close the loop with the Mother Ship just completely slipped by me.
It pointed up the importance of keeping a master calendar, and I must admit that, contrary to my usual practice, I've been sloppy about that in recent months. This may be due to the fact that I thought I'd be gone to a permanent post by now (lazy me), or that our calendar at Saint Middle School is relatively modest, so I thought I could keep it in my head (a bit arrogant, that), or because the prior vicar kept much of this stuff in her head (her head was naturally better organized than mine, since she had set it all up in the first place).
So part of my afternoon will be spent plotting out a calendar for the coming months. This is the sort of thing that can be done whilst reclining on the chaise longue, surrounded by Kleenex and Earl Grey tea. Wish I had thought of doing it four months ago, but better late than never.
What tools do you use to track all that you need to keep track of in your parish/congregation?
It pointed up the importance of keeping a master calendar, and I must admit that, contrary to my usual practice, I've been sloppy about that in recent months. This may be due to the fact that I thought I'd be gone to a permanent post by now (lazy me), or that our calendar at Saint Middle School is relatively modest, so I thought I could keep it in my head (a bit arrogant, that), or because the prior vicar kept much of this stuff in her head (her head was naturally better organized than mine, since she had set it all up in the first place).
So part of my afternoon will be spent plotting out a calendar for the coming months. This is the sort of thing that can be done whilst reclining on the chaise longue, surrounded by Kleenex and Earl Grey tea. Wish I had thought of doing it four months ago, but better late than never.
What tools do you use to track all that you need to keep track of in your parish/congregation?
If It's Thursday, I Must Be in RhinoLand
Instead of being on the road out to the Mother Ship, I'm sitting at home on the couch, since I'm still fighting this miserable cold and laryngitis. No temperature, no nasty gunk when I cough, just the usual rhinovirus kicked up a couple of notches, and no voice. Still.
I decided it was wiser to cancel my meetings and stay put rather than stressing my body more and spreading germs around. Since others are preaching this weekend and doing the Adult Forum (thanks, D & C), I can actually get some rest and do some reading. The new book on the list is "Music and Vital Congregations: A Practical Guide for Clergy" by my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Bill Roberts. I served as his TA for Church Music while at Big Old Seminary, and he was and is one of the great joys of my life. I recommend it highly - a fun read with great and truly practical information...it might be good reading for your church's music director as well, since it sometimes seems there can be a language barrier between the clergy and the church musician.
I may also spend a little time on the current knitting project, a Mimbres vest. If you don't mind following a color chart carefully, it's a fun knit, and because it's a vest, it goes quicker than a full sweater. Not portable the way sock knitting is, darn it, but still fun.
Other than that, I'll be on the couch, taking Vitamin C and drinking green tea and hoping for the good Lord's healing grace to pour down on me. And PH will be eating leftovers for dinner, because I think I'm not cooking tonight.
I decided it was wiser to cancel my meetings and stay put rather than stressing my body more and spreading germs around. Since others are preaching this weekend and doing the Adult Forum (thanks, D & C), I can actually get some rest and do some reading. The new book on the list is "Music and Vital Congregations: A Practical Guide for Clergy" by my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Bill Roberts. I served as his TA for Church Music while at Big Old Seminary, and he was and is one of the great joys of my life. I recommend it highly - a fun read with great and truly practical information...it might be good reading for your church's music director as well, since it sometimes seems there can be a language barrier between the clergy and the church musician.
I may also spend a little time on the current knitting project, a Mimbres vest. If you don't mind following a color chart carefully, it's a fun knit, and because it's a vest, it goes quicker than a full sweater. Not portable the way sock knitting is, darn it, but still fun.
Other than that, I'll be on the couch, taking Vitamin C and drinking green tea and hoping for the good Lord's healing grace to pour down on me. And PH will be eating leftovers for dinner, because I think I'm not cooking tonight.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig
The nice thing about going to a conference less than 100 miles away is that it is far enough away to get a feeling of "getting away" but close enough to be home again quickly. The glow of a good get-together fades if one is stuck in bad traffic or bad weather. Thankfully, neither applied in my case.
It was good to see my fellow seminary grads - I can see some changes as they've grown into their new roles, but much of the same things that caused me to fall in love with them.
I had no voice for the whole thing - I still have laryngitis, which I certainly hope will abate by Sunday - so it became an odd kind of silent retreat for me, reminding me again the importance of listening. Since no one could ever accuse me of being quiet, this was a good thing.
I have a meeting with my spiritual director in an hour. We shall see how we do spiritual direction with me able to produce nothing more than a whisper. Somehow I think we will manage.
It was good to see my fellow seminary grads - I can see some changes as they've grown into their new roles, but much of the same things that caused me to fall in love with them.
I had no voice for the whole thing - I still have laryngitis, which I certainly hope will abate by Sunday - so it became an odd kind of silent retreat for me, reminding me again the importance of listening. Since no one could ever accuse me of being quiet, this was a good thing.
I have a meeting with my spiritual director in an hour. We shall see how we do spiritual direction with me able to produce nothing more than a whisper. Somehow I think we will manage.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday at the Maritime Institute
Our conference is being held at the Maritime Institute, the school for the merchant marine. In case you didn't know, the merchant marine is actually part of the armed forces. Lots of great memorabilia and such around here, and the food is quite good.
The conference itself is interesting, part of a three-year con-ed program funded by Lilly. Good to see old friends, good to stretch my mind in some different ways, but it is exhausting to be here and have to participate at least a little bit, but having no voice to do so. I'm tired of whispering.
Hoping the voice will start to come back soon.
The conference itself is interesting, part of a three-year con-ed program funded by Lilly. Good to see old friends, good to stretch my mind in some different ways, but it is exhausting to be here and have to participate at least a little bit, but having no voice to do so. I'm tired of whispering.
Hoping the voice will start to come back soon.
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