yard art

I was reminded by a picture on Jules' blog that I had this one in the "archives." I took it last summer when we went to CT to help Mom move, and we drove past this yard with its ecclectic display. It's harder to appreciate in a single angle view (you really have to click on the image to enlarge it) but it's a hodge-podge of stuff.

I'm pretty fussy about what looks good in a yard, and though I love landscaping and flower beds, I do think there is such a thing as too much. On the flip side there is also the minimalist approach, which by definition I guess one could infer that I believe is too little!

Our own yard is still a work in progress, and shows NO progress since we got a couple of beds tilled and planted and a soaker hose laid out, now almost six weeks ago. It's been a combination of dreadful heat and a lack of time. Mulch bags are still stacked on the walkway! The coming weeks don't look good for any more progress, but perhaps for the neighbors' sake we'll at least relocate the mulch bags. Then again, a cool front would definitely be welcome! It's at times like this that I miss the chance of such things that occur more readily in more northern climates. Sometimes it's just hard to be a Yankee transplant...

inner beauty

A few weeks ago I posted an exterior picture of St. Paul's that I appropriated from their web site. Here is a view of the new worship space built a few years ago. I've now got two Sundays under my belt (or should I say stole), and since there are three services on that day it isn't taking long to get the hang of the rhythm of worship.

The staff is fabulous, and I enjoy working with them. I was also blessed yesterday when the assistant stuck his head in the door of my office and said, "this is working for me, I hope it is for you, too." I cocked my head to one side, not sure to what he was referring. "The way we're working together," he elaborated. "It feels really natural." I assured him the feeling was mutual.

What a gift.

hacked

If I were my neighbor across the street, I'd be fuming. The local electric company has contracted with a tree service to remove tree limbs that threaten power lines. These guys go the extra mile, however, and decimate the species! This formerly lovely maple is now entirely below line level, even though only one side of the tree was within reach of the power line. Egad! I'm grateful that we have only one tree with a few limbs that hover above the line that runs to our house, and I will be expeditious when Ken returns home from his fishing trip to get him to remove only what is necessary so that our tree isn't at risk from the hackers. These guys can't begin to tout themselves as professionals, since the evidence of removal shows they don't know what they're doing! Our neighbors used to have two lovely trees that we could see from our house. The remaining stumps are a scar on the streetscape, and these trees will never be the same. Good Lord, deliver us!

adjustments

The last couple of weeks have been dominated by adjustments. Returning to full-time, on site work has required a change in schedule, a rearrangement of tasks, and an evaluation of priorities. It has also worn me out! Before long I will adapt to the changes, but at the moment I feel like I'm scrambling to cover the necessary bases and get things done.

Still, these have been a good couple of weeks. I am enjoying my time at St. Paul's. The staff is wonderful, and there is great ease in working with them and finding my way toward being part of them. They have been welcoming and patient as I ask questions (often interrupting their own work to do so), and fitting in has been easy. My first Sunday went well and I was greeted warmly by parishioners. It is a blessing to be here.

This weekend Ken is off fishing so I am hoping to tend to some domestic chores. But I also want to cook (perhaps for the week!), and read, and maybe do a little weeding in the garden. Then again, I may simply take a nap...

here comes the bride!

Our friend Debi (aka Sammy's Mom) got married yesterday, and she was a lovely bride. She and Alan cleverly got everyone started eating at the reception while they snuck off for pictures, so it was a few moments before I noticed their absence (yes, I was busy snarfing my own food--I was hungry!). I got back in to the church in time for a few shots of my own, but missed the formal poses. I think Deb was ready to be done with it (the photos) by the time I got there, because she was busy making faces and offering cheesy smiles. A personal favorite is the self-described "redneck bride" noshing on a chicken wing. Here are a few keepers, though!

Congratulations Debi and Alan!

this is the life!

Sunday as we were walking in the door returning from church and a few errands, the phone was ringing with an invitation we couldn't refuse: a cookout with friends and a cruise on the river! Although these friends were at our wedding, we really hadn't seen them at all, and Ken had only met them briefly. We headed to another friend's house to rendezvous, and then all of us went to our host's brother's house on the river.

We sat poolside enjoying happy hour and conversation together, then had a sumptuous dinner of shish kebab and other yummy morsels before gathering ourselves up and heading to the boat. It was a cruising houseboat (that's my description), and it was a perfect evening to set out as the sun was setting and enjoy a gentle breeze on the water. Our friend Lee makes his own wine as a hobby, and we toasted his delightful vintage and the pleasure of being with friends as we cruised along. Ah... this is the life!

a little bit country

Last Friday we went with some friends to the Country Music Association Festival concert at LP Field in Nashville. On the bill that night were Bucky Covington ("American Idol" contestant from last year), Montgomery-Gentry, Sara Evans, Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, and Jason Aldean. Our seats were in the "high section," so the only possible photos were taken off the large screens onto which footage of the performers was projected. Worked for me! As usual at an event like this the audience in our vicinity was nearly as entertaining as those performing onstage! Nonetheless, we had a fun evening with our friends, and the music was good. Here are some pics!

pardon me while I wait

The other day on the radio I heard a report about a drop in US productivity. The report included an explanation about how such a thing was calculated, something having to do with output and labor involved (I'm not an economist!). The speculation was that if productivity didn't increase, businesses would have to raise prices to compensate for few items for sale.

All of this came to mind this afternoon while I was at the grocery store, and I had to sit in my car and wait to move into a parking place because the young worker retrieving shopping carts was so busy text messaging that she failed to do her job in a timely manner. So, not only was her productivity on an ebb, so was mine!

Businesses don't need to raise prices, they need to ban cell phones from use in the workplace! The way a lot of people behave you'd think there was an inalienable right to have a communications device serve as a necessary appendage. It's bad enough that cell phone use in cars causes drivers to be distracted from their primary task of driving, now the public is served with less satisfaction because employees aren't focused on their work. Oy, vey...

inspiration

Last week on my way to visit my goddaughter I stopped at a Starbuck's in Asheville for a quick cup of joe. While polluting my coffee with sweetener and cream, I noticed a flyer advertising a quilt show tacked to the bulletin board above the pollution station. The dates coincided with my return through Asheville, and I made a note of the web site for more information to see if a detour on my way home would be feasible.

Turns out it was, and I was treated not only with scenic back roads on the way to the show, but some lovely, clever and inspiring quilts as well. I miss fabric, but my life and our space at home is already overflowing with other activities and commitments, so to bring out the sewing machine and find a place to set up simply won't work. Later. The fabric will keep.

In the meantime I enjoy the inspiration derived from the creativity of others--colors, patterns, techniques, images and messages all working together to deliver a gift to my soul. I will get back to it some day. That day is just out there in the future somewhere.

to close or not to close...

I had reached the conclusion recently that it was time to close the internet site for my business. In the last six months the only sale I have had came from my mother, who orders from me directly (sometimes it helps to know the owner, I guess!). In spite of a respectable amount of traffic on the web site, visits have not resulted in sales. The costs to keep the web site operational is more than $150 a month (remember this is a commerce site, which handles shopping carts, credit card processing, and so on, and there are bank fees for handling the credit card processing), a lot to swallow when there's no money coming in.

Over the weekend I talked to the company that hosts the site about archiving it in the event that I want to re-establish it later on. No problem. Yesterday I was ready to make the call to pull the plug, and then...

an order came in. It wasn't a big order--two cards, but it was an order from someone I don't know. Some research this morning indicates that most traffic comes to the site for prayer beads, not for cards. Prayer bead sales might actually pay for the site, but without orders...

Oddly enough, it is occuring to me that perhaps I ought to pray about this!

unexpected grief

I am struggling this morning with the news of the death of one of our bishops, Jim Kelsey of the Diocese of Northern Michigan as the result of a car accident. I met Jim Kelsey several years ago at a national conference where we spent several days in the same workshop, and had occasion to talk informally at meals and in between sessions. His diocese is composed of mostly small congregations, and he was deeply committed to encouraging, supporting, and empowering the ministry of all people in their life of faith and in response to the needs of the world. He was passionate about this ministry and its partnership with clergy known as mutual ministry. One person described him as providing a large voice for small churches and dioceses. As one who has served such churches, I was deeply appreciative of his advocacy for the congregations throughout the church who are underappreciated and often overlooked because of their size. I was also appreciative of his advocacy for justice in other arenas of life and in the church, and admired his integrity and conviction.

The tears I am encountering this morning are for this bishop, but they are also a resurfacing of grief for a friend and parishioner who died just a month ago. Martha Bennett was a member of one of my churches on the mountain, a deeply committed, fiercely devoted and tirelessly active member of the church whose passion for small churches matched that of Jim Kelsey. Martha was the small church, and she loved it wholeheartedly. She and I worked together for nearly two years as partners in our effort to serve the churches on the mountain in our care. She never failed to tell me that she appreciated me, and was a model of cooperative ministry and teamwork that is too rare in the church. She was also good humored and had a wonderful laugh, offered her hospitality with regularity, and knew when to take things seriously and when to shrug them off. She took delight in reminding me that I was a Yankee, and I never failed to remind her that my ancestors fought for the confederacy. I miss her keenly.

On a larger scale, my grief today is for the whole of our church, who has been robbed of two remarkable people who were models of what it means to live a Christian life in the best sense. They were humble, honest and vulnerable, and weren't afraid of risk or confronting difficulty. If only the world had more people like them.

Here's to Jim and Martha, and to the all the saints who have left us for other shores.

new horizons

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog! I was out of town last week, and had a busy weekend over Memorial Day, and here we are, ten days later...

News from here is that a week from today I return to full-time work as a priest! A couple of months ago my bishop suggested that I put my name in for the position of interim at a church whose rector had retired recently. St. Paul's is a good sized, healthy and vibrant congregation, and their organizational/systemic needs (making the transition from pastoral to program size church) held a certain appeal. I went ahead and put my name in, interviewed, and received the call to serve!

I am excited to be working again with a staff, and with parishioners who are engaged in ministry and committed to their faith life. I think fun times lie ahead.

A few years ago St. Paul's enlarged their facilities, so although they are an historic church, this picture is of the new addition. I'll try to get a picture of the inside to share later.

In the meantime I'll try to be better about posting and keeping in touch. For now, off to the pool!

back in the saddle!

Hurray for the geek squad! Turns out that there was a bad memory stick on the computer, and it is now replaced and the computer upgraded with more memory. If only my brain could be so easily tweaked!

The week has been a hodge-podge of activity, but the main news to share (and some of you already know through other means) is that we're going to be grandparents! When we went to Pikeville for Travis' graduation we were gifted with a framed image of Ashley's ultrasound (see accompanying scan!). We won't know the sex until birth, and I'm already discovering that it's not always easy to find baby things in gender-neutral colors (yes, I've started looking). Due date is late November. They are very excited, as are we, but just wish that they now weren't so far away. It is easier to get to Savannah from here than Texas!

A busy day lies ahead, so I'm off to tend to my details. Glad to be back among the blogging!

argh*$&^^(@*$&^#%

More computer woes. I can now do nothing on my computer, so it's time for the geek squad. This message comes to you from Ken's computer, but blogging from here is a short term solution, and I don't have my pictures! Just wanted to let you know that I was out of comission for a little while. Sigh.

celebrations

I spent half of my fiftieth birthday on the road driving home from Pikeville, KY (home of the Hatfields and the McCoys!), where we were for Travis' graduation. That event dictated our itinerary last week, so in lieu of being able to be together on the actual day, we celebrated with mom and our friends Jimmy and Barbara a little early. In true Mom style, she had made a poster to celebrate the occasion, but this time added a little twist. She collected 50 dimes, one from each year since my birth, and with Barbara's help fashioned them into a "50" in the center of the poster. Beginning in 1957, they progress chronologically from the top of the five. Cool, huh? That's an idea worth stealing! We had a wonderful celebration that evening with lovely scenery, good food, great company and lots of fun.

My actual birthday began with the best possible gift: a call from Junior from somewhere "over there" to wish me a happy Mother's Day and a happy birthday. We were able to talk for several minutes--longer than usual for such calls, and though he can't ever say anything about what he's up to, we were able to talk about other things. In the evening we had dinner out at a surprise gathering with some friends at a favorite local Mexican restaurant--a special evening to cap the day. All in all, a nice round of festitivies to mark the landmark occasion.

We tried to get a picture with the dogs as part of a "this is what Anne looked like when she turned 50" scheme for a small scrapbook, but it's a challenge to get their mutual, simultaneous cooperation. This is the best we could manage--not too bad considering the challenges! Now it's back to the grind and life as usual, with warm memories and five full decades under my belt...

we're baaaaaaaacccckkk!

...and way behind being in touch, since my computer erroneously got left behind on our trip! Fortunately I was able to use the computer of our good friends in Augusta to check email a few times while we were gone, which helped to save my sanity. And thank goodness for that, since I learned that a former parishioner and very good friend died suddenly the night before we left for Melrose. Sadly, her memorial service was the same day as Travis' graduation so I wasn't able to be there, but I was at least able to speak to her family and be in touch. I am still in shock that she is gone.

We had a good week and great weather (not too hot!), but as always these days when visits are squeezed between other commitments on the calendar, it was too short. Ken knocked off the items on his constantly growing "honey do" list with quick dispatch, while our good friend Barbara and I joined Mom in an overhaul of the china "cupboard" (there are no kitchen cabinets for such storage, so this is home to much of what we use!). We removed every item for a thorough washing, necessary purging, cupboard cleaning and reorganizing. See photo for the end result! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you--those shelves are slanted! This side of the house (over 100 years old) has settled over time, and so has one wall of the cupboard.

Once again I didn't get any reading done, but I did get to spend some time doing another of my favorite leisure activities--the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle! And, in the "hope springs eternal" department, a stop at Borders Books added to the stack of unread books that await my attention.

I'll detail other events in future posts to keep this one from dragging on. In the meantime it's nice to be home and back in touch.

where does the time go?

Hard to believe it's Saturday already. We had our second annual Cinco de Mayo party last night, on the eve of the day because I have a church event this afternoon that made an entertaining schedule a bit difficult. Sadly, no pictures, since our set up was a bit different and the evening evolved a bit differently as a result. So, repeats from last year!

The food was great, with a few substitutions just for a change of pace. On the menu: queso fundido (and no, there was no Velveeta in sight!), tacquitos, chips with guacamole, citrus salsa or tomato salsa, almond chicken mole, fish tacos, corn and black bean salad, and Mexican rice. Everything was from scratch (except the tortillas, we didn't make those), and though it took the whole day to cook, it was worth it.

This morning after furniture gets put back to usual locations, we'll start packing up for our upcoming trip. After church tomorrow we leave for Melrose, then on Saturday we drive to Pikeville, KY, for Travis' graduation from medical school. He will receive his DO, doctor of osteopathy, and then he and Ashley head back to Savannah to pack up for a year in El Paso, TX, followed by three years in San Antonio. Lots of change for them!

We're looking forward to a week's break--Ken especially, who has been working so hard--and time with Mom, who is already there. I'll post from there. In the meantime, have a good weekend!

the merry month of may

I love May. In southern New England, place of my birth and raising, it is the month of dogwood and azaela's, with hints of mountain laurel and rhododendron showing promise. The world is freshly green and blue skies penetrate branches bursting with new leaves and the fragrance of potential. It heralds the approaching end of the school year, daylight stretches longer still, and an air of festivity is palpable. It is the May that lingers in my memory.

May is also my birth month, so it is worthy of honor for that reason as well (at least in my book!). This year, that anniversary will cross the threshold of fifty, an occasion that seems as much incomprehensible as inevitable. Where have the years gone? And where will the next succession of them take me? Although I have always known that we have the capacity--if not the obligation--to chart our own course, I am more aware than ever that I have done myself a disservice by not spending enough time with that chart. Too many intentions and wishes have slipped by to do things I wanted to do, and too many decisions were deferred until it was too late to take sufficient action.

On the brink of a new decade, I feel poised to take some corrective action. As seems to happen as we age, I am more willing to let go of things, as well as ideas. The space created in my home and in my mind is open to entertain new ideas, and to respond to new opportunities (and yes, in some cases to accommodate old "stuff"). It is a time of expansiveness and dreaming that wasn't possible earlier in my life, and for which I am grateful. The big five-oh isn't a frightening benchmark but a springboard for what lies ahead.

As the saying goes, bring it on!

it's a food-fest weekend!

There's lots of food on the agenda this weekend. Last night we had a friend over for dinner and I cooked an old favorite that I hadn't had in a long time: roasted chicken with mustard-shallot viniagrette that also seasoned potatoes and green beans. Yum! I also did the first round of some baked beans that we're taking to a barbecue this afternoon, and this morning chopped the veggies and brought the beans and sauce together in the crock pot. Ken is preparing his favorite cole slaw recipe to take this afternoon, too.

Shortly I'll start on preparations for tomorrow, when I host my grand opening Pampered Chef party. It will be more like an open house and a social time, but products will be on display, food available for snacking, and some products set up for people to try out (like the chopper, my favorite all-time PC product that I've used nonstop the last two days!). On the menu: colossal chopped salad, chocolate fondue dip with strawberries and cinnamon tortilla chips, festive cheese spread, homemade hummus with veggies to dip, beanut butter and jelly thumb print cookies and mini pizzas. If you're in the neighborhood, come on by!

Back to the kitchen!

it's been one of those weeks...

I've been having computer issues this week, but things took a dire turn yesterday when it crashsed three times, and this morning has crashed once already. There's no telling what led to this, and I am so technically challenged that even following the vague instructions on the screen feels like the equivalent of entering the first tier of a maze: no clue what I'm looking at, where I am going, or how to recover so that I can start over. Very frustrating. Ken has had similar problems with his computer for several weeks now, and though we've managed to reduce the frequency of his crashes, our "good fortune" will likely expire. Time for the geek squad, except we can't afford it!

In the meantime I'm still learning the nuts and bolts of the Pampered Chef, have closed my first show (which did great!) and am biting my nails with a couple of catalog shows that are out there. I'm also trying to recruit some assistance for a fund-raising effort for May, but so far am getting nowhere with that. I am trying not to get discouraged!

I've had my coffee and am now off to the pool. In the last couple of weeks lap time has also proven to be fruitful with generating ideas, so perhaps some more will come forth from this morning's swim. It will help if I can get there before the aerobics class!!