Hallowe'en today, NaBloPoMo tomorrow

~It's another very quiet Hallowe'en again here at chez Rev Dr Mom--no trick-or-treaters, no candy, no pumpkins. The Kid had thought about trick-or-treating, but his plans never materialized. I kind of miss Hallowe'en actually.

~Tomorrow starts NaBloPoMo. I did it last year; can I do it again? I've actually saved up some things I wanted to blog about for November, knowing that I wanted to post every day.

~But really, can it be November already?

~I saw my first Christmas decorations last week at a Duane Read on the Upper West Side. And now they seem to be EVERYWHERE. Ack.

~We're having a weird fall here. Lots of leaves are down, but there isn't much color. The trees in front of my house which in the last two years have been brilliant are just sort of meh. It hasn't be as dry here as some places, so I don't what the lack of color can be attributed to.

~Since I'll be posting everyday, and no doubt looking for topics, does any one have any suggestions? Questions you want answered?

~Happy Hallowe'en everyone. May there be lots of chocolate in your trick-or-treat bag!

Cathedral

Last week when I was in the city I spent one afternoon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. I've long felt a sort of connection with the cathedral, for reasons I don't really understand. No doubt Madeleine L'Engle's stories set in and around the cathedral influenced me, but when I am there it feels to me like what it is proclaimed to be, "a house of prayer for all people."

My first visit was in 1985, when I visited friends who had moved to the city. They lived on the Upper West Side and the Cathedral was just a short walk from their apartment. At that time the stone masons were still at work (the Cathedral has been under construction on and off since 1892) --part of a project begun in the 1970s to train unemployed and underemployed people in the neighborhood in stone craft as work on the cathedral proceeded. But by the time I returned in 2002, the project had been disbanded for lack of funding, and work had ceased. The scaffolding on the south tower, however, remained, rusty and unsightly, because there was no money to dismantle it.

In 2001 the Cathedral suffered a devastating fire. The whole time I lived in the city parts of the Cathedral were blocked off. My last Christmas there I was part of the altar party (as a Eucharistic minister) at the Christmas Eve service--the last service before the high altar and chapels (off an ambulatory behind the high altar) were closed for cleaning.

That was the last time I was at the Cathedral until last week. Walking over to Cathedral Parkway from Broadway, I immediately noticed a difference....the scaffolding that had been surrounding the south tower since th 80s was gone! And the stones underneath were clean. Amazing. But there is something a bit sad about it, too, because there are still parts of the cathedral that are unfinished, and there is no plan for further construction. The scaffolding, as rusty and unsightly as it had been still seemed like a sign that someday building might resume.

St. John the Divine is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Inside the high altar, choir, and all but one chapel are cleaned and reopened. But the nave which is the length of three football fields is 2/3 closed off for the rest of the cleaning and restoration. So it was very weird to walk down what I knew to be the center aisle but have walls on either side.

I wanted to get some good pictures, but my camera skills failed me at the Cathedral. The lighting was such that I really needed to understand how to use all the manual settings, and I'm just not there yet. So I have lots of dark and/or blurry pictures. Gah.

But here are a few outdoor shots...

Tagline

You might have to know me in real life to appreciate this...it's a phrase I use from time to time and I guess it reflects my identity as a Southern girl turned New Englander--but I really started saying it without thinking about it and was surprised when other people found it funny. A parishioner gave me this bumper sticker yesterday.

What I'm trying to figure out

~How does one go on vacation and not get horribly, awfully behind at work, so behind that you have to work on your days off when you get back to make up for it? Because the working on the day off bit....it sort of cancels out the vacation, you know?

~Seriously, when I went on vacation in August and when I took last week off, I front-loaded, and got some weekly tasks done ahead of time (really not how I usually work) to avoid this. But both times I come back and it's just crazy busy. So I worked all day Friday, and I have to go in tomorrow (and Friday and Mondays are my days off) to finish a newsletter than must be mailed on Tuesday.

~I know my job really doesn't have hours per se....but it's not pastoral emergencies that consume my time, it's week to week office stuff. Much of it I enjoy, but sometimes I wonder if my willingness to take on new things and my slight perfectionist tendencies aren't getting the best of me.

Books

It seems like I've always had more books than places to keep them--until I moved here, where I was lucky enough to have a few built-in bookcases, and an office right next door. For a short while--a very short while--I even had some extra space. But there's something about books--I just keep on acquiring them. So I've reached this point again:








books in the pantry....

















books on the coffee table...














books in the bedroom...





















more books in the bedroom...













and yes, even books in the bathroom.















I think it might be time to buy another bookcase.

Pssssst

A few of you know this already, but I have a new blog. It's in my real name, and is/will be mostly churchy stuff, but you are all welcome. Email me at revdrmom(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll give you the link.

Why all the secrecy? To attempt to protect my (at least partial) pseudonymity here, I don't want to connect this one to that one. So if you visit, don't mention or link to revdrmom, please. Thanks.

This post will self-destruct in a few days.

Pumpkins and apples and ghosts, oh my!

A Halloween RGPB Friday 5

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?

We went trick-or-treating, of course. Hallowe'en wasn't such a Hallmark holiday when I was a kid, and it didn't extend for weeks. We usually had some sort of Hallowe'en party at school and then trick-or-treated in the early evening. The most decorating we ever did was to carve a jack-o-lantern. And when I was very little, we collected pennies for Unicef either on Hallowe'en or a day before or after.

2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do?

My kids always trick-or-treated. And I've decorated some, but not the last two years, because we don't have any kids close around. When the Kid was little we lived in condo and there were lots of kids around. We'd have pumpkins and spider webs and sometimes scary music. And at seminary we always had fun at Hallowe'en on the close. I even dressed up there (as Dumbledore and as a witch).

Hallowe'en is much more elaborate than it used to be. And it seems like costumes have to be more elaborat, too. I enjoy it, but I'm not over the top with it.

2. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else?

Red cinnamon. But it's hard to get good candy apples. I hate when the apples are all mushy inside.

3. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them?

Just jack-o-lanterns. Although I love pumpkin pie and pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bagels and pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin soup and....well, you get the idea, I've never actually cooked the pumpkin from scratch, and I was never able to roast the seeds so they were good, either.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do?

See above, but not the last couple of years.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring our an alternate personality?

There's a part of me deep inside that wants to be totally outrageous (in a good way of course) but I just can't pull it off. I did really like dressing up as Dumbledore, though. And I went to chapel in my witch costume once.

What I did on my vacation

~Walked to the greenmarket--what an abundance of yummy and beautiful things!
~Ate Thai food--delicious!
~Went to church at my field ed parish--great liturgy!
~Walked and walked and took lots of pictures.
~Got horrible blisters on my pinkie toes :(
~Spent an afternoon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where I reached the limit of my camera skills and didn't get many good pix.
~Took an evening walk by the river and back by a yummy chocolate shop (recommended by Ianqui).
~Sat in my favorite coffee shop and read three mornings in a row.
~Went to the movies.
~Went to a class.
~Went to the seminary book store and bought a bunch of books.
~Talked with my friend D and did bloggy things.
~Loved every minute of being in the city.

Home now--I got in a little over an hour ago and vacation is officially over because I have a meeting tonight at work.

Sails into the wind

The Frank Gehry building in Chelsea (also seen below)

Color circuit

Tucked away

in a little nook between two buildings

Manhattan skylines of a different sort

Dreams

I love New York

because you just never know what quirky thing you're going to see...

Turns out this is a men's clothing store, but I love the sign anyway.

I've walked past this gate many times, but I still don't get it--or at least why you'd want it on your front gate.



What is it with the flowers on the cabs?

Golden domes

This building is on Sixth Avenue and was built in the late 1800s. At some point, the goldturrets were removed; when I lived here they were gone, but right before I moved, there was an article about the building in the NY Times announcing that the turrets would be rebuilt (as the building was converted into condos, but that's a different story...). At any rate, I think it's an interesting building.

For B*

In the city..

I arrived in the city midafternoon--about an hour ago. It is a beautiful day here, warm and sunny. In a few minutes I'm going to walk to the greenmarket. And after that who knows? I have no agenda for the next four days except enjoy the city.

Blogiversary!

Two years ago today I posted my first blog entry. At that point I didn't know if anyone would ever read my blog, or if I would find anything to write about. What I've learned over the last two years is that people do stop by, and sometimes even leave comments! They (you all really) read my most trivial musings and my occasional attempts to be serious.

What I really had no idea of when I started, however, was how much the blogging world would become another community for me. Despite the pseudonymity that many of us maintain, I feel like I know many of you. And a few of you I've met face to face, or in other forums as well. Blogging has allowed me to become acquainted with a whole lot of smart, funny, interesting people I wouldn't have known otherwise, and I'm grateful for that.

Friday Five for Foodies

1. If you were a food, what would you be?

~Dark chocolate


2. What is one of the most memorable meals you ever had? And where?

~Mr. LS's uncle is executive chef for a pretty swanky group of restaurants in NYC. About the time I graduated from seminary, NSLS and Mr. LS came to the city and we went to one of those restaurants in what has become one of the new hot areas for night life, not far from where I lived. And we were given the royal treatment. We didn't order anything....food just kept appearing on the table. Really I think we sampled most of what was on the menu. And of course, it was all delicious. Amazing, really.

~I've never been treated so royally. Or had so much food. It was wonderful, but honestly I started to feel a bit guilty about the excess by the time we were finished.


3. What is your favorite comfort food from childhood?

~A tomato sandwich--must be a very fresh garden tomato, with lots of real mayonnaise and a bit of salt and pepper. When I was a kid it would've been on squishy white bread.

~Or chunky peanut butter on saltine crackers with a class of real iced tea (lemon and sugar of course) or a coke. My bf and I used to have that for a snack and I still do.


4. When going to a church potluck, what one recipe from your kitchen is sure to be a hit?

~ Baked pineapple and cheese casserole


5. What’s the strangest thing you ever willingly ate?

~When I was in 10th grade I went on a Girl Scout trip to Atlantic City (before it was transformed into its current state). We stayed at a big hotel and one day there was a buffet for lunch. Nothing was very appetizing, honestly, but there was a large tray of cold meat, so we made sandwiches. About half way through the meal, someone told us what we were eating was tongue. EWWWWWW!

~I've mostly avoided things like that, because even when I ate meat, I eschewed organs and game animals and the like. But in Iceland I COULD have eaten sheep's head or birds that were hung out to dry--literally (I forget what they were called). And my grandfather used to eat calf brains with his scrambled eggs. Makes me queasy just to remember it.

This thread make me remember again how much the way I eat has changed since I was a kid, and what different food memories my kids will have compared to mine--that may be worth its own post.

In which I expose my un-hipness

(and ignorance?)

I have been known to announce publicly that I will not let technology age me....I text, I blog, I'm on Facebook, I can't imagine life without my computer and cell phone, whatever. I am very impatient with people my age (and I'm NOT that old) who throw up their hands and say, "I'm just too old for that..."--that being email, or blogs, or just using a computer for more than word processing.

But I have to admit that when it comes to popular culture I am out of it. I haven't had a TV in ten years, I don't go to the movies much, I get my news from those bastions of liberal-ness (ha!) NPR and the NY Times. I know there is probably a lot out there I miss.

So when the Kid showed me a Youtube video of Ann Coulter I was a bit flabbergasted. I mean, I 've heard of her. I know she's wicked conservative and inflammatory. But I'd never seen her. But now that I have, I'm left to wonder--how can anyone take her seriously? Seriously?

The other part of this confession, for which I may get booted from teh blogosphere for my lack of .....whatever, is that I've never seen either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, either. Yes, I've heard of them, but I've never seen them. So when the Kid tells me that Stephen Colbert is running for President I have to google him to see what he looks like, and you know, read up.

Slinking off in embarrassment....

ETA...I likened Colbert for President to Pat Paulsen for President....of course the Kid didn't know who I was talking about...and I guess I was about the Kid's age when he first ran.

Sitting in the sun is good

~especially when your house is still cold.

~my house has stayed about 60 degrees all weekend. In the grand scheme of things, that's not awful, but it is a bit chilly when you're sitting at the computer.

~I'm waiting for the furnace repair person right now; I don't know what is going on with the furnace because it is running, and a little while go I realized that it is producing a tiny bit of heat, because some of the radiators are warm. But not enough to raise the temperature appreciably.

~this is one of those times I'm glad NOT to be a home owner, 'cause I won't have to be the one who pays this bill.

~on a different note, I've been on a roll recently of really strong sermons. Until yesterday. Blah. I don't think it was awful, but it was definitely lackluster. IMHO anyway.

~I'm thrilled that Al Gore won a Nobel prize. And it tickles me that some have remarked on how this is a slap in the face to GWB and his notable failure to take global warming seriously.

~I'm feeling less and less enthusiastic about Hilary Clinton these days. I'd love to have a woman as president, and there would be something sweetly ironic about having Bill Clinton as the "First Man" but really, she's getting more and more conservative, isn't she? (and LD#1 would not forgive me if I voted for her, I expect!)

~which leaves me with Obama I guess, or John Edwards--but I don't think he really has a chance. I'm not sure why I don't feel more enthusiastic about Obama.

~vacation at the end of this week--woo-hoo! And I'm going to the city for a few days.

~is it a sign of my control issues that I'm taking my time off from Thursday-Thursday so I can attend two meetings at work? Here's my reasoning: If my boss is away, no decisions will be made. But if I'm away no one will think about the absence of my voice, and communications being what they are, I'll be lucky to know what happened at those meetings. But when I am here, people do listen to me (thank goodness) and it just seems in my best interest to be here.

~leaves are falling here, but they're not turning bright colors. I miss Vermont this time of year.

~furnace guy is here! Yay!

Chilly

The furnace is running like mad, but there is no heat. Argh. Or should I say brrrrrrr.

Why do these things always happen on Saturdays, worse yet on Saturdays when I am preaching and have no time to attend to them?

Playing with the camera...

Yesterday I played with manual settings, and I had an "aha" moment where something that I sort of knew really clicked for me. But I still have soooooo much to learn.

This angel is on top of a gazebo in the church garden. I think it is kind of grotesque, actually, but yesterday for some reason looking it from behind amused me.... and I liked the way the colors came out.




These roses are really quite amazing--yellow tinged with bright pink on the edges of the petals.




I think this is some kind of thistle...there is only one of them growing in the flowerbed with some roses and other things. I couldn't decide which of these I liked more and the Kid thought I should put up both of them.

Taking time out to be thankful

The last few weeks I've tottered on the edge of....what? Existential angst? Despair at the state of the world? There's been so much to despair of...the veto of the SCHIP bill and the concomitant rhetoric from the president and certain senators who are totally out of touch with the reality of real people's lives, the never-ending war and loss of life, the $600 million fortified embassy just built in Baghdad (yeah, I just heard about that one on NPR yesterday), the brouhaha in the Anglican communion. So today's RGBP Friday 5 comes at a good time for me, reminding me as it does to think about those things for which I am thankful rather than focusing on those things which cause me disquietude.

Today I am thankful for:

1. The sunlight that pours in through my kitchen window.

2. My friends, especially one who seems always to give me a call just when I need to hear a friendly voice.

3. My children who are all smart, funny, savvy individuals who make the world a better place.

4. The opportunities I've had to reinvent myself, not once but twice, and to live and work in interesting and exciting places.

5. The moments of grace that do break into my life on a regular basis even (or especially) when I'm feeling frustrated or anxious.

Give me your tired, your hungry, your poor...

or not...

These stories break my heart--families who are working hard and contributing to society being ripped apart because of often unreasonable immigration policies.

I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs of immigration rules; nor do I know what sort of immigration reform we should enact. But what I do know is that the system we have now lacks compassion. Perhaps it is too much to expect our government to have compassion--but really, what greater good is served by policies that wreak havoc on families, on people who just want to make better lives for themselves and their families, who just want a taste of the American dream?

Random bits of a week gone by

~Last week went by in a fog, sort of. My days off weren't really off, and my shortest day at work was 10 hours. Ten full hours. And the longest was 14. I know, I probably shouldn't be counting.... it's just part of the job. Someone asked me why my week was so busy and my answer was because my boss is away. But after thinking about it some more I realized that there is really only one thing I had to do extra because he was gone, so it would have been busy anyway. It's been like that ever since I came back from vacation.

~And I was a bit out of sorts, too. Especially Wednesday. I felt like I was just going through the motions. Blah. But Thursday was much better; I had lots of affirming moments which really helped my state of mind.

~All the goings-on in the Anglican Communion didn't help my mood too much either. I am so weary of all the turmoil. Of being told by others what I don't believe--as if they have any way of knowing--because I take a liberal/progressive stand on the issue in question (sexuality).

~The weather was just beautiful last week, warm and sunny. Today it has been much much cooler. Feels like it might really be autumn after all. The Kid has a long weekend coming up and it would be a really nice time to go to Vermont, except that I have to work on Sunday.

~But I am taking a week off later this month. And hopefully going to NYC for a few days. I need to get outta here for a while.

~I've been futzing with my computer off and on all afternoon. I have Windoze installed in Parallels so that I can run some work-related software that isn't made for Macs and in July my Windoze crashed (The Kid's comment: even on a Mac Windoze sucks...) I'm only just now getting around to reinstalling it, but the first three times I tried, the computer couldn't/wouldn't read the Windoze disk. Argh. I finally wiped it off good, and voila, it began to work. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner!

~The leaves are just beginning to change here. Here's the Japanese maple in my side yard:


And I seem to be taking a lot of moon shots recently; here's the moon about 7:15 this morning.