Friday Five~~Winter is coming

I am currently in sunny Florida (and it has been SO pleasant) but I know that when I arrive back home next week, winter will soon be upon us. Apropos of that, here is this week's Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite movie for watching when curled up under a wooly blanket?
I love a good romantic comedy, some thing like Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail

2. Likewise, what book?
Harry Potter (any of the 7) or a great historical novel like Winds of War.

3. What foods do you tend to cook/eat when it gets cold?
A big pot of soup.

4. What do you like to do if you get a "snow day"?
Sleep in, read, sit by a roaring fire.

5. Do you like winter sports or outdoor activities, or are you more likely to be inside playing a board game? Do you have a favorite (indoors or out)?
I might take a walk in the snow, but otherwise I'll be inside playing Apples to Apples or Scrabble or Bananagrams if there's a crowd, or a computer game if I'm alone.

Living in another world

I've been here at the conference center since Monday evening.It's a great conference--one where our every need seems to be anticipated and taken care of. We are working hard, but we are also well feed- three delicious meals a day , chocolate and healthy snacks in the meeting rooms, wine and snacks at the close of the evening session. I feel quite pampered.

It's easy to forget about the 'real' world out there. I realized tonight that I haven't even glanced at the news since I arrived--no New York Times, no NPR, nothing. it's not for lack of opportunity. I have my iPad and iPhone ( and indeed we are a wired bunch; there are 22 of us and at least half a dozen iPads, and many, many iPhones here. is it a bad thing to feel completely insulated foam whatever is going on out there?

Seriously?

Bristol the Pistol Palin STILL hasn't been voted off DWTS? Despite having the lowest scores for the last four or five weeks? Craziness.

I know it's all about having a fan base but come on--it's past time for her to go.

Thumbs up for the train; the taxi...not so much

The train got me here right on time late yesterday afternoon. I spent a lot of time gazing out the window at the ever-changing landscape as we went first west to Tampa and then back east and south. There were miles and miles and miles of citrus groves, followed by some pretty barren areas dotted with palms and pines and scrub oakes, but very little sign of human habitation. There were a few fields of cattle grazing so there must have been farms but they were not very visible. And then you emerge back into civilzation which grows increasingly congested.

Once I was here I needed to taka a taxi to the confernce center. I had google mapped it, and it was about a 5 minute drive. So I gave the address to the driver, who seemed to know wehre it was but then proceeded to get lost and drive around for about 30 minutes looking for it. It turned into a very expensive taxi ride. I paid it, but I wish now I'd been a bit more assertive about saying that I shouldn't have been charged so much.

The conference has beeen great so far, with a really interesting mix of people. The day has been long, but I can say that I was never bored, nor did I feel like my time was being wasted or manipulated. And the weather here has been perfect--warm and sunny with a gentle breeze. So far so good.


On an unrelated note, I'm typing this on my iPad. Using both a touch screen and an external keyboard is different--I have to stop and think occassionally about doing something that would be obvious with a mouse. But I'm sure it will soon be second nature. It's funny to see how many iPads are here, too--at least half a dozen spotted so far among 22 people.

Train blogging 2

I've lived up and down the east coast, and it's funny how this train trip is passing by or near the places I've called home. Right now we're in northern Florida, where I spent seven years. The view brings back so many mnemories...some good, some not so good. But it is beautiful county in it's own way--the spreading live oakes draped in Spaninh moss, the scrub pines, the lakes and springs and rivers, the palms and palmettos (not the tall impressive kind, but the lower scrubby ground cover kind.)

I've never been south of Tampa, and I only briefly visited there, so I'll be seeing some new country before the day is out. I'm looking foreword to seeing a broad southern beach and beautiful clear water.

We've passed a lot of fields covered with black netting supported on poles...I've never seen anything like it before and I'm wondering what they are growing. Tomatoes?

Okay we are in Winter Park now, farther south than I thought. It looks like a lovely town. Often on the train you see only the outskirts, not always attractive, but not here.

Sleeping on the train wasn't bad...but once the bed is made up you can barely move in the compartment. I'm not sure that two people could easily share this space although it is supposedly designed to fit two. I went to sleep at a ridiculously early hour for me (around 10) and slept until after 7, only waking up a couple of times, and I feel really well rested. Breakfast was grits, scrambled eggs and a biscuit-wonderful Southern fare!

I really do like traveling this way. It takes time for sure. The Kid and I were talking about this--we've both recently (re)read The Winds of War, a novel about the two years leading up to WWII. The characters all travel a great deal, but they take it as a matter of course that it will take them days if not weeks to get where they are going. Now we expect to be there in hours or it's not worth it. We're so rushed. I am grateful for being able to travel at this slower pace.

Train blogging

On the train to Florida...

So far so good. The compartment is smaller than the Amtrak website made it look, but it's okay for one person. We'll see how it sleeps; the food in the dining car is not gourmet, but it's not bad either, and because I have a compartment it's included in the price.

I had a lzay, dozey kind of day; read the NYTimes on my iPad, did a little last minute CREDO paper work and relaxed, and I'm tired enough to go to bed very early.

I like traveling this way.

Leaving on a jet plane....um. train

I'm leaving at o'dark thirty in the morning to board a train that will take me to Florida. I know that people think I'm crazy to take the train for such a long trip, but I HATE to fly. And the stress of having to deal with airports and take-offs and landings would completely undo any relaxation I might get from this trip. As it happens, Amtrak goes right to the place where my conference is, and it stops in the city where my mother and sister live, too, so it works out.

I splurged and got a sleeper for tomorrow night.The conference starts about thirty minutes after I get there, so I thought having a place to really sleep and change clothes might be a good idea. I didn't get the sleeper for the way home, but I've slept on a train before and ti wasn't too bad. Overall, I like traveling by train; I can read and watch movies (even as I type I'm downloading Toy Story 3 and Lost Season 6), and I have a little bit of prep work for the conference left to do, so I won't be bored.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep up with NaBloPoMo because I splurged a bit and got an iPad this week--with 3G and wifi. In fact, I'm typing on said iPad right now with a spiffy wireless keyboard--so much easier than the built in one, on which (like on my iPhone) I make multiple and stupid typos. I can justify the iPad because I will be able to use it for work and the keyboard makes it that much easier. The only thing I can't do is download any pictures I take because I didn't buy the adapter I need for that (which at this point seems silly but whatever.)

So I still have a stack of ironing to do--ironing before packing is always at least a partial exercise in futility, but I do it anyway. Glad tonight is fall back night!

Friday Five~~It is well with my soul

From kathrynjz at the RGBPs:

We lead privileged lives.

True, some are more privileged than others but the fact that we are communicating right now via technological devices puts us in the privileged category.

There are many perks in my life for which I give thanks and then there are some that make everything right in the world during the moment I am enjoying them. I'm wondering what a few of those things - five to be specific - are for you.

1. I can pay my bills every month and have something left over.  That sounds pretty basic, but honestly, I've had times when that wasn't true, and those times suck--not to put too fine a point on it. So knowing that I can support myself (and I live not luxuriously, but really pretty well) feels great.

2. I have techy gadgets that make my life easier and more fun. An iPhone. A great camera. And, now thanks to some sweet perks at my job (see below), an iPad.

3. I have a job that is not only just what I want to be doing but also has some sweet perks.  Like a fund for professional expenses. And time and money for continuing ed. And four weeks vacation. And health insurance. 

4. I get to live in a cool Victorian house. Also related to number 3 above.  I've always wanted to live in an old Victorian house.

5. Dark chocolate with ginger.  Available at Whole Foods.  And salted caramel hot cocoa at my neighborhood S*bux.

So.....going to see my mother

On the way back from CREDO, I'm stopping in Disney City to see my mother.

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit how long it has been since I've seen my mother...eight years. There, I said it. The biggest reason is that I live at one end of the east coast, and she lives at the other. Or maybe that's the second biggest reason; the real biggest reason is that we don't get along all that well. (See this post ....and this one...for details).

Ever since my mother moved into assisted living, our interactions have been brief. When I call her, she only wants to stay on the phone for a few minutes--just long enough to say that we're both doing fine, and the kids are all fine and then she says she has to go. On the plus side she sounds reasonably content to be where she is--in assisted living and confined to a wheelchair. I sort of think that they must have her on some good drugs. Dunno. And there are no arguments. But it also feels like I'm talking with a casual acquaintance, not my mother.

Apparently what I didn't realize is that my mother has some dementia going on. When I emailed my sister to tell her that I was coming, she was very surprised because my mother not only didn't remember that, she didn't even remember that she'd talked with me.

So the mother I'll be visiting is not the mother I last saw. I'm not really sure what to expect. I know it will be sad on some level. I just hope it is not contentious.

Not as bad as it could have been...

...but still bad enough.

The mid-term elections, that is.

I am mightily relieved that we don't have the (former) head of WWE wrestling as our senator--what an embarrassment that would have been. She spent something over $40 million on her campaign, about $15 million from her own pockets, and yet dared to say in her ads that she "understood" how regular folks live....really?

I'm also relieved that some of the most rabid Tea Partiers lost as well--like the nutcase running in Delaware.

But elsewhere, things look more grim. I guess I should have known that all our optimism of two years ago would evaporate before it came to anything. I don't blame Obama so much. I haven't agreed with everything he's done, but for the most part, he's done as well as he could with what he's got to work with. And the economic mess we're mired in isn't his doing--he was just left holding the bag. Not sure it's going to get any better any time soon.

30 years ago today....

NSLS was born. That makes me OLD.  Although I was younger than she is now when she was born.

NSLS was double footling breech. I've joked that she wanted to walk out, and that she continued to want to do everything the hard way. She was born by C-section though, because the ob thought it was too risky to even try a natural delivery. And she was my biggest--9 lbs +

Now NSLS is expecting her second baby! When we skyped this afternoon Little J was wearing a "Big Sis" shirt, and proudly informed me that she's a "big sister." So cute!

NSLS was born in a large Navy hospital on a Sunday afternoon. I'll never forget all the doctors walking around that Tuesday (election day) shaking their heads and saying, "I never thought Reagan would get elected." Hmmmmm.

Happy birthday, NSLS!!

NaBloPoMo

Despite the fact that I've haven't posted in almost two months, I just signed up for NaBloPoMo again, for the fourth year. I decided I needed to either sign up, or just admit that my blogging days are over, and I wasn't ready to do that. So here we go. Keeping up this month will be complicated because I'm leaving town Sunday for 11 days--on my way to Florida for a CREDO conference (clergy wellness conference sponsored by the Church Pension Fund) and a quick visit to my mother and sister. Long time readers will know that I'll have LOTS more to say about THAT.

Needless to say, I've been busy the last couple of months. Work has been.....well, work. With lots to do. So I come home often well after dinner time, sit down and watch an episode of TV on HULU or read, and that's about it. I spend some time on FB and reading blogs--although Blogrolling completely
disappeared for a couple of weeks, and because I never used a feed reader I was scrambling to find my links.

There are a few things going on around here, but I'll save them for future posts....I'll need something to talk about for the next thirty days!  :)

Existential angst

This week marks my one year anniversary in my current position. It's been a pretty good year, overall, and I'm still happy to be here. But during my vacation (most of August) and since I've been home, I've been experiencing some existential angst.

Part of it, I know, is just realizing I've been here a year. I've moved often enough to know that at the year milestone I have to readjust myself somehow. I'm not "new" anymore; I have no excuse for not knowing how to get around or who people are. But I'm not "seasoned" either--I really haven't had time to learn everything I need to know about a place. And inevitably at the one year point I realize (again) that all my friends are somewhere else--not only have I moved (again) but I'm slow to make friends in most circumstances, and my job makes it even harder to have real friends as opposed to people I am friendly with.

Another factor is missing other places I love. Every time I go back to Vermont, I get homesick. I really loved living there, and at one point I thought I'd live there forever. I can't be sorry I left, because I wouldn't give up having gone to seminary, or living in NY, or all the friends I've gained, or the work I do now, but oh, I do still miss Vermont. And I miss being closer to my grandchildren and my daughters. I love spending time with Little Miss J and Baby M, and they are just far enough away that I can't go for just a day. It does help that I am closer to my other favorite place, and can hop on a train to the city almost any time I want to, but if I had the opportunity to move back to Vermont, I think I'd jump at the chance.

Then there's my job. I'm not unhappy, and I think things are going well for the most part, but it is lonely sometimes. I'm grateful for colleagues, both in real-life and in cyberspace, and for my clergy coach, because there are aspects of where I am that are very challenging, both in positive and negative ways.

And part of it is just me. I never planned to live my life this way, but I've ended up as a bit of a tumbleweed. I've always had one eye on the present and the other on the next thing to come, and that almost always involved being somewhere else. The one exception was when I moved to Vermont to take my tenure track job. I quickly fell in love with the place; the next thing to come was tenure but it would mean staying, not leaving.  Of course, the huge irony is that at the same time I got tenure I was discerning my call to become a priest, and that did mean leaving, at least for a while. And now it's not clear if I can go back, at least in the forseeable future.

Lest this come across as whiney, I'm not meaning to whine, and I'm not unhappy. More reflective, and perhaps a bit wistful at times?  I know this is part of my process of being in a new and different place, and it's not a bad thing. And honestly, I can't imagine what it would be like to have always lived in the same place. I'd bet that creates its own angst.

Friday Five~~Storms of life edition

The east cost has been riveted on Hurricane Earl this week, and in that light:

1) What's the most common kind of storm in your neck of the woods?

Snowstorms and nor'easters of the rain or snow sort. And truthfully, having had to do both, I'd much rather prepare for a blizzard than a hurricane.

2) When was the last time you dealt with a significant power outage?

The last place I lived (one right in the track of Earl) was prone to power outages; the old oak trees that lined the road I lived on not only made it lovely but were also likely to blow down with every big storm, taking power lines along. At least three times in the four years I lived there we were without power for 24-30 hours. And I guess I'm a little slow (or overly optimistic) because I was never really prepared.

3) Are you prepared for the next one?

Eh. I have a good flashlight/lantern and plenty of candles. I have a corded phone, which I learned was a necessity when I lived through the Great Blackout of 2003 in NYC.  I try to keep my cell phone and laptop charged. But I don't keep extra food or water in the house as a general rule.

4) What's the weather forecast where you are this weekend?

It was supposed to be rainy tonight, but as Earl has gone further west than originally forecast, I'm not sure we're actually going to get much rain at all. It is a little breezy now, and supposed to be windy tomorrow and sunny. Thankfully the stretch of 90+ degree days seems to be at an end, too!

5) How do you calm your personal storms?

Stew for a while, think about the situation from all angles, talk to a friend, and then try to let go of it.

Friday Five~~Dog days of summer

Hard to believe that summer is starting to wind down; I'm on vacation this month and all too aware that when I get back to work, fall will be upon us! So here's to summer:

1. What is the weather like where you live?

I love summer in New England, but this has been a hot and sticky one (hello, global warming!) I've been in Vermont all week where it has been very pleasant, and I'm going on to Maine in a couple of days, where I'm hoping for more of the same.

2. Share one thing you love about this time of year.

Just one?  I love the fresh vegetables, long days, cool nights, time off with family, a (slightly) slower pace.

3. Share one thing you do NOT love about this time of year.

Humidity.

4. How will you spend the remaining days leading up to Autumn?

I am on vacation until August 29, and I'm trying really hard not to think about work right now. But I know that when I get back I will need to hit the ground running--the September calendar is already way too full!

My vacation so far has been a few days in the city, and a week in Vermont. Next up is a week in Maine. The Kid has to go back to work after that, but I still have another week off (what to do then is yet to be determined.) Besides visiting family I've been reading and trying to get back to photography which I've really neglected for the last year.

5. Share a good summer memory.

Sweet Baby J isn't so much a baby anymore!

Spending time with my two adorable grandchildren.

Baby M is almost 1!

Bonus: What food says SUMMER to you?

Nothing says summer like a fresh vine ripe tomato, and fresh sweet corn on the cob.

Itsy bitsy spider (web)

Friday FIve~~Love the one you're with

I haven't done a Friday Five in forevah...I'm not off on Fridays anymore, and I tend to not think of it when I get home from work. But I'm doing this one quickly on my lunch break. 

Name five things you like about where you are living now... and as your bonus - 1 thing you don't like.

As of Thursday, I've lived here 11 months, so I'm a relative short timer here...

1. I like that I am on a commuter rail line to the city. It's a mere two minutes to the train station and then about 2 hours on the train--not bad at all! (although I wouldn't want to do it on a daily basis!)

2. I like the house I live in...built in 1876, it's fairly modest by Victorian standards, but quite spacious to me, and just suits me. 

3. I like my commute: out the door and across the lawn, and I'm there! And so far, the congregation has been very respectful of my privacy. 

4. I like that (contrary to the last place I lived) I can drive 20 minutes in any direction and find anything I might need. Target, WF, TJ's, Ikea, and the like all fairly close by (the minus is also the 20 minute drive...but you can't have everything, right?)

5.  I like that I am close enough to a major university with a divinity school (25 minutes or so) to take advantage of its offerings, as I did earlier this summer when I took two great classes. 


Bonus:  I dislike that although this is technically a "blue" state, in my area people are generally MUCH more conservative than I am. I don't think everyone needs to agree with me, but I find that I have to be pretty careful about voicing opinions (I avoid politics at work as a general rule, but outside of work as well...) and I hear some pretty outrageous comments from time to time. It kind of wears on me after living in 3 places that were by and large pretty liberal. 

Sweltering...and other random bits of "yes, I'm still here!'

So for the first time since I started blogging almost 5 years ago, I went a whole month without posting anything at all. Not intentionally, really. It's funny how I think I have a routine going, and then I look up one day and it's totally changed. Blogging used to be how I spent my evenings, reading and writing. And then came FB and my time was divided between the two, as were my cyberfriends. And then I started watching more tv shows on-line, especially since the Kid went off to college, so time was divided between that and FB. And fewer and fewer of the old "gang" of bloggers I felt part of are writing, and I suddenly realized I was going days without ever checking the blogs. And so it goes...

The latest piece of my routine to morph is that the Kid convinced me that I should watch Lost on netfix. Mind you, the whole six years it was on the air I never saw but one episode, from season 4 I think, and I so totally didn't get it that I never went back. But I started from the beginning this time,  and b/c it is on netflix I can watch one episode after another. In fact, in the last month I've watched three seasons, and I'm a third of the way through season four. Yeah.

 Oh, the sweltering part?  I went to the city Sunday after church to see the Kid who is working there this summer. Hot town, summer in the city and all that. Came home on a midday train--it's hotter here than it was there--103 when I got here. I don't use my central a/c if I can help it, but today seemed like it might be a good time so I turned it on. And the temperature has not budged a single degree. No repair person available until tomorrow. Sigh. Hopefully it will cool down enough tonight that fans will suffice.

Hot as it was, I loved being in the city for a couple of days. I've been in twice this summer, not to do anything special necessarily, but just as a getaway. The Kid is staying with friends while he works there this summer, and this time he and I went out to eat at a couple of favorite places, walked around in Brooklyn Sunday night, avoided the fireworks crowds,  and spent yesterday afternoon at the Museum of Natural History where it was cool. And crowded. Coolness was at a premium, I guess :) but it was okay. 

Vacation is in a month! And I am really ready for it.  Spending time in Vermont and Maine is always the best part of summer!

Work is good. I'm in such a better than this time last year in so many ways, but that is probably subject for another post.

So what's new with you?  Anybody still stopping by?

A Sermon for Independence Day

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

July 4, 2010  Independence Day

Matthew 5:43-48

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. . . Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Today’s gospel, the one set in the lectionary for Independence Day, comes from one of my favorite parts of scripture—the Sermon on the Mount, that long discourse in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus lays out for his audience just what it means to be a disciple. For me, it is truly a handbook for being a Christian. Not everyone views it that way, of course. Figures as illustrious as Martin Luther have argued that the Sermon on the Mount puts discipleship out of the reach of ordinary people by setting an impossibly high standard for behavior, what with the “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies” and “do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth.” I prefer to think of it as setting the bar high; as giving us an ideal to strive for: being perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.  And although we could spend our time lamenting that of course we will never be perfect, or excusing ourselves by saying that since we will never be perfect we may as well not try, it seems to me to be more profitable to strive for becoming more like the God who created us than to dwell in the ways we fall short.

There is no doubt that Jesus does set high standards for us. He begins the portion of the Sermon on the Mount from which today’s gospel is drawn by claiming that he has come not to abolish the law and the prophets but rather to fulfill them, and then he outlines a number of different ways that his followers are called to go beyond what the law would demand in their relationship with others. It’s easy, he concludes, to care about the folks we like, but if we are to enter into God’s kingdom, we must also care about those we DON’T like, and the ones who don’t like us. No small task, that.

Jesus is not the only one to set high standards. The founders of our country did so as well, and as we celebrate our Independence Day we do well to recall just what those standards are:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In a society in which the divine right of kings was largely unquestioned, in which there were clear social hierarchies and in which power was invested in those with means, these ideals were, like the injunctions in the Sermon on the Mount, almost impossibly out of reach.  And the rich irony is, even the author of these words and the endorsers of the declaration from which they came applied them selectively. Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owned human slaves. It took almost 100 years before black men in America were accorded the right to vote and close to another 100 years before it was safe for them to do so. And although women asked for the vote in 1848, they didn’t receive it until 1920, almost 150 years after those words were enshrined in the founding document of our country.

The founding fathers, you see, were defining “all men” as “people like me.” To be fair, they were no different from the major philosophers, theologians and scientists of the day in believing that white males were the epitome of creation, and white males were the group they defined as “all men.” The beauty of what they wrote, of the principle they established, however, is that it is expansive and inclusive enough to take in all of humanity, as we come to grasp that humanity is not limited by gender or race or orientation or any of the others human categories we use to make sense of the world. Just as we must care about those whom we don’t like, so too must we uphold the rights of those who may not be just like us.

And though we’ve made great strides, we still struggle with both standards. We seek to include all of humanity under the umbrella of liberty and justice, even as we nit-pick and argue about how to do so. And we labor as well with loving those we really don’t like—loving our enemies, loving those who don’t see the world we do, loving those whose desires for us are not always good ones.

But love them we must. Care about them we must. Because God does—God loves each and every one of us without prerequisite. God makes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike.  And our call is to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.

We won’t make it, of course, not in this lifetime, just as this great nation will not live up to its ideals of liberty for all. But that’s no reason not to try, not to strive to be the people we are called to be. As a nation that means endeavoring to be true champions of justice and beacons of equality; it means welcoming the tired, huddled masses who yearn to breathe free; it means defending the rights of the least among us.

And as followers of Jesus, children of God, it means aiming always to live into the image of God in which we were created; it means turning the other cheek when we’d rather fight back; caring for others who might not care for us in return; giving to other when we’d rather hoard for ourselves; it means loving God and our neighbor and putting that love ahead of everything else.

Easy?  Not at all! But think about this: We do this for the God who created us to delight in us and who loved us enough to become incarnate among us, to live and die among us, to take on our pain and our suffering. We do this for the God who continues to love us beyond measure even we when we are utterly unlovable. We do this so that the Kingdom of God might flourish now and forever. Is that not reason enough to try?

Amen.

Look! Babies!

I think there are three babies; I'm still working on getting better pix...if you click on the last one you can see little open beaks waiting for papa to feed them.