Easing the pain of the Alberta Clipper

A very large south-facing window, a pillow and good book.

My book happens to be a warm, soul-satisfying one.

Ah, it makes me feel like cooking Italian, gardening, painting and fixing up anything that is old.

I can get as close as I can. I'm eating fresh, homemade parmesan and oregano foccacia with ham and Swiss. Just need a little arugula to top it off. But the black Greek olives are doing a pretty good job.

Let the wind blow! Where's my book?

Will got Inauguration Tickets!

By FedEx in the mail yesterday. Whoa, they look so cool. The green ones are for the "OFA Staff Ball". I had to ask Will what that was, "Obama for America". OK. The purple ones are the tickets for the actual Inauguration. The color tells what section he's in. He got a paper that has the diagram of the stands along with the screening gate and the nearest Metro stop. Exciting. Momentous. Something that he'll be able to tell his children and grand children about.

He's riding out with friends and co-workers from Council Bluffs, and they're staying with relatives in Bethesda, MD. Pretty exciting if you're 22 years old! Hope the weather is good both for the drive and the actual day.

Now me, no way would I want to go stand out there with millions of people. I'm still an Iowa country girl at heart. The biggest crowd I can handle is at church!

He's got TWO tickets. Hmmm, I wonder who he's going to share the other with?

Guess I've taken a blog break

I didn't mean to. Last week just flew by! I thought once the holidays were over, I'd have quiet days enjoying warm living room sunshine, reading books, tidying up. But things got moving rather quickly!

• Monday I got the house cleaned up after the weekend.
• Tuesday I took the tree down and cleaned that mess up. Got groceries. Car washed.Went out with church ladies in the evening to Wheatfields. Good time.
• Wednesday was run-around day. Got my hair cut. Ran around looking for a good deal on a new artificial Christmas tree. Got one for $30! All set for next year! Went to church to teach my class.
• Thursday I subbed for the Chemistry and Physics teacher. Great classes! They all got down to work...and I crocheted! Thursday evening my uncle came in with his friend Frank on their way to Minnesota. My aunt died on Saturday, so Lester was heading home. We had a rather hectic dinner prep since I didn't get home until nearly 4. Andrew comes in on Thursday to eat on his way to class, so he needed to eat by 5:30. Lester and Frank arrived at 5, so I burned the skirlie, sprayed milk from the mashed potatoes all over the counter, and Andrew ate standing up in the kitchen talking to me while I tried to regain my composure!!! Dinner went great once we got there! Football was the evening entertainment.
• Friday morning we were all up and out early. I did sit down and eat oatmeal with my guests before they left at 7:30 and I left to teach 5th grade at 7:45! That was another wonderful day. Friday evening Will was out, I talked to Linnea for over an hour, then Den and I played rummy.
• Saturday mornings I always talk to my mom for an hour and then sit around in my housecoat reading blogs, Facebook and just enjoying the slow morning. Andrew and Stephanie showed up about 11:30 while I was still looking my best. :) I made them some brunch and we all had a good visit before they headed out to the SAC museum. Got cleaned up after that!!! The presepe got put away and the Christmas stuff on the sideboard. Nice and tidy in there now.
• Sunday is always a good day. Great worship music in church, great sermon. I think we have the best church here ever! Sunday lunch lasted for a couple of hours. We bring out the tea pot and a bowl of nuts after dinner and we all sit and talk for a long time. It's the highlight of my week! As long as no one fights! :) Then last night Den and I went to Bill and Joetta's for supper in their new house! We had a great game of cribbage afterwards. Joetta and I let the men win this time...we don't want to hurt their fragile egos!!!
• God is faithful in all the little things, the daily activities. I'm so thankful for good times as well as the provision of all my needs both spiritual and physical. It IS a wonderful life!

Silence

I've just finished reading this book. Will finished it last week, and I think Linnea read it before him. It was sitting on the endtable, and since I hadn't read a book for awhile, buried as I was in crochet yarn, I decided I'd check it out.

I'm still digesting it. It wasn't a comfortable book to read. I don't really want to write a review, nor can I do it justice. Here's a review I read online that will give you an idea of what the story is about without spoiling the ending.

Of course any time you read a book, you view that story through your lenses. I'm reading it as an evangelical Protestant. It's about a Catholic priest set back in the 17th century during persecution of Christians in Japan. All the while I read it, I kept thinking about how complicated Roman Catholic Christianity is with all its rituals and works. It is so binding. The poor people wanted to confess their sins and thought they couldn't without a priest. How sad to carry that burden! They had set up their own hierarchy to try to remedy this problem. How freeing is the priesthood of the believer! Christ knows my pain, my sin, and is always there. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" No where.

Then there's always the silence. The silence of God that the priest felt in the face of all the loneliness and persecution.

It was a good book. Any of you around here read it? I'd really like to get in to some kind of book group, so that I could read and discuss the book with others!

Our Sunday School class has been like that reading The Reason for God. We end up sitting in class long after the scheduled time is over. It ends next Sunday. sad. That's another great book if you haven't read it. I've been through it twice now.

He is there, and He is not silent! Hallelujah!

Moving day

Yesterday I went to help my friend move from her old farmhouse, to her new house. It's my Road Goes Ever On place. January in western Iowa after the thaw! I'll take another when it's all white again.

I love a project. I love being busy, so yesterday was a happy day. We got a lot done. I think they will sleep well in the new house....if the fumes from the varnished floor don't get to them.

It is a lovely house. With particularly lovely views!



Here we are sitting at the table in their breakfast nook that faces east and south. I don't think I'd leave the table in the morning... just think of the changing seasons viewed from that window. There is a deck just outside, too.

Here we are two tired ladies! *smile*













New Year's Day Andrew popped in for a few minutes along with his friend Drew and his girlfriend. Drew has been our "other son" ever since he and Andrew met in 6th grade. It's always great to see him again! He's at Drake in DesMoines now, so he's not too far away.

Watch Night Service

This was another one of my ideas on New Year's Eve, but since I wrote two that day, I saved this idea for later.

I was driving around on Tuesday and listening to NPR. They mentioned that the next day there would be a program about Watch Night Services and its history going back to Puritans. (Link takes you to the program on WGBH.) I had forgotten all about that term, and it reminded me of my childhood.

We always went to church on New Year's Eve. I always thought that's what church people did. It was a family celebration. We had games, food, sometimes a Christian film. We always ended with a service that usually included the Lord's Supper, beginning the new year at the Lord's table in the Lord's house with His people. I remember at one party we played "world cities" charades, children and adults playing on teams together. Another party was a scavenger hunt for part of it. Some of those Christian films were pretty corny, now that I look back on them. But this was way before the day of home video, so it was pretty special, especially for a kid growing up without TV!

I found out that this idea is not totally lost. I did a google search and found this article. It is well worth the read.

Why do we have fewer and fewer services together as a congregation? We no longer have Sunday evening services. Our church says they don't so we will come to the Bible study time on Wednesday. But why cut one service? Why not have both? Let's celebrate the holidays of the church. Israel had all their times of celebration throughout the year, but it seems since the Reformation, we've thrown out church celebrations.

Our culture has lost community. And the church is losing community. Maybe I just don't see it as much being in an urban rather than a rural church. But I have talked to several people and read some on the subject; people are longing for community. We have new single people and new families coming to our church. Are we forming a unique community? Our celebrations are often with those outside of our church community lessening the strength of that community. How can we build the strength of our church community while maintaining friendships with those from other churches, as well as staying close to our families not in our church body? I really would like to know.

The Watch Night Service. What a great idea! Let's get together....next year! Oh, wait. This year!

New Links for 2009

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a super time last night bringing in the New Year. We did.

I have added a couple of links both are about photography. One is my nephew's (brother of luisa and Moot Thoughts.. son of Quid Nunc... that family is really into blogging!) The other two are really one. I found the link on the Caithness website. It's North Light. The man posts photos on his blog, but we can't make any comments there, so I also linked his Flickr page. Right now he has a photo album of 366 photos for 2008 all over Caithness. Linnea, you will love it. He has some lovely photos! Lots and lots of sea and rocks, sand and sky. I could wish for a little more wildlife, but if you go to his blog, there are links to others who do take photos of wildlife. It will give those of you who have never been there a glimpse of the pace we lived for four years of our lives and where both Will and Andrew were born. (The photo here is mine.)

Rose Bowl parade is on TV and we've set up the TV to make sure we catch both the Iowa game and the Nebraska game. Happy Football Day!