Gonna go worship at the Church of Disney. See you in a week!

Wow, a week without blogging! Is there anyone still around here?
SBJ and I had a good week in Midwestern City in Two States. He slept poorly (extremely poorly) at night, but was sunny and easygoing during the day—which is better than the converse, I suppose. He put up with being passed from person to person, […]

I leave tomorrow for several days of study leave, with my clergy assistant SBJ in tow. Now that I’ve got the papers done and the bags (mostly) packed, I am now super excited to see NotShyChiRev, Texas Clergypal, will smama, apstraight, Laidback Clergypal, Seminary Galpal, and several non-pseudonymed folk.
I won’t have internet access except for […]

Please continue to vote on the spoonerism thread o’whimsy. I am pulling for fest breed, since I know nothing about shiites, nerdy or otherwise.
I had spiritual direction today, and here is why a good spiritual director is such a great thing:
One of the segments of the day-long pilgrimage on Iona took us from the top […]

a draft

the ripe glow between the rooftops
is a wedge of strawberry pie.
always hungry, i throw on a sweater
and pad toward this mid-evening delicacy.
i step straddling over a wire fence,
scramble up the backyard hill,
ready to feast; oh! it was a mirage,
not a sliver of thing to be gobbled up,
but a long roll of wool
carded clean and […]

As you well know, I am just back from a lovely time of pilgrimage in the isle of Iona, “cradle of Scottish Christianity.” It has provided much food for thought, to say the least, and so, to keep the pilgrim mojo going:
1. Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? (however you choose to define the […]

unrevised
i’m home, but
i don’t want the pilgrimage to end,
so in the plod of rush hour,
i look around and see not
minivans adorned with little league stickers, not
hummers that make me furious, not
steel machines inhaling their fossil fuels and
blowing code orange smoke rings,
but the people inside, pilgrims on the way
to their sacred everyday places,
they are modest as […]

See you on the Hogwarts Express! I’ll buy the first round of chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts.

We rolled into the driveway at 1 a.m. C heard us come upstairs and was ready with a sleepy hug and kiss. M woke up early this morning and R went to get her; it seemed to take a while to dawn on her who it was. But she was awake enough by the time […]

Just couldn’t resist poking in for one more check-in/update. My main objective was to read the daily e-updates on the girls, which the grandmothers are e-mailing to each other and to us (for reading when we get back, but who can wait?). We really miss them. A lot.
Apparently C is sitting in R’s chair at […]

So this’ll be quick and hopefully not too riddled with typos (why do they put the @ sign there?)
I am in the internet cafe in the Columba Hotel here on the island, for just a few more minutes. Then it’s off to do some exploring.
Our weather has been incredible. While much of England is underwater, […]

So last night I was stomping around the kitchen, which I do from time to time. R often thinks I am stomping in judgment. (Can one stomp judgmentally? I’m afraid one can.) Often I am whirling around in that “How did we let it get so bad” cleaning frenzy.
Last night was one of those […]

First, thanks for the feedback on the “whaaaa?!” post. Having received confirmation that I’m not way off base, it’s only fair to take it down and speak to the person directly.
We are just about packed. I have a new raincoat with liner, a loaner cross-shoulder bag (two, actually, from two clergy friends—maybe I’ll bring both; […]

Read part 1 here.
Presby-retreat and Back Again

Thursday night we mainly got settled and met up with some of our friends. I found out the unfortunate news about NotShyChiRev’s father, who passed away the day before. NSCR had been scheduled to lead the retreat. Head of Staff was planning to fill in, but he too was […]

And it was wonderful.
Forgive the exhaustive details; we were having too much fun to take many pictures, which means there isn’t much documentation of the trip.
Getting There, First Few Days
Flew into Flat and Hot, Texas in time for pizza dinner with Gram and some other relatives. R had bought a travel DVD player which we […]

As you know, I am downtown on retreat this week. Most of the retreatants are from out of town, so I get to experience this place through the eyes of visitors. So in the spirit of tourism:
1. What is one place you make sure to take out-of-town guests when they visit? (you can be vague […]

We’re here in Midwestern Captital, but we had to work to get here.

We found out Christmas night that United had changed our flights without telling us, from leaving Dulles at 1:30 to leaving at 7:30 p.m. and getting in at 11. Um, no. So they rebooked us, sort of, and instead of a 90 minute […]

Take it from a couple of wanna-be foodies… When you’re at a wonderful restaurant and can’t decide among the menu items, and the chef offers a tasting menu, get it.
…splash of onion soup with a thimble-sized parmesan biscuit
…homemade sourdough with roasted garlic and olive tapenade
…crab salad on couscous with marinated julienne cucumbers
…caramelized scallop with homemade […]

Here’s how the day began:
Woke up at 5:30. R got up soon afterward to get showered before the girls woke up. I fed M at 6:15 and put her back down. The cab picked me up at 6:30. I took the Metro to the airport and checked in with R around 8:00. He said, “You’re […]

three pairs of shorts and shirts; one dress
three pairs of socks, underwear: two princesses and an elmo
elly doll and one of her two nuggies
visor made from craft foam with her name on it
the santa brush (stocking stuffer from last christmas)
toothbrush with the suction cup on the bottom
winnie the pooh toothpaste
purple bathing suit with flowers
swim “googles”
two […]