Month: March 2008

Out of practice?

So, during Lent – I blogged every day (except one) and now I’ve really slacked off.  the past couple of nights I’ve crawled in to bed and remembered I forgot. 

 Right now I’m trying to get ready to go on vacation – and when I say vacation – I mean vacation.  I am not traveling with or to visit family, I am not taking a dozen or so other people’s children traipsing around the country to the world…  I am traveling with a dear friend to visit her niece who is studying on Budapest for the semester.  We are going to Prague for the weekend.

I love my family, I love traveling with my mom – but every so often I like to take a trip for me!  Selfish?  Yes, but that’s okay too.  iPod is fully of stuff to listen to on the plane – two books, a bunch of podcasts and tons of music.

So, I have to finish up buttoning things down at work and also need to pack!  I have my list done, but nothing is in the suitcase.  YAY – holiday for me!  Not sure how much blogging there will be on vacation – but hopefully some!  Them Internets is everywhere you know!

WordPress Blog Stats

WordPress has a feature called “Blog Stats” where you can see how people found your blog and what they click on your blog.

The search that brings the most people to my blog is “Who are the Kardashians?”  Hmm…  what does this say about my writing skills and more so about what people are looking for out on the internets!

More about blogging – I think Martha Stewart mentioned a staff member’s name yesterday and said this person was her blogger.  Now, is that kosher?  Can/Should someone blog for you if you have opposable thumbs?  I read a couple of blogs who’s authors are pets – and since they don’t have thumbs, they can’t type.  So, does that mean that famous peoples blogs aren’t for real? 

Isn’t everything you read on the internets real?  Oh well, back to my fantasy world about what is true.

Wine & Cheese

My neighborhood is very cool – and today it got even cooler. 

 A Wine & Cheese Bar opened at Cheesetique.  As if having a cheese shop in the neighborhood is not cool enough – now they serve wine and beer and cheese plates, meat plates and combo plates.  They also serve entrees and desserts.  This is gonna be GREAT!

Had a nice Malbec with three very nice cheeses – Pennsylvania Cheddar, Honey Goat and Manchego.  Very yummy.  I like a nice dry two of the three fell into that category.  The Honey Goat was very nice with the walnut raisin bread!  The quince relish or pate or whatever was different.  Everything great.  The owner Jill came by to welcome us.  It was great, I’ll be going back – a lot.

“Summer Pudding”

It’s an interesting dessert – ok, rather odd – but very yummy.  It’s made by lining a bowl with white bread (sans crust), then a mix of fresh berries, another layer of bread and more berries, then top it off with bread.  Put a plate on top and weigh it down with a couple of cans or something… 

The bread gets all gooey and dyed from the juice from the berries – it’s really kinda funky but it’s sort of cakey, bready and berry goodness.  I’m not a fan of soggy bread, cake or the like – but this was yummy!  Then it was topped off with a berry coulis.  Some fresh whipped cream would have put it over the top.

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!

The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

The Easter Vigil was a wonderful as is usually is.  The music was great (my favorite hymns), a really good fire – all high and crackly, and the Agape Feast (party) after was nice as always.

Since’ we’ve already changed the clocks, the service started at 8PM, which meant it ended at about 10:15PM and while I talking to someone at the Agape, she looked at the clock and said, “Oh, it’s only 10:15, right?”  I said, “Um, no, it’s 11:15.”  She was shocked and quickly found her husband and left.  I was not far behind.

I decided I would not go to church this morning, I’d attended the first service of Easter so I got to sing my favorite hymns – so all was right with the world.

Went searching for a wee gifty for my god-daughter, she’s 14 months old.  There really aren’t many choices for 14 month olds – no jelly beans, Robin Eggs (I got those for me!), chocolate bunnies – so I found a “Peeps” bean bag – it’s darned cute and squishy and purple with white polka-dots…  Cute! and she liked it!

Dinner with with friends – it was very nice.  Met new people, got to see folks I only see once a year or so and (as always) enjoyed the company of good friends, good food, and good fun.

Alleluia!  The Lord is risen!

The Lord is risen INDEED!  Alleluia!

Lenten Discipline

My discipline this year was not very spiritual but then again giving up candy or whatever isn’t necessarily spiritual either.  The point of a discipline for me was to make a conscious effort to somehow change my behavior and actually stick with something (let’s not talk about the YMCA membership I’ve paid for in the last year but haven’t used very much!). 

I decided to start with something somewhat small – but noticeable, if only for me.  By this point, maybe you have noticed it too – but haven’t realized that it was my Lenten Discipline. 

Blogging.  That was my discipline.  I’ve blogged everyday (except March 10) since Ash Wednesday.  Now if you look at the calendar on my page you’ll see a day (March 5) that it appears I did not blog.  I was traveling in California and I posted after midnight on the east coast…  I did not post on March 10, and I’m not sure what happened that evening.

For some reason, I took this simple discipline very seriously.  I even got back up a couple of evenings when I’d crawled in to bed without posting. 

I did not post last night – Maundy Thursday – but I have what I consider a good reason.  After serving on Altar Guild last night during the stripping of the altar – I went back into the church and sat for a while during the Prayer Watch.  On my way home I decided I would not watch TV or turn the PC on when I got home, but I would read the four Gospel accounts of the betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus.  I’d never done that before.  There are many similarities and some subtle differences between the four accounts – but one difference really jumped out at me. 

Luke says that after the ear of the high priest’s slave was cut off Jesus touched him and healed it.  No other Gospel mentions this.  Why didn’t His accusers acknowledge at that point that Jesus was truly the Son of God?  Why did it take the earthquake and the tearing of the temple curtain after he took his last breath?  Why didn’t they get it?

These are rhetorical questions because the prophesy had to be fulfilled, I get that – but what have we seen in our lives that have no logical answer?  What signs to the presence of God have we reasoned or ignored because the possible answer makes us uncomfortable?  More rhetorical questions, but something to think about this Holy weekend.

Boring Life

There are times I think I have a boring life – and maybe the worse part is that that’s okay with me. 

I read bunches of blogs and lots of people have tons going on in their lives and my life is rather ordinary.  I am thankful for the life I live and especially for the people in my life – even though it’s a little, well, boring.

Tomorrow history will be made – well, it was actually made tonight!  Read the financial pages!  Tomorrow will not be a boring day in my life!  YAY!