Church History in 4 minutes

Thanks to Chris for this heads up. And I had to have 12 years of Catholic School...

The PROJECT Hook'd on a feeler

If you have been following this story, as I have (been living it-that is) the last post was where we were asked for and then put in our 'best and final offer', then were countered with a counter offer. It has been five weeks since that time. We have seen at least 6-7 other places, one, owned by ambiguous Pat, that we really liked and made an offer on , but Pat would not come down in price and he/she had put a lot of money into the beautiful place and had to get his/her money back. Sigh.

This is like another job as Long Beach is a is about a 50 minute drive for us-which may not seem like a lot to you regular folk, but to us public transportation riders, well it's a lot. Then in and out and taking pictures and talking to people and etc. And no weekends, it seems like. Let me rant for awhile.

So we asked our realtor to put out a feeler if we went up a bit would they accept and not keep us hanging for another month or two into the deep winter. All over this beach town, prices are dropping as the fall develops, but these sellers seem not to notice.

Friday Five-Fall

Singing Owl Posted this melancholy-for me-Friday five:
Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest. Jeremiah 5:23b

The Autumnal Equinox has just come 'round again. I took a look back at our Friday Fives and noted that it always seems to make the Rev Gals and their Pals think of changes.


There is something so nostalgic about this time of year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The nights grow cooler, crops are harvested, for some of us the leaves are beginning to change colors. The scent of smoke is in the air, pumpkins are in the stores (or on wagons, or in roadside stands for those of us in the country). I'm thinking of putting away my summer clothes and pulling out the sweaters. And I have a tub of Fall-themed items that my husband just lugged up from the basement. I'm looking for my scarecrow.


For this week, let's share some memories along with some hopes and expectations.


1. Share a Fall memory.
Fall is a time of going back to school. I always hated that, but when I went to Graduate School-1991 or so, all of that changed. I really liked what I was studying. I had a computer and that made writing papers so much easier than using a typewriter (in the 60's and 70's) I had a sense of self. This is a bad made good memory of fall
2. Your favorite Fall clothes--(past or present)?
Tweeds forever!
3. Share a campfire story, song, experience...etc.
When I was growing up, we had a big backyard and outdoor fireplaces-2. During the summer we had many cookouts with my uncles famous steaks, but after we kept the fire going and sat around the fire telling stories and talking. This went on into the fall.
4. What is your favorite thing about this time of year?
I like the moderating temperature's and less humidity, I don't like the shorter days.
5. What changes are you anticipating in your life, your church, family...whatever...as the season changes and winter approaches?
Well, we are in the middle of our end of FFY-end of Federal Fiscal Year at work. This means that we prove that we are doing our jobs by showing how many people with disabilities we have placed in employment and they have stayed in employment for 90 days. So, I have been ragging on my unit of counselors to comb through their files to find "rehabs." Rehabilitated consumers that we can show the Feds. We do this twice a year as we get funding from the state and the feds. It's over next Weds cob. Sigh

Happy New Year-L'Shana Tova

This was an e-mail from a friend and I thought I'd re-publish it here:
"L'Shana Tova U’Metukah Tikatevu
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!
שנה טובה כתיבה וחתימה טובה
May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall .

And may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastroenterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, and the IRS.
May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere during rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May this Yom Tov, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the Jewish New Year ahead.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may your checkbook and your budget balance, and may they include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your partner, your child, and your parent(s). You can say it to your secretary, your nurse, your butcher, your photographer, your masseuse, your seamstress, your hairdresser or your gym instructor, but not with a "twinkle" in your eye.

May we live as intended, in a world at peace with the awareness of the beauty in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous part of ourselves.

Bless you with every happiness, great health, peace and much love during the next year and all those that follow"

Friday Five Stairs

Jan posted this thoughtful Friday Five:

"Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up,
And isn't down.
it isn't in the nursery,
it isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!"

— A. A. Milne
“Halfway Down,” When We Were Very Young

Thinking of your childhood as a stairway, when did you feel (and how did you feel then)

1. at the bottom?

When I was very young I grew up in a home with no stairs except the ones to the basement. So I grew to know stairs in the home of the women who took care of me when my parents worked. I used to 'butt' up and down. She had three much older daughters and even though I felt like a member of the family for my young life, I guess you could say, I was at the bottom rung.

2. at the top?

No, in my young life, I never felt powerful. I lived with an alcoholic father and an angry mother which left me pretty much...out.

3. halfway?

No.

4. At this point in your life, where would you place yourself on your own stairway?

I'm still climbing those stairs. I have a career that I like, and that I have worked for, a happy relationship. I'm sober for 23 years, I have friends and I'm close to my small family. Actually I'm pretty close to the top compared to the people I see every day! I'm a lucky girl.

5. Identify a place for you that "isn't really anywhere" but "somewhere else instead."
When I meditate, Mindfulness Meditation, I go there.

A Good Idea to Support the American Nuns

Last January, the Vatican launched an apostolic visitation of institutes of women religious in the United States.

Now is the time for those of us who have been served by or served with women religious to stand in support and express our gratitude for these women who have given us so much.

Letters in support of women religious will be posted here throughout the month of November and sent to Mother Mary Clare Millea, Cardinal Franc Rode, Cardinal Francis George and Pope Benedict XVI as well as leadership teams of communities of women religious in the US.

Submit your letter today.

September 16, 2009

from Kate Child Graham of NCR

All are invited to write letters in support of women religious which will be posted atwww.thankyousister.com and sent to Mother Mary Clare Millea, Cardinal Franc Rode, Cardinal Francis George and Pope Benedict XVI as well as leadership teams of communities of women religious in the US. In these letters, you are invited to share personal stories about how women religious have impacted your “quality of life,” express messages of gratitude and/or convey general messages of support.

As November is the month of giving thanks, the letters will be posted on this site throughout the month of November, but please start writing now.

Here are the steps to contribute your message of support and gratitude:

1.Go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thankyousister/ to make your commitment to write a letter.
2.Write your letter in 700 words or less.
3.Send to thankyousister@gmail.com before November 1, 2009. Please include your name, city and state in the message or indicate if you would like your message to remain anonymous.
4.Forward this message to ten friends or post the following message as your Facebook status:
“Last January, the Vatican launched an apostolic visitation of institutes of women religious in the United States. Join me in supporting these women who have given us so much. Write a letter of support and gratitude and send it to thankyousister@gmail.com. Visit www.thankyousister.com for more details.”
5.Read your message and messages from others at www.thankyousister.com from November 1 through November 30, 2009.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Kate Childs Graham at thankyousister@gmail.com.

Friday Five: Pajamas

1. What was your favorite sleeping attire as a child? And did you call them pjs, pajamas (to rhyme with llamas), pajamas (to sort of rhyme with bananas), jammies, or ???
Being old school, pajamas (to sort of rhyme with bananas), then night shirts, when they came into style in the 60's.

2. Favorite sleepwear put on your own little ones, or perhaps those you babysat? (Bonus points if you made it)
Un, no answer for this one,.

3. How about today-do you prefer nightgown, pajamas, undies, or au naturel?
A t shirt, preferably gotten for free, advertising various computer companies, by beloved. Or depends on the occasion!

4. Silky smooth or flannel-y cozy?
Summer and Winter

5. Socks or bare feet?
Winter and Summer.

A New York Story

I was shaken and scared....

I had a busy day, brunch with a group of friends, then a long walk, shopping at the Strand bookstore, a walk through a street fair etc. We took the cross town bus across 14th street-the traffic was heavy. BL wanted to go the the Chelsea Market for fresh vegetables for tomorrows party-for the grill. I was tired- and had had enough walking and just wanted to go home. So, I walked to the Market with her and then grabbed a cab. I got in, barely hitting an Explorer with my door. As I was closing the door, someone was holding the door. "You damaged my car!" said an irate blond middle aged woman with a Germanic accent and two children in the car. I looked and there was a small mark-not a dent, not a scratch just a ". She was holding the door and demanding I get out, speaking in a loud and angry voice. I refused. If you drive in NYC, you expect these little marks. She was insistent. Holding the door and reaching for me until BL came back and said 'don't you touch her.' I was at a loss. I felt that I had done nothing wrong. Our is full of such little marks and dings. As a pedestrian I have no insurance against making little marks and felt she was about to get violent. I was exhausted and just wanted to get home. A crowd was gathering. One man came up and said 'you have your rights, stand firm. BL finally suggested she call the police, so she did. While she did that, I also did and explained my situation. While I was on the phone, she got in her car and drove off. I was shaken and exhausted.

Street drama in NYC.

Charged Friday Five

Sally posted this bracing Friday Five" A few weeks ago my lap-top battery died, suddenly I found myself looking at a blank screen and was rather relieved to find that it was only the battery and not the whole computer that had failed. This morning a new battery arrived in the post, and suddenly I am mobile again!After a week with what feels like wall to wall meetings, and Synod looming on the horizon for tomorrow I find myself pondering my own need to recharge my batteries. This afternoon Tim and I are setting off to explore the countryside around our new home, I always find that walking in the fresh air away from phones and e-mails recharges me. But that is not the only thing that restores my soul, so do some people, books, pieces of music etc....So I wonder what/ who gives you energy?

1. Is there a person who encourages and uplifts you, whose company you seek when you are feeling low?
My Beloved, or myself.

2. How about a piece of music that either invigorates or relaxes you?
I like the sound of silence...and not the Simon and Garfunkel one...

3. Which book of the Bible do you most readily turn to for refreshment and encouragement? Is there a particular story that brings you hope?
Uh, no.

4. A bracing walk or a cosy fireside?
I'll go for either one based on my mood, but really give me a good book and that fireside

5. Are you feeling refreshed and restored at the moment or in need of recharging, write a prayer or a prayer request to finish this weeks Friday Five....
Actually, this morning, this agnostics subway prayer was "Dear God, please resolve the condo-co-op Project issue soon, hopefully in a positive way, if you see fit and if it seem right to You."
How about that?

The PROJECT seems to be stalled

My Aunt and her grandchild my godchild.

Alas... the best and final offer seemed to be a ploy to 'jack up the price." The sellers relator came back with another offer expecting another offer to us. Sigh. So for the moment we're sitting on things.

No, not what did I mean? Sitting? We hosted the little family during the last rainy weekend!

We rented a wheelchair and took buses all over NYC with my 91 y/o aunt, cousin Michele and her friend Jonie and godchild Elaine. And at various times Beloved and cousin Janet. It was a traveling carnival. We had a great time, but I learned how difficult it is to navigate NYC in a Wheelchair.