This proves it...

I forgot how to use free time...may as well start that Ethics reading assignment!

You Are Smoked Salmon Pate Soda

Tasting like fish ain't so bad!

What Jones Holiday Soda Are You?

O Christmas Tree!

Thanks, Spud!

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Announcements in Church

Yesterday, I was back in the pew at my home church, glad to be there but feeling utterly like a stranger. This parish has moved the announcements a few times, from the Offertory to just before the final hymn, to the beginning of the service, and now back to the Offertory. So it was that I attempted to listen to the announcement about carolling at a residence for dependent older adults -- but the person next to me chose that moment to tell me something important -- and thus I missed the date given in the announcement. I knew only that it was that very day, or the next Sunday.

As the event was not listed in the December calendar in front of me, I asked FIVE other people sitting nearby if they could tell me the date set for carolling. These five represented both adults and students (and both genders), and included a vestryperson or two -- all people who were not otherwise being talked to during the announcements. None of the five had paid attention to the announcement!

I could not find the person who made the announcement, so I asked our new deacon if the event were taking place that very day. She had no idea. She had not heard the details, either.

So, I wonder: what on earth should be done with the placement of announcements in church? Is there some point in the service that would encourage people to listen?
I found it astounding that seven of us (all mightily involved in the church) did not hear.

(After this experience, I didn't even consider asking anyone what they'd heard in yesterday's sermon.)

SNOW!

Here it comes...six inches, according to a prophet named Frank.

May all who travel home in the next 24 hours be safe and warm, and joyfully embraced when they reach their destinations.

Peace.

And the Winner Is...

On the way home from Ohio, I realized that our weekend was so good that I wouldn't do it any justice by means of the usual post. So instead, I offer the following "awards," mostly compiled while driving on the turnpike:

Most consistently horizontal snowfall on the road:
South Bend, Indiana

Best music while driving:
Gilbert & Sullivan, "The Mikado"

Most boring scenery:
Gary, Indiana

Best place to steal a kiss:
Starbuck's, Commodore Perry rest area, Ohio Turnpike

Best concert of the weekend:
Saturday night's Oberlin Collegium Musicum performance of Gombert's Missa "Quam Pulchra Es"

Best single piece performed on a concert program:
Mendelssohn's Sonata No. 4 in B-flat major; Sarah Allen, organ

Most wonderful discovery while meeting the "other" parents:
Sarah's dad is the son of missionary parents and grew up in India

Most fun conversation topic with Sarah's mom:
Preaching!! She uses a manuscript because many in her congregation ask for a copy

Best part of the B&B in Oberlin:
It's a tie: 1) the glorious blanket of snow on the trees and wooded areas on Sunday morning, and 2) the jacuzzi in our room

Best food between concerts:
Pot stickers and wonton soup at the Chinese bistro

Best item from the "Security Notes" section of the student newspaper:
Two students were found playing the piano on Thanksgiving Day. They were sternly informed that the conservatory was closed. Said students claimed they had permission from their professors. Professors were duly informed of holiday hours.

The surprise revealed

So...our Ethics class gave Ellen chocolate.....LOTS of it. Then we all had an intense discussion on forgiveness and reconciliation. Miroslav Wolf makes for very dense reading. All in all, the class is superb.

John is here! In the morning, we leave for Oberlin for a trio of concerts beginning Friday evening. And, we're meeting the *other* set of parents for the first time. No doubt, it will snow while we're there, we'll hear some dazzling music, and I'll hate leaving that magical place, as I always do. Over & out until Sunday or Monday.