Reflectionary

Friday Five: Summer Reading

As posted by yours truly at RevGalBlogPals:

Back in the day, before I went to seminary, I worked in the Children's Room at the Public Library, and every year we geared up for Summer Reading. Children would come in and record the books read over the summer, and the season included numerous special and celebratory events. As a lifelong book lover and enthusiastic summer reader, I find I still accumulate a pile of books for the summer.

This week, then, a Summer Reading Friday Five.

1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?

Well, clearly, since I said it up above, I do. I usually pile up the books in a particular place, though this year I have books on my Kindle as well.

This year will be different, since I won't be taking a big block of vacation in the summer as I did in my last interim and as a settled pastor. But things definitely slow down at church, and my limitations on knitting at the moment mean I'm spending more time reading. (Though I am doing a little knitting, which is a happy thing.)

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?

Yes and had the sunburn to show for it. I can read sitting up, but lie down on my stomach for five minutes, and I am right out like a light and fried up the back of my legs. It's inevitable. This may be one of the reasons I stopped lying on the beach with a book.

 3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?

I was 11, and it was "Gone With the Wind." I stayed up most of one night reading it by the nightlight in my room, book jammed between the bed and the wall.

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?

I've always enjoyed mysteries as popcorn reading.

5) What is the next book on your reading list?

I have the first two Julia Spencer-Fleming titles on my Kindle. They were a free download to promote her new book! That is exciting. As soon as I finish the books in progress now, I'll be entering the world of her priest-detective. I also expect to read the sequels to Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" this summer.

Over at the RevGals' blog, in the sidebar, I've updated our RevGalBookPals schedule through October, so if you are looking for summer reading, look there!

Friday Five: Garage Sale!

Welcome to your irregularly scheduled RevGalBlogPals Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama and Songbird!

Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have five enormously important questions we hope you will answer. We'll check in with all who play, as soon as we finish pricing the only slightly chipped malicious moments figurine of Peter on the upside down cross.... 'cause that's worth putting in statuette form, isn't it?

1) Are you a garage saler?

I'm really not, although I enjoyed a morning of sales with St. Casserole when I visited her. I've worked on more than I've attended.

2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?

Definitely an immediate buyer, I can't imagine going back later.

3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.

Well, I'm doing the best I can, since I helped write it!

(That wasn't really #3.)

Oh.

3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?

Sterling silver teaspoons at the Attic Treasures table at the Large Church Fair. I don't know how much good stuff they have these days, but that used to be a *real* treasure trove.

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort?

It varies, doesn't it? We participated in a huge yard sale to raise money when #1 Son went to the national championships of Destination Imagination in 8th grade (all the way to Iowa!), and that was a big success, but man, was it a lot of work! I've only done two home yard sales. At the first, it rained all day, so we literally moved into the garage. I didn't know it could be that cold in June. At the other, just after my divorce,  I sold some things I wish I could have back, particularly a bench we used to keep near the front door. I sold it because I didn't have room for it in the place I was moving, but if I had kept it for a year, it would have been great in our vestibule here. So that was a bummer, in retrospect.

5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?

I really can't.

BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.

I think Freecycle sounds great. If I needed to dispose of a large item, I would be much more likely to try Freecycle than to have a sale.

You don't have to be a RevGalBlogPal to play! Hope you're having fun today, yard sales or no. :-)

Friday Five: Grand Tour

As posted by yours truly at RevGalBlogPals:

One of our original ring members, jo(e), wrote yesterday about a trip she and her sisters are taking overseas with their parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Many other RevGals are headed for the Festival of Homiletics in the coming week (click here for information on a RevGals meetup!!). In honor of these upcoming trips, herewith your Grand Tour Friday Five.

Name five places that fall into the following categories:

1) Favorite Destination -- someplace you've visited once or often and would gladly go again

I love New York City. My dad took me on three trips there (at 11, 15 and when I graduated from college),  and I had the chance to take my daughter at about the same age a couple of years ago. I hope there will be many more.

2) Unfavorite Destination -- someplace you wish you had never been (and why)

I would have to go with the Whale Watching Cruise we took in the summer of 2001, part of the first trip Pure Luck and I ever took with my children. Although we were staying in a lovely cottage in a charming seaside town, the kids were awful. And to add insult to injury, on this great cruise we thought would thrill them, there was seasickness. And it was mine. I'll say no more.

3) Fantasy Destination -- someplace to visit if cost and/or time did not matter

The Princess and I share a desire to visit Japan. When I was a little girl, we had three different au pair girls from Japan, all from families my grandmother met as a missionary. The language and culture fascinate The Princess. I hope we'll be able to live this dream someday!

4) Fictional Destination -- someplace from a book or movie or other art or media form you would love to visit, although it exists only in imagination

Middle-earth, naturally! That would be appealing to the whole family, I do believe, though we might have different choices for the most important place to visit within that world. I would be headed straight to the Shire.

5) Funny Destination -- the funniest place name you've ever visited or want to visit

It's not much of a place to stop, but I would have to go with Disputanta, named by a well-read couple who mapped an area using names from Ivanhoe, but could not agree on this one. It's fun just to say it, and it's even more fun to remember it coming out of my daddy's mouth, elaborated by his drawl.

You don't have to be a RevGal to play! I hope anyone who is interested will join in today.

Wait and pray Friday 5

Sally created this week's Friday Five, posted over at RevGalBlogPals:

Part of the Ascension Day Scripture from Acts 11 contains this promise from Jesus;

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Then he was taken from their sight into the clouds, two angels appeared and instructed the probably bewildered disciples to go back to Jerusalem, where they began to wait and to pray for the gift Jesus had promised.

Prayer is a joy to some of us, and a chore to others, waiting likewise can be filled with anticipation or anxiety....

So how do you wait and pray?

1. How do you pray best, alone or with others?

As a retired Baptist and a transplanted Southerner, I really appreciate prayer with others. It's not the most comfortable practice for many people in New England or frankly for many of my UCC friends, but I know there have been no more powerful moments than those when others have prayed for me while we are together, and I hope those I have prayed with would say something similar. I do pray alone, in a sort of running conversation with God, but I love praying with a partner or with a small group. I've been known to call a particular friend and pray with her on the phone. (You know who you are!)

2. Do you enjoy the discipline of waiting, is it a time of anticipation or anxiety?

I guess it depends on what you're waiting for!

3. Is there a time when you have waited upon God for a specific promise?

I had to read Sally's answers to understand how she was using the word "promise," in her case a vision she had after losing a baby that prefigured the twins she gave birth to later. So if by "promise" we mean glimpse of something we think we understand, I would say, it can be a long time! The image of being a pastor, a confirmation of call, had to be followed by school and a search process. That's natural. The vision I had of myself in a relationship again after my divorce took years to be realized, but those dreams did manifest in ways I could never have really imagined. Were those specific promises from God? I don't believe in a micro-manager, but I do believe in glimpses of the true and the possible, and I would call those divine.

4. Do you prefer stillness or action?

Considering that I am currently mourning having to sit quietly with my hands in my lap in these darned wrist guards, I guess we would have to say "action."

5. If ( and this is slightly tongue in cheek) you were promised one gift spiritual or otherwise what would you choose to receive?

DEEDS OF POWER!!!! (1 Corinthians 12:28) Hands down.

Heehee.

Friday Five: For Just 24 Hours

As posted by revhrod at RevGalBlogPals:

Yesterday I had the 24 hour flu. I had been told by the people who had it first that it really was a twenty-four hour bug. And so while I dealt with all the blech of the flu, I kept reminding myself that morning would come and I would feel a lot better.

This is certainly a strange way to start out a Friday Five but it made me think about what I might like to do if I knew it would only last for 24 hours. There are no reality boundaries to these imaginings. So here are the five things for you to consider...

1. If you could dramatically change your physical appearance for 24 hours, what would you do? == Ah, that's an easy one! I would love to be tall for a day, just to see what it feels like, although a day might not be long enough to feel comfortable in a very different form. Mostly I would love to find out what it's like to be closer in height to my husband, so how about being 5'11" for a day? That's just 11 inches taller...


2. If you could live in another place for 24 hours where would you go? -- I would love to spend a day, as a native, in Tokyo. It's one place in the world I've never visited but always wanted to see. And I know there is one other member of my household who would love to be there with me, The Princess.


3. You get to do somebody else's job for a day... -- Ah, this is a fantasy in a big way. I would like to spend a day in a Broadway musical, preferably a two show day! There is nothing like the rush of doing live theatre, and that would be my dream job for a day, definitely. Brush off my green glasses and send me to "Wicked!"


4. Spend the day with another person from anywhere in time and space... -- I suppose the obvious answer would be Jesus, but the other person whose life fascinates me is Jane Austen. I would love to really know her.


5. A magical power is yours. Which one would you pick? -- What? You don't know about my magical powers? Oh, you're serious. Okay. Flying. I would take flying. I sometimes dream about flying, though not as often as I did years ago. To just be able to take off--woohoo!!!

Friday Five: Moving

As posted by Mother Laura at RevGalBlogPals:

We are right in the middle of a move--only twenty minutes away, but we're still a mix of busy, excited, nervous and surprisingly full of grief about what we're leaving, for me at least. So this week's Friday Five asks about your experience of the marvels and madness of moving...

1. How many times have you moved?  When was the last time?

Oh, lots! But I have been in my home for nearly ten years now. On the other hand, as an Interim Minister, I just made a move to a new church after only fifteen months at the previous church. So home is stable and work is moveable, so to speak.

2. What do you love and hate about moving?

I love the opportunity to sort through things and make choices about what needs to go with me. It's been a long time since I made a significant geographic move (when I came to Maine in 1987), but I remember grieving places and people I would not see so often anymore. In interim ministry, there will be a lot of that. Old Mill Town is not a place where I had spent any time before, and I'm not likely to find myself there again soon. I already miss the people!

3. Do you do it yourself or hire movers?

I've done both, in combination. For these office moves, I have a good set of packing boxes, crucial for moving books. I was fortunate to have my husband and younger son home on moving day this time.

4. Advice for surviving and thriving during a move?

Take care of yourself! Sleep enough, eat well, drink some water.

5. Are you in the middle of any inner moves, if not outer ones?

Always. This time feels particularly fluid, a lot of movement and insight; I am full of thoughts about where God calls me to be not just literally but internally, aware of old patterns and trying to figure out what needs packing away, what will always move with me, and what can simply go to the metaphorical dump, acknowledged but relinquished.

Right now I'm considering merging blogs and having this be my primary outlet. I realize this relates to the birdcage story at Set Free. Perhaps I am beginning to feel I am out of the cage and ready to fly?