in between

The Big Read

2008-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

“The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.”

1) Bold: I have read.

2) Underline: Books I love.

3) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them. (31 is my count...but there are several titles that leave me saying, "I can't believe I haven't read that!"...alas, maybe when I finish school!)

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4. The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6. The Bible

7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman

10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 . The Complete works of Shakespeare (I've read many of them, but not all.)

15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit --J.R.R. Tolkien

17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19. The Time Traveller's Wife

20. Middlemarch - George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 . The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34. Emma - Jane Austen

35. Persuasion - Jane Austen (my VERY favourite Austen)

36. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell

42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50. Atonement - Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52. Dune- Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72. Dracula - Bram Stoker

73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses - James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77. Swallows and Amazons

78. Germinal - Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession - AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92. The Little Prince – Antoine de St. Exupery

93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94. Watership Down - Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town like Alice- Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (and mostly in French as I recall!)

98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Come one, come men...I mean, all!

2008-03-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

See CBE's latest post.

Middle of March...how did this happen?

2008-03-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, things are coming along. I've got 10 pages of 25 for my IPIAT paper. And I'm hoping to get a few more written today. (Have already written two or three this morning and it's not yet 10am!)

Other project for this week? Figure out what to wear to the presentation. No idea.

Final project? Organize ushers, musicians, cd table & food people for the big night. Am thinking I'll rent glasses and linens so that it looks nice in the Upper East Hall for the reception. Of course, planning like this begs the question, "How many are you execting?" And the answer is, "No idea."

Oh well. Back to it. Meanwhile, if you didn't fall for the link at the beginning, check out www.andreatisher.com

updates on several fronts...

2008-03-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

1. Recording is almost done. One more guitar track and a few straggling bass and organ lines.

(Phew.)

It's been fun, but kind of all-consuming and I've found myself resenting how my "normal life" has been getting in the way. :)

Lesson #1: Next time, I'm going to quit my normal life for the duration of recording.

2. I have been privileged to have friends and family play on this album - and it's been fantastic.

Lesson #2: It's a very good idea to have talented friends and family.

3. Concert is set for Saturday, March 29th, 7:30pm at Tenth Avenue Church. If all goes well, it should be a CD release as well! So March holds concert prep and paper-writing. I'm just starting to work on spreading the word about the concert as I'd really like to play to as full a house as possible...feel free to spread the word yourselves; it's definitely a 'come one, come all' kind of event! (There's a facebook event if that's an easier way.)

Lesson #3: There's a lot of admin to do for a CD project, concert, etc. If only there weren't also a paper to write!

4. Pastors' Conference brochure is out (see http://www.regent-college.edu/events/conferences/pastors/speakers.php )

Lesson #4: Don't assume that listing people together makes them peers... Marva Dawn, Bruce Hindmarsh, Darrell Johnson, Andrea Tisher (one of these is not like the others!)

5 things I could blog about...

2008-02-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

1. Spent 9 hours at Creation Studios in Burnaby on Wednesday. Recorded 40 takes of 14 tracks for the cd that will be part of my IPIAT.
2. An IPIAT is an Integrative Project in the Arts and Theology. It used to be called an "Arts Thesis Project" which was helpful in that people could quickly understand what it was...but which apparently annoyed some academic types who don't think that artistic work is academic enough to be considered on par with a thesis. I'm not sure what I think of this, but I do know that IPIAT is a mouthful, even as an acronym. :)
3. Spent 3 hours at Saga Recording last night which is where I'll record all the vocals and where my instrumentalists will record guitar, cello, percussion and flute.
4. Gordon has come down with some sort of cold/flu. Needless to say, I'm trying my best not to breathe his air. Quite the project in a small condo.
5. I'm off to make West African Peanut Stew... Sweet potatoes! Beets! Carrots! Onions! Ginger! Garlic! .... let the chopping commence!

Friday Five: Read Any Good Books Lately?

2008-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

1. What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why? I re-read "My Name is Asher Lev" in the fall and found it painfully delightful once again. There is such angst in this book. The theme of responsibility to both one's creativity and one's community has stayed with me as I've been writing music over these past months. How can I serve my community, but also seek to stretch their artistic parameters?

2. What is one of your favorite childhood books? As a very young child I LOVED "The Pokey Little Puppy" and before I could read I would "read" it to my dog, making up the story as best I remembered it as I went along.

3. Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Do tell! The Psalms. They're easily the book I've read the most times and they are such a source of comfort/agitation/praise/confession...I can't seem to tire of them.

4. What is one book you could read again and again? The Small Rain and A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle. The novels tell the story of a character, but with many years passing in between. So the first ends in her early adulthood and then second picks up the story from there, but told by the woman to her grand-daughter. They're lovely books in which really horrible life events occur and yet so does transformation and grace. They're not pain-free but they're not despairing either. I highly recommend them.

5. Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why? My friend Steven Purcell published a book called "Even Among These Rocks" which I like to re-read every Lent. He includes poetry, visual art (historical pieces as well as originals) hymns, and reflection on Lenten themes and ideas. It's available at the Regent Bookstore https://shop3.gospelcom.net/epages/RegentCollegeBookstore.storefront/4790c6e200a1f3b4271d45579e7b0720/Search/Run

how life swallowed October and facebook ate my blog

2007-10-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

October was supposed to be the month that made up for September.

Instead, October was busy in its own octoberly way. Nine days in Ontario. A three day working weekend away at Semiahmoo(good place to have to be if one must spend the weekend working). Not a whole lot of studying or project time. I did set three more Anne Steele texts, but I really haven't spent the kind of time I should have.

Then there is the question of facebook. I know there are many opinions, but during these two months of craziness, facebook has been a great way to stay connected with friends and family even if I don't have time (or mental capacity) to string sentences together. I'm afraid, however, that facebok may be distracting me from writing profound things on my blog. My apologies. Then again, perhaps nothing I would have written here would have been at all profound anyway. :)

I have no idea what to expect of November except that I have a presentation, a worship service assessment and a paper due. Plus my Integrative project proposal. Okay, maybe I know a little of what to expect.

Happy Eve of All Saints.

a new month, a new lifestyle

2007-10-03T08:12:00.001-07:00

October has arrived and none too soon.

September was hectic and marked by much busyness, hectic days and unwanted separation. A three day Retreat, a two-day Celebration weekend, a wedding gig, oh and life and work and studies. (Studies?)

October is bringing a bit of a chance to slow down. I grocery shopped for the first time in weeks on Sunday. I cooked for the first time in ages on Monday. Saturday, we fly away to Ontario for 8 glorious days where our only "responsibilities" are to hang out with family and sing in a little choir for a family wedding. This we can do. And gladly!

I'm hoping that the colours are going to be in all there Ontario glory...hmm...must pack sweaters...maybe even buy a new sweater!! :)

So, we have a few hopes that October will be a more human month than September - and so far, so good. The calendar doesn't look like a war zone, so that's a start.

(And birthdays occur in October, so that can't hurt!)

Happy OCTOBER to you all!

home alone

2007-09-25T22:10:00.001-07:00

Gordon's in Montreal. Working terribly long days and not getting to enjoy a beautiful city.

I'm here. By myself (this is where you feel at least a twinge of compassion).

He's not the loudest person, but this place seems awfully quiet without him.

No humming from the den (which happens when he programs).
No "They have surrendered, my liege." (which is said by some guy on the computer when he's playing Medieval War Something-or-Other).
And, no one to help me procrastinate from doing school work. I've had to do that all on my own. (You'll all be quite relieved to know that I'm equally as gifted at solo and collaborative procrastination).

(Come home soon, okay?)

worship conversation

2007-09-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have been uncomfortable with the "Jesus is my boyfriend" variety of worship songs for a long time.

I have had a particular gripe with "Let my words be few" by Martin Smith...If I were to use it, we would sing the following:

"You are God in heaven
And here I am on earth
So I'll let my words be few

(silence)

I'll stand in awe of You
I'll stand in awe of You"

Well, we sang it AGAIN yesterday in church. (That's two weeks in a row!)

And I sang the above words and then spent the rest of the song confessing my contempt and disdain for these songs, searching for some sort of missed understanding, wondering if I'm just not as 'intimate' in my 'personal relationship with Jesus', and finally realizing that I'm not so sure I have a 'personal relationship with Jesus' but that I relate to Jesus as an individual, yes, but as an individual who has been grafted into the family of God. I'm an "I" in the midst of a family that stretches through centuries and across continents...and I like the "we"-ness of that too!

Well, John Stackhousehas blogged about the same experience. And with quite a lot of response. (I'm the ajt in the comments!)

what's in a name...

2007-09-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Originally, this blog began when I was between jobs, between living accommodations and between relational statuses. (how does one pluralize "status"?) All was transition and in between seemed like the most appropriate name for my new blog. What I realized quite quickly is that we're always in between. I think I already knew this, but I re-learned it as I moved from dating to engaged to married; from a church job to the Regent job; from a temporary apartment to my brother & sister-in-law's place to Gordon & my condo. With all of these three major transitions "finished" I still found myself in between.

This past month has had a lot of that "in between-ness" to it as well. Time off that also had a list of things I hoped to accomplish (and mostly didn't). Waiting with my in-laws for visas that seemingly wouldn't come...three weeks of sitting on packed suitcases. They definitely were living in the in between. (The visas did come and they are off on grand adventure!) I went to Calgary for a week and visited family and friends there and found that this place I come from still has a place for me even though I don't feel so much that I belong there anymore. Regent life has resumed and I find myself walking the line between student and staff, fitting into neither category very neatly. I'm in between. New students have arrived and there is this strange sense of unfamiliarity and yet the knowledge that, within a very short time, they will be very much a part of things, offering us gifts of themselves that we've yet to discover. And with the return to the Regent community there are all sorts of joys and sorrows that are poignant reminders that in a cosmic sense we are living in the in between, the kingdom has already come, but not yet in full. We are rejoicing over the birth of twin girls to our dear friends Ben & Nickaela. We are gently welcoming back two faculty members who, last fall, were not able to work due to a stroke and a severe depression. But we are also reeling at the news of a cancer diagnosis given to an emeritus faculty member who just spent the summer with us and to the tragic death of a couple's baby boy the week before his due date. I cannot tell you how much this last item has shaken us. God's hand is hard to trace here, except in the support that I have seen their community fill in to give them.

We are in between great joy and deep distress.

We are in between glimpses of a kingdom and signs of the brokenness of a fallen creation.

For now, it would seem that in between is where we live.

one of my favourite human beings...

2007-09-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Madeleine L'Engle died on Thursday.

From the NY Times article (linked above)
“Why does anybody tell a story?” Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.

“It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

Friday Five: Labour Day weekend edition

2007-08-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

1. Share a highlight from this summer. (If you please, don't just say "our vacation to the Canadian Rockies." Give us a little detail or image. Help us live vicariously through you!)

We DID go to Banff & Lake Louise while we were in Calgary for a week visiting my family, but I promise that I'll pick another favourite.

2. Are you glad to see this summer end? Why or why not?

3. Name one or two things you're looking forward to this fall.

TWO classes in one semester. Haven't done this during my entire 5 years of working on my Masters degree. Makes me believe I might actually finish someday.

I'm also looking forward to year three in a job I'm enjoying...and that I finally feel like I have a handle on. It would seem that if the first year was focused on survival, the second was focused on development and I think this year might allow for a little experimentation!

4. Do you have any special preparations or activities to mark the transition from one season to another? (Cleaning of house, putting away summer clothes, one last trip to the beach)

Ooh. Not anything that I can put my finger on except maybe that there are a few "summer meals" that we only eat in the summer. (One being the Thai Chicken Salad) I was thinking I'd make it this weekend...and truly, that could be the last time til next year. Sad. Then again, I'm looking forward to soups and hearty fallish meals too.

5. I'll know that fall is really here when I buy school supplies.

my August life

2007-08-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm one week into my holiday time and I'm pleased to say that I have accomplished very little.

Oh, I packed up the hutch, moved it into the den where it awaits moving to its new home in storage. Tuesday the piano movers brought my mom's piano from my brother's house. (yay!) So I've played quite a bit, worked on a few hymns, a couple of Clementi sonatas, and lots of Bach.

I've managed to kill my thai basil plant and I think one other flowering plant is done too. Not going to post pictures of my dead plants. Maybe I'll stick to geraniums from now on.

Still here...22 down, 3 to go

2007-08-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

And I know you're dying to know how my little balcony garden is coming along....It's done remarkably well. The geraniums are especially lovely - and so hard to mess up. I think that's why they're my favourite.

I've got 3 more chapels - Bruce Milne, David Gill and John Vissers. Yesterday was Lauren Winner. And did not disappoint. Tonight is her lecture: Autobiography of a Bookworm: Notes from My Reading Life. Looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, working on getting the piano moved into our place...I'll keep you posted.

Still writing up a small storm. Did another one on Monday. And it's one of those that I immediately love.

Have to figure out what I need to do for Tenth as I'm leading worship this weekend and am kind of in the dark on how things work there. Oh dear. It's already Wednesday, isn't it.

Okay. Bask in that garden photo once more before you close this window. :)

"Reunited and it feels so good..."

2007-07-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

Skookumchuck has returned to Crowley Drive and it would appear that all is well with the world.

I intended to be very cold to the people who kept her in that awful place for almost three weeks, but then it was a different guy and he was very nice to me and said nice things like, "I hope we don't see you in here for a long time..."

And I lost my nerve.

It helped that I was holding a piece of paper that said they had put a $1200 part into my macbook. (Odd, a NEW macbook isn't much more) Also, he assured me that apple has had no end of trouble with the first round of logic boards from the early macbooks...and that the replacement part is better than the one I originally had.

I think they have a handbook.

1. Make sure a different person handles pick up than drop off.
2. Say nice things.
3. Be sure they see how much they aren't having to pay for.

Anyway, she's back. I'm happy. And, I even splurged and bought a new backpack-style computer bag yesterday as the old one was giving me shoulder woes. Think of it as an RV for Skookumchuck...and she's going on the road!

12th day

2007-07-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I am starting into my 12th day without Skookumchuck.

(big breath)

Skookumchuck is my MacBook. And last Sunday he didn't feel very well when he woke up...in fact he never really woke up at all. He's been in the hospital since Tuesday (blasted long weekend...) The worst part is that I don't even think they've examined him yet. Might have to call again today and beg.

Meanwhile, my worship maps have typos, I'm starting to automatically right-click, and generally, my 'coolness' factor has taken a dip.

Thankfully, I have Applecare.

Friday Five: Hasty Edition

2007-07-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today, what are you:

1. Wearing - short-sleeved white cotton blouse, black cropped pants, little black flats and multi-coloured bead bracelet

2. Reading - trying to write notes on "Weeds Among the Wheat" for my spring school class...but lately at night I'm sneaking in a chapter or at least a few pages of Elizabeth Moon's THE SPEED OF DARK which is excellent! (google it, I can't remember the link code and I'm too lazy to look it up...it's Friday!)

3. Eating - drinking a hot chocolate. Which is weird being that it's been hot hot hot and very stuffy in my office lately. But my nice friend lent me a fan and it's actually quite chilly in here today.

4. Doing - well, technically I'm procrastinating writing notes for my class, but we could think of it as a little "break"...

5. Pondering - what dishes Gordon and I should order when we go out for chinese food tonight...mmm...yummy.

Summer School: week one

2007-07-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, having recovered from the crazy journey to California, I'm now into the whirlwind that is Regent Summer School. It is amazing as students come from far and wide, young and old, first timers and hundredth timers. Daily chapels, at least 3 evening public lectures a week and many other lunchtime and weekend opportunities. (from round table discussions to kayaking in Deep Cove!)

I'm not taking a class until weeks 3 & 4 so these first two weeks should give me enough time to finish up my paper for the Spiritual Discernment class of Spring School. However, my mac died on Sunday so I'll take it into the mac doctor this morning...not great timing. All I can say is, "I love applecare."

So my world is a little jumbled by use of Gordon's PC at home & the usually unused PC on my desk at work. Strange machines. But I'm also enjoying (?) the break from constant email checking, and a little reprieve from facebook.

I'm off. To drop off the dear little computer, and then to head to Regent - to meet up with Jim & Rita Houston who are reading and speaking in chapel today. I love my job!

the tale of three cities...

2007-06-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I've been all excited for the past few weeks about a sudden opportunity to go to Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena for a Colloquium with participants who are responsible for planning worship services in various seminaries around the US. I'm honoured, excited, and full of anticipation for what is now tomorrow's conversation.

Now, back up a few steps with me.

I'm not the smartest kid on the block, but I'm not exactly stupid either. I like making connections, extrapolating information or themes into other situations, etc.

My whole family has a range of passport related stories to tell.

Just this last week I printed out the forms from the internet so that Gordon and I could apply now, when we're not in any rush to get them, etc. (had that very conversation this past week). This also means that when I printed out my itinerary and various other documents for this trip, I had to separate them from the passport application sheets on the printer.

But it was not until 2 hours before my flight this morning, standing in the Vancouver Int'l Airport with Gordon that I realized I would need a passport to fly to California today.

Not the brightest bulb.

(Meanwhile, you must imagine the mixture of disappointment, embarrassment, shock, etc that was my heart. Gordon was SO calm and supportive - it was amazing.)

So, in the end, I drove to Seattle (read: 1 hour spent trying to get through the border line-up), got to Sea-Tac (read: stood in a 1 hour line-up to speak to a United rep), went through security (read; amazingly quick and painless...LESS invasive than Canadian airports I've gone through recently), sat and watched the folks with tickets board the plane I really wanted to get on (read: sat and watched grumpy stand-by passengers bug the nice lady at the counter, knowing that there were many folks trying to get to LAX this afternoon, including a family of 6, and then the clouds parted and she CALLED MY NAME and I was the VERY LAST PERSON to get on that plane!)

Greetings from the Westin in Pasadena. Lovely. Very long day.

Time for sleep.

The moral of the story, is that you should put 2 and 2 together...it's most helpful for navigating between three cities.

a highlight & a lowlight

2007-06-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Did you used to start youth group or Sunday school classes with this?

Well mine were pretty easy for today.

I bought strawberries from the farm where they were grown today. If I had time, I might have picked my own, but I decided that the ones they had picked for me would suffice.

Audrey, (and any other Californians reading this) your strawberries are styrofoam in comparison.

I had to put them in the trunk so that I wouldn't eat them the whole way home.

The lowlight?

When I was moving things around in the fridge when I got home, I dislodged the last beer & cider from their resting place only to watch them fall to the ceramic tile floor. (read: SMASH!) Of course, I might have caught them, but my hands were full of the precious strawberries.

The best part of the lowlight? The flowing cider/beer puddle reached my computer bag...the computer's fine, but the bag now smells like a dirty old drunk.

I think I'll drown my sorrows in another strawberry.

Friday Five: Books, books, books

2007-06-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance????
Hhmm. Mainstream literary fiction is probably my first choice, but my husband has recently gotten me onto some historical fantasy & a few science fiction....to my great surprise.

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly?
Depends. If it's long I dive right in. If it's short, I read slowly and just once in awhile.

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why?
The duo by Madeleine L'Engle (written years & years apart) The Small Rain and The Severed Wasp. Because it is such a good story - with real characters and real life awful situations with real redemption and without everything being tied in neat little packages.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most?
Ooh. I don't think I can pick just one. But my top few would have to be Orthodoxy (Chesterton), Mere Christianity (Lewis), Pilgrim Souls (an anthology of conversion/spiritual journey narratives) and... I'm sure there have been others, but those are what stands out.

5. Describe a perfect place to read. ( could be anywhere!!!)

Beach - not on a hot day, but warm enough that you're comfortable.

In a muskoka chair on a deck or porch...as long as it's big enough to bring your legs up without knocking your coffee/drink off the arm. :)

Bed. :)

I look like Jack Nicholson?

2007-06-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Friday Five: Getaway Island Edition...

2007-06-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today's Friday Five is about a real or imagined getaway...ooh, I can do this!

Describe your location, in general or specific terms: somewhere quiet, with good restaurants nearby, and hopefully a body of water in some sort of close proximity.

and....

1) What book(s) will you bring?
Hmmm...well, I think if I were to go right now, it would include my two textbooks from my last class. I know that sounds like taking WORK on vacation, but really it is that I'd like to spend some time reading them S-L-O-W-L-Y rather than in the usual "must get this done" fashion that a deadline can result in.

And then there would be a novel or two...perhaps I'd finally read That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis. Have read the first two in the trilogy over the past few months, but haven't had a chance to finish. And then sometimes a holiday is a nice chance to re-read an old favourite, so perhaps I'd take along the Catherine Fox novels. (Do you folks know about these?!?! Oh my, you really must try to get your hands on them...all about theological college, internships and such...but with such real and flawed human beings at the centre each story)

2) What music accompanies you?
Wow. A concoction of Paul Simon, Wailin' Jennys, Elgar, Bach and James Taylor. With a dash of some friends of mine - it seems a lot of what I'm listening to now is people I know.

3) What essentials of everyday living must you take (as in the health and beauty aids aisle variety)?
After sun lotion. Shampoo, razor, a couple of make-up essentials.

4) What technological gadgets if any, will you take with you or do you leave it all behind?
Laptop. Not for WORK, but for research...ie. local restaurants, reviews, park trails, etc etc. Not to mention music-playing!

5) What culinary delights will you partake in while there?
Hmmm. Yummy breakfasts that happen a lot later than usual. Snacky sort of lunches that you can eat sitting outside or pack and take along on whatever the day's adventure is. And dinner made by someone who experiments with culinary delights for a living!

As a bonus question, what makes for a perfect day on vacation for you?
Easy. Sleep til you wake up. Coffee on a porch/deck/whatever with a book in hand - and maybe a crossword. Breakfast eventually. A few hours at the beach/going for a walk/discovering whatever is around. Back to the room to relax, shower and primp. Dinner out. Bed. Ahhhh.

Last chapel of Spring School

2007-06-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yep. It's the end of week four of Spring School. And I'm hours away from being finished another season of my job. (sigh)

Three weeks from Monday the season of Summer School will be upon us and life will pick up its pace once again. Daily chapels for five weeks. Which can sound daunting, but then you start reading your email - the ones about confirmed speakers - and you get a little excited: Maxine Hancock, John Stackhouse, Bruce Waltke, J.I. Packer, Chris Hall, etc. And then there are a couple of folks on the "not yet confirmed" list that make my heart bounce a little including the author of several books I've loved. More on that to come.

Meanwhile, for the past two weeks I have had a Wednesday morning 'date' with a friend who hasn't been over to our place yet. The plan was for her to drop her kids off at school (which is closeby) and then to come over and if it was nice, we'd go for a walk. Well, the first week the traffic gods were angry and there were major accidents in strategic spots, so she called (from the midst of the traffic hell) and said she'd never make it before I needed to leave to school. So we re-booked. But of course, it was almost the time of her arrival when she called and so I'd spent a bit tidying up, putting things away that we'd tend to leave out when it's just us, but that suddenly when 'company' is coming seem to be infringing on your decor.

Yesterday was our 're-book'. Cleaned from 8 til 9 when I realized that this friend would NEVER be half and hour late without calling. So I sat down and checked my email - sure enough, there was a note saying that things were crazy and could we re-book.

Now, I'd really like to actually see this friend, but I'm wondering if she might threaten a visit for a few more weeks, as our place has never looked so consistently tidy. :)

That is my only cleaning secret: have people over.

a smattering of things...

2007-06-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

First of all. I got to see Audrey. (see bloglist)

Secondly, we hung out with Santosh and his family (also see bloglist) which enabled this little glimpse into the distant future...gotta love it. Had fun strolling the seawall and checking out two parks - poor Adam had been waiting all afternoon for us to come so he could hit the park! Nice to catch up with Santosh in person for once...

And finally, the picture you've been waiting for...the first GERANIUMS of the summer!

week 3 of spring school

2007-05-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well...I guess I'm settling into the rhythm of posting once a week. It's not intentional, but there you have it.

This week is a bit nuts as I'm in class every afternoon for 3 hours. It's amazing how this can disrupt normal life. :) But it is a lovely disruption. The class is called "Spiritual Discernment" and it is being taught by fellow Christian & Missionary Alliance'er Gordon T. Smith.

More to come as a result of this class I'm sure, but for now let me tease you with his main two questions. (which must be asked TOGETHER)

1. What do you think Jesus is saying to you at this point in your life?
2. How do you know it's Jesus? (what are the indicators that lead to some degree of confidence?)

Wow. I have to admit that I'm often very uncomfortable when the first question is asked or answered, but now I realize that it is because the second question is usually neglected.

Thoughts?

Middle of the week...

2007-05-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

This week has gone by slow and fast all at the same time.

Monday the country paused to celebrate Queen Victoria, but spring school continued, so there was chapel. Marva Dawn spoke and she was excellent. I think I've heard her before, but this time I won't forget hearing her. She began her talk with a sentence something like this: "Well, since I gave Andrea my text, I changed my mind." (read: mild panic as I TOTALLY dwelt on her ideas of dark and light...) Thankfully, she didn't change direction, she just went one step further. So it worked really well as I dwelt in several psalms and then she went on to speak from John 1 about the light coming into the darkness and the darkness not being able to overcome it. (after a brief heart attack, all was well)

Yesterday I had my second session with my little opera composers. They're hilarious. We've written five songs now, one more to go. So now it's a matter of getting the music into my finale program and then trying to garage band some sort of practice cd for them. I think on at least one of the songs, we figured out we could use xylophones and some hand drums. (giving 7 and 8 yr olds accompanying duties...oh yeah!)

Today is a Regent office day. The morning to work on upcoming chapels and the afternoon spent in meetings. I'll use my summer UPass for the first time (just got it last week...) which is lovely as it cost me $50 again to fill up on Monday. Crazy. (Last July we both used transit all month and we didn't fill up in the entire month...that's looking like a great plan!)

This weekend my friend Rochelle is getting married ... and while I'm excited for the wedding and all its festivities, I'm REALLY excited about two friends who are travelling to Vancouver to be her for it. Audrey (of bloglist fame) and Margo (my doctor friend having many adventures in the Bronx). Can't wait!

still here...just a bit silent

2007-05-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

So, as you probably assumed, Pastors' Conference did indeed continue on.
And it was a good week in the end. Exhausting, but good.
Perhaps one of the subtle highlights was trying out a couple of my own 're-tuned hymns' on these folks and having them well-received and then fielding the "how can I get my hands on this stuff?" requests. Confirms that maybe I'm on to something the church might want and even need. I think my favourite part is that nobody knows how to categorize them...are they old? are they new? and the T and C words kind of go out the window. (If you are not aware, I belong to a school of thought that would like to completely remove the words 'traditional' and 'contemporary' from our worship vocabularies. More on that another time.)

Anyway. Now spring school is in full swing and we're figuring out how to run Regent Spring School out of Carey and St. Mark's. Next week chapels will be in VST's Epiphany Chapel to accommodate a large class that meets just before chapel. It's challenging to be out of our own space, but I LOVE that we're in every other seminary on campus during this month. It's so easy to completely ignore or forget these other institutions that are about the same business as we are...perhaps with different methods and systems sometimes, but ultimately these are our brothers and sisters! So, needless to say, I'm loving it.

AND I only have two more sets of lessons to teach. Today and tomorrow and next week and then it's the recital and BOOM! we're done til September. It feels like it's gone really fast. Meanwhile, I have embarked on an Opera project at Westbay school where my friend Heidi teaches. I'm the "musician" who is helping these 36 grade 2 students set their couplets to music. It's this Vancouver Opera Project which encourages teachers to teach a unit by getting the kids to create and opera. So they are learning about how animals are suited to their various environments and so we'll have 6 songs: Desert, Ocean, Fresh Water, Jungle and Forest. I'll have to keep you posted, but yesterday was my first session with them and we wrote three songs in 2.5 hours! :) Masterpieces, I tell you.

Ok. Happy Thursday.

greetings from Pastors' Conference

2007-05-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

Pastors' Week: Day Two

Well, I'm pooped. And I've only survived Day One so far, but once again I'm marvelling at my job and the unique opportunities it affords. Day One was good and I'm excited about today because Joyce from Jacob's Well is our morning speaker.

Not too much time to write much else, but must tell you that I had dinner with John Stackhouse & Leonard Sweet last night. Always a treat to sit down to a meal with folks that we mostly interact with in their writings. John, of course, is familiar face from Regent and Tenth, but it was good to have extended conversation. And Leonard, for all his 'provocative' statements, really loves the church which was so great to see up close.

More to come...must go.

Friday links

2007-05-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother Brian. He's 50 today which seems impossible except that Myrna already reached this milestone and re-defined 50 for all of us...I'm really glad you were born, Brian.

Secondly, I have a link to share... a Regent friend has posted some fantastic photos of tulips. Nice work, Matt!

Friday...and there's some sun out there...and I have new plants to replace my pansies...and an absolution from dear sweet Andrea Moller Bridges :) ... (see comments from yesterday's post)

good news and bad news

2007-05-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we'll start with the good news...My office is officially unpacked and organized!! Yay.

The bad news is that I've killed three plants. Yes, me who blogged photos of my lovely patio garden. The geraniums (hearty little brutes) are fine, but the pansies are laying-down-in-the-dirt dead. And they're not getting back up. And inside I've killed an ivy plant that I've only had for about a month. (after killing its predecessor)

Oh dear. So I'm not including pictures. The admission is hard enough. And I don't want you all to have to see the carnage. Maybe I'll dig them out on the weekend and replace them and THEN snap some shots.

Happy Thursday.

almost organized...

2007-05-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been working on getting unpacked into my new office and after a good solid day of sorting and filing and re-organizing things that have just been lurking in the back of my filing cabinet, I'm feeling like I have a clean slate. There remain two piles of music and miscellanea on top of the filing cabinet, but I'll work my way through them in the next couple of weeks. I'll have to take some pics so you can see my new digs. :)

Took my huge Montreux Jazz Festival 2001 poster (on foam core) and put it on my big empty wall. Feels better already. And I've reorganized the way the papers 'flow' more to reflect how I actually tend to do stuff, rather than keeping things the way they were. This is tricky. But hopefully I've paid close enough attention over the past year and a half...

Meanwhile, Gordon and I went to TOSCA on Saturday night. Lovely. Great singing and an enjoyable evening all round.
Sunday we looked at a house we can't afford and, mercifully, didn't like it. You might ask why we'd even go look at a house we can't afford, but here in Vancouver, when a house in the city is this price, it's usually a teardown...and this one looked so good. And then you start trying to figure out how you could possibly squeeze more money out of your budget...But as I said, in God's wide mercy, we didn't fall in love with the house. I was certainly twitterpated by the idea of a house for the two and a half days between seeing it online and the actual open house...Coming home felt good though. We love our little place!

Ok. Must get off the couch and head for work. Now that my desk is clear, I need to get some concrete things planned for next week!

Friday Five: What Are You...

2007-04-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

1. Wearing - yoga pants and an old tshirt...just did a pilates video. A new endeavour of Gordon's and mine - and I'm amazed at how it's melting tension from my neck and shoulders. The day I skipped, I was in pain. The days I've done it, I've felt really good.

2. Pondering - Pastors Conference 2007 @ Regent College. I'm leading worship again. How does one prepare to lead a community of people that isn't actually a community yet? I always find this challenging - it shows how much I value preparing to lead people I know...But I'm thankful to have one Pastors Conference under my belt as it reminds me that it can be done. :) Great theme this year too: Telling the Old, Old Story in a New, New Era. Might even be able to use some of my 're-tuned hymns' that I've been working on lately.

3. Reading - Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley. She also wrote Beauty. Both are tellings of the Beauty and the Beast story. She loves the story so much that she ended up writing it twice, with twenty years in between. Gordon read Beauty to me when we were dating...and having him read to me didn't hurt in the falling in love department. :)

4. Dreaming - I'm dreaming of a holiday in St. Maarten. My brother in law has just been accepted into med school there and so it seems logical to support him by visiting, don't you think? Prices are pretty high though...so I'm wondering if we'll be able to get the money together, especially when all our extra money seems to be going towards my education. Let's see...6 credits or a week on the beach?

5. Eating - coffee. It's morning. What else would I want?

an unexpected weekend

2007-04-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a weekend just looks nothing like you thought it would.

I was to be on Galiano Island Friday and Saturday with my Christian Imagination class.
Gordon was to go paintballing this afternoon.
Sundays usually involve a church service of some sort.

None of the above.

Last week was so bad for allergies that by Thursday I was completely distracted by the question, "Do my eyes or ears itch more? Or can I concentrate long enough on those between noseblows?" Lovely picture, I know. I did manage to teach ALL my students on Thursday though...even Friday's, as I thought I was catching a 10 am ferry to Galiano.

Instead I spent Friday sitting on the couch with a box of kleenex. Glamorous.

Saturday we both kind of moped around. Gordon hasn't been feeling great either these past few days. Did manage a yummy orange-shrimp stirfry for dinner and the lovely Heidi joined us for an impromptu dinner not-so-partyish party.

And then today we just puttered once again. I managed to get the worst headache by mixing the following ingredients: coffee + allergy-related sinus pressure + no food until 2pm. Standing in line at Home Depot I realized that I hadn't eaten anything yet...but I came home with a full propane tank so there will be GRILLING galore around here.

(on a side note, I'm quite impressed that our propane tank purchased on Easter 2006 lasted us until today...and possibly had another grill or two left, but I was concerned that I would run out in the middle of cooking for a big party on Tuesday evening...but really, $20 of propane for an entire year of grilling? That's fantastic. I figure we grill at least once a week, more in the summer and possibly a bit less in the winter...but not much...seems quite cost-effective, not to mention YUMMY!)

Anyway, this afternoon Gordon and I watched Stranger than Fiction. Good movie.

Then we put new ink cartridges in my printer only to have it go KAPUT. Couldn't it have gone kaput BEFORE we spent $70 on new ink cartridges? So in protest - and because Gordon is a follow-through kind of idea person - he spent the rest of the afternoon/evening installing a new laser printer ... that doesn't work with my Mac, except that he's brilliant, so it does. (but it's complicated...you can ask him)

In the midst of wrestling with the printer, we tried watching the new series DRIVE. Partly because 'Mal' from Firefly is one of the main characters, but after 1 1/2 hours, we called it quits. Too depressing and not quite endearing enough. Oh well. There's still House. And one tv addiction at a time is enough.

Ok. Rambling post. But it's a bit like the bits and pieces of my weekend.

Easter Monday?

2007-04-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

I remember Easter Monday.

But apparently today is just 'Monday'. Both of us are off to work - and after a weekend of many events. Friday was our church's Good Friday service - sounds normal enough until I add that I led and Gordon sang with me...and it was our first time for each at our new church. (no pressure!) Saturday I had a rehearsal and a birthday party during the day and then Gordon and I became godparents on Saturday night at an Easter Vigil service at an Anglican Church. This is our godson!

Yesterday there was church and then we had my brother and sister-in-law and niece and her boyfriend over for Chinese take-out. Yummy. And nice to hang out with them. And nice to have our place full of people. Haven't had time to do much entertaining lately.

Anyway, I'm off to work - mostly packing boxes today as I think I get to move into my new office one of these days...

I'll leave you with an update on the balcony garden...I know you're dying to see it. :) OH! Except that I replaced the dead geranium on the left with two seedling geraniums and a pansy... so that little corner of death is all RESURRECTED!

2007-04-08T09:54:00.001-07:00

HE IS RISEN!

Classes & schedules and ALMOST the end of a semester

2007-03-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

Clearly a new den is not terribly exciting in the blogosphere.

We're still excited about it around here. I can't stress the difference of having one room in the house that has enough room in it to actually lie down and do a tile-angel. Amazing. (You never read about THAT in one of those "small spaces" magazines)

Anyway, the term is winding down pretty quickly. Second last chapel today.

Had to figure out Spring/Summer last night...teaching schedule is affected by which course I take, etc. And my oh-so-generous-and-supportive husband looks at the two courses I was deciding between and says, "Take both." This had never crossed my mind. So I looked at it. Taking the first course of the two means I'd have to quit teaching 2 weeks early. (about $500 in lost income) Taking the second means I'm now spending almost double what we planned AND making less money than budgeted.

This is amazing. I believe in education and I think it's a priority in my life - and has been for the last number of years. But this is a whole new level. Having someone else believe in your education - and the kind of belief that puts money where their mouth is...

So I'll get another 5 credits done this summer...that will be 37! 4 or 5 in the fall. Possibly 9 in the Winter (one class and then my 6 or 9 credit Integrated Project) If I'm not careful, I might actually FINISH this degree.

Ok. Happy Tuesday.

home reorganization

2007-03-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes an idea strikes and suddenly all your non-fiction books are stacked in your living room. (they usually live on shelves in the den)But this means that you can change out the somewhat tall shelf braces for REALLY TALL shelf braces...which makes for a much better use of space.

Then, you can assemble Gordon's new desk and let it sit on a completely different wall. Ooh ahh.

And, if that wasn't enough, you can sit on your balcony and look at your FIRST TULIP of the season!!!

It was a good weekend. And we love our 'new' room!

is it okay for time to fly by even during Lent?

2007-03-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, back from my 6th project with the Canadian Chamber Choir and trying to pick highlights as I really could go ON and ON.

Prairie skies. Calgary chinooks. Visits with family and friends. The choir. A sell-out crowd for our final performance.

And now it's back to life and normal schedules and assignments and a condo that seems to breed dust and laundry.

I can't believe it's already the middle of March and am wondering where the time has gone. It's time to get the Good Friday service straightened out and I feel like I haven't even started into Lent yet.

In case any of you are feeling a similar 'lack of Lent' I'll leave you with a section of the Ignatian examen...possibly a very appropriate activity during Lent and certainly a helpful tool any time of year.

For what am I most grateful? Least grateful?
When did I give and receive the most love? The least love?
When did I feel most alive? Most drained of life?
When did I have the greatest sense of belonging? Least sense of belonging?
When was I most free? Least free?
When was I most creative? Least creative?
When did I feel most connected? Least connected?
When did I feel most fully myself? Least myself?
When did I feel most whole? Most fragmented?

v-day

2007-02-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today I didn't even know Gordon existed. Wow.

more green...but still awaiting a BLOSSOM...

meanwhile, Gordon brought home an early Valentine's present last night...so I DO have some blossoms in my world...

plus, someone anonymously left beatiful tulips at my desk yesterday...

so there are plenty of flowers!

oh dear...the pressure!

2007-02-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well, Beth tagged me and now I have to write six weird things about me ... (the challenge is keeping it to six, I suppose)

Here are the rules:
Each player of this game starts with the 'six weird things about me' blog post. People who get tagged need to write their own six weird things post and state the rules clearly. At the end of the post, tag six more people and don’t forget to leave a comment on their blog to tell them they have been tagged and tell them to read your blog.

1. I love Extreme Home Makeover. Cry through each episode. Sometimes even in the previews. No excuses. (this added to my love for Dog the Bounty Hunter)
2. I'm a "rule-follower" except for when I don't feel it's important (which is determined in each situation...by a HIGHLY developed logic). My excuse is usually that I'm following the "spirit of the law" rather than the letter. :)
3. I will only eat small candies two or four at a time. One or three just feels wierd in my mouth. And if they are brightly coloured, I try to put them in colour combinations that are pleasing. (oh dear, I can't believe I'm publishing this)
4. When I wake up in the morning, I want coffee. If I don't, I know I'm sick. When I've been sick, I know I'm on the mend when I start craving coffee again. It's a good sign...
5. Um...let's see. I love organizational systems. Not SO good at keeping them implemented, but love the process of making order from chaos. Am working on the follow-through. But am also working in a place for a "pile" of misc. stuff within my systems so that I can do what comes naturally (that is, PILE) and then go on a major purge of the piles once a week/month. Works better for me. But it's wierd because it can look like things are terribly disorganized even though there is a 'system'...just ask Gordon. :)
6. I take pictures of the plants on our balcony fairly regularly. And then I post them on my blog. Pets, children, makes sense. Plants? I don't know. I think it's my way of encouraging my non-BC residents that at least spring is starting _somewhere_ ... and my way of reminding myself of the progress.

I tag Gordon, Santosh, Audrey, ... oh-oh...I don't think I know six people who blog. Beth would make four, but then she's already done it. Oh well, it fits well with number 2.

You know you haven't posted in awhile when...

2007-01-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

...your mom requests updated pics of your plants. :)

So for all of your viewing pleasure and for the satisfaction of your curiosity...here are a couple of pics...I can't make the first one rotate...so you'll have to crane your necks or turn your monitors on their sides. Sorry!

Meanwhile, I am feeling much better. Actually figuring out how this semester's schedule will work, enjoying the Christian Imagination reading list, and feeling like it's a great idea to have part of my homework to be to sit at a piano and just be creative.

Lovely.

The most exciting part of my current life is clearly these plant pots...

2007-01-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well, well. They're shooting up. (thanks to the greenhouse-like indoor temperatures vs. the frigid outside...and now the clay pot boasts a couple of shoots as well. Spring is here! I noticed a couple of weather-clueless cherry blossom buds yesterday too. Do these plants have no sense? There is SNOW on the ground.

Anyway, I don't mind. And the rains are coming...the temperatures are rising...and everything is poised to BURST into bloom.

I'm okay with that.

Feeling much better. But dreamed last night that I forgot to teach tomorrow. Forgot. How would that happen?

Happy Wednesday!

THREE!!!

2007-01-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

Writing exegesis paper. Would rather be drinking tea in bed. Haven't had coffee since Monday. It is the litmus test of each morning...laying in bed and thinking, "Do I feel like coffee?" Alas, for the fifth day in a row the answer is a resounding "No."

And I'm feeling guilty that the third shoot is only because it's SO cold outside that I had to bring all my pots in. Not the mention the wind the other night just about tipped them all over.

Back to 1 Peter...

spring in a flower pot...winter outside

2007-01-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

Quite excited about the second one joining the first. And I have the intellectual capacity to watch them for hours. I'm sick. I can't think. And it's winter here. Alberta-style winter. Blue sky, below freezing temperatures. Wierd.

So I'll not try to write anything witty. Not possible today. Sorry.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I love living on the West Coast is that on Christmas Day, your bulbs are already starting to peek through...and you know that when Father Christmas comes, spring can't be that far behind. :)

Christmas Eve was nice...very quiet and relaxed. Played Scrabble...and well, you can't win them all, right? But it was VERY close..4 points or so...and we have a week of potential SPEED Scrabble coming up so things are looking up for me.

Went to church and then came home and cracked a bottle of wine, opened presents...lovely.

Now I must pack so that I can be ready for our flight...we have to be at the airport for 6am!!! O my.

1st day off...ahhhh.

2006-12-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

Drank coffee in bed and read my book. (another Bujold...I'm on a streak)

Hit Coquitlam Centre just at opening and before it got busy.

Made sugar cookies. (very festive, don't you think?)

Made a yummy dinner...a creamy roasted red pepper pasta with leftover flank steak from Sunday night.

And then, do you know what I did?

In a span of 4 hours, I watched THREE hours of DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER.

It's true.

Oh my. I love that show. But I usually only have access to one or two episodes at a time. Seems rather irresponsible of networks to offer such a BUFFET of guilty pleasures all in one evening.

There, my confession has been made. I feel much better.

Have YOU ever watched Dog?

Advent week 2

2006-12-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I love it when a church feels like a church.

Smells like a church. (incense)

Looks like a church.

We sang at St. James Anglican on Sunday evening for their Advent Carol service which is loosely based on the King's College tradition. And it was LOVELY. Readings from Scripture, but also from Madeleine L'Engle and other authors who have written beautifully about scriptural events.

The choir sings from the loft which I also love. Namely, because we get to look at the beautiful front of the church. With it's candles and beautiful altar and woodwork and...(sigh). Worshipping in a place like that gives me "tradition envy"... you know, where you wish you came from a tradition other than that of boxy 60-70's "all purpose" architecture that has morphed into "community college" styles. (ever noticed that these new huge churches even call their locations "campuses"?)

Okay, enough rant. But really, it was BEAUTIFUL. And the building really makes the human voice RING. Love it.

The other thing I love about St. James is that it is right smack dab in the middle of the downtown eastside. There are always people sleeping on its steps. (okay, I don't love that they're out on the steps, but I love that the church is right there!) And I think I also have a special love for it, knowing that my friend Donna's amazing piece about Communion takes place as she makes her way from her community house on the other side of the park to St. James.

I know that we can worship anywhere...but I sure hope that the new heaven and new earth include some of history's greatest church architects.

advent week 1

2006-12-04T15:02:00.001-08:00

To read one of the funnier accounts of an Advent experience from the planning end...I can SO relate except for the kids part, but then sometimes I think I'm enough chaos all on my own. Go read this Advent misadventure

More another time, but let me just say for now that if you can get your hands on Peter LaGrand, Ben Keyes & Jill Zimmerman's new advent/christmas/epiphany album, YOU SHOULD. Oh my. I love these people. And they can sing/play/arrange.

SO good.

dialogue

2006-12-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

Following up on a previous post about Ted Haggard, Mark Driscoll etc.

Apparently things had heated up - to the point that there was a protest planned for Mars Hill Church tomorrow. Here is
one report

and another from two very different sides of the conversation.

secret to a happy marriage

2006-11-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

Marriage. In two days, we will have been married for an entire 11 months.

The secret?

Don't walk to the skytrain station together.

Most of the time we don't have to worry too much, as I'm usually not ready by the time he's leaving. But from now on, even if I'm ready, I think I will find one more thing to do.

You see, I'm a bit of a morning person - meaning I wake up happy most of the time. And then I'm also verbal. (shocking, I know) And Gordon is lovely 98% of the time, but he has this little part of his personality that he refers to as "surly"...this part is closest to the surface for the first 2 1/2 hours he is awake in any day. Mix surly introvert with random and distracted verbal extrovert and shake it up for 5 blocks and WHAMO! you have marital distress.

But allow these individuals their own pace, path and personal space and all shall be well.

This morning, we temporarily forgot this little bit of wisdom. It's okay. We've had a little laugh at ourselves and solemnly promised to make our own ways to the skytrain from now on. (Whew, that was close!)

Your happy marriage secrets?

the snow in Vancouver 'never' sticks...

2006-11-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

There is snow on our barbecue. Crazy.

This is Crowley Drive.

And this is the North Shore.

UBC has no power so they're closed ... so I guess I'll work from home and do as much of the exegesis homework as I can without access to the library. And as for the rest of the day? Who knows.

oh the weather outside is frightful...

2006-11-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

Did I bring on the weather by putting up our tree yesterday? (see the 3ft. tree in the corner?)

Had Cheryl over for dinner and went to a movie. When we got back, this is what it looked like...

And this morning...

So I think we're just going to stay in today...

how much is a blog worth?

2006-11-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how this works but found it on maggi dawn's blog and couldn't resist...

My blog is worth $1,129.08.
How much is your blog worth?

Tuesday mornings...adventures in discernment

2006-11-21T07:26:00.000-08:00

So I have my coffee and a bowl of cereal. Have read through any new posts on my blogroll. Woke up dreaming about the final song for this morning's chapel.

Tuesday mornings are usually mostly filled with thinking about what is to come later in the day.

Will everyone show up who is supposed to DO something?
Will everyone DO what they're supposed to do? Or something sensitively 'other'?

It leads me to ask questions about the nature of listening to the Spirit.

How much of what some people call "the Spirit" is just somebody's common sense?
How much of what some people call "common sense" is really the Spirit?
How does one know whether it is the Spirit in the long beforehand planning or the last minute changes? Or both? (Now I know that there are those who lean towards "anything spontaneous is inherently more Spirit-led than something planned" but I can't stomach it as it seems to put the Spirit in a jacket until the moment something is happening...wierd.)
When one is actually in the midst of something (ie leading a service), how do they know when to stay with the plan and when to veer off into something new?

I had the privilege of working with a group of people for a couple of years who liked to think about, talk about, and DO all of the above. The only "answer" we could ever seem to come up with was a word that isn't nearly as concrete as would be helpful: DISCERNMENT.

Hm. And now, I'm off to try it out. Happy Tuesday!

haggard and driscoll and other 'heroes'

2006-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Here is an open letter from a co-pastor of a Vineyard Church in north Seattle...Scot McKnight comments on the letter on his blog too...

Meanwhile, there is a lot of talk about Haggard, fundamentalism, traditional/complementarian/egalitarian...

For your perusal... the Scroll is the blog of the Christians for Biblical Equality. There's a lot of good stuff there.

I promise to link some more "fun reading" sometime soon. :)

Meanwhile, happy reading...

quite a day...

2006-11-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

Friday is a quasi-work day for me...usually a couple hours of teaching and then errands, etc.

Gordon had today off though...so we slept in, then I went off to teach.

We ate a quick lunch, caught A GOOD YEAR at Metrotown (good movie...we liked it!), drove out to Langley to meet Sue, our friend who has spent the better part of the last 3 1/2 years in Lebanon and returns next week. Following coffee we picked up our friends who have just returned to Canada from 3 years in Chad. We took them out for dinner and had a great "kill the fatted calf" kind of evening.

On the way home, just in case we hadn't packed enough into the day, Gordon gave me a crash course in Phonetics. Bilabial fricatives, egressive pulmonary airflow, voiced, voiceless, plosive... all sorts of crazy things. :)

I'm ready for a little sleep ...

rain and a microwaveless kitchen

2006-11-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

Winter has come - and I forgot that it doesn't get cold...it's just really wet. No sign of sunshine this morning. None. Which would be perfect if I could stay home and sit in front of the fireplace. Which I can't for two reasons:
1. I have to go to work.
2. We don't have a fireplace

We were all homeownerish on Saturday and went to Lee Valley to get these fancy brackets that you can put your microwave on so that it sits just below the upper cupboards, giving you back the counter space that the microwave has been hogging...

This was followed by a few hours of installation and then a short while of de-installation. (including ripping two holes in the wall)

Then we went to Rona to buy materials to repair our drywall...Gordon had a swatch of the ruined wall in hand so that they could match paint. :)

So the microwave is still sitting on the dining room table as the mud takes forever to dry...we're on coat number 2...

All of these "we" pronouns...well, you should think of it like this: The space-saving desire was mine, the discovery of the brackets at Lee Valley was mine, the rest of the hard work and frustration and repair work has been Gordon's.

The saddest part is that when this is all finished, the microwave will STILL go back on the counter. We'll be back where we started. Except that now "we" know how to repair drywall. :)

Happy Monday.

Quite a week! (10 days)

2006-10-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back from Manitoba and am still full of "CCC this" and "CCC that"...we cram so much into a short period of time that it seems to leak into the weeks leading up to and away from the project. The people: fantastic. The music: satisfyingly challenging. The whole experience: wonderful.
Winkler, Gretna, Headingly, Brandon, Steinbach, Kleeveldt, Winnipeg...what a trip. Very Canadian with urban and village experiences set side by side. And then the singers, from all over the place, small town, big city and some from both. :)

And then a pitstop in Calgary on the way home.
Reunited with Gordon (sigh)

Gordon while I was away:

Gordon when I got back:

And then my Dad's big birthday bash. Tons of fun. Here's one of the whole fam...

From Southern Manitoba with the CCC

2006-10-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Gretna, Manitoba. ("Where?" you say.)

It's about 120 km southwest of Winnipeg, almost to the American border and other than a few streets of houses, a post office, and a convenience store, there's not much else. Except MCI - Mennonite Collegiate Institute, a boarding school with about 125 students and currently an extra 17 singers, a director and a cellist.

We've been here since Friday night and have had the privilege of rehearsing in Buhler Hall. (nice name, eh?) It is a great choral space and has been a joy to sing in. Tonight we perform here and then in the morning we head for Brandon. Thursday for Steinbach and Friday for Winnipeg.

Each day (starting today) we have a workshop in the daytime and a concert in the evening. Our music is coming together well, but it is a LOT to keep straight and takes an enormous amount of mental stamina. GREAT group of musicians and we enjoy our time together immensely.

Too tired at this moment to write much more...sorry...but I'll try to keep posting through the week!

out of the mouths of search engines...

2006-10-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I have this bookmark file titled, "church staff" in which I keep websites of churches that seem to have women and men both teaching and leading...partly out of curiosity, partly because I feel like there are NO places this is happening and that simply isn't true. I need a list of places that can give me hope for a future in which we can stop having the "should women do this" conversation and get to work on the "how" they can do it.

So I had two church websites on my list. Ooh, I just thought of a third that I could have had. Shoot. Anyway, I decided to let goole help me add more to the list...

Then, google responded with it's own comment. What do I mean? Well, try this:

Open a new browser window.

Navigate your way to GOOGLE (if it's not already your homepage).

Type this: "church staff" she

What does it say?

exegesis and choir and chores, oh my

2006-09-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's one of those days were there is a little bit of everything. So perhaps I'll just make a list rather than trying to write prose:

-did (and am doing) laundry
-had friends over for breakfast ... waffles and Spolumbo sausages... Yummy!
-the inevitable tidying up that goes with having people over (why is it that clutter or a spot on the floor can go unnoticed until 20 minutes before company arrives?!)
-worked on exegesis for a bit - am starting to itch to get into word studies and whatnot...I guess I'm on the right track!
-am setting up (with MUCH help from Gordon) my new computer...which we named "Skookumchuck" as our first two computers have been "Tofino" and "Uclulet" ...
-we're off to run a few errands and then head out to Langley to have dinner with Gordon's folks and then we're on to Abbotfords for Abendmusik Vespers (if you live in Vancouver, you can catch us SUNDAY NIGHT @ 8pm at Knox United on Balaclava @ 41st)

Off and running!

people can sing

2006-09-25T21:53:00.002-07:00

People can sing. It's true.

Many of them have been told at some point in time that they can't, but MOST of them actually can. And even the ones that truly can't can join in a group.

And so I don't understand why we would ever gather together to "SING" and then let some people at the front just play the music and do the singing while we mumble along.

It just doesn't make any sense to me.

So if I'm at the front of a room that you're in, and it's time to sing...I mean that it's time for YOU to sing. I'll sing with you...maybe help you find your way a bit, and on rare occasions, sing something that will decorate what the whole room is doing...

Nah, you'll just have to be there to understand.

This weekend 400 people were in a room and there were instruments and singers at the front...but they were only there to accompany the 400 person choir. And you know what? They SANG. And they sang songs they knew, and songs they didn't know, and they learned new things and they sang unison and they sang in parts. A capella and with full band...which by the way was two guitars, a piano, a djembe, a violin, a viola da gamba, a trombone and a french horn. Yes. I'm not making this up.

We sang old hymns and new hymns, old texts with new tunes, and new texts with old tunes. We sang songs from South Africa, England, US and Canada...some written by famous people, and some written by not-so-well-known folks.

It was a weekend of working for me, and I'm pretty tired, but I also feel an overwhelming sense of loving my job.

This is a unique job in a unique community ... I'm just hoping I can say that at several points throughout my career.

a bouquet of sharpened pencils...

2006-09-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

There is something about a new school year that causes me to long for Staples or Office Depot. However, when you keep taking one class at a time, you can't really justify a "school supplies" shopping spree. Maybe a new pen or notebook. Definitely the required textbooks. After that, you're done. Put the organizational materials back on the shelf. And the box of highlighters.
Go home and look on your shelf of such things from years gone by. Pens, highlighters, underliners, post-its, etc. No pencils as they seem to disappear during the teaching of piano lessons and the rehearsing of choral music. Aha! Add pencils to the allowable list.

Anyway. This is that week of life when I have to constantly check my schedule as to where I'm supposed to be. This is that week during which I have a suspense-like curiosity as to whether I've double-booked any students, made an impossible transition, or just made a thoughtless commitment that will turn my life upside down.

I think I'm safe on all three counts, but ask me in a week.

I like the new beginning part of weeks like this. New class: Exegesis. New community: Regent...still Regent, but new because the old people have gone and the new people have come. New student schedule: Thursday from noon to 9:30 and just an hour and a half on Fridays. New music: Abendmusik AND CCC.

(sidebar: Did I mention that I get to sing another project with the Canadian Chamber Choir?!?! Oh my. I think this passed without mention. Yes. October 13-21 I will be in Manitoba with 17 others from across Canada to sing and sing and sing. We'll be in residence in Gretna for a few days and then have concerts in Winkler, Brandon, Steinbach and Winnipeg. I'm VERY excited to sing with them again. The three projects I've done with them have been fantastic and have always left me exhausted but very enthusiastic about music-making. More to come on that later!)

So yes. A 'new' year is beginning.

Happy new year!

a comment on a blog that turned into a post

2006-08-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

Okay...read a blog post this morning that I couldn't resist responding to and after writing what I'll paste in below, thought it really could serve as a posting here too...

You can read the post here: http://slanderwoman.wordpress.com/2006/08/26

Ooh...love this post as much as I love the kind of days it describes. And books.

I admit I did read the Brothers Karamazov and it did captivate from time to time, but in between I persevered because it is a classic and I felt a sense of duty.

In the years between then and now, I've grown a bit more of a "reader's perogative" ... I sometimes choose not to finish books I start. That took some time. :)

My favourite "floosie novels" are a trilogy by Catherine Fox. I had to order them from Amazon.co.uk as they aren't in print on this side of the Atlantic. They're novels about a seminary in a Cambridge/Oxford - type town in England. But the characters are anything but 'typically' Christian. In fact, when I've recommended them to others, it usually includes a bit of a content warning...although I usually only recommend them to people I know won't be offended by a little bit of what I like to call 'reality'.

I think you'd like them. :)

I, too, love the Susan Howatch novels. And sometimes I'm known to read a Rosamunde Pilcher novel. They're usually about a cast of characters who are somewhat unattached at the beginning and all intertwined by the end.

My husband like Science Fiction/Fantasy and Historical Fiction, so I'm stretching my wings in that direction a bit. A couple of favourites so far have been Cordelia's Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold (one of many in a series, but my DH thought it most accessible and likely to please the likes of me) and Household Gods by Judith Tarr & Harry Turtledove (a historical fiction/fantasy where a modern single-parenting, career-minded woman wakes up in the body of a woman of similar situation in Roman times. It's funny and charming and really sucks you into her story...) In a similar vein, I just finished Lindsey Davis' A Place of Honour which explores a woman's journey from slave girl to freedwoman and really the love story between her and an 'unknown' man who winds up as Emporer of Rome....a bit of a historical kick.

Meanwhile, I'm re-reading Persuasion which is my favourite of the Austen stories.

I could go on, but I'll leave it at that for now as we're leaving in 20 minutes and I still have a towel on my head. :)

a beautiful spot!!!

2006-08-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

It was SO worth the work.

The trip up was beautiful and much shorter than we had anticipated. Pender Harbour is LOVELY - so quiet and beautiful and relaxed. The Sunshine Coast Resort was wonderful...clean and set up well for a holiday like this. (microwave, fridge, bbq and cooktop) There is a new and old lodge. The new lodge looks very nice, but we were quite happy in the old one, which is also $60 less a night.

We rented a boat the first afternoon and travelled out of the harbour and up the Agamemnon Channel (doesn't that sound adventurous?).

We slept in.

We sat in muskoka chairs on our porch and read books and drank coffee in the morning sun. (ok, I drank the coffee)

We drove to Egmont and walked out to the Skookumchuck Rapids. (Skookum=BIG chuck=WATER)

We relaxed.

Wonderful.

working so that we can holiday...

2006-08-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

There's this wierd thing that happens when you're getting ready to go on a holiday...especially when the destination includes a kitchen...there's all this work to do!!!

Shopping lists and those little "What else might we need?" moments...But I'm off to go for a walk with my sister-in-law who has done this dozens of times, so I'll seek a little advice!

At least I'm not working in these days leading up to the trip...so I have time to get things ready.

I love working and can imagine that I would be a little stir-crazy without it, but I really like having time to do stuff around the house too. I guess I'm exercising my nesting muscles these days. :)

I'm getting excited to go away - and happy for Gordon to have a break from working as I feel like I've had this long break while he's continued on in the saltmines.

We're off to Pender Harbour...neither of us have explored the Sunshine Coast before so it should be fun...More to come!

getting older...

2006-08-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to visit Gordon's Oma and her sister Martha. They live in an assisted living complex in Abbotsford, both having recently moved down to the Fraser Valley from Vernon to be nearer their children.

My sister in law's Dad lives in the same complex so I dropped in and had a quick visit with "Grandpa Janz" too. (When your brother gets married when you're 2 1/2, you end up with a "third" side of the family...or at least I did)

Most common question of the day? "What is your name again?" (hee hee) And the answer of course had to include WHY I was there..."I'm Andrea, Gordon's wife..."

We visited and checked their fridges and cupboards to see if there was anything they needed from the supermarket...Oma decided she didn't need anything so Martha and I headed to Save-On...on this little outing the question became "What am I getting here again?"

It must be terrible to know that you know, but not be able to find the right bit of information. I told them that it's okay, the younger folks can remember today and yesterday, but their job is to remember all the stuff that happened before we were born...as without them, we'd never know about it!

As I started to say my goodbyes, they began to talk of their loneliness...one finally asked, "Why am I so lonely?"

Before I could think about it, I found myself telling them that they are created in the image of God and thus long to be connected with others in relationship. When they are lonely, it is that image being reflected...

I didn't mention that perhaps we are ALL lonely to a certain extent. We are all around people quite a lot of the time, but not very many of us have the relational connections we long for, though from time to time we get a taste. So really, they aren't much different than the rest of us. They live among all these people, eat with them daily, congregate in little sitting areas to set puzzles and play scrabble or just to chat about days gone by. But at the end of the day, whether they've had ten visitors or none, they're lonely. They long for more.

I go about my day, experiencing Gordon's companionship in profound and quotidian ways. I have friends and family with whom I interact throughout the weeks and months. I work and play and rest. And still there is a longing.

The difference is partly that I am young and mobile and mostly independent. Oma and Martha are now dependent on others to get them beyond the complex in which they spend all their time. They are looking back on most of their lives, while I can look backwards and forwards...

At one point, they asked me what I do for work...(they were to ask this question several more times before the afternoon ended) and when I described designing and facilitating worship services, Martha exclaimed, "You're a pastor!" I replied, "Well, yes, but I don't ever preach." Her response was priceless. "But the part you do is even more important than the preaching."

No kidding. Loved that moment. :)

BC Day and the Beach

2006-08-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Whew.

It's August 7th, what we like to call BC Day here in beautiful British Columbia. And do you know what that means?

I'm all finished. One entire trip around the calendar as Music & Worship Coordinator at Regent.

A Fall term complete with the All College Retreat. A break complete with a wedding. MY wedding. A Winter term including the first months of marriage. My first Pastors Conference and Spring School, Tradition Conference and Summer School.

(sigh)

It was good. Not always easy or fun, but sometimes amazingly fulfilling and incredibly enjoyable. Saw someone yesterday who I hadn't talked to in quite awhile and they seemed surprised that I was going to go for another year...whereas I can't really imagine NOT trying at least one more year... I guess when I spoke to him last I must have been quite aware of some of the 'cons' whereas Pastors Conference and Summer School especially are heavy hitters on the 'pros' side. And they are quite recent.

Funny how perspectives shift.

Anyway, I'm in for another ride around the calendar...but not for 3 more weeks!!!

We're off to Ambleside in a bit, picking up carless downtown-living friends en route and packing a mean picnic. Hummous and pita, fresh and homemade lemonade, fruit, cookies, mmmm...

Happy BC Day!

Boys can be pastors, too!!

2006-08-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Was reading The Scroll - Christians for Biblical Equality's blog - this morning and came across this quote...

"My friend Wendy Joyner, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Americus, Ga., tells the story of a little girl in her church who, after hearing a male guest preacher, turned to her mother and said, “Mom! Boys can be preachers, too!” I think that story illustrates that perspective matters. A little girl who had only known a woman pastor thought nothing unusual about her situation. She experienced God through a woman pastor just as many children experience God by means of a male pastor."

Makes me smile.

And it makes me remember a conversation I had probably 15 years ago with my niece Laura. She was 4 or 5 and was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up..."A pastor," she said.

I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure I told her she couldn't be a pastor. I also remember wondering why.

Anyway, in 15 years I have come to realize that there are more ways of interpreting scripture and history than that which I saw modelled and heard preached in my childhood. Thankfully.

I think now about some of the female mentors I had growing up and am so thankful for their examples, but also sad that they spent a lot of their lives bumping their heads on glass ceilings that were theologically justified. I realize that when I bump my head now, it is on a ceiling that is cracked and broken in certain spots...and that encourages me.

oh my!!

2006-07-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

Chapel # 21 today:

Sitting at the piano with Celia and Vania ready to improvise away with me and suddenly it strikes me...

There is a chapel full of people. Students of various ages and stages, backgrounds and nationalities. Visiting faculty members including Alister McGrath, Jeanne Murray Walker and George Marsden. But what stunned me was the presence of Brian Moss (http://prayerbookproject.blogs.com) and Jeremy Begbie (http://www.theolarts.org/people.html).

Both of them have been highly influential on both my thinking and practice where music, theology and worship are concerned.

It was an honour.

More to come...but must run for now!

15 down, 10 to go

2006-07-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Wow. When I ennumerate it, it sounds pretty good. :) Back in early May the numbers looked daunting, but now that I'm 10 services away from the end of term, it feels okay.

47 worship events in 13 weeks. When I ennumerate THAT it seems ridiculous. But the living out of it hasn't been too bad. Pastors Conference (7) was fantastic. Crazy level of participation. Spring School (15) was a bit uphill but had its moments of being worth all the effort despite low numbers of people...I'm afraid that when you put a few people in a large room it doesn't really matter how well they enter in, it still feels like a balloon you let go of before tying... And now Summer School (25). More people around, both visitors and year-round folks. More energy - partly due to numbers and partly due to Summer School's history and the momentum that it has going. And some great faculty - guest and 'regular' - who have pleasantly surprised me again and again with what they can manage to say in their 8 minute reflections. (okay, some of them take 10, 12 or 15...) :)

Anyway, in case anyone out there is wondering if I'm surviving, I am.

Meanwhile, Gordon & I are off to Calgary on Friday for a quick trip to see my folks and a whole whack of family that will be in town for my aunt and uncle's 40th Wedding anniversary. More on that later...

Week 2 and still standing

2006-07-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts...I'm afraid the two weeks off killed any schedule I had and then the first week of Summer School was just a blur.

It made me realize a couple of things:

1. It has been a LONG time since I've kept normalish (8:30-4:30) hours. Probably since the summer I was a receptionist at Baker Insurance on 17th Street in Calgary. And I think I was 19 or 20. Since then I've been a music teacher (after school hours), a student (all hours), a barista (4:45 AM starts), and more music teaching. Then I was the interim worship leader at north shore (weekends and a mix of some day time and some evenings) while still teaching a couple days a week. (read: evenings)

So USUALLY I have at least a couple of mornings a week to run errands, read, relax...etc because I'm working well into that evening. And the truth is, I like having my 'evening' in the morning. This working all day and then coming home and still needing groceries is a new experience.

2. I would LOVE to someday teach the kind of class I'm TA'ing for. And I'm loving working with Edna and hearing from her years of experience. I do think the first day I would spend time getting people to talk about where they were from...and then have us self-identify prejudices that we bring with us into worship. "Hot buttons", slants and just plain-old beefs. It seems to me that THAT would be a VERY helpful exercise both for the class AND for the professor. It's amazing how some people come to a class on planning theologically sound worship, taught by someone with their Doctorate in the field (not to mention YEARS of experience) and still they seem to be there only to share with the class all that THEY know. Why wouldn't you come expecting that you might LEARN something.

3. I LIKE CAPITALIZING WORDS. (new observation)

4. How do you know when an uphill battle is something you should persevere through and when it is an indication of a door that should close? More on that another time.

New Location

2006-07-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I've moved. Not physically, just a cyber move. But if you ever want to look at OLD posts, there on inbetween.blog.ca

Meanwhile, moving over here allows me a little more control over the site, including being able to include the REVGALBLOGPALS ring link on my site which I could never figure out how to do at the other site. :)

This is day 4 of 25 Summer School Chapels. Whew. Seems like having hiked for awhile and realizing you're still at the bottom of the mountain. But it has been good so far. Good participation, better numbers that I had expected, and enough people interested in being involved in some way.

Meanwhile, TA'ing for Edna's class on "Planning Theologically Sound Worship" has been great. The material is interesting. (and o-so-practical) and it has been good to meet the folks in the class and to be a part of their conversations and learning process.

More to come.

you can find me...

2006-03-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

...at http://inbetween.blog.ca

My blogging home. :)