Quite a week! (10 days)

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

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...

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?