Friday Five -- Fireworks Edition

From Sally over at the RevGals ---

I have to admit that I am chuckling to myself a little; how strange it seems for me a Brit to be posting the Friday Five on 4th July! I realise that most of our revgals will be celebrating in some way today, but I hope that you can make a little room for Friday Five! From my short stay in Texas my memories of the celebrations are of fireworks and picnics, one year we went in to central Houston to watch the fireworks and hear the Symphony Orchestra play, we were welcomed and included, and that meant a lot!

So lets have a bit of fun:

1. Barbeques or picnics ( or are they essentially the same thing?)
Not the same at all.
Picnic -- lunch, sandwiches, lots to carry, bugs, and possibly sand from the beach in the potato chips
Barbecue -- dinner, grilled yummy things, cocktails, and lawn chairs -- and for the most deluxe barbecue of all, pit barbecue with vinegary Tidewater barbecue sauce, piled on soft rolls with cole slaw.
(Can you tell I have a preference?)

2. The park/ the lake/ the beach or staying at home simply being?
Home or the beach

3. Fireworks- love 'em or hate 'em?
LOVE the fireworks. I'm a little spoiled, because I grew up in a house perched at the edge of a busy harbor where the 4th of July fireworks are fired from a barge in the middle of the harbor. We have the best seats in town to see fireworks reflected on the water.
I still get excited about fireworks, and last week, we went to a baseball game where we saw one of the best fireworks shows ever.
The first time my sister and her husband kissed, fireworks, real ones, went off nearby. They weren't expecting them. How cute is that??

4. Parades- have you ever taken part- share a memory...
I've never been in a parade, and only rarely attended them. You'll know for sure that I grew up in the south when I tell you that the parades in our little town featured a replica of the Merrimack, an ironclad Civil War ship that battled the Monitor. It fired a thundering cannon that made my chest thump as it rolled past.

5. Time for a musical interlude- if you could sum up holidays in a piece of music what would it be?
It's a tie -- Pete Seeger singing This Land is Your Land, or Ray Charles singing American the Beautiful.

Happy 4th of July!

Friday Five Garage Sale

From the RevGals site --

Welcome to your irregularly scheduled Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama and Songbird!
Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have five enormously important questions we hope you will answer:

1) Are you a garage saler?
No, but I have a neighbor, Painter (aptly named for his painterly eye) who brings me the most wonderful treasures from his travels.

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

3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.
(That wasn't really #3.)
Yep, that would be me.

3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?
Well, Painter has found some beautiful pottery for us if that counts.

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort?
A church I once belonged to had an annual auction. I waved at a friend and found myself the owner of a 3 foot X 50 foot (yes, 50 is correct -- it was for a dock) length of outdoor carpet. So no, it's not worth it for me -- I'd rather visit than bid.

5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?
No, but Garden Girl grew up on a horse farm and she's amazing. A few weeks ago, I watched her go head to head with a carpet dealer. Really -- horse trader vs. carpet dealer. He was impressed! (and we got a great deal.) My bargaining style goes something like this, "Oh, that's the price? Awesome. I love it. So how much for the commission and the delivery charge? Is it OK to tip the driver?" Not so effective for saving money.

BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.
Oddly, for a garage sale avoider, I love Ebay and Craigslist. Much of the furniture in our house that didn't come from someone's attic came from Ebay. And I've had great luck getting sold-out concert tickets on Craigslist -- that's how we got four great seats for k.d. lang. And if she comes to your town, run, don't walk to see her show.

Heavenly Friday Five

Singing Owl writes this week's Friday Five~

I am in Seattle assisting with family stuff and preparing to attend a memorial service (Saturday) for my sister who died of complications of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

I am not grieving much, since the shock and tears and goodbyes and losses have been many and have occurred for a long time now. I am mostly relieved that my wonderful sister and best friend is free from pain and confusion, and I am thinking of eternity. That sounds somber, but I don't mean it to be. I decided to have a little fun with the idea. So how about we share five "heavenly" things? These can me serious or funny or a combination of the two.

What is your idea of a heavenly (i.e. wonderful and perfect):

1. Family get-together

I'd love a family gathering where my parents could be with my children. I'd love to know my parents as old people. They both died much too young.

2. Song or musical piece

When I get to heaven, I hope I can sing. Here on planet Earth, my voice won't do what my ears tell it to do, so I don't sing unless I'm alone in the car. If I can sing along, I'll be happy.

3. Gift

Travel, tickets to any kind of live performance, cashmere.

4. You choose whatever you like-food, pair of shoes, vacation, house, or something else. Just tell us what it is and what a heavenly version of it would be.

I want the perfect jeans -- a pair of button fly, boot leg, low-rise jeans that have been washed enough to be soft, but not so much that they sag; a crisp white cotton blouse; a black cashmere sweater; a colorful French silk scarf tied around the handle of a soft coffee-brown leather satchel; a pair of red silver-buckled loafers from Milan, and hips slim enough to pull it off.

5. And for a serious moment, or what would you like your entrance into the next life to be like?

What, from your vantage point now, would make Heaven "heavenly?"

Given my family history, I'd like my entrance into the next life to be when I'm really, really old! What would make heaven "heavenly?" Forgiveness.

Friday Five -- What Are You Doing For Lent?

Ready or not, Lent is upon us! This week's Friday Five is from Mother Laura at RevGalBlogPals.

1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?

I spent Tuesday evening at a largely Quaker retirement village. My hostess told me that dinner would be a traditional Mardi Gras feast, then looked at me as if I was nuts when I said how much I love pancakes. The menu was catfish and gumbo and bread pudding with praline sauce, and it was delicious. Still, the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper is my tradition, even if the food is not as exciting as the Mardi Gras menu.

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?

The most memorable Shrove Tuesday was the year we made too many pancakes and too much sausage. The Youth Group, which hosted the Pancake Supper, solved the problem by having a sausage-eating contest. I won. Blech! What a tummy-ache.
The most memorable Ash Wednesday was when I was in about 7th Grade. I insisted that my parents drive me to the Ash Wednesday service. I can still remember the dry chalky feel of the ash on my forehead. The silky ash that sometimes forms in our fireplace can transport me back there in an instant. The depth of my adolescent piety was just as gawky as everything else about me at age 13, but the feeling that I was participating in something ancient, along with my dawning sense that belief was about suffering as well as joy, was a transforming experience.
The most memorable Lent was in 1981. My father died suddenly at age 42 just after Ash Wednesday. (I was 20.) The images of loss, grief and loneliness during Lent were so strong for me that year, I couldn't bear to go to church at all during Lent or Holy Week. I thought that Easter would make me feel better, but the Resurrection story and readings for the Easter season were just as piercing. I sat in the back pew on Sundays so that I could escape when it got to be too much.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it?

See above.

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between?

A little of each. My participation in Lenten discipline has waxed and waned over the years, and I have been in a waning period recently. One of my daughters loves Lent and we often go to church together on Wednesday evenings.

5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year?

My parish hosts weekly Lenten dinners after the Wednesday evening service -- homemade soup, salad and freshly baked bread. Simple and delicious. I don't usually stay for the class afterward. I hope to attend at least two or three of these, though work and family responsibilities make it difficult.

Friday Five -- Saints' Days and Superbowl

Friday Five- options, options edition

Sally, the birthday girl, gives us options for the Friday Five.

Superbowl -- love it or hate it?

I don't understand football, but I love the commercials. This year one of the commercials will feature a long-standing joke among the deaf community. It's amazing, and yes, it's silent.




So cool it might turn this inveterate Diet C*ke addict into a P*psi girl.

****
Candlemas/ Imbloc/ Groundhog day/ St Brigid's day- all of these fall on either the 1st or 2nd February.

1. Do you celebrate one or more of these?
No, and reading other people's answers, I am worried about my feeble ability to celebrate.

2. How?
Does meditating on Bill Murray's performance in Groundhog Day count?

3. Is this a bit of fun or deeply significant?
Actually, Groundhog Day (the movie) is fun *and* deeply significant. I can't help it; I cry when Bill Murray's character finally becomes kind and generous. And who wouldn't love to wake up every morning to Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You, Babe" with it's hurdy gurdy instrumentation.

4. Are festivals/ Saints days important to you?
I love the stories of the saints and one of my favorite things to read is the saints' biographies listed in the church calendar found here. I love the Episcopal Church's teaching that we are all saints, and that some are recognized because they are an example and inspiration to others.

5.Name your favourite Saints day/ celebration.
The Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St. Francis. After all, I share a house with two dogs, a cat, two geckos, a bearded dragon, twenty-odd guinea fowl, and a pond full of fish.

Thank you, Sally. Happy Birthday!

Friday Five: Rejoice!

Posted by Mother Laura at RevGalBlogPals

Can you believe that in two days we'll be halfway through Advent? Gaudete Sunday: pink candle on the advent wreath, rose vestments for those who have them, concerts and pageants in many congregations. Time to rejoice!

Rejoice in the nearness of Christ's coming, yes, but also in the many gifts of the pregnant waiting time when the world (in the northern hemisphere, at least) spins ever deeper into sweet, fertile darkness.

What makes you rejoice about:

1. Waiting?
Anticipation is a lovely thing. Lately, it seems life is moving so fast that anticipation isn't part of the process. Events arrive before I realize they're coming. My life can be described in one word: Vvvrrrrooommm.

2. Darkness?

I love candles, Christmas preparations, snow days, frosty windows, a warm place by the fire, a book, hot cocoa and dinner with friends.

3. Winter?

Cold. Cold. Cold. Wet. Wet. Wet. Finally, the sun has broken through the clouds and dense fog of the last few days and I am so grateful. Today is the kind of winter day I love -- crisp and bracing.

4. Advent?

I haven't really observed Advent this year, but I have lovely childhood memories of lighting Advent candles at church and at home.

5. Jesus' coming?
If you mean Christmas, I'm ready, but the second coming, not so much. It's impossible to separate the two anyway. As Sally noted, "we cannot take the Easter out of Christmas."
One Palm Sunday, a number of years ago, my then four-year-old son looked up at me during the reading of the Passion Play, stricken, and sobbed, "You mean they killed the Baby Jesus!" He was inconsolable at the injustice of it all. I've never looked at a nativity scene the same way since.

Friday 5, Preparation, Preparation . . .

The Annunciation by Henry Tanner.
Visit The Art Archive for more info on this painting.

Sally at RevGals writes for this week's Friday Five:

This has been a difficult week for me, the death of a little six year old has overshadowed our advent preparations, and made many of us here in Downham Market look differently at Christmas. With that in mind I ask whether you are the kind of person that likes everything prepared well in advance, are you a last minute crammer, or a bit of a mixture.....

Here then is this week's Friday 5:

Before we begin, I want to acknowledge Deb, who posted one of my favorite paintings, The Annunciation, by Henry Ossawa Tanner. You can see it in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Second, my heart goes out to Sally and all those who grieve with her.

1. You have a busy week, pushing out all time for preparing worship/ Sunday School lessons/ being ready for an important meeting ( or whatever equivalent your profession demands)- how do you cope?

I try to off-load as many tasks as I can, but truth be told, I'm not very good at delegating. Mostly, I just put one foot in front of the other until I'm finished.

2. You have unexpected visitors, and need to provide them with a meal- what do you do?


Unexpected visitors are a way of life at our house, so I often just add to whatever I'm already making for dinner. It usually works out just fine.

Three discussion topics:

3. Thinking along the lines of this weeks advent theme; repentance is an important but often neglected aspect of advent preparations.....

and, unfortunately, I am neglecting it. Perhaps I should repent.

4. Some of the best experiences in life occur when you simply go with the flow.....

Absolutely true.

5. Details are everything, attention to the small things enables a plan to roll forward smoothly...

Also true. Too bad I didn't figure this out when I was younger.

Bonus if you dare- how well prepared are you for Christmas this year?

Eternal optimist that I am, I believe I'm prepared, but on December 19, I will realize that there are more things to do than time to do them.

Friday Five: Don't Call It a Comeback

Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey?

Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols?

Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.)

Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1) dessert/cookie/family food
Disappointing cookies. They're colorful, all shapes and sizes, piled high on a plate, covered in sprinkles and sparkles and silver balls, and they taste the same -- dreadful.

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Mulled anything.

3) tradition (church, family, other)
I am really, really, really tired of the so-called "War on Christmas." I'm saying it for the last time, the ACLU wants you to celebrate (or not) any holiday you want without interference, but the government should not be in the business of setting up Christmas displays. Let's leave that to the retailers, OK? Please, just don't get me started.

4) decoration
Fake Snow. Yuck.

5) gift (received or given)
Secret Santa/White Elephant gift exchanges (but see the post here for the solution to your Secret Santa woes.)

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.
I vote for "Christmas Shoes" and Garden Girl puts in her vote for "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"

It's a Pumpkin/Apple Friday Five

From the RevGalBlogPals --
All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is near. As a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. We didn’t yet worry about razor blades in apples or popcorn balls or some of the other concerns people have with Halloween these days. Halloween was a chance to be mildly scared, and better yet, to dress up and pretend to be something we really weren’t. Let’s talk about that a bit, but then let’s add in some food ideas for this year. Where I live the leaves are falling, the temperature is chilly and pumpkins are for sale everywhere, along with many kids of apples. What's more, the "Holiday Season" will soon be upon us. ACK! I could use a new idea for dessert. So, here we go…

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?
We went from house to house in our little neighborhood where we got huge amounts of treats from the neighbors. My mom was not very creative, so we always had costumes with masks. Horrible -- my hair always got tangled in the rubber band that held the mask on; my warm breath collected in a damp cloud under the mask and made it wet and clammy; and I tripped because I couldn't really see. I so wished my mother made elaborate costumes like some of the other mothers, but now that I am the mom, I am totally in her corner.

2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do?
We live in the country, so we go to a cousin's house for trick or treating with Nature Boy, who is eight. Nashy, Shiny and Witter are now old enough to be involved in more grown-up activities involving DJs, dancing, and costumes designed to impress.

2. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else?
I never had either until a couple of months ago (they must be a northern thing) when I discovered these in Seattle. Heavenly. They even have a store in the Little Blue State!

3. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them?
Have you never heard of the Punkin Chunkin??? Hundreds of people make crazy machines to hurl pumpkins as far as possible. Here at Old Stone House, we grow a few pumpkins, carve a few pumpkins, and make our pumpkin pie from a can. And although we've visited the Punkin Chunkin, we have no plans to participate.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do? Bonus points for pictures.
Garden Girl and Nature Boy cut corn stalks from the garden to festoon the back door and we have lots of pumpkins, gourds, and dried ears of corn both inside and outside the house.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring our an alternate personality?
I make a living speaking to people, sometimes about very difficult subjects, and I'm pretty comfortable with public speaking, but I'm not a success as an actress. In my current "try anything once, even if you're scared" mode, I am scheduled to audition for the Vagina Monologues, though if the truth be told, I'd rather discuss my own vagina than be onstage as someone else.

Bonus: Share your favorite recipe for an autumn food, particularly apple or pumpkin ones.
You can find a recipe for the best apple pie ever at my partner's blog -- and no, you don't have to grow your own apples! P.S. The real secret is heavy cream, very cold, poured over warm apple pie. Mmmmm . . . maybe we need apple pie for dinner.

Friday Five: Thankfulness List

From Mary Beth at RevGalBlogPals:

Welcome to the Friday Five!

This one is going to be veeeery simple: List at least five things (people, places, graces, miracles...) for which you are thankful. You may elaborate as you wish, or keep it simple.

I'm an extrovert, so the first hundred or so entries on my list are people: My partner, Garden Girl; my children, Nashy, Witter, Shiny and Nature Boy; my sisters, Supermom and Annie-boo and their husbands and my sweet nieces and nephews; Garden Girl's brothers and their wives and all the other sweet nieces and nephews; Garden Girl's mom and her dad, whom I miss so much; my own mother and father who both died before their time; my ex-husband; my friend Songbird and the online community she introduced me to; my book club; my church community; my colleagues; my neighbors here on Crunchy Gravel Lane; and the many friends who support me every day with their smarts and humor and courage.

I'm also thankful for my heroes, some of whom I know and some I've never met: Viktor Frankl; Mr. Rogers; Bill & Marcie, who run our local homeless ministry; my oncologist; Maria Montessori; Clara Barton; Job; Jonah; Julia Child; David Schelat; Louis Armstrong; and whoever invented refrigeration.

I'm thankful for life's pleasures: stained glass windows; any beverage that bubbles -- champagne, beer, ginger ale, Diet Coke, or San Pellegrino; sailboats; birdbaths; kissing; iPods; hymns (but not hymns on iPods -- hymns do not survive the recording process); arugula; any place where beauty is collected in one space for everyone to enjoy -- museums, cathedrals, opera houses, theatres, bookstores, fine restaurants, botanical gardens, and Paris.

I'm thankful for life's guilty pleasures: People magazine; Oprah; TiVO; Jon Stewart (not really a guilty pleasure except that I can only watch him on TiVO); peanut butter; lipstick; Retin-A; the entire self-help genre; bubbly beverages (see above); and text-messaging.

I'm thankful for food, which gets its own category (and probably explains why I need to lose weight): bagels; cheese -- the older and stinkier the better; blueberry cobbler; perfectly set scrambled eggs; chocolate chess pie; anything with sweet potatoes; curried vegetables; roasted carrots; Zweiback toast; anything wrapped in puff pastry; strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries; whipped cream; steamed crabs with Old Bay seasoning; Weetabix; lentil salad; clementines; tapenade; and the almond macaroons from the grand hotel in our town.

On my best days, I'm thankful for all of it-- good, bad or indifferent. We're all so fragile and so precious that it seems insane not to be thankful for whatever is in the world with us, but on my worst days, my own problems, large and small, are like a stone in my shoe that keeps me from feeling any pleasure life offers, and I gripe and feel sorry for myself. Fortunately, those moods can usually be cured by one thing or another on the list above.

Friday Five -- Seasons Change

From Reverend Mother over at RevGalBlogPals:
It's Labor Day weekend here in the United States, also known as Summer's Last Hurrah. So let's say goodbye to summer and hello to the autumn. (People in other climes, feel free to adapt as needed.)

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 went to Hippie Camp in June, where the highlight of my summer was watching my partner, Garden Girl, fly through the air with the greatest of ease on a real trapeze!

This summer I enjoyed our garden more than anyplace we visited. Eating dinner with friends among the Asian lilies, butterfly bushes, and climbing roses was just magical.

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

I don't like endings very much. We had an unexpected and tragic death in our family and I am feeling the end of an era as well as the end of summer. My oldest child is a senior in college; my second child just started his first year at the university; my third child is a senior in high school; and my youngest will be in second grade. Time seems to have done one of those telescoping things where routines and roles that seemed semi-permanent shift suddenly and the slow march of days feels swift and the current of time feels very strong.

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

Other people make resolutions in January, but I think September is the real beginning of the year, and I look forward to sharpened pencils, new notebooks, and erasers with clean edges. I look forward to picking apples in our little orchard from trees grafted from Garden Girl's family farm. Best apples ever! And I love, love, love Thanksgiving.

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)

Fall is my favorite season and I savor the last few nights of sleeping with the windows open before we put the storm windows down until spring.

5. I'll know that fall is really here when we light the first fire of the season. The fireplace and chimney are clean and ready for the first cold night.

Friday Five, Word Association Redux

This one is patterned off an old Friday Five written by Songbird, our Friday Five Creator Emerita:

Below you will find five words. Tell us the first thing you think of on reading each one. Your response might be simply another word, or it might be a sentence, a poem or a story.

1. vineyard -- a future project for Garden Girl. There's always a Garden Girl project at our house, usually of the fruitful variety. I see vines in our future.

2. root -- word. Our 6th grade teacher thought the perfect pre-teen punishment was writing out the etymologies from pages in the dictionary. I secretly liked it, and I think our teacher did, too. Part of the drill in lower school was that detention involved writing, usually the same thing over and over, but at Big Brain Academy, it was never "I will not chew gum in class." Mrs. Land made her class write out "Self-discipline is the yoke of a free man" as many times as she thought fit the crime. Mrs. Hopkins made her class write out complicated math problems. Blessedly, our class got etymologies.


3. rescue -- boat. The Coast Guard was a highly visible presence in my early life, and my father always called the cutters that moved though the harbor in front of our house "rescue boats." I love the Coast Guard. They're like firefighters, the good guy branch of the service.


4. perseverance -- Put one foot in front of the other. (It's a song from a 1970 holiday cartoon special, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town.")

5. divided -- Conquered. A united front wins every time. (Sometimes this is not good, e.g., the Karl Rove-inspired Republicans.)

(Each of these appears in one of the readings from this Sunday's lectionary.)

Friday Five - Floods and Droughts

Sally posted this at the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five. (Thanks, Sally, this was fun.)

1. Have you experienced living through an extreme weather event- what was it and how did you cope?
I used to live on the edge of Hurricane Alley. We lived on a riverfront and I loved standing in the wind, watching our calm harbor turn to whitecaps, the usually busy commercial waterway empty and gray. Once I weathered a hurricane at Nags Head and the surfers were everywhere, riding the waves before and after the storm. I can still remember the wind whipping my hair into a salty mess that slapped my eyes and mouth. What is it about teenagers that sends them toward the water in a hurricane? I thought I'd left hurricanes behind when I moved the Little Blue State, but in 2003 Hurricane Isabel brought floods that briefly cut me off from my house and children and left us without power for 6 days. My grandfather, who was in his eighties, left his home in Virginia to go to dinner and got stranded by inland flooding and it was days before we knew for sure where he was and that he was OK.
Come to think of it, Hurricane Floyd (1999) was also a doozy. Our office building was swaying in the wind by the time I left for home.

2. How important is it that we wake up to issues such as global warming?
We all have to do better. I know I do.

3. The Christian message needs to include stewardship of the earths resources agree/ disagree?

Agree. One of Eucharistic Prayers in the Book of Common Prayer refers to "this fragile earth, our island home." Just beautiful.

And because it is summer- on a brighter note....

4. What is your favourite season and why?
I love every season as long as it's not humid. I grew up in a place where the summers were hot and humid and the winters were cold and damp. No, thank you. Clear, hot summer day, snowfall, rainfall, crisp autumn, the whispered warmth of spring -- I love them all. I could never live in a place without seasons.

5. Describe your perfect vacation weather....
see answer to 4. I can bear almost any forecast except "hazy, hot and humid" or "freezing rain."

Friday Five: Wotcher Harry . . . or not

ReverendMother posted this fun Friday Five: As you may have seen in this Wednesday's Festival, Pottermania has hit the RevGals---though not all of them. Yes, I am all over Harry like a Seeker on the Snitch, but I know there are others who will be ecstatic to see the July madness end.

So today's F5 is a Choose Your Own Adventure: do the magical version or the Muggle one, or both:


Option 1: Accio Friday Five!

1. Which Harry Potter book is your favorite and why?
Right now, I'm loving book one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, because even as I write this, Garden Girl is reading the next-to-last chapter to our seven-year-old, who has his head shoved under a pillow in exquisite agony as they approach the end of the story.

2. Which character do you most resemble? Which character would you most like to get to know?
Minerva McGonegall. First, I always wanted to be named Minerva, and second, she has just the right mix of total authority and a twinkling appreciation of mischief. I hope I'm that kind of grown-up!
I'd like to go to dinner with Dumbledore at the Weasley's house. Chaotic hospitality! I think I'd feel right at home there.

3. How careful are you about spoilers?
It doesn't matter how I feel about spoilers. Multiple copies of Harry Potter 7 will arrive at our house on June 21st and unless I can summon my Evelyn Wood speed-reading skills, the children, who have the advantage of being on summer vacation, will finish first and let something slip. But even if I could sequester myself, I'd have to find out. I'm very good at keeping secrets, but can't stand it when I know someone else is keeping one.

4. Make one prediction/share one hope about book 7.
A happy ending, please.

5. Rowling has said she's not planning any prequels or sequels, but are there characters or storylines (past or future) that you would like to see pursued?
No. I like the idea that there will be an end, so if there have to be more books, let's stick to prequels.

Option 2: Please Mommy, Anything But Those Blankety-Blank Books!

And we do mean anything:

1. Former U.S. First Lady "Lady Bird" Johnson died this week. In honor of her love of the land and the environment, share your favorite flower or wildflower.
I love the Queen Anne's lace that lined the roads where I grew up. As an adult, I discovered the pale papery lichen and cushiony moss that clings to rocks and tree bark along the trails of Acadia Park in Maine. I know it's not a flower, but it's beautiful.

2. A man flew almost 200 miles in a lawn chair, held aloft by helium balloons. Share something zany you'd like to try someday.
I'd love to build a tiny straw bale house in the woods behind our garden. I've always wanted a little retreat with no phone or doorbell.



3. Do you have an iPhone? If not, would you want one?
No, but I'd love one. I have Treo with web access and e-mail and I'm addicted, but it's not nearly as elegant as the iPhone. (but I wouldn't bring it to my tiny house in the garden.)

4. Speaking of which, Blendtec Blenders put an iPhone in one of their super-duper blenders as part of their "Will It Blend?" series. What would YOU like to see ground up, whizzed up or otherwise pulverized in a blender?
Can you fit hypocrisy and meanness in a blender?

5. According to News of the Weird, a jury in Weld County, Colo., declined to hold Kathleen Ensz accountable for leaving a flier containing her dog's droppings on the doorstep of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, apparently agreeing with Ensz that she was merely exercising free speech. What do you think? Is doggy doo-doo protected by the First Amendment?
At last, a question within my professional expertise. I love the jury system, and I think they got it right. For heavens sake, if the First Amendment can protect the Klan and these guys, it can stand up to a little dog poop. Here's the thing: nobody wanted to hear what Martin Luther King had to say either.

Friday Five: Hasty Edition

Reverendmother posted this Friday Five over at RevGalBlogPals :

Whoops! I have been in a family-induced haze these few days, with the July 4 holiday and taking time off while relatives are visiting. So I literally lost track of what day it was!
So rather than make you guys wait even one minute longer for the five, I'll dig up an oldie:

Today, what are you:

1. Wearing - summer nightie. It's Saturday morning, and I thought I'd missed the Friday Five. Thanks for posting, ReverendMother.

2. Reading - A Twist of the Wrist by Nancy Silverton (a cookbook by the founder of the La Brea Bakery); just finished The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka (not nearly as satisfying as The Not So Big House, her treatise on architecture); next up, our family summer reading book, The Brothers Karamazov.

3. Eating - Diet Coke, breakfast of champions, but in a minute I'll have the same breakfast I eat every day: Weetabix with 1% milk and Splenda

4. Doing - snuggling on the sofa with my seven-year-old son, while he watches The Fairly Odd Parents, which I secretly enjoy because it's so subversive. My favorite character? Jorgen Von Strangle, toughest fairy in the universe and dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger. You're never too old for Saturday morning cartoons.

5. Pondering - paint colors, because (hooray!) the painter arrives Monday AM

Friday Five: Gifts and Talents

From Sally over at RevGalBlogPals:
Our Circuit (Methodist) is having a "Gifts and talents day" tomorrow- we have a minister visiting from another circuit who has modified the Myers Briggs personality test and added a few things of his own to run a day where we get to look at ourselves in the light of giftings and of the whole church. The idea is to encourage everyone with the news that there is room for you in the ministry of the church- and perhaps to discover where that ministry might be.....

It should be an interesting day, and one where I hope people will leave feeling encouraged and challenged...

So with gifts and talents in mind here is todays Friday 5;

1. Personality tests; love them or hate them?
I've loved them since I was old enough to read Teen and Tiger Beat, but I don't take them too seriously. Confession: I am weirdly superstitious about horoscopes and fortune-telling and would never, ever go to a psychic.

2. Would you describe yourself as practical, creative, intellectual or a mixture ?
I don't know. Does anyone know of a test I can take?

3. It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame; have you had yours yet? If so what was it, if not dream away what would you like it to be?
I haven't had my 15 minutes of fame, but I've been a guest on the Jim and Tammy Show (that's Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker) and our family was on Trading Spaces. I frequently have my picture in the paper, but that's about work, not about me.
My fantasy? I'd like to be a talk show host and get to learn about new people every day.

4. If you were given a 2 year sabbatical ( oh the dream of it) to create something would it be music, literature, art.....something completely different...share your dream with us...
Podcasting. I'd like to interview all my heroes and have them tell their stories to the world. The coolest part: some of my heroes don't even know they are heroes. How fun would it be to call them up and invite them to appear on "Ruby's Hero Show?" Some of you are my heroes and don't know it yet. Wouldn't you like to get a call?

5. Describe a talent you would like to develop, but that seems completely beyond you.
I am not an athlete and never have been. In ten years at the same school, I never once won "Athlete of the Week" and there were only 35 girls in my class. This was before schools worked so hard to enhance self-esteem, and the faculty thought it was just fine that the little Oscar-like trophy went home with the same four or five people week after week. I'm over it. Really. But, it would be fun to be strong, fast and competitive.

Bonus question: Back to the church- what does every member ministry mean to you? Is it truly possible to encourage/ implement?
Maybe if we invite enough people to appear on your local version of "Ruby's Hero Show" they'll understand how awesomely beautiful and gifted they are and they'll start being all God created them to be.

Friday Five--Hot Town, Summer in the City

as posted at RevGalBlogPals

Hot town, summer in the city...or town, or suburb, or hamlet, or burg, or unincorporated zone, or rural area of your choice---pretty much anywhere but the southern hemisphere, it's summer. (Australians and others, consider this an invitation to take a break from winter for a while.)

1. Favorite summer food(s) and beverage(s)

Beverage: 7 oz. pony bottles of Rolling Rock beer, ice cold, with a little sand and salt clinging to the emerald green glass

Food: Guacamole and chips (see a future post for info about table-side guacamole service by Very Hip Fancy Restaurant)







2. Song that "says" summer to you. (Need not be about summer explicitly.)

This is the B side of Mack the Knife and it says summer, summer, summer to me. I learned to dance like a grown-up to this song! Take a minute to listen and imagine dancing on a summer night on a wide porch overlooking the harbor.

3. A childhood summer memory

Catching lightning bugs and coming inside after riding the waves at Ginger Beach so many times that when I got in bed it rocked like a raft in the ocean, with my feet dusty from going barefoot all day, and my mother saying "Why don't you take a nice cool bath?" -- to this day I don't understand the attraction of a hot bath.

4. An adult summer memory

I have some great summer memories, but the summer I remember most vividly is the summer of 1988, the worst drought since the dustbowl, with temperatures above ninety for more than 15 days in a row -- and I was very, very pregnant.

5. Describe a wonderful summer day you'd like to have in the near future. (weather, location, activities)
See answers to 1-3 above and add some books from last week's Friday Five and you got it!

Optional: Does your place of worship do anything differently in the summer? (Fewer services, casual dress, etc.)
Our congregation has two church buildings in different parts of town -- I know, it's a long story. The smaller, older building has air-conditioning, so the main service is held there in the summer. My seven year old son loves to pull the bell-rope that hangs in the tower and let it lift him off his feet! I love worshiping in the colonial building that is so like the architecture of my birthplace.

Friday Five -- books, books, books

From the RevGalBlogPals: Friday 5, books, books, books....

From the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five:

I've just returned from a meeting in Cambridge so I'm posting this late here in the UK (it is 3:45pm).. because I took the opportunity of a free afternoon in Cambridge's wonderful book shops... I only bought a few- and they were on sale- very restrained for me!!!

So with my head full of books I've seen and a long wish list in my mind, I bring you a Friday Five on books!!!

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance???

I just returned to fiction after a very long time away. After I had children, I couldn't read anything sad--I suppose it made me feel too vulnerable--so I limited my fiction reading to detective novels and historical fiction, which grew pretty thin after awhile. A couple of years ago, I joined a book club and we've read some books I've loved, like"Atonement" by Ian McEwan, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" by Mark Haddon, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides, and "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon. Books + Friends = Bliss

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly?

I'm of the guzzle and slurp school of readers. I'll read during meals, at stoplights, while I'm drying my hair. It's not pretty.

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why?

I'm a re-reader. I've read "Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor Frankl a half-dozen times and have given away many copies of his book, which begins with an account of his imprisonment during the Holocaust and ends with a deeply optimistic essay on the human drive to live a life of purpose and meaning.
I've read "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner over and over, and Jane Austen gets better with every reading.
One of the best things about having children is re-reading the books of my childhood: "The Hobbit," "A Wrinkle in Time," "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," "Little Women," "A Door in the Wall," and more than I can list here. Having older children also has its pleasures: this summer we've convened a family book club. The children chose "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which I loved as a teenager. I'm curious to see how I will react as an adult.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most?

"The Book of Common Prayer" is written on my heart, but "La Technique" by Jacques Pepin shaped my life in other ways. Published in 1976 and subtitled "An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamentals of Cooking," Pepin's book changed me forever. I worked through the whole thing, making stocks and pastry, even making my own strudel, which involved rolling a softball-sized piece of dough into rectangles that covered the kitchen counters. I was a dreamy kid and Pepin made me feel competent and able to master the physical world. (I have since learned to substitute frozen fillo dough for strudel dough, but I open the freezer secure in the knowledge that I could make it myself if I had to.)

5. Describe a perfect place to read. ( could be anywhere!!!)
Anywhere at all will do.

Friday Five - Getaway Edition (Sunday night installment)

We snitched a bit of time on an quiet island nearby this week. It was a last minute plan, escaping with a minimal amount of preparation. One must have essentials that make it a relaxing time. Perhaps you have had this opportunity to escape, or maybe it's only been a thought to get away. However, suppose you were told to pack some essentials for a trip to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Describe your location, in general or specific terms and....

I think I'd head to the Galapagos Islands. I would love to know what moved Charles Darwin to change the way we view the world.

1) What book(s) will you bring?
Summer for the Gods: the Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, and a blank journal so that I can write and paint
2) What music accompanies you?
My Ipod - set on "shuffle" of course, because random mutation + natural selection = evolution
3) What essentials of everyday living must you take (as in the health and beauty aids aisle variety)?
Contact lenses, sunscreen, allergy meds, mascara, Prescriptives Vibrant-C lotion moisturizer, a jar of Kiehl's Intensive Treatment, toothpaste and toothbrush, lipstick
4) What technological gadgets if any, will you take with you or do you leave it all behind?
Ipod, camera, cell phone so I can text my children and surf the web without lugging the laptop
5) What culinary delights will you partake in while there?
I love breakfast, so I hope they have lots of AM treats like poached eggs and french toast. And at the end of the day, red wine, strong cheese and good bread.
As a bonus question, what makes for a perfect day on vacation for you?
A great breakfast, a long walk, time to talk to my partner, and a water view.