Terrapin Station

A splendid morning

I have done the following:

Been to Coppell's Winter Farmer's Market - awesome.  No produce yet, but I bought cumin, lentils, raw honey, a soy candle, 7-grain bread, hot cross buns.  They had crafts and other things...and there was a stand with all manner of seafood (shrimp, alligator, etc.)  I didn't buy any of the latter as I had no cooler with me. 

Been to Costco to get my bi-monthly supply of veggies and paper products. 

Been to The Cupboard (back in my town) for an awesome chair massage and some more veg (you can't get sprouts and beets just anywhere)...

And home. 

We are supposed to have date night tonight:  a stop at a local club that is having disco night. (!)  I can't believe Ken suggested this...we'll see if we actually go. 

Friday Five: re-do

 

(my current gift-to-myself flowers)

Songbird has refreshed the layout at RevGals (it looks great!)  She says, "It's the sort of task I like in the middle of chaos, a chance to redo something, to refresh the way I feel, to restore some sense of order.

"Please share with us five ways you redo or refresh or restore your body, your space, your blog, anything in your life that needs perking up this week."

1. Drink lots and lots of extra water (I always drink a lot), and green tea also
2. Re-make the bed with clean sheets. Nothing better than clean sheets!
3. Do a quick clean-out of the refrigerator. Not the one where you take out all the shelves and wash them, but the kind where you go through and rearrange, get rid of any science experiments.
4. Walk those dogs!
5. Flowers. I always like to have cut flowers in my office...it is a splurge that is well worth it when I need a boost. Many years ago a colleague saw a grocery-store bouquet on my desk and asked, "Ooh, do you have a new boyfriend?"  I said, "I've learned in my life (I was 24 at the time!) that if I wait for a man to give me flowers, I'll be waiting a long time.  I buy MYSELF flowers."  All these years later, and married, the same holds true.  ;) 

Bonus:  I did re-do my blog for Holy Week.  I like how this design is black but velvety and beautiful.  I don't find it horrible at all...but I don't want to live with it forever...

That's Mother Freda Marie to you...and to me

Thanks be to God!  The newly ordained Mother Freda Marie.  Her gorgeous vestments were made by the incomparable artist (and loooongtime church member) Carol B., who also made our paraments and altar dressings.  The glory and the anointing were plain to see on her face and in her smile. 

I shed tears of joy for the occasion and anger for those who have been denied.  We shall overcome. 
 

Annunciation, Ordination, Celebration. In Lent, yet.

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, and my parish celebrates it as our Patronal Feast, since we are the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation.  (Patronal feast? Titular feast? Potato, potahto.)

This Annunciation is a very special one for our community:  we will be hosting our second priestly ordination in our 50 year history, and the first in this sanctuary.  Our Super Curate, who is wonderful and well-loved among us, will be ordained a Priest in God's Church this night. 

We expect very many guests - bishops and priests - friends from her long-time church home in this diocese - seminary friends, life friends, family members, those who have supported and loved her on this long journey. 

The choir has worked very hard on special music (as I happen to know).  Every single ministry has contributed to bring the best possible offering of their gifts for this woman who is so much loved by us, who has contributed so much to our lives together in worship, in pastoral care, in adult formation, in our Montessori school. 

It is going to be a BIG, BIG celebration.  In Lent, yet.  With Palm Sunday around the corner, and with Holy Week coming along right behind it.  In the midst of death, we are in life...and vice versa. 

Almost a year ago when it was discussed that this seminarian might be hired as our curate, someone I know opined that the fact that she was female and African-American should make no difference at all.  "As long as she is well-qualified, those things don't matter," he said.  And I replied, "(Name), I disagree with you.  I believe those items are absolutely value-added to the other skill sets she brings." 

The person who was speaking is a white male.  He has lived his life with pulpits and pastorates filled with people who are white males.  He has no idea what it is like to never, never see someone who looks like him, is like him, in a position of power…or to see many, many people who are like him blocked from those positions because of their gender or their race or their sexual orientation or…

This ordination is bittersweet, because I have a dear friend who was in this diocese many years and who should already have been ordained priest, who has been turned away and rejected for the most spurious of reasons…and, in my suspicion, largely because she is a strong woman and a victim of our diocesan leadership. 

I have three other friends, all ordained clergy, who are searching for their next calls.  Two have been brutalized by congregations and systems unable to cope with the idea of a strong woman in leadership (and really, what sort of leader does a weak woman/man make?)  The other seeks the right fit for ministry while trying to also juggle all of the issues of a mother and spouse:  how to make it work out perfectly for everyone? 

I know that there are men in ministry who might fall into the difficulties above, but not nearly so many do, I think. 

In e-mailing with a wonderful soul friend this morning, having asked for prayer for these pastors, I received a fascinating insight.  She said, “To put my feelings in perspective, I am “spent.”  Other than when we sleep, hopeful that we rest, we work 24/7 caring for others.  Loving all – sometimes not liking all – but nonetheless, loving all.  I am unable to comprehend why the male species think they can use powers that have really not been given to them, to destroy another’s life, by control.” 

Here was my reply:  “I can only hope that the work we do today, and the outrages suffered by our sisters, will be part of the foundation for a future in which gender (etc.) is not an issue.  The fact that there are larger numbers of women than men in almost every moderate seminary gives me hope.  We may not see the day, but I believe we are part of creating it.”

So, tonight’s ordination celebration is (in my opinion) a huge victory for the church universal, and for the cause of equal access to ministry.  And it is a victory as well for those of us who feel marginalized, brutalized, disregarded, betrayed.  I believe that God has a vision for God’s churches in the world…to be open, accepting, affirming places for everyone.   

And that vision will be exemplified by the leaders of the churches in the generations to come.

May it be so…amen.

 

Image:  The Annunciation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Wintery First Day of Spring

You can't always get what you want....

but if you try sometime, you just might find...

you get what you need.

-- The Rolling Stones

Yesterday was the last day of Winter here, and it was gorgeous and Springlike.  72 degrees, sunny, buds everywhere and blooms beginning.

Here are maple buds on my favorite tree.  The green tree you see in the distance is a live oak; they keep their leaves all winter and shed and regrow in the spring. 

Today, a different picture entirely.  Cold, rain mixed with snow, chances of freezes the next two nights.  I was feeling a little grumbly, and then my friend MidlifeRookie pointed out on Facebook that this is a Winter Reprise...a chance for snuggling in, chili, hot chocolate.  It won't last long, and all too soon it will be HOT HOT HOT. 

Thanks for that!  I think a Winter Reprise might be just what I needed this weekend.  Whether I wanted it or not.

Cilantro Lime Soup

Cilantro Lime Soup

via Gigi , my first foodie friend.  I was friends with Gigi before I ever heard that term even.  Made it for dinner tonight...so yummmmm

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used coconut oil)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (I used black beans instead; I don't care for corn)
1 cup chopped seeded tomatoes
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro sprigs, tied together with kitchen string.

***
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Sour cream
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add chili powder; stir 1 minute. Add chicken; stir 2 minutes. Add broth, corn, tomatoes and 1/2 bunch cilantro sprigs to saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Discard cilantro sprigs. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to simmer before continuing.)
Add chopped cilantro and lime juice to soup. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream.

Read More: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cilantro-Lime-Soup-599#ixzz0iS9DVsge

Gigi's further comments:  I roasted the chicken with lime juice and butter before chopping it & adding it to the soup, and I added a can of black beans, rinsed & drained. Half of the tomatoes I used were "fire roasted" diced tomatoes.

And remember, Xochitl chips are the best, and worth every penny!  Http://www.salsaxochitl.com/pages/products/totopos.html

This is a recipe that gets me somewhere close to using up a whole bunch of cilantro!  Love it.

A new blogger friend...

Go and meet Kim at KimPrayz.  She also Quiltz on a separate blog, but I haven't explored there yet. 

She's an Episcopalian, an artist, a photographer, a quilter...a deep thinker.  And I found this at her blog, and it's my new favorite thing:

I won! I won!

Please wait Image not available Ashford Precision Lazy Kate for Spinning - Gently Used   Item condition: Used Sale date: Mar 18, 2010 Quantity: 1 Winning bid: US $15.49

Once you have spun two (or three) full bobbins, then you use the Lazy Kate to ply them (on the spinning wheel) into yarn.  Then you have handspun yarn.  :)

I would just like to say....

That it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camoflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex...

Image (which I cannot find on web, boo!) of Charlotte Rae as Hair's Lady in Pink, dancing on the table with Treat Williams.

that is all. 

Friday Five: At the Movies

Jan says at RevGals:  Whenever daughter MJ comes home on breaks from college, I get to go to movies, which has me thinking about motion pictures. Plus, it is fun to watch rented dvd's at home, which my husband prefers.

Share your preferences, opinions, and recommendations about movies! Choose 5 types of movies to discuss:

action
thriller
mystery
drama
comedy
foreign
animated
children's
science fiction
western/cowboy

?

Bonus: Tell about the first movie you ever saw and/or the last one!

WELL.  I don't see many movies.  Really I never have.  When I was a teen and had friends who liked them, I went a lot.  But in the immortal words of my high school boyfriend, "Movies are hard to sit down in."  Especially for those with long legs, as both of us were. 
Now, we don't have a working DVR at home, (we have 2 we can't figure out how to hook up...DVR's too old (ha), TV's too new and fancy.  Which is ok, because we don't seem to care to watch movies that way much, either. 

Having said all that:  I don't like action movies or thrillers.  I don't want to see lots of fast images and explosions. It scares and bothers me.  Also, I think it must cause a huge adrenaline rush to a roomful of people who are sitting immobile...who then have nothing to do with it...it can't be a good or healthy thing. 

Mysteries, maybe.  Dramas, yes.  Comedies, definitely, but not slapstick; I wwon't see anything with Will Ferrell in it, for instance.  Animated?  Definitely!  Up was wonderful!  Children's, sure, but I rarely go.  SciFi, not so much, though I loved the newest Star Trek.  Western?  wouldn't seek it out. 

I'm not sure what the earliest movie was but I have a few I remember:  Going with my family to see a Charlie Brown movie (this would have been late 60's or early 70's); also remember going to see some Pink Panther movies.  We would pop a big paper grocery bag of corn to avoid paying the movie popcorn prices.  Movies were really very expensive for us at that time. 

Also, at about that age I was taken with my best friend's family to see a double feature of Dumbo and Lobo.  I remember very little about it.  What a strange pairing, no? 

Edited to add:  The first movie i saw with my husband-to-be and son-to-be was Dr. Doolittle (the first "new" one, with Eddie Murphy).  I well remembered the 1967 one with Rex Harrison and the giant pink snail!  Having read the Hugh Lofting books as well, I was very disappointed in the remake, but what can you expect?

However, that movie date taught them something about me and me something about them.  My husband almost instantly falls asleep in movies (good thing I am not all into them!).  So he was drifting off, just when the first silly Eddie Murphy slapstick joke happened.  And I did that thing I do, where I SHOUT with laughter.  I scared them both to death, especially Ken, whom I woke up. 

So.  A sleeper gets together with a laugher.  Here we are, all these years later.  Brandon still talks about it. 

Hope you enjoy your movie fest, Jan!