Friday, April 5, 2013

Soaring Above and Grunting Below


Soaring Above and Grunting Below
How prayers, pigs, peace and post-it notes
will help you survive an earthquake. 

Let me explain...

 Welcome, 2013.  Praying for a good year.

Yeah!  Kid treats ROCK.  How simple and fun is this!?

 
Just a typical day in my classroom!
(Yes, I helped him...after I grabbed the camera.)

What the what!?  
Mom left behind more than usual this visit!

 Stinking hilarious.  
Remember the guy from our Bible Study video HERE?
This is MARK, back in the day.  AWE.SOME.

 Epiphany, 2013.
When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

 Service of Remembrance, 2013.  
Can't believe all of the people we lost in the past year. 

 Quick trip to Snowmass, CO to play for the weekend worship service at the Snowmass Chapel. Paul, a friend from my undergraduate days at UW-Eau Claire, is now music director up at the chapel, and asked me to sub for him for a weekend.  Who knew our paths would continue to cross 12 years later!

So...where was I?

BEAN!  You have your very own road!

Walked into Paul and Micha's kitchen and found THIS.
TOO funny.  Helpful, yes.  But FUN-NY!

 Postcard Beauty.

See that number?  -24.  BELOW
And they weren't kidding.
I've never KNOWN such cold!

  Really now. WOW.



 Spent Saturday afternoon playing hymn after hymn
on the Steinway in the Sanctuary.  
Happy, resting, taking-her-own-sabbath-rest Brenda Lynn.

Paul later uploaded the music from the weekend here.
Maureen was a kick to work with AND a fellow elementary music teacher!

Surrounded by beauty!

January 2013 wouldn't be complete without mentioning the loss of Ruth Ann's dad, Dick.  Knowing he is at peace is powerful.  While there's an entire blog post just waiting to be written about the sacred encounter with the dying, I simply can't bring myself to put it into words just yet. 

In time. 

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine
Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord

 
 Sarah and I traveled to Davis, CA for an Ethics of Eating conference, 
sponsored entirely by the ELCA.  Vineyards. Outdoors. JOY.

 Where they train farmers to be farmers.


 I was rather distracted during the tour by these squawkers.



 Ah, memories of squeezing the life out of these guys 
when visiting Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gary in San Diego. 

 
California was GREEN!
 The California Delta. We learned A LOT about the 
water system of California throughout the trip.

 Yeah!  A Family Vineyard - these people
were SERIOUS stewards of the land.  
VERY clear about the fact that God gave them the land, 
and they were to figure out how to give back to folks.

 
 They had a fantastic backyard.
Can you imagine this when the vineyard is in full bloom!?

 Oh, and samples.

 Did we mention samples?  :)

 What the what!?  
 One-legged man with flares?
Gloved guy with candy canes!?

This was posted on the window of our bus.
The bus we spent HOURS on.
The bus with the tour guide who pointed out all the 
violent crime scenes as we passed them in the city.
The bus where the bathroom backed up and didn't work.

We don't need to ride a bus for a LONG time, thank you very much.

 Spooky start to our day.

 The spookiness continued in the almond groves.
Check out the eyes on that tree!

A spare!

 Doesn't it look like there are two seasons happening in this grove?
I could have spent HOURS just wandering among those trees.
(Except it was freezing.  And raining.  
And the trees were looking at me.)



A stop at the Massa Organic Farm over in Chico, CA.
LOVELY family who grows organic rice and lives in a  straw-bale house. 
No really:  the walls are filled with 2 feet of dry, straw bales

 Greg not only gave us the history of the farm
but let us walk the land and meet the animals!

 Animals soaring above...

 ...and grunting below.

 And we caught the light at the most amazing time of day.



 

 

 
Come baaaaack soon!

Thanks, hotel room.  Good to know.  
I most likely would have done all 5 of the top items listed.

Abide.  More good advice.

 Pretty sure we're going to plan some sort of 
Crop Walk in Fall to support ELCA World Hunger.

 A little light and levity as we headed home.

1 comment:

Heather said...

There is a beautiful song for holy week called "Holy Darkness." It FEEDS me. I needed to hear it a couple weeks ago so I searched for it on you tube. Clicked on a recording and IT WAS PAUL DANKERS! I still can't believe it. What are the odds? It was him singing in his church.

Great California pictures. I can't imagine what it would be like to have fruit trees in my yard. Sounds like heaven.