IT'S FRIDAY

 

The Week In Review

The washer was repaired on Monday for $25 in parts and not too many hours of Bill's labor.  Sure beats the $850 we were thinking.  Accolades for Bill!!  Then, of course, the sump switch got turned off and when I arrived home from church Tuesday evening the cellar had a layer of water.  Oh, well.  You win some you lose some.

We held a bilingual service on Wednesday with our resident congregation, Iglesia Betania.  Ashes and Eucharist and hymns in Spanish and English and RevLois preached alternating Spanish and English, as did Padre Jose when he celebrated the Eucharist.  Slowly we are growing together.

My eight thirty AM dentist appointment yesterday wiped me out for the rest of the day.  That and the rain are just a lot to handle together.  And the rain continues into today.  I am hoping the weekend will give us a little relief.  That would be really nice since Saturday night we will have to set the clocks ahead and, once more, give our internal body clocks a jolt.
 

BLUE FOR THURSDAY

 

I am dressed in shades of blue today because the softness of pastel blue is comforting for me.  I have spent two hours in the dentist chair and I am wiped.  No pain.  Just the pressure on my teeth and 'stuff' in my mouth, and the sound of the drill, and the smells of everything.  The dentist is a love and we have marvelous conversations.  This crown that just went in is as close to perfect as it could be.  It just slipped right, was seated comfortably, the bite is right, and all is well. 

Then the drill.  Novocaine because it was getting too deep.  And then the decay had gone past filling and into the inlay stage.  That took more time and another x-ray and another impression.  It was a lot.  I am not thirty any more and it has taken a LOT out of me.  BUT, put on the comforting colors; get a comforting can of tomato basil soup; and off to work I go.
 

DUST TO DUST

 

It is cold, overcast and dreary.  I am feeling introspective and pensive.  It must be the "ashes to ashes" thing of this beginning of Lent.  So it seemed like a good time to play with the color options on my camera and see what happened.  There is a sepia and a cyanatype option.  The blue of cyanatype made a much brighter and optimistic picture.  The sepia was more how I am feeling.  Old in the fashion of time and thoughtful.  Almost sad but not quite.  Waiting.

I have settled on a Lenten discipline which I will just keep to myself for now.  It requires both real daily discipline but involves creativity and reaching out to others in a thoughtful way.  It will be good for me -- both the creativity, which I so enjoy and do not spend enough time developing,  AND the reaching out which I usually do on the spur of the moment.  So this is a good all round discipline.  May God be with me these forty days.
 

GOD'S PROMISE -- AGAIN

It was March of last year that I posted a crocus photo and then just stopped posting -- nothing, nada.  And then I started in again at the beginning of this year with a posting every day.  I really don't know why this happened.  I don't know how long I will continue.  As long as .....

These first spurts of color are still a promise from God.  For me anyway.  Today is Shrove Tuesday and tomorrow Ash Wednesday.  I will not post Lenten stuff daily.  If you guys want to read daily Lent blogs there are enough of them out there.  Not for me.  Not this year.  I will just continue on in this same haphazard fashion posting what strikes me each day.
 

CREATION INCLUDES WORDS TOO

 

I scan the CNN news site every morning.  That's where I find out about a lot of weird stuff -- like the Trikke and the FiveFinger shoes.  Health stuff, food stuff, and techy stuff.  News too, of course.

This morning I came across Microsoft's 'Bing.'  I had no clue so I checked it out in the posted article which you can read here.  And that is where I came across the word 'meme' which I had never seen before.  Hello, Wikepedia, and lo, and behold, a new word has come into existence.  If you are interested you can read more than you'll ever want to know about the word here.

I love it, creation is just happening everywhere.
 

MAJOR MALFUNCTION

  

Wednesday the washing machine decided to stop spinning.  Of course, it contained a load of soggy clothes.  What else?  Bill was good enough to take them to the laundromat and spin them out while I was at church. 

We needed to figure out how to even get into the working parts of the machine so Bill did some nosing around on the Internet and found some videos that showed repair jobs -- maybe.  Saturday he ascertained that it couldn't be in the agitator function, it must be the transmission and for the price of a transmission we might just as well get a new washer.

Then I did some research on the web and because I couldn't get the Consumer Report that I needed, we went to the library.  Got what I needed and we were off looking.  I had an idea of what I wanted.  Figured we might as well go with a front loader that was more energy efficient, used less water, and spun the clothes dryer.  So all I needed to do was look at the product, get some pricing figures, and make a decision.  We (I) made a decision but would not purchase the same day wanting to sit on it overnight.  By this morning I was ready.

While I was at church, Bill removed the washer and dryer so that he could go about replacing the platform they had been sitting on for seventeen years.  Longer as this is the second washer in here and the platform was in before that.  Over the years there has been water -- seepage, bottomed out water heater, and just the usual heavy rain stuff -- so there was a lot of yukky decay.  BUT the interesting thing is that when he moved the washer, right underneath it, on the platform, was an obvious worn out part.

More Internet searching.  We found the part and the part number.  Bill, who is just the best at taking things apart, located where the  damaged/worn out part belongs.  Now all we have to do is locate a new part (more Internet research), get it into the base of the washer, get the whole thing put back together again -- and hope it works.
 

BEGINNNG SHAWL MINISTRY

 

A skein of yarn.  Size thirteen circular needles. 

Fifty seven cast on stitches. 

It is a beginning. 

The cast on and two rows were done last night at home.  The remainder of the three and a half inches were done during the gathering of the new Shawl Ministry.  Six women and two men knitting and crocheting shawls to give to others for solace and comfort.  When they are finished they will be washed and blocked and dried and folded and placed on the altar for blessing.   They will then be offered to whomever might want a comforting wrap around made with love and prayers, communion and fellowship. 

It is much more than the beginning of a shawl, or even a ministry.  It is the beginning of the bond that forms between those who gather for this work.  The sharing of stories.  Sharing sadness and hope, milestones and apprehension, pain and joy -- love for one another. 

This is the beginning.