Gardening Department 2013: Moving to the Backyard (Before)

A lamentable mess, 

plus brutal afternoon sun 

and swamp conditions.

An echinacea plant and a lilac bush confined to pots and left on the deck by the previous owners. 

My plan? Liberating them!

Life as a Clergy Wife: And a Time to...Let's Go!

Someone recently asked my husband if he'd shorten the Sunday service. He came home and told me. I've waited a respectable length of time before writing about this. Maybe an entire week.

Shorten Sunday Eucharist? How much shorter could it get? Clearly these people know nothing about their Jewish roots.

Being raised Jewish, I entered my Christian Era at a level of comfy discomfort with lengthy worship services.

When I was growing up, a typical synagogue service involved at least 90 minutes of blessings, prayers, Torah readings, and D'var Torah/Drasha (trans: homily). Add another 30-to-60 minutes for the Oneg Shabbat (Hebrew: "Joy of Sabbath." Practical reality: refreshments).

Being raised in the Reform movement, I knew our services were brief moments in secular time compared to ones Conservative and Orthodox Jews conducted. Theirs went on for hours, although it's also true their services also seemed to involve a lot of traffic and schmoozing. No silent sitting in pews.

And so it came as a shock to discover Christian worship took less than an hour to complete from opening hymn to closing benediction.

I'm referring, of course, to a typical Sunday morning when there are no baptisms, renewal of nuptial vows, or sending youth off to build houses in developing countries. Regular services seem to be done in an analytic hour (i.e., 50 minutes).

In all fairness, that recent request to shorten the service came about because there would indeed be a sending forth ceremony. Could he, perhaps, shorten his sermon?

Oh, he could do that and more. He could also eliminate the second reading; cut out some hymn verses. My suggestion:

"Save time? How about sing every other word?"

Meanwhile, shimmering in the thought bubble:

Gardening Department 2013: Filling In & Getting Ready to Bloom

At the front of our condo.

Ajuga starting to fill in.

Hostas getting ready to bloom.

Bummed the clematis are white, but certainly not ripping them out to replace with much preferred purple.

Quote du Jour (Religion Department) | Pope Francis: "Do not be a closed church..."

Did you ever think you'd see the day when I'd post more than one pull quote from a text? How about more than one pull quote from anything the Pope had to say? Well, that day has come! I'm posting an entire video, albeit a couple of weeks after it originally hit the Internet.

Truth to tell, I just got around to listening to this glorious wisdom. And I'm sitting here laughing at myself for writing, "I just got around..." because today was the perfect day to listen to this video. Holy Spirit? That's what I'm thinking.

I've listened to this video more than once. I plan to listen to it again. Maybe you will feel compelled to do so as well.

Gardening Department 2013: Side Developments

Meanwhile, here's what's happening

 on the other side of the other side.

From this...

To this!

Gardening Department 2013: Howz About Them Tomatoes?

Small but presumably yummy.

Back in the 1980s, I grew the basic ratatouille garden -- rows of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Clearly I've scaled waaaaay down. Growing basil in pots on the other side of the deck.

Vine: Oh my Sacred Beating Heart

Vine became available for Android today!

Gardening Department 2013: On the Deck

Not exactly acreage but 

big enough to have some fun.

Power-washed and stained...not by me, 
thanks be to God and the housing allowance!





In progress...

Jasmine, lavender, rosemary, dianthus 

Butterfly bush, lavender, basil, phlox