Chalice Circles!

Continuing in my new theme of writing about something that brings me joy every day, let's talk about chalice circles. I am participating in two of these at the Unitarian Universalist church I attend. I facilitate the Tarot and Spirituality group and participate in the Project Linus group (if you have seen that big square afghan I made, it was for that group). A Chalice Circle is like a covenant group or small group ministry (see this link to another UU church's definition) in many churches. A consistent group of people meet monthly or weekly or whatever they like, and create community based on some common purpose.

Some of them deal with generic topics, like "personal growth," while others are very specific (such as the group I am in that makes quilts and afghans for a nice charity). The UU ones ask that you have a set program so that people are reminded they are in something like a small church service. In the Tarot and Spirituality Chalice Circle, we light a candle, have a reading, and do a check-in, plus whatever the theme of the meeting is. The Project Linus group is more informal and likes to get right down to quilting (or knitting in my case).

What brings me joy is how healing the tarot Chalice Circle has been, not just for me, but also for all the participants. As churches grow, they change, and some of us have been less than pleased with some of the changes in our worship services. We missed the sharing and community strengthening aspects mostly. It has been great to share with the members of our group, learn about ourselves, and enjoy the insights of others while we learn about tarot. It makes me so happy to facilitate a group that helps others (I have missed that part of being in the Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization). And as a side benefit, we can feel like active participants in the church we love even if we don't attend services often or at all (note that we do have a couple of non-church participants--that's another advantage of Chalice Circles--you don't have to be a church member to participate).

In today's society, it is hard to make new friends, and even harder to become really close to others. Where I live, the people like me (politically and socially liberal, agnostic, pagan, sorta New-Agey) are quite scattered. It has been great to get to know better a group of people I know with whom I have many things in common. Of course, we have enough differences to make it interesting and facilitate learning! I am so grateful to everyone who takes the time to come to the meetings (they are held in our home--that's the preferred setting). These people keep me centered, help me feel like I am a part of something, and keep my urges to hide at bay.

I encourage any of you who read this to seek out ways to build a close-knit community and grow closer to other humans where you live. A knitting group, a book club, bird watching...whatever your interest is, you can find a group of people and get to know them. It may take a few tries, too. Not every group is automatically compatible or grows close. But when it works, a small group can keep you going when times get rough, and share your joys when things go well!

For more on Unitarian Universalism or to see if there are Chalice Circles where you live, check out the UUA website.

Friday's Feast and Tarot Ritual in Life

{I wrote this for my tarot blog, but thought I'd share it here, too. The card in the image is the Wheel of Fortune, which has come up a lot lately. To some it means "luck." To me it means experiencing the gamut of emotional responses to a situation.}

I was trying to figure out why in the world I am so consistent about writing to my tarot blog daily. Even when I don't have time to write in my knitting blog or personal one, I get this one updated. I only miss one or two days a month, at most (usually travel days). Why is it a priority for me to put in images, index the cards, and write up my little daily reaction, when no one other than perhaps Lee and rarely Jody even looks at the thing? No one's hanging out at bloglines waiting for my tarot post to come through (other than Lee maybe), and I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do with many years of tarot data (we already have over a thousand posts in the blog).

One possible explanation is that it's a little bit of discipline, like people who write "morning pages" every day, no matter whether they feel like it or have a topic, or not. It's nice to have some order and predictability to one's day, something under your control. And it provides a bit of focus to that bleary-eyed waking up period (I usually remember to select cards first thing in the morning).

Also, it's a daily link to my spirituality, such as it is. A little daily ritual. Drawing the cards forces me to focus inward for at least a few minutes a day, and at the same time to think about the larger influences there are on my life. It's like lighting the chalice Beccano made before meals at home--it is a small personal ritual that reminds me that I am linked to the universe in someway I don't understand, regardless of whether I believe in some Official Deity. It's nice to know that there are ways to express the human urge for connection without bringing in the more narrow definitions of god and community that most religions promote.

I know my experience of tarot is not like that of a lot of people--I do it more at a gut level rather than "by the book" or following some rules, but then when I read other people's views, I often see a similar attitude, that it is more of a way of helping you see connections that you might consciously be blocking or missing for other reasons. I do have that intuitive streak, too, and it comes in as well. Still, I enjoy reading the interpretations other people have made for cards, because they can draw me back in if I've strayed far from a card's properties or message. As with most things, I take tarot as a blend of extremes, and aim for the middle ground. I have noticed that my failings and failures lurk way in the corners where I am still more extreme. I need to remember that!

Friday's Feast

Enough of that philosophical stuff, here's the feast:

Appetizer: What does the color dark green make you think of?

My first thought was that the dark green in the kids' school colors does not contrast enough with the dark blue to make it work in knitted items. Otherwise, it reminds me of a deep forest, which makes me feel safe.

Soup: How many cousins do you have?

I have 18 first cousins, all on my dad's side. No clue about more distant ones.

Salad: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how honest are you?

8. My urge to not hurt people messes up that total honesty thing sometimes.

Main Course: Name something that is truly free.

Human milk. Geez, just can't get away from the former career path.

Dessert: Using the letters in the word SPRING, write a sentence.

Suna pursued righteous indignation, not grace.

LOLZ.

So, What Tarot Card Are You?

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

---

If you have ever read our tarot blog in the past few months, you'd know I have been drawing the Moon a lot recently. When I did this quiz I figured I'd be the Moon or Queen of Cups. Please post a comment and let me know who YOU are!

Just Being Alive

I am happy to just be alive, at the ripe old age of 49. I was a bit down last night, thinking I was this old and still not able to support myself, but honestly, I think I will support myself--the answer to how just isn't here yet.

I also was a bit bummed by some other weekend stuff, but I am getting over it. Just the usual birthday blahs and feeling sorry for myself.

Some nice stuff did happen this weekend. I had 6 in my knitting class on Saturday, and that is always good. All really quick learners, too. What fun! And I have been playing with a shrug out of the Noro Aurora yarn I just finished a lovely scarf in (picture to come, once blocked). I just like the yarn; all shiny and pretty colors.

We had a tarot gathering on Saturday night, and we celebrated the lunar eclipse and did a ritual to bring us all the work energy we needed. We had more dogs than people, as you can see from the picture, which has all 5 dogs in it, somewhere. Tina brought the sweet and calm Valentine, who you can see looks surprisingly like Rose. Rose's shiny, wavy coat, her head shape, and her markings were pretty similar to Valentine's. So, perhaps ole Rosie has more border collie in her than anything scary and huge (whew). She is still the most amusing puppy ever, the way she flies through things and lands so awkwardly.

Anyway, Tina, Shannon, Lee and I had a nice time and enjoyed many candles, and the end of the eclipse. We would see a bit better in the back yard than usual, because Lee has been intrepidly hacking away at tree branches. He's almost got the back yard in usable condition. Shocking.

More shocking was the fact that he and I neatened up the garage on Sunday. This is all exciting because I literally hadn't touched a thing in it since the Ex left. Jeff has put his music stuff in there, and thrown a lot of boxes in piles, but that is about it. Lee and I made space for his scary motorcycle, cleaned up, and got rid of a lot of junk. Stuff we were keeping got put on SHELVES--what a concept! So, I am pretty proud of that, and grateful that Lee would help with such a dirty job. I am lucky.

He was really sweet and said happy birthday to me in joys and concerns at church, too, and said how nice everyone has been to him. I am so glad he enjoys it. I was so tired of going by myself and being alone at church. He's been asked to play bass for some instrumental thing at a service, and that is so nice, too. Good to be a part of a couple that can do things together.

Last night was supposed to be the family birthday dinner, but Jeff got a gig and could not come. But the rest of us ate at a Texas Road House steakie place. We were cramped into a tiny corner space and could barely get out--my poor sister really looked smooshed. But it was nice to have everyone there.

So, things are not bad. Work may turn up soon--lots of possibilities. And I got kind wishes from many of my friends, which I really appreciate. I am also reminded that a lot is going on for many friends, and I am thinking of all the sicknesses, deaths, and other sad things going on. There's always so much good AND bad at any time. Just glad to have my hilarious kids, sweet work friends, wonderful other friends and my precious manly companion to support me.

Ooh, and I think Jeff may have a job prospect. Woo.

Tarot Quiz and Other

First, the Tarot Quiz. I also put this on the Tarot blog, but since no one reads it but me and Lee any more, I am also copying here:

Patricia the Knitting Teacher (form the yarn shoppe) sent me this link to a tarot quiz she had taken. She was the Empress, mostly. I knew it would be fun, fun for everyone so I got it and took it myself. Here are my results:

You scored as II - The High Priestess. The High Priestess is a card of intuition, instinct and hidden knowledge. She knows all your secrets, you can hide nothing from her. Yet you will never know the secrets she herself protects.If well aspected in a Tarot spread, this card can indicate the use of intuition to solve problems; trust to your instincts. If badly aspected, it can mean suppression and ignoring of such instincts - following your head at the expense of your heart. II - The High Priestess 100% III - The Empress 94% XIII: Death 94% VI: The Lovers 81% IV - The Emperor 81% XI: Justice 75% XVI: The Tower 69% I - Magician 63% VIII - Strength 63% X - Wheel of Fortune 56% 0 - The Fool 44% XIX: The Sun 38% XV: The Devil 25% Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

You can take the quiz, too! There is a very funny "Wheel of Fotrune" question on it. I liked my results a lot, anyway. The Death card is so high because I said I liked change, and it can tell if you are a man or woman, hence High Priestess and Empress.

Other Stuff

Yes, there has been other stuff. Let's see. In dog news, Rose now is at least three inches taller than Scrunchy and only one pound less in weight. She is a lean, not really mean, puppy machine. She has a lovely personality and very shiny fur. If she'd just stop with the chewing of inappropriate objects...

Buddy is fine, but I get concerned about how aggr4essively he acts toward new people, especially since we have so many people trooping in and out for podcasts, for parties, and to hang out with the kids. He really wasn't friendly to one kid. And the poor fellow tore out a toenail this week. He hobbled for a couple of days but now is playing again.

My dogs are the same. Gwynnie can't do the doggie door very well, and Scrunchy prefers to follow Rose in and out. They are all really happy, though.

Work has been OK, though not terribly exciting. Lee and I are working together, but I am being grumpy about it (it is not personal). I am learning stuff and getting better, so I will live. I'm just so nerved out about work...but not dwelling on it. I look forward to talking with an agency on Monday that seems to have lots of training jobs. Whew. It might be nice to get at least something, given that my current temp employer sorta said, "Oh, you need a job," and never got back to me.

I am enjoying lots of stuff, which helps. Older Boy's friends visited last night and made me laugh a lot. And Younger Boy has been very funny doing stuff with Lee, so I enjoy that. Good to focus on the happy family stuff.

Not fun stuff. Of course Jeff met with his potential housemate in East Austin, and found numerous flaws with the house (the lady seemed OK though). I am not surprised, but would not have minded being pleasantly surprised by a positive report. I feel a lot of pressure to get him to leave, but can't imagine how I would live with myself if I had to throw him out with nowhere to go. I guess I will have to have a chat with him about taking up some people's offers of temporary places to be.

And I felt for Lee yesterday, because he had to go watch STBX take stuff from his house. She seems to have put on a bit of her usual drama. Trying to do the martyr thing. Really reminding me of some of the people I have known here in town who played the pity card a bit too strongly and it didn't come off the way they hoped. Shoot, I can remember wanting folks to feel sorry for me, for a few weeks, then realized that kind of behavior just drove people off. I guess it is my job to be supportive of him, so I will have a biased view. If I mention it to others, they all take her saide and say, "Well, she is hurt," or something to that effect, so none of y'all need to say that in the comments, OK? I do sort of think that, if she had wanted to be his partner so badly, she could have worked on treating him better when asked to do so. But again, I am horribly biased.

Really, things are OK. They will be better when/if the job thing settles, and Lee's legal situation settles. But I am trying to embrace change.

When Worlds Collide, and That 4 Thing

I had another one of my little gatherings for tarot friends last night. We had a few new attendees (boys!) and it was a bit nerve-wracking for those who brought them--you hope your friends from one sphere in your life will get along with your friends from another friend, but you never know. It all went pretty good, though, and I think everyone liked or at least tolerated each other well. So our worlds collided, but it ended up being an OK thing.

The new attendee who bonded the best, though, was the visiting dog, who was quite enamored of my pug, and vice versa. They were incredibly cute and happy playing together, but the poor blind corgi just stood their aimlessly barking all the time. I thought I was going to lose my mind at one point, when I was attempting to center myself and she kept doing her sharp bark at slightly irregular intervals. ANNOYING.

The energy in the room was a little difficult to deal with last night (but it was OK, EM, so you settle down, now). In the end, I finally chugged Ace Pear Cider, and I am so NOT a chugger. That let me just get silly. Luckily the silly 48-year-olds quite amused Tina and Kat.

Note: purple and lilac candy looks brown in candle light.

All righty, so everyone on my little email list just HAS to do this thing, so here is my list:

FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE (before the current employment)

1. director at dysfunctional nonprofit organization
2. web designer
3. publications manager at mathematics software company
4. lowly worker at printed circuit board factory

FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED OVER AND OVER

1. Young Frankenstein
2. Clockwork Orange
3. Tommy
4. Best of Show

FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:

1. Gainesville, FL
2. Plantation, FL
3. Champaign-Urbana, IL
4. Austin, TX (and that is the ONLY four places)

FOUR TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH:

1. Football
2. The Daily Show
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Baseball

FOUR PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:

1. St. Thomas, USVI
2. Ireland/Wales/England
3. San Diego
4. High Point, NC (to see my daddy)

FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:

1. butternut squash
2. Mexican dulce de leche candy
3. guacamole
4. salmon sashimi

FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1. anywhere with my psychic twin
2. at a retreat with my distant women friends
3. see #1
4. see #1

FOUR BOOKS I HAVE READ OVER AND OVER
1. Robin Wood Tarot
2. Knitting from the Top Down
3. Chicago Manual of Style
4. The Spiral Dance
(I don't read a lot of books over and over)

FOUR PEOPLE WHO WILL ANSWER BACK:

1. I don't pass these things on except via blog

FOUR PEOPLE WHO YOU KNOW WILL NOT ANSWER BACK:

1. He Who Never Comments or Answers Email

translation: at some point during the previous few days, Lee had brought up his desire to end his marriage, and his STBX moved out of his house. Sorry, I didn't write this down because of the lack of privacy issue. At some point AFTER that event, we became physically intimate. Yes, we were already emotionally intimate. I don't know how I could have prevented that. The important thing to note is that nothing occurred beyond hugging and kissing until after that talk.

Crappolapalooza

I am dealing with a fairly crappy day from a work perspective--the hated document I had trouble getting someone else to work with last month ended up in MY hands to convert to HTML, and I discovered it was absolutely messed up. I tried to not mention it and fix it myself, but after two days, I had to give up. Then, the original reviser got ahold of it and began feeding me a steady stream of updates and excuses for why there were many pages of content in the appendixes, blah blah. Yes, I am patient. No, I am not that patient. I was finally driven to vent at the person in charge of the project, who told me I should have come in MUCH sooner, and who then whisked me away to an off-site Asian lunch (woo) and a lovely trip to Sam's, where the item we were looking for was no longer available. It is good to have a Work Man Friend.

Sadly, that did not fix things, as it turned out all sorts of fascinating fiascos revolved around the document. We kept wondering, "Why has no one complained about it?" only to find there was a really old version of a totally different document on the official website. Ha ha. I guess. But, after some time in the stairwell staring at the blackland prairie, then help from the other "real employee" dude here, normal breathing resumed. I am still waiting on the document so I can HTML-ify it, but I am being kind, supportive, and nonjudgmental. I believe that will balance my karma. Since my card from yesterday and today was the 5 of Pentacles (the one with people looking like they are fighting), I am not totally surprised.

Rule to Live By

On a happier note, my newest coworker is turning out to be a really nice and smart guy, so I am enjoying having him around. He thought up this new axiom, which, if you are a grammar person, will crack you up:

The Law of Conservation of Apostrophes

This world contains an exact and correct number of apostrophes distributed among all the words written by humans. The people who fail to use apostrophes when they should are precisely balanced out by the people who use them when they shouldn't.

This is the kind of stuff technical writers think about while waiting in traffic. But it MUST be true. Think about it. Explains a lot of really, really irritating signs you see on the sides of roads!!

OK, off to get the older boy some contact lenses.

translation: OK, look, the first time Lee and I ever went to lunch together and it was to keep me from having a hissy fit. Not romantic. OK, we did have a nice talk in the stairwell. Public place. Talked about work.

Comments

sandy said...
Bleagh. I hate when Tech Goes Bad. I had to re-install an OS this week at school...on the iMac!
Thursday, October 12, 2006 9:59:00 PM

Jody said...
Glad Work Man is helping you through the rough spots.{and, fyi, you might want to change that Pentacle to a Wand. 5 o' Pentacles is something way different.} =)
Friday, October 13, 2006 9:46:00 AM

Sam said...
I am one of those who can never remember where to put apostrophes. Actually, I am better with them than I am with commas.
Friday, October 13, 2006 9:38:00 PM

Pens, Pens Pens and Dyeing Photos

Good-ish. Not dwelling on yuck-ish aspects of life today.

I am thrilled to say I got my pens in the mail yesterday from the cool Japanese pen website I found last week (go there to see the cute chopstick pencils). Here is sort of a photo of the set I got, only it had brighter colors--a green and a light blue instead of the much preferred maroon and dark blue pictured, wah. Still, they write so nicely. .38 mm is such a nice width for ink to spew forth in. I now have lots of purple and dark green, plus these. All set with good pens with Japanese writing on them everywhere I need to write stuff, now.

And it is Dear Partner's birthday, so if you know him, feel free to wish him a happy 55th. I think he had fun celebrating--he was out until 4 am after spending the evening (as far as I know) at good ole Donn's Depot.


I am also happy to note that Jody posted a description of and photos of the dyeing fun we had on Saturday. It's the August 21 post on this site. See my kitchen! See my dog's tongue! Here is a picture of the lace/sock weight yarn I dyed and got the muted, oddball colors I had been looking for, which are a sea green kind of effect, a dark green and a reddish brown. Can't wait.

I finished winding all the yarn I dyed and overdyed with the young son last night. I will post a photo of the lovely yarn cakes that resulted this evening, I hope. I think all my various sunny variegated Ella Rae worsted wools will knit up to be a fun felted bag.

I have been very flattered at the younger son's interest in tarot lately. He asked for a deck and is now using the very Irish one I used for a while. He is being quite studious, and has good intuitions on it, too. It is so nice talking to him that we ended up enjoying a very long traffic delay yesterday. He said, "Mom, look on the bright side; it was family bonding time!" Of course, costly bonding with the price of gas, but all good.

Comment

Tina said...
I'll get some pictures up later today - including more of your dog's tongue! Tell DP I said happy birthday!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 12:26:00 PM

Oy, 6 AM Is Early

It is going to take me a while to get used to taking three sweet band students to school two days a week. I have to get them there between 6:45 and 6:50. Argh. It is now 5 pm and I am dead tired. I guess one good thing is I get to work BRIGHT and early so I will have lots of time to leave early on Friday!

My socks look sort of funny in the picture. That's because I took the photo at an angle. They are normal socks, with the tops as wide as the bottoms. Certainly an interesting yarn--very subtle in colors. I ot them to match fairly closely, so I am satisfied. They are Opal Silk/Wool and I did them on 00 needles with 72 stitches per round. Enough about socks.

I got a bunch of new tarot books yesterday, which I really should talk about on the tarot blog, I guess. Jody said they had a lot at this new Half Price Books store, and they sure did. Nice new store, too, in the former KMart near Our Beloved Fry's Store. I got a bunch of books in the advanced tarot topics series (including that book on designing your own spreads that both Diane and I thought one of us owned already). Plus the Dear Partner insisted I buy one (it was $3!) by some very amusing fellow who must be both my age AND gay judging from his humor and pop culture references (I checked, yep, has a dude partner). He also writes in the "adult learning" style that the person I used to work with who was a learning expert writes in, so that is also sorta eerie. Like she is "there"--I'll have to see if she knows the guy. Anyway, the book is a 30-day course in using the tarot in really different experimental ways, so I think I will enjoy it, as well as the "my age liberal pagan gay-friendly person" humor. I did find it most charming that DP picked out a tarot book for me.

I also got a book about the history of red dye. Cochineal. I guess that is also purple. But anyway, I love that sort of book (those of you who know me well may remember my rantings about how great the book Salt was or the one about The Pencil). So, I ever stop knitting, I surely have stuff to read. Dye seems like an appropriate topic, anyway, as we may be dyeing on Saturday and Tina might even get "real" dye in addition to Kool-Aid. Hope we all have enough dye vats. Maybe I should get some cheap buckets.

I started a mat of some sort with a Barbara G. Walker lace pattern in its center, in very intense blue-green cotton yarn. We will see if that comes out better than the yellow hankie (which looks VERY nice now that it is BLOCKED--see Cheri, I said "blocked").

The boys are surviving school--the young one had a rough first day, but is better today. The old one finds marching band too easy now, or something. Sheesh. Master of his craft.

Things at ALE are OK. I am writing like crazy, and only get overwhelmed by it occasionally. I seem to be doing OK, in any case. The boss said I did a great job on my first official written item. Woo.

Happy birthday to old friend Joanne, and to my friend's daughter who is 9, and to oh so many people born around this time!

Comments

Tina said...
By the way, I think the KoolAid dye has to be heated (either microwave or stovetop) for the dye to set, so maybe everyone should bring some sort of pot? Unless you know of another way to KoolAid dye (I'm going by the directions on knitpicks.com).
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 10:20:00 PM

knittingwoman said...
Hi SueAnn!!!!Hannah Bird told me about your blog. I am completely addicted to knitting too but don't have a blog just write sometimes on LJ.I'll be a regular reader now.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 12:03:00 PM

knittingwoman said...
oh, I should identify myself. I'm Susanna in eastern canada.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 12:03:00 PM

Suna said...
Tina--I don't know anything about dyeing. We should probably chat about all the equipment and stuff. I do have a microwave.Susanna, I am guessing you are the same one I have known for all these years? In that case, welcome. Well, welcome in any case. I will email soon--I was out of the house all day yesterday.
Thursday, August 17, 2006 2:17:00 PM

Tina said...
I'll be by the store Friday afternoon, and we can chat then, if you want.Hopefully I'll be there by 1 or 2, I have a job interview before, so after that I'll stop at home to change and then I'll be there.I ordered more yarn to dye, and it's in Dallas. I hope it gets here by Saturday (its not "supposed" to be here until Monday).I'll bring a printout of the koolaid dye instrustions from KnitPicks so we can examine them, and I know I'll bring something to dye in, but we'll discuss specifics Friday.
Thursday, August 17, 2006 5:13:00 PM

The Longest Day

This feels like the longest day of my life, but I am proud that I got through it and actually got some productive things done!

Yesterday was a really rough one--the day the kids leave is always hard on me, and I was just touchy all day, like I was feeling something was amiss. I did make a delicious dinner, but foolishly came down to check the computer before heading to bed, to find some upsetting email. Yow, what a mistake. Having to deal with the Dear Partner's attempts at being a good listener (many bonus points for trying, but I just wanted to wallow for a while, not explain my every insecurity in detail) got me all agitated, so of course I could not get to sleep until after 1 am, and I had to get up at 4:15 to drive the young uns to the airport. So, I figure my long day started last night!

I actually was worried I'd fall asleep on the drive to the airport, but eventually got the older boy talking and that helped. It did NOT help that the plane for their nonstop flight had "mechanical difficulties" so they had to get on another set of flights that took 6 hours longer than the original schedule. And because they had to change planes, they had to fly as unaccompanied minors, meaning I had to sit there until the plane took off. 2.5 hours in the airport when you aren't even traveling! At least I ran into a friend who works there, and she'd had to get up even earlier than I did, so I felt better. And it was nice to see her.

I barely had time to run home before having to go to the yarn shop to teach two classes. Both were a lot of fun, and I was happy that I didn't get all zonked out or anything. One lady was SO proud she had learned to make lace. It felt so good to teach her. And it was great fun to teach crochet! That all went well, plus a KIND friend agreed to help someone who needed some individual attention, and that lead to a lot of smiles and learning.

I had to run from knitting land to minister land, where I taught ye olde former minister to use Dreamweaver and edit his RSS feeds. I think this software will be SO much easier for him--among his many strengths does NOT appear to be "technology"-- so I was really pleased to see him finding this easier than previous set-ups. If only we hadn't wiped out his site accidentally, it would have been a great success (luckily, I had saved the files at home, LOL).

So, after all THAT I am one tired puppy, and I am driving home, feeling satisfied that I got a lot done, but beat. I get in the car, and the most beautiful music I ever heard begins to play. And then there was the voice of an angel, singing an absolutely glorious, touching, moving song about not wanting "to die until I'm too old to die young." Oh, who is that, I wonder? Ha ha, it was A Prairie Home Companion and that voice was none other than my favorite female singer of all time, Linda Ronstadt. Duh. Now I know a CD to run out and get! The sun came out after all the rain, and everything was clear and clean. It was a nice drive home.

The first thing I did when I got home was draw my tarot card, which, of course, goes in the other journal, but I just thought it was TOO funny, I drew the 4 of swords, which is Death (see song lyric), and it has this lady lying asleep on it. Yes, cards, I am sleepy. And I do need a respite from turmoil. Once again, I am a practitioner of the Tarot of the Obvious.

Comments

sthorne said...
Awww, I remember those parental transistion days of my MIL, always an introspective day. Take good care of yourself.Sandy
Sunday, June 25, 2006 5:59:00 PM

Jody said...
awwww, I get to be a kind friend. :)
Monday, June 26, 2006 10:48:00 AM