from Texas to Africa to Ikea

Apologies, dear friends, for not blogging daily. Sometimes these things get away from me. :)

-Part of the delay was due to my attempts to retrieve pictures I took while Skyping with my nieces, but it seems they have miraculously vanished. Had I found them, you would see lively snapshots of my parents and nieces smiling at me from Texas, Natalie "giving me a hug" by squinching up her eyes and shrugging her shoulders and Gianna smiling as contentedly as if she has not a care in the world. They were staying with my parents (Nonnie and Papa) for Camp PapaNonnie 2010 for a week and we skyped every single night. I was just wonderful to connect and before the video was even started hear Natalie say, "Weeeeeza! Hello Weeeeeza??" You can see great pictures of all they got up to at Camp on my sister's blog.

-Reading Wilbur Smith with avid interest. I adore his way with words and the excitement and intricacy of his stories, which is really the only reason a person would pick up a 3-books-in-1-volume book with over 1200 pages and find it enjoyable. I'm on page 288. This book is a treat for my imagination and my biceps.

-Going to the always productive Linenhall Library to work on a sermon and discovering two wonderful things: 1, a little old man in a green tweed coat (in summer), with a white fluff of hair dozing peacefully in a chair near me. I always see a little hobbit/leprechaun looking elderly man dozing in a chair...a different one each time. And 2, discovering that the heavily-etched old desk I was using said "Becca and Kate 1935." Now it's possible these two friends just put 1935, but in a place as historic as the Linenhall Library, it's also possible they sat at this same desk 75 years ago.

-Walking through one of my favorite little walkways and leaving the hectic clatter of shopping and construction to enter a serene space filled with classical music.

-Wearing my collar to a pub for lunch with lovely church folks and finding great amusement in the offering of water only, the polite and impolite stares and the people who just smiled at me because of it. It was a fun little social experiment. I kept it on because I decided it was no bad thing for people to see a 28-year-old female minister, as it probably has never happened in that pub before.

-A fun trip to Ikea with the housemates complete with silly shenanigans, a yummy lunch of meatballs and fries and seeing other good friends there.