July Vacation Bible School Part 1

Vacation Bible School was only one day, in July, this year. It worked out very well. I was given "the older kids" for instruction and crafts — the first through third grades! I haven't taught children that young for so long that it was a wonderful treat. The theme this year was Jonah and the Whale. It was a perfect theme for a hot day. We spent half of the day at Crystal Lake State Park in the water. In the photograph above the children are learning a song about Jonah. You can see the whale and Jonah's ship that M. made for us. D. is teaching them the song.

And here is Jonah, above! He told the children his story and they were enthralled with his ordeal. You can see how much fun the children had as they acted out Jonah's story — it was one of the highlights of the day! Everyone wanted to be Jonah so they could be spit out by the whale.

We had arts and crafts after that. We made beach bags, sea shell picture frames, octopus mobiles and lots of other fun things. We also had puzzles, word searches and readings of Jonah's story from the Bible. You can see Catgirl above as she designed her beach bag before we went to the beach. Below you can see her creation:

Meanwhile, in the preschool room, the littler kids were doing their crafts. Ironman is wearing the orange shirt:

Another mother, R., took the kids outside for some running around games, giving us older moms a break!

We closed the morning with more singing that we acted out. Below, D is teaching them a new song and it required feet stomping and clapping!

We were starving by lunch time, but we had to go to the park for our picnic at the lake. It was a wonderful morning and I hope to help out next year, too. I just hope it is cooler out!

_/\_/\_

Communion Bread

I made the communion bread for church for December (and am hoping to do it every month in the future) and I'm proud of the results of the rustic recipe from King Arthur Flour. After the breads have cooled over night, I take the crust off of one and a half of the loaves. I cube the bread. The half loaf that remains is partially cut through. The pastor uses this half loaf and pulls it apart for the congregation during communion. The cubed bread is divided into two piles, one pile for each aisle in church.

In my denomination, the United Church of Christ (Congregational), we have communion on the first Sunday of each month. Every person is invited to participate, so we want to be as inclusive as possible. This recipe is sugar free, which hopefully will be acceptable for diabetics.

The King Arthur bakers have a blog now, and this wonderful and versatile recipe can be found at the No-Knead Crusty White Bread blog post. It is perfect for chili or soup. You can make it all different shapes and textures. This really is the easiest bread you will ever make in your life! Try it!

The recipe is adapted by the King Arthur Bakers from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

But this bread is not gluten free.

Since I had never made bread without gluten (can it be called bread if it does not have gluten?), I bought a Red Mill gluten free bread mix. I followed the directions religiously. Even though the dough of the gluten free loaf felt like a pile of bird seed, I was hopeful that it would be a good alternative for the gluten free folks. It actually smelled quite good in the oven. But it was quite a disappointment. It was nearly impossible to determine when it was finished baking. It was nearly impossible to slice. And it was impossible to eat. It was tough cardboard. We tossed the gluten free loaf out for the birds. It is still there to this day, buried in the snow. The birds won't touch it.

I'm definitely going to buy the book from which my communion bread recipe came. I'll have fun this winter trying all the quick rustic breads. You can't err when making these simple breads, so don't be intimidated by bread making. Click the link below!


Technorati Tags: Bob's Red Mill communion bread no-knead bread rustic white bread UCC King Arthur Flour Del.icio.us Tags: Bob's Red Mill communion bread no-knead bread rustic white bread UCC King Arthur Flour Flickr Tags: Bob's Red Mill communion bread no-knead bread rustic white bread UCC King Arthur Flour

_/\_/\_

TrevorCarpenter.com: Holiday Challenge

TrevorCarpenter.com: Holiday Challenge:

Since we are coming up on the Christmas season, I thought I’d toss out an idea that just might work. I’m looking for a few people out there who are willing to share their opinion and aren’t afraid of the rest of us debating it. I’m looking for your input on one very tough issue… 

Why do you think Jesus doesn’t have what it takes to be important in your life? 

That’s it. Plain and simple. It’s really not that hard. Everyone reads that and has a response. I know you have some feelings about it, probably even strong feelings. But, are you brave enough to jump in the mix? Are you strong enough to deal with a bit of critique? 

All I’m looking for is that you read that question and take a few minutes to think hard about your response. Then comment on this post. However, if you’re already a blogger, why not put a bit more effort into it and blog it at your blog. Then, just make sure that you link back to this post and I’ll make sure that we all share in the exchange.

This question stumped me. I have fragments of responses in my mind but I think it is such a complex challenge that I need to think and listen to others. I took the time to read the comments at Trevor's post, and while a couple were the mandatory "Jesus is my savior" statement, a couple of them led me to think more fully about what my response might be.

My first thought: if Jesus were important in the lives of Christians, wouldn't we have more tranquility in our daily lives? More peace on earth? If he were important in my life, would I have more peace of mind and less doubt? Does the lack of peace and my doubts mean that Jesus is not important to me or others?

Be sure to click the box on the comment page (hopefully you have gmail so that you can utilize this feature) and follow the comments. Come back if you need to say more. I need to listen to you. Thank you.

Cats Tuesday: Buddy's New Prey

I caught Buddy on top of the TV trying to "kill" my little yellow duckie that I got a few years ago at the Mother Daughter Potluck at church. The cats are only going out for a few hours at a time now and stay in every single night. Their normal wild prey is gone, so they are reduced to killing toys in the house.

Gattina is in Egypt this week and next, so I am proudly hosting Cats on Tuesday. My apologies for not visiting all of you last week. I simply didn't have the energy because of this awful cold I caught. I have recovered and am back! Please enter your link and visit all the COT participants below. Have a great week!

HALP! Holy Cat photos are needed for my weekly cat blogging post: LOLCat Bible Sunday Lectionary Readings. If your cat is without sin, has a visible halo or any other mark of holiness or worthines, please send me her/his photo as soon as possible.

Technorati tags: Cats+on+Tuesday
_/\_/\_

West Newbury Congregational Church

Sue standing at the pulpit after the service.

Last winter I visited the West Newbury, Vermont Congregational Church because my best friend, Sue (and here) was preaching there. This is also her home church. It was so warm, friendly and beautiful. I have to go back more often this year. I thought I had posted these photos but obviously I hadn't. 

A view of the White Mountains from the road in front of the church.

I love the simplicity of New England Congregational churches.

Communion Table

West Newbury Town Clerk Office

Mount Moosilauke in the distance on the right.

West+Newbury+Congregational+Church Vermont UCC

_/\_/\_

Straight, Not Narrow: Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Gay Rights

Straight, Not Narrow: Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Gay Rights

"For me, I couldn't ever keep quiet. I came from a situation where for a very long time people were discriminated against, made to suffer for something about which they could do nothing--their ethnicity. We were made to suffer because we were not white. Then, for a very long time in our church, we didn't ordain women, and we were penalizing a huge section of humanity for something about which they could do nothing--their gender. And I'm glad that now the church has changed all that. I'm glad that apartheid has ended. I could not for any part of me be able to keep quiet, because people were being penalized, ostracized, treated as if they were less than human, because of something they could do nothing to change--their sexual orientation. For me, I can't imagine the Lord that I worship, this Jesus Christ, actually concurring with the persecution of a minority that is already being persecuted. The Jesus who I worship is a Jesus who was forever on the side of those who were being clobbered, and he got into trouble precisely because of that. Our church, the Anglican Church, is experiencing a very, very serious crisis. It is all to do with human sexuality. I think God is weeping. He is weeping that we should be spending so much energy, time, resources on this subject at a time when the world is aching."

Desmond Tutu

Mother's Day: Faith Lived Out in Love

A blossoming tree in the Victory Bog, Victory, Vermont

I hope you all had a pleasant Mother's Day. When we went to church this morning I read the bulletin cover as I always do and was impressed by the meaningful message for today. I decided to type it out in full so that I could remember the original meaning of Mother's Day. This article was written by Sara Webb Phillips on a bulletin cover that seems to be from the UMC. I have searched for over an hour but can't find a thing on the Internet.

In some churches Mother's Day is one of the big three religious holidays, as in Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day, the closest thing Protestants have to a holy day of obligation. After all, we know that a mother's role is to deliver children – obstetrically once and by car forever after! Young children may honor mothers by serving them breakfast; adult children may return home to worship with their mothers. For some, however, Mother's day can be difficult because their mothers are dead. Others might remember mothers who weren't all that nice or who struggled with motherhood. Yet, the best intention of this cultural remembrance is for mothers to sit back for a change and be receivers instead of givers.

But it wasn't always so. Mother's Day was originally envisioned in the 1870s, not as a day of flowers and presents, but as a day for mothers to make their voices heard. Julia Ward Howe, the author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was a mother in the days before women were allowed to vote. She asked, "Why don't the mothers of humankind interfere in these matters [of war], to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?" thus encouraging a mother's day of working to eradicate war. It was not a day of rest for mothers, but a day of action for the cause of peace!

In today's Acts reading (see below), we remember the story of Lydia, with the genuineness of her conversion reflected in her hospitality. Her home had become a house-church, providing a new freedom for people of mixed classes, cultures, different gender and race. In her actions, she reflected Jesus' words from John's Gospel: "Those who love me will keep my word."

Today, in this season of Easter, we honor women who have nurtured us and lived out gracious hospitality.. May such action continue to stir us to faith lived out in love.

I have chosen The Message version of the text because it sounds so much like life today, making the reading meaningful to me: Lydia could be any of us.
Acts 16: 9-15

That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.

Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.

On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!

After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, "If you're confident that I'm in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests." We hesitated, but she wouldn't take no for an answer.

_/\_/\_

Photo Hunters: Steps

Stairways to Heaven: Church Steeples of Montpelier, Vermont

I look forward to all the posts to view today and all the new ideas and things to learn. Have a wonderful week!

_/\_/\_

Sue's Rabbits

I went to church in West Newbury again this week. But I was very late because of snow squalls. I-91 was reduced to two tracks. Not one lane: just two snowy tracks. It was Communion Sunday and for the first time in ages I felt part of a communion. Pastor Cindy Batten was so welcoming. I have enjoyed her Bible Study in the past and today I enjoyed her sermon and readings. A downer: no carrot cake! Coffee Hour is only on the last Sunday of the month.

After church Debbie, Bob, Sue, and I went to the Bradford Diner for lunch. Sue had to get her car at church, so I went on to her house taking photos along the way. At her place, I filled up Sue's iPod, she messed with Photo Booth, I took rabbit pictures and we had a nice time.

No serious snow problems on the way home. But now it is "blizzarding" outside again and all traffic is gone again. The rest of my vacation plans have just been scrapped because of this weather! Now that just isn't fair! And now we have thunder snow for goodness sakes! I hate thunder snow!

Honey Bunny (above) bites. Sue calls biting a "defensive posture."

Petey Petunia, above, is so black that without adjusting the brightness and contrast, all you would see would be a shiny black lump on the chair!

This is not all that rabbits do (although I joke with Sue that they are boring). Honey Bunny above again. One time we took them outside. But they were pretty skittish about the big birds that flew overhead. Sue and I know that hawks would not be too shy to grab a rabbit from next to us on the ground! Poor things! So much to be afraid of.

Petey Petunia's big feet. Lucky rabbit feet.

Here is Sue playing with Photo Booth on my MacBook:


And here is the finished product that she e-mailed to her neice (the solid blue tortoise is a bobble-head):

_/\_/\_

UCC Synod

Click on Let It Shine above to open a new window to the UCC Synod site.

Confirmed Guests as of today:

Bill Moyers, Voice of the Pacific, Marian Wright Edelman, Ricardo Esquievia, Rabbi Naameh Kelman, Ingrid Mattson, Rachel Barton Pine, Still Paint Theatre Collective, Chung Hyun Kyung, Davey D, He Qi, Kim and Reggie Harris, Valerie Jutson, Leonard Pitts Jr, John Hockenberry, Maria Otero, Ray Kurzwell, Susan Brooks Thistlewhite, Kevin Phillips, Marilyn Robinson, Walter Brueggemann, Phil Porter, The Children's Orchestra Society, Harry Knox

See You In Hartford!
click on the headline to open a new window to the UCC synod info page

Welcome and we are delighted that you may be joining us in Hartford for The Twenty-sixth General Synod which will be part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the United Church of Christ. Our members in the Connecticut Conference are working hard to make our 50th anniversary Synod one we will all long remember. Given this anniversary Synod, those who have attended Synods before will find some changes as part of our time together will be devoted to celebration activities as we both look forward to who we are as the United Church of Christ and explore who God is calling us to be and to become in the next 50 years. So come prepared to worship, to study, to fellowship, to celebrate and to Let It Shine!!

When and Where Is General Synod?
General Synod will officially convene on Friday afternoon, June 22nd and will adjourn on Tuesday evening, June 26th following the closing worship. Synod is in downtown Hartford, Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center. It's an arena designed primarily for sporting for events, but it will be our home for five days and we'll have the usual exhibits, worship, music and workshops. The good news is that the Civic Center seats over 14,000 people , so we have plenty of room to make this the biggest Synod ever.

What about Registration?
Registration will open for visitors on December 1st. and everyone must register. The Civic Center staff will be on hand each day to check registrations and they will only allow those who are registered in the facility. We have convinced them that Sunday worship must be open to any and all who wish to attend and they have agreed to allow this for our community wide worship on Sunday afternoon only. Other than Sunday afternoon, registration is required for all. There are a variety of registration options depending on how long you plan to be at Synod; they are listed below:

• General Synod registrants delegates, associate delegates, and visitors attending all five days: $150
• Seminarians and Youth attending all 5 days, $100
• Those attending only Friday, Saturday, Sunday, $100
• Those attending Saturday only, $50
• No registration required for children under 12 (note: child care is available, there is a cost for child care, see other needs form, pre registration is required for child care)

You will register online by visiting ucc.org, clicking on General Synod registration and following the instructions. If you are a voting delegate or associate conference delegate, your conference will have registered you, so if you have questions, give them a call. DO NOT re-register.

If you are planning on coming just for Saturday, note that there's a registration amount for you too!! We suggest that everyone register in advance, but if you don't decide until the last minute to come, there will be onsite registration in the Civic Center, so don't let that stop you from coming to the party!

Where Do I Stay?
There are a number of housing options and a wide range of costs, including University Housing which we are holding exclusively for youth until March 15th. If the beds are not filled by youth by March 15th, we will open it to others. After you register, you will be able to go into the link for the UCC Housing Bureau where you will see all of the hotels designated as General Synod hotels. We have negotiated special rates for these hotels and the General Synod shuttle will service these hotels. A description of all of the hotels as well as the room rates is included in this document. Please DO NOT call the hotels directly, if you do you may not receive the negotiated rate and your stay will not be included in our room block. Please help us manage our budget by using the hotels contracted for Synod. If you choose to go outside the Synod block (good luck as we have about every hotel in Hartford) but if you find one that is not on our list, you will be on your own for transportation to and from the Civic Center. We have significantly increased our room block, so there should be enough hotel space for all. We will monitor this carefully and if it looks like our rooms are filling up, we'll contract for more, so don't panic?but also please don't wait until April or May to register and select housing. Again, registration and housing opens December 1st. You won't be able to get housing without first registering. Voting Delegates: your conference will have already made housing arrangements for you, so please do not make additional housing arrangements. If you have questions about this, call your conference office.

What's the Schedule
The schedule isn't complete, but here's a thumbnail sketch:

Friday afternoon, opening hearings and organization of Synod
Friday evening, opening worship
Saturday, Synod in the City (see description below)
Sunday morning, (planning still in progress)
Sunday afternoon Community Worship
Sunday evening, Delegates in Committees, visitors welcome
Monday Morning, Delegates in Committees, Visitors welcome
Monday afternoon, plenary, keynote and business
Monday evening, plenary and worship
Tuesday morning and afternoon, plenary and business
Tuesday evening, Closing worship

Synod in the City
This is after all, not just any Synod ,it's our 50th Anniversary Synod, so we're going to dispense a bit with business as usual and a good deal of Friday, Saturday and Sunday has been set aside for the celebration of our past and a conversation about our future. The opening worship on Friday evening will kick off the celebration. On Saturday, delegates and visitors will all have a chance to be a part of Synod in the City. It's a day long festival of worship, Bible Study, workshops, lectures, concerts, etc. There will be a number of simultaneous events, so you won't be able to see or hear everything, you'll have to make choices, but we expect to have something for everyone. We'll begin Saturday morning with worship in the Civic Center and a keynote address, then we will fan out in the downtown area for a host of other events; you choose what you want to go to, space will be available on a first come, first serve basis, but there will always be something happening in the Civic Center and there's plenty of room there!! We'll end the day back together in the Civic Center for a grand celebration.

What about..FOOD!!
As exciting as we think the program will be; you still gotta eat!! There will be a lot of people to feed, so we have alerted the hotels and restaurants to be prepared. There will also be vendors in the downtown area during Synod in the City and we have asked the Hilton Hotel (the headquarters hotel) to be prepared to sell boxed lunches for Saturday. There will be the usual sponsored meals on Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; these are meals sponsored by a Covenanted Ministry or other group. The list of sponsored meals will be posted at registration and you can purchase tickets for these in advance. Remember, tickets for sponsored meals must be purchased in advance and they are non refundable. There are only tickets available on site if the sponsor has purchased additional ones to sell at their booth; tickets for sponsored meals will not be sold at on site registration.

Youth Program
50 4 50 1000 Strong!! We hope you are planning on bringing a group of youth to Synod!! Check the General Synod website for the 50 4 50, each conference is encouraged to bring at least 50 youth to Synod in celebration of the 50th Anniversary. DaVita Carter McAlister in Local Church Ministries and Ken Brown in Justice and Witness Ministries are working on a program that will be geared for youth, but will overlap with the General Synod program as well. Check the website and click on 50 for 50 for more details.

New and Updated Information
We'll post information as we have it available, but we suggest that you check the website after the 15th of each month for updated information, including more details on preparing for Synod, where to pick up registration materials when you arrive in Hartford, detailed schedules for Synod in the City, business to be considered by Synod, information on keynotes, worship and ongoing program details.

If you have questions, you may call or email

Registration
Denise Shimell
shimelld@ucc.org
216-736-2133

Destiny Shellhammer
shellhad@ucc.org
216-736-2149

Housing
GSHousing@ucc.org

Sponsored Meals
Heather Iriye
iriyeh@ucc.org
216-736-2105

Exhibits
Valerie Smith
smithv@ucc.org
216-736-2104

Synod Business
Lee Foley
foleyl@ucc.org
216-736-2192

Youth Programs
DaVita Carter McAlister
mccalld@ucc.org
216-736-3871
Ken Brown
brownk@ucc.org
216-736-3727

Women's Retreat at Barton United Church

One of the large tables that we worked at in the church. The church kitchen is in the rear.

It was a wonderful day of peace and communion with 11 other women in the church basement today. We had a wonderful worship service with new and old hymns, a great story, and poetry. One poem struck a strong chord within me. Since my life has been a life of loss, this poem, which I will post tomorrow, helps me keep perspective and gives me comfort.

Then Jana, a Bosnian refugee, spoke to us about her experiences in Europe during the "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia by Serbians. It was heart breaking. I can't give you all of the details because I don't have her voice. Torture and rape were the Serbians' favorite methods of subjugation. Jana's family survived intact and eventually settled in Burlington, VT after living in Turkey, Germany and other countries. After she spoke of her experiences, we had a long discussion on the abuse of Muslim-Americans in this country now. As soon as I find an Internet reference for you to read, I will post it so that you can have more information.

After a break we made individual collages of our life-long faith journey. Well, I had no idea how to do that, so I spent the hour and a half reading the magazines we were given to use and when I found something that pulled me, I clipped it out. I ended up with a nice collection of clippings that I pasted on my paper.

My Collage

I began this project thinking it was silly. I ended the project understanding how our subconscious leads us to choose certain objects. After lunch, Pastor Evelyn then went around and interpreted all of our collages. Her interpretations of the images each of us selected was fascinating. It turns out that our faith journeys, whether conscious or not, are illustrated in our collages.

My collage has two recipes (my recipe blog), several cats, flies (symbolizing my first and second attempts at macro bug photography), a wad of dollar bills (my self-sufficiency), an ice cream cone and cupcake (self-explanatory!), a fir tree under the midnight stars (loneliness), a bottle of Clorox cleaner (I love that stuff), lemonade (my fantasy summers), an audiobook by Mitch Albom, strawberries (for my past summer with T which has broken my heart now), a SLOW sign to remind me to slow down, and 3 words of text: "basic", "inner voice", and "instinct": all concepts which have helped me throughout my life.

My collage has at least six triangles, which Evelyn felt was telling me to investigate the Trinity in more depth. I actually agreed with her interpretation because of my intense interest in that subject. A poem by Emily Dickinson has guided my belief that the Holy Spirit is a feminine spirit. I have tried to feminize God. I have tried to make God gender-neutral. These attempts have failed within me. But a feminine Holy Spirit is the proper way to think of Gaia and the Earth. I will post the Dickinson poem tomorrow, also.

We then used Play Dough to "sculpt". We let God guide our hands during personal prayer. I have no photos of these works: they were personal and very powerful. Mine was a spiral. I thought I wanted a Fibonacci spiral but I could not get the proportions correct. But Evelyn and other women said it looked exactly like a prayer spiral which we will be doing at another Women's Fellowship meeting in the future. They said it is a very powerful meditation device.

We then gifted our pottery to each other according to our hearts. There were so many tears of sadness and community then. It was very moving. I cannot go into the details because it was also very private and confidential.

We finished by writing small notes to members of the congregation that needed to have contact with the church. Then there were two different prayer circles. The last prayer circle was so powerful: it was a shared meal that was similar to communion. We used the candles from Christmas eve in order to pass blessings to each other before we parted. But when doing so, we invoked the name of a person that we have loved in that past that had died. We passed on the blessing that the deceased person had given us and gave the blessing to our neighbor. There were many, many more tears of sadness then.

My wish is that every woman everywhere can experience a day of peace and profound communion like this. I am successfully re-claiming my spiritual life which I lost somewhere this past year.

Bad Things, Good Things

Interior of Barton United Church (UCC and UMC), Barton, Vermont

It's been a very sad few days. My life has changed again. It was pretty scary there. But my daughters, son and friends have helped me through it. I hope I can help them as well when they need it. I cannot dwell on the deep sadness. I have gone through worse and remade my life before: and this time the supports and networks are in place for me so that I can do it again.

Before I knew it, good things began to happen.

I have been asked to serve a term on the parish council! I think it is a three year term. I will be back in society again and I haven't been for months. Meetings are one Monday night a month. I'm sure there will be committee work or something, but that'll keep me busy and involved in the community. I love this town. I need to be back in it.

Today the music teacher asked a bunch of us teachers to perform with the students in the Spring Concert. I am so excited! The art teacher plays flute, I play piano, one of the kindergarten teachers plays alto sax (who knew??), one of our paras plays trumpet. The music is the Masterpiece Theater song from PBS, and it's a simple transposition so I won't embarrass myself and I will need minimal rehearsal time at the church. Years ago the church gave me a key so I could go in and practice and I have not taken advantage of it too much. This is going to be one great concert!

I returned to Bible Study tonight! I have not gone for ages because I worked the afterschool program on Wednesdays and was too worn out to go to church on Wednesday night. Then people at church were sick, and then the snow would fall at night so the minister could not make it. But tonight everything fell into place and I went. The minister had a more pressing meeting in West Glover but we had a meeting. It was good to be back and smell the old church and hymnals.

I am going to pick up my Marcus Borg books again. Download The Life of Buddha (free and legally free) and get back into my studies.

One of the most exciting things is the Women's Retreat all day Saturday at church. Just women. A Muslim woman is going to talk to us in the morning. The only drawback: a bag lunch! But they have a microwave. I could take a frozen dinner. But I'll probably stop at the Pharmacy and pick something up.

It is 8:04 PM and 3°. It's going to be very very cold tonight. They say the "coldest of the season." There goes my oil! Just when I finally paid for my last delivery!

The stairway to the meeting house and bell tower.