Sunday, October 14, 2007

Weekend Update

The three of us (Husband, Scout, me) are relaxing (well, one of us is almost asleep) in a nice hotel in Duuth tonight. We took Stepson back to school this evening, and will spend a lazy morning sleeping in and wandering around town before heading back.

It was a busy week, with a funeral on Wednesday, and a wedding in Adjoining State on Friday (outside, in a State Park, on a beautiful -- but cold -- afternoon). The car I rode in took the scenic route back to the hotel (read: got lost) after the ceremony. It was an interesting little wedding.

Then, Saturday morning, I felt relatively free. Just one meeting at church. As I was walking down the hall, I noticed a big pile of leaves in the middle of the hallway. Can't keep them out this time of year. We get leaves in our house, too. We get lots of other things too. Dirty dishes, mail (particularly junk mail), papers we are working on, books (see last post), guitars and amplifiers, laundry. That's what the leaves in the hallway made me think of.

I'll never be "clean." I'll always be a Samaritan.

After the meeting, I was anxious to get back home, and have almost a whole Saturday off. But I noticed some tiny little pieces of paper in back of my chair, just under a cabinet. I had just vaccuumed under there the day before, so I became curious. I unlocked and opened the cabinet.

It seems that, several years before, I had bought sunflower seeds once, for a children's message. And, I had a roll of paper towels for cleaning purposes, which was being slowly chewed up. Oh, and did I mention the sample bag from a World Hunger site called "Feed My Starving Children"?

Anyway, the cabinet looked a little bit like a hamster cage. Except that I suspect that it wasn't hamsters who had been living there.

Needless to say, it was somewhat later than I intended that I finally walked into the front door of my house.

Yesterday, we found a new "small town" (well, 18000 people) where we shopped for Used Books and Antiques. I found, among other things, a devotional book for Army and Navy personnel printed in 1941. It has Protestant, Catholic and Jewish section.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. However, I kept worrying that I was supposed to be at church for something. We have so few Saturdays free, particularly in the fall, that I have trouble enjoying myself if I get a free Saturday. I keep thinking, "I must be forgetting something." (sigh).

But, I wasn't forgetting anything.

Today, our intern preached his first sermon. I gave a Bible study during the Adult Forum hour.

And our Leadership Board President gave each pastor a present for Clergy Appreciation Day: a hand lettered art calligraphy piece with a quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I hope you had a good weekend, too.

13 comments:

Barbara B. said...

the used book and antique store sounds cool :)

Marsha said...

Emerson is one of my very favorites... I have a huge collection of quotes by him. I also love to go through old books and have a few that I love. One is a book of sermons that belonged to a long forgotten minister from years ago that had some of his notations in the margins. It made it so personal to me and I thought it was a shame that it was not in the possession of his family. I will take good care of it though and I consider it a treasure.

Elaine (aka...Purple) said...

Sounds like a wonderful weekend, except for the "sunflower" incident.

Diane M. Roth said...

Barbara-- the stores were very cool. I liked the bookstore the best :)
Marsha -- I'll find the quotation and post
ps -- yeah, didn't want to clean, but once you know, you gotta do it!

Fran said...

Oh Diane- the "cleaning"... It did have to be done, good for you!

Otherwise, it sounds like a lovely weekend. I have not spent much time in your state- 3 days to be exact and many years ago.

So your descriptions are very interesting and evocative to me and I thank you.

And any trip that includes looking at books...

We had a nice weekend. Crisp and finally fall like weather. Mr He Is raking away in our yard. Me doing a lot of writing and trying to refocus my exercise goals.

Liturgy was really nice on Saturday (o to be Catholic!)and we have an advent project that I am working on and excited about.

Thinking about Advent already? Wow.

Well thanks for another fantastic post.

Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

Used bookstores are always fun, even if cleaning awaits.

Jan said...

I'm glad you remember peacock blue ink (from RevGals). It sounds like you had a nice weekend. I'm glad. I always liked Emerson and haven't thought of his words for a long time. It's nice that you have something of his to adorn your wall. Used book stores are enticing. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Sounds like, with the exception of the "hampster cage incident" it was a wonderful weekend. COngrats.

We had a great weekend in Texas as well, as the first real cool weather is starting to blow in for the fall.

David said...

Hey, even the "hampsters" need a little nourishment sometimes. Just be glad they weren't "Guinea pigs."

Law+Gospel said...

Love used books. And Diane, we are ALL Samaritans. Some of us are just a little more honest about it. My favorite used book is "Many Mistakes Mended" a book about proper language usage intended for those who hoped to rise above their immigrant roots. Like my ancestors.

Diane M. Roth said...

Carolyn -- that sounds like a lovely book.

Tara Sloan said...

I love Emerson!

June Butler said...

Diane, for the job of cleaning up the mess left by the not-hamsters, I'm afraid that I'd revert to my I-need-a-strong-man-to-do-this mode.

Bad me.