there's no place like gnome.

Hi friends.

I felt the need to say hi. It’s been awhile.

So hi. What do I have to tell you? you wonder.

Mabel and I went to our favorite closest state park on Saturday to go hiking. It’s there I learned that she really loves to roll in fish guts.

This past Thursday evening, I went to the cities to meet up with my dear friend Kate. We scored advanced screening tickets to see the movie The Fault in Our Stars. It’s the movie adaptation of a young adult book which we had both read and loved and sobbed. It comes out the first Friday in June – I recommend it. Go see it! Bring tissues!

I’m putting in an official garden tomorrow. Dear congregation members are coming over with their tiller and they are going to help me get started. I checked out books from the library last night; I have research to do before I buy seeds/plants tomorrow.

Marilyn brought me fresh eggs and rhubarb today. She’s like my own personal farmers market. I love it! The rhubarb will become this. (It will be ready by July 4th. Come over for a drink then!)

It’s a week of additional preaching for me. I gave the address at the cemetery on Memorial Day and am in charge of the sermon tonight at the community baccalaureate service. I’m taking a play from the creative Kendall playbook – we are going to read a children’s story. It should be fun; Lindsay is good at looking ridiculous in front of large groups of people.

These are my current favorite things: open windows that lead to chilly mornings; watching my flowers grow; day camp shopping; Frozen (I finally watched it!); dreaming of summer adventures; hugs; trips to the cities; and Mabel walks. What are your favorite things?

She is my new summer friend. She still needs a few accessories (um, basket and bell, please!) but we officially met this past week. I now know how to travel with her in my car’s backseat so the possibilities are endless. She and I together (along with another bike and a guy on that bike) will see the bike trails of Austin and maybe even some bike paths around southeastern Minnesota. We are going to be good friends, Mavis and I. Good friends.

Oh, Chaco flip flops.

Did you know that this is the beginning of the ninth summer we have spent together? I remember because you were a college graduation present to myself. (One doesn’t just spend $65 on a pair of flip flops all willy-nilly. These are special occasion purchase flip flops.) Nine summers. Can you believe it?

Before you, I was a firm believer in cheap $2 flip flops. In every color. I loved them. Until I met you.

You offer arch support and don’t get super slippery when wet. You are great for walking in for long distances and standing in for long periods of time. You are what so many flip flops are not.

And you have withstood the test of time. Eight summers of wearing you probably practically everyday. I’m enamored by you. A dirty, raggedy flip flop. And here comes summer number nine.

We’ve spent great times together. You’ve seen me to foreign countries and many states. Where will we go this summer? Adventures are yet to be told but I can nearly guarantee – we’ll go together.

Sadly, the weekend has to end at some point. It’s been highly productive here on Mower Freeborn Road. I have some completed projects and some in-progress projects to show for it. They include but are not limited to: four (finally) recovered dining room chairs; banana blueberry muffins; rhubarb cookies (oh, yes, you read that right); a marked wall grid with the beginning stages of polka dots (which I confess, after much pomp and circumstance and excitement, I’m not sure I like); flower pots planted; coasters for sister, Emma, made (I have now made tile coasters for every member of my immediate family; anyone else need some? Postcards work great.);
a new-to-me spray painted and seat-covered sewing chair; continued work on a hexagon quilted table runner; and matchbook shadow box frames complete and hung (my dad collected matchbooks in his younger days; I have them hanging on my wall now). My backyard also was planted: I take no credit for that but enjoyed watching it happen.

Phew. It’s been busy and good. Time to curl up with a movie and chill. I hope your weekend was joyful/productive/relaxing/delicious/whatever you needed it to be!

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The sermon is, well, half written. (That’s half more than usual!) The boyfriend is out of town. There is nothing significant on my calendar. It’s a throwback to those days and weeks and years when I had to entertain myself. Hello, projects. I’m so excited. (Though first I’m going to get my hair cut and sub for a music class for a whole two periods. I hear I’ll be pushing play on a DVD.) But then, after that and my first grade volunteer gig, PROJECTS!

Here are a few clues and a few beforehand shots:

I did a lot of visiting today.  Here is a snippet from one of the favorite moments of the day:

Gentleman: Are you married?

Pastor Lindsay: No, I’m not married.

Gentleman: Gee whiz.  You seem like a great prospect.

My favorite part of that favorite moment?  Easily the gee whiz.  You don’t hear many gee whizes anymore.   I laughed heartily at the response [thus to also avoid any sort of other response to his response].

I heard another gee whiz about five minutes later when we repeated basically the same conversation.

Gee whiz.  We should bring it back.  Like this –

Gee whiz.  Lindsay sure is doing a lot of blogging this week.  I am.  I’m trying to be intentional about sharing things with you.  It’s been a long hiatus; I’m trying hard to be back at it.  I miss you and telling you stories!

This one time I walked into Lowes with ten paint chips and asked to have ten samples of ten colors made. I actually apologized to the guy as I handed them over. “I’m sorry; you’re going to hate me,” is what I actually said. He assured me that someone once came with twenty so I was only half as bad. (Did I mention he had to color match all but one too, because I didn’t actually get the paint chips from Lowes? Yeah …) Anyways, this one time I went to Lowes with ten paint chips and came home with many, many sample containers of paint.

Something is brewing in this parsonage and it has to do with a sweet potato, equally measured pencil marks, and a wall. Stay tuned.

I’m going to drop a little churchy, synod language on you. Ready?

The ELCA consists of synods. Each synod consists of conferences. Each conference has deans. Deans = conference leaders.

I am a vice-dean for my conference, going on year two of service in this capacity. JD and Paige are new co-deans of their conference. The deans meet at the synod office five or six times a year for dean’s meetings. Tonight was the first time that Paige, jD, and I were all present together as deans in some capacity. Thus we had to visit Candace.

Candace? I’ve introduced her to you before. A long time ago. Candace lives in the ‘All Things Fransiscan’ room at Assisi Heights, the place at which the synod offices live. Candace is a nun. An inanimate nun who has a sign pinned to her: Please touch only with your eyes. We first met Candace when we first came to the synod together, three years ago. (Three years ago?! Three years ago, the three of us were assigned to the southeastern Minnesota synod. I can hardly believe it has been that long!)

For old times sake, for the three year anniversary of meeting Candace, for the celebration of being deans together, here is a selfie with her. Please touch only with your eyes.

Through a random series of events (and google searches), I learned about a camp. A camp held in different locations across the United States every year. A camp that only lasts a weekend. Color Lindsay intrigued.

Oh, right. It’s also a camp specifically for grieving kids. Kids who have lost a parent or family member or close friend. That’s why Lindsay was super intrigued.

It’s called Camp Erin and there is one in northern Minnesota in July. I contacted the organizer and got the details. They might maybe hopefully need one or two more counselors and I might maybe hopefully be one of them. I will attend a training at the end of the month and we will see! Fingers crossed.

Check out more about Camp Erin here.

Let it be confirmed … I still don’t like sushi. I tried it for the second time and it is still a no-go in my book. Mr.Pepper Shaker is shocked that I don’t like it.

Let it be confirmed … My confirmation students remain awesome. (It’s been awhile since I’ve reminded you of that fact.) Last night was our last session for the year and it came after a long lent/Easter class hiatus. I asked them to share with me their favorite and not so favorite parts about the year. Favorites? Practically everything. Not so favorite? Homework. That’s it. And let it be known that I gave them homework ONCE and it was only if they didn’t finish their project during the class time. They are so great. I’ll miss them this summer!

Let it be confirmed … I’m feeling burned out. Now, compared to certain colleagues, I don’t even deserve to say that. However, we are approaching that 25-days-in-a-row of working. I just need a full day off. I’m dragging. Unable to motivate myself to go to work and get work done. And this weekend is synod assembly so both Friday and Saturday will be super full, long days. Next week. Next week appears to be my relief. The plan is to head home for a few days to say hello to my Edgertonians!

Let it be confirmed … I needed a new project to start. (That is complete sarcasm – the last thing I need is another project in the mix.) However, I decided that I needed some handwork to do while at the assembly/hanging in Rochester for the weekend. Enter Lindsay ironing and cutting fabric last night at 10:30 (when she should have been packing and doing laundry for her nights away) for a hexagon-ish table runner. Oy.

Let it be confirmed … I wish you all a happy weekend. Find some joy and then share it with someone else!