Is it Friday already?

1

It wasn't quite an invite to an inaugural ball, but a friend called us last week and invited us to help out/attend a meeting of the Explorer's Club being held at our local Natural History Museum. It's always interesting to see how the other 1% live. Our friend is the most humble, down-to-earth guy ever, and he's due to get an award for his humanitarian efforts around the world, but the Explorer's Club is definitely an old-fashioned elite establishment. It was a lovely dinner, with interesting speakers discussing everything from recent missions to Mars to kayaking through Antarctica. I found myself the most interested in the discussion of local Chumash Indian culture from a staff member of the museum. As much as I enjoy travel (I'll stick to subarctic regions, thank you very much), I find myself more and more interested in my own backyard -- and I realize how little I really know this place I call home.

2

Meanwhile, in my own backyard baby grass is poking its collective head up out of the ground. It's looking like our eventual plan to relocate the patio closer to the new addition will be a smart one -- there's very little sun in that area, and precious few blades of green so far. This weekend is fully booked, so there goes another week for planning the vegetables...

3

The weekend is largely taken up with a board meeting for a non-profit some friends of our started. I've been treasurer for a decade now, and much as I would like to give the job away, I know there will be no takers. It isn't a huge amount of work (we don't raise that much money), but it has its moments, like figuring out tax forms and such. So I thought nothing of it when a friend asked if I'd consider being the treasurer of the PTA this year. There's so much piddling paper work, trips to the bank with several hundred dollars in coin, etc. Such fun! I'm starting to wonder whether I'm like the deer with the target on its belly in the Far Side strip -- do I have a sign on my forehead that says "Will do bookkeeping for non-profits"? Need I mention my father is a CPA, and used to take me to work with him on occasion -- setting me to foot long columns of numbers with an adding machine. I knew from an early age that accounting was not for me. Heck, I consistently make addition mistakes with my own bank deposits!

4

My parents arrive Saturday evening for a month's respite from frozen snow-and-ice-land (also known as Boston). Ray has been counting down the days for while now. About two weeks ago she was saying they're coming the day after the day after tomorrow. Well, not quite. Now we're down to "Grandma and Grandpa come in two more days!" Meanwhile she came home with a book in her backpack -- "Countdown to Grandma's House." How appropriate, but where did it come from, exactly? First, her teacher gave it to her. Then a friend -- whose name she can't quite remember, but maybe it's Ariel -- gave it to her. Or loaned it to her. I've got to remember to track that one down today. Dear little Ray is turning out to have an aptitude for fiction, I'm afraid.

5

Doe had a late afternoon snack last night, and being less interested in dinner than usual, decided to give us a recap on a story her teacher read today. "It's realistic fiction," she explained. "That means it's non-fiction," Ray countered. "No, it's realistic fiction. That means it could have happened but we don't know." I didn't realize that was a technical term, so I tried to paraphrase for her, and was soundly corrected: "It means it could have happened but we don't know." OK, that's how your teacher defined it, that's good enough for me.

6

I've been meaning to write a church update, but for now I'll just say that Communion has opened up for me in a whole new way. I've been thinking about the process of receiving from God, and what he gives in that simple sharing of bread and wine. Ricci Kilmer links the Lord's table with food issues, and asks about giving: "What does it mean to BE Christ’s body for people? What does it mean to say that his body is offered freely? And how should that change me?" I wish I could join her for her "Justice at the Table" workshop next week.

7

Food safety sermonette of the week: If you needed another reason to avoid high-fructose-corn-syrup (beyond obesity, diabetes, etc.), check this out: It turns out that many foods sweetened with HFCS contain mercury, left as a residue in the production of caustic soda, a key ingredient in HFCS. And worst of all, the FDA and the industry have known about this potential toxin and has continued serving it up since at least 2005. If there's any merit to the claims of many parents that mercury in vaccines is behind their childrens' autism, consider how much more exposure kids have from sodas and other foods laced with HFCS.