figgy

It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd share a tasty piece of today's joy. My first fig.



It comes after another break-in at the house. So, I'm praying that it's a signal of Micah's good promise for us (and all creation) about the time when we'll all have vines and fig trees and no one will make us afraid.

And, it comes after Jr High Camp, which was most excellent. I'm glad I get to hang out with junior high age people sometimes. It's good for me. As are the fabulous adults who work with them.

fresh mountain air

We're just back from a little vacation to the mountains--a backpacking adventure in the Sierras, a bit of lounging and a day's work in Julian on our house-building project.I love high mountain meadows.

It feels so good to have time out and away. Reminds me of the goodness of Sabbath rest. And, it reminds me that too often I use my time "off" to work on projects, or at least scheme on them. Having, like, five days in a row when I didn't think about projects and schemes and dreams felt really good. I can only hope that God was doing all that good stuff inside and with me that'll make my work more than work, and more than I could be if I did things on my own.

Today, though, I woke up exhausted, fretting about all the things that need to be done today (and tomorrow, before Jr High Camp and another week away from the office...). Sigh.

Unable to resist a game of tag with my friend Erika, here are my answers to questions you didn't know you wanted to ask:

Four Jobs I've Had
-My first job was as a weaver for a friend of my mom's--first in her basement making denim rag rugs and handbags made out of denim rag rugs, and later at a living history museum in Nebraska where I got to live out my Little House on the Prairie fantasies.
-For a year, I was the accompanist for a children's choir at my church (back in the day)
-I worked as a summer camp counselor at Nerd Camp (they didn't really call it that) at Duke U
-Pastor (which is my present gig) at a United Methodist Church in San Diego

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
-Rubin and Ed (I know. You haven't seen it. It still makes me laugh, but I hope you won't decide if I'm cool or not by your opinion of it, should you ever find an old VHS copy and decide to watch it. It came at a formative time in my life...and I cannot resist saying many of the lines along with the movie)
-Moulin Rouge (with singing-along)
-Microcosmos
-Goonies

Four Places I've Lived
North Platte, Nebraska
Niamey, Niger
Boston
San Diego

Four Places I've Vacationed
Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado
the Big Island of Hawaii
Zion National Park in Utah
Palm Springs, CA

Four of my favorite dishes
Enchiladas Verdes (one shitake and one cheese) from Rancho's in San Diego
Bean and Cheese Burritos from any drive-thru in San Diego (a staple of my diet)
Apricot Salmon (a new dish in my attempt to eat locally-ish)
any good lasagna

Four Sites I Visit Daily
Common Dreams
MySpace
Urban Dictionary (I love dictionaries of all sorts!)
Erika's blog

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now
-in bed (with the laundry done. Is that too much to ask? Man, that sounds old and boring.)
-in the mountains (any mountains will do), preferably in a comfy lounge chair from which I can see the big moon and the stars
-on the beach, listening to the waves (again, with comfy chair)
-in a better-stretched-out position on this very couch where I presently sit

Four people I'm tagging:

Marian
Vanessa (it's dangerous to tell me you read this thing)
my mom
Sharron
(if I knew anyone else out there, other than my brother whose blog isn't given to such games, i'd tag them, too. ;))

Sunday garden tour

I didn't have as much time to spend in my garden as I'd have liked today, but I did stop to enjoy it, just before sundown. Wanna come on a tour?
I picked the first tomatoes today--"Juliet" grape tomatoes. They were tasty. My challenge for the day was figuring out what to do with the rowdy Brandwine tomato that has outgrown its stake and made it fall over. Tonight, it's strung up with twine, tied to the fences. A little sketchy, but mmmmm, those tomatoes are gonna taste good!

And, as you can see, the corn is more-than-knee high, and it's only the first of July, so things are looking good. The chard won't stop growing. The squash and pumpkin are flowering and making fruits...

My surprise is the pot of calla lilies you can see way over on the left (just an edge in the top picture)--Matt planted the bulbs back before Iraq, when we were in the condo. The whole pot looked rather dead, but I decided it might be worth watering. And, by grace, it's in bloom!

Bonus points to anyone who can identify all the edible things growing here. (I counted 11, but I have some advantages. Like I know what I planted.)
The passionflowers on the fence keep blooming--I was afraid they'd quit by now. I like 'em because they don't like to show their faces in the morning any more that I do. (They're an afternoon-opening flower...)
The sunflowers are growing tall--this one's over six feet, and glorious-looking. I love sunflowers.
And, for kicks, I thought I'd throw a craft project (a little bit o' garden art) into the tour. Here's one of my recycled wine bottle lantern prototypes, hanging in the backyard. It's not glowing, but you can use your imagination...
Now I'm back to dehydrating things for our backpacking adventure...