Rhapsody: Paul Simon - “How Can You Live In the Northeast”
Mood: Ready to go!

Tonight Chey and I leave for our “2nd Annual Trip to St. Gregory’s” (unless you can come up with a better name…). We had such a great time last year that we vowed to make it an annual tradition. Actually, I wish I would make time to go more often. Aside from it being a great way to retreat, refocus, and reprioritize, the monks are wonderful people and the more I visit the more they become like old friends to me. Mike asked me last night… “Except for the fact that they live in a monastery, these guys are pretty normal then?” Pretty much. They are just normal people fulfilling an extraordinary calling.

We will be there until Monday, so I won’t be reachable until then. I’ll have my phone with me but I plan to leave it in the truck and check it periodically.

Oh, and Dad, they would love to see you again. Each time I’m there they comment on how long it’s been and are always eager to hear how you are doing.

I told you we were going camping, and I kept my word. Here are some highlights:

This is Heather. You know her, she’s the master planner who makes sure we have the best food ever. The food is my favorite part of camping with the Johnson’s. I love food. People who know me know I get very excited about food. Heather is due to have that baby around Thanksgiving, and that excites me because it makes me think of turkey every time I see her

This is Dan, Heather’s husband. He is the most laid-back guy ever, as evident in this photo. He whittled most of the weekend, working on an amazing sculpture of a ball inside a ball. You just have to see it for yourself. Why, I might just have a picture of it…

Mike really loves dogs. I know we are crazy about the cats, but he still really wants a dog. Some day we will, I’m sure. Some day when we have a bigger house and a live-in maid (preferably not me). In this picture Mike is chillin’ with Buster, who belongs to Dan and Heather. He’s a great dog once you get to know him.

This is me with my poker face on. I had to hide my face so Heather couldn’t detect my tells. It apparently worked, I won the game!!

Here I am engaging in one of my favorite pastimes: logic puzzles. Poser geek? I think not.

I wish I could show you all the delicious meals we partook of but I just don’t want to burden you with all those photos (and I do have the photos). Besides, the drooling may cause damage to your keyboard. All in all it was a great vacation and we have vowed to do it again next year. Chow, baby!

I will be starting a new job on Tuesday. I know what you are thinking, you didn’t know I was looking for one. It’s true, I wasn’t looking, but not because I didn’t want a new job. It was just that I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But Monday I received a job offer. And today I took it. I job hop. I don’t mean to, really. But I really miss the job I had at Foresight for a myriad of reasons, and want to find that again. I hope this is the one. It looks like a great opportunity for a great company and it will almost bring me back up to the payscale I was at 3 years ago. That’s a plus. That will help us get out of debt faster. Our debt retirement has been at a near standstill for some time now, so this will help. Plus I may still do some accounting work for my former employer on a temporary part-time basis, and that will bring in some extra cash too. Sweet.

This weekend we’ll be camping with our favorite camping buddies, Dan & Heather (and little Gilgamesh who is on the way, due in late November). Mike and I aren’t big fans of camping but it’s great with Dan & Heather because they make it so much fun! Not to mention Heather is the master planner and she ensures that we are all well fed the entire time. So I’m looking forward to a long weekend of rest, relaxation, and some darn good food!

Mike and I went to the folk fest Friday night with the Johnsons. Yes, I actually convinced him to go to an event with ‘folk’ in the name, and during a Lions game at that! I had such a good time that I went back on Saturday. I had some great alone time and then Chey joined me later on in the evening. We danced, ate elephant ears, and left with some groovy henna tattoos. Henna is pretty cool but I have to agree a bit with James: it looks a lot like I drew on myself with magic marker.

The Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing starts tonight. Among the many great musical artists featured there are the Georgia Sea Island Singers. I had never heard of them but I looked them up on Comcast Rhapsody and let me tell you, this is good stuff. I had originally wanted to see the Irish band at the festival but I think I have changed my mind after listening to this group. If you have Rhapsody, check them out. And if you are anywhere near East Lansing this weekend, come to the festival! It’s FREE!

http://greatlakesfolkfest.net/

Were you wondering how my trip to the abbey went? Not much exciting happened, but did do a whole lot of relaxing. Chey and I have decided that when we are old and our husbands are dead, we will live together in a cozy cottage like the one we stayed in. Although we would have to find one with no critters. And one that didn’t smell so old.

Our 3 days and 3 nights consisted of lots of napping, knitting, and reading. And in between we would go to church and visit with the monks at coffee time. The coffee was divine. Seriously. And the conversation was wonderful as usual. We talked about movies and politics among other things. Prior Aelred and Father William had us in stitches, Fr. William with his obscure movie knowledge and Pr. Aelred with his great stories and his intelligent sense of humor. We met the new guys, Brothers Thomas and Cuthbert. They were very chatty and we loved that.

We had no run-ins with the raccoons in the barn, despite my worst fears. The half mile walk from our cottage was pleasant when traveling to the church, but always seemed longer when coming back. I had considered attending one of their 4 am services, but realized I would have to make that walk alone (Chey did not consider it, not even a little) in the dark. Chey tells me that raccoons are nocturnal, and since I consider 4 am to still be nighttime… well that walk was just not an option. We did make it to all the Mass and Vespers services, with the exception of Mass on Saturday. Mass is the third service of the day. It starts at 8:15 and we woke up at 8:30. It was 8:30 and the monks had already held 3 services. The last service (#7) is held at 7:45, so we figured that the monks all went to bed really early, but Prior Aelred tells us that he usually goes to bed at midnight. Yikes!

The monks were so hospitable and considerate, as always. Their ministry to the guests is one of their most important, and they do it well. I was glad that we were able to get to know them better this time around. And it was wonderful to go with someone who appreciated the abbey as much as I do. It was a fantastic trip and we have decided to make it an annual tradition.