So much!

We have entered that time of year when so much is happening, it is hard to keep track of it all. It is a wonderful time of year - spring is coming, concerts are happening after weeks of rehearsal, the church year is reaching its climax, life is pulsing in a new way.

I feel fortunate because I am feeling better - my esophagus and stomach seem to be behaving more normally - and Ellen's back seems to be doing fine. So, of course, we are doing more!

Last weekend, Ellen drove to Swarthmore while I stayed with Katie and Savanna. I got quite a lot done while I was there - in addition to having a fun time with K&S and watching the Final Four games. I was able to "pencil in" my tax returns for both Federal and State taxes. But I encountered some unexpected things in the forms as well as some missing 1099s, so I decided to file for extensions, which gives me time to finish them in a more relaxed way.

I also was able to write a first draft on a meditation I am doing on the Fifth Word of the Seven Last Words for an ecumenical Good Friday service at the Guilford Church. My word is "I thirst." I'm taking a little different tack on it from what I have done in the past or heard others do.

Ellen came back from Swarthmore (where she had a lovely visit with Sarah and Harry and Wallace) on Monday and arrived at K&S's Monday evening, at about 8:30p.m. That was just before the Championship game between Texas Tech and Virginia. We knew if we went home the house would be cold, but we also needed to be at John's house by 7:45a.m., Tuesday morning, to take him to Danby to pick up the Honda Insight. I had thought we would probably go home Monday night, despite the cold house, but we decided to stay Monday eve at K&S's and get up early to go to John's.  That allowed us to watch the game. We rooted for Texas Tech, but they lost in overtime to Virginia. And that's the end of March Madness!

We did get up early and were at John's at just 7:45! It was fun going to Danby - about an hour and a half drive - and a very pretty drive too. The car is pretty cool looking. John is a little worried about some mechanical problems - both those he knows about and possible unknown ones - but he got an inspection sticker there in Danby, and it performed well coming home. It is fully driveable as is, at least for a while.

Here is the Honda Insight. John got it for $800, but more will have to be invested in it.

Later on Tuesday we had a River Singers rehearsal, and we went for soup beforehand. Wednesday I did tax work and we went to the Centering Prayer workshop at the Guilford Church. Thursday was a blessedly open day and I finally got to the pool. Unfortunately, the hot tub was being cleaned, but I did some time on the exercise machines. Friday, Ellen put on a supper for the Dummerston Choir before our rehearsal for Palm Sunday. Only eight people could come but it was a delicious supper (no surprise!) and enjoyed by all. Ellen had roasted squash for that supper and I thought they looked quite handsome on the stove:

Roasted squash cooling on the stove

That was last night. This morning we went to Guilford for an information meeting on the way they will handle the transition next year between Lise Sparrow, our current pastor who is retiring, and a new minister who has yet to be chosen but who will arrive, hopefully, by Fall 2020. Instead of finding an interim minister, they want to explore a new model which involves a period of overlap between the retiring minister and the new settled minister.

Right now I'm at the Dummerston Church. I just emptied the dishwasher of all our dishes from last night. This evening we are going to Tom Goldschmid's 70th birthday party. We are invited to bring poems and songs to share, so I've been thinking about that. Yesterday was John's birthday. We will have a birthday lunch with John and Cynthia after church tomorrow. I also am planning to take them to the theater in May - a production of Gaslight by the Vermont Theater Company - as a birthday present. More on that later. Next week is Holy Week - rehearsals Monday and Tuesday night, special services on Thursday and Friday. Ellen has taken on additional responsibility for a Seder meal and ritual at Guilford Thursday, and I may be roasting lamb for it. We attend the Feinland Seder on Saturday, for which Ellen also prepares food. Then it is Easter. All good, but it is a lot.