Food Drive, band concert

The weather report last night indicated that between now and Saturday Thursday is the only day anticipated to be sunny in any way. Well, the sun will make its attempt to burn through the spring showers on Wednesday for sure, maybe Tuesday... but for the foreseen future by the weather prognosticators, it'll be a stormy Monday and rest of the week.

The rain started yesterday afternoon, monkeywrenching any wistful thoughts I'd had for a nice hike for Mother's Day. We sat around the house and Geoff was noisy. Doug made lunch. I made dinner. We all went to bed.

It was kind of a downer.

The rest of the weekend before it was great though. Aaron and Michelle's presence always improves the fun ratio. The can drive went great. It was a Godsend having Aaron there though, he made it his personal mission to out carry all the trash talkin' braggarts in the line saying that last year they carried 100 pounds and 110 pounds.

Aaron carried 104 pounds on his first heft. Subsequent trips to the trucks brought back 134 pounds.

Some of the trash talkin' braggarts in the line were getting pissed.

"Well, it's his FIRST year doin' this. I've been doin' it for seven!"

Like it matters whether or not its your first or fiftieth. Aaron rocked the party. When he'd get to the weigh table, the postal service dude would weigh his stuff and then yell, "YOU DA MAN!!!" It had me in stitches.

We didn't get nearly as much food as in years past, because only two people from our own congregation showed up to help. It's that way with our church. People don't get into things, and that is okay... I'd rather have people who show up willingly than people who groaningly feel obligated to help.

Next week after church is when they will get their opportunity to help when they go down to sort all the food out onto the tables.

I worked with the professor at the college on Saturday night for about 2 hours. It went really well. I always moan about having to go down there and work with her but I always have a great time... I should just learn not to moan about it and just go with a willing heart.

She has 1000 in grant money that she is giving me and has to use it by the end of May. I'm pretty psyched. I need to figure out how to do the whole paying taxes thing. I think I'm supposed to pay quarterly taxes on the stuff I'm making, but it really isn't that much. I don't know who to even talk to where it isn't going to cost me a lot of money. Sigh.

I'm clueless.

Well, I'm going to sign off. Geoff has been pretty much an angel for the last several days. He was the best kid ever at the can drive. Lucky for us our table was right in front of the Kindergarten Sunday school classroom. That kept him busy for 6 hours. And yesterday he was cooped up all day.

He allowed me to rest and snooze all morning, without trying to mix chocolate milk or writing on the walls. I got out of bed when the first of my three UPS deliveries showed up.

I may just let him go out to play today in the pouring rain. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he has a great imagination. I told him we'd bake cookies because he's been so good. And I have to swing by the church to pick up the box of donations for the local women's care center. So we have errands to do. I also have pictures to post, but I think that Jessica accidentally took my camera to school. This morning she was wearing the jacket I wore yesterday. My camera was in the front pocket. I'll crap my literal and metaphorical pants if she loses it. I have to go check the dining table to see if she was conscientious enough to remove it from the pocket.

2:24pm - addendum

Jessica did indeed have the sense that God gave geese and left my camera home. I found it in the kitchen after I posted this entry. God love her. Sometimes she is without a clue, other times, she's on top of it and then some.

Here are some recent pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera during the can drive. Don't know what I was thinking, but... here are some other pictures nonetheless.

	Last Wednesday night I'd mentioned that Jessie had a beginner band concert. I didn't get to mention my thoughts on it yet. Suffice to say, she's a cutie with her dad's saxophone. She wanted to take violin, but I told her she could take flute or sax, because we already owned the instruments. She's the only girl taking sax. She does a good job... hopefully someday she'll be as good as her daddy was!
After Church on Sunday I went down to assess the basement and Jess and M. came with me. M. is the one who got bit by Missy back last year... she and Jessie are still really good friends. And her dad and mom are people I love dearly and fully appreciate for being in our lives. Here, the pals show off with boxes of goods. All the tables down there are covered with boxes of food right now. Before, just the blue shelves in the way back. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to organize!
Michelle found some rather bizarre items in the food sort at the can drive. Here she models a can of Sprats, a product of Estonia. She also found duck pate, and some other wacky shit. We laughed and laughed. I've renamed her "Mischprat." We laughed and laughed...
We actually had to look up online what sprats are. It was a mystery to the four of us. Are they like sardines? Smelts? What? ... Notice that they are imported from Estonia by a company in Ft. Lauderdale. Linda, if you're interested, I'll mail you their address and you can maybe get a good sprat related career going there!
After church got out, we noticed a parade going up the street of First Communioners on their way to the Catholic church's hall, which is up around the corner from our church. The kids had to walk 2 blocks in their dresses and suits up through the neighborhood. I'm sure some felt like tools. Some of the boys were wearing sneakers, which cracked me up... but the girls looked lovely in their dresses. We waved at them... I stood with Jessie and M. and watched them walk by. We had a long talk about differences in faith between the Catholic church and the Episcopal/Protestant Churches... how at age 7 in the Catholic church sees your first communion, but most protestant churches want you to be in 7th grade or so before making the committment, because you should be making an adult choice... It was a good discussion. The girls were interested in learning, because both wondered why they didn't get to do this. M. said her cousin gets to do this in two weeks... most of her family is Catholic, but her parents started attending our church because it was across the street from their house. Jessica said she is relieved that we are not catholic. She said she'd hate to have to wear a dress like that. I thought it was really sweet to have First Communion Sunday on Mother's day. And this was kind of nice to see. Children so sweet, innocent and refreshing, in light of all that the Boston Media puts forth on the Catholic church right now. There's a lot of bad about it, but here you've got some sweetness. And I hope they continue to grow in fellowship and faith, and don't do what most of my catholic friends did when they were little -- quit going next Sunday.
Here's a picture I took in M.'s parents' yard. We dropped in to wish her mom a happy mother's day. They had spent the whole weekend prepping the yard for the mother's day festivities which are held annually at their home. The yard looks spectacular. I thought this was a pretty sight. She's a killer gardener, and makes my leaves droop with envy. I want to go through later in the summer and take more pictures of her yard for her. And for me. She gave me the bleeding hearts that I took a picture of a few days ago and used in the top left corner. She gives me cast offs from her garden sometimes. The bleeding hearts are the only things that seem to be doing well. She's awesome. Alright. That's my little picture show. Addendum fini!