Southern Style

The first time that the COR-tet sang at church, I commented that we needed to find some songs with more energy. Well, the next one that we picked was a traditional Southern gospel quartet number that definitely has more energy!

Tulips

About 2 weeks ago I spotted some beautiful purple tulips in the cut flower section of the grocery store so I brought them home for Linda. They've been gracing our table and doing well, but were clearly getting to the end of their time. Well, today they did something magical and turned into this.

10,000 Reasons

I've always been a singer. The stories from my parents of my earliest years recounted times of me singing in church. So I was excited to have to opportunity to join the praise team at church this morning. The worship set included this song which has become a favorite of mine "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" by Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman.

In a conversation after the service someone commented that singing like this "opens up your heart" and I can't think of a better way to describe the experience. Singing God's praises and leading the congregation in worship was a wonderful experience. I'm thankful to Patty Gross, our worship leader, for the opportunity.

Praise the Lord, O my soul, O my soul,

Worship His holy name!

Sing like never before, O my soul.

I'll worship Your holy name!

Downton Madness

Normally, in our home the TV gets tuned to either The Weather Channel or HGTV. If PBS has a good travel show on Sunday evenings we'll tune in for that and we watch every Phoenix Suns game, but there's so little of value on TV these days that we almost never find something to intentionally turn on the TV so that we can watch it.

Well, a couple of weeks ago the cover of "Parade" magazine was about the start of Downton Abbey's 3rd season. I'd heard of the show, but hadn't taken much note of it up until then. Given our general interest in European things, especially history, it sounded intriguing. There was a Suns game on that evening and when it was over I noticed the time and decided I'd drop in on Downton Abbey just to see what all the buzz was about.

We were instantly hooked. Never mind that we'd missed the first third of the program - or that we hadn't seen the first 2 seasons. None of that mattered. I set the DVR to record the repeat broadcast so we could catch up. Then the good knitters on Ravelry mentioned that folks in our situation could catch up by subscribing to the free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime. I found that AP has a program for the WII so we joined, installed the program and ventured into the brave new world of online streaming video.

The good thing is that we had a 3-day weekend for Martin Luther King day so we didn't need to worry about staying up late. Over the 3 days, we watched all of Season 1 and about half of Season 2. By last night we had finished Season 2, rewatched the episodes from Season 3 that we'd seen, and last Sunday's episode. We've also explored what an "entail" is, and I'm trying not to talk too much like Mr. Carson.

I think the biggest draw for us is the window it gives us into a fascinating time, which is often ignored by history in school. The transitions in both technology and society are intriguing to see. Maggie Smith provides the comic relief in each episode.

After catching up on Seasons 1 & 2, we watched a short "recap" of the first 2 seasons. I'm glad I didn't rely on this to be the way I got "up to speed" on things, but having seen the full seasons I found the recap to be a real hoot - enjoy!

Watch Downton Abbey: Official Seasons 1 & 2 Recap on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

Winter

December is always a a busy time in our family - 3 birthdays, followed by Christmas. A week later there's New Years and a week later it's Linda's birthday. There are lots of photos to process so I'm behind on posting things.

Winter of course brings snow, and although the most recent storm didn't bring Flagstaff much snow, the very cold temperatures have kept the snow from melting. The San Francisco Peaks have kept the snow in the trees for longer than usual after a storm. This photo was taken from near my office last Friday afternoon.

One of the joys of winter is winter food, and there just isn't anything better for winter food than a big pot of pea soup. I love the way Linda makes it - thick enough to stand the ladle up in the pot! When you pair it with a slice of fresh bread made with Waldkorn flour, and real butter, it just doesn't get any better.

This was supper last night. Not only was it wonderful, but it gets better with age so the leftovers will be even better!

Thanksgiving

Most years we travel to Phoenix for the weekend to have Thanksgiving with the larger family. This year we did something different and returned home on Thursday after Thanksgiving lunch at the retirement apartments where Linda's mom lives. On Friday Mandy, Paul and the grandkids arrived from Phoenix, followed by Mike and his dog Stewie later that evening.

Saturday was the day for our Thanksgiving dinner - a roast and ham instead of turkey, but surrounded by all the usual family favorites. Afterward we got everyone together on the front porch for a picture.

It was a great weekend of just hanging around together like we hadn't done together in too many years. I can't describe how wonderful it was to have everyone together at the home where Mike, Mandy, and Nick grew up. Here are some more photos from the weekend.

   

Celebrating the Christ of Christmas

Let's boldly proclaim in confident speech and compassionate act that Jesus Christ, born in a humble manger in the obscure village of Bethlehem, lives today as the King of kings and Lord of lords. We bow before His majesty in weekly worship and daily service. We know not only who He is, the incarnate Son of God, but also whose we are. We belong to Christ. We are His people. We are not ashamed or embarrassed by the good news that all who claim His name become His children. And we will spend eternity with Jesus in His forever family. Arrogance? Certainly not. These are the humblest of statements only possible because of His amazing grace.
Rev. Bob Norton, writing in the December newsletter of our church, Church of the Ressurection (www.cor-pca.org)