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I realized this past year that I've got a lot to learn about growing things in the desert. And sometimes the amount of water used is not enough to keep things alive. In front of our casita is a lot of cement and paving stones, so I am going to have to be creative about lots of pots. The horse troughs make good planters and I've seen cedar plank planters that might be big enough for tomatoes & some greens. There are many aspects of gardening that I can't physically do any more. The digging and tilling I really need to let go. Since the yard is shared it really isn't all mine to do anyway. This is another aspect of my life that is changing. Truthfully, it is kind of fun to watch how life is evolving for me. So pots it is this year. Maybe next year I can invest in some larger planters, and maybe an aquaponics to raise fish! --donna
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I spent a good part of last summer transplanting and thinning my garden. My irises are all divided and transplanted. I am anxious to see how they do. They were already starting to grow before this really cold time hit. I also got some new plants from Terese as the amount of shade they had and where it was had changed. I will be anxious to see how those plants do as well. Once it finally got to freezing on the west side of my house (try December) I divided and replanted my amaryllis. I planted one bulb a number of years ago and it really prospered. I was able to plant a short row of amaryllis where the other one was. It was a good spot so why not use it again. (If anyone would like an amaryllis, I have two in pots that could use a new home.) I was able to give a couple of bulbs to my mother-in-law who is an avid plant person, not vegetables, but lots of indoor plants. She rarely puts things in the ground and I am just the opposite. I run out of room in my house and decide I enjoy them better in the yard. I also got a new crepe myrtle from my neighbor and it did not look good when it got transplanted. We'll see. My main plan is to tend the things that are planted and try to make sure they survive. I had really good luck with tomatoes last year so will make another stab at that. I planted them in a new place where I could watch them more easily and being home so much of the time made for better care, I am sure. If there is anything else it is hard to think about that when it is the middle of the afternoon and 19 degrees. Here's back to warmer weather soon! --Carolyn I kept a whole bowlful of seeds from last years zinnias, to plant in my six deck flowerpots. I also have some plants that flowered all summer, that are still green in my pots, despite snow and freezing temps. So I will nurture them as well. My roses I got for Moms Day last year and planted by the front door, are under mulch and will be cared for as soon as they come out again. My naked ladies are already sprouting above the mulch, and I hope this late and lasting freeze doesn’t kill them. That’s it for my garden, no other space. But I did transplant a tiny Japanese maple last spring that I found growing in a hole inside a limestone rock. It grew pretty tall all summer, and when it dropped its leaves in late fall I transplanted it to just outside my deck fence, where we had a tree taken down this year because of Dutch Elm disease. So I go out weekly and talk to Little Tree, and will watch its progress all spring, summer and fall. --Cynthia It's hard to think about my spring garden today, when everything outside is covered in ice. Tim's tried to save the last of the fall crop with greenhouse tents, but I'm not sure if it will be good enough. The goldfinches seem happy at least for the thistle seed we provide, even with the icicles dangling from their feeder! Just last week the highs reached 80 degrees--this week, lows might be single digits. Just before the freezing rain arrived, Tim built the frame for a third raised bed in our back yard. I'm still deciding what to plant in it. While we're stuck inside the next five or six days, I'll decide. I suspect within a couple of weeks, it'll be back up to the 70s or 80s. Sheesh. Climate change. We haven't had very good luck in the past several years with tomatoes (here, or in Oklahoma), and that's the crop I most want to be good. I always have plentiful herbs (basil, cilantro, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and parsley), which I use frequently in cooking, but my best success last year was with flowers. I had beautiful cosmos, zinnias, and snapdragons. From July to late September, I had a bouquet of garden flowers in a vase all the time and gave bouquets to friends and family. The colors cheer me up. I plan to plant more of them this year as well. If the tomatoes refuse to yield again, at least I'll have my beautiful flowers! --Janice I have missed in person worship, especially congregational singing, communing with others, and visiting with my friends that I generally only see once a week. But I think that Fellowship has done a great job with the virtual services. The special music has been wonderful, and the pastors have been able to change things periodically to make the service visually interesting, besides having prayers and sermons on issues affecting all of us during this difficult time. Although I must say, that one of the best things for me, has been attending very thought provoking Sunday school classes. Before going to virtual worship, I often intended to go to Sunday school, but I enjoyed the socializing after the worship service so much that I didn’t always make it to class. The discussions have certainly helped me grow in my understanding of what racism has cost us all, personally and socially. I do look forward to returning to in person services, but am uncertain as to when that will be a regular occurrence because of the continued limitations for the protection of everyone. --Jeanette Worship during the time of COVID has certainly been different. I miss the congregational singing and being able to visit after the service. I really enjoyed outdoor church this summer and knew that would not last. It has certainly meant not dressing up for church, but I haven't been in my pajamas or robe yet. That really doesn't feel right. I do appreciate a shorter service which they have all been. Amazing how music and all the other matters fit in less time. Of course, communion is very short. I have a recipe for communion bread that I have made when I was on Altar Guild or helping get bread for communion. I make that and keep the extras in the freezer. I really enjoy doing this, but only make a fourth of the recipe. I do look forward to going back in person, once I am vaccinated. I want to see what it is like and then I will decide what I will do from there. It is a very small attendance. On the other hand I really don't miss the drive to church and being ready early as I used to go at 830. I can't really imagine church with no singing and no contact communion. The elements that were bought that come as a wafer and grape juice were pretty awful! Mine are much better including my grape juice. What I have enjoyed is being able to go whenever I want. What it means, when I am not there, is that around 1015 or 1030, I will get a series of text messages from groups and individuals with messages of peace. I know for sure that it is Sunday and that is where we are in the service. I haven't been in the church building in 4 months and that is really unusual. I continue a morning practice of Scripture readings and other materials. It does help to ground my day and remind me this is not all about me. Part of what I read is Richard Rohr's daily meditation. I thoroughly enjoyed last week and the concept of not knowing and being okay with that. That is where I am most of the time and it is good to be there. Then I can be okay whether there is church as I know it and have known it or not. --Carolyn I love worshipping on line, listening to the beautiful music, and having communion with my husband, using Triscuits and water. What could be better? The music has been extraordinary, classical music played by our organist, and also recordings of her musician daughter in Chicago. OH! And the folk music by Ken and his wife, and the male quartet from the choir. I wait for it every Sunday. The times have been so extraordinary as well, and our pastors have risen to the challenge. It will be hard to go back to church as usual. I also dearly love the Sunday school, so personal, with my favorite pastor. I guess since I am already a spiritual person, I don’t feel that I need the trappings of a church building and costumes and tradition, and I am really happy to just drink water for communion. As far as I am concerned, water is what life is built on, water is what baptism uses, water is sacred. Since I have seldom left the house this last year, except for bike rides, I have looked forward to this hour every Sunday. It has not disappointed me. And I love that I can suggest to Kent to listen to the music or the sermon. And he does. We hope this kind of worship continues. --Cynthia The pandemic has forced some changes to our worship routine--some welcome, and others not so much. I do miss singing with a congregation (because they drown out my off-notes). We were attending the contemporary service before the pandemic, with a worship style that I didn't prefer, but I preferred the time it was offered and was becoming accustomed to it. Our church now does only one service and blends elements of the traditional and contemporary services, which I like. Services are live via Zoom or are recorded for viewing whenever you like. We joined this congregation only about seven or eight months before the pandemic shut everything down, so we didn't know that many people well. However, we made a deliberate effort in our first few months of membership to get involved, and that meant we had at least some foundation to build on when we began operating mostly on Zoom. Monthly committee meetings have continued (we joined the Mission Committee), we've had fairly nonstop weekly (antiracist) book discussion group meetings--including small group breakout sessions, and women's and men's weekly Bible studies have continued--all of these on Zoom. I'm finding this a pretty good way to get acquainted, in spite of the limitations. I also volunteered to co-coordinate a ministry partnership with a local elementary school, which has been rewarding. While all these activities aren't technically "worship," I think any time we engage with our community in the name of Christ, we are worshiping. And Zoom helps keep our worship activities corporate, because we can still interact and greet others during online services. Another outgrowth of the pandemic is my rededication to a daily meditation, or individual worship, schedule. For Lent last year, the church sponsored a prayer vigil, and I signed up to pray at 6:20 every morning. I haven't stopped! I'm not obsessive about the time, but I generally spend the first 40 minutes or so of my day in meditation, journal writing, and prayer. It helps orient me for the day and provides fresh inspiration via meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation or lectionary readings. This year for Lent, we're doing a book discussion online group on centering prayer, which I look forward to incorporating in my morning routine. Each of these online activities promotes worship of a different variety than I was used to, but I'm finding reasons for gratitude in the changes. --Janice We had started attending Chris's congregational "home" in late September of 2019. The Community of Christ is a very social justice oriented church with peace, justice and equality, as taught by Jesus, as the foundation of their faith. It is a lay-person led congregation with no paid staff. Lessons and worship are all based on the bible readings for that Sunday. Much of the service is spent on reports of members' concerns and prayer requests. The congregation was welcoming and accepted us into their fold. Chris's dementia was becoming more evident then and he could not participate in the discussions. He did seem to enjoy being there and looked forward to going. I have chosen a liturgical church for my path ever since I became acquainted with the Episcopal Church in my teens. the small chapel in the small town where I lived was quiet and peaceful: no pulpit banging, no unending altar calls, no officious deacons with loooong public prayers: just quiet redemption, healing and peace. After months of not going anywhere, I am peaceful with just skipping the whole Sunday routine. I don't Zoom any service because I didn't become part of any congregation here. Do I miss that part of my life? A little, but my life now is very different and I am not on my own to do as I choose. I am very glad I spent about 20 years in AlAnon, reading, listening and learning. I have always felt that having a spiritual community is important and I look forward to finding my "tribe" again. My current goal is to find peace, and joy, in the everydayness of my days. My Higher Power is fueling me along every day and staying present in teaching me gratitude and acceptance. --donna As an introvert I gravitate toward private as opposed to corporate worship. I can commune with God all by myself, preferably alone in a quiet place. I have gone for long periods of time without attending church at various stages of my life, and it was always ok with me. I didn’t think being forced to stay away from church services during the pandemic would bother me, but it does. In part this is because Ed and I were fairly new to our church and had just become members when the pandemic hit. We were getting to know people and looking for things we could do. Sadly, we have discovered that names were insufficiently cemented into our memories, and I fear that we will be in the awkward position of getting to know people all over again. We watch pre-recorded church services on Sunday. Our pastor still gives wonderful sermons, one of the reasons I was attracted to that church in the first place. He does the liturgy as best he can, but it feels kind of silly saying responses and prayers aloud with no one else present. It’s not the same as participating as part of a congregation. And I really miss the wonderful piano music from our music director. He plays a couple of songs during the taped service but it’s nothing like the music in a live service. And I miss singing with a congregation. There is a way in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in a church service. I’m not sure I really understood that before the pandemic. I have tried to be faithful to participate in the limited activities available at my church, mostly on zoom. It’s a very different way to do a class or discussion group. In some ways it’s kind of nice, not the least of which is that there is better attendance at evening events. I wonder how we will phase back into normal church life and if we will always incorporate virtual events. I hope we can move back to something more normal, but hopefully in a thoughtful way, incorporating some of the things we’ve learned. --Terese |
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