.jpg)
Steve & Carrie's House+(Medium).jpg)
Some bunny to love... (taken at the base of the Sandias)
+(Medium).jpg)
Yours truely, looking across the city to the snow-covered mesa, beyond.
.JPG)
Up on the roof -- Steve, with the setting sun behind.Saludos de Albuquerque!
I've now completed a week of sabbatical, having been in New Mexico for half that time. My friends Steve and Carrie moved here from Ann Arbor six years ago, and I've been visiting them annually ever since.
Back home we've had almost no snow at all this year -- at least down in southeast Michigan. I did get caught in a blizzard driving home from Alpena early in December, but that's another story! At any rate, they've had two feet of snow here, all on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. By the time I arrived on January 3rd they were still digging out, and the public schools were closed for the whole week. They're simply not equipped for that kind of snow. The last time they had this much snow in one storm was 1959!
My friends live in a passive solar house, with sunlight providing heat for the house and the hot water. When it's really cold they use a wood pellet burning stove to supplement the heat, and we've been using the stove every morning and evening. Since I'm traveling to South America after this, and packing for a three month trip, I hadn't brought a lot of winter clothes. For the most part that has worked out, though I had to borrow a sweatshirt from Steve to supplement my wardrobe.
We attended worship this morning at West Mesa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the pastor, Rev. Mark Denton, preached an outstanding Epiphany sermon. The congregation is similar in size to COGS (that is, The Church of the Good Shepherd UCC, the church I pastor), but their worship style is quite different -- almost all pastor-led, and felt a good deal more formal. And also shorter! We were out of there in an hour, including communion. For lack of better term, I'd call it a "southern" service. It reminded me a lot of the services I attended as a child -- and the ones I led early on in my career, back in Texas.
As I was leaving the church, about to walk out the door, someone called me by name, saying, "Thanks for coming today, Bill!" She handed me an orange, paper sack. "Please, come back!" Inside the sack was an information sheet on the church, a copy of their most recent newsletter, a handout about their denomination and a zip-lock bag with 8 homemade cookies. Wow. How cool is that?
As I end this entry, let me say that I've been having difficulty getting photographs to publish along with my blog. If you see a picture of a passive solar adobe house included with this post, then I managed to make things work. If not, well, then I've got some more work to do to figure it out. It seems others on Blogger are having the same problem (having read the "help group" notes), so here's hoping it's a systems error -- and that it will get fixed soon! Once everything is up and running, I may have to post a "pictures" entry to catch up!
Thanks for reading. And thanks most especially for your prayers. One week from today, Sunday, January 14th, I will have arrived in Buenos Aires before 8 a.m. and (hopefully!) found my way to the home of my host. I can hardly believe it. Please keep praying!
Grace, peace and a lot of joy!
-- Bill
I've now completed a week of sabbatical, having been in New Mexico for half that time. My friends Steve and Carrie moved here from Ann Arbor six years ago, and I've been visiting them annually ever since.
Back home we've had almost no snow at all this year -- at least down in southeast Michigan. I did get caught in a blizzard driving home from Alpena early in December, but that's another story! At any rate, they've had two feet of snow here, all on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. By the time I arrived on January 3rd they were still digging out, and the public schools were closed for the whole week. They're simply not equipped for that kind of snow. The last time they had this much snow in one storm was 1959!
My friends live in a passive solar house, with sunlight providing heat for the house and the hot water. When it's really cold they use a wood pellet burning stove to supplement the heat, and we've been using the stove every morning and evening. Since I'm traveling to South America after this, and packing for a three month trip, I hadn't brought a lot of winter clothes. For the most part that has worked out, though I had to borrow a sweatshirt from Steve to supplement my wardrobe.
We attended worship this morning at West Mesa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the pastor, Rev. Mark Denton, preached an outstanding Epiphany sermon. The congregation is similar in size to COGS (that is, The Church of the Good Shepherd UCC, the church I pastor), but their worship style is quite different -- almost all pastor-led, and felt a good deal more formal. And also shorter! We were out of there in an hour, including communion. For lack of better term, I'd call it a "southern" service. It reminded me a lot of the services I attended as a child -- and the ones I led early on in my career, back in Texas.
As I was leaving the church, about to walk out the door, someone called me by name, saying, "Thanks for coming today, Bill!" She handed me an orange, paper sack. "Please, come back!" Inside the sack was an information sheet on the church, a copy of their most recent newsletter, a handout about their denomination and a zip-lock bag with 8 homemade cookies. Wow. How cool is that?
As I end this entry, let me say that I've been having difficulty getting photographs to publish along with my blog. If you see a picture of a passive solar adobe house included with this post, then I managed to make things work. If not, well, then I've got some more work to do to figure it out. It seems others on Blogger are having the same problem (having read the "help group" notes), so here's hoping it's a systems error -- and that it will get fixed soon! Once everything is up and running, I may have to post a "pictures" entry to catch up!
Thanks for reading. And thanks most especially for your prayers. One week from today, Sunday, January 14th, I will have arrived in Buenos Aires before 8 a.m. and (hopefully!) found my way to the home of my host. I can hardly believe it. Please keep praying!
Grace, peace and a lot of joy!
-- Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment