We worship in a United Methodist church and we do "mark" this season. Lent is actually one of my favorite seasons in the church year because I seem to spend more time in prayer and I am more aware of God's presence in my life. Due to covid, this year is totally different. Since imposition of ashes is not a sacrament, we have filled little jars with just enough ashes for a family and we are handing those out along with a devotional guide. We will have a limited attendance Ash Wednesday service but it will also be livestreamed for those of us who aren't back in worship yet. I grew up in a Baptist church and I had never heard of Lent until I began visiting our church back in the early 80's. Normally Mark and I would be in worship in the sanctuary every week. We rarely missed before March 2020. Our church is holding in person worship by reservation only. Our sanctuary will hold about 1000 people and the number is limited to 150-200. We have giant six foot arrows to place between families and the sections of the sanctuary are color coded. We've had no spread within our church which is pretty amazing!!!
2. When is the last time you sat beside a 'real' fire? We host a study each week for young professionals and we were able to meet outside in the park until the weather got too cold. We are back to zoom meetings due to weather. The pavilion has a fire place and you can make a great fire in that fireplace.
Do you have a fireplace in your home? Wood or gas logs? We have a fireplace with gas logs which we rarely light because I swear I can smell gas. We've had them checked - they are fine. I just have a weird nose. We also have a gas firepit which we do use more often. Our lovely daughter-in-law was enjoying the firepit on this night.
Favorite thing cooked over a fire?
Just about everything is better cooked over a fire from steak and chicken and shrimp to asparagus!
3. Something that's currently got you fired up? I may have acted like an "ass" today (hubby's expression). I showed up to get my allergy shots (yes, I had an appointment). After waiting in a cold car for over 30 minutes, they called me to tell me that I didn't have any vials of medicine available. What? I was not nice to the young woman on the phone and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I apologized and told her that I knew it was not her fault! Needless to say . . .I was totally fired up!
4. February also happens to be National Cabbage Day. Who knew? Do you like cabbage? I do like cabbage! Is cabbage on your menu Wednesday? No . . .cabbage is not on my menu today. Of the following cabbage dishes which is your favorite-coleslaw (mayo or vinegar?), sauerkraut, cabbage rolls, cabbage soup, kielbasa and cabbage, grilled cabbage, bubble and squeak, kimchi, or haluski? I love a good coleslaw - both mayo and vinegar. I also like sauerkraut on a hotdog. My favorite way is to slice onions and slice cabbage and cook in a skillet with a little olive oil. I serve it alongside chicken/apple or chicken/gouda sausages. Our other favorite is "egg roll in a bowl." We've started adding Dijon mustard on top and we feel like we are eating an eggroll with wonderful spicy mustard!
5. Do you hang on to pennies? What do you do with them? Last thing you purchased for $1.00? Last thing you purchased for $5.00? I emptied a random tub of stuff from the attic this week and found a bunch of change which I dumped into a glass jar in our bedroom. I don't intentionally hang onto pennies. I went to the Dollar Tree not too long ago (before Christmas) and bought a few things - everything in the store is $1.00. They have THE BEST helium balloons . . .when they have helium.
6. Insert your own random thought here. Mark is five years older than I and he is in the group that can be vaccinated now. We had been unable to get an appointment for him and this morning at 4:59 (we get up at 5:00) I received a text from a friend that there were spots open up in a town that is 45 minutes away. We were able to snag an appointment for him for next Thursday (a week away). It is a drive through vaccination site at a hospital and they make your second appointment at the time of the first shot. He is on a couple of lists for local shots and if he gets a call for one of those, he will take it and cancel the other. I wonder how long it will take before they move to my age group??
We're not in the age group minimum yet but heard on Sunday a few people with appointments scheduled have been moved around to various locations three or four times in order to get somewhere that has the dose. The distribution seems so poorly managed. My 90 year old mom was supposed to get her first dose today in NJ. Meanwhile a friend's 31 year old son with no issues has already had two. It's crazy!
ReplyDeleteYay for securing Mark's appointment! I'm so cross: I was all booked for March 11, then received an e-mail informing me I'd been bumped to May 26. No 'sorry', no explanation, nuthin.
ReplyDeleteOur church has transitioned to hybrid services; and, in fact, was holding Ash Wednesday services this evening. Then I had an e-mail from Pastor Janet an hour ago -- she and her hubby have been exposed to COVID and have to self-quarantine.
Pre-packaging seems to be the norm these days. Our communion cups are the prepackaged version right now with the wafer in it's own compartment on top of the juice. That's a nice outdoor pit! Hope the rest of your week is a good one!
ReplyDeleteYay for Mark getting an appointment! Hope all goes well for him with the first and second doses.
ReplyDeleteLucky Mark for getting that appointment!
ReplyDeleteLike Ellen, our communion elements are prepackaged.
I do love firepits and fireplaces!
We have a friend who is younger than we are (she is mid 40's) and she has taken it upon herself to help folks find places to get shots. This morning she helped 8 people in our church who are over 65 find appointments. We, like you and Ellen, have prepackaged communion elements. I told Ellen that we brought my mother-in-law to Christmas Eve drive through communion (who would have ever thought we would be doing that!). When she put the wafer in her mouth she asked us, "are you sure you are supposed to eat this?" Every time I think about it . . . I chuckle.
DeleteMy husband and I got our Covid vaccines this past Saturday. We are 65 and 66. Our church is open, but are just watching the online services. I do miss it and I am thinking about going next Sunday. Hubby wants to wait until his vaccines are complete, but that will be another 2 months for the next shot and the waiting period after. I cooked cabbage with onion today in olive oil and it was really good. I plan to make it more often. Maybe I will add mushrooms to it next time. We also had it with chicken and broccoli. Thanks for visiting my blog!
ReplyDeleteI often buy balloons at Dollar Tree too.
ReplyDeleteWe used our fireplace for heat this week! Thankful to have it.
My favorite thing to do with cabbage (besides coleslaw) is to steam it with red or small white potatoes and some kind of good sausage. I put the potatoes in the bottom of the steamer basket, then the cabbage, then the sausage goes on top so that as it cooks the juices run down on the cabbage and the potatoes. Think I will put this on my grocery list.
ReplyDelete