tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364997112024-03-07T18:23:46.894-05:00Notes from the UP RoadWhen we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. -Archbishop Desmond TutuFranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-51775324601764226822008-07-28T13:35:00.002-04:002008-07-28T13:39:05.775-04:00FarewellThis blog has come to the end of its useful life. It seemed silly to keep writing Notes from the UP Road, when I'm no longer traveling UP Roads. At least not for long. I've created a new blog - if you've been a faithful reader of this one - I thank you.<div><br /></div><div>Check out the new blog - it'll have moving stories (stories about the move, rather than ones that will make you cry, I suspect), house stories, ministry stories, reflections on life and love, really anything that seems worth writing about. </div><div><br /></div><div>I hope to be more disciplined about writing there. Do check it out at:</div><div>www.whitemountainmusings.blogspot.com</div><div><br /></div><div>Peace,</div><div>Fran</div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-87701451053538331582008-07-23T00:20:00.002-04:002008-07-23T00:24:36.186-04:00Reflections on Ministry, Part 4This is the fourth and final reflection in my series reflection on my time as the Missioner Intern in the Epsicopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. I was having some trouble getting Safari to interface with Blogger, so this one took a while to get up. Remember that it was initially written to the people in Western Region. They are the you I am addressing.<br /><br />There is one factor that is simply essential to being an effective missioner/ministry developer. Understanding its centrality to the work is the most important lesson I learned in my two years in the Western Region. <br /><br />Relationships are at the center of the work that we do. In order for a missioner to work effectively with a congregation, there must be a relationship. All the people involved need to build trust. They need to care about one another. They need to know that the relationship is strong enough to withstand disagreement. If the relationship is healthy, anything can happen. Hard truths can be told. Risks can be taken. God’s work can be accomplished. <br /><br />As I’ve conversed with the congregations that might employ me next, this is the single most important thing I’ve told them: First, we need to get to know one another and build our relationship. Then, we can figure out what the work is that we need to do together.<br /><br />I want you to know that the relationships that have been built during my time with you are the most important gift I received in the two years that I have been among you. You reached out, shared of yourselves and your stories (and learned about me and my stories), and built the kinds of relationships out of which grow good effective ministry. You didn’t have to do it. We all knew this was likely to be a short-term gig. And yet, you did it anyway. <br /><br />As I leave this place, my heart and mind are full. Full of love. Full of gratitude. Full of many many memories of the people and congregations I’ve encountered in this place. On the day that I officially transferred into this diocese, Jim Kelsy sent me an email with a subject line that read, “Now you’re a Yooper!” Except, I wasn’t really one, then. However, as much as any girl born and raised out east can be, I am one now. By living among you and being loved by you (and, as I hope you know, loving you in return) I’ve become a Yooper by adoption – and I will carry you with me when I go out from this place.<br /><br />So, my friends, thank you. Thank you for many wonderful meals, spare beds to sleep in, and great conversations. Thank you for sharing your laughter and your tears. Thank you for encouraging me and challenging me. Thank you for welcoming me into your midst. And finally, thank you for sending me out into the world a far better Missioner/Ministry Developer than I was when I arrived two years ago.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-12381362290362186562008-06-18T17:13:00.004-04:002008-06-18T17:16:36.274-04:00Reflections on Ministry, Part 3This post is the third in a series of four, reflecting on my two years working as the Ministry Development Intern in the Western Region of the Diocese of Northern Michigan. This week, I decided that it was time to stop being so serious. <br /><br />For the past two weeks, I've written about the skills I've been developing and about the things I've learned about myself. This week, I thought I would share the conventional wisdom that discovered over the past two years. So, here it is....Fran's Top Ten List of Conventional Missioner/Ministry Developer Wisdom. (Note that some of this is largely personal and some of this is probably good advice for everybody!)<br /><br />10. Get a good map. The best way to learn my way around a new area is to get a good map and then use it. Repeatedly. I'm still learning shortcuts after 75,000 miles.<br /><br />9. Get lost on purpose. Sometimes it's a good idea to take the time to drive down a road, just to see where it goes.<br /><br />8. Audible.com rocks. Driving well between two and three thousand miles per month could be wasted time. The $15 per month cost of an audible.com subscription would be worth it at twice the price. I encountered a number of books that strongly influenced me in the past year, and they were all books that I listened to on my iPod. ("What were they?" you ask. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortinsen and David Oliver Relin).<br /><br />7. XM Radio rocks, too. Any device that gives this displaced Boston Red Sox fan access to live Red Sox baseball is worth its weight in gold.<br /><br />6. ALWAYS carry snacks in the car; make sure that some of those snacks contain protein. Any number of things can happen to change the course of a day, and I am absolutely useless if I am hungry.<br /><br />5. Remember to eat the snacks. I must eat one of the aforementioned snacks before church every Sunday morning, even if I think I'm not hungry. I recently learned the hard way that it is very difficult to preside and preach when my blood sugar is plummeting rapidly.<br /><br />4. Make time to read. It took me a while to settle in to a routine. But not reading, for professional development and for fun, is simply not an option.<br /><br />3. Be early. By now, you might know me well enough to know that being on time is a challenge. (I think that I managed to fool most of you for quite a while, but the above statement is, sadly, true.) However, it's so much better to arrive early - whether it's for a meeting, a service, or lunch. I do whatever I'm doing better when I am not feeling rushed.<br /><br />2. Just do it. I can be a bit of a procrastinator. (This may qualify as the understatement of the year!) It took me some time to get adjusted to working from home. I also struggle with ambiguous deadlines. The sooner I get a project done, the less I have to worry about it.<br /><br />1. Snow tires really are better than all season radials in this part of the world. Need I say more?Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-70745945776874507852008-06-13T13:03:00.004-04:002008-06-13T13:16:16.539-04:00Reflections on Ministry, Part 2These reflections are part of my proces of concluding my time as the Ministry Developer Intern. They were originally written for the Western Region's E-Newsletter. The "you" addressed in the reflections are the people of the Western Region, with whom I have lived and worked during the last two years.<br /><br />Last week, I wrote about some of the particular skills I've worked on, in order to be an effective Missioner/Ministry Developer. This week, I am reflecting on some of the transformation that has taken place within me, as I have lived and worked among you.<br /><br />I try to hide it, but on the inside I am not always confident. When I first arrived, I felt very shy and unsure of myself. This was a whole new arena for me, and I was afraid that I was not up to the task. Manuel [my supervisor] was terrific. I've told him privately, but let me just say publicly and for the record, that he is the best supervisor I've ever had. He encouraged me to reach beyond what felt comfortable (and frankly, at the beginning, that was just about everything!) and to take risks. When I made mistakes, he didn't give me grief. Instead, he asked me what I'd learned, and how I might do something differently the next time. Learning to ask this question, rather than beat myself up for making a mistake, has changed me.<br /><br />Manuel's quiet encouragement fostered my own self-confidence. While there are certainly still many moments when I wonder what the right course of action is (and I'll always have those moments!), I've learned to trust my own intuition. If my gut tells me something, I listen and act.<br /><br />The book of Ecclesiates tells us that there is a season for everything. A time to plant, and a time to reap, a time to mourn and a time to dance, etc. For a missioner, there is a time to be quiet and a time to speak. I've worked hard to learn (and am still learning) what that balance is for myself. Some of this learning about balance comes from my own increased comfort with conflict. In the past, I spent an enormous amount of energy trying to keep everyone I worked with happy. That's neither possible, nor helpful. I've gotten much more comfortable with ambiguity, with uncertainty, and with leaving things unresolved for a time.<br /><br />All of these personal learnings have helped me to become better at what I do. They enable me to act, without worrying (too much) about whether the action is the right thing.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-44655247540114500102008-06-06T11:03:00.003-04:002008-06-06T12:49:50.952-04:00Reflections on Ministry, Part 1It's hard to believe that my time in Northern Michigan, serving as the Ministry Developer Intern, is coming to a close. (It might seem more real if I knew where I was going next, but that's a story for another day!) I was asked to write some reflections on my experience, to share with the region and the diocese. I thought I would also post them here. I'll post one per week, as they appear in the Western Region's electronic newsletter. Since I was originally writing them for the people in the region, they are the YOU to whom the reflections are addressed.<br /><br />These reflections were written so that I might share some of what I have learned during my two years as the Missioner/Ministry Developer Intern in the Western Region of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. I’ve learned so many things, that listing them out seems like a daunting task. In the end, I decided to divide up what I’ve learned into four different areas, reflecting a bit on one area each week.<br /><br />It seems a bit obvious to say it, but one of the most important things I’ve learned is how to be a missioner! Seminary training is generally geared towards those who want to be rectors, so I spent much of my early time in the position trying to reorient myself to a new way of being. I had done some reading about mutual ministry, but that was, of course, no substitute for actually practicing mutual ministry in real congregations with real people. You were very patient!<br /><br />Teaching is an important part of the job – teaching in sermons, teaching in Ministry Support Team meetings, teaching any time the opportunity comes up. I’ve discovered that many things can be teaching moments. Sharing the benefits of my seminary training with all of you is an important responsibility of the work. You can undertake your ministries most effectively when you have the knowledge that you need.<br /><br />The people that I work with (that’s all of you!) have a great number of skills and talents (that’s not a surprise – I learned that VERY quickly). However, you don’t always see them. Therefore, another piece of what I have learned is that being a missioner involves being a cheerleader and an encourager. <br /><br />My position as one who is both inside and outside the congregation gives me some perspective that those of you in the congregation may not have. This perspective allows me to do two things. First, I can help when conflict arises within congregations. And, it enables me to watch the horizon. It’s important that I look ahead, in order to see what’s coming up, and to make sure that you are ready for whatever it is before it gets here. <br /><br />Another important lesson is that no two congregations are alike. Often, friends will ask me what my job involves. My answer is always that there is no one way to be a missioner. The job requires getting to know each congregation, and then adapting one’s work to fit the needs of that particular group.<br /><br />I’m still not sure what I’ll be doing next, but I do know, as I’ve begun interviewing for other positions, that the things I’ve learned about being a missioner will serve me well. As I’ve answered questions from congregations about the work I might do with them, I’ve drawn on the things I’ve learned about being an effective missioner. I may go on from here to work with a single congregation as rector, but it’s clear to me that I will be a rector who is first and foremost a ministry developer.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-43569688946915357792008-06-06T10:55:00.002-04:002008-06-06T11:02:23.042-04:00More Wildlife StoriesI know I've been silent here, for a while, but I'm back, hoping to catch up a bit.<div><br /></div><div>Last evening, I had an amazing pair of wildlife sightings, within five minutes of one another.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, I saw a car pulled over to the side of the road. I thought it had, perhaps, broken down. Then, I realized that the driver was looking out into the field beside the car, with binoculars. So, I pulled over, got out my binoculars, and saw a moose in the field, some distance from the road. I've seen several moose in the wild in Northern Maine, but this was my first UP moose sighting. I reveled in it for a few minutes, and then headed on my way.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just a few miles down the road, I saw what looked like either a black standard poodle or a black sheep running in the road. I slowed down to avoid hitting it, it crossed in front of me, and leapt onto the rock formation beside the road. As I passed it, I realized it was a young bear. I got a very good look at, as it was no more than ten feet from my car. This was my first bear sighting in the wild, and I was very excited.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I first arrived, I got pretty excited about the deer and eagles I was seeing. But, I see deer on virtually every drive (I heard recently that there are far more deer than people up here!). And, I see eagles quite frequently. I still find them exciting, but they are pretty common. So, this pair of critters was pretty thrilling.</div><div><br /></div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-84096498859081948792008-04-19T18:42:00.001-04:002008-04-19T18:42:25.195-04:00Fran's Ordination - the sermon, 2/2<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/gEyPS9YOzcY' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/gEyPS9YOzcY'/></object></p><p>Yup. Here it is. Part two of the ordination sermon. </p></div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-8040065283817100222008-04-19T18:20:00.001-04:002008-04-19T18:20:53.451-04:00Fran's ordination sermon 1/2<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/hRCZOGKt13U' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/hRCZOGKt13U'/></object></p><p>This is the first half of the sermon that my friend Anne Kirchmier preached at my ordination to the diaconate over two years ago. The setting is Virginia Theological Seminary and the owner of the video camera is Sarah Gordy. The video quality is pretty sketchy, but the audio quality is excellent. And, I must say this is one of the best sermons I've ever had the privilege to hear. Part 2 will appear eventually.<br /> </p></div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-15210638684680384952008-03-10T10:49:00.002-04:002008-03-10T11:09:38.773-04:00Top 100 BooksI've stolen this list from my friend Suzanne's blog. It's a list of the Top 100 books of all time, as voted by regular folks. I've highlighted it in two ways - the books I read before I graduated from college, versus the books I've read since then.<br /><br />The pre-college graduation books are highlighted in blue. The post-college ones, in red.<br /><br />1. 1984 by George Orwell<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger</span><br />4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen<br /><span style="color:#000099;">5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee</span> (I finally read this last year, and thought it was amazing. Thanks to Sister Nancy Hopkins for the push.)<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky</span><br />7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald<br />8. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">9. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte</span><br />11. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley<br />12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte<br />13. Ulysses by James Joyce<br />14. Animal Farm by George Orwell<br />15. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens<br /><span style="color:#000099;">16. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">17. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky</span><br />18. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo<br />19. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde<br />20. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck<br />21. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien<br />22. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy<br />23. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes<br />24. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas<br />25. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens<br />26. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley<br />27. East of Eden by John Steinbeck<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">28. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">29. Life of Pi by Yann Martel</span><br />30. Lord of the Flies by William Golding<br />31. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell<br />32. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br />33. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy<br />34. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner<br /><span style="color:#000099;">35. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown</span><br />36. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">37. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">38. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury</span><br />39. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden<br />40. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut<br />41. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">42. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce</span><br />43. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov<br /><span style="color:#000099;">44. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">45. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis</span><br />46. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison<br />47. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand<br />48. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini<br /><span style="color:#000099;">49. The Stand by Stephen King</span><br />50. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">51. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad </span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">52. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy</span><br />53. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway<br />54. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand<br /><span style="color:#000099;">55. Watership Down by Richard Adams</span><br />56. Dracula by Bram Stoker<br />57. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham<br /><span style="color:#000099;">58. Moby Dick by Herman Melville</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">59. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey</span><br />60. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">61. On the Road by Jack Kerouac</span><br />62. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky<br />63. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov<br />64. Dune by Frank Herbert<br /><span style="color:#000099;">65. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (This is, officially, my favorite book of all time. I'm thrilled that it made the list.)</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">66. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">67. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery</span><br />68. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak<br />69. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera<br />70. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">71. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott</span><br />72. The Trial by Franz Kafka<br />73. I, Claudius by Robert Graves<br />74. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">75. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">76. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath</span><br />77. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole<br />78. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway<br />79. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf<br />80. Vanity Fair by William Thackeray<br />81. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">82. The Stranger by Albert Camus</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">83. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain</span><br />84. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo<br />85. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LeRoux<br />86. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">87. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy</span><br />88. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens<br />89. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle<br />90. Persuasion by Jane Austen<br />91. Light in August by William Faulkner<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">92. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger</span><br />93. Call of the Wild by Jack London<br />94. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides<br />95. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">96. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">97. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka</span><br />98. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco<br />99. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel<br />100. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner<br /><br /><br />So, I've read 35 of them. About 1/3 of the list. And of that 35, only 12 of them, in the last 20 years. Suzanne rather jokingly suggested an online Top 100 book group. We could all read one each month, and then check in with one another about what we think. I'm half-convinced that it's a great idea. Anybody out there game for the idea?Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-28351891780398837962008-01-14T23:25:00.000-05:002008-01-14T23:54:44.147-05:00Michigan's Messed-up Primary or Small Town Joys<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Perhaps you've heard about the messed-up presidential primary in Michigan. The State Party Muckety-Mucks, tired of having our ballots cast after all the decisions had already been made, stated that they would move our presidential primary to January 15th. The National Party Muckety-Mucks, said, "Oh, no," and threatened to penalize the state, should the primary move. <div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The primary moved; we've been penalized. Oh look, cause and effect. The only candidates who've been campaigning here are Romney, McCain, and Huckabee. Let's just say that it made for some exciting TV watching this weekend. NOT. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It's not yet clear whether any of Michigan's Democratic delegates will be seated at the convention this summer, which is why the candidates aren't bothering to campaign here. It's also why most Democratic candidates aren't even on the ballot. And, apparently writing in my choice disqualifies my vote. So, my limited presidential primary voting options are as follows. (1) Vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton. She's on the ballot, but she's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">so</span> not my choice for President. (2) Vote for Dennis Kucinich. He's on the ballot, but he's also not my choice (though he's a far sight closer than HRC). (3) Vote for Uncommitted Delegate. There's absolutely no guarantee that the delegate will support the candidate of my choice, but at least I'm not voting for the candidate NOT of my choice, right? (4) Say screw it and not vote at all.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>To make matters more complicated, I left Ontonagon this afternoon. Now, what you may not know about me is that I am a committed voter. I don't skip elections. I believe deeply that voting is a privilege. But neither could I couldn't quite justify making an extra 232 mile round trip in order to vote in this debacle. Especially not to vote for Mr. or Ms. Uncommitted Delegate. So, this morning, I called the Town Clerk and begged to vote by absentee ballot, which he allowed me to do, about 20 minutes before he closed the office. I LOVE living in a small town. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I'm feeling pissed off about the whole situation. I've been an Obama supporter for over a year now, and I feel ripped off that I didn't get to vote for him. On the other hand, I did get to exercise my civic duty. And, I suppose that's really what this is all about. And, I got to appreciate, yet again, the joys of living in a small town.</div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-89257049057912266192008-01-10T00:28:00.001-05:002008-01-24T14:28:22.167-05:00A New Year's Meme<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">1. What did you do in 2007 that you have never done before?</span><div>Go on a cruise. In general, I didn't really expect to like it, and I wasn't wrong about that expectation. But, I traveled with four women I love (Mom, Anne Kirchmier, Linda Ricketts, and Liz Tunney) and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">that</span> was terrific and worth all the things about the cruise I didn't care so much about (too many people, too much trying to sell me stuff I didn't want to buy).<br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span></div><div>I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions, but I did want to try to live healthier in 2007. I think I did fairly well in some regards. Food allergies caused me to give up pop (soda to those of you living elsewhere!) and I've been getting more exercise. I've vowed to continue this in 2008, as well as to get more in touch with my body. I've signed up for a Yoga class.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span></div><div>No, though good friends did take in some foster children.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span></div><div>Sadly, yes. I'm still deeply mourning my friend and bishop Jim Kelsey. Additionally, Fran Robertson and Larry Livingston in Little Lake.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">5. What countries did you visit?</span></div><div>I made several passes through Canada in 2007, and on the cruise, visited Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and the Bahamas, and all those (except Canada) were new to me.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?</span></div><div>And end to the war in Iraq. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched in your memory, and why?</span></div><div>April 17th - my first date with Michelle; June 3rd - the day that Jim died; November 12th - the day Michelle agreed to spend the rest of her life with me.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></div><div>I can't think of one thing - but realizing that I had gained the trust and acceptance of the people with whom I live and work. And hearing one individual telling me that I had exceeded his expectations for what an intern could do was very rewarding.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></div><div>Rather than thinking of one specific instance - I learned over the course of this year, that I was not always speaking the truth. Rather, I was deferring to those who seemed wiser or had more experience. And on several occasions, that led to some disasters down the road, that might have been circumvented, if I'd spoken up in the first place. Learning to better trust my instincts is one of my goals for 2008.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">10. Did you suffer from illness or injury?</span></div><div>I developed migraines this year. Yuck. In the midst of trying to sort those out, I discovered food allergies - Dairy and Egg. Blech. I love Dairy. And I love Eggs. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></div><div>I new MacBook - with 2 gig of RAM and a huge hard drive. YAY!</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></div><div>My church's, as it took on the Millennium Development Goals with seriousness.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled or depressed?</span></div><div>My country's and my president's.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></div><div>For gasoline. Now, I must say, that while this statement is factually true, if I lived anywhere else in the world, even more of my money would have gone for gasoline, so this isn't really a complaint. It's simply reality. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span></div><div>The fact that more and more people seem to coming to an understanding about climate change and our responsibility to do something about it.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">16. What song will always remind you of 2007?</span></div><div>Save the Last Dance for Me</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?</span></div><div>Happier, Thinner, and Poorer - but I'll take best 2 out of 3.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">18. What do you wish you had done more of?</span></div><div>Relaxed. Read fun novels. Played. I spent much of this year working way too hard.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">19. What do you wish you'd done less of?</span></div><div>Goofed off on the internet. Attended meetings.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">20. How did you spend Christmas?</span></div><div>With my Mama and with our good friends (and my colleagues) Manuel and Peggy.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">21. Did you fall in love in 2007?</span></div><div>Yes, and it was absolutely wonderful. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">22. What was your favourite TV program?</span></div><div>I'm not much of a TV watcher, but I take some delight in watching Ninja Warrior on G-4 and cheering on those who are challenging themselves with that course.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">23. Do you hate anyone now that you did not hate at this time last year?</span></div><div>I try very hard not to hate. It's not an emotion I feel comfortable with. But there are some people who evoke strong feelings of dislike in me. When I can, I do try to effect reconciliation. That being said, there is a person I find terribly difficult and whom I avoid at all costs.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">24. What was the best book you read?</span></div><div>I read a number of great books. Certainly <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</span> was wonderful - I read it twice, because it was so good. I also adored <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Eat, Pray, Love</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">A Thousand Splendid Suns.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">25. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span></div><div>Michelle turned me on to Joel Plaskett Emergency. I'm not sure that I'd call them a musical discovery, but I really like them. And, they have some really rockin' hummin' tunes that you'll find bopping around in your head.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">26. What did you want and get?</span></div><div>A wonderful woman to love. A dog. A computer that works.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">27. What did you want, and not get?</span></div><div>An end to this senseless war.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">28. What was your favourite film of this year?</span></div><div>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In a more serious vein, I thought that Blood Diamond was wonderful.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">29. What did you do for your birthday, and how old were you?</span></div><div>I had dinner with my friend Ginny. I turned 41.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span></div><div>This year was actually quite satisfying. I met the girl of my dreams. I do work I love. I enjoy my life on most days. It's hard for me to imagine <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">one</span> thing whose magical application would make my life immeasurably more satisfying.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?</span></div><div>Blue jeans. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">32. What kept you sane?</span></div><div>Michelle.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></div><div>Barak Obama. But not in that schoolgirl crush kind of way, which is what the word "fancy" makes me think of. Rather, I believe the man has integrity. Or, at least as much integrity as you can manage to hold on to and be a political candidate in the year 2008.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">34. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></div><div>Climate change. Global poverty. Consumerism.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">35. Who did you miss?</span></div><div>Jim Kelsey. But in terms of those who simply live where I don't get to see them very often, but thankfully get to email, and chat with and see periodically: the residents of Wayfarer House. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">36. Who was the best new person you met?</span></div><div>Michelle - and the very interesting group of people that she hangs out with. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.</span></div><div>Life is short and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us - so make haste to love and be swift to be kind. This was one of Jim's favourite blessings. I think it makes good sense. It's a good idea to make sure that the folks you love know that you love them. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.</span></div><div>"Hey Good lookin' Why the frown? </div><div>It always looks better when it's upside down,</div><div>You say you got nowhere that you're going to</div><div>Can I go nowhere with you?"</div><div>-From "Nowhere with You" by Joel Plaskett Emergency</div><div>It was a good year. But I shed alot of tears, too. Grief sucks. And I'm still in the midst of it. We sang this song alot. And it always made me laugh, even in the midst of tears.</div><div><br /></div></div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-72466813214894699492008-01-08T21:26:00.000-05:002008-01-08T21:55:38.080-05:00book pushingI've been doing a great deal of reading, what else do you do in the winter in the UP. And actually, some of what I've "read" I've listened to in the car. For months after Jim died, I didn't have the concentration for audio books; all I could manage was some nice, soothing folk music. Or loud, pounding rock. But not a plot of any kind. <div><br /></div><div>But, thankfully, that's changed. So, let me make three very different recommendations for your reading pleasure.</div><div><br /></div><div>(1) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">A Thousand Splendid Suns </span>by Khaled Hosseini. Set in Afghanistan, this novel spans several generations, and begins sometime in the late 1960s, and ends in the present day. The writing is clear and concise, the story is gripping, and the characters will grab your heart and break it a few times. I've not read <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Kite Runner, </span>which is Hosseini's first novel (or, perhaps his first one released here?), but it's not on my list. I listened to this one with a sense of real foreboding. Tragedy is around every corner in this book, but Hosseini creates such empathy that I really fell in love with the women in his novel. Additionally, the novel taught me much about Afghanistan. I know there is a danger about learning about contemporary politics from a novel, but if the novel reflects the contemporary situation in any way, then it's no wonder that the situation there is such a mess. And, it's no wonder that they have such hatred for Americans. Read this novel, friends.</div><div><br /></div><div>(2) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Pillars of the Earth </span>by Ken Follett. This novel's been around a while, having been written nearly 20 years ago, though it's getting big press, since Mr. Follett finally released the sequel folks have apparently been begging him to write for years. I picked it up about a month ago at the airport, when I finished all my work, unexpectedly, and it looked like the least grim in a series of bad airport newsstand choices. I was so wrong. It's wonderful. Follett has written a novel about 12th century England, and the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. It's by turns funny, gripping, and suspenseful. It's a real commitment, weighing in at nearly 1000 pages, but if you like historical fiction, this one is good, and well written. And while I am no British historian, it rings true. It's a real treat. I don't get to sit and read for pleasure much, and I resent the time I'm away from this one.</div><div><br /></div><div>(3) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Eat, Pray, Love</span> by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is some odd combination of travelogue memoir confessional spiritual guide, written by a woman who's about my age. Liz sets out to spend a year in pursuit of pleasure, God and balance, having survived a brutal divorce followed immediately by another broken heart. She realizes that she must get her life in order. So she goes first to Italy to learn Italian (something she has always wanted to do, simply because she finds the language beautiful). Next she heads to the ashram of her guru in India. Finally, she goes to Indonesia, where several years previously, she encountered an Indonesian medicine man who tells her to come back sometime and visit him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Liz Gilbert reads the audio version herself, which is great, because she's got an ear for accents, and her ability to relay conversations with Richard from Texas or any number of the folks she encounters is worth the price of admission on the audio book. But the book is worth a read, or a listen, for more than this. The questions that she raises about life and love, and the energy that she devotes to her spiritual practice put me to shame. This woman meditates for hours every day. And she's funny. Gut splittingly funny. And poignant. There were times when I was crying so hard that I <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">might</span> have been dangerous, as I was driving down the road. There were also times when she was a bit self-absorbed. But hell, it was her book, so I think she gets the right. I actually ordered the book tonight. Because I liked it so much, after listening to it, that I want to read it. I want to hold it in my hands, and underline things. I want to write quotes down.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, I certainly want to encourage some of the people I love to read the book.</div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-73740436130567846492008-01-01T16:41:00.000-05:002008-01-01T16:53:11.830-05:00Getting Hitched<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEyoSGcIQllNf7oJoAu2ZpZvAvcX8uj71G6eZHRHIZyKlHhkj1Q9kSUk3wOJOfeKouz1frPIbhrwrg7fKOdwpJNy6hvFgqUhK3dvGeu2_3Zv2461RrNw_8AePw2yqF4RZZEyHIZg/s1600-h/DSCN2635.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEyoSGcIQllNf7oJoAu2ZpZvAvcX8uj71G6eZHRHIZyKlHhkj1Q9kSUk3wOJOfeKouz1frPIbhrwrg7fKOdwpJNy6hvFgqUhK3dvGeu2_3Zv2461RrNw_8AePw2yqF4RZZEyHIZg/s320/DSCN2635.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150627470108948290" /></a>It's official. Michelle and I are getting married! Or, in the official lingo of the Episcopal Church (gotta love church politics) we're having our "relationship blessed." The date is April 18th, which we love, because we're hopeless romantics, and it happens to be exactly a year and a day after our first date. <div><br /></div><div>And, this picture, posted here, was taken exactly thirty seconds after I asked her and she said yes. (You've got to love the wonders of modern technology - I had a digital camera in my pocket, have a blog, and the whole world - or at least our friends scattered hither and yon - can share our joy!)</div><div><br /></div><div>So, save the date. And given our seriously limited financial resources, look for an e-vite coming soon! </div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-11435236075302160092007-12-29T10:55:00.001-05:002008-01-01T16:39:51.099-05:00Winter WonderlandThis year, we are finally having a real UP winter. It actually started snowing in November, as it should. I haven't measured yet, but I bet the total snow accumulation is over 75 inches. Presently, at least two feet are on the ground in Houghton, with a bit less in Ontonagon. <br /><br />The best part, though, is that we've been able to enjoy it. Michelle bought me snowshoes for Christmas, and we've been walking Bird-dog nearly every afternoon after work. And, yesterday, we went cross-country skiing for the first time this winter. It felt great to get out there and move. On Boxing Day (12/26), I drove to Duluth to see my friend Marlene, and even did some snowshoeing over there. <br /><br />When I was younger, I always thought of winter as this totally desolate time, but what I see now is that it is beautiful. It's a different kind of beauty from the wild and exuberant beauty of summer, for sure, but it is beautiful, nonetheless. The light in the woods yesterday afternoon was simply spectacular, and it took my breath away. We were skiing in the late afternoon, and as it grew closer to dusk, it seemed as though the snow as actually glowing with a kind of pinkish light. It was simply lovely.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-10578255398617768172007-11-17T19:11:00.001-05:002007-11-17T19:20:49.991-05:00Buy cards of Frannie's art!Michelle did all the research, and found a great site where we can put our art online. Please check it out. All you have to do is click on one of these little thumbnails pics, and it will take you right to RedBubble. I know that most of you aren't in a place where you've got tons of cash to spare. But, I do hope that you'll check out my art. Some of my favourite pictures are there. I'm continuing to add work, so keep checking back.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/rakaiagirl"title="View my art."><img src="http://redbubble.com/people/rakaiagirl/recipe:banner/rakaiagirl_banner.jpg" alt="Buy my art"/></a>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-15309687595863900232007-11-14T22:59:00.000-05:002008-01-08T21:57:48.317-05:00The Year of Magical ThinkingRun, do not walk to your nearest bookstore to pick this one up. <div><br /></div><div>Joan Didion has been a legend to me, for about 16 years. At the bookstore, when we hired new staff, we always gave a book quiz. It separated the run of the mill readers from the literati. And there were always a few titles on the list that I never expected anyone to know. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> Slouching Towards Bethlehem</span> by Joan Didion was one of them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Her new book (relatively - and certainly new to me) tells the story of the year that begin in late December 2003, and ends one year later. It starts the night her husband, John Gregory Dunne dies of a heart attack, while having dinner. Simultaneously, their only daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, just a month younger than I, is struggling for her life. One health crisis after another consumes her.</div><div><br /></div><div>And Didion lays it all bare. She shares the grief. The magical thinking (like not giving away John's shoes, as he'll need them when he comes back). The heartache of having to tell her daughter three different times that her father is dead. (She was in a coma when he died, then she relapsed and forgot, then she had a brain hemorrhage, and lost the information again).</div><div><br /></div><div>As I continue to struggle with my own grief over Jim's death, and I as I watch the diocese struggle with it's grief, this book spoke to me. </div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-30631646077705862292007-09-10T15:15:00.000-04:002008-01-08T21:58:02.829-05:00What are you reading?This post was totally inspired by <a href="http://www.threadsfrommyheart.blogspot.com/">Suzanne</a> and I thought it might give you a glimpse of what I'm up to these days. Most of my reading is professional, but I read some fic on the internet, so I am getting some relaxing reading in somewhere.<br /><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now</span> by John Dominic Crossan. A gift from <a href="http://sare-liz.livejournal.com/">Sare</a>, this one has been on my shelf for months, but I finally picked it up as preparation for a retreat I'm co-leading at the end of the month. Crossan provided a history of the intersection between the Roman empire, the homeland Jews of Jesus' time, and the early church. He undertakes this examination (as I understand it) in order to explore how the contemporary US Govt. acts like an empire (and has for 150 years) and what the implications are for Christian Americans. I think I'm going to love it - the centrality of justice and the need for Christians to work to bring about God's justice and God's kingdom are passions for me.<br /><br />2. <span style="font-style: italic;">Opening the Prayerbook</span> by Jeffry Lee. Lee, writing this volume as part of the New Church's Teaching Series, examines the history and context of the prayerbook and the theologies that contributed to the 1979 (most recent) <span style="font-style: italic;">Book of Common Prayer</span>. He places many of the prayerbook services in context. I'm reading this one with the Ministry Support Team at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Little Lake.<br /><br />3. <span style="font-style: italic;">Preaching What We Practice: Proclamation and Moral Discernment</span> by David Schlafer and Timothy F. Sedgwick. I began this book on vacation, before I headed out to spend a week with Tim (the author) and his wife Martha. He'd given it to me last spring (BJD - Before Jim Died) and I didn't read much in those first few months. I wanted to be able to talk about it with him. The book is well-written and makes a strong case for preachers to preach moral discernment, in order to help those in the pews make sense of (and take action regarding) much of what is happening in the US today.<br /><br />4. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Message: Daily Reading Bible</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Message//Remix</span> by Eugene Peterson. Having not completed absolutely every reading assignment in seminary (I know, you're shocked) I thought it might be time to read the bible again. I got a cool audio version for my iPod, which breaks the bible up into manageable daily reading chunks (though I tend to listen to several at a time). The Message is a contemporary translation by a guy named Eugene Peterson. I'm really enjoying it so far - though I'm only in Genesis....<br /><br />5. <span style="font-style: italic;">LifeCycles</span> by the LifeCycles Team (of which I am a member, now!). LifeCycles is the adult formation program in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. Two groups I work with are presently working with it. The Ironwood Ministry Support Team began Cycle I, Unit 1 last week, and the Iron River Ministry Support Team returned to LifeCycles after a multi-year hiatus. They are working on Cycle I, Unit 3.<br /><br />6. <span style="font-style: italic;">Celtic Benediction: Morning and Night Prayer</span> by J. Philip Newell. I'm not so much reading this one as using it for morning prayer (at least I am when I actually find time for morning prayer - true confessions, here!).<br /><br />7. Blogs. Back BJD, I read blogs really regularly. Not random ones, though that can be fun. But mostly, with a couple of exceptions, the blogs of people I know and love, who live someplace other than here. It's been a way to keep up. To know what they're thinking about and what they're up to. It's one of the routines that simply vanished in the weeks after Jim died. But I'm sort of regaining my equillibrium, and I'm back to blogs. I don't read them every day, but I do try to check in a few times per week. For a list of the blogs I read, see the right sidebar of this blog. I don't know Fr. Jake and I don't know the WTFWJD woman (though I sure wish I did, she's fun) but all the other folks are people I love and miss.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-70306910626187995222007-08-30T09:46:00.001-04:002007-08-30T09:49:49.005-04:00Fall Comes to the UPI'd forgotten, even though it totally threw me last year. Fall comes fast and early. In Massachusetts (and Virginia, too, I think) August is the hottest month. But here, the autumn arrives swiftly. I'd say that fully half of the trees are turning. And the air is cool. Some leaves have even fallen from the trees. I love the fall, and the cooler air, and the beauty that takes my breath away. But it's always a shock to have the green begin to vanish. And knowing what I know now about how long it will be until they return, I'm feeling a bit melancholy about their early departure.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-7301983873077241402007-08-30T01:54:00.000-04:002008-01-08T21:58:19.148-05:00I LOVE this bookMy dear friend <a href="http://www.threadsfrommyheart.blogspot.com/">Suzanne</a> can always be counted on to find the coolest internet quizzes. I love this quiz, as it speaks to my book-selling and book-loving soul. And how cool is the result? I LOVED <span style="font-style:italic;">Watership Down</span> when I was a tween. I read it several times, and found it captivating. I'm a little nervous about the talking to rabbits part, but I guess I'll go with it. <br /><br /><p><img src="http://bluepyramid.org/ia/wdra.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia, Georgia Ref, Book Antiqua, Garamond;font-size:180%;"><br />You're <i>Watership Down</i>!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">by Richard Adams</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;">Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're<br />actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their<br />assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they<br />build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd<br />be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span></i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"><br />Take the <a href="http://bluepyramid.org/ia/bquiz.htm">Book Quiz</a><br />at the <a href="http://bluepyramid.org/">Blue Pyramid</a>.</span></span></p>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-87485744406556166842007-07-27T11:20:00.000-04:002007-07-27T11:35:44.093-04:00Frannie returns to bloglandI know I've been pretty quiet in the last eight weeks. All I can say is that it's been a long road. Grief is so energy-sapping. And the work left to do has been all-consuming. But I am starting to see some light and to feel more like myself again, both of which are very good things.<br /><br />Warning: This part contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (Book 6) - do not read if you don't want to know serious plot details:<br />In news that won't ber a surprise to those who know me, I've been reading Harry Potter this week. I began by re-reading The Halfblood Prince (Book 6). I was struck, at the end of the book, after Dumbledore is murdered, by how well J.K. Rowling wrote grief. I really resonated with how the staff and students at Hogwarts responded to the news of Dumbledore's death. Her descriptions of the pain, the confusion, and the denial, all rang so true to me. <br /><br />There are a number of reasons why Harry Potter has become such a phenomenon and I'm not going to expound on them all. The reason that interests me, in this post, has to do with how well she captures the human condition. Her characterizations, her descriptions, and the ways that these characters respond ring true to me. Rowling gets it. And she writes it well. <br /><br />I've got some backlogged things that I'll be posting in the next few days. I've got a few sermons that I've written in the time I've been away from my blog that I'd love to share. And I have a very long piece that I wrote for our Junior/Senior Camp for a talk that I gave there (that Jim was to have given) on friendship that I want to post, as well.<br /><br />Thanks for checking back, despite the lack of new postings in such a long period of time.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-23567851367559828082007-06-07T10:33:00.000-04:002007-09-10T15:51:13.347-04:00James Arthur Kelsey, RIP<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJeibsYcwhExNMYN7_qMXHnc6fhUVPSH2f2knOZkJ3-R37ojFxvUKTjUPPsX9sCM_jot_7J9mNtrghyphenhyphenvoymPA9CNCvGNUKkBoqY_wHC_TnePdZYheeT4cLyc6HI3qRGWKuysSrA/s1600-h/100_1855.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5073331693132372738" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJeibsYcwhExNMYN7_qMXHnc6fhUVPSH2f2knOZkJ3-R37ojFxvUKTjUPPsX9sCM_jot_7J9mNtrghyphenhyphenvoymPA9CNCvGNUKkBoqY_wHC_TnePdZYheeT4cLyc6HI3qRGWKuysSrA/s320/100_1855.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >MARQUETTE, MI —</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >The world became a darker place with the passing of James Arthur Kelsey.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >James Arthur Kelsey James gained love and respect from everyone he met in his professional and personal life. James spent his life giving — giving of his time, his heart, and his soul to help anyone and everyone in need. His levels of compassion and kindness were unparalleled. A courageous man, willing to stand up for his beliefs. James Kelsey was the benchmark to which great men are judged. Not only a great man, but a great husband and father. There was no better model for how to be a truly wonderful human being than the one he provided for his sons and daughter. </span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >If the world were full of more men like James Arthur Kelsey, it would be a wonderful place. Sadly, today we find ourselves with one less.</span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >James Arthur Kelsey was born August 27, 1952, along with twin brother Stephen, in Baltimore, Md., to parents Arthur Corson Kelsey and Louise Martien. James, who liked to be called Jim, attended schools in New York City and Burlington, Vt. He graduated from Ithaca College in New York in 1974 with a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. In 1976 while at General Theological Seminary, he fell in love and married Mary Cruse. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >After graduating from General Theological Seminary in 1977, Jim was called to be Deanery Curate for four congregations in southwestern Vermont. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1978, he was called to be the rector of Holy Trinity Church in Swanton and priest-in-charge of three missions which gradually evolved into an eight-point cluster over the next seven years. During his year at Holy Trinity, his interest in collaborative ministry deepened. A non-hierarchal form of leadership emerged there, which included a locally ordained priest and a team of persons who shared ministry support responsibilities. Holy Trinity was recognized by the national church as one of ten effective congregations highlighted in the publication Against All Odds, prepared for the 1982 General Convention. </span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >In 1985 Jim answered a call by the Diocese of Oklahoma to help establish a diocesan-wide strategy for cluster ministries. His work there focused especially with eight congregations in a six-county area in east-central Oklahoma. He began an extensive consulting role on collaborative ministry throughout the U.S. and Canada.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim and Mary, along with their children, moved to the Upper Peninsula for his new role as Ministry Development Coordinator in the Diocese of Northern Michigan in 1989. He felt an affinity immediately with the U.P., as it reminded him of his summers in Vermont as a youth. This position he held until his election as Bishop in 1999.</span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Since coming to the diocese, over half of the diocese's 27 congregations have embraced Mutual Ministry, as collaborative ministry is known in Northern Michigan. It is characterized by the commissioning of local Ministry Support Teams supported by seminary-trained regional missioners. Interest in Mutual Ministry by other dioceses in the U.S. and abroad led Northern Michigan and has brought visitors to the Diocese from all around the world, hungry for a first-hand look at this model for ministry.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim's consulting work over the years expanded overseas to include New Zealand and the United Kingdom and has touched over thirty-five dioceses in the United States. He participated in numerous national and international networks and training programs, including the Leadership Academy in New Directions (LAND), Sindicators, Synagogy, Coalition 14, an International Symposium on Local Collaborative Ministry, and together with his colleagues, initiated an educational resource for community formation, called LifeCycles. He was also a founding leader of "Living Stones," a lively multi-diocesan community of ministry developers. </span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >During successive General Conventions, Jim chaired and participated in various committees, speaking passionately on issues around the ministry of all the baptized. Through his hard work and collaboration with others, significant changes were made to the national church Canons. Most recently, in recognition of his "prophetic leadership in supporting the baptismal ministry of all Episcopalians and for the Diocese's work in helping to transform congregations from being communities gathered around a minister to ministering communities," </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim was honored at the Episcopal Divinity School with a Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa on May 17, 2007. </span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim was the Bishop Protectorate for the Society of St. Francis, Province of the Americas, and was himself a Third Order Franciscan, who was steadfastly working to follow the path of St. Francis. He was deeply committed to peace and justice issues and protecting the environment. He was a member of the Bishops for a Just Society and one of the founding leaders of the ecumenical group Earth Keepers. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim loved music and films, learning new technologies and perhaps best of all the New York Yankees.</span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >James Arthur Kelsey is survived by his wife, Mary Kelsey of Marquette; three children, Nathan Kelsey of Johnston, Iowa, Lydia Kelsey and her fiance, Jared Bowman of North Liberty, Iowa, and Amos Kelsey of Mackinac Island; his mother, Louise Kelsey of Easthampton, Mass.; two sisters, Ann Lammers of Peterborough, N.H., and Meg (Jonathan) Wright of Florence, Mass.; one twin brother, Steve (Kathy Barrett) Kelsey of Durham, Conn.; father- and mother-in-law, John and Shirley Cruse of West Des Moines, Iowa; brothers-in-law, John (Patty) Cruse of Madison, Wis., and Fred (JoAnn) Cruse of New Glarus, Wis.; sisters-in-law, Hildy Smith of West Des Moines, Iowa, Gail (Ed) Cudworth of Urbandale, Iowa, and Katy Andreen of Des Moines, Iowa; also surviving are numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Arthur Kelsey. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Visitation will be on Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Paul 's Episcopal Church in Marquette. A Memorial Eucharist will be held at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Marquette at 4 p.m. EDT Friday with the Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, bishop of Wyoming, presiding. Memorials are preferred in Bishop Kelsey's memory to the Page Conference Center c/o Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, 131 E. Ridge St., Marquette, MI 49855 .Bishop Kelsey's obituary can also be viewed at </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.canalefuneral.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">www.canalefuneral.com</span></a></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" > where relatives and friends may leave a note of remembrance.The Canale-Tonella Funeral Home of Marquette is assisting the family with arrangements.</span> </div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-5868737395148786902007-06-07T10:25:00.000-04:002007-09-10T15:52:06.503-04:00Broken Hearted<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Sarah and I were on vacation. We'd spent the day, in clerical collars, marching in Buffalo's gay pride parade. We'd started planning how to spend the rest of the week, painting the living room, hiking Niagra gorge, having dinner with her Mama. The opening credits had just rolled on <em>Memoirs of a Geisha</em> when my cell phone rang. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >I knew something was terribly wrong if Manuel was calling me on my vacation. His news: that our bishop, Jim Kelsey, had been killed in a car accident several hours previously. I told him I was coming home. Sarah, officially the best friend ever, came with me. We drove 14.5 hours back to the UP on Monday (only 48 hours after I'd driven 14.5 hours <strong>to</strong> Buffalo). </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >We're all in shock. We're all grieving. Our hearts are broken. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Jim's funeral will be tomorrow (Friday, June 8, at 4pm).</span>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-36658361988616965772007-05-21T12:13:00.000-04:002007-05-21T12:16:18.043-04:00Sermon, Easter 7I know, I've been gone for weeks, and suddenly, I'm the mad poster. But most of this stuff was already done and just WAITING for me to post. So here goes. I was quite pleased with the final results of this one.<br /><br /><div align="left">20 May 2007 Iron River/Houghton<br /><br />In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus prays that all may be one. For weeks now, we’ve been hearing a conversation between him and his close followers, but today, the mood changes. Instead of a discourse or a dialogue, we are privileged to eavesdrop on Jesus’ prayer. He stops talking to the disciples, and begins talking to his Father.<br /><br />And the first thing that he asks God to do in that prayer is to help all to be one, as he and his Father are one. He’s not just praying for his friends gathered at the table. Nor is he praying only for those followers who have been with him on his journey. He is praying for ALL to be one. Jesus asks God to make one his close friends and all those who will come to believe in him through their words and witness. <br /><br />One of the amazing things about this prayer is that it ties together all of us who have come to believe in Jesus. When Jesus prays that all will be one in this way, it covers everyone from his early followers, throughout the ages and generations, to us today and beyond us to our children and grandchildren. When Jesus says ALL, he means ALL.<br /><br />Much has been made, in recent years, of the various and sundry ways that Christians are divided. Are we progressives or fundamentalists? Are we Baptists? Methodists? Roman Catholics? Lutherans? Are we Anglicans or Episcopalians?<br />Does our worship represent primacy of scripture or of sacrament? <br /><br />As some of you know, I was in Virginia this week. On the plane coming home, working on this very sermon, I met an Evangelical man who, when he heard that I was an Episcopalian, began to engage me in conversation. While he was gracious about it, his agenda was to make sure that I understood that his church interpreted scripture correctly and that ours seemed to miss the boat. <br /><br />Perhaps our disagreements are more local, hinging around questions of church governance, music, or forms of worship. Certainly in my forty plus years of church membership, I’ve witnessed more church arguments at this local level than great arguments over who’s in or out. <br /><br />The truth is, with very little difficulty, we can name a hundred ways that we are separated one from another, and yet still call ourselves Christian. And we could throw up our hands in despair because we somehow seem to be failing at this directive of Jesus. Except, that “may they all be one” is not a directive. It is Jesus’ prayer on our behalf. It’s the thing that he is asking God to accomplish on our behalf, not something that we are entirely responsible for.<br /><br />I don’t know about you, but I have found questions of unity to be particularly troubling in recent months within our own Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion. Will there be schism? Will there be separation? Will the US Church get booted out of the family? <br /><br />This week in Virginia, I spent time with Kathy Grieb, one of my favourite professors at Virginia Theological Seminary. Kathy teaches Greek and New Testament at VTS, and she was part of the Covenant Design Team that met in January, attempting to craft a covenant that might keep all of us at the Anglican Table. <br /><br />Several months later, Kathy spoke to the US House of Bishops, essentially blowing the whistle about how skewed the process was. In the end, while I think that Kathy finds some things useful about the idea of covenant, she was not at all wild about the way the chips seem to be falling in this particular process.<br /><br />On Friday, a group of friends, including Kathy, gathered for coffee and dessert. Kathy talked with us for several hours about her views on the church and the implications for what might happen as we move forward. It was amazing to hear her lay out implications and to talk about her passion for mission.<br /><br />I actually jettisoned the first draft of this sermon after that conversation, as I made the connection between what Kathy had to say about the church and mission and how these things might relate to Jesus’ prayer on our behalf that we all might be one. <br /><br />Certainly there are those who would like to see us all one as Jesus and the Father are one in some sort of cookie cutter, uniform way. In this view, there is a single entity who describes what is orthodox (right belief) and orthopraxis (right behaviour/practice). And those of us who fail to conform to those beliefs and practices will be left behind. <br /><br />In the history of the church, this sort of line drawing has happened repeatedly. <br /><br />But there is another kind of one-ness that seems possible to me, one that is not based in either orthodoxy or orthopraxis. <br /><br />This one-ness comes out of the teachings of Jesus. In these last weeks, as Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure from them, he reminded them that others would know them by their love for one another. And he said that they could recognize other lovers of God based on those who kept His word.<br /><br />In this vein, I’d like to share a story that Kathy told us on Friday night.<br /><br />She said that back in the early 1980s, there was a US cathedral that had a mission relationship with a diocese in the Pacific Islands. The Episcopal Church had begun ordaining women; the Pacific Island Anglicans thought that ordaining women was a terrible idea. What to do? What would become of that mission-connection? Would the connection be severed over disagreements in church practice?<br /><br />Well, apparently representatives from the cathedral travelled to that diocese. Each party acknowledged the difference of opinion. They shook hands and then the two sides got down to work literally building a church and building relationships. Their unity of purpose, of spreading the gospel, of behaving as Jesus behaved seemed far more crucial to them than some sort of lock-step orthodoxy.<br /><br />Today, we have that same opportunity. We may or may not all agree. But we have the opportunity to demonstrate our one-ness not by conformity to one side’s view of orthodoxy, but by our commitment to living out the gospel. This town, this county, this nation, and our world are all filled with people who are hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, addicted, oppressed and/or in need of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The gospel calls us to act for justice.<br /><br />Scripture provides us with a variety of texts that can be interpreted in a host of ways, speaking to issues of morality and behaviour. It is unwavering in it’s directives that we are to act for justice. <br />We can show ourselves open to the unity that Jesus prayed for by caring less about whether we agree on the issues that threaten to divide us and caring a great deal more about the amazing work we can accomplish together coming out of acting for justice. <br /><br />Rather than throwing up our hands in despair about the conservatism or liberalism of our perceived enemies, we can form partnerships with those with whom we disagree theologically, in order to act for justice. <br /><br />Kathy told us on Friday night that she’s heard a number of liberal Americans say, “Well, they say they don’t approve of us, yet they are happy to take our money.” And she has heard African bishops say, “We won’t take money from sinners.” No one is served by this type of mentality, least of all, God.<br /><br />I find little hope of us all being one, as Jesus and the Father are one if we think it can be accomplished based on finding some common ground of orthodoxy. I find great hope of our all being one, if we come together in a commitment to serving those in need and acting for justice.<br /><br />AMEN.<br /><br /> </div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-13803231609401599602007-05-21T11:55:00.000-04:002007-05-21T12:12:52.485-04:00Interview Questions, Round Two<span style="font-size:85%;">It seems like weeks ago that </span><a href="http://wayfarerjournal.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Wayfarer</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> sent me some interview questions. Finally, I am getting to them.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>1. If you were given the chance to try one day or event in your life over again, what would it be? How might you try it differently?<br /></strong>When I was young and less responsible about the feelings of others, I ended a relationship badly. I was dating a lovely man, whom I would have married had I not finally sorted out that I was a lesbian. My inability to be honest with myself, combined with a certain lack of responsibility, led me to be unfaithful to him. I wish that I'd had the maturity, patience, and self-knowledge to end the relationship first and then enter into that new relationship.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>2. What is your favorite form of entertainment that is NOT movies, television, music or books (I put the last one in there to make it a little tougher)?</strong><br />Tough call. Games, I think. I love to be outdoors, hiking, photographing, enjoying, but I think of that less as entertainment somehow. And, the reality is that I could play games for days. Truly.</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">3. What is the greatest single challenge you have overcome in your life?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Loving my mother for who she is. When I was younger, I was very impatient with her and could easily see all of her flaws (conveniently missing my own). But, in the last five years, I've come to see all the complexities that made her who she is. And, I've learned how very <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">lovable</span> she is as a person.<br /><br /><strong>4. What is one thing about you that your friends probably don’t know that would surprise them?</strong><br />That the hardest food for me to give up, having become a vegetarian is NOT steak, or even pork tenderloin, but the humble hot dog. My father grew up in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Aroostook</span> County, Maine (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Ashland</span> and Portage); every single Saturday night we ate hot dogs and home made baked beans. Every Saturday. It is my ultimate comfort food. If I'm going to cheat on the vegetarian thing, it will be for hot dogs.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><strong>5. Imagine a memorial to you and your life. What would you want it to say? What would you want it to look like? Where would it be located?</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I want whatever memorial that is erected to my life when I am gone to be small and to avoid taking up land that might be used for something more important than storing old dead bodies. I'd be happy to have my ashes live in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">columbarium</span> in a church, or scattered in a field of flowers. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I think that the most important work that can be done by those of us living on the planet right now is to love. Love deeply. Love everyone, even our enemies. And so I hope that a memorial to me might read something like, "She showed love to all she met." Or even, "We knew ourselves to be beloved by her." I had a friend die young and suddenly several years ago, and Adam's great gift to the world was the love he showed to us all. I hope that I do the same.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Now, here's the deal: It’s your turn! Here’s how it works: Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me” (or send me an email) and I’ll email you five hopefully provocative, entertaining questions. They’ll be different questions from the ones I’ve answered here (that’s the beauty of this!)You update your own blog with the answers to the questions I sent, and include an explanation of how this worked with an offer to interview someone else in the same post.When other people comment on your blog asking to be interviewed, you get to ask them five questions, and the process evolves. It's fun - so try it!</span>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36499711.post-40492250629421321452007-05-21T11:42:00.000-04:002007-05-21T11:45:28.660-04:00Grammar Maven<span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks to Suzanne for pointing me to the cool quiz. Check it out yourself and see if you, too, are the bee's knees when it comes to apotrophes, pronouns, and punctuation.</span><br /><br /><div style="BORDER-RIGHT: gray 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 6px; BORDER-TOP: gray 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 6px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 6px; FONT: 12px arial, verdana, sans-serif; BORDER-LEFT: gray 1px solid; WIDTH: 320px; COLOR: black; PADDING-TOP: 6px; BORDER-BOTTOM: gray 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white"><b style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8px; FONT: bold 20px 'Times New Roman', serif; COLOR: black">Your Language Arts Grade: 100%</b> <div style="BORDER-RIGHT: black 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: black 1px solid; BACKGROUND: white; BORDER-LEFT: black 1px solid; WIDTH: 200px; BORDER-BOTTOM: black 1px solid; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><div style="FONT-SIZE: 8px; BACKGROUND: red; WIDTH: 100%; LINE-HEIGHT: 8px"></div></div><p style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 10px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; COLOR: black; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).<br /><br /><b><a style="COLOR: blue" href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/are_you_gooder_at_grammar">Are You Gooder at Grammar?</a><br /><a style="COLOR: blue" href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Make a Quiz</a></b></p></div>Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12393892301073296896noreply@blogger.com1