Well, dear readers, I'm still around.  I've been doing a ton of spring cleaning.  As you may have noticed, it's summer (even here in Chicago - finally).  I'd been very good at putting it off so I decided to give myself a deadline.  Thus I'm hosting a dinner party this weekend, and so the place is almost clean.  Oh, and there's a huge freakin' hole in my dining room wall that's not going to be repaired in time, but no one will notice, right?

I'm making pasta with roasted pepper sauce, because I've made it several times before and it's quite good and easy to make for a crowd.  I really wanted to make risotto but then realized I don't have eight matching bowls.  Plus I've never made it from scratch before, so I'd be nervous.  Dessert will be this strawberry tart.

What else, what else?  Work is busy and stressful, other personal stuff going on, etc. etc.  I've been meaning to blog about several things, such as an article by Sarah Coakley in this publication, and I also had a Fashion Friday planned about a Battlestar Galactica tee-shirt, but obviously haven't gotten around to either.  Hopefully I will sometime soon.

Last week at church we started some new changes in our liturgy.  The minister is now using the fixed altar and facing east while performing the eucharistic liturgy, instead of using a makeshift altar and facing the congregation.  I couldn't find the email he sent detailing the explanation for the change, but here's some info from someone else:

"Despite all the variations in practice that have taken place far into the second millennium, one thing has remained clear for the whole of Christendom: praying towards the East is a tradition that goes back to the beginning. Moreover, it is a fundamental expression of the Christian synthesis of cosmos and history, of being rooted in the once-for-all events of salvation history while going out to meet the Lord who is to come again. Here both the fidelity to the gift already bestowed and the dynamism of going forward are given equal expression...

The turning of the priest towards the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself. The common turning towards the East was not a "celebration towards the wall"; it did not mean that the priest "had his back to the people": the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked together "towards the Lord." ...it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession towards the Lord. They did not close themselves into a circle, they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us."

-Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy

For the first part of the service including the sermon, everyone is sitting in a semi-circle (I think; I was teaching Sunday School and missed that part) but when the eucharist begins, we leave our seats and gather around the altar area.  There's about 10 of us so we're able to to do that.  Most of us were on the steps up to the altar area in a semi-circle. 

I'm guessing this is new for everyone in the congregation.  I think it worked well.  I liked it, which I realize is a rather lame and insufficient way of putting it right now, but over the next few weeks I'll let it sink it in more and report back again.

Random Star Trek thought a week late:  Why did Winona Ryder, who's in her late thirties, play Spock's mom?  Why not give the part to some awesome actress who actually would be old enough to be his mother?  (For instance, I mean.  In reality I don't think I'd want my BSG and Star Trek mixed.)

Speaking of, Caprica is next in my Netflix queue!

And, how could this article not even mention BSG?

I have the post-vacation blues, am very cranky and looking for things to upset me.  Like this new campaign from The United Methodist Church.  I understand what it's trying to do.  It's just, you know, I think I've written this blog post before.  How does this distinguish the church from the Rotary Club or Amnesty International? 

"Seen from the outside – from the perspective of seekers just looking for a place with an open door where they can make their own relationship with God – it seems like all we have to offer is our positions on various issues. We are becoming a smaller and smaller church of fewer and fewer people who can agree to a longer and longer list of positions on issues." from Episcopal Life Online , h/t my pastor.

Okay, it is better than the Open Hearts,Open Minds, Open Doors campaign.  I like some of the spots better than others.  Ecology part of theology, yes.  A journey that could change the world - well, that makes me twitchy because I prefer to focus on remembering that the world was already changed.  I guess they're trying to capture that "I can save the world!" energy of the youth.  I get the "church does this, church does that," it's not just about Sunday morning message.  And ending malaria, who's against that?

But where is Christ in all of this?  

That was the first vacation I've had in years.  Usually I take vacation time to go visit family, but that's not a vacation.  My best friend and I went to her family's cottage on a lake somewhere in rural south Michigan.  It was splendid.  We drifted around the lake on a pontoon boat for the better part of two days, sunbathing  and reading.  We went to the Amish bakery and ate apple pie for breakfast for two days.  (How is apple pie different than apple danish?  It doesn't have icing and is thus healthier.)  We made a campfire two nights, roasting marshmellows, making smores, and talking about Life, the Universe and Everything.  We went to the local dive bar/restaurant's famous "Thursday Taco Night."  It was packed.  Went back on Saturday night and it was dead. 

I'd set aside four books to bring with me, but accidentally left them behind.  Thank goodness, there were several books at their cottage already.  I started a book about Wales, but wasn't interested enough to finish it.  I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and re-read To Kill A Mockingbird.  

My cell phone worked for the first night we were there, but then must have realized how far away it was from everything, and gave up its signal for the rest of the weekend.  So, no cell, no Internet, and while there was a TV, we only turned it on to watch a DVD one night - Happy Go Lucky.

I did have insomnia one night, which was a drag, but I remembered a dream I had last week where I was hiding from the police, which in turn reminded me of this dream.  So I spend my sleepless night crafting the dream into a novel, which exists only in my head so far, but look for it on the bestseller list someday.  

I haven't been that relaxed in over a year.  We saw herons and red-winged black birds and listened to bird songs all day.  Last week I would've said I wasn't much for nature; I'm a city girl through and through, blah blah.  Or that I prefer vacations where you do things, like visit and tour new cities, etc.  I take it back.  I still love city life, and have decided I want to go to Greece or Italy when I turn 40, but this little break was bliss. 

Via Inhabitatio Dei, a study on the decline of happiness among women.  Very interesting.

The study states that even as women have made greater progress since the 1970's - more educational opportunities, better wages, more career opportunities, reproductive freedom and freedom from "domestic drudgery" - our subjective well-being has declined compared to men.  I only skimmed through most of it, but the introduction did mention the argument that came first to my mind, that women working outside the home have only doubled their workload.  The authors argue that time surveys demonstrate that's false.  Men really have contributed more to housework and everyone's work hours have decreased.  On the other hand, they do concede it's difficult to measure the "emotional responsibility" for the home.

Another interesting point in the paper is that gender equality leads to greater unhappiness because we have a greater sea of comparison now.  While before we only compared our achievements to that of other women, now we compare ourselves to men and apparently find ourselves lacking.  Also, society may not have changed as much as our feminist expectations and that may contribute to our unhappiness.

The bulk of the paper examines various population segments among women - age, marital status, career status, socioeconomic status, both mothers and those childless, and the conclusion is that all women report greater unhappiness, except African American women.

Well, that's all a bit disconcerting.  A commentator at Halden's blog links to this essay by Wendell Berry, who argues that:

"The problem is not just the exploitation of women by men. A greater problem is that women and men alike are consenting to an economy that exploits women and men and everything else."

Okay, but why are men happier in the exploitative economy than women?  Should we say, hey, at least women aren't fooling themselves into thinking they're happy?  And what about the study showing that  almost all women are unhappier, regardless of work?

Again, courtesy of Brigid (age 3 1/2)

Why does God love us?

It's been a crappy couple of days, people, so I need some frivolity.

I came across a fashion blogger who has the absolute best description of a dress:

"They really are quite versatile and charming, those maxi dresses, much like the dress equivalent of Neil Patrick Harris."

Is anyone in Hollywood more versatile and charming than NPH?  I don't think so. 

I'm not sold on the maxi dress, though.  I agree that a dress that can go casual or dressy is essential during summer, but isn't one of the perks of summer letting your legs see daylight again?  I'm going to have to think hard about a dress that would be the equivalent of NPH...I think this one has charm, but since it's silk, I'm not sure how versatile it is.

Now, to cheer us all up (well, OK, maybe just me), some clips and such of NPH.

Jesus invents the three day rule.

Neil sings and dances on Sesame Street

Suit up!

I totally called that [name] was in the [thing] right away.

My other brilliant spoilery insights are in the comments.

Speaking of the kingdom, here's an excerpt from Brigid's children's Bible , which was a gracious gift from a friend.  We haven't read this part yet.

"One day Jesus was telling people about the kingdom. 'God's kingdom is wherever God is King,' Jesus told them.  'It's wherever God is in charge.  It's where he fills your heart up with his Forever Happiness and you stop running away from him and you love him.'"

I guess that's kind of what I said, but eventually we'll need to dig deeper, together. 

I like this comparison of the Good Shepherd and the Samaritan, by the way.  I missed this week's sermon because I was the substitute Sunday School teacher.