Good morning! It’s nice to see you. I hope you had a great week.
Oh! You brought your own mug this week. Bold! Well, bring it with you to the living room. I’ve got a pot of tea steeping.
Let’s catch up.
Good things
We arrived at our friends’ house yesterday evening for what’s becoming a monthly games night. We were greeted at the door by warm hugs and a bit of baking parchment on the counter that I recognized right away.
Not that I’ve seen this particular bit of parchment before. I just know a piece of parchment that’s been used to bake a loaf of sourdough when I see it, and boy howdy, was I right.
Our friends really know how to host. Their house is warm and inviting. They regularly invite people over for evenings of games or poetry or whatever. And they’re always generous with their wonderful food. Last evening, there was a big crock of vegetable stew, a pot of fragrant rice, and loaves and loaves of sourdough.
I’m proud to say Hannah, the baker of these loaves, was at the sourdough workshop I gave over the Christmas holidays, but they have taken what I taught them and ran with it. We still have an active group chat where folks from the workshop can share photos of their latest creations, and Hannah is always finding some new way to make their bread beautiful.
I love the phrase “daily bread”. I love that Hannah understands that the basic things that sustain us can be beautiful and feed us in all sorts of ways.
Make Stuff* Mondays
Erin and I have been talking for months about starting a weekly event at our house inspired by our friends who are so good at hosting. The basic idea is we all need more people in our lives. The scourge of loneliness can only be cured by intentionally bringing people together.
This past Monday was supposed to be the first Make Stuff* Monday. We’d sent out a small round of invitations. Erin made two big pots of chili. I baked some bread. We gathered supplies. Providing dinner, to me, makes it a much easier thing for people to attend. Mondays are hard, and if you don’t have to make supper yourself and can spend a few hours in a low-pressure hang-out with some nice people? Great.
Erin’s been fighting a cold on and off for the last several week, and in the day leading up to the first Make Stuff* Monday, it was clear she was in no shape to be hosting. We sent round the notice that we’d postpone until everyone was well.
That evening, we still had two big pots of chili and bread. And, frankly, we didn’t feel like watching TV. So we hauled out our making supplies anyway and made stuff. I hadn’t really thought about what I’d make, so I dug out a stalled knitting project I’d not touched since the fall. For some reason, I had it in my head I still had many hours of knitting to go on the toque I was making.
I was done in an hour.
Hopefully, everyone in the house will be well enough to finally have Make Stuff* Monday this week. We do want it to be as low pressure as possible, with the making being less of a mandatory cost of entry and more of an excuse to hang out with zero expectations of actual productivity.
(*We may use another, bluer word for “Stuff” when speaking informally about Make Stuff Monday, but some of our Mommies read the Quack, so we shall be referring to it in this space as “Stuff”.)
Bubs
Bubble the cat has been gone two weeks now. Many people have kindly asked, but we have had no word of him. My official stance is that he’s alive and well somewhere. He’s just being taken care of by some well-intentioned person who doesn’t know he has a home that loves him.
Church
It’s been on my list of things to tell you the last little bit, but I just haven’t seemed to get around it. One development in my life some of you might be a bit surprised by: I go to church now.
It’s been a bit of a slow progression with several things pointing me in this direction. In my studies and practice in meditation and Buddhism, my favourite teachers are often telling me to not use what I’ve learned to become a Buddhist, but instead apply it to my own traditions. I also took my dear friend Don to his family church in the last summer of his life, and I found being in that space and singing those songs to be extremely comforting. It also unlocked a lot of wonderful conversations with Don about his childhood.
I read a wonderful book a year or two back by the evolutionary anthropologist David Samson called Our Tribal Future. It’s a fascinating look at the history of human beings, how we relate to each other, and how much we just straight up need each other. We are social creatures who have spent the last several decades hiding from each other, to the detriment of our physical, emotional, and mental health—not to mention the consequences to our politics.
Samson also takes a practical look at what we need to do differently, and he makes a great case for our need for spiritual community. The part that won me over: you don’t event have to believe the particular tenets of the religious group you join in order to enjoy the very real benefits of belonging. And the benefits are many.
Our Jane, by chance, was invited to join the choir at Trinity United this fall as a professional musician. It’s been a wonderful experience for her, and a feather in her cap as a musician. It’s also given us a great excuse to sit in a pew every week.
Within weeks, Erin and Alice had volunteered in the kitchen to help out at some of the many wonderful community events they host. Alice, Jane, and I have also performed a few songs together, which has been a lot of fun.
Anyway, long of the short, I now know I don’t have to believe all the church things to participate and enjoy church. But I will tell you, I believe very strongly I’m better for going.
I ain’t here to recruit. I ain’t here to judge anyone for what they believe or don’t. But I think often about something my friend Aaron Billard told me years ago: we are all, in some way, broken people, and we cannot fix ourselves without help.
Thanks for hanging out with me another Sunday morning. It’s always so nice to spend time with you.
Over in Dunnock Bay, Leonard is on his way to work. Better join him for his commute. And please! Don’t forget to like my posts and share.
I hope you have a great week.