Suze. Meg. In the bathroom mirror.
Monthly Archive for March, 2005
Yeah, it’s spring all right …
First day of spring and Palm Sunday. You’d think having both on the same day would bring something of spring weather our way. But no. it’s gray and cold; windy, bleak. The bottom of the driveway is mud and slush. The foot of snow still on the ground is brownish, soft, sludgy, wet.
The only relief is watching the Tigers in spring training (during commercials of the Spartan game, of course). Alan Trammel stands along the foul line in his wrap-around sunglasses taking notes. The fans are in short sleeves, squinting into the sun, sipping on their beers.
The weather here can only get better. Right?
The Equal Exchange Interfaith Coffee Program is a worker owned fair trade organization that supports small farmers in some of the poorest countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America:
In partnership with congregations Equal Exchange’s Interfaith Coffee Program is a bridge between these communities and our own. By paying a fair price, working with democratic cooperatives, offering affordable credit and supporting sustainable agriculture, Equal Exchange helps farmers to build better lives for themselves and their families.
The Presbyterian Coffee Project began in 2001 and now has about 1,200 congregations participating by serving Equal Exchange coffee at various church gatherings and by hosting fund raisers.
For every case of coffee sold, Equal Exchange also donates to the Presbyterian Small Farmer fund, which also assists coffee farmers and their families.
I occasionally purchase coffee through this program at Westminster Presbyterian Church (I should always buy my coffee this way!) It is excellent coffee. And I paid just $5 for the 12 oz bag shown above. A really small contribution on my part.
The $5 reflects the wholesale price available through the Interfaith Program only. You can purchase at retail here.
Devin’s first birthday party included a traditional Tol celebration.
On Saturday I was honored to attend the very special first birthday party for Devin, son of my friend Lori and her husband Scott.
Special because the occasion was marked by the traditional Tol, a celebration that dates back centuries in Korea. It is observed at a child’s first birthday in part to celebrate the fact that the baby made it to his first birthday.
For this ritual, several representative objects are arranged within the baby’s grasp. The idea is that the baby’s future will be foretold according to which objects he reaches for first. It’s said that Korean parents will put objects closest to the baby that are indicative of good fortune.
The baby is allowed to grab at any number of objects, but tradition says that the first two or three objects are most telling for how the child’s future will go. Devin chose:
- Spool of thread, signifying long life
- Harmonica
- Computer mouse
He wore traditional dress for the ceremony, sent from Korea by a former coworker of mine who now is working at the Korean affiliate of our company.
Afterward, mom Lori removed the uncomfortable (but darling!) outfit in favor of jeans and a onesie, the better to smear cake all over himself with!
Cake, yum!
I tried to catch the translucency of these winter-left leaves. Not much luck.
In a bit of a rut these days waiting for the seasons to change; tired of the same old cold scene; looking for a little more sun, a little more warmth, a little more life.
I have to admit though that these woods are more beautiful right now as winter is coming to a slow close than they will be in the coming weeks of thawing and spring’s wet rains. We got a taste of that today when the temps "soared" to 50 degrees and everything that wasn’t mud was white, wet slush.
There was no place firm to put your foot down along the trail; every step broke through the packed surface left by the cross country skiers, sinking your foot into a cold puddle. JDog and I didn’t get very far before my pant legs and my merrells were soaked through. We opted for a short circle that didn’t cover much ground but still counted to her as having been there.
Things I heard:
- Birds making spring noises. Don’t ask me what those are; I’m no birder. I just know the difference between spring songs and those airy dry winter chirps.
- The schush and clank of a cross country skier moving along a path parallel to ours, near the river (oh, wait. That was yesterday. No way anybody was skiing there today.)
- Cars on the expressway a few miles away. The sound is all wind and hollowness; constant. But if you can tune it out for a minute, you can almost believe you’re far away from the city.
- Jingling of JDog’s ID tag against the metal ring on her collar
- A dog’s bark floating over the river from a house on the other side
- A stream caught up on a tangle of branches, gurgling as it passes through on its way to the river
What does a blogger want more than anything? That’s what a friend asked me recently. A friend, incidently, whom I met by blogging.
“Lots of visitors who leave lots of comments?”
“No,” he said. “It’s more than that. Think”
“Ummm, Google page rank?”
“Nope.”
“Links?”
“Bingo!” he said. And I knew he was right.
More than anything, bloggers want to make connections. We want to be noticed by others “out there.” We strive to build community, we’re looking for relationships, affirmation, heck, we crave confirmation of our very existence. Comments and page rank are nice. But links are the real prize. Getting a text link within a post on someone else’s blog is a blogger’s high — a supreme affirmation of effort. To be added to someone’s blogroll – well, that’s practically heaven.
Well, I didn’t get to heaven this week, but I’ve been soaring since yesterday. A comment I left with a link at The Doc Searls Weblog earned this blog a link in one of his next day’s posts. More than 70 hits later, I haven’t quite come down yet. Check it out.
Thanks, Doc. You made my week!
