Beloved:

    Watching me swim laps, I always assumed the YMCA lifeguards exchange knowing looks above me, noting me as person most likely to drown on our watch.  But not since I discovered aqua jogging.  My favorite line from the attached article is the first one, Water running: it's not just for the old and injured anymore..  Truth be told, I don’t see any super athletes aqua jogging.  Mostly it’s us mature women in our special aqua jogging lane burning up the distance and calories, the life guards only glancing our way..  

      Ah, exercise.  How I wish I loved it.  How I wish I craved sweating away on the recumbent bike like I crave reading, sewing, knitting.  All worthy endeavors, great for my brain.  But for my heart and lungs, bones and joints, not so much.  I need them all strong and healthy, even more as I enter my golden decades.

     So to the Y I go more days than not; biking, rowing, aqua jogging.  I don’t love the exercise but I crave the energy and the calmer mind I carry away from that hour. It takes time, of course, but gives time back as well, which I can’t explain but know is true.   I also leave feeling kinder toward this almost fifty year old body.  These hours are not easy for her but she does her best.  She certainly doesn’t deserve the criticism I usually cast upon her.  

       Like it or not, we are embodied creatures.  God designed us just this way and regarded this design as good.  Caring for the body is a spiritual act of gratitude to God and partnership in creation.  I pray this beautiful day offers you a chance to be active and grateful for the body and the life you share in God.  peace & prayers, pastor annette

Beloved:

    Our Cody is not well.  Since spring he and Rosie have been sneaking out of the yard to go creek running, sometimes for hours.  They come back filthy, joyful and exhausted.  In June Cody came back limping.  Turns out he had partially torn his left ACL.  The vet put him on restricted activity but Cody isn’t a very compliant patient, to say the least.   He got away again two weeks ago and reinjured his knee. The ACL is now completely ruptured, repairable only with surgery, obscenely expensive canine surgery.   

    The thing is, Cody is elderly, into the tenth of a twelve year life expectancy.  Except for his knee and a bit of arthritis in his hips, he’s perfectly healthy.   Without the surgery the vet says he’ll steadily decline and eventually be unable to walk. The pain will worsen and there’s some risk of infection.

    We haven’t decided what to do.  On the one paw, it’s so much money; how can it be ethical to spend it on a dog? On another paw, this is  Cody.  This is the dog who lets little kids ride him, stand on him and put ice packs on him when playing doctor.  He once had a baby rabbit in his mouth and then set it down very gently, licking it until it stopped trembling.  He can’t jump anymore so my son lifts all 93 pound of him onto his bed so they can take naps together.  

    What impresses me most these days is that Cody’s body is broken but his spirit is still perfectly intact.  He never complains, just sometimes needs help getting his hiney off the floor.  He is still thrilled by treats, peanut butter and guests to the house.  He knows when I’m sad. When our daughter had surgery and lived on the couch for three days, he barely left her side.  He positively loses his mind when Ben comes home from college!   

    Cody has already given, for free, ten years of joy and comfort ~ and isn’t that worth something no matter how much longer he is with us?  Sappy as it is, I have the sense that the world needs all the joy and gentleness it can get - even if the source is a elderly golden retriever.  The real gift is that whatever we decide, I know Cody will be fine with it.  Because, as the saying goes, once a golden retriever, always a golden retriever.   peace & prayers, pastor annette

Beloved:

    The garden is going to seed.  I have more vegetables in the freezer than on the vine.  My kitchen and living room as get sunnier as the trees get barer.  The hens bed down earlier in the evening and pile all over each other until the morning sun reaches the coop.  I can still make bouquets of globe flowers but most everything else is too far waned.  Soon we’ll stack firewood close to the house and start planning for  Thanksgiving guests.   My favorite cold morning breakfast is oatmeal with chocolate and cranberries (recipe below).  I love putting on warmer clothes,  like cozy socks and a  yummy sweater.     

I love, love, love this weather. Once upon a time I rather dreaded the fall, because it signaled winter’s coming.  I’m slightly better at living in the present but the more likely reason is practice. Fifty autumns followed by fifty winters has convinced my soul that a fifty first spring and summer will invariably come.  Now I look forward to winter and my move from garden to sewing room and the projects that have laid dormant there for the last six months; quilt pieces, fabric and patterns for kid’s clothes I promised my niece.  

Finally, after fifty years I discover that I really am pretty much as happy as I choose to be, since every season has it’s own gifts and losses.  Since no season lasts forever.  Today I am supremely happy to be alive, to have oatmeal and socks and sweaters.  I pray you find joy in your own time and place today.  ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette


Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal
½ cup old fashioned oats
1 cup skim milk
2 tbsp dried cranberries
14 semi-sweet chocolate chips
pinch of salt
½ tsp of cinnamon
2 tbsp brown rice syrup or one packet artificial sweetener

Combine oats, milk, salt and cinnamon in saucepan and heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer until oats are softened through and most liquid is absorbed - 3-4 minutes on my stove.  Pour into bowl. with cranberries, syrup and chocolate chips.  Stir and eat.  Delish.  Also reheats okay-just add a little extra milk.

Beloved: