Jumping in

totally. over. whelming. This is what I’m thinking as I stare into the drawer.

There is a lot of stuff in my new office. Not my stuff, though there’s some of that. Mine are mostly boxes of books packed away in the previous homes of Grey Goose and Smirnoff. While they are the perfect size, I did question the logic of raiding the ABC store to pack up my office in NC as I carried vodka box after vodka box loaded with theology books into the new church.

So there are those.

But then there’s a drawer of paper clips and capless pens. An old button—was it the previous minister’s? Was it from someone’s dress in 1982? There’s a bolt—should I keep it? Pack it in a box marked “might be important”? In another drawer, there are chocolate coins in a pretty little pouch. Are they from 1982? The shelves house old issues of “These days” devotionals and every copy of the Sunday school curriculum for the last 8 years. There is a bag that says, “Bells for Christmas Eve or throw away.” What does that mean? THOSE are your options?!

I went in early to get something done—to find a recent copy of the Book of Order and my Robert’s Rules, to sign in to my new email, to maybe do some sermon prep.

But instead, I am staring around wondering about all this stuff. And questioning the logic of my first act as the new associ… interim minister (will I ever stop calling myself the associate minister?)—to moderate a Session meeting.

That, and preach on Sunday. Preach on Sunday after working the busiest week of tax season as a secretary for four days with precisely one day in the church office—my first day in the office. Do I really think I’ll get sermon prep done?

I keep “joking” that this is like jumping into the deep end. Now I think maybe it’s like jumping into the deep end of one of those wave pools at a water park. Or standing on the shore of Lake Michigan in 5 foot waves and an undertow. Sometimes it’s a rush; sometimes you have to walk back toward the shallow shore to catch your breath.

I’m over-philosophizing but I still like the analogy. In this moment, I thought I’d be thrilled to jump in the waves. I’m a little surprised to be clinging to the shore. I’m not too worried but I’m curious about it.

Turns out my first official duty wasn’t moderating the Session meeting, btw. A few minutes before the meeting, as I was stepping into the ladies room, the head of property caught me by the elbow and said in a quiet tone, “Ah, well, we just had to put in a new commode—can you give me a report?” perfect.

Only in Wisconsin...

Only in Wisconsin are green AND gold liturgical colors:

I know I'm ridiculously behind on posting--coming soon: NC adventures, UW FOOTBALL, and Fall colors.

Peace, love, and God bless the Packers (and this season, their fans!),

Jess

Sailing on JoJee

Some of you have been following my sailing sagas. I joined the UW Hoofer sailing club in the spring, and it has been an adventurous summer. When I was a kid, my parents helped out with the upkeep of Electra, a rather spectacular 40' teak sailboat, in exchange for summer sailing. So admittedly, when I thought about sailing, I flashbacked to gorgeous sunny days spent sitting on the bow with the wind in my hair. Right. About the only accurate part of that picture was the wind part. Turns out sailing, especially little boats by yourself, is an enormous amount of work. And tricky. And it takes awhile to figure it out. But the various times throughout the summer I have thought, forget it, I caught the wind just right or something clicked between the boat and my brain or I had a magical perfect landing or some other glorious moment *queue angelic choir--aaaahhhh* happened and this fabulous rush of some biological chemical is released and I forget that I've gotten knocked in the head with the boom or have unknown bruises all over me and turn in on that high so I'm ready to go out again soon.

But I still hold on to thinking that sailing is sitting on the bow while someone else deals with tell-tales and jibs and halyards. So when the opportunity came up to sail on a "real" sailboat--think 2 sails with a keel (that bottom fin that keeps the boat from going sideways across the water), I jumped. And yesterday, we got to sail on JoJee, with some friends. Joe, the captain, has been my instructor a few times. He comes complete with stories and religious jokes that only an octogenarian Jewish man can get away with. He didn't exactly let me sit on the bow for the trip. In fact, I spent most of the afternoon at the helm trying desperately to remember all my sailing definitions from the manuals while he yelped out commands I had no idea how to respond to. When you're in a boat by yourself, you don't remind yourself what's port or starboard or make sure when you grab the rope you need that you remember the name of that particular piece of line. After a few more commands from Joe at the front, I finally fessed up I'd never sailed a boat with two sails. "Well, you've been in one before, right?!" as if that took care of how to know what to do with a jib. But it was still lots of fun--good wind, sunshine, and lots-o-laughs. Plus, now I've successfully tacked with a 26' boat--WHOO HOO!

And Joe did give me a break from steering to take some pictures, which was super! I wouldn't dare bring my camera on my little techs or even a Badger Sloop, so it was nice to document the shoreline from the boat. Enjoy!

The JoJee


Terrace Time


The Maple Bluffs


Thanks, Liz, for this picture of the Scholten sailors

Glacial Drumlin Trail

There's this really fabulous bike path in Cottage Grove about 10 minutes from our house. In October, Sasha and I will be biking the entire 52 miles from Waukesha to Cottage Grove with Mandy and Ryan ( withinreachmovie.com ) as part of their biking the US for sustainability gig. It's a pretty fantastic ride--and very scenic--here's a few pics from a ride the other day.

Drive-by Daisies

Go Pack Go

*Disclaimer--if you are a die-hard, tried-n-true Packers fan, this post will turn you as green as moldy cheese*

Tom got a bonus birthday present two weekends ago when some friends of ours invited us to a Packers game--yes, we got tickets. Those of you who are Packers fans know how difficult this is--every seat in Lambeau Field belongs to a season ticket holder, which can in turn be willed to another person when the ticket holder dies (57,000 people are currently on the waiting list for season tickets, according to the Packers' website--that's about a 30 year waiting list!!!).

"So do you guys know where the tickets are?"

(like that would matter much anyhow)

"50 yard line, row 18"

WOW--even a football-no-nothing such as me

knew we had struck gold,

green and gold, that is.

A little pre-game fun at Kroll's

And you thought the cheesehead hat was bad....

Reflections of a Capitol

Unbelievable clouds

Tom and I were driving back from MI today when we ran into this eery, crazy storm just inside WI. Tom was driving, and I kept saying, "Look at that--look at THAT!" And he was like, "I'm driving--and we're about to die, so I'd rather not." I went on and on before he said he was serious--no more talking about the cloud--did I think we could drive past it soon? I think. But I was wrong--we ended up completely beneath it. It was incredibly windy but we didn't get any rain until we hit the other end of it. Because Tom didn't want me to talk about the cloud or continue to stare at it with my mouth literally hanging open, I got out my camera and took all sorts of pictures. Here are a few--other than compressing for the web, these photos taken from the car are completely unedited.