A Positively Poetic Priest

The black dress works perfectly for my Minnie Mouse costume. 

Can the Wool& dress be a moving outfit? We are going to find out this week!

  Today is a pink and black day. A little color to offset the grey rainy day. Let's hope we can keep a little joy in the mental health today too.  Have y'all tried Sally Hansen Matte Top Coat? I am fascinated by it. 

A plain black day. 

We had a long day yesterday and today is a messy day.  My black dress and sweater are comfy and durable.   

I decided to wear both my Wool& dresses together today! Trying out being a little fancier. 

Change.  The only constant about change is that there will always be change.  Many times we cannot see the world changing around us, until it smacks us in the face.  Especially when we are trying to make changes to our lives or our communities, it can seem like daunting and excruciating work, because you may never actually see the fruit of your labors.  I have struggled with this aspect of my own career in the last seven years. Have I made a difference at all? My career isn't strictly in the activist field, but there are definitely parts of it which are. Advocating on behalf of others for better nutrition for free lunches or free weekend food. Trying to reach food pantry clients to talk about healthcare or housing or assistance opportunities. It can be tough to see any changes in the community. Helping people make spiritually ground decisions in life. All this can take years to really see any difference. Personally, change is a daily companion at the moment. I am liv...

Messy Monday Every room in our house is a mess because of sorting and packing. Every day of our lives is messy because of continually changing plans and confusion. Some day soon, this will change.  

A ugly cry kind of day. The black dress held up well.  I did try to get cleaned up for dinner with family with my other Wool& dress.

Going out on a little art trip with my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law. Hope to have some fun. 

It's a grey day here, both inside and out. I tried to add a little bounce by curling my hair. It hasn't taken me off the mental health struggle bus, but it's giving me hope for an upcoming stop. 

A rainy day at home. We biked and kept packing. 

Adding a splash of color for the fiftieth day! Halfway through the 100 Day Wool& challenge  and 41% through my 121 day full Wool Challenge. My husband isn't fully on board with only wearing one dress,  but he seems to have no problems with the wool.  

Another lovely fall morning.  Almost to halfway through the 100 Day Wool& Challenge.   

We do all need more joy. It is one of the things we overlook too often. We focus on work and production and the numbers, and believe me, as a trained mathematician, I know how much we love to make the numbers look good! We want to cultivate our personas and our followings, we want to do good in the world, but none of these things happen without the foundation of joy underneath to keep going. God created us for joy. God didn't create us as problem-creating and problem-solving machines defined by our numbers. We are creations of immense joy, love, and grace.  One of the things I have been struggling with during my sabbatical time has been reclaiming my joy. I have finally come to terms with the fact that my joy dried up in the last two years. Even before the pandemic, a few work based events happened which totally sucked the oxygen out of me, keeping my light small and dim. While I was excited and joyful about getting married and that saved my creativity for continuing ministry throu...

We woke up this morning to the house being 61 degrees! We like a cool house, but that is a little too cool. We decided to turn on the heat. We have a programmable thermostat and it is mostly set for 65 degrees.  So today I have on my green wool sweater with my dress and leggings.  Using a programmable thermostat and lowering the winter temperature by just a degree or two can save fuel and cut excess carbon in the air. Both are environmentally friendly options!  

In a wild fail of a day, we spent six hours in the cool fall Pittsburgh not going to the Zoo, but we did end up at Bicycle Heaven, bike shop and museum. It was quite the show. 

Its a cool and rainy day here in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  I have my grey wool shirt over my dress and leggings.   

This morning's humidity level is high enough to make 65 feel warm enough for the dress without leggings. I may have to add them later after the thunderstorms roll through, but that is the reality of fall weather.   

A cool morning meant an extra layer with my dress. 

I have added a colorful Vera Bradley scarf as my belt to my black dress today. Nine years ago I ran my first 5K.  This morning I was a little bit slower, but still running 5Ks.  

"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."  Many times the greatest threat of curiosity is the possibility that we might change, change our minds, change our habits, change our behaviors.  I am an Episcopalian priest; which for anyone who knows anything about Episcopalians, knows that absolutely means I know a fair amount about the way ritual and routine, habits and proscribed ways of doing things affect, support, enable and disable people in their lives. I see the cause and effects on a daily basis. Part of my job is also reminding people to be curious. Curious about God, about themselves, about their neighbors, about the world around us. Because yes, curiosity may change us, it may change us for the better.   When it comes to the hard stuff in our lives, getting curious is so important, and so hard to do. I know it usually takes me a few minutes of venting, pitying, crying, trashing, whatever it takes to get beyond the initial feelings, in my jou...

Another warm one. No need for more than the dress and leggings. We can make all sorts of humorous statements about how warm it is at the beginning of fall this year, but all such comments point to the underlying issues of climate change. Hence the need for more people to be conscientious about what they are wearing.  I was thinking about this the other evening when my husband and I were listening to a random selection of Broadway musical numbers on a drive. The song "Sunday Clothes" from "Hello Dolly" came on and I realized how much the world has changed in regards to clothing in the last hundred years, at least in the United States. We used to only own a capsule wardrobe. We only had a few items, we wore the same things everyday and had a nice outfit for Sundays and holidays. Now, we tend to each own more clothing than we can remember. I am moving more and more towards only having a capsule wardrobe when I am done with this challenge.   

Today is going to be warmer, so just the dress and leggings with a silk scarf belt. Having a wool capsule wardrobe during a transition/moving time is really helpful. I don't have to think too much about what I am wearing and I don't have to worry too much about packing my clothing, because most of it is already packed! Though I may not go fully back, so some of what is packed may be donated upon unpacking.   

  A relaxed busy day. I had some new headshot photos taken in the morning.  It was cool, so I had a sweater on over the dress.

A busy day doing errands and seeing my parents. It's also one of my brothers' birthdays! 

 A plain black dress day. It should be fairly warm today and I have a lot to do. I do love this dress. 

Nicodemus and I getting ready to do some paperwork! A lovely Thursday activity.  Its a warm day, so I simply put a Smartwool t-shirt over my dress for some color.   

Going with the turquoise highlights today! We are going to have a warm October day, so no need for a sweater today!  

I went for a seven mile hike through lovely (and somewhat damp) Cook Forest this morning in my Wool& dress and leggings.  My husband is getting tired of my dress everyday. He says I look like a nun and that isn't what he signed up for. I suppose I need to work on my fashion then! 🙄😉

Integrity has been a word with a lot of meaning for me in the last two decades. Trying to keep my integrity has made me struggle with some of the shadow parts of my personality. As an Enneagram Three, I do have some strong desires around ambition, being in the spotlight, and being loved. However, these are only problems when they come out in unhealthy ways. When I am true to myself these aspects of my personality can be very useful. When I am well grounded, my ambitions become not for myself, but for the causes I am a part of and so forth. In starting to read Karen Walrond's The Lightmaker's Manifesto and starting to do some of the exercises, I have remembered my core values which I keep coming back to.  (Seminarians tend to have to do a lot of these kinds of exercises as they prepare for ministry for the long haul. One needs to know what is driving oneself and the tools in your box in order to have a long healthy ministry. I am sure this won't be the last time I do these e...

A damp day running errands and doing housework requires a hat.  My black Alaska hat goes well with my black dress and sweater.  Who knows how many things I'll do today!?  

  Walked around Franklin's AppleFest today with my black dress, pink Smartwool shirt and my wedding mask. We bought some apple cider!

AppleFest has hit Franklin and the town is bustling. I've set up some yard sale items to help us downsize for our impending move. My dress is a great working layer for the forty degree weather. Once the fog lifts, it will be a lovely day. 

  Preparing to move means moving a lot of stuff around in one's house.  Sorting through things to be sold or trashed or donated, boxing things up to eventually be moved. Everything is being reframed, being seen in new lights, in new rooms, in new ways. My black dress partners with the sweater, wool cap, leggings, and slippers required for a house at 60 degrees this morning.