Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Sally writes:

Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day….

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can’t face getting out into the cold and damp?

This is why I joined a gym, so I would get some regular exercise. The gym is in the building behind ours, so I only have to walk across the alley, and I’m there. I love swimming. Swimming has always comforted me and made me happy, so I’m very glad to have year round access to a pool now. Restorative yoga also helps.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer?

My comfort food is macaroni and cheese and polenta, especially grilled polenta. Along with home baked bread and dairy products.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?

My lightbox has been a Godde send. It has really helped me get through these dark gloomy days. Praying the Daily Office also helps me a lot.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?

For movies anything by Hayao Miyazaki and Disney/Pixar along with Under the Tuscan Sun. For books anything by Neil Gaiman, Robin McKinley, and Little Women.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?

Tulips, daffodils, and lilac.

Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring……

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, The Spring.

It has been a really long time since I joined a Friday Five. Let the questions and fun begin!

Kathryn writes:  I had the joy of spending time with Songbird last weekend, someone I would have never met had it not been for the blogosphere. Now we keep in touch using a large variety of methods: blog (hers a lot, mine not so much lately), facebook, twitter, text messaging, chat and email. So far there has been no skype.

It got me to thinking of the pros and cons of these relatively new means of communication and interconnecting and so I ask you the following:

1) What have been the benefits for you of social networking (blog, twitter, facebook, etc…)

Meeting new people–it’s how I found the RevGals. I also love it for reconnecting with old friends from high school and college. I also use it to meet new people who might be interested in my writing, and I’m hoping to meet people who will be interested in my writing and pay me. Mostly, I love all the new friends I have made.

2) Which medium do you use the most? Or if you use them all, for what do you use each of them?

Twitter. I’m addicted. Writing is a solitary business, and I love being able to jump on Twitter and chat with someone. It’s nice saying “Hey is anyone out there?” and there actually be an answer instead of a cat ignoring me. Oh yeah I’m @shawnaatteberry if you want to find me in TwitterLand.

3) If you could invent a networking site (with no limits on your imagination), what would it provide? What would it not provide?

I have no idea.

4) Who have you met that you would not have met if it were not for the ‘miracle’ of social networking?

Wow, there are so many people. The RevGals to start with. Then there is Havi and all of us Friday Chickeners, Fabeku, Ronna, Home Sanctuary and the Company Girls, Victoria, Naomi (she swears like a sailor, so don’t click if easily offended), Liz, Mike, and one of my best friends: Lainie (we’re getting together tomorrow!). And that’s just who I can think of off the top of my head. There are many, many more.

5) Who do you secretly pray does not one day try to ‘friend/follow’ you?

My Mother.

BONUS: What was the most random/weird/unsettling/wonderful connection you made that would not have happened if it were not for the ease of which we can find each other in the computer realm?

Most wonderful connection: definitely Lainie on this one. I hadn’t been in Chicago long when we met up online, and now she’s one of my best friends, and we have seen each other through many, many different things and changes.

Being a social media whore addict is also how I scored The Hubby and I tickets to Obama’s Election Party in Grant Park. That’s probably the most random one.

KathrynZJ says: While traveling with my 4 year old we were both pleased to find a HUGE indoor playground. Now he can maneuver himself around those things no problem but I have found myself at the top level of what amounts to a glorified hamster tube more than once either rescuing an article of clothing or The Boy himself. There was a small part of me saddened to find that I no longer had the convenient excuse to be a kid and go up in the playground, but mostly my aging knees and back were quite happy to skip the experience.

Today’s Friday Five celebrates the spontaneous child in all of us… ar at least the one that we admire in someone else:

1) On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being I can’t do this now I am about to jump into a pit of plastic balls at the mini-mall and 1 being I can’t do this now until I can get all of the fonts on my blog to match – where are you?

I’m probably a 2. Although I like to play, I don’t let myself do it near as often as I should. Probably has something to do with having a cat instead of kids.

2) What is the silliest/most childlike thing you have done as an adult?

I don’t know if it’s the silliest but definitely my favorite: when I was in my house in Kansas City, I loved dressing up on Halloween and handing out candy to the kids. I really wish our condo would do trick or treating. Love, love, love Halloween and getting all dressed up.

3) Any regrets?

Only that Halloween is once a year.

4) What is the silliest thing you have ever seen another adult do on purpose?

Watching a guy friend in college put his long blonde hair in ponytails, put on a dress, and lip synch “The Lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of Music.

5) What is something you wish you did when you had the chance?

Learn how to repel. I’ll probably have another chance, but who knows when?

Jan says: In less than three weeks, my family, including children and their partners, will be gathering in Seattle, WA for 12 days. After various days in Seattle sightseeing and in Bellingham seeing family, we will travel to the coast of Washington State to spend three nights in a large rented house. With nine adults (from almost 20 years old and up), I am thinking that we need to have some activities pre-planned–like GAMES! (Any ideas will be appreciated.)

So this Friday Five is about games, so play on ahead. . . .

1. Childhood games?

• Scrabble
• Clue
• Checkers
• Chess
• Battleship

2. Favorite and/or most hated board games?

• I loathe True Blue.
• My favorite is Balderdash.

3. Card games?

• Spades or Hearts
• UNO
• UNO Attack!
• Poker
• Gin
• Shanghai Rummy
• Solitaire

4. Travel/car games?

I always read. Tho my sister and I would play a game on who could spot the most out-of-state license plates. Of course that means keeping track of which state you are in….

5. Adult pastimes that are not video games?

We have Taboo!, Scrabble, checkers, Yahtzee, and plenty of decks of cards. You could do some sort of crafts or have a scavenger hunt.

Over at the RevGalBlogPals Jan has been reading and says: Jennifer recommended this book, which I got because I always value Jennifer’s reading suggestions. The author of Life is a Verb, Patti Digh worked her book around these topics concerning life as a verb:

• Say yes.
• Be generous.
• Speak up.
• Love more.
• Trust yourself.
• Slow down.

As I read and pondered about living more intentionally, I also have wondered what this Friday Five should be. This book has been the jumping off point for this Friday.

1. What awakens you to the present moment?

• Writing
• Taking a walk
• Slowing down and breathing
• A great musical like Fiddler on the Roof, which we saw last night!
• Live music

2. What are 5 things you see out your window right now?

• Lake Michigan
• Sailboats on the lake
• Grant Park
• The Ebony Jet Building
• The Essex Hotel

3. Which verbs describe your experience of God?

• Complicated
• Calming
• Frustrating
• Focus
• Messy
• Love

4. From the book on p. 197:
Who were you when you were 13? Where did that kid go?

I was a shy nerd who had just been moved again. This time from Columbia, MO to Sayre, OK, which became my hometown. We wound up staying there, and I graduated high school and from the local community college (We finally settled down).  I was really excited when we bought our house there because I finally had a room of my own! My own space! No little sister always there. That kid is still around in some ways. I’m still a nerd, and I still like showing everyone up. I still like having my own space. I was the reverse of 13 when I bought my first house: 31. I was so excited to have a whole house to myself! Then I had to get a cat because I needed someone other than myself and the TV to talk to. I’m still shy, but I can have a conversation. Along the way I did develop social skills. Which is a good thing. That kid grew up but parts of her are still around.

5. From the book on p. 88:
If your work were the answer to a question, what would the question be?

In the Bible are women really made in the image of God and can women be leaders, prophets, priests, pastors, and secular leaders? The resounding answer is YES!

Bonus idea for you here or on your own–from the book on p. 149:
“Go outside. Walk slowly forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. It might be an idea, it might be an object. Name it. Set it aside. Walk forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. Name it. Set it aside. Repeat. . . .”

Hopefully I’ll be doing this later, totally dependent on the weather. Big dark clouds are rolling in and it looks like one heck of a storm is on the way.

Sally writes: It is the first of May, or as I have been concentrating on dialogue with folk interested in the new spirituality movement this last week, it is Beltane, a time to celebrate the beginning of summer. The BBC web-site tells us that:

Beltane is a Celtic word which means ‘fires of Bel’ (Bel was a Celtic deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year.
Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.
Beltane rituals would often include courting: for example, young men and women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either immediately in the coming summer or autumn.

Another advert for a TV programme that has caught my eye on the UK’s Channel 4 this weekend is called Love, Life and leaving; and is a look at the importance of celebrating the seasons of life through ritual and in the public eye, hence marriages, baptisms and funerals.

I believe that we live in a ritually impoverished culture, where we have few reasons for real celebration, and marking the passages of life;

So

1. Are ritual markings of birth, marriage, and death important to you?

Yes, they are.

2. Share a favourite liturgy/ practice.

The Renewal of the Baptismal Covenant.

3. If you could invent (or have invented) a ritual what is it for?

I have invented rituals. I have my own Samhain/All Saints ritual, and a couple of years ago I created a ritual for casting out fear.

4. What do you think of making connections with neo-pagan / ancient festivals? Have you done this and how?

I like making those connections, especially with the ancient feasts. I love the Celtic calendar and like how they cycle through the year.

5. Celebrating is important, what and where would your ideal celebration be?

I love all the outdoor music Chicago has in the summer. There are free concerts and free dancing at Millennium Park. I love listening to music and dancing in the park as the sun goes down and the lake is right there.

Sophia wrote: The pastor of my grad school parish once gave a fascinating reflection, at about this mid-point in the season, called “How to Survive the Mid-Lent Crisis”! As I recall, his main point was that by halfway through the season we have often found it very challenging to live up to our original plans….But, he suggested–on the analogy of the healing and reframing of our life plans that can happen during a mid-*life* crisis–that that can be even more fruitful.

So here’s an invitation to check in on the state of your spirit midway through “this joyful season where we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed” (Roman Missal). Hopefully there’s a good deal of grace, and not too much crisis, in your mid-Lenten experience!

1. Did you give up, or take on, anything special for Lent this year?

I am practicing centering prayer and writing on this blog everyday.

2. Have you been able to stay with your original plans, or has life gotten in the way?

I haven’t been able to practice centering prayer twice a day as I intended, but I am practicing it in the morning. I have a missed a day here and there blogging, but I’m doing much better than I thought I would.

3. Has God had any surprising blessings for you during this Lent?

I will be preaching for the first time at Grace Episcopal on Pentecost!

4. What is on your inner and/or outer agenda for the remainder of Lent and Holy Week?

To get up to practicing centering prayer twice a day and do more writing. I would like to have the book proposal for Career Women of the Bible done by the end of April. I would also like to sell some writing.

5. Where do you most long to see resurrection, in your life and/or in the world, this Easter?

With the depression I suffer from. It’s been bad this week, and I would love to live without that cloud hanging over me.