![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowanfWow, I haven't managed to write a journal entry in a week. This is probably mostly because the week was undistinguished. But the weekend was pretty cool, so I'll write about that. :-)
Thursday I went down to country dancing with Kurt & Marina. There was a concert that had choked the parking lot next to where we dance but eventually everyone did arrive and a good dancing was had by all. I think I only sat out one dance the whole evening. Fun!
Friday Marina and I were going to a bead show in Oakland. Unfortunately I had mis-read the information. There were "Two days of wonderful items for sale
Three days of fabulous classes". Friday was a fabulous class day with no "130 vendors selling beads (modern, vintage, seedbead), buttons (vintage and new), jewelry making supplies and tools, etc and etc.!" *sigh* So we had driven through the rain to Oakland for no particular reason. There was a nice Farmer's Market right next to the Oakland Convention Center where I bought some excellent apricots, date confections and more. Then we went by Ancient Ways and shopped and visited with Glenn. We decided to try the Holy Land for lunch but it was very disappointing. I'll stick with Le Mediteranee when I'm on College Ave looking for Mediterranean/Middle Eastern fare. The pouring rain stopped as we headed south and we parted just after three so she could get home before rush hour. It was a nice visit but very disappointing in the bead dept!
Saturday Russell and I zoomed out to see an early show Looney Tunes before the COG meeting. I was very disappointed. There were a few cute bits but it just didn't hang together, I didn't care about the characters (and loathed Steve Martin). I never once felt "into" it. Even Russell was disappointed and he is a HUGE Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes fan. I think if I'd gone by myself I'd've walked out on it and gone to read a book or something. The NCLC meeting was good except that it started 25 minutes late. It just drives me nuts! Oh yeah and they left me far too many date confections to eat all by myself. ;-) But at least our LC is full of people who are mature and interested in working with each other. Being co-First this year I am ever more grateful for my own council! I had planned to go to The Crucible (Gwen is directing!) with folks after the meeting but I bowed out and went to bed early. I was just exhausted.
Sunday Russell dragged me ot to breakfast to give me a good foundation for my second day of meetings. This was a great goodness and even though I fretted about the time I took it was a *really* good idea! Then I printed up the registration materials for the pre-Parliament event and headed off to pick up Valerie (a Buddhist who lives in Santa Clara) and head for San Francisco. St. Aidan's is a very nice church in Diamond Heights. I confess I was a bit dismayed that they hadn't mentioned our event to their congregation. *sigh* The youth minister there stayed part of the afternoon but as he had just heard about it he had other plans. Usually when a place hosts us that means we get folks from that group.
We had about 60 attendees and the day went well. Masankho Banda talked about being a refugee from Malawi and we all had interesting conversations about being a refugee and how to help refugees feel welcomed and intergrated into their new communities. In my intra-faith group there was a young man named Matthew who had lived in Ireland and recounted that the Irish Pagan folks were very welcoming of Bosnia refugees and that part of the basis was seeing their Gods as having come to Ireland as refugees. I admit I never thought of if that way! The things the Pagans present thought our tradition brought to the question of refugees and the conditions that create refugees were (a) a sense of interconnectedness of all things, (b) an emphasis on healing, and (c) a concern not just for the people but for the land since the conditions that create refugees - war, natural disaster, etc. - generally harm the ecosystem as well as the people. The interfaith conversation was interesting as everyone brought the ideas from their intrafaith groups to share. Some thoughts from that conversation (a) we all have to leave home, (b) we need to find our deep center/core, (c) we need ways to preserve our traditions, (d) we have to combat the tendency toward stereotypes, objectification and separation, (e) violence makes such an impact on refugees - we need social justice, psychological and spiritual ways to help, (f) we need to create conscious rituals to honor and help people through trauma and into reintegration with community and (g) we need to remember that new community members enrich and renew a community and should be welcomed. We all shared a lovely Pakistani meal and then did an hour of Dances of Universal Peace. I *really* do want to go to those dances in San Jose! First Friday of the month at the SJ Unitarian downtown. Hmm. I put it on my calendar for the first Friday in April... the first one I have free! Eeep!
Then I came home and went directly to bed. A long and tiring but basically satisfying weekend!
Saw this in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lysana's journal.
Pick the sentences assigned to the letters in your name here and see if they fit you.
R You are a social butterfly. I don't think so
O You are very open-minded. okay
W You like your privacy. true enough
A You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind. I suppose
N You like to work, but you always want a break. guilty
No further off than most general fortunetelling schemes. ;-)
Cool!kshandra did this url that shows all one's userpics.
Here are mine. Yes, and I need I need MORE! *giggle*
You are a kitchen witch, the kind of practical
pagan that practices magic off the cuff as need
be. You like to help people and tend to be more
approachable than other types of pagans.
Which Pagan are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
At least I assume that is what the quiz writer really meant. *sigh* They had
"Robert Heinlein wrote you - your stranger in a strange land, you."
Robert Heinlein wrote you - you're stranger in a
strange land, you.
Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Thursday I went down to country dancing with Kurt & Marina. There was a concert that had choked the parking lot next to where we dance but eventually everyone did arrive and a good dancing was had by all. I think I only sat out one dance the whole evening. Fun!
Friday Marina and I were going to a bead show in Oakland. Unfortunately I had mis-read the information. There were "Two days of wonderful items for sale
Three days of fabulous classes". Friday was a fabulous class day with no "130 vendors selling beads (modern, vintage, seedbead), buttons (vintage and new), jewelry making supplies and tools, etc and etc.!" *sigh* So we had driven through the rain to Oakland for no particular reason. There was a nice Farmer's Market right next to the Oakland Convention Center where I bought some excellent apricots, date confections and more. Then we went by Ancient Ways and shopped and visited with Glenn. We decided to try the Holy Land for lunch but it was very disappointing. I'll stick with Le Mediteranee when I'm on College Ave looking for Mediterranean/Middle Eastern fare. The pouring rain stopped as we headed south and we parted just after three so she could get home before rush hour. It was a nice visit but very disappointing in the bead dept!
Saturday Russell and I zoomed out to see an early show Looney Tunes before the COG meeting. I was very disappointed. There were a few cute bits but it just didn't hang together, I didn't care about the characters (and loathed Steve Martin). I never once felt "into" it. Even Russell was disappointed and he is a HUGE Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes fan. I think if I'd gone by myself I'd've walked out on it and gone to read a book or something. The NCLC meeting was good except that it started 25 minutes late. It just drives me nuts! Oh yeah and they left me far too many date confections to eat all by myself. ;-) But at least our LC is full of people who are mature and interested in working with each other. Being co-First this year I am ever more grateful for my own council! I had planned to go to The Crucible (Gwen is directing!) with folks after the meeting but I bowed out and went to bed early. I was just exhausted.
Sunday Russell dragged me ot to breakfast to give me a good foundation for my second day of meetings. This was a great goodness and even though I fretted about the time I took it was a *really* good idea! Then I printed up the registration materials for the pre-Parliament event and headed off to pick up Valerie (a Buddhist who lives in Santa Clara) and head for San Francisco. St. Aidan's is a very nice church in Diamond Heights. I confess I was a bit dismayed that they hadn't mentioned our event to their congregation. *sigh* The youth minister there stayed part of the afternoon but as he had just heard about it he had other plans. Usually when a place hosts us that means we get folks from that group.
We had about 60 attendees and the day went well. Masankho Banda talked about being a refugee from Malawi and we all had interesting conversations about being a refugee and how to help refugees feel welcomed and intergrated into their new communities. In my intra-faith group there was a young man named Matthew who had lived in Ireland and recounted that the Irish Pagan folks were very welcoming of Bosnia refugees and that part of the basis was seeing their Gods as having come to Ireland as refugees. I admit I never thought of if that way! The things the Pagans present thought our tradition brought to the question of refugees and the conditions that create refugees were (a) a sense of interconnectedness of all things, (b) an emphasis on healing, and (c) a concern not just for the people but for the land since the conditions that create refugees - war, natural disaster, etc. - generally harm the ecosystem as well as the people. The interfaith conversation was interesting as everyone brought the ideas from their intrafaith groups to share. Some thoughts from that conversation (a) we all have to leave home, (b) we need to find our deep center/core, (c) we need ways to preserve our traditions, (d) we have to combat the tendency toward stereotypes, objectification and separation, (e) violence makes such an impact on refugees - we need social justice, psychological and spiritual ways to help, (f) we need to create conscious rituals to honor and help people through trauma and into reintegration with community and (g) we need to remember that new community members enrich and renew a community and should be welcomed. We all shared a lovely Pakistani meal and then did an hour of Dances of Universal Peace. I *really* do want to go to those dances in San Jose! First Friday of the month at the SJ Unitarian downtown. Hmm. I put it on my calendar for the first Friday in April... the first one I have free! Eeep!
Then I came home and went directly to bed. A long and tiring but basically satisfying weekend!
Saw this in
lysana's journal. Pick the sentences assigned to the letters in your name here and see if they fit you.
R You are a social butterfly. I don't think so
O You are very open-minded. okay
W You like your privacy. true enough
A You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind. I suppose
N You like to work, but you always want a break. guilty
No further off than most general fortunetelling schemes. ;-)
Cool!
kshandra did this url that shows all one's userpics.Here are mine. Yes, and I need I need MORE! *giggle*
You are a kitchen witch, the kind of practical
pagan that practices magic off the cuff as need
be. You like to help people and tend to be more
approachable than other types of pagans.
Which Pagan are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
At least I assume that is what the quiz writer really meant. *sigh* They had
"Robert Heinlein wrote you - your stranger in a strange land, you."
Robert Heinlein wrote you - you're stranger in a
strange land, you.
Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
