home again, home again, jiggidy jig

I arrived at John Wayne Airport at 4:45. It is a small airport and doesn't open until 5 a.m.! But I was in line with Bp. Wilfredo Ramos Orench, formerly a suffragan in CT and recently the provisional bishop of Ecuador Centrale. Here's my first question--how can their be a diocese of Central Ecuador when the only other diocese there is the Diocese of Ecuador? To be 'central' shouldn't there be dioceses called East Ecuador and West Ecuador? He tried to explain it to me but it was too early in the morning to understand. Little things like that cause me to ponder.

Bp. Ramos is one of my favorite people. He is so kind and good and engaging. I miss him. The GC approved the consecration of his successor so in two weeks he'll be retiring and moving home to Porto Rica. He brought some bishop vestments to the convention and gave them away! He's serious about retiring....

So I flew from John Wayne (which is a small airport with long runways because huge jets land and take off there) to George H. W. Bush airport in Houston. I've flown through Houston before and, just like always, the connecting flight in invariably in another terminal. I think they do that so you have to walk by this larger than life statue of the first Bush president and a big display. Actually the statue is Kennedyesque--George the first's hair and tie are blowing in the wind. I actually liked him a lot better than his son. Then from there to Cleveland where, once more, the connecting flight to Hartford was a terminal and a half--about a mile--from where we deplaned.

I slept in my bed last night for the first time since July 4. I am so glad to be home and did some initial talking about convention in my sermon today. I want to do more with what happened when I get the stuff I shipped FedEX from the west coast. My internal clock isn't functioning well and I'm not very creative right now. More later....