Long time no write...

I just realized, as I was about to play hearts or online checkers, that I haven't written in my blog for quite a while. We went to Baltimore Sunday and came back Wednesday and it took most of the rest of the week to recover from being with 2 almost 6 year old girls and one almost 3 year old girl (all of whom we love more than life!) for two and a half days...Then came the holiday weekend--which we didn't do anything much with but was restful and good. Then, today, I went to two Clericus meetings.

9:30-11 a.m. I was with the Waterbury Clericus at St. Peter's in Cheshire and from noon-2 p..m. I was with Bishop Laura and the Middlesex Deanery Clericus. Spending that long with that many other ordained folks reminded me of what Will Rodgers said about Methodist clergy (which applies almost exactly to Episcopal clergy). Rodgers said, "Methodist preachers are like manure. When they're spread out they do a lot of good. When they're all in one place. they tend to stink a bit."

The robin babies left their nest on our front porch while we were gone, so we didn't get to send them off with joy and hopefulness. The last couple of years, one of them would end up on our deck for a while, looking stunned and confused, before they flew away. I need to take the nest down, so we can have our house painted. That pains me. I'll do it with rubber gloves on and store it in the basement and put it back when the painting is done. I pray they'll come back next spring....

On the way back from Baltimore, we stopped at the Delaware Welcome Center--the only rest stop in the state. It is really remarkable. About the size of a jumbo jet hanger, there are lots of good food places, a gift shop and a little convenience store that charges about double what things are worth. I recommend the Delaware Welcome Center to anyone going north or south on I-95.

When we arrived there were several bus loads of Jewish teenagers there. The boys had commandeered both huge men's bathrooms to change into what were very nice suits from their traveling clothes. The girls were not as many but, like the boys, were extremely well dressed. I don't think they were Orthodox, unless Cinnabon and Starbuck's are kosher. But they were remarkably well dressed and polite.

They began to thin out when several other buses arrived with about a hundred Asian-American teenagers. They were not so well dressed but were equally well-behaved and quite, even in such large numbers.

As I was eating yogurt and Bern was eating a breakfast sandwich, I said to her, "We're in the presence of a large number of future Ivy League students."

Is it ethnic or racist when it's True? I'll have to ponder that....

Check in later.