Jenny's Jottings

Yep, it's been a while since I posted.It's been a pretty busy week-ish period of time. Yeah, yeah, I'm still alive, yadda yadda, whatever.

My Mom and brother came out last Saturday and stayed until Wednesday, so we were occupied with their presence for a few days and then recovery for a few days afterward :) I'm so glad they were able to come. I really wanted Mom to see where I live now and see how I've settled in since they dropped me off last summer :) So much has changed in the last year, even the last 6 months, and I wanted her to know. I think she enjoyed the quiet beauty of the trees and river behind our apartment and quiet restful mornings and adult conversation. Jeff watched the entire season 7 of Buffy while he was here!

Leaving the airport was a bit of an adventure -- driving the freeway in a heavy thunder storm complete with strong winds, a wall of rain, and lightning striking one of the light poles just ahead of us. I'm sure my screaming at the lighting strike and loud thunder from the backseat did not help Molly drive in the bad weather, but she did a good job and got us home. The storm had knocked out power along 23 at the Lewis Center huge shopping area, so none of the stores were able to do anything. The stop lights we out, too, so it took us quite a while to crawl past the area, with people emptying from the parking lots and forgetting how stop signs work when stop lights aren't functioning.

Sunday we took them to church at North Congregational UCC in Columbus, where we attend most regularly. Mom and Jeff met some of the neat people from North and were welcomed by everyone. We went to a nearby Chinese buffet for lunch and then took a driving tour of parts of Columbus, thanks to Molly's willingness to drive. In German Village, we eventually located the The Book Loft and spent a delightful 45 minutes browsing a few of the 32 rooms of books. We will have to go back. Mom bought a 2006 Georgia O'Keeffe calendar for Molly and me. We bought smoothies at Cup O'Joe in The Short North area of Columbus and headed home for Sunday afternoon naps.

Monday we spent the day at the Columbus Zoo. It is one of our favorite places to go, and we wanted to share. It was a little odd that all the animals that are usually awake were sleeping (like the nocturnal animals) and the ones we usual don't see were around and active. It was especially wonderful to actually get to see the cougars, since they are usually sleeping in a log. I wanted my brother to see them since cougars are one of his favorite animals. We saw two, and they were marvelous. After the zoo, we were exhausted so we ordered in pizza. We watched an Ellen DeGeneres comedy DVD, which was great fun.

Tuesday we had planned to go see some of Ohio's aviation history, because Jeff is interested in Neil Armstrong, John Glen, the Wright Brothers, etc., but we weren't energetic to drive over an hour and a half to any of the places that day. So we had a refreshing morning of lounging around, enjoying a cool, sunshiney day by the river. We went to lunch at the good Mexican restaurant in downtown Delaware and looked at some local shops, like our favorites, The Bare Bowl, a paint your own pottery place; Global Village, a world artisans shop; and the Mean Bean, the local coffee shop, where Mom bought some scones. Mom and I went to the MTSO campus, so I could show her a bit more of campus than she saw last summer when I moved in to the on-campus apartments. I showed her the classrooms, the chapels, the library where I work, the bookstore, and the coffee shop. She got to meet Sarah at work, as well as a few other students.

We took Mom and Jeff back to the airport on Wednesday, without incident. It was good to have some time to talk with Mom. Jeff left one pair of underwear, which we will launder and return. The kitties are recovering from having extra people around. Friday I worked at the library in the afternoon, smiling pretty for the orientation tour groups as they came through. In the evening, North Church had organized pre-forum discussion groups for a forum they will be hosting in October on GLBT marriage and parenting as social justice issues. Over 50 people (not just from North Church, but from the area, too) attended this lawn party. We divided into three groups and sat under tents talking about biology, psychology, or theology. The discussion was great, and the forum should be very interesting. Saturday night we had a Tables of Eight dinner at a North Church family's home in Columbus, so we feel we've been socializing a lot! We went to The Bare Bowl on Saturday afternoon to do some relaxing painting. I worked on the summer bowl in my four seasons series.

Fall semester starts again tomorrow, and I just don't feel quite ready yet. I will be taking New Testament, Church History I, Introduction to Christian Ethics, and Hebrew Exegesis. I will be working at the library and with Course of Study. I know I will keep busy! I've enjoyed the slower pace of summer and the freedom to read what I want. This last week I finished readying Charles de Lint's The Blue Girl and Waifs and Strays. I've started reading Spirits in the Wires and Rachel Pollack's Unquenchable Fire. I hope to post at least semi-regularly throughout the semester, but there are no guarantees.

Take care!