A Much Needed Holiday Weekend

I made the most of the long weekend, trying to catch up on some summer fun while there is any summer left.

Went to an ordination ceremony on Saturday morning, to see a young woman from our congregation "officially" become a priest. I say "officially" because if you had been around her even the little bit I have, you'd know that this was a rubber stamping of something that was already there. Seeing her, and the other 4 women that were ordained that day made me think. I wondered, not for the first time, if having more women in leadership roles won't help correct some problems in society. Gender doesn't equal correctness (of course), but my limited experience has taught me that women are less likely to thump their chests and send their children out to die. (He says hopefully.)

Also, being in a cathedral, any cathedral, is damn cool.

Saturday afternoon, I watched the replay of the start of the Tour de France. Lance Armstrong is probably my biggest personal hero. Flawed and human guy takes on challenges of his background, then cancer, and finally the toughest sporting event there is, and thumps all of them, setting sports records and providing hope to millions. I may cry if he really retires this year. I can't imagine summer without him. Stage 1 went to Dave Zabriskie, a rider from Utah that very few people knew/know anything about. He's a talented young man, and his win, plus his next two days in the yellow jersey, bode well for American cycling.

Saturday night, we went to see the Yankees play. Ok, I went to see the Yankees play. Most of the people there would tell you it was a Tigers game, but anyone who saw the 9th inning knows it was a Yankees game. LullaBell, a Detroit native, was slightly cheered by getting to see Derek Jeter, who she has a not-so-secret crush on.

Sunday morning, I got in a mountain bike ride with the Eye Guy, one of my best friends from church, and a another member of the congregation. The ride was great, the company was great, and it only made us a little late to church. We're going to see if we can make an early Sunday ride a regular thing.

Sunday church service was presided over by the new priest we just saw get ordained, and an older female priest who's a regular part of our lives (and who gave a poignant sermon on social justice). You should know by now how I felt about that. :-)

Monday, I rode my bike over to Eye Guy's house to help him trim tree branches. I got lots of funny looks biking along with a 7' (and that's collapsed!) tree pruner under one arm. Visions of jousting fellow cyclists, or fighting dragon-like cars came to mind, but I resisted the urge to spear anything. We trimmed trees, tipped a couple of beers, and chatted about the state of our lives, church, and the world in general.

In between all the rest, squeezed in watching Hitch (way better than expected) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (visually neat, but not as good as I'd hoped), and, of course, watched Tour coverage... sometimes twice a day.

Monday night, made dinner with LulaBell, and I rather enjoyed the rain and thunder we got, even though it meant cooking inside.

This morning, put the rack on my bike, and rode to my office (about 45 minutes, almost all up hill, with about 40 lbs of stuff). Got rained on a little, but it's clearing up now, and it's mostly downhill on the way home. Waiting for me is a cookout with more of my best friends from church, and a cold six pack of ESB. Call it a little carry over from the weekend...