Episcopal Church Announces Special Outreach to Roman Catholics

“All of the pageantry—none of the guilt!”
— Robin Williams
Dear Catholic Friends,
You may have heard recently that the Pope has announced a new “ordinariate” that allows Anglicans and Episcopalians to become Catholics while keeping their Prayer Books, hymns and married priests.
(Is there a special office at the Vatican that comes up with words like “ordinariate”? [...]

Teaching Children to Lie for TV

Larimer County, Colorado Sheriff Jim Alderden, announcing charges in the “balloon boy” caper. (Will Powers/Associated Press)
Give the “balloon boy” credit. He managed to spill the beans despite being coached by his parents to lie about the “flying saucer” incident on live TV. Speaking of his parents, six-year-old Falcon Heene told Wolf Blitzer on CNN Thursday [...]

Baptized in the River

Peter and I are now on the second and final leg of our “Best Of” tour, and I’m posting this from Cherokee, North Carolina. Last week we saw some of the best of Indiana, my home state, on our “U.S. 41 Cruise,” and now we’re in my all-time favorite place, the Great Smoky Mountains.
I believe [...]

The Exhilaration of Putting In Some Flowers

I planted flowers all last weekend, but Monday the weather turned rainy and a bit colder, so I stayed indoors. One generally doesn’t want to plant in the rain, although it depends on what you’re planting and the equipment you’re using. A farmer driving a tractor hauling a 20-row planter may end up stuck in [...]

Snow on My Radishes

The weather’s been bad this week over much of the U.S. from Fargo to Savannah, so I don’t have any right to complain. When did that ever stop me?
I’m a little plucked to see snow on my radishes. Of course, they don’t mind cold weather, which proves that radishes aren’t very bright. But still, I [...]

Oregano & Rosemary Too!

Today’s jaunt to my garden has left me stunned. Not only do the chives thrive, the oregano has burst forth like a bowl of green cereal, tiny leaves in a round bush, and the rosemary has started singing “Come On-A My House” like one of the Clooney Sisters.
Best of all, I found out my compost [...]

1st Spring Flowers & Planting

The crocuses are in bloom today, two purples and two yellows so far. What a happy day at my house!
It got up to 60º this afternoon, and my goal for the day was to get half my onions and radishes planted. I have a little bed just off my back door where I tried to [...]

Materialism Goes Bankrupt

Bargain hunters at Saks Fifth Avenue (Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times)
Like everyone else I’m concerned about the recession—or worldwide depression, which I think is more likely, even if it’s not as bad as the Great one.
But unlike others, I haven’t changed my spending habits much. It’s never cost that much to sustain [...]

The Green Church

Solar panel at St. Anselm’s, Lafayette, California is just one of the Episcopal Church’s responses to global warming and the energy crisis. We are quietly refitting our buildings all over the country, from cathedrals and seminaries to high schools and church camps. Now it’s time to be less quiet about it.
The Episcopal Church needs to [...]

Home & Garden: New Door, Scallions and Radishes in

The last three days have been home improvement time at my house. On Thursday my carpenter installed a new, energy efficient back door. This eliminated a 1950’s storm door that no longer hung correctly and the 1922 back door that was original to the house. One day a few months ago I was down on [...]