Me? Procrastinating? Never.

That's right.  I'm actually procrastinating (though for all of you connoisseurs of the sport, I suppose you would laugh in my face as I'm putting off something that doesn't need to be finished until Sunday and I'm more than halfway finished with it...) and instead of working, I'm updating my blog.  Never mind that I have new pictures I want to show off; that's just a side benefit.

So several random things...

1. Mr. Wolf came back with a couple of his friends.  I'm all for house guests, but this is unacceptable.  My humble plea to the furry guests: just don't make me squish you!

2. I found an instrument lying around my house that looks something like a piccolo.  However, it has six holes that you cover with your fingers and only five additional keys.  I'm trying to teach myself to play it, with (Chris's help over Skype), but it's rather a difficult endeavor.  In the end, Chris told me I was blowing too hard.  Who knew you could do such a thing?

3. Flipping through a different denomination's hymnal with some people from my church, we were pointing out songs that we know.  They all knew a smattering, I knew almost none.  And then I happened upon "Joy to the World" and said, triumphantly, "well, I know that one," expecting everyone else to say, "well, of course."  Instead, the person next to me looked at me thoughtfully and said that, no, she didn't think she knew that one.  Here's a song I thought the whole world must know--after all, at Christmas in America it's almost cultural, piped through muzak players in malls and shopping centers across the country in order to get you in the spirit so that you'll buy more.  While certain Christmas items have started to crop up here, like so many odd weeds in a field of wheat, the music has not changed and there is no indication of whether or not I will ultimately be inundated to the point of overload with much-loved carols.  And I suppose it's only then that I'll learn whether the song really isn't common at all, or simply isn't common in this community.

4.  This past weekend we celebrated harvest.  It was an incredible experience--the church giving thanks for the bounty that the earth yielded.  The whole sanctuary was decorated with flowers and fruits and vegetables--in windows, in the narthex, filling the baptismal font and communion tables.  Some of the hymns are the same or similar to those that we'd celebrate at Thanksgiving (which I have to admit, I will dearly miss this year).  It was a wonderful service, and I'm told that in the country it rivals (or, at least, rivaled) Christmas and Easter in terms of importance.

5.  Went to Cairn Woods.  It was like stepping into a fairy tale.  Some things you just have to see.  I've tried to capture it's beauty in pictures, but I only succeeded to an extent.  I hope you enjoy them.

6.  Today, preparing dinner, I made one of the biggest messes cooking that I've made in a long time.  And I was just frying eggs.  They exploded.  I usually think of myself as a semi-decent cook, how did this happen to me?  Needless to say, it was raining eggs and I cleaned bits of egg and grease off of the floor, cupboard, microwave...And I'll probably find more tomorrow.  You know what, though?  They were good eggs.  It was totally worth it.

And I think that's all for now.  Pictures of the church decorated for Harvest and Cairn Woods.