an arm and a leg

-A couple walking arm in arm through the park.

-A pink cottonball sunset behind the dark outline of my church.

-Meeting up with Catherine at St. George's (and incidentally seeing Fiona and the Sedgewicks there too) and then going with her as she took pictures for a photography project she's doing. Her subject is a one-armed, one-legged doll her mother had in the 50's and she's taking picture of her all around town. It was a hilarious exercise, because people kept walking by as the doll was repositioned and Catherine with all the style of a Hollywood producer snapped photos. As people walked by many tried to hold in their laughter, and then just couldn't and we all laughed. There's not a lot that's more random than stumbling upon the photo shoot of a one-armed, one-legged doll. That's why it was so much fun!

-Going dancing with my fun carnival girls at the Oh Yeah! Centre, a really hip, quirky venue that turns into a club every two weeks. The crowd was wonderfully older than the usual clubs and so all the music was 80's and 90's. When I came in, Caoimhe (that's pronounced "Kieva" by the way), Suzie (the birthday girl), Denise and John all welcomed me with hugs and "Yaaaaay you're here!" and we danced the night away. John's one of the carnival drummers and I had no idea he could move like that! He's also my postman, and so at one point I turned to him and said, "You're a good dancer! You should deliver the mail like that." He quipped back, "What makes you think I don't??"

i spy with my little eye...

-C.S. Lewis once said that all of his great ideas and thoughts came through taking a walk. I had such an experience last night. A little girl in Religious Ed asked me about how you know that God puts people first, how you know that God works in the world when you can't see God. I said that it's about faith, about believing in something even if you can't see it and about looking for God in little ways through other people. "Okay," she said with the amazing acceptance of a child. I was thinking about faith all day, and while walking it came to me that faith is seeing when you don't believe and believing when you don't see. I mean, faith is looking for God even when you're not sure God's there and believing God's there when you can't see evidence of it.

-Wearing a cozy oversized scarf to keep out the cold air.

-Coming in from the cold, swirling rain absolutely soaked and having a delightfully hot cup of mango strawberry tea.

-A really great hug.

hey, i'm a funghi

-Delicate tiny, brown mushrooms growing along a lichen-covered tree trunk.

-Andrea bringing Chris and me lunch of sandwiches with clementines and yoghurt, all in a very first-day-of-school-appropriate tupperware container. It was so thoughtful.

-Singing Sister Act songs with girls from the youth group and thinking of my sister and how we used to sing them to each other over the phone. We all just belted out "AH-AH-AH-AHHLAAYYLOOOYAH" in the middle of the coffee shop with no shame. What fun.

it's golden, you know.

-Reading in the Linenhall Library coffee shop and appreciating the utter silence of the place. What a change from outside. It was so quiet that I could hear each little coarse grain of sugar mingling with my winter spice tea, the clink of the spoon as I stirred and the regal dong-dong-dong of the Grandfather clock. Looking out on a glowing city hall and sitting in silence was a simple refreshment.

-My co-worker remarking to me as we compiled a report outlining our values for youth ministry, "You're on fire!"

-Spidery black branches stretching out across a wintery lavender sky. Lovely autumn seems to have left after too short a visit, and winter is here. Today, I had to put on my warm plaid flannel shirt and cozy fur-hooded sweater.

chunks of grace

-A wonderful day at the market full of exciting things (I really do never get tired of St. George's): German visitors with Andrea and Tilmann, purple cauliflower, devil's food cupcakes, one of the church young people working at a stall and the vintage clothing lady making something just for me. I've bought a couple of things from her before and this time she had a lovely brown vest (they call it a "waistcoat" here) with brass buttons that was embroidered with a beautiful flower and embellished with orange trim. I loved it immediately, and told her so, and she replied with a smile, "I made this with you in mind." I tried it on and it was too big, but she just got her pins out and pinned it to my size, saying she'd have it ready for me next week at the market. She even gave my friend who bought a sweater a discount. How lovely is that?

-Getting on the bus and showing the driver my day ticket, only to have him react with amazement like I'd just shown him a winning lottery ticket. Enthusiasm is just wonderful.

-Going to the Crown Bar (where John Wayne filmed parts of "The Quiet Man") to meet the Germans and claiming one of the charming stage-coach-esque booths (they call it a "snug") while I was waiting for them. Some very friendly and slightly inebriated folks came and sat in it with me and we enjoyed hilarious conversation (as you might expect). When the Germans all arrived, we turned into one big, happy tri-national gathering and all parted with hugs and well-wishes at the end of the night. Tilmann said to me at one point, "I bet these are big chunks of grace for you!" I couldn't put it better myself.

nightlight

-Christmas coming to the city centre of Belfast. It's really early, but without Thanksgiving, what's to stop 'em? I think the bright colorful lights and banners add a lot of warmth to such a cold place. The neon glow even makes the ever-present rain beautiful.

-Having dinner with new and old friends and deeply enjoying their company.

-A really wonderful night's rest after a really demanding day.

dancing night and day

-Lovely light while walking to and from work: sunshine through golden trees in the morning and city light and the moon glowing at night.

-Dancing with such gusto in contemporary dance class that I spun my rubberband right out of my ponytail during a turn.

-Telling a story and doing a little shake at a funny part and realizing with joy that I have picked this little dance up up from my 18-month old niece.