Spring break is coming to a close. Dianna was here for the last week, and we had a grand old time running all over New England, and even taking the bus in to New York City for two days. She'll have detailed posts up soon, and I'll get some pictures out for you as quick as I can, but first I have to tackle a paper. Wish me luck!

-Kim

Everyone Likes Free Stuff

I found this on Carrie Anderson's (whoops, the first time through I typed Patterson--old habits die hard) blog and decided to participate. I'm just glad there's a year-long deadline to make good on the promise. Although, I may have to bend the rules and offer up Boston-themed items instead of something handmade, since most of my craft supplies are in South Dakota. We'll see.

Want free stuff by me? I thought so. Read on, faithful blog followers!

The Rules

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me. Something crafty or yummy, who knows?

2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, which means, if you don't want to do this for someone else, don't bother posting a comment. :-)

3.The gift that you send to your three winning friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make and/or ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts.

4. When you receive your gift, please share with blogdom what arrived on your doorstep. If you're not among the first three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

-Kim

proof of winter

The view from the third floor landing of my dorm:


Snowy benches in the courtyard:


Snow piles blocking our shortcut across the street:


Snowy main entrance to campus:

in like a lion

Apparently the city of Boston has decided to do whatever it can to make me feel at home. The weather of late has been incredibly reminiscent of South Dakota, in spite of our warm temps and receding snow for the past few weeks. The extent of the warm-up was more than at home, the the concept is the same. Winter taunts us for a short time in February, just enough to make us hope that it might be over, then we get whomped with a snow storm in March.

Today was an actual snow day, and this time even I felt it was warranted. There was a pretty amount of snow yesterday afternoon, but overnight it really accumulated and the wind came up. Still no reports on final totals, but it was rather intense.

Even though classes were canceled, I still had to trudge over to main campus to work my regular shift at the circulation desk of the library. It was a quiet day inside, but the walk over was a bit arduous. The only relief was that traffic was a bit lighter than usual. The streets had been plowed, but this meant that there was a knee-high (even taller in areas) wall of snow to scramble over at the corner to cross the street.

One thing I find rather entertaining here about the snow maintenance is the equipment they bring out to deal with it. I haven't seen a snow blower, but they do have these contraptions that look like a cross between a snow blower and a street sweeper. It has a giant rotating brush, like in a vacuum cleaner, and it essentially just brushes the snow away. I suppose it makes sense to use such a contraption in an area that isn't known for deep snow, but it still looks silly to me. I have more respect for a snow blower. Or perhaps I just have more respect for the need of a snow blower--drifts three feet deep like a proper South Dakota winter. There's something strangely beautiful about the plume of snow arcing out of an industrial-sized snow blower clearing a road. It's our version of ocean spray, a frozen fountain glinting in the sunlight. A sweeper just doesn't have the same effect...

-Kim

Bicentennial and a beginning

This past Friday, February 27, 2009, Park Street Church celebrated it's bicentennial. There are guest speakers all year to commemorate the occasion, but Friday was the exact date. To celebrate, the entire church body (well, the majority of it, anyway) attended a Bicentennial Gala at the Westin Copley Place Hotel. I decided at the last minute that I should go too, and really try to become a part of this church I have been visiting for the past semester. Tickets were pricey, but there were also "scholarship seats" available, so I signed up for one last Sunday. While I was doing so, a woman asked me if I would like to join her table, and I readily agreed. Knowing at least one of the people I would be sitting with for the evening took a great load off my shoulders.

On Friday night, after having two of my neighbors help pick out my outfit (I still felt undersressed--some of the women were treating this like a night at the opera. I suppose it might be the biggest event of the year, but the weather was iffy, so I didn't want to be wearing a skirt.), I made my way down town to Copley Square. I ended up being very early (better than late, right?), so I got to watch as the lobby slowly filled. At first there were only a few older couples, but by the time they opened the doors to let us into the ballroom, there wasn't even room for the wait staff to walk through the crowd.

The decor was rather unusual, featuring apples. Here's an example:


Apples featured heavily in the table decor as well. I was the first in our group to find our table, so I got a good picture of it when it was still pristine:


Okay, so there's a funny story behind this next picture. The couple is Alecia, the woman who invited me, and her husband. Yes, that's his blackberry shining through his shirt pocket. The photo was actually taken by Katie, who was sitting on the other side of me, because she and Alecia found it hysterical. So why was it taken on my camera? Well, Katie's on a photo kick right now and has decided that she needs to take at least one photo every day. She had her camera with her that evening, but realized, to her dismay, that the memory card had been left at home in the computer. So I came to the rescue and offered my camera--it still counts as her picture since she took it. I just had to email it to both her and Alecia.


The dinner itself was amazingly good. I would list the menu, but then you'd all just be jealous. After dinner there was music from an ensemble of musicians from both the traditional and contemporary services. Here's a picture, which doesn't really show the musicians well, but it's another good look at the room:


After the music were several speakers. Also at this point was the Park Street trivia game. We all had questions at our tables about the church, and the answers were revealed at this point. For instance, did you know that over the last three years there were 35 babies born per year at PSC (I assume that's on average), or that the original Sunday Night music director used to play backup for Aerosmith? Or that the wife of PSC pastor Edward Beecher was indirectly responsible for the start of the Civil War (in writing to her sister, Harriet Beecher Stow and encouraging her to take up her pen)--this one is probably an exaggeration, but the historical connections to a church that's been so vibrant for so long are bound to stack up.

The more I learn about this church, the more it impresses me, and the more grateful I am to have found it right away (thanks to Dr. Hiigel and others who suggested I check it out). The senior pastor, Gordon Hugenberger is incredible. Here he is addressing us from the podium at the gala (yes, we really did need those video screens so people in the back knew what was giong on):
In all, it was a very good night. I actually got acquainted with the people at my table (and hope to continue the trend of defeating my shyness) and felt like I might actually be a part of this place now. Oh, and I bought a book on the historyof the church, hot off the presses for the occasion--and the author was there, so I even got it signed. I'm such a nerd...

The beginning alluded to in the title came this morning. I went to church early today to help with the great labeling project in the church library. Two weeks I started helping with the process, attaching barcodes to books. Today, though, there was a meeting between the library staff and some other church elders. They invited me to sit in, and now I seem to be deeply involved in the development of the library. There was a lot of talk about what direction the library should go in, and how we can better reach out to the congregation to help them find appropriate resources and how the needs of various ministries could be accomodated. It was a very interesting discussion, and I even had some input, sharing how valuable a good stock of pathfinders could be to helping fill some of those needs. The leaders were pleased with how the conversation went. Apparently now I'm an official library person with real input, more than just a volunteer. It's amazing what a semester of library school and one good catchphrase will do for a person's credibility! I know it's likely to make me even busier, but I'm excited to be involved in this. Plus, it will look great on my resume.

I made the decision this semester to actually become involved in the church I love attending. It seems I cannot inch my way in but must simply leap headfirst into the thick of it. After all, the metaphor isn't sinking into a hot tub where I'll simply soak in comfort, but diving into a pool where the race has already begun and I need to catch up.

-Kim