MissMeliss | January 2, 2009
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.
~Ellen Goodman
In my column at All Things [...]
MissMeliss | December 28, 2008
There is nothing like a lazy Saturday to refresh and inspire. It’s after two AM, and though I have to be up in the morning, I’m not feeling particularly tired.
We spent the day in quiet pursuits: napping, chatting, bad television, cuddling with dogs, all despite the fact that by noon the rain was gone [...]
MissMeliss | December 6, 2008
One night, we met at neighbor’s house for homemade Rompope (rum, sugar cane, and I don’t know what else, but it makes egg nog seem like water, it’s so potent), and carol singing. At least four languages were represented, and most of us could sort of sing a few of the same songs. We taught the locals the English and German words to “Silent Night” and they taught us their version of the song - “Noche de Paz.” Armed with this song, “Feliz Navidad,” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” we formed a merry band of singers and strolled up and down the packed-sand roads, knocking at the doors of people we knew to be home, and offering our song.
MissMeliss | December 5, 2008
What were the good parts? One was getting to sing a song that essentially called the quarters, right on the heels of a classic Allelulia, and just before an African processional piece with bongo drum accompaniment. I love this aspect of the Unitarian Universalist tradition - or un-tradition, as the case may be. I love pulling from many sources, acknowledging that there is no path that is right for EVERYONE, but that everyone’s journey must be respected.
MissMeliss | December 2, 2008
Because I’m part of the Positivity Experiment this week, I refrained from my usual scathing-but-affectionate remarks about the level of sophistication his palate may or may not have, and said, pushing a smile into my voice, “I know this, but we need something heartier to go with soup, so go to the bakery in the front of the store, where the wood-fired ovens are, and pick something that looks interesting.”
MissMeliss | December 1, 2008
t’s even more fitting, as we enter this month that is packed full of holidays (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Solstice, etc.), that we remember that sometimes the best gift we can give is something small - greeting card to a solider serving overseas, the offer of a home-cooked meal to someone who doesn’t have local family, the seventeen gazillion (or three) bags of bottles, cans, and other recyclables that will grace the curb strip in front of my house on Thursday morning…which may seem ordinary to those of you in California, but here in Texas recycling isn’t mandatory.