Le Paradis

Yesterday I surprised Betsy with her birthday gift--an afternoon of luxury including spa treatments for two (massage and pedicures) and supper at Le Paradis, a great little French restaurant just around the corner from the church. This place is a real gem and is quite popular; I can understand now why people have been recommending it to me since we moved to Toronto. Here's half of the menu--they print a new one up everyday based on what's fresh.

I enjoyed a delicious Saumon Grillé à l'Osielle (Grilled Atlantic salmon with a sorrel cream sauce) while my bride had Tajine de Volaille (Chricken braised with North African sprices, almonds, dried fruit and couscous). I've really come to appreciate French cuisine more since my sister married a Frenchman! Lately I've been trying various French sauces from the Joy of Cooking. I'll report back on the results.

Much craziness at church today: services at Belmont House and then the Work Place Bible Study downtown. Meanwhile I'm fielding calls about a problem with the old Rectory and then a complication about the utilities to that place. I'm afraid they don't teach us enough about property management in seminary.

Now I've got to prepare for tomorrow's Wardens' meeting. Yet last night's salmon is still on my mind. I just love it when food is so profoundly good as to be instantly spiritual. I mean, how else to enjoy God's good creation than to have a killer cream sauce on fresh fish?

-t

Advent II Recap

Luckily, I didn't get too far in my sermon prep before I realized that Megan was on to preach this morning. She did a fine job. Turnout was descent, and the new space arrangement worked fine with a bit of a tweak. The spirit of worship these days is really nice--I feel that we are really dialing on what we want.

Last night I whipped up a batch of Fish House Punch. It takes a few days to reach it's peak mellowness, but I did try some of it and was delighted with warm memories. I'm looking forward to sharing this treat with the many guests we are going to have by the house this holiday season. Betsy parents and her sister and her family are coming by. We are also hosting a Chancel Guild party and maybe some other events. Rectories are really meant to be used for stuff like this.

-t

Visioning Workshop Number 1

Today's visioning event went extremely well. Although we didn't have a huge group (13 adults and 2 kids and 4 teachers!), we had a critical mass for the work at hand: understanding our collective past as a church. I think we all learned a few things that we didn't know, which is important, but I think we also became a bit closer by virtue of having shared our ideas and memories about COTM for 2 1/2 hours. Our Parish Administrator is going to type up the notes and we will distribute them to the congregation via e-mail. At times there has been a semi-regular e-mail to the congregation; I realize that I should revive that tradition. It's a fairly obvious application of my conception of having a media-rich church.

On Friday I stopped by the old Rectory. We let the tenants pick the paint colors and make some other decorating decisions, which was wise. They have done a marvelous job making it their home. It's amazing how much impact simple things like fresh paint and refinishing floors and replacing cabinet knobs can have. I'm also glad this all turned out well without a ton of hands-on input from me. There is nothing as satisfying as setting people loose on a project and finding that they have exceeded your expectations!

-t

Theft at the Rectory

Last night when Betsy and I came home from work we discovered that someone had broken into our house and stolen most of our jewelry. We called the police and began the process of cataloging how it happened and what was taken.

Apparently the perpetrator broke in through the back door. He used some kind of hand tool (probably a screwdriver) and considerable force to defeat the lock there. Although it wasn't a bolt lock, it is interesting to note that it was finally the lock plate in the door frame that broke--metal sheared clean off. The violence of the entry was enough that the door slammed open and the blinds flew off onto some plants sitting on a nearby shelf.

From there the jerk passed by our wedding silver in the dining room and our electronics in the living room and went straight to our bedroom. He went through our night tables but didn't find anything of interest--but in our dressing room he saw what he was after. He emptied a laundry bag onto the floor and filled it up again with jewelry and other valuables he could find in or on our dressers. Among the missing items are Betsy's two Jewelry boxes and their contents, plus all my cuff-links (except the ones I was wearing at the time), some American cash we keep on hand for traveling, the jar of loose coins where I deposit my change. Gone is the antique gold pocket watch dad gave me and silver cuff-links from Lynne. Gone are Betsy's ear rings and her silver charm bracelet.

We did catch one break, however, in that a few of Betsy's most precious items (the cross I gave her when we started dating, the pearl necklace I gave her for our wedding, etc.) were still in a small make-up back she uses for traveling.

Probably the strangest item to go missing was my antiperspirant stick! Perhaps we are dealing with a smelly criminal?

We had insurance, and we can replace everything that was taken. Certainly we should count our blessings as the potential for violence was real, and they didn't take our absolutely most precious stuff (The car, Betsy's laptop, the silver/china, my cameras). Still, it's hard to shake the feeling of violation. Seeing your drawers pulled out and knowing that someone put their hands through your delicates is pretty unpleasant.

Next steps involve the CSI folks trying to lift prints this morning. Then we need to get the landlord to get a locksmith over pronto. And then there is insurance to deal with.

Betsy noted, "At least we know what to ask for Christmas."

-t

Rectory update

I realize that I haven't mentioned that we found a tenant for the Rectory that the church owns. This is extremely good news, as the lack of a tenant caused the church much financial stress. Praise be to God!

-t

If a Tree Falls on the Rectory and No One is There to Hear It....

Betsy and I stopped by the old Rectory today. I thought I had the key on my key ring but had forgotten it, so we got no farther than a walk around the property. Good thing we took that walk, too, since we discovered a downed tree limb in the back yard that is pinning the cable and telephone lines. Not a pretty picture--so I asked the Parish Administrator to call the tree people we use on Monday to see when they can come out and take care of the tree limb. We still have to do another run through of the Rectory to make a list of needed repairs.

Today our friend Anna moved into the house. She has been looking for a place to stay for a few months and we were happy to offer her our spare bedroom. It seems to us that part of the obligation of being blessed with a house like this is using it to offer hospitality, so we are glad to be in a position to help out our friend. She seems to be settling in without difficulty, and we are glad to have the company.

I did manage to get the grant application I've been talking about in on time. I should hear in a few weeks if it passed the first round. If it does, then there is a ton more work to do. The fuller-application will require a substantial amount of work to process, plus a motion of Vestry (i.e. an assembly of the whole parish). But this idea of a Centre for Children's Faith Formation has a lot of potential at a place like COTM. In the back of my mind is the Children’s Mission of St. Paul & St. James Church in New Haven CT. That program was founded by Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, mother of one of my seminary class mates. (She actually has another daughter that I went out with on a memorable date, but that's another story.) The mission there has been incredibly successful, and I think we can do something similar. We'll see!

Tomorrow is a relatively light day for me. Megan is on to preach--I'm just Presiding and doing my priesty thing....

-t