Talking Technology with the RevGals

The gates I go through to escape
the internet

The RevGal prompt is about technology this week ~ 

Although you won't know this, I am pre-posting this ten days ahead of schedule, because my husband and I are going to be in Washington State during his spring break (from teaching at a local community college). His parents have very recently moved into a senior living facility. We will be staying at their home, which will not have some of the furniture and supplies like we are used to. What I am dreading is no computer, tv or telephone, which also means no wifi connection. This is showing my dependence upon these technologies.

For this Friday Five, let us explore our use of and desire for such items.

1. What types of technologies, like cell phones, computers, tvs, etc., do you routinely use? How frequently?

I can go days without using my cell phone and also the TV. However, the roku box and streaming netflix has it on a bit more often. The computer is daily, the iPad and iPod Touch are also daily. Stereos play jazz at work at home and while traveling. I use the Ipod in my car since it connects easily with my stereo.  

2. What social media and/or games do you like to play? How often? On which device do you occupy yourself? Which method of social media do you prefer?

Games none. Facebook and Twitter is most often for social media, which means throughout a day. I also hang around Flickr, Pinterest, and Instagram but less often and not everyday. iPad has become device of choice at home except for Flickr, because I tend to use images I have taken on my camera and transferred to the computer.

3. Do you separate online activities between home and work? Or is it all the same everywhere? 

 I teach.  I check e-mail and facebook at lunch but otherwise I am not on it.

4. Do you have a smart (or I-) phone? 

 Nope. When I thought of a smart gadget, I thought I wanted a big screen, thus the iPad and the data plan is so much cheaper. Since I don't use my phone much at all, I can get by with 100.00 a year pay as you go plan

5. What do you wish you had--or do not have--in relation to these devices? 

 I wish I could give myself internet breaks more often at home, but I do not. But when I go to the Jesuit Center I am offline the whole time there. Eight days of silence cleanses my soul from the internet. Ironically I use my phone more often... I call home every night and chat with Mosaic Woman

Bonus: What is the difference between your attitude towards these means of technology and a generation older or younger than you? 

From younger folk, I don't play games or text. I think I have incorporated technology in my classroom more than most teachers my age and older.

RevGals have me celebrating the good in the world

a lovely batch of crocus planted by my students

From The RevGals ~ ... So this week's Friday Five is courtesy of my good friends Frodo and Sam. Tell me 5 things that are good in our world. Or your world. Photos are a bonus. 

1.  Spiritual Direction ~ Trips to the Jesuit Center will keep happening, but I was prompted by my friend Robin, to try once again to have a director close to home.  This week we met for the second time.

2.  NOVA science NOW ~ Thank God that PBS freely streams their recent videos.  A 50 minute video can require 180 minutes of class time to get through as I constantly stop it to ask questions, to build upon what was shown, to listen to responses from my students.   

3.  I saw my first crocus.  Bulbs are emerging.  Birds are singing a bit more.  Sunlight bathes me earlier in the morning.  Wind chills remain.  All of this reminds me of a favored line of poetry ~

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches

William Carlos Williams

4.  Jazz is good.  Jazz programs in our schools are good.  They inspire the future.

5.  People have dedicated their lives to feeding the hungry.  That is a good thing.   In Lansdale Manna on Main Street is doing the good work. 

RevGals Five ~ Sneaky and other thoughts

numbers 15 to 21 in my
Wisdom Series

this Friday the Revgals take us here ~ 

Who knew it was the Second Friday of the month?   

Thank goodness something reminded me, but my apologies for the late post.  I have been busy getting ready for Blizzard Nemo (really, 24 inches in Boston?  Why on earth don't I have a snow blower???) and pondering life transitions--oh, but enough about me.  

How about you?  

1) What is sneaking up on you, and what have you been 

thinking about? 

Mosaic Woman and I will have our first show the first weekend in March.  Three weeks to the Owen J Roberts show.  Are we ready to get started again?  We are ready for the chocolate cake served in the cafe.  

2)  What will you have for lunch today?

Lunch was typical for me.  Peanut Butter and some tasty jam on whole wheat, yogurt, and corn chips.   

3)  If you were to get snowed in for two days, and you need to hunker down, what essentials and treats would you store up?

Water for sure.  How about some bread and pastries from some local bakeries.  I think we could survive. 

4) Tell me a story about one awesome thing you have experienced in the last couple of weeks.

At school my students and I experimented with taking a variety of ways to takes cuttings from a begonia.  It worked successfully no matter which way we did it.  The most amazing ones were the ones we placed in water.  One leaf on a long stem.  When we fished them out this week, the roots were nice to see.  But the ring of tiny gem like leaves emerging from the stem right above those roots was a splendid sight indeed.

 

5)  What is your favorite office supply to splurge on? (now 

THAT is random, right?)

Sharpies, which I used to design my coloring pages.

for my 900th post ~ RevGals five on Ground Hogs

From the Rev Gals ~ 

I have to admit: I never thought much about Groundhog Day.

Then I saw that movie. And an odd holiday that seems to be a remnant of an obscure Pennsylvania German custom took on all sorts of new meaning.

So, in honor of the movie and the day, I present you with this Almost Groundhog Day Edition of the Friday Five!

1. The Holiday: On a scale of 1-5 (with 1 representing, "Hey! Stop hating on the most awesome season ever!" and 5 representing, "Green. NOW."), how much are you hankering for spring? And what is, to you, a true sign that it is actually on its way?

• Always ready for spring, but after the crazy warm winter last years that had garden and forest plant spinning their heads in confusion, I will be a bit patient.

2. The Film: Seen it? If yes, Love it? Hate it? Meh?

• Saw it and enjoyed it.

3. The Meaning: If you could relive one day of your life, what one would it be?

• Any of the days which Mosaic Woman and I explored the Oregon coast. That coast is so amazing and so far away.

4. The Meaning, Part 2: If you had to relive one day of your life over and over until you got something right (a la the Bill Murray character in the film), what day would that be?

• Hmmm, thinking of days in my youth that were filled with poor decisions. Maybe the weekend before midterms that led to my dismissal from a college, but my life would have been so different if I had chosen to focus on academics that weekend.

5. The Meaning, Part 3: If you had to design a life-changing experience for a fairly despicable human being (as is, for example, the Bill Murray character at the film's start), what would it be? How, given all sorts of unlikely powers to bend time and take control of another person's personal growth, would you do it?

• Would not call them despicable, but what comes to mind are students I have had over the last 26 years, but hey, hitting rock bottom helped me... so I have hope for them too. I have seen one small event spiral out of control.. What if the event didn't happen, what if the spiral was stopped from unfolding. 

Check out others who played

RevGals got me thinking about 2013

recent date at the Philly art museum

Resolutions:

1. Start by sharing your success stories with us: In the past, what resolution has been your most successful? What change have you made that has been the most beneficial, to your mood, health, finances, or other way of being in the world?

Making pizza for friends.  We ended up hosting 22 gatherings in our house and made pizza for friends in 2012.  A ritual formed where Margaret would greet the guests bring them to the kitchen, then take them to see our studios as I got a pizza baking.  Then we would sit, converse and eat for a few hours.  
2. What is one thing you hope to do differently this year with regard to health, either physical or spiritual? If you are satisfied with your current status in both areas, perhaps you would be willing to share something you've already done (or regularly do) to care for yourself.

I need to exercise with my free weights, for who knows it may snow this winter and it always helps when I reenter the garden in the spring.  I return to practicing the Examen prayer would be most splendid for my spirit.
3. What is one thing you hope your family (of origin, of choice, however you define your primary place of mutual emotional sustenance) will do differently this year? A new tradition for birthdays? More vacation time? Game night? Feel free to really dream about ways to deepen your connections with those you love. 

More dates to get out to do fun things other than eating out.  Live music, museums, movies... , these activities have slowed as our mosaic and stained glass business has grown.  But, it is where we find joy and peace and inspiration.
4. What is one thing you hope your community of faith will consider doing differently this year? New music? Different approaches to preaching? Rearranging the furniture? If you are in a position to try to introduce change, share some of your enthusiasm and/ or anxiety with us!

The vestry of my church met this morning.  I sent a link to our rector and our rector's warden to achurchforstarvingartists post about church bucket lists because the idea of random acts of kindness done by a congregation caught my eye/spirit.

Absolutions: 

5. In what area would you most like to learn to be gentle with yourself? For what would you most like to forgive yourself? Share your ideas and strategies for extending yourself the kind of grace we know we are assured of. 

on a spiritual note... a general lack of prayer though I have shared with many my desire to set up a daily routine.  No daily routine has formed and very little prayer is happening. 

see other responses here 

My First Friday 5 with the Rev Gals

a place I might miss if it had been open when we moved to lansdale
15 years ago.  The sign still hangs there, unless Sandy blew it off.

These Friday Five questions courtesy of Friday 5

If you suddenly received a ton of money and could open up some kind of store or service just for the pleasure of having it (assume it wouldn’t have to be too financially successful!), what would it be?

A place to celebrate a few of our favorite things perhaps.  Great coffee, live (when not recorded) jazz, books, and art.  And of course some Jesuit spirituality thrown in for good measure. 

What service or store that no longer exists do you miss most?

The Spice Smuggler used to be in Lansdale.  A splendid place that sold bulk spices, loose teas, coffee beans, and some fine chocolate.

What local business do you think you could make better if you were to take it over? And if you don’t mind sharing, what changes would you make?

Live jazz concerts everywhere.

What spot nearby seems to be impossible for businesses to survive in?
a place next to a Rita's Water Ice in lansdale ~ A deli followed by a deli followed by a deli followed by a shipping store followed by a cell phone place followed by a pawn shop.  Luckily the second deli moved into the Lansdale Train Station, A Little Something Nice (no live jazz but a great owner who can croon to the jazz he plays on the stereo, good coffee, fine pastries, ...)

We’ve all seen stores that combined books and records, beer and laundry, or coffee and whatever. One of my favorite places to get coffee in Honolulu is a cafe and florist, and there is a car garage that’s also a diner in a town nearby. What would be a cool hybrid of two disparate ideas for somewhere you’d like to hang out?
Stained Glass and succulents (what gets my fingers at home, and at work)  

see other answers to these questions here

The RevGals ~ my connection started with a mug

Soon I will be entering silence. A chance to clear my head from technology and to hear what emerges. I will be leaving the iPad and I will be packing my mug.

In 2007 I was in the second month of this blog when I was packing for silence. A woman named Michelle popped into my life to comment that she does the same thing. Michelle and I have become friends all because we take mugs to Wernersville. Our art graces her home and some amazing commissions have flowed across oceans because of her. I spoke to her college students about how spirituality touches my art. Cards that have her writing have brightened my days.

A few weeks back I put in a request to join RevGals as a friend. I am not either, but through Michelle I have become friends with others including Robin who also digs silence. As I waited to hear back, my church asked me to give a sermon. I quoted Michelle.

I am taking my mug, but also a hope that I will get lost in prayer in the same way as I do when I draw designs. This year is different, I will not have a director to talk to daily. I am considering traveling to a diner to chat with a waitress, but likely will not do any such thing.

Today, a friend who leads retreats at her Windward Farms, walked through my garden. When I talked to her about self-direction, Dorothy encouraged me to write to go deeper. So, here I am.

and that is why I now have a RevGal button on the side of my blog and why I will be taking a break from social media in the future and why I hope to return with words written to share here.  Having a bounty of spiritual friends wishing me well is a splendid thing.