Hazelnut Reflections

of liturgical groundhogs and French bulldogs

Having celebrated All Saints' Sunday at tad early at my supply parish (last Sunday), I had a bit of a liturgical deja vu moment as we lined up at my husband's parish this Sunday morning to sing, "For All the Saints." When I'm not on the road, I hang out with the choir (choirs have way more fun than the rest of us in church), so I got to process round and round, and sit up in the balcony. It's our fourth anniversary this week (later, I'll tell you when, but it's a date of some importance to Lutherans), so we came up for a prayer from the deacon. We don't always get to do our significant dates together, so it was a rare treat to be savored.

We later dropped in on a puppy shower for a parishioner who is in the process of becoming staff to two French bulldogs (he already has one and the other will descend upon him shortly, when it's a little older). Any excuse for a party! The younger bulldog came up for an introductory visit to his mate to be. There were some excellent presents, including matching photo frames, one reading "Stud" and the other reading, "diva" in rhinestones. (I'm afraid that if we were to have photo frames with descriptive titles for our pets, they would read, respectively, 'Needy' and 'Quirky.') It's not a bad way to end a festive Sunday, on a gorgeous fall afternoon under the trees, with a glass of champagne or equally attractive alternative beverage, and little creatures snuggling on laps.

Thankfully, I have set aside a stash of handknitted items for occasions such as these, and we were able to turn up with a little baby puppy blanket for them to curl up on after baths or while dreaming of yards strewn with chew toys and bones. I have some stash of little things left, but I've got some leftover sportweight yarn that can find its home in another blanket for another occasion.

posted by Emily @ 4:54 PM