Author: cometsgirl

Best laid plans…

Today I am in Houston.

A night at home, repacked, and I was back in my chair in the sky.

My friend and I took separate flights from Atlanta to Houston, her home. We have loyalty and miles to earn on separate airlines after all.

Today I’m having lunch and delightful conversation with my younger granddaughter. Logistics and the lives my grandchildren live, has made it difficult to have a full grandchildren Fall tour.

I’m SO grateful to be here in Houston to see Valerie!

She has her car this Senior year at Rice U. Instead of Ubering to her, she will pick me up. Whoo hoo!

So.. here we begin my Fall grandchildren tour.

Well. Color me surprised!

I was pretty certain I would be both uninterested in baking, and unable to bake bread. (I had the praying part down.)

Yet…

We were greeted by the leader upon our arrival, filled out a name tag, and found a seat at a place along the tables. It was fun to meet other attendees, especially one of whom I knew from ministry work in Atlanta.

Over two days, we learned about the art of baking, the mentions of bread throughout the Bible, and bread as a main feature in Christianity.

Along the way we sang songs.

And rested.

As did the bread overnight.

Our lodging, included breakfast and dinner, and was just down the road

at the Mast Farm Inn.

The second day we sang more songs, and heard how bread was present throughout Christianity, and its place in our lives.

We also gained more bread baking techniques, and next steps. We formed our dough for a second rise.

We had the afternoon off so we drove about thirty minutes to Boone. We found exceptional food and coffee at Hatchet.

The drive was lovely.

Later in the day, our loaves would be baked.

In went twenty-nine loaves!

And out they came! Beautiful!

I loved the bread baking retreat! It turned out I learned how to bake bread, and it was delicious!

More importantly, I loved gathering with so many wonderful people. Twenty-nine individuals learned to bake bread, from novices to well skilled. The conversations were rich, deep, enjoyable, and delightful.

I picked up my traveling friend yesterday at the Greenville, SC airport.

A quick bite for dinner and we headed northwest toward Asheville.

It’s hard for me to drive without taking photographs along the way when someone else drives. In lieu of a photo from the drive, is a photo I took as I pulled out of my driveway, bound for Greenville, SC.

I had to be content with the hotel welcome.

Until morning when I looked outside from our room. Ahhh, sunRISE.

A day in Asheville before we drive further north tomorrow to begin baking and praying.

Coffee and muffins.

Then on to East Fork Pottery. I own many beautiful pieces, but this was my first time to enter the place.

A couple hours later, after resisting purchasing one of everything that I don’t already have, it was time for an absolutely delicious lunch.

Time for coffee again.

To end this Sabbath day, A Celtic Evening Service with Eucharist. It was such good worship.

The Lord has made a promise to love you faithfully forever. Go out with joy and be led by God’s peace. Alleluia. Alleluia.

I’m on the road once again. My traveling friend and I are headed to a retreat of sorts. Titled Bake and Pray, I’m not certain about specifics, other than we will bake bread and pray. I’ll find out soon enough.

Ok, I Googled bake and pray. To quote, “retreat combines bread-baking with prayer, rest, and community.” Got it. Sounds good to me even if I’m not much of a baker. On the other hand, I’m a faithful prayer.

Come along.

The night before the Mary Chapin Carpenter/Brandy Clark concert, we attended the opening night of Praise House, featuring the photographic work of Adama Delphine Fawundu. On display were photographs from her life experiences through the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe.

The evening included an artist talk. Fawundu’s life story, art, and passion are so interesting! She was joined by well-known curator, Dexter Wimberly. 

We took the train from near our hotel to downtown Charlotte for the event. I love train rides!

Below is downtown at nighttime as seen during the Uber ride home.

I had a brief encounter with Adama. I was struck by her socks and shoes and I proceeded to tell her so. It was a delightful moment.

Oh my goodness, the concert was awesome! Amazing, Joyous.

It was a concert “for the ages”, as I saw it. While the audience was skewed toward my friend’s and my ages, it was also skewed toward the ages of our kids. This made for almost two concerts. The first hour belonged to Brandy Clark, and the second hour to Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Then the two artists joined together for a rousing end.

While their ages are close to a generation apart, and their genres are unique, the music was of one voice.

I joked with my friend about the wheelchairs, the walkers, the braces, and my walking stick used to transport some of us into the theater. But you should have seen all of us dance!

The songs were so familiar that at times it was a sing-along. Hearing hundreds of voices singing along was so joyous!

MCC remarked that they were just about at the end of their tour, which began last June. I can’t imagine what it takes to travel by bus during the day, and perform at night. Over and over.

At the end of the concert, we all walked out smiling, with snippets of songs in our voices.

The murals above were from a walk we took earlier in the day; Luminous Lane Artwalk. What was once a neglected alley, now was transformed by muralists and street artists.

It’s time to get back on the road again. This time I’m headed to Charlotte, North Carolina for a Mary Chapin Carpenter concert. Yay! She’s probably my most favorite singer-songwriter. She will be joined by Brandy Clark.

I can’t wait! I’m so excited to see MCC in concert once again. The first time I saw her was in Houston sometime in the 1990’s. My most recent concert was a couple of years ago in upstate New York. In the in-between years, I’ve attended a goodly number of MCC concerts. Every concert has been delightful and I’ve had such joy seeing and listening to her in person!

This is a road trip for me. My best traveling friend is flying to Charlotte, while I enjoy a few hours cruising along the highways and byways to Charlotte. Bring on the blogs playlist.

This is a short trip, but it will be filled with best friend time, along with all manner of music, art, food and laughter. Stay tuned. Come along. Traveling mercies.

The question of which church to attend – given there are three Episcopal churches in Fort Wayne – was answered by a good conversation about what we hoped to find and what each church told us what to expect on their respective websites.

We settled on Grace. Located in a neighborhood southwest of town, it sat on a hill and was a sight of expectation for the worship to come.

It was a beautiful church, with a welcoming parish, and a priest who led good worship and gave a good sermon. The Outreach Ministries of the parish were remarkable.

From there we Ubered to The Hive coffee shop for breakfast.

Afterwards we headed back downtown to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

The museum’s collection includes American art from after 1850. They have exhibitions of American fine and decorative art ranging from the 19th century to contemporary art.

One exhibit was Weaving the Narrative: The Works of Dinh Q. Lê, a Vietnamese-American artist, well-known for his works which combined photography and photo-weaving.

The museum houses a permanent collection of glass sculpture which numbers over 300, with major works from artists like Dale Chihuly,

Currently on exhibit is a collaboration between artists Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg. The exhibit was comprehensive and impressive. The creative ways to make designs out of glass was amazing.

Just as amazing was travel later on Sunday. We were to fly from Fort Wayne to Philadelphia in the late afternoon. Significant thunderstorms across Indiana and Illinois, and all the way to the east coast, caused significant delays and cancellations. Our flights from Fort Wayne to Chicago to Philadelphia were both very late, rough and disquieting.

We ended up landing in Philadelphia at 1am. We then rented a car and drove north to our destination, Brandywine. We arrived at 3:00AM!

It surely did feel good to climb in bed and put my head on a pillow – with no need for an alarm.

Traveling mercies.

On May 14, 1928, the doors of the magnificent Embassy Theatre opened in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Built as a movie palace and vaudeville house, the Embassy provided a majestic backdrop for the entertainment of the day, complete with a Grande Page theatre pipe organ.

Arriving for the concert, we joined the throngs of attendees walking through the doors.

Gazing up and around was eye candy.

We arrived early. An usher (below) showed us to our seats. Aisle, row K. Great seats!

Melissa Etheridge was first up.

She was a force! People were standing. People were dancing. People were singing. High energy! I looked it up- she is 64. Amazing!

At last it was time for the Indigo Girls! Long a favorite of mine, they were the reason I found myself at the Embassy Theater in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It was a wonderful evening of music. It was filled with joy and voices singing along with every song. What fun we had singing, swaying, and making music!

In the midst of music-making, with the reality of the times in which we are currently living, was the call for social justice and acceptance of all, underpinning of the songs chosen by Emily, Amy, and Melissa. Amen.

What a great surprise! Fort Wayne, Indiana, population 273,000 is quite a wonderful place to visit.

It is the cultural and economic center of northeastern Indiana.

A few facts about Fort Wayne:

In 1794, Fort Wayne was founded at the convergence of three rivers: the St. Mary’s, the St.Joseph, and the Mainer. This strategic location at the confluence of these rivers made it a vital trading post and military site, leading to the city’s growth. 

It is the home of the Fort Wayne Daisies, the professional women’s baseball team that was featured in the movie, “A League of Their Own.” 

The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library is the largest public genealogy collection in the United States.

Fort Wayne is recognized for its innovative spirit, with a history of inventions like the washing machine and baking powder.

We found it filled with wonderful restaurants. And even more wonderful coffee shops.

We began our day with coffee, of course. Penny Drop coffee and the place itself were delicious!

Then we spent some wonderful time at the Foellinger–Freimann Botanical Conservatory.

Then off for lunch.

Murals on the way to the restaurant as we walked…

…then a fabulous lunch at Proximo…

then more murals…

…with a coffee break at Fortezza Coffee.

After a short stop at the hotel to change clothes, followed by a short walk across the street from the hotel, we entered the Embassy Theater for the concert.

To be continued…