Saturday morning and it is another cloudy and warm morning. It is 57 degrees and there is still a hint of the ground fog remaining. I stepped outside last night around midnight and it was warm too and cloudy which is a shame because other wise it would have been a brilliant moonlit night. Despite the clouds one could have easily navigated in the dark without a flashlight. It would have been a perfect night to pitch a tent and a perfect morning to wake up and cook a camp-breakfast over an open fire. Man, we haven’t done that since the late 1980’s. It is amazing what we quit doing along life’s path isn’t it. We never used or had luxuries like air mattresses or cots; we put down newspaper and layed our sleeping bags on them. Luckily we did have a tent or two. Those were fun family days. Now our family “camping trips” consist of me renting a 7000 sq. Ft. Cabin somewhere that has all of the ammenities —- with wifi being first priority. Gone are the days of “water-bag” hanging showers and digging a hole in the ground for a “slit trench” behind the bushes or a camp ground with only a wooden out house. Life was so much more simple then and so were the expectations.

I have lots of cardinals here this morning; — And I have a few finches and a couple of downy woodpeckers. I went to the Wild Birds and Things store yesterday and managed to get out of there for under forty dollars. They had a couple of specials and I had some discount coupons, so I just bought a couple of large seed-cakes and three containers of bark butter. I could easily have spent some large money in there though. They have a new feeder for woodpeckers that I really like but it is $50.00. The good thing about buying my feeders there is that they have life-time guarantees. But they are expensive. They also had a piece of art that I really liked and would look great here in the sun porch. But it was $90.00 so I resisted the urge for spontaneous spending. Maybe Santa will bring it. I have a great method for avoiding spontaneous spending when I’m out shopping. I’ll pick something up that I want and will walk around the store carrying it until I’m done finding what I went in there for and then I put my spontaneous buy back on the shelf having convinced myself that I really don’t need it. Sometimes though — I’ll see something that really strikes my fancy and regardless of what — I’ll go get it. Those turn out to be expensive trips for things like my last John Deere Lawn tractor or the Black Hills Gold ring I just bought Ms. Kate while we were in South Dakota.

Tonight we turn the clocks back one hour for the end of Daylight Saving Time. That means it will be getting dark by 1700 hours. It makes the day seem so short. I’m not sure why we still use Daylight Saving Time. I personally see no benefit but obviously there is a commercial or monetary reason for doing it.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is first Sunday of the month which means it is also Communion Sunday. Our church has taken to doing communion by “intinction” which if you are not familiar with it, means that we come to the altar, take a pinch of bread and dip it into the goblet of wine and eat it. I have used that method for communion occasionally over the years as a pastor but prefer other methods such as serving communion in the pews or standard altar communion where you come get the bread and then the little cup of wine or juice and take them separately. I’m not sure why our church has gone to this method. Perhaps it is as simple as cost savings. I need to ask that question.

I hope your weekend is joyful and I hope you take time to celebrate the Sabbath. Starting a brand new week by worshipping our God who has made your new week possible is just the right thing to do. Peace.