We had our first all-clergy devotional at Mother Grove today. We all dressed out–stoles, cords, and all–and did a round-robin sort of ritual with lots of participation and song. The discussion afterwards was equally interesting, going from daily practice, to our love of Great Bridey to potential fundraisers for Temple programming.

I must say–I love the smell of incense on my fingers after setting up for a ritual. And I love looking around this small room at the little tribe that is forming around Mother Grove. It is a time of new growth and deep meaning.

And I had enough time off today to write a couple of blog posts and go to the grocery store. No nap, but still…

The garden is a shambles–weeds thigh-high and the last of the cucumbers are fat and frog-belly white, good now only for next year’s seed. There are beets in the ground still and tomatoes are bearing at exactly the right rate for eating.

Soon it will be time to clean the gardens out and plant for the winter-over crops–spinach, chard, lettuces. I can actually take a deep breath and think about those things now.

This week is for making jams and another round of elderberry tincture. I did not have a good crop of beans this season, so I am clearing out some space in the freezer for a half bushel from the farmers market.

See? Life goes on after ordination.