#101 of 365 - Watch Tower or A Day Spent Rallying Around the Town.

The first thing we did this morning was to head south to pick up Rebecca and the BOM pattern for guild. Then far out to the east of town for the guild meeting. Met our Cheryl's lovely mother, Violet whilst there. Then after, a quick trip back to Rebecca's for some packages she needed to mail. Then we headed back to the west and downtown Colorado Springs for a sushi lunch at Yoo Mae and then a wander along Cascade heading north to look at the sculptures all along the streets as we went. We saw 34 thousand plus Helios, a snowman with rocks in it's head, giant metal koosh balls scattered across a lawn next to the giant Spanish dancers on the lawn by the Money Museum.

Also there were stone plinths, metal and glass figures, stone carvings, bronze sculptures and Patrick Dougherty's woven wood sculpture on the Colorado College campus.

During the wander, we saw bulbs about to spring into bloom, checked out an herb garden behind the McAllister House and found out that I qualify as a senior citizen at the Money Museum. Le sigh... I showed Rebecca the climbing roses we, the Grace Gardeners planted yesterday along the ugly chain link fence on the south side of the church. Then it was back down Tejon to Poor Richard's Book Emporium to meet up with Erin again. We also noodled through the goodies in the front part of the store. Rebecca and I felt up some kewl journals, no, really we did. We talked yarn with one of the clerks after she admired my Summer with Ishbel. I also saw the coolest pair of half chaps that would so work as part of a Steampunk outfit.

We walked east back to the parking garage which is over the bus depot. Which is when we got a closer look at the Watch Tower, which I am looking through in the above photo. There were black Suburbans and dark sunglasses abounding when we got there. The exit to the depot was blocked off by a bus and there were ARMED TSA agents littering the sidewalks. We still don't know what was up with that. Erin could only say, Mother, you would leave a baggie of bay leaves on the front seat of the car, hah, hah, hah...


In the end, Rebecca and I had a loverly day of art for art's sake...and by the way, Rebecca, I was right, it was a hawthorn.

Erin and I hit the Sunflower and saw a red fox just chillin' on a neighbor's lawn on the way there. Spooked the USPS guy right out...

#53 of 365 - Socks, Yet Again

I love socks as you all know, I also love clog style shoes. These socks are clog socks as the design only goes up the back of the heel. These were mostly knitted whilst sitting in court listening to testimony regarding the return of our congregation, Grace and Saint Stephen's real property last spring. We, on the right side of the courtroom were regular Madame DeFarges. About 6 of the women on our side of the aisle knitted during that seemingly endless trial. Our property was returned to us by judicial decree and we returned to it on Palm Sunday, 2009. I have made two pairs of these socks, one pair in wool and one pair in cotton. They are both really smooshy and show off nicely when I am wearing a skirt or a pair of shorts. This is a photo of the wool pair, I can't seem to locate a photo of the cotton pair at the moment.

#52 of 365 - Today has Been a Good Day, So Far

Got up this morning to head out to church, it was slip sliding away getting out of my neighborhood. We had an inch more of snow during the night... Got to church safely enough, thank you, God. Went to Adult Education where we learned about the origins of the church in Britain along with other historical information. More reading for me, which is not a bad thing.

After church, I went to the library to print something out and pick up a couple of movies that had come in. There I was treated to the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony's Apollo Quartet playing some selections in the atrium of the library. What a lovely treat for the ears!



Now I am waiting for the onion soup to finish... Nom!

Coming Home Soon

This incredible piece of art is by my friend Anne. She has followed the saga of Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church here on my blog. A while back, she had a contest on her blog here, Anne's Blog and I won a piece of her art. Instead of sending one she had already done, she created a brand new piece for me. I was incredibly touch and overwhelmed by her thoughtful comments along the way and and the care which she used to make this piece for me. Here's the funny part and it also goes to show how clueless I am at times. I sent her or gave her access to some of the images she used for this piece and I had absolutely NO clue... Many grateful thanks, Anne. I am so glad we found each other.

Grace and St .Stephen's Episcopal Church Garden

Today was gardening day again. Every Saturday morning and Tuesday at some time we all meet to work the gardens and get them back into shape.
It has been a joy and a challenge to watch the gardens come back to life after a few years of neglect. The fountain of course is working again, the peonies, clematis and roses are growing like gangbusters. The dandelion, clover and thistles are being overwhelm by the sheer force of will of our amazing crew. Here's some of the folk that meet together to work the wonder and some of the gorgeous peonies and such.
I must say the peonies smell like heaven.

We had cool, cloudy skies this morning, I don't think the temperature got much over 65 degrees all day. Here are some of the folks that can out to work. They were as young as fourteen and as old as eighty.

Even Sadie came out to keep company with us.

Spoon Story & the Peonies About to Take Off

Here a link to the Spoon Story . It describes my experience better than I can. I still do what I can, when I can in spite of all. Thanks for the linky, Diana. She's also written about peonies today.

I spent a lovely day today. Knit club with Sheila and Shirley and the rest of the ladies. We did not have a "real" meeting as all the officers were elsewhere.


Some of the Knit club members..















Here's the Hairpin Lace Afghan.

We primarily did show and tell. Shirley showed us how to do hairpin lace. I haven't seen hairpin done in years, but apparently it is making a comeback like all the forms of needlecraft.

Progress on Fawkes Socks.




Then I paid forward a million gajillion mercies and kindnesses by giving Sheila a ride to the hospital to get blood work done.

After that, I drop Sheila back to home and went onto my LYS, Knitter's Kove and walked into CHAOS. They are re-arranging the whole store! Most of the stock was in BIG plastic sacks. I wanted some Brown Sheep Bulky, not on the shelves yet. Yikes, wonder what bag it's in, should I come back later? Saw a label for Bulky Brown Sheep peeking out of a bag and dug in and believe it or no, found the yarn I was looking for. WOOT! Hit the register and was out of there as there was too much chaos...

Off to the church to water the garden. Sun behind the clouds so it was not too hot. Communed with the birds bathing in the bath, looked at the robin's nest in the tree by the door. WRESTLED with the mighty black and green hose... Someone needs to learn how to coil a hose away, the nozzle was on the bottom of the coils (5, maybe 6 hoses strung together), what's up with that? Since the peonies are about to go full force in bloom, I couldn't stay upset for long. It smelled like Heaven and I was happy to just BE.

Of course, watering and the St. Francis Fountain burbling tend to trigger a certain response, so I was off to the Parish Office to use the Ladies. Marti, the Parish Secretary pointed me the way. I had never been in McWilliam House where the offices are, before. It's a Victorian and the wood work in the dining room is amazing!. I will get pictures of it at a later date. Father John, who retired on Sunday was there as well as a number of other members of the Parish. What a joy to see the church and it's grounds coming alive again. I even got the gift of hearing our magnificent organ being played as someone was there practicing on it.


This is one of the clematis vines tucked at the back of the bed. I took the picture through the lovely wrought iron fence topped with fleur-de-lis.










I don't ever recall seeing irises with these light green and white leaves before but they are a interesting addition to the shades of green in the garden. I want to find out more about them.

Gardening and Ravelry in El Paso County

Or how I spent my Saturday.

Today being the first Saturday of the month was also the regularly scheduled meeting of the El Paso County Crafters from Ravelry.com. We try to all get together on this first Saturday to learn from each other, share what is going on in our lives, show off what we are working on and listen to each other's problems. i.e. Stitch and Bitch!

Here's a picture of Sheila and me (in the hat).


Sheila has just got me started on the Knit One Below stitch which has been driving me buggy along with the Shawl from Hell. Sheila was working on a lovely ripple stitch afghan.



Here is a picture of the Knit One Below. It creates columns as you stitch. It's a kinda kewl technique. I am knitting this swatch from Noro Blossom and Encore Worsted in a mauve colour. I believe that it will be a sketchbook cover when it is finished. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sheila. It all now makes sense.









Here's a picture of Jean and her sister in law, Suzanne.

Suzanne was working on a latch hook rug and Jean was knitting a washcloth.








Here's Sheila and Wendie. Wendie was working on a few things. A hat, I know for certain.

We did miss our Rebecca, who's away in the Flatlands (Illinois) awaiting the arrival of her grandbaby, and Anita, who is finishing up her children's game season and Wendie's Mum. eta: I totally forgot our Mel, another waiting on a baby to come.












Photo of lupins in the garden.



In the morning, I worked in the Grace and Saint Stephen's Episcopal Parish church garden and communed with the plants, sunshine, observed the many faces of Pike's Peak as the hours rolled by and said hello to the church's neighborhood dogs who were watered in the St. Francis fountain. What a joy to see so much activity occurring on our corner here in downtown Colorado Springs. There was also a student piano recital in the Nave and a quarterly Altar Guild meeting in the Taft Hall as well.





Stacey in the garden looking over her patch.

Some of the neighborhood dogs enjoying the St. Francis Fountain. The fountain had been inoperable since before we got the building returned to us, but was repaired and put back in service this week. Thanks Be!

Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church - The Bishop was here for Easter Sunday

Just a quick update about the Easter Service today. First off, we woke up to SNOW! The DD brought it on yesterday, as she said, "Mum, it's Easter tomorrow, you do know it's going to snow?"

The Bishop of Colorado, the Right Reverend Robert O'Neill drove down from Denver in that snow to officiate his first Easter Service at our historic church on Tejon Street. He has been with the congregation for the last three Easters due to the sundering of the congregations right before Holy Week in 2007. He has been an amazing tower of support during this time of trial, exile and change. We have been very grateful to him and his staff, these last two years.

We also had a member of the clergy from 1st Christian Church, our home away for the last two years, process with our clergy. Again, we are so grateful for their many kindnesses to us in the last two years.

The church was bedecked in Easter Lilies and other floral arrangements. The music from the brass quartet was an incredible gift. We are truly blessed with our Taylor Organ and Deke Prolifka, our organist and choir director. The choir sang magnificently. I dearly love to hear Plainsong sung by gifted singers.

The church was packed again as it was on Palm Sunday. Now that Holy Week has ended, I shall be interested to see what the size of the congregation really is.

On a sad note:

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will discover that I am now moderating the comments. Sadly, an anonymous person left a very unkind and very unchristian like comment about a previous post regarding this particular church and this denomination. This person took great pains to conceal his/her identity. If that person had used their name or had had a way to be contacted, I would likely have left their posting intact. I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. This is true whether I share that opinion or not. What I do not believe in, however, is concealing one's identity in order to express that opinion.

Return to Grace

Grace and Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church



It was with abundant joy, that today, we celebrated the return of the parish to our historic property on Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs. Five hundred plus of the faithful attended this morning's 11:30 Choral Service. The only fly in the ointment appeared to be the very fine line we needed to walk between our joy at coming home and the solemnity of the Passion of Our Lord.

Again, we offer grateful thanks to First Christian Church, also in downtown, for their wonderful hospitality during our time of exile.

Rejoice and Be Glad of It!

Grace and Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church Trial Update:

The Lord has been Very Good to Us.

It is with gratitude and a thankful heart, that I can report that the announcement came down from the judge in the legal case within our Parish. We are getting our building back! The judge has deemed it to be a property of the Diocese of Colorado and WE are a Parish of the Diocese.

There will likely be an appeal on behalf of the break-away congregation.

For now tho, we can return to the historic building that has long been our home (over 100 years). This building was designed by the same architects that designed our National Cathedral in Washington, DC. I have never actually worshiped in this building as the split happened at Eastertide 2007, before I moved here to the Springs. I so look forward to seeing the inside of this wonderful building at the first opportunity.

It was two years ago, that the congregation of Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Colorado had to scramble to find a place of worship for Palm Sunday and the rest of Holy Week. We have been and are very grateful to the Shove Chapel at Colorado College for giving us a home for Holy Week then, as well as in 2008. We are also there for the 2009 Easter Season, that is if we aren't back in the Tejon Street building by then. The timing of our return to Tejon Street will largely depend on how difficult it will be to get back into the building. The Lord watch over all those involved in the transition.

Here's the link to the Colorado Springs Gazette article.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/property_50484___article.html/church_tejon.html

Here is the link to the Colorado Springs television report.
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/41759617.html

Now, we can get back to the business of worship, good works and the rebuilding of our ministries where we rightfully belong.

My hope going forward is that the split between the two groups of parishioners can be mended and that we can be reconciled with each other with no carry over of the hard feelings and strong emotions this experience has generated.

My other hope is that the members of the Parish who have died during this time of strife, separation and contention can now go to their final resting place in peace, love and tranquility. (We were denied access to the Columbarium during this time as well.)


Thanks and Praise Be to God.

Ash Wednesday - Grace and St .Stephen's Episcopal Church Trial Update

I went to knit this morning at Knitter's Kove. We swapped war stories on our medical issues and shared our latest knit and quilt projects. I traded for yet another Size 2 Brittany DPN, cuz I snapped 2 over the weekend. BTW: I've got Dragonflies on the needles again, in a Cherry Tree Hill yarn, Colourway Blues and Greens.

We congratulated Barb (DragonFlyKnitter) on her engagement, way to go, Barb and congratulations again.

I then went to the Noon Service at our exile home, 1st Christian Church for The Imposition of Ashes and then out to lunch after, with my friend Sue for Chinese at Hunan Gardens (Thanks, Rebecca for introducing me to this restaurant).

I should have done this sooner for that I extend my apologies. Here is the link to the Diocese of Colorado website with the news items relating to the current case here in El Paso County.
http://www.coloradodiocese.org/06_newsandevents/mediainfo.html

After lunch, I then went down to the courthouse for the afternoon testimony in our trial. They had recalled the witness from Friday, sigh. Woo-hoo, he only used the word context twice today. Thanks the Gods, as I was ready to scream on Friday from hearing it SO often.

I did get to meet the attorney for our side, Mr. Martin Nussman, very nice gentleman and he does not an easy job ahead. He asked me if you had to knit to be an Episcopalian, to which I replied, no, but right now it helps as it does soothe our frazzled nerves and helps us to concentrate on the testimony. There are anywhere from 3-7 knitters clicking away during testimony. There does not appear to be any knitters for the other side...

I also got to meet the Canonical Lawyer (whose name is escaping me at the moment) for the Diocese of Colorado as well... I would venture to guess that his job is extremely interesting. He is also friends with my old parish priest, The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, formerly from Eagle Rock, CA who is now the Bishop of Iowa.

Grace and St .Stephen's Episcopal Church Trial Update

I attended the afternoon portion of the trial I posted about earlier, on Friday. It was an interesting afternoon, to say the least. I have attended trials before and I have never seen a witness who was allowed such free reign in their responses to questions. It was fascinating to watch the process. Having been a criminal trial witness and also a certified paralegal sitting in on witness instruction, it's my opinion, the judge should have told the witness to limit his answers to yes or no as appropriate and to ONLY answer the question asked. Both attorneys should have either objected more or cautioned the witness more. Maybe, the judge was giving the witness the rope needed to hang himself. Be that as it may, if I EVER hear the word "context" used again, I shall scream out loud.

I also ran into some friends from the Scottish community that I hadn't seen since last September and I was unaware that we belonged to the same denomination, let alone were on opposite sides of the aisle as it were...

On a lighter note, I got nearly a whole Fern Clog Sock knitted while listening to the testimony. I am that glad that I took such a small project, as the Court Room was PACKED... SRO and sitting on the floor type packed.

Grace and St .Stephen's Episcopal Church Bible Study and Trial

I don't often relate what is going on in my life with regard to religion and/or politics but sometimes I have the need to express something about either topic and this is one of those times.
Here is the link to the church I attend: http://www.graceststephensepiscopal.org

If you don't care to read about church or church related things, you need read no further.

Here's the link to the national Episcopal Church:http://ecusa.anglican.org/

In April 2008 I started to attend Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church here in Colorado Springs at the invitation of Father John Pahls, who has been a friend of mine for many years. We share a love of our Scottish heritage and Father Pahls, designed and wove the first iteration of our State Tartan. Every year we generally meet up at the State Capitol in Denver on the nearest Friday to the 6th of April, which is the National Day of Celebration of Scots and their contribution to the founding and building of America. It is celebrated with kilted ministers, bag pipers and HR and Senate members broken out in a Colorado State Tartan rash.

Due to some extremely troubling events at this church, we are meeting in small groups for 12 weeks. The meeting are held every other week. It was decided our church needed to have a small group Bible study and information session relating to matters of the church. If you care to read more about the events articles have been published in the Colorado Springs Daily Gazette. Here's the link to the paper: http://www.gazette.com/. There have been a few articles, I am sorry I don't know the exact dates.

Last night, was Week 3 of our church's Small group meetings. These meeting are held in part to be bible studies on a series of topics whose topics started in the past and go forward to the present and then into the future. This study is called the African Bible study and was first used at a Lambeth Conference. The basis of the study is to to read a passage from 3 different translations of the Bible and then discuss what word or message you felt was revealed to you from the reading.

The groups are based on the Zip Code that you live in. About 10 families in my Zip Code are currently taking part. It is a very mixed group, clergy family, former and present Vestry members, choir members and me.

In part it is a Bible Study with the text being chosen by Father Marty Pearsall, with a specific purpose to guide us from the past into the future. The other important component besides building community and making sure the lines of communication are open is to impart information relating to the trial that started on 10 February 2009 to determine who actually has possession of the building that the congregation I belong to used to worship at.

In March 2007, the priest in charge broke away from the Main Episcopal Body and joined with a small, very conservative group based out of Africa called CANA. Here is the link if you want to further understand about CANA. http://www.canaconvocation.org

I do not pretend to to understand it all. Suffice to say, the congregation I belong to is worshiping in exile at First Christian Church in downtown Colorado Springs. We are very grateful to First Christian Church for their generosity and kindness to us in these troubled times. We will continue to meet there until a determination is made by the Judge as to ownership of the property in Tejon Street, in downtown.

In the case of the current trial, members of both of the congregations attend, in part to learn what is going to happen to the building and in part to show support for "their" side. Members of the exiled congregation also attend to support the Bishop of Colorado, who is helping to foot the legal bills. I will be attending for the first time, the afternoon session today with my neighbor, Sue.

The trial was separated into 2 parts. The legal term is Bifurcated. The first part will resolve ownership, the second part will determine damages. There is likely going to be a third part in that there will likely be criminal charges filed against certain parties involved with holding the building hostage.

The trial is already behind in calling witnesses. Not only are there state legal issues to resolve there is also Canonical Law issues to contend with. The decision was made not to have a jury trial for that reason as it was deemed to be too confusing for the average person to contend with.

During the 2nd session, part of the exercise was to create a Collect or prayer. Each group wrote one. These Collects were shared with the small group leadership and we were told that it was very well received: I was the scribe for this exercise and I gave it, it's title, so forgive me.

Here is what I called:

The 80918 Prayer:

God, Our Father
Whose Mercy Endures
Grant Us Patience, Progress and Peace
That We may Grow Stronger in Love and Service
To You and Our Fellow Man
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen

In spite of the current legal situation and the fact that many bitter feelings were engendered by the split, there seems to be a spirit of hope and a feeling of light with in the congregation. That feeling can only be attributed to God working in the lives of all.