A trip longer than my run-on sentences

Whenever I sit down to write after a hiatus from the blog, I hear the same line from Gloria Gaynor's famous song..."And so you're back, from outer space..."

Of course, I am sure y'all had no problem surviving without me, but the funny thing is that I had a hard time without you. Dude. The brain. It would not stop with the "You should write about that." I missed having a regular time to gather my thoughts and share them. I missed y'all. (Gaaa.)

Okay, that was nice. Let's move on now, shall we?� How about a 60-second recap and then we can forget this whole thing ever happened.

We went to Seattle for a wedding which did not disappoint. I would post the amazing pictures and gush, but outing your church-working friends isn't a very nice wedding gift. So you'll just have to imagine what the best Catholic-esque gay wedding would look like and wish you were lucky enough to have been invited.

Then we did lots of other stuff, the details of which I will not bore you with here except for this:

I dragged Mr. Man, his brother and sister-in-law, and my friend Dale, to St. James Cathedral because it is a gorgeous place. (Go ahead and take the virtual tour. I'll wait until you get back.) See? It's an amazing blend of old and new church architecture. We just happened to bumble in on St. James' Feast day so it was a doozy of a Mass. At the end they played a medieval chant and hauled out a giant St. James statue for the closing procession. I am not one to take pictures during Mass BECAUSE IT IS A MORTAL SIN but I have to say, this was a near occasion of sin if there ever was one. I managed to wait until afterward to take this:

Let me tell you, nothing lends a sense of occasion like a 35-foot puppet of your patron saint. Wow.

I'll let the rest of the stories and anecdotes unfold over the next few weeks (and eventually decide on the new chicken's name) but for now, I'll leave you with a parting image from one of the many long legs of the Oakland-Corvallis-Seattle-
Olympic-Seattle-Spokane-Bend-Ashland-Oakland Odyssey, (OCSOSSBAOO, for short) which, like this sentence, seemed endless.

We saw a large cargo truck whose hold read like a billboard in bold million-point-font, "Jesus Christ is Lord, Not a Swear Word." This led us to wonder both, "What is he transporting?" and "Is he following his own advice?" as the driver was, at that very moment, being pulled over by a police officer.

Comments

[Alison]

JEsus Christ! That's a big puppet! ;)

[St. James]

Thank you. It is nice to be remembered once in a while.

[Meredith Gould]

I should never ever ever be drinking hot tea while reading your posts. My nose hurts. Thanks for the laugh and welcome back!

[Sister Mary Martha]

Wait! It's a mortal sin to take pictures at Mass. Why did I not get the memo?

[KiwiNomad]

A mortal sin to take photos? Someone needs to tell them that in Santiago in Spain - quick! I just walked thereon the Camino of St James. At the so-called 'pilgrim' Mass they sometimes swing the giant botafumiero, just before the final blessing, so still in the Mass. The time I was there for it, it was like Disneyland. All these people ran up the aisle to take photos... then they had to run back again when it became clear this huge big thing swung really wide and might knock them over. There was a visiting priest on the altar who looked like he was doing a disco dance as he stepped from side to side in his vestments to get more photos of it swinging.
I tell you, I am not even a practising Catholic, and the whole performance sickened me.... it was like something from a theme park. If I am going to go to a theme park, I would rather have the rollercoaster thanks.

[KarynRichmond35]

I opine that to get the personal loans from banks you should present a great reason. But, one time I've received a financial loan, just because I was willing to buy a house.