Chef-To-Farm (With Pics!)

Yesterday was my day off. I spent it with a group of people made up of chefs and foodies. I made a couple of new friends. We toured four local farms that practice organic and/or sustainable agriculture. It was all quite fascinating. I really learned a lot about where some of the local food comes from. Some highlights from the excursion include, trying some really delicious strawberry cream, petting a baby horse and cow, seeing some piglets, and picking blueberries right off the bush. I was pretty tired when I got home, but what an amazing day!

A big THANK YOU goes to the group Feed Your Soul for putting this on!

Enjoy the pics! I should explain about the pics. They are in random order, just to give you a sampling of all the places.

Pics from the 125th!

Faithful readers over the last few days will remember that I've mentioned that my congregation's 125th anniversary was this weekend. We finally celebrated it yesterday afternoon after months of planning. The service went really well. We had several people from the community attend besides our own members. We had 2 former pastors with us as well who served as lector and preacher in the service (I served as liturgist). Actually, I learned that the 3 clergy in attendance all had one thing in common: Trinity Lutheran Church, here in Silver Creek, NY was the first church they served. Kinda interesting, I thought. Anyway, the service was just great, like I said. It was good to hear a full church sing hymns they love.

The choir that I imported from Joliet performed admirably. They did 2 songs. The second was "You are my All in All." It was fantastic. When they finished, the people clapped! And without my prodding! I was so proud.

Following the worship service, we had a banquet. Very Tasty! What a fabulous day for me and my congregation.

Good Times with Church Members

I just got back from a fun time hanging out with some of my parishioners. This morning they invited me to spend some time with them, their relatives, and some friends. It was down at the VFW hall. We all had a terrific time. let me give you some highlights:

1. Good food. Various people brought in different dishes. I love potlucks! I hadn't eaten like that for a long time. (And probably won't for a long time.)

2. I did karaoke for the first time in my life. It was a smaller crowd, so I wasn't really afraid to screw up. I did 2 songs, both by Johnny Cash (go figure). I did fairly well on "Cry Cry Cry", but almost completely botched "Ring of Fire".

3. I was pretty stuffed from the food people brought and the dessert, which was this killer apple pie, which one of my hosts described as legendary. Just as everything gets settled, somebody shows up late with a party-sized pepperoni and cheese from Ellie's Deli here in Silver Creek! Amazing!

Anyway, it was great. Needless to say, after this afternoon's festivities, gym workouts in Dunkirk are probably going to be switched to 2-a-days. Maybe I should make the trek to Pittsford, NY and see if I can slim down by working out with the Bills during their training camp, which opens this week.