Oh, dang! I was going to write an April Fool’s post about how I had gotten a book contract to write about my spiritual practice of walking the horse pastures every morning and watching my feet to make sure I don’t step in any fresh piles of horse patties, and how that was a metaphor for ministry.
Because, you know, even sillier things have been written and I was going to have a lot of fun with it. But then time got away from me and April 1st was over and then so was April 2, 3 and almost 4th.
I did just go out to give the horses some carrots and to enjoy the late spring day and the drying fields. Birds are singing like crazy and my dog is very cute with his frolicking around and the horses behaved like absolute gangsters with me, teaming up to mug me for my carrots. I don’t like it at all when they go all organized crime about their carrot habit: I come almost every day, don’t I? I’m good for it, ain’t I? All I ask in return for my carrots is to get to gently pinch their velvety nostrils. Â So knock it off, Knuckles!
“Knuckles” is a great old-school gangster name and is actually a nickname my friend Hawk and I have for my dog. We like to imagine him (my dog) as a bank robber who can’t get out of the doggie snack jar at the bank in time to get away safely, causing us to all end up in the slammer. “Knuckles! For god’s sake get away from the candy jar!” We laugh our heads off. We’re pretty easy to entertain. Knuckles Mahoney. He has a little black mask and everything.
I adopted Maxfield five years ago this week! I am so glad I had a sweet boyfriend at the time who pushed me into taking the risk and making the commitment to adopt a BEAGLE. Â I’m grateful every day — even the days that I have to get him outside in 30″ of snow.
Anyway, sorry that I didn’t get a chance to outline my whole book about the horse pasture as a metaphor for parish ministry, but it was real funny in my mind. There’s always next year.
By the way, do you think April is the cruelest month? Or is it maybe the second or third cruelest month? Discuss.
April is certainly pretty cruel this year ‘cos it’s still just above freezing and snowing in England! (I know our snow is nothing on your snow, but still…).
I don’t think of months as cruel. That type of personification doesn’t make much sense to me. However, if I had to pick out a month whose weather I find the most uncomfortable, I’d take one of the summer months. I can handle cold, but I don’t like it when it’s both humid and hot, especially when the gadflies are attacking me and the best tick preventative doesn’t keep the ticks out of my dogs.
Literary reference, Martin! T.S. Eliot. “April is the cruelest month….” Just some old English teacher humor – sorry!
“April is the cruelest month” is something I say pretty much daily to my wife during the month of April. Bless her heart, each time she pretends like I’ve never said it before and that I’m oh-so-clever and literary.
Personally, though, my money’s on February for cruelest month. I have never had anything good happen in February; I have seen many, many bad things happen in February.
I just wanted to say how much I like “Being the Resurrection” too (but you’ve closed comments on your earlier posts). I have used it for several services. I am not the only person in the UK who uses it, either.
The April Fool’s post sounded fun 🙂