neepeople.com

Latest remedy for a blown wrist. Not willing to call it (or admit to it) Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I’ll just say it hurts, and I misplaced the usual left hand keep-my-wrist-straight appliance. I picked up this one at the pharmacy this morning.

And yet another snow day. Or night, in this case. Up to six inches by morning, which really isn’t that much… but here in MD it’s enough to shut down the state for a day.

In my early twenties I worked for my uncle doing home construction. One of the projects he started just as I was moving on into the restaurant business was renovating an old farm house built in the 1890s in Hanover, PA. Some years later I visited a nearby relative, saw the house and fell in love with it.

The original structure remained with a tastefully done 2/3s addition. The home was situated on 3 acres with federally protected wetlands behind it, included three out buildings and was filled with antiques collected by my uncle. It was gorgeous. L and I looked into purchasing it —fully furnished with all those antiques— but the cost would have necessitated two salaries, and L was looking to have children.

I often think of that old place, it’s isolation and solitude, and find that I’m still scheming a way to get into it… somehow. I especially think of it on these cold, snowy days when a hundred+ year old fireplace crackling with life between two, tall formica windows spilling out into the falling snow, nothing but woods in the background would really hit the spot. 

Newer new boots, replacing the other too-big-and-rubbing-my-ankles-raw boots I returned to Eddie Bauer. These are “water resistant”, but I think I’ll be wearing them all winter through, snow or no snow.

20091221-boots-0008, originally uploaded by neepeople.

The first real boots I’ve had in 13 years. Unfortunately, they arrived the day *after* I had already shoveled 20 inches of snow for 7 hours.

The Hat, originally uploaded by neepeople.

New hat! The wife and I picked up some “head wear” on a date in Annapolis the other night. This particular hat is called a fedora, and is a “classic” version, unlike the thinner brim on the modern version. I needed something for summer. The black leather hat was just too hot, and frankly didn’t look so great with a suit.

Hats in the Belfy, Annapolis Harbor on Main St. (at the harbor end). Ask for Ashley. She knows her stuff.

20090419-Paschal-Procession-JWN0017, originally uploaded by neepeople.

Taken somewhere between 12:30 and 1am Pascha (easter) morning. We’d just finished processing around the parish, reenacting the myrrh-bearing women’s trip to the empty tomb in the early morning. Upon entering the parish, all the lights were finally on and the chandelier was swinging. The boy to left left wondering at the giant, swinging chandelier was just brought into the Church the previous afternoon.

IMG_7852, originally uploaded by neepeople.

View from the Raddison hotel room during a trip to Philly in 2006. I went to Philly twice that year, once in the summer and once in the winter. Both times it was cold, rainy and foggy. Go figure…

20090327-Holy-Transfiguration-Monastery-JWN0072-2, originally uploaded by neepeople.

This relic of St. James the Persian, who suffered around 400AD, is found at the Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in Ellwood City, PA. I was quite surprised when I saw it; I didn’t know there were relics of the venerable Saint circulating about.

His story is one of my favorites, not only because of his endurance, but also because of the strong influence of his wife and mother in the letter they wrote him after he apostatized. Here is an abridged version of the story, and a longer version with the aforementioned letter included.