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Today was Flower Communion at my church!

(I guess I should say 'Flower Ceremony' though? Apparently we are trying to switch terminology because A) 'ceremony' is a less inaccurate translation of the original Czech name for this ritual (though 'celebration' would be even better in that regard), B) some members are former Catholics who have bad associations with the word 'communion,' and C) other people think calling a non-Christ-centric ritual 'communion' is appropriative. Constantly unstable terminology is a known hazard of Unitarian Universalism. I personally think it's pretty silly -- but then, I grew up UU so I am missing a bunch of hangups common to people who came to the religion as adults, and since adult converts form a majority of UUs in America... *shrug*)

ANYWAY, I ignored most of the talking, as per usual (90% of Sunday services do nothing for me, spiritually; I'm just there for the music and to show solidarity or whatever) and duly stood, sat, and sang as directed. Guest music was provided by the DeWitt middle school brass quartet, who are pretty damn good for their ages! :)

Today was also RE teacher recognition day, which is why I now have the nifty candleholder you see above. Our new DRE decorated them herself, which I think was very nice of her.

I ended up not bringing my flower home this year. Instead, I slipped it into one of the vases that held all the extra, undistributed flowers which I believe the Care Committee will bring to various people's houses as a cheer-up gift. (This is usually what happens to the sanctuary decorations after the service.)

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On a completely different topic, this weekend is the annual Ithaca Festival. They made a few changes this year -- most notably, the parade was Friday evening instead of Thursday evening, so there would be stuff for people to do immediately afterwards, like a concert on the Commons. I walked around for an hour or so yesterday afternoon, all the way from the music on the Commons, past the craft vendors in their booths, past the social organizations handing out flyers, past more music in Dewitt Park, past the pony ride area on Court St., past the food and music out by GIAC, and back by way of the food vendors on W. State St. where I bought a couple chive dumplings from Taste of Thai Express and a couple veggie samosas from Sangam Indian Cuisine. (Both delicious, of course.)

I poked around some more after church today, but it was disgustingly humid and then started to actually rain more than a drizzle, so I bought lunch (samosas again, because I just really like them) and headed home where my air conditioner is not doing much by way of cooling (because it's not actually hot today), but is working excellently as a dehumidifier. :)

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