Eternal, Holy God,
I come to you burdened with worries,
fears, doubts, and troubles.
Calm and quiet me with peace of mind.
Empty me of the anxiety that disturbs me,
of the concerns that weary my spirit,
and weigh heavy on my heart.
Loosen my grip on the disappointments and grievances
I hold on to so tightly.
Release me from the pain of past hurts,
of present anger and tension, of future fears.
Sometimes it's too much for me Lord,
too many demands and problems,
too much sadness, suffering, and stress.
Renew me spiritually and emotionally.
Give me new strength, hope, and confidence.
Prepare me to meet the constant struggles of daily life
with a deeper faith and trust in You.
Let your love set me free, for peace,
for joy, for grace, for life, for others, forever.
Amen
Prayer for Peace of Mind and Heart
Brethren: Peace and Good to all of you. I am sharing a prayer that may help in tough times, or may provide inspiration to pray your own words for the same effect. I found it at CatholicDoors.com:
Things I'll Miss: The Roof
A while back, I rambled on about mentioned my love for my apartment. Don't worry, this is not another apartment post.... entirely. It's about my roof.
The building I live in happens to have one of the best roof decks in DC (according to me).
Maybe my opinion has something to do with the number of sunburns, beers, and amazing sunsets I've taken in on this roof. Or because it happens to be the place that WW and I met. Either way, it's hard to beat this view, at your disposal 24/7.
In the summer, I love to come up here on Saturday mornings to read and catch some rays in the lawn chairs. Not many people get to lay out surrounded by the National Cathedral and Washington Monument.
In the winter, we have been known to bundle up with a bottle of red wine and watch the sun set.
The roof is also a great place to entertain people. Any time I have visitors in town, we go to the roof for drinks and chats. A few of my fave visitors over the years:
What I will miss the most about the roof is the weeknight dinners WW and I enjoy up there. We wanted to be sure to utilize the roof as much as possible before leaving. So last week we whipped up dinner from a version of this recipe with this on the side, and headed upstairs with a bottle of wine from our favorite vineyard.
Definitely makes a normal weekday dinner a bit more exciting.
And finally, I couldn't mention the roof without including this picture from the day WW and I actually met. I say 'actually' because it is not that story that usually gets told.
I'll let you figure out what's going on here.
Annapolis, MD
One of my very favorite things about DC is the proximity to so many interesting places to visit. On our bucket list for years now has been a day trip to Annapolis, Maryland.
Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, we woke up early and drove the 45 minutes to this adorable town on the Chesapeake Bay.
Getting here from DC could not be any easier, and you can do everything in a day.
We arrived just in the nick of time for the Pledge of Allegiance at Chick & Ruth's Delly. Every morning at 9 am, the whole restaurant stands up and recites the Pledge of Allegiance together.
It is so American, and so Awesome.
This family-owned deli has a gigantic menu, which includes a casual 6-lb milkshake:
We had an am-azing breakfast here
And then set out to walk some of it off...
We strolled along the water of the "sailing capital of the US"
Where we did our own little self-guided walking tour.
 |
| Chapel |
And once again, so American.
 |
| This gave me the chills, in a good way. |
After wearing ourselves out walking, we were ready for a break. And beers.
The day before we left, we had randomly checked the concert listings at Annapolis' Rams Head Tavern.
Turns out, Jason Isbell was playing a 1 pm acoustic show!
WW and I are big time Drive By Truckers and Jason Isbell fans, so we bought tickets right away.
 |
| Playing my very favorite Truckers song, "Outfit" |
This is definitely the way I prefer to see a concert: seated at a small two-top table, in the AC, with a waitress bringing me fresh crab dip and pitchers of Fordham Brewery wheat beer... with Jason Isbell 5 feet away.
Seeing a lunchtime concert is kind of amazing, too. We stepped back out into the daylight refreshed and ready for a scenic boat tour of Annapolis Harbor...
We cruised atop the Harbor Queen, enjoying a narrated tour of the city, the banks surrounding the Naval Academy, and the Bay Bridges.
Fun.
After an hour in the heat, that 6 pound milkshake at Chick & Ruth's was beckoning...
Don't worry, we settled for the 20 oz. And shared it.
Our last stop of the day required a drive through some seriously windy roads, to a crab shack on the water we'd been dying to try... 
Cantler's.
There was a two hour wait to eat out on this deck:
Which is actually not so bad when some guy sells cans of beer, right from the cooler, in the parking lot, while you wait.
We took our cans down to the dock under the restaurant 
To check out the catch of the day
And take in our surroundings.
We were finally seated at a prime table on the patio.
And enjoyed a delicious dinner of lump crab meat sandwiches.
YUM.
(And some beverages in plastic cups.)
One of my all-time favorite days!
Places to visit in Annapolis:
Chick & Ruth's: http://www.chickandruths.com/
U.S. Naval Academy: http://www.usna.edu/homepage.php
Ram's Head Tavern: http://www.ramsheadtavern.com/annapolis/
Annapolis Boat Tour: http://www.watermarkcruises.com/cruises40min.htm
Cantler's Riverside Inn: http://www.cantlers.com/
30 Questions to ponder
"30 Questions That Will Change the Way You Think About the World" (...and Yourself)
By Alex Wain, HuffPost
- How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Forty. Old enough to be taken seriously, young enough to have plenty of time left.
- Which is worse, failing or never trying? Never trying, assuming it's worth trying, which is a judgement call one periodically should make.
- When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? In the past, yes. Now I talk a lot less and do more. A good friend made my day recently when he called me "proactive."
- What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? More active compassion, for starters.
- Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing? Now more than ever, I'm doing what I believe in. There's more I'd like to do, but I'm being patient with myself.
- To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken? Quite a bit, nowadays. The early years, I seemed to leave those decisions to someone else. I was waiting for permission.
- Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things? About equal. I want to do what I deem to be the right things, rightly. Hate to do things over.
- If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be? Stop that screaming!
- Would you break the law to save a loved one? Probably, as long as no one is harmed.
- Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity? Sure, right here.
- What’s something you know you do differently than most people? I almost never drink alcohol, very seldom eat out, very seldom travel, don't like to shop, believe in a Higher Power without believing in the church, enjoy being alone.
- How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy? Because I'm getting what I want. What I value are skills gained from study and practice, not material things. If everybody was like me, the consumer culture would take a nosedive.
- What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back? One of the things I want to learn how to do this year is write songs. See #5.
- Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster? I used to push it and go back and push it again. Now once is enough. No, I never believed it sped up the elevator.
- Why are you, you? I am me because I never wanted to be anybody else.
- Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend? I think I've been a pretty good friend in my later years. I used to let friendships fade away, not believing anyone would miss me.
- Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones? As long as my brain functions I can make new memories.
- Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first? Some truths do require challenging. I have a habit (which annoys some people) of asking, "How do you know that?"
- Has your greatest fear ever come true? Not yet.
- At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive? Learning to make music and playing music with friends. Quite a rush.
- If not now, then when? Maybe when I finish this list.
- If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose? A lot of time fretting over not having achieved it.
- Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever? No, but it sounds very restful.
- When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in? I'm doing that now. Well, I wouldn't call it marching. More like sauntering.
- If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today? If everybody knew that, there's a good chance nobody would be home. I think I'd use the phone.
- Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous? No
- What is the difference between being alive and truly living? I've experienced both. Truly living gets me out of bed in the morning, keeps the TV off, reduces in importance the make-work and mind-distractions I used to waste my time on. Keeps me focused. Reminds me to be grateful.
- What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you? I'd stop wearing a bra, the last uncomfortable item of clothing I own.
- When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing? Often. I have a lung condition and when I can breathe well (which right now is most of the time) it really feels good.
- Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you? I can't think of anyone who makes decisions for me anymore. Unless you count the government.
These are my answers. And I'd love to see yours...
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