Back to the apple orchard

I meant to take a photo of the Apple store this afternoon. I went for my first 1 on 1 session after receiving my new MacBook and iPod in the mail this week. I am so happy to be back on a Mac. I had one when during my full-time teacher stint in NJ schools and I then I had a notebook throughout my seminary career. I even was able to loan one from Asbury's technology dept. when mine died the year before graduation. When I returned it before leaving Kentucky, I was actually told I could have kept it if I had wanted. During my time at St. James UMC, I used a church own PC and it worked well enough for the purposes of my ministry. The hard decision came when I returned to full-time student status: Mac or PC? I ended up going with a PC - a Dell - that served me well the last five years and I could easily afford, but it just wasn't a Mac.
I almost cried when I realized how wonderful they were that first semester at PTS when I saw my colleagues' but I have used it faithfully the past five years. I often watched those Mac/PC commercials and often cringed because I understood them firsthand.
For more more than a year now, I've been saving for the Mac and even though I missed having one the past several years, I am glad I am back. I actually scored an iPod with the summer student discount! It's my first legitimate MP3 player and I have so many things to learn! So with the whole kit and kaboodle I got a year's subscription to 1 on 1 services. Having someone help you once a week with all the questions I have as well as show me some fun things and shortcuts is totally worth the price of admission for even a month's worth of sessions, let along the whole year! The trouble is, my head was swimming when I walked out of the store and I totally forgot to take a picture of it. So instead, you get to see the engraving I had put on my iPod for free - it clearly identifies who it belongs to as well as reveals a little something about a television show I have enjoyed since a kid and now love on BBC America....other fans will know exactly who the doctor is.......

The Sweet Magnolias of St. James UMC

St. James United Methodist Church in Greenville, North Carolina is the church I served as Minister of Adult Discipleship in 2002-2005. The women of the church hosted the Deacons of the North Carolina Annual Conference for dinner here this evening. This magnolia was in bloom outside the Fellowship Hall. There were many others in bloom on the trees, too - but they were too high up for me to photograph very well.

These are the sweet southern 'steel magnolias' that hosted us for dinner: Judy (in the striped shirt) and the crew she recruited for the evening. I sincerely believe the best perk about having conference in the same town is enjoying a dinner that Judy made. Her chicken recipes are classics and have a simple elegance as well. Mary Alice, Lanie, Barbara, Katherine, Elizabeth, and Cheryl served us from soup to nuts - or more precisely, salad to cheesecake and then cleaned up after us deacons. How blessed are the diakonia, an order of clergy set apart for servant leadership, to have a dedicated group of laity be willing to serve and wait upon our tables?