American Prayer

This music video in support of Barack Obama is powerful!

Festus est arrivé!

Odd Festus, a 4-year-old greyhound recently retired from racing in Florida, became part of our queer household today. So far he seems to be adjusting well. Here are a few photos...

Festus est arrivé!

Festus has an impressive pedigree and racing record--having won 16 out of 153 races!

Matt Wins Gold

I forgot to blog it at the time, but I was extremely proud when Matthew Mitcham of Australia--who is openly gay--won Olympic gold last week in the men's 10-meter platform dive. Matt's sexual orientation was not mentioned by NBC. Heck, they hardly showed his almost flawless dives until he started climbing the leader board. Too bad the rainbow flag couldn't have been a raised along with the Australian flag when he was presented with his medal!

Reentry

I've been back home for 2 weeks now. Reentry was hard and fast...

I started attending a Wednesday night class in Dialectal Behavior Therapy [DBT] to improve my own emotional wellness.

I went to Chicago to give a couple of presentations at the Midwestern Regional Integrity Conference. I spoke about what happened at Lambeth and what's next for the Episcopal Church. About 20 people attended.



Michael and I have decide to adopt a greyhound thru Greyhound Adoption of Greater Rochester. Last Sunday we had a home visit by two greyhounds and their human companions to make sure we were suitable parents. We passed the test. Next Saturday we picked up "Odd Festus"--who has just retired from racing in Florida. We haven't see his photo yet, but here's the description: "Festus is not odd at all. He is an 82 lb. fawn male who is 4 years old. He is friendly, calm, and is cat friendly." Transition could be challenging for him and us, since racing dogs know nothing about living in houses with humans.

For Integrity, I finished writing objectives for a $50,000 grant from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

I took off Thursday and Friday to spend time with our 8-year old nephew, Marcus. The first day we went to the Seabreeze Amusement Park. Marcus had to be coaxed onto some of the scarier rides. Uncle John could not be coaxed onto rides likely to cause motion sickness!

The second day we visited the recently expanded Strong National Museum of Play. The highlight for me was the new butterfly garden.

Yesterday afternoon we took a long bike ride along the Erie Canal from Pittsford to Fairport.

Lambeth Conference Photos

Some of the photos I took before and during the Lambeth Conference are now available here.

Happy 70th Birthday, Momma!

On Monday I flew from London-Heathrow to Washington-Dulles, then to Atlanta.

On Tuesday morning I met Michael in Atlanta, we flew to Tallahassee, then we drove west to Sister Cindy's farm in Bascom. Momma & Daddy came over in the late afternoon. Momma was really surprised and glad to see Michael and me. We had a nice dinner together, cake a bit later, then opened present. I brought some Chanel No. 5 from the duty-free shop at Heathrow. Sister Edith took the photo above using the timed-delay shoot feature. I showed photos form my trips to England and Wales.

On Wednesday morning Momma, Daddy, Michael, and me tried to visit Marianna Caverns. Unfortunately, we discovered they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of budget cuts. We drove thru the park and then at lunch at an okay restaurant named "The Gazebo." After a long nap, Cindy and Edith joined us and we drove back to Marianna for dinner at a gourmet restaurant named "Madison's Warehouse." I had a tasty spinach salad with citrus balsamic dressing and the best salmon croquettes I ever put in my mouth. Came home and looked at 500 photos that Edith digitized.

Lambeth Letters

Me on the campus of the University of Kent where most of the Lambeth Conference was held. If you look closely you can see Canterbury Cathedral in the background.



My personal adventures at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury are chronicled on our 2+ parish blog...

• Lambeth Letter #1
• Lambeth Letter #2
• Lambeth Letter #3
• Lambeth Letter #4
• Lambeth Letter #5
• Lambeth Letter #6

I blogged much more as IntegrityUSA@gmail.com on Walking With Integrity.