Summertime Friday Five

It's been a while since I've had a chance to do a Revgalblogpals Friday Five, so we must really have moved into the slightly slower speed of early summer!  Today, we're asked to "share five things that are happening in your life, personally or professionally or some of each, in this season of life.

1.  For me, the biggest thing in summer is the garden which at the moment is full of  peas, zucchini, beets, carrots, and collard greens ready to harvest.  All the radishes, sugar snap peas, kale, and garlic have been brought in already but tomatoes, other squash, eggplants, cabbage, sweet potatoes and more are on their way.  And so far this year, while we’ve had a groundhog and deer in the back yard, neither has made its way over the new fence to eat the plants.
2. Workwise (until August when I take my vacation break from both) I continue to both do my pastoral job and teach philosophy at a local college. But starting next week, my denomination (PCUSA) will have officially begun to live without G-6.0106b—yes!—so it’ll be a chance for this out lesbian pastor to switch my energies toward getting the denomination to allow same-gender marriages.
3.  I’ve started participating in a year-long online version of a nonviolent communication group and am both enjoying working more thoroughly on some of the ideas in Rosenberg’s book and trying to apply them in my daily life.
4. At home we’ve been inundated with unexpected plumbing problems that are setting us back thousands of dollars that we hadn’t budgeted.  It feels a bit overwhelming, especially for the summertime, and the work is by no means done yet.
5. And, though I only discovered it last evening, I’m very excited about the possibility of practicing flute in my county’s Really Terrible Orchestra.  The music is a bit intimidating for someone who had less than a year of flute lessons a good number of years ago but the contact people have been lovely and I’ve very psyched about what fun this might be!