Home Church and Dinner by the Creek

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We assembled our home church to worship Sunday morning, since our services were canceled because of the corona virus. John printed the worship outline from the church web site and stapled the pages for each of us. He had two hymnals, bought when we lived in New York, for us to share. I set up a laptop, and grandsons David and Nathaniel moved chairs into place. A few days before, the pastor, organist, and several choir members taped the service that we watched. After a short break, we watched a Bible study the pastor had prepared for the day. We missed greeting friends, but we were all safer for that.

Having church at home

We bought barbecue sandwiches from one of our favorite places and ate them at Richland Creek near the rec center in Waynesville. There were lots of friendly dog-walkers on the sidewalk. We were surprised that a number of them spoke to us. I’m not sure that would have happened on a normal Sunday, but I think people were missing contact with others. This was far different from Sunday dinner at a restaurant, but it was celebratory in its own way.

Can you tell which grandson is warm-natured?

That afternoon I went out on the deck to look at the burn pile, which seemed a bit ragged. There were large sticks scattered around the edges. David confirmed my supposition. Dog Sadie loves chasing sticks, so either she pulled them from the pile, or she ran with them while playing with a human. I found it amusing that she left a message for me with sticks. I read it as saying she missed being here and looked forward to coming back.

Rose sent us Sadie’s portrait taken at their campsite.

Do you have pets that leave messages for you? I don’t mean the pile by the door that says you didn’t open it in time. Do they tell you they love you and miss you?

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

48 thoughts on “Home Church and Dinner by the Creek”

  2. Making great memories during this time is something we should all strive to do. Today I did a very thorough cleaning of the second floor. Unfortunately, that is not a great memory. Having both grandsons home is a great memory.

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  6. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. A good church service and dinner afterward. My dog lies to me. We give him a treat when he poops. Sometimes he comes running in from outside, all excited, acting like he deserves a treat when he actually didn’t poop! What a character.

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  7. I know you are missing your regular church service, the whole ritual and John and David have no choir practice. It will be sad as Easter nears – the Catholic churches are now streaming their services, but have for some time, even the Archdiocese of Detroit, right from the Arbishop.

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      1. Yes, like at Y2K when people had that potential bad event hanging over their heads at the holiday season – but that was nothing health related. Nothing trumps medical issues – ever. Easter will be very subdued this year. Easter has never been the same for me since it was that weekend with my mom with the severe dizzy spell and she went to bed for an entire day – a first for her and was never the same again.
        The calendar configuration is the same as that Easter weekend this year. It is on my mind as well as what’s going on with this pandemic. We had almost 800 new cases in 24 hours and now 24 deaths.

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          1. Yes they are – our neighbors across the street had no basement in their house. So they were so concerned, they asked if they could come over here on New Year’s Eve. I don’t know what they thought would happen, but they were very worried.

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              1. My parents usually stayed up to watch Guy Lombardo for years. My father was gone by Y2K, but my mom would watch Dick Clark every year. I don’t know why they were so worried – I don’t recall that there was any predictions of something blowing up – it was digital concerns only. They asked us right after we moved here if there was ever a tornado, if they could over and go into the basement with us, since they had no basement and the utility room was not safe what are you going to say if someone asks that? My parents said yes.

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  9. I tell my humans all the time. I bring them my favorite toys or I drag the toys around and hide them so the humans can find them one day as a surprise. It reminds them of me and always makes them smile. I also attended my human’s church service for the first time on Sunday. I sat in her lap while she watched it streaming live. It was nice. Of course, I don’t shake paws at peace, I usually just lick my sister’s head. Can you do that in church?

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    1. You are sweet to hide things for your humans. Don’t leave things for them to trip over, though.

      I’ll tell you what I saw in church one time. A mother noticed her little boy hadn’t combed his hair. One clump was standing up, so she licked her finger and used it to flatten the hair. Does that count?

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    1. The church did the service, so we just had to park ourselves before the computer. The week before, a friend sent us a quick service he and his wife put together. He is a minister, and she is a musician. She read the Bible readings and played the piano, and he did the preaching. That was lovely, too.

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    1. Sadie belongs to Rose, son John $pencer’s love. Sadie was camping with them last week. They are here for two days, and then they’re going to a cabin in the mountains. We get to play with Sadie whenever she is here. Grandson David loves dogs and revels in her company. $ is still looking for a job, so we’ll see where they settle and if it will be close to us.

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  13. Anne,
    That was a real post of real people who are resilient in a crisis situation. For us it is relatively calm but living with the thought that we might not see our family soon or sometimes ever.
    Glad you shared those picnic pictures and the stories of people walking on the creek path- showed us there is some trace of old routes and routines and that the world is rallying around.
    Susie

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    1. I think many people are managing the pandemic very well. They don’t make the news. I laughed to myself that people feel cut off, because this past week there were six of us in the house. I know that’s not the norm. We’re back to five now.

      Where are your daughters? Are they with you right now?

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  15. Our cat is great at communicating. He also thinks his name is ‘he’ and whenever we talk about him as ‘he’ he puts his ears back to hear us better. He trills to me if he wants food, and all in all is a great communicator. We can always tell if he has had a wild night when we’ve been sleeping because we will find his favorite toy mouse on top of a table or chair.

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