In My Church
If my 2018 has a defining category, it is probably church. I continued to be active in my Sunday School class, my small group, the Presbyterian Women, and the Pastor Nominating Committee. I was ordained as a Ruling Elder and began serving on the Worship Committee and coordinating the communion servers. For 2019 I have also committed to leading the Spring women's retreat and taking a leadership role in the Stephen Ministry.Other Volunteer Work
Lee St. Theatre: greeter or usherLiteracy Council and/or Communities in Schools: reading tutor of several 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Hurley, Overton, North Rowan, and Hanford-Dole elementary schools
Travel
Emerald Isle, NC (March) - photo below left
North Myrtle Beach, SC (March)Indianapolis, IN (September) - photo right
Orlando, FL (October)
Savannah, GA (October) - photo below rightEntertainment / Hobbies
I discovered the amazing OverDrive app, through which audiobooks, eBooks, and videos can be checked out free with just a library card. Including this, Amazon streaming, and physically checking videos and audiobooks from the public library, my entertainment inventory for 2018 has been vast. I listened to books as I drove and cleaned, and sometimes as I walked.
Books: 97 (38 read, 59 audio)
Movies: 54
Live Stage: 21
I also rediscovered my childhood love for jigsaw puzzles and have worked, I think, 22 puzzles this year, 500-1000 pieces each, often while listening to audiobooks. Another rediscovered pleasure, from college days, was shooting pool occasionally at the Y. And for several years I've enjoyed selling books on Amazon at a hobby level, so if you have a pile of books you'd like to give away . . .
Some Fabulously Memorable Meals
Mezeh Mediterranean, Charlottesville VA
Garden Table, Indianapolis IN (photo below left)
Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe, Sanford FL (German)
Fox & Fig Cafe, Savannah GA (photo below right)
Health / Fitness
My biggest physical challenge this year was continued torticollis, an involuntary turn of the neck to the left, likely related to strabismus surgery one and two years ago. Also, my left foot/leg has continued to be a minor challenge.
I continued my gym membership, walked, and participated in a Restorative Yoga class, averaging 29 minutes per day of intentional exercise.
Passions
I love spending time with family and friends.
I love to write, although I have written less than usual this year: nine blog posts, one newspaper
editiorial, and my personal journaling.
Other passions that motivate every part of who I am have remained as steady: social justice,
civil rights, equal rights for all God's children . . . I participated in the Families Belong
Together march/rally in June, in support of immigrant and refugee families, and worked as a poll
monitor during the November elections, helping to be sure all voters were able to cast their votes.
Also, I regularly spend countless hours watching streaming video coverage of various local
government meetings, to stay informed.
I love to write, although I have written less than usual this year: nine blog posts, one newspaper
editiorial, and my personal journaling.
Other passions that motivate every part of who I am have remained as steady: social justice,
civil rights, equal rights for all God's children . . . I participated in the Families Belong
Together march/rally in June, in support of immigrant and refugee families, and worked as a poll
monitor during the November elections, helping to be sure all voters were able to cast their votes.
Also, I regularly spend countless hours watching streaming video coverage of various local
government meetings, to stay informed.
Blog Posts
Books
97 (listed in order of publication date)
The New Testament (TNIV, audio, repeat)
Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817, audio)
Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817, audio)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harriet Ann Jacobs, 1861, audio)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865, audio)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865, audio)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott, 1868-69, audio)
The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane, 1895, audio)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum, 1900, audio)
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925, audio)
Don Segundo Sombra (Ricardo Guiraldes, 1926)
As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner, 1930, audio)
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley, 1932, audio)
Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1932, audio)
Farmer Boy (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1933, audio)
Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1935, audio)
Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck, 1937, audio)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954, audio)
The Baptist March in History (Robert A. Baker, 1958)
A Separate Peace (John Knowles, 1959, audio)
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle, 1962)
Colonial America (Vol. 2 of the Amer. Heritage New Illus. History of the US, 1963)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou, 1969, audio)
The Tao of Pooh (Benjamin Hoff, 1982, audio)
Christian Caregiving: A Way of Life (Kenneth C Haugk, 1984)
Tell Me About Yourself (D.L. Maberry, 1985)
The Defiant Muse (eds. Angel Flores, Kate Flores, 1986)
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly (Marva J. Dawn, 1989)
Hymns of Faith & Inspiration (Pamela J. Kennedy, 1990)
Speaking the Truth in Love (Ruth Koch & Kenneth Haugk, 1992)
Lent Is for Children (Julie Kelemen, 1993)
Lent Is for Children (Julie Kelemen, 1993)
Ministry in an Oral Tradition: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus ... (Tex Sample, 1994)
The Scottsboro Boys (James Haskins, 1994)
Barbara Bush: A Memoir (Barbara Bush, 1994, audio)
Life on the Color Line (Gregory Howard Williams, 1995)
Practical Magic (Alice Hoffman, 1995, audio)
Can You Drink the Cup? (Henri Nouwen, 1996)
Encounters on the Road to the Cross (Robert Martin Walker, 1998)
Encounters on the Road to the Cross (Robert Martin Walker, 1998)
This Side of Easter (J. Michael Ripski, 1998)
Selected To Serve (Earl S. Johnson Jr., 2000)
When and How To Use Mental Health Resources (Kenneth C. Haugk, 2000)
The Truth Is (Melissa Etheridge, 2001)
The Children of Willesden Lane: . . . Kindertransport (Mona Golabek, 2002, audio)
Lamb (Christopher Moore, 2002, audio)
J.K. Rowling (Bradley Steffens, 2002)
Reflections: Life After the White House (Barbara Bush, 2003, audio)
5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman, 2005, audio)
The Last Days of Dogtown (Anita Diamant, 2005, audio)
I Feel Bad about My Neck (Nora Ephron, 2006, audio)
Home of the Brave (Katherine Applegate, 2007, audio)
Home of the Brave (Katherine Applegate, 2007, audio)
The Hemingses of Monticello (Annette Gordon-Reed, 2008, audio)
Letter To My Daughter (Maya Angelou, 2008, audio)
Armageddon in Retrospect and other new and . . . (Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 2008, audio)
Return To Sender (Julia Alvarez, 2009, audio)
Louisa May Alcott (Susan Cheever, 2010, audio)
This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection (Carol Burnett, 2010, audio)
I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections (Nora Ephron, 2010, audio)
Laugh Your Way to Grace (Susan Sparks, 2010)
Committed (Elizabeth Gilbert, 2010, audio)
Orange Is the New Black (Piper Kerman, 2010, audio)
Caleb’s Crossing (Geraldine Brooks, 2011, audio)
Heart and Soul (Kadir Nelson, 2011, audio)
The Confidence Gap (Russ Harris, 2011, audio)
Bossypants (Tina Fey, 2011, audio)
Growing Up Amish (Ira Wagler, 2011, audio)
The American Bible (Stephen Prothero, 2012)
The Cove (Ron Rash, 2012 audio)
My Beloved World (Sonia Sotomayor, 2013, audio)
My Beloved World (Sonia Sotomayor, 2013, audio)
I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai, 2013, audio)
Everybody’s Got Something (Robin Roberts, 2014)
Everybody’s Got Something (Robin Roberts, 2014)
Where There’s Smoke / Larger Than Life (Jodi Picoult, 2014, audio)
The Boston Girl (Anita Diamant, 2014, audio)
The Girls of August (Anne Rivers Siddons, 2014, audio)
Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson, 2014, audio)
A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (Jimmy Carter, 2015)
The Nightingale (Kristin Hannah, 2015, audio)
Gateway To Freedom (Eric Foner, 2015, audio)
Gateway To Freedom (Eric Foner, 2015, audio)
In the Unlikely Event (Judy Blume, 2015, audio)
Above the Waterfall (Ron Rash, 2015)
The End of Plenty: The Race To Feed a Crowded World (Joel K. Bourne, Jr., 2015) The Risen (Ron Rash, 2016)
Above the Waterfall (Ron Rash, 2015)
The End of Plenty: The Race To Feed a Crowded World (Joel K. Bourne, Jr., 2015) The Risen (Ron Rash, 2016)
Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance, 2016, audio)
The Third Reconstruction (William J. Barber II, 2016, audio)
Waking Up White (Debby Irving, 2016, audio)
The Dust Bowl Girls (Lydia Reeder, 2017, audio)
Cloud of Witnesses (Melissa Bane Sevier, 2017)
Sing, Unburied, Sing (Jesmyn Ward, 2017)
Make Your Bed (Admiral William H. McRaven, 2017)
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas, 2017, audio)
The Female Persuasion (Meg Wolitzer, 2018, audio)
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World . . . (Austin Channing Brown, 2018, audio)
The Beagle and his Boy (Cathy Cook, 2018)
Becoming (Michelle Obama, 2018)
The Hush (John Hart, 2018, audio)
Faith: A Journey for All (Jimmy Carter, 2018)
Faith: A Journey for All (Jimmy Carter, 2018)
Undivided (Vicky Beeching, 2018)
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old (Parker J. Palmer, 2018)
Whose Boat Is This Boat? (The Late Show, 2018)
Journey into the Light: Devotions for Advent (Susan M. Lang, 2018)
Movies / Films
54 (listed in order of release date)
King Kong (1933)
Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Knute Rockne All American (1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Knute Rockne All American (1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Key Largo (1948)
Hamlet (1948)
Hamlet (1948)
Adam’s Rib (1949)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
A Man Called Peter (1955)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, repeat)
The Beatles: Help! (1965)
Time To Run (1973, repeat)
Time To Run (1973, repeat)
On Golden Pond (1982, repeat)
King David (1985)
Children of a Lesser God (1986, repeat)
Steel Magnolias (1989, repeat)
Lord of the Flies (1990)
The Last of His Tribe (1992)
The Last of His Tribe (1992)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
The Birdcage (1996, repeat)
Mrs. Dalloway (1996)
Last Stand at Saber River (1997)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001)
Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002)
Last Stand at Saber River (1997)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001)
Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002)
Ladies in Lavender (2004, repeat)
The Lakehouse (2006)
The Lakehouse (2006)
Last Chance Harvey (2008)
Last Stop for Paul (2008)
Last Stop for Paul (2008)
The Velveteen Rabbit (2009)
Play the Game (2009)
Love and Valor: The Intimate Civil War Letters (2009)
Labor Day (2014)
Labor Day (2014)
Maleficent (2014)
The Lady in the Van (2015)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Moonlight (2016)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Moonlight (2016)
A Man Called Ove (2016)
Mr. Church (2016)
Fences (2016)
Wonder (2017)
The Post (2017)
The Post (2017)
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
Christopher Robin (2018)
Black Klansman (2018)
Little Women (2018)
RBG (2018)
Black Panther (2018)
The Producers (2018 PPT stage production)
Ocean’s Eight (2018)
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
A Star Is Born (2018)
Boy Erased (2018)
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
TV
The Big Bang Theory Season 11 (2017-2018)
Young Sheldon Season 1 (2017-2018)
Blackish season 4 (2017-2018)
Blackish season 4 (2017-2018)
This Is Us Season 2 (2017-2018)
Roseanne Season 10 (2018)
Jesus Christ Superstar Live (2018)
On Stage (21)
Doubt: A Parable (Lee St. Theatre, January)
Spring Concert (Piedmont Prime Time Community Band, March)
Running on Fire (LST, April)
Children’s Concert (PPTCB, April)
Sense & Sensibility (American Shakespeare Center, April)
The Great War (Phoenix Readers, April)
Salisbury Symphony & Darrell Harwood (May)
Concert of Disney Music (Salisbury- Rowan Choral Society w/ Symphony, May)
Pops at the Post (Salisbury Symphony, June)
Pops at the Post (Salisbury Symphony, June)
Taming of the Shrew (ASC, June)
Souvenir (LST, June)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Wayne Theatre, August)
Steel Magnolias (LST, August)
Woodstock concert (Reeves Theatre, August)
Fall Concert (PPTCB, October)
Little Women (LST, November)
Hamlet (Catawba, November)
Candlelight Christmas in Rockford (December)
Christmas Concert (PPTCB, December)
Christmas Concert (SRCS, December)
A Christmas Carol ( ASC, December)
Note: bold print denotes favorites; red must-reads
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