Yes, there are cherries here

I posted the photo of the cherries below partly because it was pretty and seasonal and partly because life has not been a bowl of cherries these days given a number of converging pressures. But I am happy to report that there are fresh cherries at my Undisclosed Location (which is urban but has good produce) and that I have eaten a quantity of them, and also strawberries, to round off my birth-month.

I have been working very hard, but things are now easing off. I am well and in addition to having some good breaks from midweek on, I have been enjoying some Sabbath time this weekend, both figuratively and literally, since I accompanied a Jewish friend and her family to synagogue last night. On one of the stained glass windows (this is a historic synagogue and quite old by U.S. standards) is the saying "Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Shelter the homeless." Yup, straight out of Isaiah. Jesus didn't get this from nowhere, he got it from his own folk.

Bumper sticker of the week: "GOT HOPE?" Black and white, plain lettering, brought to you by the Obama campaign.

Regular blogging will resume after the weekend, when I am back in the fair state of North Carolina.

Meanwhile, send prayers to my friend Jim who is co-chair of the Democratic Party Rules Committee! (No, my trip had nothing to do with the Democratic Party and I haven't seen Jim and his family in months.) He is a person of deep integrity, I can tell you that. I think the article gives a sense of this.

Many thanks to friends from OCICBW for the prayers during a very stressful time, and special thanks to MadPriest for taking the initiative to put up the request. Now send some prayers his way. He has a little stress of his own. Let us know what we can do besides pray, brother.

P.S. Prayers and good thoughts are also welcome for my friend Ken (see comments) who just lost his job. Or to put it more exactly, whose corporate employer took his job (and the jobs of a bunch of other people) away from him.