Bless This House

Ahh, it's a glorious rainy day in the Bluegrass. We need rain. The lilacs are particularly gorgeous right now, but we still need rain. It's a part of life, rain is, and it's representative of cleansing out the old, settled dust and as a result, bringing new growth to what seems like settled ground. The rain today reminds me that we need to learn to more readily accept the idea of change, at least I do, anyway.

Change was celebrated today in worship, as my church dedicated our new building at Central Christian Church. Seven years ago, we began planning and construction, and today was the culmination of everyone's hope for future gatherings at the corner of ML-King Boulevard and Short Street in Lexington. Betty Rhodes sang, "Bless This House," and as usual, Betty's voice was flawless, her diction was clear, and my own tears were a-flowing with joy hearing her sing.

Yes, it was an awe inspiring Sunday morning's worship with music also by the great and wonderful Mary-Hollis Hundley, who was a soloist at Friday's concert at the Singletary Center. She and most fabulous tenor, Mark Kano were both solo vocalists, with the Lexington Philharmonic and the Lexington Singers behind them, singing Beethoven. All of my favorite local singers, in one weekend...could a weekend get any better? Well, the answer to that is, yes, indeedy, all my little Lambchops.

I love to write, and today and tonight, I will be devoted to writing about a new arts project that has been in the building phase itself of late. It's exciting to watch the anticipation build as ideas come to fruition within a team of artists, and this offering especially makes a girl proud to be a local writer, to hail from the Bluegrass, to be a daughter of a coal miner's daughter from Kentucky. Kentucky has a lot to offer, and Lexington is the crossroads of so many things on so many levels -- of highways, of rock and bluegrass music, of Thoroughbreds who journey from Ocala to New York as they are bred and raced. It's a good stopover if you're on your way to Florida. You can always find friendly people and a good place to eat and stay in Lexington. If you are a return reader, you already know this is how I feel. Right? Heh.

I hope you'll continue to follow my ramblings in the coming weeks, as I get crazy just thinking about the Kentucky Derby and all the tradition and memories it brings back. I am planning my Derby day attire and figuring out the best way to take it all in without experiencing Derby burnout. By the by, Derby burnout happens when you arrive at the infield at 9am, sit on blanket in the hot sun all day, surrounded by people who are just one brown acid trip away from becoming Charles Manson. That's never going to happen to me. Not again, anyway :)

pray for peace,
Kimmy

*You will be able to read all about my experiences while I've watched a dream become a reality, in this Thursday's Ace Weekly, of course -- you can also go to aceweekly.com and click on cover story archives, if you're inclined to read any more of what I've learned in the past three years as an arts and activism writer.