a reading and a baptism

Saturday night saw me reading “Shall We Dance?”, a tale of the inside story of a flamenco dance troupe that was published in the current issue of “Soundings”, a literary magazine put out twice a year by the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts. The story will appear in my forthcoming story collection, tentatively titled “What, More Break Time Stories?” that should be out on Kindle the end of August. The audience was small, which is not unusual for writers reading their works, whether it is in libraries or even arts centers like Saturday’s Northern Lakes Center for the Arts, but the reading went well and of course there were questions on how much research I had to do in order to write that story. I read with Jane Yunker, Julie Smith, LaMoine MacLaughlin, and Brian Beadle.

Sunday we baptized Theodore Daniel Borresen at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. He did “man up” and didn’t cry, for which I am most grateful. In fact, he is a happy baby and delights in his older sister and brother, who also were baptized at Wolf Creek. They church building has no air conditioning (yet) and it was hot and humid, but Grandma Fisk brought plenty of food, cake and beverages to enjoy after the service and once I got out of my vestments, the place became more comfortable. The Borresens live in Las Vegas, where Theodore’s dad is stationed now, so we won’t see them regularly; but we hope to see them when they come visiting family in this area. Theodore’s mom and dad were in my first confirmation class when I pastored Wolf Creek and St.Croix Falls United Methodist Churches. We had visitors who are not connected with the baptismal party–people who have a cabin on Deer Lake and who usually go to services at either St.Croix Falls UMC or Taylors Falls but who seem to like what I have to offer and how I offer it. For that, all of us at Wolf Creek are grateful. We will pray in the new people who should be part of us and if I’m the initial draw, so be it; the congregation will have to win visitors to become regulars.