I rode from Richmond to Purcellville in the back seat of my sister's car, crammed in with my stuff, her daughters, their stuff, and a few other things they were bringing home from Evelyn's. When we got there I learned that they lived in a flat under a nice suburban home, with an entry behind the house. It was late by then so we just chatted for a while and then figured out sleeping arrangements. I ended up on the floor behind the dining table, sleeping on the cushions from the couch and some bedclothes. The next morning we chatted for a while and got ready for church.

  

Shane is enjoying his job as a middle school teacher. Teresa is a stay at home mom, but she does find time to make a little money doing crafts. Click here to see her blog. There was lots of cooing over the baby. I spent a while holding her myself. I can only describe that experience as warm and tender.

     

Then we went to the church in our Sunday best. For me that meant it was the first time I'd worn my suit two days in a row in many years, maybe ever. That was made possible by stealing one of my fathers white shirts. Thanks Dad!

The rules at the church included "no photographs", so I didn't take any pictures anywhere near the church. It was a service rich in ceremony. The priest, deacons, and an army of supporting characters wore long red and while robes. They started the service with a procession leading the priest to the front of the room. There was much reading of scripture by various people. During the baptism I saw the priest say "Noelle Virginia" and splash water on the baby's head. Throughout the service there was a lot of honoring of the power of God, "Our father who art in Heaven." I'd characterize the congregation as something like a hundred relatively conservative and comfortably middle class people. Most of them were families with children.

  

After the service a bunch of friends of Shane and Teresa came over to celebrate the baptism by sharing a meal with us.

Teresa and Grace cooked up a wonderful spaghetti lunch for everybody while we discussed the fine points of western philosophy in the living room.

  

It really was an interesting discussion. They know a lot more than I do about the development of religious thought in the Euro centric world.

All too soon we had to leave for my brother's house at the other end of Virginia.

  

Not that long after we left my sister stopped for gas at this convenience store on Route 7. I was surprised by the price of tobacco in Virginia nowadays. I quit smoking when I moved from Virginia to Illinois, and buying cigarettes went from 35 cents a pack to $8/carton (more than twice as much per smoke). Nowadays in California the same brands are maybe a third more or something like that. It baffles me that anybody smokes at these prices. On the other hand, bottled water prices seem to be about the same here. I had plenty of water already so I didn't find out if they add deposits on the bottles to the price the way we do.

If we'd been in a rural part of Texas there would have been large sacks of deer corn instead of bottled water outside the store. Tobacco prices inside the store would likely have been a dollar less per pack for some reason. That puzzles me, because I've always thought of Virgina as the queen of the tobacco states.