I got really annoyed last night as WordPress wasn’t behaving; it would not insert an image using the fancy schmancy image uploader. So I had David upgrade Image Manager, which is working again (but still has the annoying behavior it’s always had where the window has to be resized by hand).

And then today, there’s a new version of WordPress out, 2.5.1. Among security fixes, it also supposedly fixes the problem with the image uploader, and also adds to or upgrades the visual editor. So it’s time to test this with a few images from my cameraphone.  And blather.

First up, an image that I’ll upload with the fancy-schmancy image uploader, which uses the latest version of Flash/Shockwave to work, apparently…

When I arrived at church Sunday, there were rocks out in the front entrance. A few rocks in the gathering space. Rocks at the Mary shrine.

Next up, an image uploaded with the Image Manager plugin, invoked from the HTML view…

When I got in the sanctuary, there were rocks in the seats. Rocks in front of the organ. Rocks tucked in the corners of “choir jail” and under the kneeler bar.

And finally, uploaded using the newly-visible button for Image Manager on the Visual Editor view…

Rocks in front of the altar. We’d been warned in the e-bulletin to expect rocks by Fr. Steve.

It turns out there was a point to it all – the readings all had to do with rocks or stones, and Peter, the rock upon whom the whole church is built, figured prominently in the Gospel. Steve enlarged on his theme by lugging in several hundred pounds of glacial boulders, which used to make up the base of the altar at the old Holy Innocents building. They were selected by the men of the church 40 years ago up in Wisconsin and hauled down to Hoffman Estates as an act of faith. When we disassembled the altar, we transported them all to the new building with the intention of rebuilding the altar anew – this time, it’ll become an outdoor altar (the top is solid slate). Steve hopes that we’ll select the stones and help to place them (men and women this time) as it’s rebuilt. We’re looking forward to the time when we can be outside for services when the weather is good. There was an outdoor altar at St Columba, rarely used. We hope this one will get used often in the summer, when it’s too hot to be inside.

So okay, Fr. Steve doesn’t have rocks in his head.

As for the image uploads, for some reason all three were sideways at first, but after opening them in Photoshop, they were vertically aligned… but still sideways when selecting. So I had to go back to Photoshop, rotate them to the right, then back to the left, and then somehow they were magically aligned (I never figured out where in Photoshop you “file/save” now).

Aaarrrrrrgh, I don’t understand. Oh, well, it looks fine now!

Technorati Tags: Episcopal, Moblog, Wordpress 2.5.1

Today being the third Saturday of the month, some of us from the “nurturing” team at Holy Moly/St Nicholas were at Asbury Park for the ecumenical service we do. On my way in, I spotted this on the schedule board for the day: there we are at 10:30, in direct competition with the Wii Bowling.

And let me say, the Wii virtual bowlers were kicking ass and having a great time, from the sound of it.

We had a pretty good time too – Tim from choir showed up, so we “made a choir” and stood together. Finished with “Amazing Grace,” which I folked up a little when I heard Mary play a “blue note” on the digital organ in the intro. Tim sang the tenor part and we made a pretty good duet of it. One very dignified black lady almost whooped and hollered when Father Paul announced the hymn, it’s apparently a favorite of hers. So as we helped her out afterwards, she told us she loved it and looked forward to our monthly services so much. Really, it’s just a little thing, but the residents seem to appreciate our efforts so much – Mary was there on the electric piano, and this time we noticed that the heavy instrument had been moved and positioned so it had a great view of the front of the chapel. That was thoughtful, whoever did that. We’ve tried to move it, and it’s incredibly heavy.

We saw Richard, the guy who’s writing the kids’ story about a mousemonaut, and also the usual assortment of vintage ladies who seem to get a big kick out of our modest efforts.

I held the little silver doodad that holds the oil for anointing ( think it’s called chrism?) and was really moved by the first two, who held each other up in the most loving way as they approached. I couldn’t help but wonder if our attendance was down because of the nice spring weather we’re finally having, and whether the folks that were there got many visitors. A lot of the prayers and collects that Fr. Paul uses in putting together the short liturgy mention the lonely and the ill, along with the poor and the oppressed.

It’s always humbling to assist, and we make a point of going to where people are sitting in the chapel if they can’t come forward. Most of the residents get around pretty well, but a few people like to settle in one place. Before we started one of our regulars told me she’d like us to serve her at her chair; I chuckled and said “Don’t worry, we deliver.” But then she was able to get up and come forward, rather than wait. Really touching.

I always get charged up at these deals, and today was no exception. Next month, we have to do something different as Fr. Paul can’t be there.
Via: Flickr Title: Wii bowling at the retirement home By: GinnyRED57
Originally uploaded: 19 Apr ’08, 5.23pm CDT PST

Technorati Tags: Episcopal, Moblog, Retirement Home, Wii