new poet

As I wandered through B&N the other day, I came across a new poet named Wendell Berry.  He's new to me, I should say.  I purchased his book, A Timbered Choir.  This poem is taken from that work.

Whatever is foreseen in joy

Must be lived out from day to day.

Vision held open in the dark

By our ten thousand days of work.

Harvest will fill out the barn; for that

The hand must ache, the face must sweat.

And yet no leaf or grain is filled

By work of ours; the field is tilled

And left to grace.  That we may reap,

Great work is done while we're asleep.

When we work well, a Sabbath mood

Rests on our day, and finds it good.

The Weekend Reunion

This weekend has been a treat!  Two of my friends from London came from their current locations to visit!  Val and I have gotten together a number of times, but we have not seen Carmen since July 2011.

After a trip to DC to collect Cee from the airport, we made our way to my house.  Friday felt like a Saturday.  We lazed around (recovering from our late return to mine) and then ventured out to Barnes and Noble Booksellers.  After coffee and a yummy treat from the cafe, we wandered around the store for a bit.  We have a very relaxed relationship, a result of the amount of time we have spent together in the five years that I have known these girls.  We each went our own way in the store, not needing to always be together but inevitably ending up in the same departments.  Our final convergence happened in the International Travel department!

After leaving B&N and visiting two other stores, we drove across the river of an Egyptian restaurant on Paxton Street.  Sadly, we were the only patrons.  Our meal was wonderful though!  We got dessert from SweetFrog and then we went to a quaint little theatre to see Lincoln for $4.00.  Ticket prices have gone up since I was last there!  

Lincoln was very well done.  It seemed quite fitting that Cee (a Canadian) saw it in Pennsylvania, sandwiched between two of her favorite Americans.  Perhaps on our way to take Cee back to the airport today, we can stop in Gettysburg.

Yesterday was just a lazy day.  I had previously promised to pick up friends of mine at the airport, so I went to the airport once more on Saturday, but thankfully this was just to our local airport.  When I returned, my house had gained another Londoner!  Eli joined us for the rest of the day.  Our big adventure was just to leave the house to get groceries for dinner.

In the meantime, I had to decide if I would take the second course I mentioned in an earlier post.  Encouraged by wise council, I've decided just to take the one class for my next 8 week term.  The syllabus for the one course looks very daunting and it is Linguistics, which could be quite challenging.  I did well in my first course, and I want to continue to do well in this program.  

Well, I must be off to start our day!  My visitors are still sleeping but I need to get some coffee and maybe the smell of breakfast will wake them up....

Vocabulary Lesson

Today has been dedicated to a final paper for a course I'm taking.  It's due on Monday, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say I've been procrastinating.  I've really enjoyed the course, but writing the paper has not been an inspiring task for some reason.  (Normally I do really enjoy writing, even if it is a formal assignment.)  However, in my reading, I came across a most impressive sentence regarding the identity of the woman mentioned in Revelation 12.

"In any case, it seems obvious that the vision intends a multivalent mythological symbolization of transpersonal divine realities." (Elisabeth Fiorenza. Revelation: Vision of a Just World (Proclamation Commentaries) (Kindle Location 1262). Kindle Edition.)

I'm such a nerd.  I love sentences like that.

Research Days

Thank goodness my sister lives close to a fantastic library.  It has meant that while I'm here in the USA, I can continue research!  Here's a little glimpse of where I'm doing my work today  :)

Today my task is looking through 32 years of issues of magazines to begin to verify and reference facts in the museum tour we do in London.  This might take more than just today!

Simplicity

Well, I'm out in Colorado Springs for a few weeks.  Beautiful place, I'm glad to be able to visit again.  But this post isn't about that.  While sitting in Atlanta for a two hour layover, I read a book, a very good book.  Shane Claiborne wrote The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical.  I could share a lot of it, but really, you should probably just read it yourself.  One part I will share with you, on the topic of simplicity.  I am part of a church tradition that values simplicity, and I will be honest with you, I struggle with truly living a simple life.  Shane wrote: "Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships, and interdependence.  Redistribution then springs naturally our of our rebirth, from a vision of family that is larger than our biology or nationalism.  As we consider what it means to be "born again," as evangelical jargon goes, we must ask what it means to be born again into a family in which our sisters and brothers are starving to death..." Powerful words.  Please, think about them.  And let me know if you want to borrow the book.