Ash Wednesday 2019 “Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.” antiphon for the Invitatory Psalm in Lent Somehow the antiphon came as a shock this morning, I”m not sure why since it’s the usual antiphon for Lent. But it struck me again (as if for the first […]
A few disconnected observations from today’s (Sunday’s) first reading. Sirach 27:4-7 Today’s first reading from Sirach presents a series of images which illustrate something about the nature of speech and something about trials and tests. Each image has a slightly different emphasis so that the overall point of them all together is somehow greater than […]
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. […]
But even in today’s versatile use of the word craft there is only the faintest overlap with the definition craeft had when it first appeared in written English over a thousand years ago. The Oxford English Dictionary can find no one word to exchange like for like, for Old English craeft, and instead offers an […]
Dull February seeps away in cold homebound days, each one much like the other, dreary sameness of earth and sky besieged by dread and dim and snow that turns to rain. One sickness after another, dripping noses and coughs, prednisone and albuterol snipping hearts and snapping tempers until finally the waxing moon raises her full […]
I used to write a reflective blog post for every kid’s birthday. But after a while it started to feel more like an obligation than a chance to reflect and ponder and celebrate. And I felt kind of guilty if I wrote one for one child and not for another. Silly, I suppose. I’m super-sensitive […]
The way a small blue eye Winks at me from between The tree’s thick trunks, A sliver of wintry sky Among the branches, whose keen Edges slice the blue like monks’ Chants tearing silence’s veil; Like a line of lace Across the world’s wail, Keeping sky and land firmly, Each in its place.
This year we got new insurance–hoorah! The old one wasn’t covering our preventative inhalers– Boo! But the pediatrician, who we’d only been with for a year after our former doctor retired, doesn’t take the new insurance. So we had to get a new new pediatrician. And I was filled with dread, but I actually like […]
I’ve stalled out on blogging recently. I’ve got a backlog of learning notes posts going back to December. And some reading posts too. And a bunch of half-baked drafts about books and such. And I was sick and Ben was sick. And now we are both better and more than just better, our new insurance […]
Now that I don’t have babies or toddlers, there is a space in my week, most weeks, to pull out a sketchbook and draw, paint, color with pencils, ink… I really love being able to make something pretty, to experiment, to put into practice techniques I’ve read about. I’ve got a really nice set of […]