When we moved to Seattle the winters became more pronounced.  I didn’t think moving 600 miles north would make such a difference, but we easily have three hours more darkness in the winter than when we lived in Northern California.  It also feels more perceptible because the sky is often gray and the sun that much […]

Posted in Advent, Seasons | 13 Comments »

Classes are canceled across Seattle today, my husband got the phone call at 5:00 a.m. notifying him (he teaches high school) and Seattle University posted their announcement soon after.  Apparently even though there hasn’t been much snowfall in the city, the low temperatures have made for icy and dangerous driving conditions.   Snow and below freezing temperatures are unusual […]

Posted in Resources, Advent, Seasons | 12 Comments »

Painting is “Waters of Baptism” by Tim Mooney
Tim audited a class I co-taught while living in Berkeley.  A good friend and I received a grant from the Practicing Our Faith people to teach a class on creativity as Christian spiritual practice (you can read a summary here) in the spring of 2003.  It was a great experience, […]

Posted in Advent, Seasons | 6 Comments »

Advent begins next Sunday, the start of a new year in Christian calendars.  The word Advent comes from the Latin Adventus meaning coming.  It is a season of waiting with anticipation for the coming of Christ and the incarnation, God made flesh, culminating in the season of Christmas.  
In Advent we are invited to be present to […]

Posted in Advent, Seasons | 9 Comments »

I just had to share two more things before I head to the airport.  I awoke early and so had time to discover a stunning post on Jen Lemen’s blog today about Love and another poem from Panhala, again by Lynn Ungar (according to Amazon her book is out of print, I think I need […]

Posted in Poetry, Seasons | No Comments »

One of the things I love about Thanksgiving is that it is one of those holidays that has escaped a lot of the consumer frenzy (except as a preamble to one of the biggest shopping days of the year).  I also love that it is a secular holiday centered on feasting and gratitude.
I have so very […]

Posted in Poetry, Seasons | 7 Comments »

I went on a lovely walk this morning, my usual 45-minute walk from my house, up and around Volunteer Park, and then back home.  It was a crisp and clear morning, another short break from the heavy rains we have been getting.  The leaves have largely made their floating pilgrimage to the ground.  They now wait for decay […]

Posted in Photos, Nature and Creativity | 4 Comments »

   
Next summer my husband and I will be taking a five-week trip to Ireland and Austria.  We saved up our frequent flyer miles for free tickets and without a dog at home to worry about leaving behind for that long, we decided to seize the opportunity.  (We will definitely get another dog eventually, but have decided to […]

Posted in Pilgrimage | 8 Comments »

I have been having dreams lately of cellos.  The cello is my favorite instrument and I have always wanted to learn to play sometime in my life.  The first two dreams were brief:  In the first I am lying down on a bed and a man hands me a cello and tells me to play horizontally and I can beautifully […]

Posted in Dreams | 5 Comments »

Dreams
All night
the dark buds of dreams
open richly.
In the center
of every petal
is a letter,
and you imagine
if you could only remember
and string them all together
they would spell the answer.
It is a long night,
and not an easy one–
you have so many branches,
and there are diversions–
birds that come and go,
the black fox that lies down
to sleep beneath you,
the moon […]

Posted in Dreams | 9 Comments »