Third week of Eastertide

On our Sabbath afternoon, I started the week by hanging out online with Sister Shane, CMA. We got together on Zoom with our cup of  tea in hand and opened an online backgammon game on another window. It took us a bit of patience to figure out the backagammon bit and Shane eventually won our three point match.

On Thursday, I met with my Spirituald Direction peers "at General Theological Seminary" (on Zoom). We compared our notes on offering direction in such an upheaval and on adapting to the online environment. I had intended to go to GTS for graduation mid-month. But instead, we will have a graduation ceremony on Zoom (and the current graduates will be invited to come back to the seminary in May 2021 for an in-person graduation).

On Friday, I had a (Zoom) reunion with my own Spiritual Director after a few months of hiatus due to her health. We were glad to see each other and reconnect. I was so glad to avail myself of the privilege of her listening and counseling again.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I take more walks on our grounds and towards  the John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary (a.k.a. Slabsides). I listen to interesting podcasts while I walk. Or I listen to an audiobook.

From top left, clockwise: a bouquet with tulips and a few sprays of lilac; a crab apple about to blossom; a morning school of fog over the Hudson; a selfie with the fully blossomed crab apple; crab apple flowers (pink on the outside, creamy white on the inside).

I am currently listening to an Audible version of Emily Bronte´s "Wuthering Heights." I am reminded of the Northern English accents I knew from my ex-partner's family. There is even one character whose Yorkshire accent is to thick that I miss out on some of it. I have a hard time buying into the torturous plot and the emotional life of the characters.

I am a third of the way in and I´ll finish it to have another classic feather in my cap but I wouldn´t encourage others to read it. The recording I have also feature "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and "Agnes Grey" by Anne Bronte. I hope I enjoy these other Victorian novels better...

I have started watching a university course in astrophysics from a French academic I like on YouTube (physicist and philosopher Aurélien Barrau who teaches in Grenoble, in the French Alps). I can watch his two hour courses on the universe in sections and back up a bit to get back into it.

Br. Max is patiently and expertly teaching me to sight-read music. We get together on Sunday morning for a half hour of musical brain teasing. I haven't felt so much a novice at something in a long time. But little by little, I notice myself picking up on melodies from a few notes I recognize and can sing to myself in my head. There is hope in this choir monk.

And I continue to teach myself Spanish on Duolingo (an app on my phone and computer). I started during my summer vacation last July. My competitive spirit likes to see how my friends are doing in their own language study on Duolingo every week and I try to match or surpass the points they rack up.

We don´t want that brain to go to pot now, do we?

It's Spring; it's official! from top left, clockwise: if Br. Josép is bringing out the geraniums, it must be spring for real; Br. Aidan and the Rev. Cari Pattison getting a handle on the weed situation; bringing their weeds harvest to the compost heap; Br. John turning the compost heap to encourage the bacteria and earth worms to do their magic.

On another computing note, I learned from Br. Max how to do my first Facebook livestream! He wrote me a precise and complete checklist on how to do it. Max coached me and I got our Saturday Vespers livestream going just like that! I'm on duty again next Wednesday. Let's see if Saturday was a fluke...

Our next livestream will be from our Chapter Room (at one time known as the Chapel of the Holy Spirit). We are moving our worship there while our St Augustine church is being repainted (at long last).

Be safe, stay healthy, stay home, save lives still. Peace!