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| Monday, May 19th, 2008 |
seraphimsigrist
|
10:28a |
Image of the City Friends, Yesterday was very full and I slept a little late. Part of it was that I remembered having been waken the night before by the call to prayer blasted from some mosque at 430 in the morning. There is much to be said for the concept mentioned in this (arabic language) bellow "prayer is better than sleep." however drat it man that is one thing but if you are saying that "my bellowed prayer is better than your sleep" you are getting into a debatable area. However with the window closed I barely heard it this time and need not have worried at least until the bells ringing from a church at 630. Anyway up after a fitfull sleep... Yesterday afternoon shared a barbecue with a Palestinian family in the Old City in a lovely little garden by their home up an alley and stairway in that very complex warren of paths which is the City. They are Orthodox and with them were also their friends two Catholic Little Sisters (order of Charles de Foucauld) who live in the old city. It was the saints day(Joseph of Arimathea) of the father of the family. Now I will meet a Palestianian lady towards noon who works in a charity organization then at 3 with Dan Juster (Towards Jerusalem Council II) and then with Fr Vinogradsky-Frankel Orthodox priest for Hebrew speakers. so today will be largely meetings but I hope to go again to the Holy Sepulchre perhaps at 2. This is a space as you may know,or can find on the internet, divided into various chapels and very complex internally under its great dome...dropping in last evening could hear the rolling thunder of a procession singing gregorian chant and winding its way up the stairs above and then there are Armenians and Ethiopians and Egyptians and Indians and Greeks... lamps hanging everywhere. Some find it offputting but I agree to the thought of Fr Kelly (of the Notre Dame Center where I am staying) expressed at breakfast today that it is an image of history... Not an ideal ,clean and simple, but complex as the paths of the Old City which in turn are an image of all the paths and places of our world. Wednesday I will take a day tour up to Galilee, Cana, Capurneum, Nazareth. So that is my entry for today and as always I welcome all your thought on these or on whatever you have and am yours +Seraphim you may find a floor plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
at http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-church-of-holy-sepulchre.htm
click on the floor plan for a larger version. |
timeheldinsepia
|
1:55a |
I want a billy bumble for my birthday!
I've just read three books in the "Dark Tower series in six days.
Will I go through withdrawal symptoms before I can get to a bookstore? |
| Sunday, May 18th, 2008 |
pooklaroux
|
11:49p |
Pentamere A&S pix up  pentamere 08 008
Originally uploaded by pooklaroux.I finally took the Pentamere Regional Faire pix off my camera. Sorry it took me so long. This is a szur, a Hungarian coat -- and a verrry nice one too! Alas it was not actually part of the Regional Faire -- it was entered in the local Baronial Faire. Still I am glad I got a chance to see it. |
pooklaroux
|
11:46p |
Baron Wars pix are up  baron wars 08 016
Originally uploaded by pooklaroux.Not my best pack of pix, but the remarkable good weather was documented. |
ann_mcn
|
9:12p |
GARF, weekend 6 I am usually in Raven's Nest all day every day that faire is open (eight weekends, plus Memorial Day and two student days), in the rock corner, sewing catnip mousies, but this season has been skewed. Until this weekend, opening weekend was the only one I'd had both days of -- I had to work at Horizon the next four Sundays. I like working there, and they've been super cooperative with my faire conflicts, and now I'll have the last three weekends all at GARF (missing opening weekend of The Clean House). The first two weekends, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mrakg had to be out of town, so I was in his corner, alien territory for me except on student days. No mousies there. Then, mrakg was back and I had three Saturdays over on my own corner, and now, finally, two-thirds of the way through GARF, I had a whole weekend in my place. Such a creature of habit! Patron of the Day. White man with long scraggly beard, wearing Confederate flag britches, a Hooters towel around his waist, and white boots that looked as if he'd snatched them from a majorette. The Anti-Matter Baton Bob. ( On to the people )I stuffed mousies with catnip all day long today and although I was not stoned, I am certainly less tightly wound now. Will post family news and thoughts another day. Current Mood:  peaceful |
canonjohn
|
7:12p |
Cece + Ordination + School's Out
There is nothing new on my sister-in-law's condition. Cece is, according to my niece, "stable" . Given the inoperable brain tumor and evidence of cancer elsewhere, and the minimal expectation of any significant benefit, the family has decided to let her be. I sense it was a difficult decision for her children (all adults). What to do when there is nothing that can be done? The impulse is to have the doctors do something, anything, but that would be fruitless and invasive. So we wait, placing her where she belongs, really, in God's merciful hands.
Yesterday was the diaconal ordination of one of my spiritual directees. This was a joyous event. There were five men ordained by Bishop Morneau. He presides and preaches in such a pastoral, low key way. The liturgy was "correct" but not oppressive. Then there was the later afternoon parish Liturgy where the newly ordained deacon served and preached for the first time in his new role. All the clergy related to the parish participated and there was a simple, friendly gathering afterwards.
I turned in my grades on Tuesday. School is done. Thank God. It does feel that I have a lot of time on my hands. It isn't that there is no work to be done, but I need to sort out what I should put my energy into. There are several upcoming presentations (and more will emerge, I suspect). I am thinking about how to approach those various talks. But in the meantime, it is nice to have from freedom and flexibility.
Doctor visits this week. These are always a source of stress. I know I am not alone in feeling this way. But I have not been feeling my best and so the stress factor is heightened.
Reading: still working on Honor Moore's book. It is awkward at best looking into the issues of a family I do not know. As a priest, of course, I have been invited into the lives of families and have considered it "holy ground". Well, the family life of Bishop Moore and his daughter is also "holy ground", but the bishop did not invite anyone into it and that makes it awkward. So I hope I read his story with respect and reverence.
The Lourdes Parish picnic was today....iffy for weather. There were some sprinkles, but no serious rain. I stopped by for a while....always nice to visit with people. The folks were having a good time. I think our picnic is the first church picnic of the season. While it makes money (we hope) the hospitality and the fellowship are
as important as the financial benefits. "Glory to God for all things!"
John |
mizannie
|
6:21p |
Last Night
Sang a wedding with my musician friend and our choir
director last night. Everything in the service music
was in Greek. The Prelude music was a mix of vocals
and instrumentals. We were good and very good. We
sounded like we'd been singing Greek liturgy since
childhood.
The wedding rehearsal went without a hitch but at the
wedding, there was a little funny twist. The young
ring bearer and flower girl had a little tiff. She
wasn't coming down the aisle fast enough to suit him.
They were holding hands and he started pulling her. So,
she gathered up a handful of rose petals and threw them
at his head. For a minute, I thought the whole basket
was gonna' wind up on his head.
As they got to the solea stairs, he jerked her hand and
she tripped but righted herself, threw some more rose
petals at him and then took her place with the bridesmaids. |
christianblog
|
7:02p |
Former pupils
Today we were holding a reunion and barbecue at school for pupils who used to study here. After yesterday's rain the morning dawned bright and sunny.
I got my trainers on and ran in, covering the 2 to 3 miles without really breaking into sweat, until the final hill where several cars passed me, with old familiar faces smiling widely, and waves and sudden flashes of recognition.
The school is stunning in its early summer beauty. The rhododendron bushes are in flower, and everything is so fresh and green. It was a really happy gathering. It's amazing meeting young men and women who you remember as 11-year-old children, and haven't seen for a decade. And yet, they still seem so familiar, even though they are now young adults.
I was touched by the open friendliness, and how pleased people were to be meeting up again. It was an affirmation of the trust we'd built all those years ago, and really encouraging to catch up on their news, and what they are doing, and everything they are becoming.
One young man, now 20 or 21, laughed and said: "I still remember how you picked me up and put me in the litter bin." And it all came flooding back, and the random action, and good humour. Years that have passed inbetween, yet the moment still alive and joyful...
Then I ran off down the hill, across lush fields of buttercups and patches of sky blue speedwell... down, down, down to the canal and along the sunny towpath. About 200 children on an outing - all Orthodox Jews - came past me as I ran.
The sun sparkled on the water.
Those children, too, on a journey. As we all are. A journey towards wholeness and our own unfolding future. |
iamdigitalis
|
10:41a |
Do you eBay? 
KickItBack = Cash BackSo, as you know, eBay now has a lot of competition. But, they still want you to shop there. Incentive? Up to 1% back on EVERY purchase. No sign up fees or monthly service charges. Just use KickItBack to search eBay - you will see everything you'd see by searching the eBay site itself, bid and win, and money will be deposited in your PayPal account. It can be collected and deposited into your linked bank account at any time you wish after its been verified. Y'all know I don't normally do these things, but this is a no brainer, with no risks, so why not? |
acereta
|
3:07p |
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acereta
|
2:14p |
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christianblog
|
9:51a |
Fragmented lives and the deeper love and joy
I think we sometimes have to stand on the firm and solid ground of our deepest realities and most precious treasures, even though we are also aware that scattered around us at our feet are fragments - of our past, of ourselves, of those things we can't completely control.
But the solid things we treasure most... knowledge of deep reality and deep love and the ones we hold and are truly held by... stand upright and bold and brave in those affirmations and trust and inner joy.
Strong peace to each one of you. |
seraphimsigrist
|
11:03a |
WALL Friends, This morning I walked down the wall which is just across the street from my lodging to the Damascus Gate. I had really no very clear idea of the city until today so it was a discovery how up and down the city is, down the wall meaning a considerable slope and then within the old city there are all sorts of alleys and stairways and arches and you know that sort of thing. I came from there to the West Wall of the Temple which is what remains of it. In due course I shall post pictures but anyway I accomplished the mission given by Mark to put a paper with his prayer into a crevice of the wall to which I added my own. Our papers were in fact rather larger than norm which I take to be closely written on small bits of paper , but anyway there they are. I recall that in Glastonbury I felt the outlined ruins of the great Abbey, destroyed by Protestants if one may say so with no disrespect really to their legacy, destroying is one thing we do and building is the other, (cf Krishna to Arjuna to that effect. a mystery there. though of course "woe unto those by whom offences come" was also said)well... what? felt the outlined ruins completed themselves somehow more powerfully even than would a completed cathedral such as Wells Cathedral just up the road from there, a fine enough place but not as charged with mystery as Glastonbury... In a way I suppose the wall may complete itself in the thought and seeing too... the Holy of Holies would have been beyond this Western Wall. So one may say the Temple is still there really... opeining into the new one envisioned by Ezekiel or the cosmic cubic city of John... walked the alleys and stairways fending off propserous looking beggars and came to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre saw some Liturgy at the Greek chapel...It is as I expected to feel it quite a wonderful maze of chapels and hanging lamps in small what the paths of the City are in large one may say...found my way out to the gate opposite here and here I am and just this in greeting +Seraphim  . not my photo but one of Mikhail Levitt of the wall
which I have posted previously. my photos such as they
are on return. |
| Saturday, May 17th, 2008 |
christianblog
|
10:11p |
She Who Is - 5 - The Rationale behind Feminist Liberation Theology
In her book 'She Who Is' Elizabeth Johnson presses for a strong critique of traditional speech about Godde, and in her second chapter she begins by explaining the reason she uses christian feminist liberation theology as her chosen route and method of exploring and opening up to Godde.
She starts by defining the basic intent and purpose of most christian theology over many centuries: "faith seeking understanding" and "searching for a deeper discernment of the meaning of the gospel". Allied to this search, is the desire to look for "deeper understanding of human life and the whole universe in the light of the graciousness of divine mystery." So there is a search to know and understand Godde more fully, and the gospel, and the implications of Godde's grace and love for human life and community and the whole creation.
Turning to christian feminist liberation theology, in particular, she defines this as "reflection on religious mystery from a stance which makes an a priori option for the human flourishing of women." So women's flourishing becomes a lens through which faith seeks understanding and meaning and an opening up to Godde.
The background contexts to this 'a priori' belief in the need and calling for women's flourishing are the countless ways women suffer from being demeaned and marginalised in theory and practice, even though they know that their human identity should possess goodness, dignity and creative power as intrinsic qualities.
The feminist theologian then brings to light the damage and suffering imposed on women, and analyses its causes - identifying the agency, hope and potential of women to explore and claim new interpretations of christian tradition and encounters and revelation.
And the struggle of women in faith to seek understanding acts as a forge for feminist theology: as they strive for life and flourishing in the face of oppression and alienating forces.
Elizabeth Johnson then makes the point that theology, forged from this perspective of struggle and experience, inevitably calls into question the traditional way people speak about Godde.
Firstly because this speech - drawing imagery and concepts from a world of ruling men - often inclines towards oppression in its implications and assumptions, legitimising structures ruled by men in ways assumed to be like Godde. Whether consciously or not, this sexist 'God language' undermines the human equality of women who are - in reality - made in the same divine image and likeness. The result can be (and often is) human lives shaped by patterns of dominance and subordination, with attendant violence and suffering.
Furthermore, this traditional masculine imagery of Godde can be not only oppressive, but also idolatrous: I'll quote Elizabeth Johnson's exact words on this because they are so good - "insofar as male-dominant language is honoured as the only or the supremely fitting way of speaking about God[de], it absolutizes a single set of metaphors and obscures the height and depth and length and breadth of divine mystery. Thus it does damage to the very truth of God[de] that theology is supposed to cherish and promote."
Opponents may argue that such a critique is too narrowly concerned with women's issues. The issue of the right way to speak about Godde, however, is central to the whole faith tradition. The values at stake are profound and substantive, involving both the quest for justice in human life, and the truth (however darkly glimpsed) of the holy mystery of Godde.
Feminist theology's critique of traditional 'God language' enters the history of theology at a critical juncture, Elizabeth Johnson asserts, as the impact of the modern world challenges christians to reflect anew on historical traditions and assumptions, and as - in response - many theologians are seeking to formulate ways of speaking of Godde in a living tradition that may make radical departures from the past.
The contribution of feminist theology may be a profound element - though not the only one - in this opening up and liberating and deepening of christian tradition and understanding. These tensions in theology between the past and present - and unfolding future - are explored next in this excellent book. |
barbarakelley
|
12:11p |
nothing about mushrooms... well maybe a little
I'm a reluctant mushroom farmer this morning--already regretting having spent the money for the mushroom spawn. It was twenty dollars for one variety, and twenty five for the other, plus shipping. Ouch. And I don't even know if it will grow on my used goose bedding. It's likely to be expecting nice fresh wood chips and sawdust--not my dirty sawdust and shavings mixture... I hope it will live. Maybe I should see if I can find some fresh chips to put some of it in...
And so goes the train of thought that tells me I've wasted the money and it will all come to nothing.
But maybe I'm just being cynical. Maybe it will be okay.
I will buy oyster mushrooms fresh from the grocery store when I am in town this weekend, and those I will grow from spores, for free. That will make me feel better. And if it doesn't work, I won't be so sad about wasting money. That is the worry--that my mushroom venture will all come to nothing but a waste of money and a disappointment.
I suppose there's something to be said for trying it, however.
Other than the age old worries about failure, it is a beautiful day here--warm and sunny. I think I will head to the garden and, wonder of wonders, maybe I will even plant something! I could. It is spring now, and that is what we've been waiting for.
We're toying with the idea of having a no-till garden this year. Maybe we would actually have fewer weeds, if we didn't turn up the soil every year bringing new weed seeds to the surface... at least that is one gardening theory. Maybe we will try it. |
bobjohn5
|
1:27p |
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seraphimsigrist
|
8:31p |
Jerusalem
Friends,
I have arrived in Jerusalem and am staying at the Notre Dame
Center, just across from the New Gate of the Old City into
which I ventured briefly at dusk. From the window of my room
I can see the Dome of the Rock, and the Center, having pilgrims
from all over the world has a wonderfully intrnational aspect...
also,and so this, there are comptuers available at 5 dollars for
an hour which is not at all bad. So it seems I am still here at
least with brief notes... Now I will go up to my room and perhaps
try phoning some contacts I ought plan to meet...
Reading Ackroyd's "Blake" on the plane it does give a very fine
picture of that great artist and writer bringing him somehow into
focus, as it seems, more than anything I remember reading years
ago when I was thinking about Blake more regularly...
so today just these and I am yours
+Seraphim |
logospilgrim
|
10:53a |
ah, nitpicking Master, bless.My dearest ones, please indulge my perfectionism for a moment. I was -surprise- reading the book and searching for possible errors, when I spotted something that made me groan: I wrote "Harry sung his praises." I thought, was I distracted or tired? How could I have missed this? How did I get it into my head that I could use "sung" in the simple past tense? It is the past participle. So I began researching... In the King James version of the Bible, Revelations 5:9 reads, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof..." I then read that while most use "sang" as the simple past, some use "sung." The Merriam Webster Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary both list "sang" and "sung" as the inflected forms of "sing." So what I did is not an error. Whew. It was one of my patented archaic dinosaur moments. Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood:  relievedCurrent Music: Amarantine by Enya |
logospilgrim
|
9:07a |
blessings abound Master, bless.My most precious ones, yesterday evening I went to a benefit concert for our church; it was lovely and intimate. It featured a trio of violin, cello and piano... Chopin, Mendelssohn, Bulgarian composers. It is such a privilege to watch gifted musicians play. I gazed at their movements with awe and delight. I thought, Look at how beautifully they are praying.Before the concert began, Matushka Denise (Father John's wife -"Matushka" means "little mother") approached me and said that she had started reading Bring forth the best robes and been enjoying it very much. "That's quite the ministry you've got," she said. I was grateful and humbled and must have been beaming like a fourth grader who got a gold star on her latest exam. Today I shall give a copy to Vladyka. I think that the Lord had mercy upon my intense longing to please and glorify Him. As I sat in the church (the concert was held at St. Luke's on Somerset), I stared at the stained glass, which featured Christ in Gethsemane, and my heart burned inside my chest. You're always a heartbeat from me.My dearest ones, I live to share this joy of mine with you. I pour out my heart in a cup and say, "Have a drink." Though I pray for myself, I am happier when I pray for you. I do not pray very well at all but I hope that God will grant me many years, so that I may learn. Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood:  contentCurrent Music: Amarantine by Enya |
jolies_couleurs
|
5:06p |
A municipal gallery At home, in England, waiting on a meeting, I slip into the local municipal gallery with no high expectation and am completely surprised. A beautiful collection of painters actually loved and known, and new discoveries. Of the known three in particular - a landscape by Stanley Spencer, flowers by Winifred Nicholson, perched on a window ledge, overlooking a Cornish harbour; and, thirdly, three drawings by Cecil Collins - that striking painter of paradise breaking into the world, broken by the world.  The Artist's Wife Sitting in a Tree by Cecil Collins And the unknown, three small paintings by Frederick Cayley Robinson - a late pre-Raphaelite painter, each carrying a mysterious narrative that invites the invention of the viewer.  The Call of the Sea by Frederick Cayley Robinson Current Mood: artisticCurrent Music: Wessex songs |
acereta
|
1:45a |
Коломенское сквозь века Это продолжение предыдущего репортажа.
Собственно, несколько кадров парка, там везде множество тюльпанов, но по пути на конный двор мы шли очень быстро и не было времени фотографировать, а по пути обратно - шли другим путем, так что в кадр моего объектива попала только одна клумба. Цвета тюльпанов самые разные, такого разнообразия, как там, я нигде не встречала. Нужно срочно вернуться снимать тюльпаны.  |
| Friday, May 16th, 2008 |
barbarakelley
|
2:03p |
mushrooms, of course I'm starting to get better. I'm still coughing every now and again, but my spirit is back. I have a little energy now, and enthusiasm for life again, and so I think the worst of the cold is past. I'm glad it was a quick moving one. I've been reading about the healthgiving benefits of mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms are susceptible to the same kinds of germs that people are, I read. I've never actually seen a mushroom sneeze, so I doubt that they get the common cold, but many bacteria that can infect people can also infect mushrooms. And in response, mushrooms have evolved antibiotics! That is the next big thing in medicine (so my mushroom book says) the surveying of the mushroom world for new medicines. Asian people have been using mushrooms for years, but of course western medicine has to prove it to themselves with science before they will believe anything. In Asia they use mushrooms as tonics, antibiotics, anti-viral medicine, and even against some cancer. And the scientific studies that have been done so far do seem to uphold such uses--mushrooms really can be medicine, it seems. The most potent one seems to be reishi, which you can read all about on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingzhi I don't have any reishi for my cold, but I did find some dried shiitake in the asian section of the grocery store a few weeks ago, and I've been eating that now and again. Since reading this week that it is supposed to have some antiviral effects, I've been adding it to my chicken noodle soup every day. We all know that chicken noodle soup is medicinally active for colds--no one disputes that claim--and so I figured that with a few extra medicinal mushrooms added in, it would work even better. I'm back and the library feeling pretty good today, and so I think it has helped. And I think today I will order some mushroom spawn. I've decided to go ahead and order both kinds that are supposed to grow in the garden and help vegetables produce better. One is supposed to produce mushrooms the same year you plant it, the other will take until next year. I begrudge it the money to start with, knowing I won't get any mushrooms back this year, but next year I'll be glad I made the investment, I'm sure. I'm assuming that they will grow; I don't actually know how they will do. I don't have the fresh wood chips that they like best, but I do have mixed sawdust, shavings, straw and goose droppings in abundance. I'm hoping that the mushrooms will adapt and live and grow on that. The mushroom book I'm currently reading encourages people to experiment--even gives directions for introducing odd substances to the mycelium in such a way that it improves the likelihood of success. You have to put just a little in with the mycelium at first, so that it learns to cope with competition before it is overwhelmed. With that initial exposure, it becomes stronger and can live in less than ideal circumstances. And so I am hopeful; maybe I can train my mushrooms to make do with something less appetizing than fresh wood chips. The worst part will be keeping it watered, at least until the late summer rains start. Maybe it will make the rain less depressing--knowing that it is for the good of my mushrooms. And so here I go--off to invest in the mushroom spawn I need. I sure hope they can ship it to Alaska.... |
withrow
|
4:22p |
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christianblog
|
10:02p |
Meditation on Psalm 8 (verses 3-5)
When I consider your heavens,
The work of your creation,
The moon and the stars
Which you have set in place:
'What am I that you are mindful of me?
A child of mortality, and you care about me?
One who was made a little lower than the heavenly beings,
And yet you crown me with glory and honour.'
O holy one, you are so majestic and beautiful and glorious - more glorious even than the vast skies of blue loveliness and the distant wheeling galaxies.
And in reflecting on so much wonder - on the hugeness and the vastness of it all - the greatest wonder, it seems to me, is that you think about us... each one of us... and care about us. More than that, you prepare us for glory and dignity and wholeness. You call us to eternity, to live with you, in relationship and love. To know the crowning of our own personhood and completeness, in relationship with you.
Most of all, we understand this in the life and example of Jesus Christ. In him we find such an amazing revelation of your personal love, and your power and goodness and wholeness. In him, we see our example of humility and mortality beneath the unthinkable distances and motions of the stars. In his death, we recognise our value: that we matter, that he died for us. In his resurrection life we discover our own calling to wholeness and risen life - eternal life. And we see in Jesus Christ: the eternal holy one who creates and makes new and blesses and reigns to make good and make whole - through love, and loveliness, and faithful unswerving kindness and sure intent.
In you, o holy one, we see the majesty and the beauty and the glory. And we see a way that you invite us to follow, a way toward wholeness. Your way that embraces death, and enfolds us, enfolds us in unbreaking covenant love, and draws us to yourself - to relationship with yourself - to love, to your great and powerful and very tender love.
Yes, you are so majestic! So delightful! And you call us to you. You long for us to open up and live with you... to open up and let you complete and fulfil us. Yes, you are deeply mindful of us. You love us and care about us forever. |
pooklaroux
|
3:41p |
birdie and berry 010  birdie and berry 010
Originally uploaded by imajica63.OMG, is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen???? Your dose of uber cute for the day.. |
logospilgrim
|
1:19p |
vocation Master, bless.My most precious ones, happiness is listening to Bach on a quiet spring day and gazing at trees. I am feeling in a sort of tranquil limbo... I suspect this will be the case until next friday. I am experiencing no agitation, but rather gratitude and contentment. It will be an excellent summer. After Convention Alley, I shall write Peace: living without undue anxiety. I love to write. It is prayer. I shall also be publishing the fourth volume of my livejournal ramblings, A gentle whisper, at some point this summer; it is close to 140 pages right now. I remember that when I first began to realize that my scribbling was turning into a vocation, I was often hesitant. I thought the activity was too gratifying, and too distracting. I was, however, comforted by Thomas Merton's words. In 1955, he wrote, "I have stopped writing, and that is a big relief. I intend to renounce it for good, if I can live in solitude... [the whole business] vitiates one's sense of spiritual reality, for as long as one imagines himself to be accomplishing something, he tends to become rich in his own eyes. But we must be poor, and live by God alone -whether we write or whatever else we do. The time has come for me to enter more deeply into that poverty." In 1957, he wrote, "I am not writing and I do not think of writing anything whatsoever. True I still have two or three manuscripts that are going to be published, but after that the name of Thomas Merton can be forgotten. So much the better." In 1959, he wrote, "I still do not share your scruples about writing, though lately I have been thinking of giving it up for a while, and seeking a more austere and solitary kind of existence (I go through that cycle frequently, as you have seen in The Sign of Jonas, but this time it is more serious). I will probably never give up writing definitely. I have just been finishing another book..." In 1965, he wrote, "I hope gradually to give up writing. I don't plan to cut it off all of a sudden, because I know myself well enough to realize that this activity is helpful to me and in no way interferes with a genuine life of prayer. It has always been a help, the writing part. The publication problems are a little more distracting." In 1967, he wrote, "I am more and more convinced of the reality of my own job which is meditation and study and prayer in silence. I do not intend to give up writing, that too is obviously my vocation." His dilemma reassured me, shall we say. I too feel that writing is my vocation, though I am conflicted at times. I strive all the more ardently to embrace poverty. Every time I glance at the copy of Bring forth the best robes that is lying upon my desk, I am amazed that it is there. My ability to complete the task was entirely due to God's grace. It is a miracle. Well, that is how I feel about all my writings, in truth. My heart also resonates with Elder Porphyrios's words: "Let me tell you. I want to tell you. I do it out of my love for you!" Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood:  peacefulCurrent Music: Best Bach 100 |
pooklaroux
|
1:33p |
You can't get into heaven by good works. It’s understandable for people to want to believe that by diligently following a certain lifestyle and eating ‘healthy’ they can prevent chronic diseases of aging, cancers, diabetes and heart disease. But disease, just like actual obesity, is not a measure of good behavior or eating some certain way.I personally feel very cheated by these ideas. By all accounts, I ate moderately, vegetarian, whole grains, fruits, beans and veggies, I didn't smoke, didn't drink, and walked rather than drove for most of my adult life. I took multivitamins, and avoided excess fats. Did that save me from obesity, illness, or aging? No. So admittedly I have a personal resentment against people who promote an answer they think is cut and dried. If all that works, why am I fat? Why am I sick? Why am I getting old? Oh, I see, it's my fault -- I didn't try hard enough, I wasn't strict enough. Fine, blame it one me -- the sacred new laws of health and wellness cannot be to blame. And I did it on the cheap, too -- I belonged to a Natural Food Cooperative, I didn't buy a lot of preprepared foods (they didn't have the "healthy choice" convenient foods or I would have lived on them.) I didn't buy a lot of food period -- I used to brag that I could live two weeks on twenty dollars. I didn't own a car, so I didn't pollute the air or consume excess petroleum products. My carbon footprint must have been pretty damn small. I would feel a lot more angry if I'd had to go out of my way and to spend much more money than I did to get these healthy preventative foods. I feel silly enough for some of the "therapies" and "alternative healing" methods I tried to use to get to a better state of wellness. Thank god I didn't do anything really harmful. |
pooklaroux
|
10:17a |
Wow, standards of beauty certainly have changed http://www.judgmentofparis.com/board/showthread.php?t=724This was brought to my note by http://worthyourweight.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/think-you-have-a-double-chin-and-hate-it/I had to read the whole thing to make sure it wasn't a farce. As body positive as I try to be, like everyone, I have my moments of lost faith and doubt. My God, who doesn't in our harsh body-hating culture? And one of my personal vulnerabilities is my chin. I try really hard to avoid having pictures taken where it can be seen, so like, no profiles, and always from the up. And I'll even admit to having airbrushed it out a few times, too. Even when I was thin, I had this little pudge under my chin, and it bothered me. Because that's not the modern silhouette. But here they are saying that the guys who painted big women (because big women are beautiful...) loved that little pudgy spot that I love to hate? You must be pulling my leg! And that little spot was seen as a virtue of womanly beauty through the Victorian era? OMG, you must really be joking! But someday, they will point at the beauty points valued in our culture (collarbones that show, tight abs on women, thighs that don't touch when feet are close together, who knows what else ) they will point and giggle, and say "OMG, can you believe it? They really thought THAT was sexy! Hee hee hee!" |
seraphimsigrist
|
2:22p |
From London Friends, Last day in London. Tomorrow morning I will have to be up by I expect 6 or so for an 850 flight. Did not at all sleep well last night ,though neck seems back to normal. Found that Amazon gives Blake by Peter Ackroyd an out of print in the United States so I was able to get back to the book seller and buy a copy. Here are foxes seen in the garden of the home I visited for dinner last night. We do not have them where I live, we do have deer but that is about all of wild large animals, so this picture.  . I have looked into Jerome K Jerome's "Idle thoughts of an Idle Fellow" and it is immediately just what one expects and is happy with from this author(of Three Men in a Boat ,and Three Men on the Bummel). Here is a bit,
"...My poor grandmother once incidentally observed, in the
course of an instruction upon the use of the Prayer-Book
[which has the phrase that we have done those things that we
ought not to have done and left undone those we ought have]
that it was highly improbable that I would ever do much that
I ought not do, but that she felt convinced beyond a doubt that
I should leave undone pretty well everything that I ought to do."Else let me just close with a photo(I was able to borrow a usb cable) of another of Jamie Treadwell's acrylics from the hallway below, and I do not know what if any internet access I may have from
Jerusalem so it could be the 24th before the next entry, or not.and, inviting all that you have in turn, I am yours +Seraphim  . Ice Sea Alaska. Jamie Treadwell. |
| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 |
logospilgrim
|
9:54p |
small miracles Master, bless.My most precious ones, I imagine that I shall be impossible for a few more weeks. I did fall asleep for a while this evening, which was restorative. I have been feeling calm and at the same time filled with joyful anticipation. God is so good. I read the book this afternoon and was happy. I did not spot more mistakes and felt that I had expressed my deepest beliefs to the best of my ability. It was important to me, because my deepest beliefs are that Love and Wisdom bestow true life and that everyone is beloved of eternal Love. I am ready for next friday. I shall be dedicating myself to my unfinished painting in the coming days. I think I am going to call it "Always." Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood:  sleepyCurrent Music: Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
christianblog
|
10:23p |
the murder of an innocent civilian Yesterday the UK's Ministry of Defence finally conceded an independent Public Inquiry into the murder of an innocent hotel receptionist in Basra in September 2003 - a murder (and other acts of torture and serious assault) carried out by British soldiers. The case of Baha Mousa - an innocent civilian with a young family - has become notorious. Notorious for the way a "wall of silence" was created by fellow soldiers to protect the criminals who killed this poor man and violently assaulted eight other innocent people. I first blogged about these vile deeds on 13th March 2007 and how the poor victim had 93 separate injuries on his dead body after the murder - a murder carried out in an atmosphere of revenge after a popular officer had been killed that week by a roadside bomb. I have pressed the case for justice for this man, his family, and the other victims of brutal assault, on a website I made in memory of Baha Mousa, and at last the Defence Ministry has been pressured by the threat of civil court action into accepting the findings of an independent public enquiry. For 2 years, key witnesses weren't even interviewed, and the military's insistence that they try their own people in their own courts left justice in the hands of army officials whose impartiality was questionable, given that their own careers might depend on "not rocking the boat". 670 times, suspects in these military courts remained silent except for the response "I can't remember" in what even the presiding judge complained was a "wall of silence" to protect colleagues. A colonel of the offending Regiment complained of "over zealous officialdom" pursuing his soldiers and called for closure after no-one was convicted of the murder. One of the officers in charge of the initial snatching of Baha Mousa has since been promoted. The Ministry of Defence has been far from proactive - when, in truth, it should have been implacable in its pursuit of the criminals. This case is not closed. The vile murder of Baha Mousa cries out for justice. 
Baha Mousa
Baha Mousa's father with photos of the children
 Baha Mousa and his family. Baha had a sack put over his head and upper body, received 93 separate injuries over a 36 hour period, and finally died of asphixiation, inside the sack, as he was held over an open latrine. |
kbearblog
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2:10p |
kbear
 |
May 15,2008 kbear
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withrow
|
10:06a |
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seraphimsigrist
|
4:51p |
London notes. Rain at Inian Pass. Friends, Slept well...In London. Visited bookstore and in bookstore noticed some kind of pain on side of neck which continues off and on, not terrible. google yields the thought that sleeping posture or 'hours in front of a computer' are commin causes. OK. try to write this in less than hours. I am staying with a community of "Servents of the Word" a society of single men within the larger communities Sword of the Spirit. Members in the house here now are from Fiji ,Lebanon( ,America ,as well as Britain (3). They are Catholic,Catholic(Maronite rite), Anglican, Methodist and Orthodox. So they are diverse certainly and good men certainly. The house is brightened by a good many acrylic paintings by an artist mamber who is travelling just now, Jamie Treadwell, one of which from an Alaska series, Rain at Inani I find on line and shall put at the end of this. I did not bring a usb wire so I could not in any case upload new pictures but I shall try to take some good ones in Jerusalem to bring back... Various notes from people in Jerusalem...I must try to meet people and yet also see sights...but there is an offer of a Palestinain home dinner(unrefusable) and I want to meet Dan Juster, of Tikkun Ministries, and also today a note from a priest for Hebrew speaking Eastern Orthodox and from Andrew Schonbek a contact living in Beersheba who Andrew says knew Fr Men...Peter Bouteneff will be in Jerusalem on my last day and it would be fine to meet him there. Anyway I like "Rain at Inian Pass"...in fact I like the whole Alaska series and wish more of it were on line. Perhaps I will photograph oneor two other... There is also rain in London, today, but I think that is not a remarkable event here. At the bookstore I found mostly trash of the sort in American bookstores but I did buy Idle thoughts
of an idle fellow by Jerome K Jerome. who wrote "Three Men in a Boat" with its wonderful discussion of their attempts in a boat on the Thames to open a can of pineapple without a can opener. I looked at and regret not having bought a life of Blake. Today these and welcome all your thought in turn and am yours +Seraphim  . Rain at Inian Pass. Jamie Treadwell. |
rimmaba
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11:48a |
Прекрасная статья Льюиса о семейном счастье. "По самой своей сути сильная влюбленность сулит нам несравненно больше, чем какая бы то ни было страсть. Все желания и страсти что-то сулят, но тут и сравнения быть не может. Влюбившись, мы убеждены, что не разлюбим никогда и пребывание с «ней» обеспечит не какие-то новые радости, а прочное и вечное счастье. Таким образом, на карту поставлено все. Если мы упустили этот шанс, жизнь наша прожита впустую. При одной этой мысли нам становится до смерти себя жалко. Как на беду, обещания эти чаще всего не выполняются. Всякий взрослый человек знает, что все влюбленности проходят (кроме той, которую он испытывает сейчас). Мы прекрасно видим, чего стоят заверения наших друзей, что на сей раз это - летящее. Мы знаем, что «это» иногда продолжалось, иногда - нет. Продолжается оно не потому, что так казалось поначалу. Когда двое людей обретают прочное счастье, они обязаны им не дикой влюбленности, а тому, что они - скажу попросту - люди терпеливые, верные, милостивые, умеющие обуздыватъ себя и считаться друг с другом." Здесь. |
| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 |
barbarakelley
|
4:17p |
mushrooms and the good earth
I didn't do much today. I've mostly been reading The Good Earth, which is our book club book for this month and that is next week, I think, and so I had to finishe that. It was a good story, though I would have enjoyed it more had I not seen the movie a few years ago. I knew the story well enough to know just what was going to happen, but not well enough to skip reading it and go to the book club meeting having only seen the movie. They'd have found me out, for sure.
But now that is done and I can get back to what has been occupying me lately: mushrooms.
I have, between chapters in the required reading, dipped lightly into the mushroom book. I read more about mycoremediation. Myco- of course means mushrooms, so that is the name of this science of saving the world with mushrooms: mycoremediation.
The chapter I read last was about hyperaccumulators. Some mushrooms concentrate dangerous heavy metals in the fruitbodies, so that if you pick them and eat them, you're liable to get sick. You would think this would be a bad thing, and if you don't know about it, it could be, but knowing about them gives mushrooms a new use. If you grow mushrooms you know will hyperaccumulate heavy metals in areas that you know are contaminated with those toxins, then you can gather those mushrooms and remove them from the site. Instead of having to laboriously haul dirt away somewhere to be solidified in concrete where it can't hurt anything, you can harvest the mushrooms that have concentrated the metal in their tissues, and take them somewhere and have the metal extracted from them. With each generation of mushrooms, the soil is that much less contaminated.
They are just beginning to learn about this. They know of various species that do it, and some of them they know will concentrate the heavy metals as much as 100 times--so that the mushroom is 100 times as contaminated as the soil it grows in. At that rate it wouldn't take long to clean up heavy metals.
I'm thinking I'd like to find some kind of mushroom that hyperaccumulates gold. The author mentions the possibility of mining with mushrooms, but if he knows of any that do gold, he didn't mention it.
And that tidbit is all I know about mushrooms today, but ask me anything about the Good Earth.
(Notice, however, that I didn't promise an accurate answer ;) |
calenorn
|
1:17p |
April Into May I haven't posted much lately. Busy at work and sleepy at home, but all is well. I've been enjoying our spring here. Though I've been through it eight times in this locale it still surprises me. The cool and rainy days that bridge winter and summer. Having lived so long in Florida I still tense up for that early blast of summer heat, and it's so nice when it doesn't arrive. Lunchtime air either cool or breezy has enabled me to continue walking at work, for which I am grateful. In April one can walk, all unsuspecting, into an invisible cloud of delicate aroma. It takes a few moments scanning to spot the honeysuckle or chinaberry producing the scent. There, for just a second, we get a glimpse of what it must be like to depend on a sense other than vision. In April the tulip poplars have blossomed; in May the magnolias get their chance. Soon it will be too hot to walk during lunch. At least without grossing-out my co-workers during the afternoon. So I will switch to walking, and jogging some, at home, after work. This works out well, as the kids will be done with school soon, removing the evening activities and freeing up the family schedule. I hope you are all well and that you also have a chance to get outside and experience the outside world. You don't have to move to the Serengeti to see (and smell) cool things! Current Mood:  content |
sarmoung
|
5:27p |
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seraphimsigrist
|
4:39p |
Speed reading Chaim Potok
Friends,
British Airways is one of the better airlines I am
happy to say. As a result, of the seat design,
although as close together as any other, and of
having an empty neighboring seat to expand into,
I was able to sleep a couple of hours. Also the
food seemed like a throwback to earlier days in the
history of aviation when economy class airline food
was something everyone complained of but in fact
rather enjoyed, and all drinks were free.
So here I am somewhat rested in Acton in late
afternoon without anything very interesting to say
really. On the flight I read, fast forwarding
and probably using three quarters of an hour no
more, "Deep Storm" by Lincoln Child. It is a science
fiction thriller of the sort that he more commonly
turns out with coauthor Douglas Preston and it is not
terrible. So that reccomendation if you are at an
airport. I looked at the few real books available, but
"My Name is Asher Lev" a Chaim Potok I had not read
seemed to disclose itself entirely(as a struggle of a
talented young man to remain within orthodox judaism
like all his other books) by opening to a page
two thirds of the way through the book where Asher's
mother asks him if there will be nudes in his next
art show and he says he doesn't know and she says
she only wants him and his father to be friends etc
Confident that they will be ,I put it down satisfied.
So I read that one in twenty seconds.
Well this is not much but hello, yours
+Seraphim |
withrow
|
9:16a |
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logospilgrim
|
9:12a |
new release date Master, bless.My most precious ones, God bless you for your input. I have prayed, I have discussed the matter with loved ones, including my better half, and have decided to release the book around three weeks earlier than planned. It will be available on my website next friday, May 23rd.On that day, I shall be having lunch with meri_oddities, who is like a big sister to me, and the thought of seeing her is an immense comfort. I would suggest that those who will attend Convention Alley and who are interested in reading the book wait until the conference to do so, if they wish... My dearest karen_jk, who has read Bring forth the best robes, had this to say about it: "Your book has a deep and insightful message to bring to many." As the Emperor in "Amadeus" often said, "There it is." I am feeling a little more relaxed. Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood: tired but calmCurrent Music: Le singe bleu by Vangelis |
spyro_prime
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3:36a |
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spyro_prime
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2:03a |
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spyro_prime
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12:55a |
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acereta
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1:37a |
все относительно
Подслушала в метро. Стояли двое, он и она, она держала в руках книжку "Гордость и предубеждение" в тонкой обложке. Почему-то обратила на них внимание. Она ему объясняла, что ее подруга мол, "хорошо разбирается в книжках" и советует ей, что почитать, и книжки дает. Но тут как-то она посоветовала ей что-то прочитать, а там (о ужас), какой то язык старомодный, "так сейчас не говорят", и предложения какие-то длинные, витиеватые, короче "полный дебилизм"... подумалось, как все относительно, и насколько иначе я понимаю понятие "дебилизм". Разница поколений? Не уловила, шла ли речь о пресловутом романе, или о чем другом.
Вспомнилось замечание С.С. Аверинцева о том, что в наше время все реже на письме употребляют на письме точку с запятой и сложноподчиненные предложения. Да, ... само выражение "сложноподчиненные предложения" выглядит несовременно, это ж еще попробуй выговори... |
| Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 |
barbarakelley
|
12:35p |
mushrooms again today
I had to go to the post office, so I ventured out. When I got to my car I found a note from my sister (she's sleeping since she worked last night) asking me to check out library books for her. And though I should keep my cold germs to myself, when I got to the library I realized it was lunch hour at the post office--so back to the computer, in spite of my good intentions to go straight home with my cold germs.
And it is a good thing, too, since I've been learning all kinds of fascinating things about mushrooms and I promised to share.
Some kinds of mushrooms form a cooperative relationship with plants. The mycelium either surrounds plant roots or even lives partly inside the roots of plants, without hurting them. In fact they help. The mycelium secretes substances that disolve nutrients in the soil that the plant wouldn't be able to get otherwise, and the mycelium expands the reach of the roots--actually bringing moisture and nutrients back to the plant roots. In return, the plant provides various sugars to the mushrooms that they wouldn't have otherwise. So they live happily together.
This is called a mycorrhizal relationship, and the mushrooms that do this are called mycorrhizal species. It was once thought that mycorrhizal relationships were rare, but now scientists think that most plants are capable of forming mycorrizal relationships with fungi. It doesn't happen in commercial farming where they use chemical fertilizers, because the chemicals kill the naturally occurring fungi, but in natural environments or organic gardens, mycorrhizal relationships are the norm.
What's really neat is that micorrizal mushroom mycelium can connect many different plants, even of different species; and can move nutrients from one plant to another. They studied this by putting some kind of chemical marker on the sugars manufactured by one plant and when they shaded a neighboring plant that they knew shared the same micorrizal mycelium, they found that the sugars were transfered from the plant that was able to photosynthesize to the one that couldn't. The mushroom mycelium becomes like a keeper of the forest--transferring nutrients from where they are to where they are needed.
It's too soon to plant our garden, but that's the kind of spores I ordered--a collection of mycorrizal species that will form cooperative relationships with all the plants in our garden, and they all will thrive.
The micorrizal species that I ordered don't make edible mushrooms, though. Now I've gone on and am reading about edible mushrooms. I'm thinking maybe I should place another order and get some spawn for good eating mushrooms too.
If my vegetables will have mushrooms to live with, I ought to get some, too...
The post office should be open by now, so I'm on my way. |
pooklaroux
|
11:14a |
Hm, something to consider "--to consider swimming upstream from the main by shrugging off a cultural ideal of beauty was undermined by the idea that I was indulging in sour grapes: loser talk..."This is a post worth reading. The writer asks some really good questions. It seems an appropriate follow up to yesterday's post. Okay, so if not seeing fat as ugly is a radical position in today's society, are those of us who hold that view going to be treated as if we are indulging in some kind of "loser talk"? That is a serious question. "Well of COURSE you have to say that fat is beautiful -- you don't agree with weight loss!" When that is really two separate issues. I have to say that for me personally, weight does not always have a predictable affect on my level of aesthetic appreciation. When I was younger, I dated tall, skinny long haired bishie boys almost exclusively. I would have told you that was my "ideal." Some years ago I had a very torchy crush on someone I had known for years. He was definitely on the heavy side, and had been since he was a kid. Although I never heard a word from him about wanting to lose weight, in his mid twenties, he went on a gonzo diet (actually, I suspect he has had wls, 'nother story) and became VERY thin. He was delighted, and he got married within a year. Funny, but the first time I saw him after he lost all the weight, I thought he looked terrible. Like he was sick or something. In any case, the magic was gone. I remember being all torchy for him, but it was like meeting a movie star in rl and realizing that OMG, not only are they are not perfect but OhNoes! their head looks too big for their body! Many people, myself included, would have expected that I would have been more attracted to him after his weight loss, but that was not how it was. The whole episode started me to questioning what it is I find attractive about men, and i realized that it was a lot more complicated than thin=cute. |
seraphimsigrist
|
11:05a |
Journey Friends, I will be leaving this evening for three days in London and then on to Jerusalem. From the map I find, and attach at the end of the post,it looks like a fairly straight and simple journey there and back. The map seems a little simplified, I make out the Dead Sea but not the Lake of Galilee or,for that matter,the Atlantic Ocean, but it is clearly the right place as there is desert all around. I expect I will have perhaps some internet access in London and who knows about Jerusalem but I also suppose my entries will be brief travel notes and my ability to keep up with your journals will be limited, tant pis. Using an expression for the second time today which I hardly remember using in writing before. But not to close on a note of regret, I will be back as I expect on the 24th... In spite also of my perpetual anxiety about ever sleeping again which sets in the night before any journey, I slept nine hours last night and likely will sleep again in London... well... so may your days be blessed and good and say the same for me, and I am yours +Seraphim  . |
logospilgrim
|
9:40a |
much ado about nothing Master, bless.My most precious ones, I have spotted two errors in the manuscript so far. On one occasion, I spelled Father Symeon's last name "Rodgers" -it is actually spelled "Rodger"- and on page 37, I wrote "which he why he was supremely well placed to confront Lockhart" -that should have read, "which is why he was supremely well placed." It is making my right eyelid twitch. But this is good for me. I must live with the idea that there are such imperfections in the book. I doubt there are many, many more, but... Even two is enough to aggravate and humble me. As a number of loved ones have pointed out to me, professionally edited books contain mistakes. After I uploaded the file I kept telling myself, Now, you realize that you are bound to have missed a few things. I was exhausted and had worked almost entirely in secrecy, without assistance (other than the prayers of holy ones). In any case, I am not the best writer who ever lived, far from it. I am somewhat proficient. Sometimes adept. Still, I must confess that I hoped I had not missed anything. I am not surprised. I knew I would harbor that hope, and it is one of the reasons why I deliberately chose to work alone: the errors would be a beneficial spiritual exercise for one as proud as I am. Yet I also sighed with relief when karen_jk told me about "a particularly beautiful sentence" she had just read; I thought, well, there is at least one good sentence in there. That was enough for me, and it encouraged me. I think I have been looking like a tired puppy lately ;-) When I gave copies to my spiritual fathers, I tell you that I had never felt more like an ignorant beginner in my life. When I gave Mother Maryam her copy, saying, "This is the book you helped me write, Mother," it was noted that my hands were ice cold. She laughed and said, "Poor child, you're going crazy, aren't you?" I smiled and replied, "Yes." I planted and watered, being an inexperienced gardener; God will give the increase. If it is His will. Yesterday, karen_jk suggested that I release the book sooner. Although I plan to read two of the meditations (that will be my lecture) during Convention Alley, the conference will likely be a very intimate gathering. I do not know what would be best; I am therefore asking for your blessing, most beloved. I am not sure whether it would be better to postpone the inevitable wait or put myself out of my misery, as it were. There will be prizes following my lecture, after all! I have added another one: a cuddly bear with a t-shirt featuring that "robed embrace" drawing I did many moons ago. Poll #1187125 Bring forth the best robes
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllAn earlier release? One thing in particular does console me. When I read the manuscript, I am enheartened and learn from it because the teachings I expound are not my own wisdom. I have absolutely nothing to boast about, that much is certain. God bless you, my dearest ones. Your devoted Logospilgrim, the quiet professor Current Mood:  exhaustedCurrent Music: Over my head by Ian Tamblyn |
| Monday, May 12th, 2008 |
barbarakelley
|
8:34p |
good news, plus saving the world with mushrooms, lesson one
The good news is: Yesterday's malaise wasn't a result of overconsumption of kumquats--I was simply getting sick. Seems to be the common cold, or some such bug. Today I am truly sick, which might seem a bad thing, but I do have the small comfort of knowing that I can still enjoy kumquats whenever I can get them.
I'll try to catch up on comments sometime when I feel better--I just came up to the well for goose water, and then I saw my sister's cat wanted in, and so as long as I'm at her house, I thought I'd check email... but I can't stay long because it isn't my house and I'm in my pajamas. My brother in law and the kids will be home soon. That would be embarrassing, to get caught here in my pajamas.
But someone asked what a kumquat was like. They look like little tiny oranges. You squish them around in your hand to break up the juice sacks and intermingle the juice with the volatile oils of the peel (or maybe it is just because it is fun to make them all squishy) and then you pop them in your mouth whole. They explode with flavor--the insides being very, very sour, and the skin being the sweet part. If you've ever had candied orange peel--the peeling is like that. My niece tried one (bold girl--no one else but she and my mom would try them) and she described it as eating a tiny orange whole, only the skin was the good part.
I like sour things too, so I like both the sweet skin and the sour pulp. They are unique, that's for sure.
And I can't be at the computer without reporting on the saving of the world with mushrooms. So far I've not actually started anything in the field, but I am learning amazing things. The book is long and has lots of words in it, but I think I can summarize things here with few words and then you will be able to save the world, too.
So, with no further ado--lesson one:
Today's vocabulary word (only one, and it is easy) is mycelium. Mushrooms, as everyone knows, are those fleshy things that pop up overnight in the lawn when it rains, but it turns out that the mushroom itself is just the tip of the mushroom iceburg; just the apple on the appletree of mushroom. Just the kumquat on the mushroom tree of kumquat. Just the tomato on the tomato plant of mushroom... Just the--okay, enough metaphors. The point is that the most of the mushroom lives underground or inside rotting wood and we seldom ever see any of it. Only when it fruits do we find mushrooms that we recognize. The part that lives out of sight is called the mycelium, and it grows as strings of cells interwoven through whatever it is growing on--be it dirt, straw, wood, or whatever. Mycelium is the fuzzy white stuff you sometimes see on the surface of an old sawdust pile or inside rotting wood.
Being only one cell wide and growing in interwoven mats, mycelium can grow really long. If you stretched it all out in a line, the mycelium in a cubic inch of soil could be more than eight miles long! Isn't that something.
Mycelium mats can filter bad stuff out of soil, too. Like bacteria, radioactive waste, heavy metals and other toxins. If it gathers out heavy metals or radioactive stuff, you wouldn't want to eat the resulting mushrooms that eventually appear aboveground, but with mushrooms filtering bacteria out, you can eat them (assuming they are an edible species).
So, the word of the day is mycelium--taken from the title of Mycelium Running, the book I am currently enjoying. Another day, maybe I'll post more enteresting exploits in the world of mycelium...
But for now I'm going to go home and go back to bed. |
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