Singing Along the Journey

remembering

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More

Lost angel recovered…

Off and on, all day long, I have sat with my silver cloth, cleaning years of tarnish from this little medallion. The nooks and crannies continue to defeat my efforts, a bit at least, but I think that I have finally achieved a level of clean that makes it wearable again. And tomorrow, I'll add it to a chain again and place it around my neck. That might seem a lot of intention for a tiny medal of angel, particularly for a person who does not consider herself to be an "angel" person. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to wear this medal tomorrow. I want to…
Read More

350 degrees, for 35 minutes…

Today, my mother, Mabel, would have been 105 years old. Usually I share one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, from a time before our family life together became so complicated. Today, instead, I am sharing one of the few things that I have in her own handwriting...the recipe for my favorite birthday cake, a cake which she made for me over and over again from a recipe she got from her mother during the Great Depression. In fact, it is sometimes called a depression cake, because it substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were so difficult to find and so expensive to buy. Apparently Hellmann's…
Read More

Lo, how a rose ‘ere blooming…

No. I haven’t jumped ahead to Christmas. I am fully aware that today is Thanksgiving. Painfully aware most of the time. The day we celebrate as Thanksgiving is such a complicated day for so many, and for me. Even without the personal struggles that so many of us (myself included) face as the holiday onslaught of images of perfect families and perfect houses and perfect lives flood our way, there are the cultural struggles that we face as we work our way through the mythology of “America” to something closer to a truthful history of the taking of this land. I survive all of this internal complexity by holding tight to the…
Read More

Not really 9, just 8…

I planned this celebration of a day that I call my new birthday for months. And I was totally convinced that it was the 9 year anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I was completely convinced. In fact, I wrote these words along with the pictures I shared from our time in the mountains: Celebration day 3 comes to an end with a little walk in the woods. A seriously more enjoyable day than 9 years ago, but a day only made possible by that day 9 years ago. Grateful for a day full of sunshine and activity. Grateful for the science and the faith that made today possible.…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

With what shall I come before the Lord? Advent 2013 Day 20

Little drummer boys, kings, shepherds -- on that night of nights they all ask the question that each and everyone of us asks with every moment that we draw breath as part of God's creation (whether or not we know we ask):  with what shall I come before the Lord... “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin…
Read More

A day of remembering…

Most of a pilgrimage trip like the one that I am on is about remembrance.  So each and every new day we walk places that were mentioned in our Scripture or are contemporaneous with our Scripture or are traditional in the history of our church (that is church with a small "c", as in church universal).  And yesterday was like the Olympics of remembering, as we prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount, and walked the Via Dolorosa up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then continued our pilgrimage to the City of Hebron, visiting the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and ending our…
Read More