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Every store we walk past posts a handmade sign announcing that they lack any stock of shades approved for use in viewing astronomical events involving the sun. (footnote 1: I delighted in this BlueSky thread — apologies if you don’t have a bsky account) (footnote 2: I know that’s not a footnote, and neither is this, but until someone develops a reliable, accessible footnoting mechanism for WP blogs, I’m sticking with this terminology).* This photo in particular won the thread for me.**

Returning to our experience this morning, Margaret (wanting to be sure) asked the proprietor of a local Londis, who responded, ‘If I’d had any, I could have sold three thousand’, a response which gave me a lot to think about.

No run this morning, just some walking around.

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* I’ve done this before, but apparently this time I felt the need to be lazy. You can see where that got me.

** That is from bsky also, but how many times shall I apologise for your not indulging my social media venue?

Mike and Flora are on the train to their home away from home in Boston (UK). Minke has been whimpering for the entire trip. Luckily, we have not been thrown off by impatient commuters.

I’m hoping, at least, that today proves not to be manic. My morning run came in at a good time (best but one since 1 May), I had my coffee (we’re out of fruit), showered, joined Morning Prayer at church, held abbreviated public office hours at R&R. Margaret has to take Flora in for another check on her recent dental surgery, so I’m Minke-sitting. I’ve mocked up and sent a wedding bulletin, emailed for more information from yesterday’s baotisand, and in a little while will have a bite of lunch. Perhaps I’ll nap for a few minutes to make up for a short night.

So, I got up early this morning and got my run in before Abingdon was waking for whatever they planned to do on Sunday. My run came in at a good pace, the faster of the two plateaus I’m stuck at now (literally, three of the past five days have taken times within three seconds of each other — not my very best level, but I can definitely live with it as a pro tem plateau). I got home, breakfasted on coffee and fruit, looked over my sermon, showered, prepared another cup of coffee and toast, hammered out some spots in the sermon and printed it (below, for anyone reading this on the front page of my blog), and headed in to church.

Then Margaret and I came home, I gobbled down some leftovers and headed in to church to baptise someone whose marriage I’ll be conducting in October. She had brought a large contingent of her family, and they were very cooperative about the congregational parts. A lovely early afternoon, if a bit… sweltering… under the vestments.

One particular bit of good news: at coffee hour, a friend in the congregation indicated that they have to move on short notice, and they have to empty their house at just the same time that we need to furnish our new home. It looks as though we can make the timings match well enough, which means we wouldn’t have to be scouring the marketplaces for marginally coherent furnishings that agree with our needs. Magic words: king size, drawers underneath, bookshelf headboard….
Continue reading “Hunh! Zzzzzzz…”

I do dislike running in the morning, and I’m highly susceptible to the temptation not to run, which just confirms the importance of my not swerving to the right or to the left relative to maintaining the practice as long as I can. This morning I felt stiff and air-deprived (pollen, I think, has been pestering my eyes and lungs for the past couple of weeks) and ran to the pace of my slower plateau (I seem to alternate between two plateau paces). Hot breakfast, a couple of cups of coffee, and really must grind out tomorrow’s sermon.

Good news at last on the housing front: it seems the sellers are preparing to move out (may indeed have already relocated) to the home they’ll be buying as soon as probate permits. That clears the way, or will clear the way, for us fully to buy the house of our dreams, and to have time to do such upgrades as we can arrange before moving in. I’m especially looking forward to just camping there for a couple of nights to get the feel of the neighbourhood. We may relocate earlier than retirement, and I commute to Abingdon for the duration of my tenure…. But whatever the case, we’ll be grateful to have the housing process sorted as soon as we can.

Alternate days is less regular blogging than I aim for myself, but it’s vastly better than dropping off the map altogether. Yesterday I took a walk-run day to give my legs the opportunity to relax after Tuesday’s strong time and Wednesday’s tight-muscled jog. Then I made coffee, had some fruit, and spent the day with Flora and Minke while Margaret was visiting a friend of ours from long ago who now lives in Cheltenham. I did bits and bobs, started a sermon, worked on the Almanac, and so on.

This morning I took ran a good time, made coffee, chose a couple of bananas for breakfast, showered, attended Morning Prayer, came home for second coffee and toast, worked on Sunday’s homily (two false starts so far), then walked to the cemetery for a graveside memorial prayer with family.

I was praying with a lovely Scottish-and-English family whose grandmother hails from Cyprus. She was very pleased that I pronounced the names of her relatives correctly, and was positively thrilled when we prayed together the Lord’s Prayer — in Greek, with modern pronunciation. (I adopted modern pronunciation back when it was called ‘Demotic’, before the renunciation of Katharevousa; then I learned Erasmian pronunciation in seminary, and reverted to modern pronunciation when I encountered scholarly arguments against Eurasian. Anyway, being able to pronounce modern Greek comes in very handy at times, and having memorised the Lord’s Prayer is always a good thing.)

I took an easier run this morning, almost a minute slower than. yesterday. Hot breakfast, shower, Morning Prayer, public office hours at R&R, work on Sunday’s sermon, back home to have a bite before an afternoon funeral.

A good run, best time but one since late April, then coffee and fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, more work on the Almanac (matching memorials to calendars, encountering some mystery benefactors). One of the non-mysterious memorialised forebears in faith is Geoffrey Barbour, for whom a brass is dedicated.

Not only did Bailiff Barbour go partners in building the bridge over the Thames, he left generous provision for the town clergy of Abingdon (in 1417, the Abbey was doing very well for itself). ‘He gave unto a priest ten pounds, thirteen shillings, and fourpence to go on pilgrimage to Roome, and procession there to make at twelve several times, and also to celebrate there six masses at the altar of St. Gregory, six masses at Scala Cæli, for his soul and the soul of Joan his wife, and for the souls of his parents and all the faithful deceased. Also, he gave four hundred pounds to hire and procure priests, as long as that would last, who should say Mass in the Church of St. Helen’s, in Abingdon, for his soul & the souls of all the faithful departed; except 2 priests that should say Mass in the Church of St. Nicholas, who should receive either of them for his yearly stipend 8 marks.’ (Francis Little, A Monument of Christian Munificence, ed. Cobham (Parker and Co., 1871), pp. 7-8.) They don’t make legacies like they used to…

Then in the evening, I had a bespoke online Marriage Preparation session with a couple whose wedding will be held at St Helen’s. Another day, another adventure in pastoral ministry.

I took a determined run this morning, pushing through the joint and muscle stiffness and the hay fever itchy eyes and gasping, but I shaved a half minute to get closer to an old plateau. Then coffee and fruit, a shower, Morning Prayer, then back to the house for another cup and some toast. Rest of the day, working on a St Helen’s Almanac with the Sanctoral Calendar and dates of Departed parishioners memorialised in the church.

Hot day, back into the 30s.

A few years ago, somebody with the email address ‘geneeques@yahoo.ca’ left a comment here about my relatives, the Adams (not ‘Adamses’, although the vagaries of spelling may have blurred the lines between Adams and Adamses around the seventeenth century) of Boghouse and Bowfield. If anyone knows how to get in touch with that person (the email address gets no response) or anything about the Adams of Boghouse or Bowfield (or both!), please send me a line.

Here I am, back in Abingdon, feeling mostly back in church mode. I ran this morning, coming in at a time below my five-day rolling average. I’m stiff in odd joints and muscles, presumably from walking up and down Durham (my phone gave me credit for climbing 31 flights of stairs Friday. I doubt it was that many, but the phone may have been counting flight-equivalent changes in altitude.

Yesterday’s train travel went very smoothly. At the platform, I had a good old catch-up conversation with Mikeal Parsons (we had seen each other on and off throughout the conference, but hadn’t recognised one another; Mikel noted that he had repeatedly spotted a distinguished-looking gentleman’, but of course that couldn’t have been me). We recalled old days when we were the threats to the nature of meaning and the practice of responsible exegesis. We especially rejoiced at the reception given Michal Beth Dinkler’s plenary paper. (Mikeal had done some work with her in the past, whereas I knew her only literarily.) Chatted with David Horrell at the station. too, and in the days before leaving had been hanging out with the Garrick Allen-Kelsie Rodenbiker Axis, meeting various colleagues for the first time, greeting again longer-term friends. The ‘Beyond “Within Judaism”’ Seminar had a particularly strong series of papers, from Ruben Bühner on ‘prophetic othering’ in 1 Thes (response from Matt Novenson), Nathanel Vette on Mark’s Judaism (response from his approving Doktormutter Helen Bond; Nathanel’s usage of ‘Mark’s Judaism’ so as to avoid the implication of ‘coming from outside’ that ‘within’ implies, and thereby also emphasising the elasticity and variegated capaciousness of 1stC Judaism met with general affirmation), and Hugo Méndez — branching out from his provocative extended argument that the Johannine corpus is pseudonymous through and through — on Revelation (response by Lynn Huber). On the first evening, Margaret Aymer Oget and I had a welcome long conversation. And others, too, through the conference (Clarissa Breu! Beverly and Bill Gaventa! Mark Goodacre, Jamie Davies, Paula Fredriksen, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Madison Pierce! Nathanael! Loveday and Philip Alexander, Sanuel and Judith Lieu, Markus Bockmuehl, Peter Head, Paul Anderson): a splendid time was had with all. But where was Paul Middleton? It hardly counts as a conference without him.

Then before the last item on the timetable, the closing banquet, I was delighted that my schedule placed me at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham to hear the choir of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral of Portland OR lead Evensong. After the service, I had the chance for an all-too-quick visit with the Almost Very Revd (Subdean) Shana McCauley, one of my wonderful former students from Seabury days. And at the banquet I was sat with Greg Sterling, the Dean of Yale Divinity, to whom I enthused about his exceptional faculty (singling out especially Willie Jennings).

With all that socialising, I slept like an innocent while I was in Durham, and felt zombified by the time I got home. But as Continuing Ministerial Development goes, it was smashing.

Breakfast this morning, then I board the train back from Durham to Oxford. I had a chance to chat with Seabury graduate the almost-Very Revd Shana McCauley (Subdean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, OR) at Evensong last… evening, a delicious, carefully-wrought dinner (vegetarian, while avoiding my tomato allergy) on the concluding night of the SNTS conference, and another good night’s sleep.

Yesterday Flora had more teeth extracted, and Margaret brought her home soporific and miserable, poor dear (Flora, not Margaret).

But this afternoon, I rejoin Margaret at home and (like Odysseus) sleep in my own bed. Not sure what I’m going to do about any suitors, especially without any of my progeny about to serve as accomplices.

As so often at conferences, there’s hardly time to breathe between conversations, sessions, plenaries, seminars… but I am here, in Durham, having deeply stimulating conversations and hearing illuminating presentations, and looking forward to having time to follow some of them up with reading, email exchanges, and eventually writing.

Further, the cruel heat has broken, and the temperatures are hovering in the mid- to low 20°s, and there was even a tiny bit of rain yesterday night. As we used to say in the family my father and his second wife confected, ‘A Christmas miracle!’

The school at St Thomas’s, New Haven, used to observe a Thursday Hymn Day in our daily chapel service, and the first grade/Year One students used to request, every week, week after week, ‘I’m On My Way’. That’s by way of noting that I post this morning from the Oxford rail station, headed to Durham for the SNTS meeting. I’ve already got my morning miles in without running, though, by forgetting my backpack on my way to the bus stop in Abingdon. I now have brisk-walked further than I typically run in the morning, and I haven’t even gotten to my destination. Will check in as and when.

I jogged this morning, which will affect my rolling average for five days but was worth it for just not overdoing my exercise regimen. Coffee, fruit, email, shower, public office hours at R&R, looking ahead to my week in Durham at the SNTS meeting (thank you, Continuing Ministry Development time). More email.

The drought is a terrible plague and fire threat, but it makes packing for a conference simpler.

I should add that after my post about ear buds, JLab has offered to replace the faulty pair. If that offer holds, I will report back to my blog, and it will resolve the ‘ear hook for secure exercise vs. lighter, higher quality music reproduction’ binary alternative I had been facing; I’ll happily listen at lower quality while I’m running, and will opt for higher quality sound when riding on the train or bus, or sitting in a cafe.

I ran my morning miles at a plateau pace first thing this morning, then made a hot breakfast, showered, and settled in to work on finishing tomorrow’s sermon. That took the morning; and I’ve spent this afternoon working on my holy-card drawing and colouring. If I go very, very slowly I can make images that aren’t ludicrously crude. I’m wavering on whether to buy a graphics tablet to take pressure off drawing on the trackpad with my finger. Truly, finger-painting is not the most satisfactory approach to simulating chromolithographs with image editing software.

Around the days of Lockdown, I ordered a pair of ear buds — probably so that I could rock out while in the dining room with Margaret without distracting or annoying her (I had to find different ways to annoy her). They worked all right. They were better and lasted longer than I expected, but their battery life got shorter and shorter, and a few months ago they quit altogether.

So I poked around and decided to give the JLab Go Sport+ buds a try. I was very pleased by the ear hooks — these buds might get restless, but those hooks would keep them in place come hell or high water (given my neighbourhood’s flood risk and this summer’s multiple heat waves, I have to consider both alternatives). The sound was meh, but I wanted them mostly as a stopgap between places I could comfortably wear real headphones or play through open speakers. I’d have continued wearing them with mild satisfaction except that one of the buds stopped charging. I’m not certain whether the fault involves the bud or the charging case, but either way I got tired of listening in mono. (I’d submit them for warranty replacement, but the shipping charges, to and from, will amount to more than the cost of replacing them; Cory Doctorow has a word for that).

Once again conducting online investigation, I noticed some JLab users suggesting the Anker/Soundcore p30i buds as an alternative. I ordered a pair, and they sound much better than the JLabs. They don’t have ear hooks, which circumstance makes me apprehensive, but they’re inexpensive enough that I’m willing to take the risk. I haven’t tested the noise-cancelling setting under demanding conditions, but for that price I’m content if it doesn’t make matters worse. I switched to the small earplugs, listened for a while, napped yesterday afternoon with them in, ran with them yesterday and today, and although they are less secure than ear-hooked buds, I can live with wearing them cautiously. So far, so worthwhile.

I got a good night’s sleep, allowed myself a leisurely pace on my morning run, enjoyed my coffee and fruit before church, had a good shower, went to Morning Prayer, picked up some groceries, home for coffee and toast (including marmalade that was one of the groceries), and have been poking away at the sermon for Sunday’s observance of St James’s Day.

I ran my morning miles at a plateau-busting pace, my best time since the beginning of May (before even the Bannister Mile). Then I settled down for coffee and fruit, shower, fed the dogs, and shortly will head out for Morning Prayer after which I’ll return, make coffee and toast, and contemplate my sermon for St James the Great. Don’t tell anyone, but I have no appointments today.