During my break . . .

Break was so productive. I've moved away from feeling enslaved by the blog, the feeling that I HAVE to produce something and post it here. I've talked to other bloggers and many of us apparently have felt this way as well. In our own way, we have found our path to balancing our blog with our day to day life. For me, the blog must be an adjunct to my life, not the ultimate goal. Once I put it in its proper place, I found myself being more productive and having fun while I was doing whatever I was doing.

I continued to visit around and discovered this prayer thanks to Britt's visit to Lindisfarne. That led me to Lindisfarne Priory and this prayer that is attributed to St. Aiden of Lindisfarne. Britt, I want you to know that you're one of my favorite places to drop in at.

Leave me alone with God
as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters
close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.

Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to
the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again
and fold me back to you.

During my break, I completed and posted a response to Mary Gordon's response in Weisenthal's "Sunflower" Mary Gordon is, of course, an accomplished writer who deserved all the fame she has earned by her talents. It felt odd that I should be so at odds with her position on Weisenthal's story. But it didn't take me long to accept that I didn't need to be intimidated just because it was Mary Gordon's opinion I was going up against. I also completed and posted a color sketch I created in my moleskin

I finished two more journal pages (to be posted later) and made up holy cards and haiga cards (also to be posted later)

A LOT of progress has been made on the big photo project. I cannot believe how much I've accomplished. Of course, I have three more drawers and another shelf waiting to be tended to, not to mention the random family photos that are still in containers in the garage. Like I said, it is The Big Photo Project.

And finally the kitchen wall has been painted. Kris pitched in and between the two of us, it was completed in a matter of hours (over a period of a couple of days, of course). Nothing I do is ever accomplished in a straight line. But except for some sealing of the paint on the door frame, the painting is finished. Once the mural that is to be mounted is added, it will be complete and I'll share the pictures here in a few days.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. Kris, Elaine, and I are heading over to the Cannery in San Francisco. Kris is DYING to visit a store called Steve & Barry's. I'm game. The camera has fresh batteries and I have not been to the City since February. It certainly has to be cooler than the valley. In fact, I KNOW it will be cooler. Reason enough to take off on this one day road trip. Stay tuned for pictures.

More Thoughts on Weisenthal's Sunflowers

I CONTINUE TO FIND MYSELF REACTING TO THINGS I HAVE READ IN SIMON WEISENTHAL'S BOOK, "THE SUNFLOW".

I ALSO FOUND MYSELF INSPIRED TO DO A BIT OF ART WORK IN MY MOLESKIN, WHICH APPEARS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ THIS BOOK.

When I read Edward Flannery’s and Mary Gordon’s respective responses to The Sunflower, I had radically different responses to their thoughts.

I found Flannery’s words to be thoughtful, insightful, and oddly gentle. I found them completely in harmony with my own reading of Wiesenthal’s story. Flannery’s response also contained an element of compassion for Karl, the dying Nazi soldier.

Mary Gordon’s understanding and reaction could not have been more different. Most prominent in her response is her dehumanization of Karl by never referring to him by name. She calls him “the Nazi”. She uses Nazi in place of his name six times, each time rendering the word as a spitting epithet.

Gordon sits in judgment of Karl and refuses any compassion or understanding to enter into her response. I found her understanding of forgiveness to be incomplete. Forgiveness can be freely given at any time but to truly restore a relationship, a change of behavior is required.She also has, I believe, a total lack of understanding of a priest’s role in the sacrament of absolution; nor do Catholics desire anything more than private contrition. The practice of public penitence exists, to a certain degree in various Catholic cultures but these public displays have their roots in the extant culture it is found in.

The strongest sentiment I felt in Gordon’s response was one of anger, but was it personal anger, righteous anger, indignant anger? I couldn’t tell but I do know that her anger, no matter the source, lead to the awful eye-for-an-eye solution she offered for true atonement. It wasn’t enough for Karl to suffer with loss of friendship, eyesight, and physical capacity. It wasn’t enough for him to have been given time to linger in pain and reflect on his heinous acts. No. Mary Gordon feels that the only appropriate setting for atonement for Karl is for him to suffer in the camps as well.I cannot agree with her because even in the camps there was a sense of shared community, shared suffering, and opportunities for relationship. By remaining alone, Karl was denied even that. He was totally and completely alone on a human level, left alone with his thoughts. His only companion was God who never abandons anyone.

Gordon’s words suggest she has much to learn of compassion, forgiveness, relationship, and love. She must cast a wider net for deeper understanding otherwise she will remain always at an undeveloped emotion level of understanding. Until the anger is controlled, her emotional warfare will be on-going.

*************************************

The Cemetery

. . . They were facing in another direction. The evening sunshine gave them a reddish tinge, and they trembled gently in the breeze. They seemed to be whispering to each other. Were they horrified by the ragged men who were marching past on tired feet? The color of the sunflowers - orange and yellow, gold and brown - danced before my eyes. They grew in fertile brown soil, from carefully tended mounts - behind them, gnarled trees - and above it all, a deep blue sky. . .

Taking a short break

I'm taking a short break. School is about to start up again and I'm busy with writing a response to one of "The Sunflower" contributors. I'm also working on a couple of art pieces and pushing through a mountain range sized (truly) collection of photographs that need to be mounted in photo albums.

When life gets like this, I find that I drop off on the blogging. I'll be back to show the results in a bit. In the meantime, I'll be visiting and commenting as usual.

Children, our greatest treasure

Three baby Tallcotts were baptised Sunday, 8-17. Ansel - Charlie and Lindsey's little boy and Christopher and Nicolas, Holly and Geoff's twin boys. Big sister Sophie (for the twins) is below. Cadance (getting her nosed played with) is Ansel's big sister.

And MY three treasures, Quanah, his wife Erin, and my best girl, Krista.

Seaside, Oregon 08-08-08

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

Doubletake

One Single Impression - Stairway

For other verses about stairways, please visit here.

At the end of a long road,

at the top of a high mountain,

I climb to the woodpile,

higher still.

The Fall 2008 Bucket List

Seaside, OR birdie added to my collection.
As I update my To-Do list, it is now becoming a sort of Bucket List. Not ME kicking the bucket (YIKES!) but the Fall semester of the school term kicking the bucket. I'm using the school terms as my reckoning time for retirement. It sound so much nicer than 2 years, or 18 months, or 1 year, etc.

Basically F08 runs from Sept. 4th through the third week of December. So I've assigned this period of time to continue working on my list as well as having added a few things. Here goes:

Red blod = complete;
Pink italic = in progress;
Blue italic = things I've accomplished under Pink italic.
Black bold = Things to do


Make books of poetry
Paint photos
Make paperdolls
Make tiles
Make shadowboxes with mother's and maternal grandmother's personal items.
See the Grand Tetons

Do more scarf beading
Make a table setting of china of many different patterns
Walk
Take a cooking class
Explore close to home
Have a backyard aviary or barring that, a parakeet
Garden
Make a fairy room from a book
Take one of Ulla's classes at the Castle in BerkeleyVisit with blog friends

Visit with friends
- Saw Jone and Marilyn in Portland the end of July 08.
- Also saw my dear long-time non-blogging friend, Linda.
Travel
- Visited Mendocino
- Saw Point Arena Lightstation;
- Went to Oregon end of July 08
Finish my kitchen
- Painted the wall and put up the Tuscan window mural - IT'S UP!!

ON-GOING PROJECTS
Crochet the bathroom curtain
Learn to successfully and completely read a recipe and COOK it right
Mount pictures in albums
Take paper stuff and start adding to journal.

Sunflower hommage to Weisenthal
My response to a Sunflower response Bead a scarf
Clean out boxes and separate books to send to Tree.
Felt wool and make a purse
Visit with God more - I've developed the habit. Much better now.

Sunday Scribbles #123 - ASK

' SHROOMS

Some things are just plain fun.

They make you smile for no reason at all.

They just ARE.

Don't you love it when life is like that?

The Library at Mt. Angel

Aalto's Library

In the early 1960s, library director Fr. Barnabas Reasoner approached the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto to design a new library building for the abbey. A report of that meeting was published in the March 1966 issue of the Mount Angel Abbey Library Bulletin. Because of his love of libraries and the special qualities of the Mount Angel Abbey site, Aalto agreed to design the library for a nominal fee. The building was completely funded through the generosity of Howard and Jean Vollum, who also contributed to the library's endowment.

The architecture of the Abbey Library reflects and shapes its spirit and purpose. The building's natural light illumines the multi-color bindings of the books which are offered on open stacks against a disciplined black and white background, softened by undulating curves and light colored wood. The structure, including three stories and a mezzanine, was completed in 1970. The entire library, with the exception of the bottom floor, is awash in natural light.

The library seats 200 patrons in 30 closed and 40 open carrels. It accommodates a comfortable reading room with current issues of 600 periodicals, a music listening and group study room, large study tables on the ground floor, and sunlit study areas around the staircases. The library collection numbers over 250,000 volumes while the building could hold up to 350,000 volumes.

I am not generally an admirer of modern architecture but this building took my breath away.

A Visit to Mt. Angel Abbey

Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine Monks founded in 1882 from the Abbey of Engelberg in Switzerland. They maintain a monastic tradition that has been a vital part of the Roman Catholic Church for more than 1500 years. Responding to God's call to holiness and preferring nothing whatever to Christ, they dedicate themselves, under a Rule and an abbot to a life of prayer and work. The monks strive to support one another in community, to serve God, the Church, and the larger society. This is done as they celebrate the Holy Eucharist together, pray the Liturgy of the Hours five times daily in choir, and devote themselves to reading and silence.

The Purpose of a Monastery - In their own words

A monastery should be a place on earth that points to heaven. Saint Benedict established his monastery as a "school of the Lord's service" so that its monks could learn the life of Christian charity, for nothing points to God more eloquently than love. The good order of the monastery is meant to reflect the obedience of God's creation. Its chanting of psalms is an echo of the heavenly choirs of angels and saints, and the hospitality it offers the guest becomes an invitation to come away for a while and set one's heart on God alone.

Saint Benedict of Nursia (Norcia)

Saint Benedict was born of a Roman noble family around 480 A.D. He was schooled at Rome, but eventually turned away from the declining culture and worldly life of the Roman schools and took spiritual refuge in a cave some distance from Rome at Subiaco. There he lived an ascetical life of prayerful solitude. Saint Gregory the Great tells us in Book II of his dialogues that a group of monks convinced him, with much reluctance, to be their abbot. Soon they tired of Benedict's discipline and wanted him to leave them to their life of laxity. He wouldn't go, so they attempted to poison him. After this unfortunate affair, the holy man went to found a monastery at Monte Casino, which would become the "mother" of the entire Benedictine confederation of monks. Saint Benedict died around 547 A.D.

Continuing the Tradition

Mount Angel Abbey has inherited Saint Benedict's Rule of life, with its tradition of prayer and work. Founded from the Swiss Abbey of Engelberg in 1882, Mount Angel Abbey strives to be a place of peace and solitude in a very busy world. This community keeps alive the ancient tradition of the choral office, the love of learning and Christian hospitality.

Please enjoy the following photos from our visit to this sublimely peaceful place.

FRIEND, WHY DO YOU COME HERE?
The question of all those who come to discern a vocation in the Benedictine Order

Blogging's greatest gift . . .

. . . is without a doubt, the friendships that I have formed. Jone and I met last summer for our first face to face and it was instant comfort and understanding. Coffee at Starbucks this week and a reminder from her that I wanted to read Elie Wiesel's book, "Night", cemented the friendship. B&N was right there waiting for me to find Night and in fact, I came away with the Night Trilogy. If you never read another book, you must read Night, but more about that later in an upcoming review.

More recently, I've met Marilyn and I find that my connections in the general area of my future home, have doubled. Marilyn exudes a welcoming warmth and radiates an inner peace that I find so soothing. Be sure to also explore her tea and jam products at Marmalady's. I'm here to tell you that they are delish.

I'm BACK!

We returned from Portland late last night, exhausted but happy. What a wonderful seven days. I have 457 photos to review and edit, lots of writing ahead of me, and a special mini-report of meet-ups with blogging friends. Possibly, though, the most exciting part of the trip for me was a visit to the village of Mt. Angel. Overlooking Mt. Angel is Mt. Angel Monastery. Between the appeal of the little town and the monastery itself, I think I have found the front runner for our planned move to Oregon in a few years.



Brother Teresio - Benedictine Monk, Mt. Angel Seminary and Monastery and friend to Erin and Quanah - gave us an in depth tour of the grounds, museum, library, etc. There will be one posting devoted just to Mt. Angel.