Winter First Moon of the New Year Our long November continues. Patchy snow, mostly bare ground and leafless trees. Occasional sunshine, like today, otherwise gloomy and gray. I’m disappointed in the season since I believe we have to earn our springs […]
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Imbolc Waxing Bloodroot Moon I’ve had visitors now for lunch every day. Father Chris and I discussed being hard of hearing. When I mentioned saying something inappropriate occasionally in noisy places, he recounted a time when a parishioner said he was going to his sister’s funeral. That’s nice! Father Chris replied. Brother Paul presented me […]
Read the rest of this entry »Heading Home Tomorrow
Imbolc Waxing Bloodroot Moon Snow has begun to come down in earnest. I like the view out of my window here in the Bishop’s room. Snow falls between the two pines that frame the central pane and I can see across the service road toward what I now know is the Monastery orchard. This is […]
Read the rest of this entry »Corvids
Imbolc New (Bloodroot) Moon Another image came to me last night. The monks look like ravens, clothed in black with their beaks pointed backward (the cowl) and a human face where the back of the head would be. Ravens and the corvids in general are the most intelligent of all birds, having demonstrated their cunning […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Writer’s Table
Imbolc New (Bloodroot) Moon My table at lunch had more monks. Word had got around that I was working on a novel. Brother Benet listed other writers who came from time to time to write, “John Hassler used to come here frequently, especially for his first 6 novels.” Brother Sebastian, stone and wood sculptor and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Hail, La Nina
Imbolc New (Bloodroot) Moon A while back I asked John Harstad, then the naturalist at Cedar Creek Nature Center, a wonderful place run by the University of Minnesota and only about 15 miles from home, about first signs of spring. His answer coincided with a local master gardener, “Bloodroot blooms.” Since that should happen within […]
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Story Problems. More Story Problems.
Imbolc Waxing Bloodroot Moon OMG. I can’t count! I did about one-third the number of words at Blue Cloud as I thought I did. A silly arithmetic error. Have you ever seen that Gary Larson cartoon with Hell over the door and a bookcase containing books titled: Story Problems, More Story Problems, Story Problems the […]
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