Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
How to Get Work Done: Let Daisy sit next to you on the swing.
Excellent piece by fellow blogger, Eric Schwister. Thank you for that good advice — and great story!
“Ora et labora, pray and work, is a Benedictine motto, and the monastic life aims to join the two. This perspective liberates prayer from God-talk; a well-tended garden, a well-made cabinet, a well-swept floor, can be a prayer.”
The theme of prayer is one of the more dominant themes of this second book by Kathleen Norris. And prayer, as seen and practiced many a times, in an unconventional way. Nothing is too mundane to be recognized and celebrated. Nothing is too simple to be sacred.
Norris continues to offer perspective as a layman living in a Benedictine monastery even as she reflects on all aspects of her personal life and vocation as a teacher, and more directly a poet having lived and worked in New York City, in her small ancestral hometown of Lemmon, South Dakota, and from her early childhood in the exotic islands of Hawaii.
Honest, simple, direct, shorn of unnecessary decoration, Norris presents her views on everything from the grandeur and shocking imagery of the Psalms, to the depressing monotony of the prophet Jeremiah’s lamentations. Along the way, we learn of her personal struggles with her marriage, early experimentations with recreational drugs, her views on being attracted to a monk, and how passion and self-restraint are viewed from the lens of one who is vowed to the concept of celibacy.
There were times I found her style of reflection somewhat overbearing and mildly irritating, but in the final analysis, I must concede that what Kathleen Norris does very well is to unequivocally and unabashedly celebrate God’s presence in this world.
A special note of thanks to my friend, Eric Schwister, for recommending this series of books.
Evening light.
Less than one week after strong winds knocked down trees and knocked out power for 31,000 Washtenaw County residents, another storm system is on its way toward the region.
“We’re looking at some very strong weather coming through Wednesday,” national weather service meteorologist Matt Mosteiko said.
“We have a 45 percent chance of severe storms in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.”
Mosteiko said those storms could be capable of producing wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour and may produce isolated tornados in the area.
Tornado probabilities are only released by the national weather service in its one-day forecast, but the storm system is given a 10 percent chance of producing a tornado in its most severe area on Tuesday.
Wednesday should start warm, with temperatures reaching as high as 80 degrees before noon, with clouds increasing throughout the morning and early afternoon.
“Between 2 p.m. and midnight is when we’re expecting most of the rain and the thunderstorms,” Mosteiko said.
The severe weather will be caused by the collision of two very different types of air combined with a low-pressure system that encourages rain and storms.
“What we have is a very tropical and moist air mass that’s going to be colliding and clashing through a low pressure system with a cold front and with cold Canadian air,” he said.
“When you have cold dry air colliding with warm moist air, that differential helps create those stronger winds and heavy rains.”
The storms should start hitting the west side of the state Wednesday morning, so a better idea of their severity as they reach the Ann Arbor area will be available then.
Current National Weather Service forecasts include more than three quarters of an inch of rain in the area and sustained winds of more than 15 miles per hour during the storm.
MLive’s chief meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has been closely tracking this storm system. Read his most recent post here.
Because I can!
These hanging baskets were put up in early May, and they’re going strong well into the middle of September. What’s not to love?
An awesome miniseries based on the book.
