#58.9, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The monastery, Luxeuil          My sons and I follow the procession of monks chanting the hours of late afternoon.          Psalm 62:5-7, (here chanted again, fresh with our own prayers).          For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is in God.          God alone is my rockContinue reading “#58.9, Thursday, July 18, 2024”

#58.8, Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The monastery, Luxeuil          Ana finds us in the garden. She gives Brother Gabe her mother’s hug. He receives it as the strength he was praying for.          Her telling us of her visit with the nuns is washed in tears. She said they’ve seen this thing before and it mightContinue reading “#58.8, Wednesday, July 17, 2024”

#58.7, Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The monastery, Luxeuil          Here in the garden at the monastery where Gabe is a brother, I told him of Ana’s health worry hoping our prayers together could give strength and peace for all of us.  And here is Gabe, well-practiced in the psalms and prayers and heartfelt concerns for anyContinue reading “#58.7, Tuesday, July 16, 2024”

#58.6, Thursday, July 10, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Serf’s farms at Metz          Will and I work most of the afternoon securing deerskins to the roof beams, “just for now,” he says. Actually, putting my thatching pride aside for a moment, I can see he’s right in the short term. Hides on the roof framework would be more usefulContinue reading “#58.6, Thursday, July 10, 2024”

#58.5, Wednesday, July 9, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Serf’s farms at Metz          Will and I walk back to his hut even through the last of the rain. The tragedy he feared isn’t that the oats bend over. Here, the deluge has poured through the roof of the little house of reeds, and washed away the mudbrick sides andContinue reading “#58.5, Wednesday, July 9, 2024”

#58.4, Tuesday, July 8, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Serf’s farms at Metz          “Will, your oats have full heads already! Your field is thriving!”          “I’ve learned the secret of growing things.” He is bursting to tell me.          “Really? There is a secret?  I thought it was just lots of work and care.”           “You see it there,Continue reading “#58.4, Tuesday, July 8, 2024”

#58.3, Thursday, July 4, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The Farm in the Vosges Mts.          “Horses?” Ana dreams.  “We could go and visit all our children in their own places now.”          “After all these years would you still want to try a long journey, Ana?”          “We won’t have to go hard and long with just the twoContinue reading “#58.3, Thursday, July 4, 2024”

#58.2, Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The Farm in the Vosges Mts.          Haberd said Hannah wasn’t at the farmhouse today. He suspects she left after the clean-up from the wedding with that Avar fellow she met there.          “Don’t worry, Papa, you know Hannah – she’s the very measuring stick of healthy rules.”          “She’s anContinue reading “#58.2, Wednesday, July 3, 2024”

#58.1, Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. The Farm in the Vosges Mts.          “Happily-ever-after’s” are the leftovers and dirty dishes and a certain emptiness rarely celebrated. There is a need for the reassessment of hopes and dreams and a new look back at the unsorted and cluttered of it all, not to mention, the daunting requirement forContinue reading “#58.1, Tuesday, July 2, 2024”

#57.12, Thursday, June 27, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Vosges Mts.          Foggy morning softens the first light of day dispersing the wedding into a yawning dawn. Stretching our tired aches to the edges we start the cleanup, keeping useful leftovers and digging a pit for the rest.          The monks of Luxeuil left when the moon was still reflectingContinue reading “#57.12, Thursday, June 27, 2024”