wisdom for aging with vibrancy, beauty, tears, and grace – click on any picture below to read the blog associated with that image.
Hey Jarrow . . . here is the first yellow hat adventure of the sabbatical with Patricia and Phil . . . take note.
Thank you Katie.
With a bit of Phil’s homemade cornmeal crust and Patricia’s roasted walnuts, this pear gorgonzola pizza is sooooooo good!
So, this morning I sat at the breakfast table and wrote the blog about aging and how we were going to go to the National Museum of Ireland a learn about life 6000 years ago. One of today’s cartoons for the New Yorker was this one:
And . . . probably you should know if you haven’t figured it out, Patricia and I are eligible for Medicare and have accessed it. In preparation for being over seas we discovered Medicare doesn’t cover you outside the USofA.
That means we brought some Patriot Travel Medical Insurance from AAA for when we are in Ireland.
And then here was this cartoon:
In a book by Rowan Williams, published in 2002, are these words of Epilogue.
Lastly, another picture from the Gospel of John evoked for me by all of this, from the stray story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery which is preserved rather improbably, in John 8. When the accusation is made, Jesus at first makes no reply, but writes with his finger on the ground. What on earth is he doing? Commentators have had plenty of 
suggestions, but there is one meaning that seems obvious to me in light of what I think we learned this morning. He hesitates. He does not draw a line, fix an interpretation, tell the woman who she is and what her fate should be. He allows a moment, a longish moment, in which people are given time to see themselves differently precisely because he refuses to make the sense they want. When he lifts his head, there is both judgement and release.
So this is writing in the dust because it tries to hold that moment for a little longer, long enough for our demons to walk away.
Today I actually began to pack.
We have been asked many times “are you packed yet?”
The answer was we were gathering things and putting things aside.
I put stuff in a pile and later take it out.
but today we actually took out suitcases 
measured to see if they would qualify as carry-on.
Or whether they would have to be checked through to Ireland .
The reality of sabbatical is upon me.
I am leaving home.
Something I have not done very often.
I am determined to finish packing, but,
I get distracted by the Olympic games.
Watching the skill and composure of young athletes focus, struggle, and accomplish unbelievable feats is inspiring.
I wish one of them would come and help me pack!
This evening’s gift of rain:
May our eyes see God’s beauty dancing and our ears hear God’s grace whispered.
We’ve rented a home for three weeks across the Bay from Dingle in a community named Kells.
Kells is hardly recognizable as a village in American terms. There are no main streets, no shopping district, not even mailboxes to identify residences. . . .Kells is just about the greatest place going. But it isn’t for everyone. The people that Kells grabs are those who are turned on by extraordinary natural beauty. who appreciate simplicity, who like to chat and read, to walk, to mountain climb, to fish, to swim, to explore, or just to sit by a turf fire.”
These words were written by Tad and Vicky, owners of the home we have rented. They emailed a delightful booklet today Continue reading “Kells in County Kerry”
an olympic commercial:
“We’re all capable of greatness. All of us.”
I agree.
Jeff, our remarkable son-in-law . . . doesn’t stand the way many of us do . . . but he is fully in our lives.
thank you Jeff!
ohhhhhhhh,
how beautiful is light
at the end of day.
Within the pages of a book, “Mysterious World: Ireland” 
published in 2006 and written by Ian Middleton & Douglas Elwell is this particular page of words:
The Irish “Celtic” form of Christianity as it evolved in Ireland was unique in that it was both monastic and ruggedly individualistic in character. It also sought, instead of overruling and controlling, to integrate with the prevailing social, economic, and political structures, thus creating a church that has lasted the centuries and left as its heritage a Christianity that is deeply ingrained into the Irish national character. In many ways, Irish Christianity represents the most successful branch of Christianity ever to evolve in the Western world. As Bamford explains in The Voice of the Eagle: The Heart of Celtic Christianity,Continue reading “Celtic form of Christianity”
wells-of-wellness 