Slept deeply last night, had a cool (unseasonably warm) run, but was interrupted at the end when Margaret texted from Maine that she had bent the wires of her glasses and was worried about getting them fixed during her already-tight timetable. Run concluded at a strong overall pa … | Continue reading
Chilly run, but after a slow start I limbered up somewhere north of Ock Street, and after that ran a decent pace. At first my legs felt like fallen logs, but they really did ease into moderate springiness. Coffee, Morning Prayer, second cup of coffee, work on parish needs, email … | Continue reading
I’ve clearly been neglecting the blog over the last week or so — not even posting comments about my morning run, which is a pretty low bar for blogging. I’ve been kept very busy for the last fortnight, picking up ends that might go loose when the Rector retires along with a wodge … | Continue reading
I ran into this Billy Preston/Stevie Wonder collaboration on a cover of Edwin Starr’s first hit single, and I want to share it before I forget to (I’ve already forgotten three or four times): Words are not enough….Brilliant. | Continue reading
I’m still looking for attribution and credits for the following uptempo gospel hymn performed in the 80s (almost certainly, but no later than the end of the 90s), broadcast on the ‘Gospel Express’ radio programme in New Haven. I’ve decided I’m gonna live holy I’ve decided I’m gon … | Continue reading
Three days, three mornings, three runs; the morning was eerily overcast Tuesday morning, clear and bright Wednesday and this morning, and good running steadiness and pace all three days. The days have been busy with parish and birthday business; as the Rector nears his retirement … | Continue reading
The temperature wasn’t especially cool this morning, but it was humid and breezy, so that I did well to wear my hoodie on my morning run. My legs limbered up moderately soon, and it was a good run on the whole. Then coffee, shower, Morning Prayer, breakfast with Margaret in town … | Continue reading
Didn’t run this morning cos (a) it was raining on and off and (b) I didn’t sleep well. Coffee, sermon-polishing, showered and dressed, early for 10:30 Mass at St Helen’s, then home for a relaxed afternoon with maybe some glimpses at Wrede. | Continue reading
I had a difficult time shifting out of low gear this morning after having taken yesterday morning off. I didn’t get loose till I was nearly home. Nonetheless, I felt moderately limber after about the last half mile, and I ran a moderate, steady pace. Coffee, hot breakfast, and al … | Continue reading
I had a wee lie-in this morning, partly because I did actually sleep till after 6:30, and partly because it was rainy when I got up — not actively raining, but threatening to rain at any minute (and it did indeed rain a bit later in the morning). So I had my cup of coffee,… | Continue reading
I’ve had three good runs in a row — strong and steady, but I feel knackered when I get back. Hearty breakfast, Morning Prayer, lots of church work. Keeping busy, trying to remember to blog every day. Or every third day, anyway. Back in Glasgow, I had a wonderful conversation with … | Continue reading
Is it already in September? I remember thinking September was weeks away. Could I have been wrong? I had a very good run this morning after having not run yesterday; I had the 8:00 service, and didn’t have enough time (I estimated) to run, cool down, shower, get to St Nic’s, etc. … | Continue reading
A really solid run this morning: not my fastest, but a good, limber, steady run, just the way it should be. Coffee, cleaned the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher, said Morning Prayer, showered and dressed for morning. We’re expecting to take David and Marlies to breakfast when e … | Continue reading
It seems as though I’ve fallen into the habit of blogging on alternate days; it’s not deliberate, and I’ll try to get back on the daily routine, even though it’s mostly tedious descriptions of my running routine. Speaking of which, I took a very leisurely day this morning after a … | Continue reading
Yesterday morning I had a really good run: nice and steady, some bounce to my stride, good pace, satisfying kick at the home end. I spent time working on liturgical ordos for St Helen’s, and did some reading. This morning I took my miles slow. In fact, slower than what you’re ima … | Continue reading
Two good miles this morning, slow to warm up but satisfyingly springy once I got limber; cup of coffee, Morning Prayer, and shower; now, coffee in town, editing service booklets, and beginning work toward Wednesday’s homily. I got tired of using my Church of England comprehensive … | Continue reading
I woke up in Abingdon (not surprising, since I went to sleep here, too), took a leisurely run, hot breakfast, brushed up my St Bartholomew’s Day sermon (observed a day late), went to church and preached, came home for lunch and light reading, and am now ready to lean into some mo … | Continue reading
I’m heading back to Abingdon — I have tomorrow morning’s service at St Helen’s, and I want to be home in good time to work on my homily and get some sleep — and it was a pure joy to revisit my favourite city. I had the chance to see and catch up with friends,… | Continue reading
I arrived safely and comfortably at Central station yesterday afternoon, in typically dreich Glasgow weather. No matter! I love this city, and am happy to have a day before the conference kicks into gear, so I’ve already met a former student (Una), I’m staying at Doug’s gaff (nom … | Continue reading
My best morning run in a long time: good, steady pace with hardly a slowdown. Prompt shower, then to the Ladybank Paddock stop to catch the X2 to Didcot Parkway, thence to Paddington, to Euston, and now aboard the Pendolino to Glasgow. I should be disembarking at dear Central Sta … | Continue reading
My pace this morning never rose to ‘strong’, nor my stride to ‘limber’, but in my own stiff, sluggish way I made a steady two-mile run, and that’s fine with me. (I don’t usually encounter other runners going the same directions as I, but this morning I was passed by two young, vi … | Continue reading
Ran my miles, a good run but at a slower pace — my legs didn’t get limber as fast, nor even as limber, as yesterday. Spending the working part of the day on finances, on business for St Helen’s (mostly), and if I have time and energy left, for my overdue essay. | Continue reading
Had a really good steady run, albeit at a moderate pace. Church in the morning, home to watch the ladies while Margaret was in Oxford at the baptism of a friend; I may have napped a little. Gave the ladies a long walk through the Ock Valley Park. Margaret had a good time at the… | Continue reading
I ran my two yesterday morning in pleasant weather with mostly satisfactory comfortable limbs at a decent pace. I then proceeded to squander the whole day rather than buckle down and get to work on my overdue essay. Well, not the whole day; I did work on the Sunday Missal for St … | Continue reading
After bantering with Dave about the temperature, we both encountered inclement weather: he in the classic Floridean heat-humidity combination, and I in typical British-Isles drizzly rain. My miles went by satisfactorily, though, as long as you don’t count ‘got home looking like a … | Continue reading
Persistent blogger (I’d say ‘fellow persistent blogger’, but my daily entries are perfunctory compared to Dave’s) Dave Rogers, one of the original circle of people I used to link to regularly, commented today on my describing 19°C as ‘hot’. Fair play, Dave; I used to live in Flor … | Continue reading
Well, yesterday was hotter, 19°, but this morning was hot enough. I wore my knee brace for my run, and realised in short order that one problem, perhaps the problem, was that in my new stride, landing nearer my heel jolts my knee in a way to which it was unaccustomed. After I wal … | Continue reading
I walked more than ran this morning; my left knee went twanging after a short while, and though I coaxed it with spells of walking, and it led me to believe I could trust it, the knee would always twang again after a few strides. All part of adjusting to my new stride, I reckon,… | Continue reading
I should have realised last week that when I began experimenting with a longer stride, that my muscles would react by getting sore in different ways. I should have, but I didn’t. So the penny finally dropped this morning as I was wondering why my legs were stiff here rather than … | Continue reading
My morning run began with lingering stiffness, then limbered up into a refreshing, free, gleeful, elastic run, then quickly pulled back in to accommodate slightly overstretched calves. Ooops. Ran some errands in Oxford, including picking up my Bod Card and some mail from my pidge … | Continue reading
I think that’s right. I got a slow start, but my legs warmed up and hit a good pace fairly quickly. Home for coffee, fruit, and Morning Prayer. For the morning, I have to think about weddings and interdisciplinarity till 10:45 or so, then will go to meet SSH alumna the Revd Monik … | Continue reading
It took a long time for my limbs to get loose this morning, but by the time I took the turn home I was hitting my stride satisfactorily. Then I had coffee and a hot breakfast, Morning Prayer, catching up on emails, working on feast day ordos, working on my wedding sermon for Satu … | Continue reading
Kottke links to a proposal that one could significantly alleviate the rush toward climate catastrophe by billionaires all chipping in and buying heat pumps for their fellow-citizens. In fact, the report suggests, the impact would be so positive that it would eventually be cost-ne … | Continue reading
I almost talked myself out of running this morning, as the weather was rainy and warm. In the end, the force of habit was too great to resist, and I laced up my trainers and sandwiched my run between two spells of rain. Coffee and fruit for breakfast, a teleconference, retirement … | Continue reading
Good morning run, coffee and fruit breakfast, Morning Prayer, some time spent investigating and experimenting with typefaces for redesigning some parish resources. Then I had a long-ish meeting with the rector about upcoming major services and how we might work differently on ser … | Continue reading
I had a bit of an Olympic moment this morning, as I needed to get from the 8:00 at St Helen’s to vest and be ready for the 9:30 at St Michael and All Angels. Of course, I had run my morning miles, and at a pace I was pleased with; coffee and fruit, showered… | Continue reading
Two miles in a very strong mist (or light drizzle), coffee and hot breakfast, Morning Prayer, work on tomorrow mornin’s sermon for the eight o’clock (I’m under firm, strict, and pointed instruction to keep the homily short), a jaunt into Oxford to bid farewell, au revoir, to Rich … | Continue reading
Assuming I follow the trajectory I set out on in my sermon prep, the inaudible soundtrack playing while I preach will be from Steve Earle and the Dukes — but the reason I invoke it ahead of that hour is that after weeks of lamenting the absence of summer in Britain these past mon … | Continue reading
When we were in Brussels, Margaret and I made one unsuccessful, and one very successful trip to Notre-Dame-de-la-Chapelle, Our Lady of the Chapel or the Chapel Church. It was one of the last churches we got to, on the last full day of our visit. The Chapel Church has, more than t … | Continue reading
My morning run was made less unpleasant by a very light rain — more than mist, less than proper rain — cooling the air and the runner. Then Morning Prayer (at home, not at church, cos it’s August), coffee and fruit, and a morning working on my current essay, with brief intervals … | Continue reading
Ran my miles before full sun, hot breakfast, shower and staff meeting (our last till September). I’ve been doing some reading and (a little) writing; frustratingly, one piece that came clear in my head is the necessity and current irrelevance of spelling out directly the pivotal … | Continue reading
‘The late Barney Cohen, a longtime colleague at the University of Chicago, was once asked how he felt about his dual membership in the departments of anthropology and history. Cohen is supposed to have replied that it did not matter which discipline you identified with, just so l … | Continue reading
I got my run in this morning before the heat set in, a pace that was surprisingly brisk given my recent stiffness and soreness. Morning Prayer, coffee and fruit breakfast, and I thought I’d spend the morning reading and writing, but it took all morning for me to catch up on email … | Continue reading
I see that Danya’s first post about Jesus and the pharisees has dropped (I can tell, cos my blog is registering interest on a scale not seen since I proposed that the Franciscans might be suing Starbucks over the use of ‘cappucino’). I’m honoured that you visited here, but until … | Continue reading
I left my eye mask behind in Belgium (I think; of course, Sod’s Law dictates that I will find it the minute I post this, or the minute I buy a replacement), so I needed to buy a substitute for my trusty sleep aid. ‘Easy,’ methoughts, ‘I’ll look on Amazon.’ But Amazon is populated … | Continue reading
Yesterday after Mass I was entirely wiped out, felt as though all the energy had drained from me. When at length I went to bed, I flopped down as a limp rag. We did have a pleasant visit from Clara and Richard, and began watching the Apple TV version of Presumed Innocent. Then wh … | Continue reading
Morning run, coffee (!), prep for this morning’s service and sermon, over to church early to re-establish my sense of the place, home afterward for a visit with friends, and some reading and (heaven permitting) writing. | Continue reading
I pushed harder on my pace this morning, and my knees and thighs noticed. Brussels was hilly, and we walked a bout five miles each day, but running (even in flat Abingdon) calls on muscles differently. | Continue reading