Although the weather has been unseasonably warm, with forecasts for more temperatures in the 40's, we awoke today to a beautiful cold, clear day here in the Railroad Creek Valley. Here's a picture of Copper and Fernow this morning: We had a wonderful Woman's Retreat over the weekend with an excellent group of women, mostly from Western Washington, with a few from Minnesota. Now we have the "Spinning Sisters" from St. Placid Priory in Lacey. They come up with their spinning wheels and all and teach anyone who wants to wander into the Dining Hall. This all started in 1998 when Sister Monika met Pastor Jim Christiansen at a spiritual directors' retreat at the priory. He raises sheep, they were learning to spin, and the rest is history. They have become quite famous for their felted sheep, many of which are sold in the Holden store. (See blog Post 1 for a picture of our welcome sheep!) One of the nuns at the Priory is just knitting sheep #900! Jim gets all the centennial sheep, so this one will add to his collection. They also lead worship for us while they are here, which is very nice. They have adapted the Benedictine hours into a lovely set of very inclusive liturgies that work well here at Holden. Jim also brought fresh lamb for us, which will be lovely for dinner one day.
Tuesday evening is craft night after dinner (we've had our worship for the day at breakfast) and tonight the St. Placid folk will teach how to needle-felt hearts for Valentine's Day. Fun!
After the weirdness of Merrily Watkins in cider-coated Herefordshire, I went back to Scandinavia and read K. O. Dahl's The Fourth Man. It is a very good read. I almost suspected I had read it before when someone's hytta (Norwegian "chalet" they say in the book) burned down, but I think that happens often in these Norwegian/Swedish/Icelandic mysteries. (Anybody know a Danish one?) It is a nice complex plot, clearly nicely written and good in translation.
I moved on from there to my next Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano book, Rounding the Mark. This one is laugh-out-loud funny. I love these books! They are so real and such good stories, full of all the joys, sorrows - and, being Sicily, crime - of human life. Salvo Montalbano is a terrific character. In this book his very favorite restaurant closes when the owner retires, but he quickly finds another as good. The descriptions of him eating and savoring his food are worth the books. I want to go to Sicily for pasta in squid ink! Please, read these books! Here they are in order, and in order they should be read:
The Shape of Water (La forma dell’acqua, 1994) The Terracotta Dog (Il cane di terracotta, 1996) The Snack Thief (Il ladro di merendine, 1996) The Voice of the Violin (La voce del violino, 1997) Excursion to Tindari (La gita a Tindari, 2000) The Scent of the Night (L’odore della notte, 2001) Rounding the Mark (Il giro di boa, 2003) The Patience of the Spider - 2007 (La pazienza del ragno - 2004) The Paper Moon - 2008 (La Luna di Carta - 2005) August Heat - 2009 (La Vampa d'Agosto - 2006) The Sphinx's Wings - 2009 (Le Ali della Sfinge - 2006) The Sand Path - 2010 (La pista di Sabbia - 2007) The Potter's Field - 2010 (Il campo del vasaio - 2008) The Age of Doubt - 2010 (L'età del dubbio) - 2008
There are two more, but they aren't translated yet. There's TV, too, and two episodes were aired in England in 2008. They don't seem to be appearing here yet.
Now I finally gave in and started Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning novel about Thomas Cromwell. What a book. It is amazing writing and story/history telling. It is a reading feast. We have a stop day here tomorrow, and it's a good thing or there might not be a sermon on Sunday! I will have to take a break though as we have the annual Women's Retreat this weekend and I have to do Bible Study. (The Bible - I recommend that one, too!) But we also have Doug Thorpe, who teaches English at SPU, coming up over Valentine's weekend to do sessions on The Brothers Karamozov, and I'm going to take a shot at getting through a lot of the newer translation that came out in 1999 - supposedly way better than the one I read in college! So Wolf Hall will have to wait until the week after next. That's ok. It's the kind of book you don't want to finish in a hurry because it will be over.
The Hispanic Theology Conference in San Antonio was the program for the regular January gathering of ELCA pastors in Texas. The three synods in that state join forces each year for their pastors' conferences. Carol and Nancy learned a lot not only about Hispanic Theology, but also about Texas Lutherans and pastors. We had a very good time. I felt just as much at home among those folk as I do here in the Pacific Northwest. Very nice indeed.
The speakers were quite different in many ways, but each good in her/his own regard. Probably the star of the show was Dr. Justo Gonzalez, a Methodist pastor and theologian. His main presentation was a very poignant (and very funny!) assessment of what it's like to be an "in-between" person in the United States. One of the interesting features of him and one other speaker was that they both came from educated, doing-fine families before coming to the US, and then were surprised at being regarded as neither here - in fact, not being regarded at all. Gonzalez also did a Bible Study on Acts 6 which was very good - a new view.
Another speaker spoke about the love for the Virgin Mary in Hispanic culture, likening it to other ancient observances, and even to the huge esteem still showered on the late young rock star Selena. Others included an ELCA pastor who works at churchwide, and a seminary professor from PLTS. As noted above, each brought a different perspective to the blessings and challenges of being Christian and Latina/o. We learned a lot.
Two of my dearest friends from my seminary days are pastors in Texas, and I was very happy to be able to visit with David Henry, a soon-to-be-retired pastor in Marble Falls (he and I have these almost exactly parallel careers!), and Don Carlson, on the staff of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. It was really fun to see them. For all you Faith folk, I also had a great visit with Charles and Phoebe Meyer. Charles is Rich Meyer's brother, and part of that host of people from Faith who have gone into ordained ministry. His whole career has been in Texas. Carol and I also made good Holden connections with Ann Hafften and Franz Schemmel, as well as recent staff member Mindy Roll.
In between the lectures and the visiting, we walked the Riverwalk and enjoyed ourselves. Here's a picture of Carol on the Riverwalk: On Monday night we walked to an interesting-sounding restaurant in Southtown that was a Latin American fusion place. The name is Azuca. We again made a meal of appetizers, and a very good one it was. Tuesday night dinner was part of the conference after a Eucharist at St. John's Lutheran Church.
On our way to the Eucharist with Mindy Roll, we stopped at a shop we'd seen the night before and bought hats! These were used to great effect when we returned to Holden, both getting off the boat and getting off the bus. Lots of fun! Here we are in our hats: We returned to Seattle on Wednesday evening. Nancy had a Candidacy Committee meeting on Thursday, then picked up Carol in Mukilteo and we headed for Leavenworth and another great meal at South - a really fine Mexican restaurant right there in everyone's favorite Bavarian Village.
So now we're back at Holden and it's February. Lent is not too far away, and the warm temperatures give us a hint of the Spring to come. But we'll remember January 2010!
The second trip in January was to Texas. Holden Director Carol Hinderlie and Nancy signed up in the Fall to attend the Tri-Synodical Pastors' Conference in San Antonio January 25-27. We had heard about it because the program title was Hispanic Theology. At Holden each August there's a Spanish-speaking week called Abriendo Caminos, and Carol thought it would be helpful to hear the perspectives of the speakers at the January conference. Nancy went because of her role as chair of the Candidacy Committee in the Northwest Washington Synod. There are two Latino candidates in Mt. Vernon who are doing their seminary work in what's called TEEM: Theological Education in Emergent Ministries. The candidates are raised up and work in their own communities, and work with specific seminaries for their theological education. These two do their education at Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest in Austin. TEEM was going to be a major part of the conference.
The conference was in San Antonio. But, since we both enjoy good music - especially Texas-style bluesy stuff - we flew into San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, rented a car and drove north to Austin. We had a great hotel to stay in - the Hotel San Jose - on South Congress Street right across from the Continental Club, a fairly famous funky Austin music club. Here's a picture of the hotel:
We started out with a dinner of appetizers at an Italian restaurant down the street called Vespaio. Go there if you're ever in Austin. Terrific. We got the recommendation from someone on the Holden staff who has friends who run an organic farm in Austin called Boggy Creek Farm. They supply organic vegetables to this and other Austin restaurants.
After that we set off on foot across the river and checked out 6th and 4th streets. We were a little early, but things cranked up eventually. We heard great blues in two venues. We really liked a woman named Tish Lancaster and her Mizzbehavin' Band. Great stuff. We walked and walked and listened and looked and just took it all in. We took a cab back to the hotel and then walked across the street to the Continental Club for the 10 p.m. show. We heard a Texas Roadhouse Blues singer who's been doing this a long time and was fabulous. Her name is Lou Ann Barton. Her guitar player was amazing. After all the walking, and then standing for over an hour in the club, we were ready to go to sleep!
The next morning we didn't do church (boo), but we knew we'd be doing it for three days at the conference, so with no guilt at all we got great coffees and delicious home-made jalapeño scones at the funky coffee place next to the hotel. It was a beautiful day, so after we got organized and checked out, we headed west for Johnson City for the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Johnson Ranch. It was very interesting and a beautiful spot. Here's a picture from the ranch - Lyndon, the Bull: We headed to San Antonio from there, stopping on the way at a wine-tasting room of Texas wines and found a couple pretty nice bottles for Larry and Paul.
On our way into San Antonio we stopped for an early dinner at a Luby's cafeteria. The Hinderlies have enjoyed these for years when they came down to South Padre Island for a winter break. It was pretty good. We learned it had actually started in San Antonio. We returned our car, went to the airport, and then took a cab to our hotel. After checking in, we watched the Vikings and the Saints football game, checked out the Riverwalk, had a glass of wine in the bar, and retired. We had another nice walk in the morning before the conference.
This is part 1. Part 2, with more pictures, tomorrow!
January has been an eventful month! Here at Holden (where it is warm and sunny today) the college students are half gone and we're looking forward to a couple quiet days after the bus goes with the rest on Wednesday morning. Thursday will be a Stop Day, which means everyone eats on their own (kitchen gives people food) and there's no work. A very nice thing to do for a very hard-working staff. We still do Vespers in the late afternoon. We had one other Stop Day in the Fall, but this is probably the last opportunity. We do them when there's no boat and the numbers are low.
The first event of January (alluded to in the first 2010 post) was a trip to St. Paul and Luther Seminary where Nancy received the Faithfulness in Ministry Cross, which is like a distinguished alumna award. When we got news of the award in the Fall, we made train reservations right away, which sounded like good fun to us. The train picks up passengers in Wenatchee, which makes it an easy travel option here in North Central Washington. But then came the deep freeze in the Midwest. Amtrak suspended the Empire Builder for three days, which ran right into our departure time. Everything was just too cold for the trains to work! So we put a second mortgage on the farm and bought last minute air tickets. We flew in and out of Wenatchee. Weird to fly into Seattle without going home. (Amtrak was superb in every regard about this, and we'll get a full refund.)
The time in St. Paul was wonderful, made extra special by the presence of so many from the West! Sheryl Schmeling, Wally and Eileen Powelson, and Pam Russell came from Seattle, John and Joan Beck from Portland, Mary Rowe and Mert Johnson from Oakland. Heather Spears was there from Iowa, and Meridith and Jay Wardle tag-teamed it from Edina, MN. Larry and I stayed with Greg and Mary Steeber, and they hosted most of us for dinner on Wednesday night. Larry and I took the whole bunch out to dinner at The Signature Cafe on Thursday (award day). The award ceremony itself was followed by a luncheon. All in all it was a grand time, and I am so thankful for and humbled by all who came all that way for it. Here's a picture of the group in the Chapel of the Incarnation after the award ceremony: Besides the transportation change, there were some apparel glitches as well. Nancy had ordered a dress. We finally tracked down the late package at the Chelan Post Office the day we left. When we stopped at our friends' apartment in Leavenworth, to which we would return after St. Paul, she tried it on and Larry about fell over he was laughing so hard. It's been returned. But Larry discovered that his black shoes, which he thought were in the green car and were probably in the red car or maybe in Leavenworth, were nowhere that we could ascertain. So, faced with wearing his size 15 Sorel boots with his slacks and sport coat at the award event (it would have been SO mountain), the first thing we did when we landed at MSP was to go to Nordstrom at the egregious Mall of America and find him some shoes. He, being shoe challenged on many fronts, actually found a really nice pair of shoes that are very comfortable to wear. The uses of adversity.
After St. Paul we flew back to Wenatchee on Friday and stayed in Leavenworth a couple nights. (The boat up Lake Chelan only goes on M-W-F in the winter.) On Sunday night we stayed at Campbell's Resort in Chelan, our local historic lake inn, and had a very nice room and meal. This was a gift to us from some Faith members when Nancy left there in August. We'd recommend Campbell's for a nice night's stay on your way in to Holden.
Tomorrow you'll hear about Nancy and Carol Hinderlie's splendid trip to Texas.
Here's a picture from outside The Signature Cafe after dinner on January 14:
Last night I finished the first volume in the series about Anglican priest Merrily Watkins by Phil Rickman. The title is Wine of Angels. It's been quite popular here at Holden and, although the books are generally only available in the UK and Canada, they keep them stocked in the bookstore. Rickman is more known for his rather dark suspense books - lots of ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. This book brings in the not-so-savory past of a small English village in Herefordshire, a place famous for its cider. He bases his story on some real history that he documents nicely at the end.
It's a long song - 600+ pages. I stuck it out to the end to see what happened. The plot is pretty good, but the character development is weak - some of the evil exposed at the end doesn't seem to be showing up until then - and the characters do things that seem, well, out of character. I'd read something, and then find myself flipping back to see how this action ended up in this person. It just didn't make sense.
Merrily Watkins is rather annoying. She is the priest-in-charge at this village church, but she is just too, as the English would say, "wet." She has angst coming out of every pore, and she messes up so often I can't imagine they'll keep her on after this story. She has an uncle who is part of the the congregation, and he abandons her early on for no good reason that I could ascertain.
So I don't think I'll be reading the next installment. The author says there's no need to read in order, so if you see one around, you might want to give it a shot. Perhaps the others are better, but it seems to me a whole lot of pages for not much fiction.
I just returned from an Epiphany bonfire. For those of you who know Holden, it was up on the second level almost directly across the river from Koinonia. So it was quite a trudge up across the footbridge then on a newly tracked road along the top of the tailings to the fire. Nice exercise on a winter night! It was lots of fun. We welcomed two J-term groups from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. The Luther group is doing a course on Environmental Ethics. The Augustana group is doing two literature classes. Each student also is assigned to work 5 hours plus dish team, garbo, and stoking the furnaces. They're a very pleasant group of students. It will be fun to have them here.
Now to the books. I just finished the other book Marilyn Anderson gave me in August at the Women's Book Group farewell bash. It's called The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. It's about Charles Dickens' writing A Christmas Carol. It certainly isn't in a league with Evening in the Palace of Reason as it's not very well written, I don't think. It's a kind of cut-and-paste book with lots of bits and pieces from here and there. I also don't think he made his case very well about Dickens "inventing" Christmas. It would seem more that Dickens had the right idea at the right time just when the Victorians were really upping the Christmas celebration ante. Some of the most interesting parts of the book were the descriptions of the copyright law discussions on both sides of the Atlantic. I enjoyed those parts very much. Anyway, it was interesting. Thanks, Marilyn.
Now I've started another book to add to my list of novels about clergy. Phil Rickman - who writes sort of other-worldly ghosty kinds of books - has a series about a C of E clergywoman named Merrily Watkins. I've started the first one - Wine of Angels - as it's been recommended by some reliable sources, it was available in the Holden library, and it's a nice, long read - 550+ pages! It seems like the perfect book to start and take with me when we get on the train next Monday evening to go to St. Paul for this award thing at Luther Seminary. I've been putting off, with great difficulty, reading Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker winning novel. Bev Christensen just sent a note saying she's reading it and enjoying it, and Paul Hinderlie devoured it. I'll save it for my return from St. Paul.
Going to the bonfire was worth it for the walk back. It's quite beautiful at night to walk into our snow-covered Village in the middle of nowhere.
