The girls took a retreat to far reaches of Maryland to visioncast, to rest, and to finish two-thirds of a New Yorker puzzle before running out of time.
To-do list:
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The girls think the spring party menu in this article sounds rather charming! We found recipes for:
Animals [who we chilled with][WITH WHOM WE CHILLED* —C]:
[I’m still impressed with how he drove from the back seat. He asked Amy to marry him but I don’t think it’s going to work, due to artistic differences. —C]
Food [photos of what we cooked]:
Music [what we listened to]:
Sources inform us that the girls listened to a lot of really weird music this weekend. I mean, the music itself wasn’t weird, but the whole ensemble was a little bit ? It included the Avett Brothers, Rend Collective, All Time Low, and Taylor Swift.
Food (Thursday):
Clare, Gaby, and Sarah went to Thursday dinner on Thursday. The boys served lamb, tzatziki sauce, hummus, tabbouleh, and salad, and Clare and Sarah worked together to make a triple batch of this flatbread. Sarah also brought these apple blondies.
Poem:
blessing the boats
(at St. Mary’s)
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that
Lucille Clifton, from Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000, 2000 [Lucille Clifton worked at my college for many years and wrote this poem as an ode of sorts to the river on which the school sits. This poem is—or at least was—printed on the wall of our campus dining hall building. I’ve always more or less liked it, but these past few weeks it’s taken on new meaning to me as I’ve been sitting with Genesis 1, most especially the image of the face of God hovering over the waters. I am not sure one could reasonably argue that Clifton wrote with those verses in mind, but there are certain things that we all know in the dark and churning depths of ourselves, including that water and wind, both, are elements that teach us about the origins of who we are. This truth is especially apparent, I think, when you watch sailing vessels make use of and bring order to their unruly currents while standing on the banks of a river basin wide enough that at its innermost point the air gathers real, formidable strength, moving in great gusts and blows that trouble and ruffle and tear at the basin’s slate blue surface, the kind of power that leaves you certain of your own powerlessness in its face. —C]
What we’re reading:
Sarah listened to Gilead by Marilynne Robinson on her drive. She found it very beautiful and it brought her to tears. She wishes she had read rather than listened so she could share her favorite quotes, but will say that she loves the book’s treatment of envy, the way the protagonist is given a chance release his bitterness and forgive at the end of his life, and the “brother who goes to German seminary and loses his faith in the early 20th century” plotline.
She’s also still working through Hinds’ Feet On High Places by Hannah Hurnard. Here’s a passage about the valley of the shadow of death that encouraged her:
“Abraham was the first of my servants to come this way, and this pyramid was hoary with age when he first looked upon it. Then came Joseph, with tears and anguish of heart, and looked upon it too and learnt the lesson of the furnace of fire. Since that time an endless succession of my people have come this way. They came here to learn the secret of royalty and now you are here, Much-Afraid. You, too, are in the line of succession. It is a great privilege, and if you will, you may also learn the lesson of the furnace and of the great darkness as surely as did those before you. Those who come down to the furnace go on their way afterwards as royal men and women, princes and princesses of the Royal line.”.... “Fear not, Much-Afraid, to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will surely also bring the up again” (Gen. 46:3).
Clare read quite a bit of her Bible this weekend. She’s developing a resource for her sixth grade religion class that she will be teaching starting in the fall that you can read about in the thread below. Respond with suggestions!
Exhortations:
Remember to eat breakfast and read your Bible this morning!
Request for approval:
Is this okay?