Nov 17, 2007

It’s a beautiful cool November day. It rained this morning, which around here is usually accompanied by warming; sure enough it’s about sixty degrees out. The sky is a gentle grey with tall deep textures moving slowly and a promise of sun later on. It’s a quiet, still late morning. Birds are singing, and there aren’t many cars on the...

Nov 14, 2007

I’ve actually been back in the land of ubiquitous Wi-Fi for two days now. Just now peeking my head out of a cognitive fog of jet-lag. (It’s not that I’m especially tired most of the time – I’m just disoriented, uncoordinate, and stupid. More than usual, I mean. Mess around with the circadian clock and it gets its revenge.) Musings...

Nov 10, 2007

In a time when churches of every description are faced with Vanishing Male Syndrome, men are showing up at Eastern Orthodox churches in numbers that, if not numerically impressive, are proportionately intriguing. This may be the only church which attracts and holds men in numbers equal to women. As Leon Podles wrote, “The Orthodox are the only Christians who write basso profundo church music, or need to.”

Nov 9, 2007

It’s festival time in Nepal! For the past few days people have been hanging colored lights on houses and temples, bands have been rehearsing, and firecrackers have been going off periodically. Now the festival is here in earnest. Last night we spent some time up on the rooftop. A thundershower earlier in the day cleared away the smog so we could see for...

Nov 4, 2007

Connectivity is scarce. Here’s a week’s worth of brain dump: They drive on the left in Nepal, too. Well, and the right and the middle, too. Traffic here flows through the narrow streets a little like blood cells through arteries – dodging, weaving, honking, and by some miracle not bumping into things too much. Also, like arteries, the streets...