“They Come Not Single Spies…”
Cartoon by Matt taken, without permission, from today’s Daily Telegraph
Away Days: Apotropaic Prayer
“And the darkness comprehended it not..”
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(This chant sounds musically far more Orthodox than Catholic to me…)
Picture taken in Milan Cathedral
Away Days: Retail Therapy?
I did not enter any of the exclusive designer, shopping outlets.
My life on an NHS pension is perfectly comfortable,
but not outrageously so.
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(The harmonies in “For all I want is you” still gets to me after all these decades..)
Picture taken in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, the world’s oldest shopping arcade.
Away Days: High Baroque
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Picture taken in the abbey of Engelberg Benedictine monastery, Switzerland.
Video features chanting from the Codex Engelberg
Away Days: Inner Workings
Picture taken from the second level of La Tour Eiffel, Paris
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Away Days: Underneath The Arches
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Note for Lucille:
This picture was taken in Portugal; 12,000 km from Cochin, I believe.
Away Days
I have been away again.
Picture taken beside the bar of Cochin Airport’s International Departure lounge.
A Matter Of Waiting
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Picture taken in Kannur Railway Station, Kerala.
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Looking Back
Unni, our young driver, takes a break beside the lake.
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Picture taken by the lake at Thattekad, Kerala
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Looking Forward
To celebrate my return,
and all that we share,
a day-trip to Thattekad is arranged:
our annual “works outing”
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Picture taken beside the boating-lake in Thattekad, Kerala.
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The Shade Of Breakfast
Today Shaji and Dalila are away at a family celebration.
Our breakfast was a café affair.
Picture taken in the Sri Krishna Café, Fort Cochin
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Beginnings… And Endings
A new day dawns.
And my stay ends…
Picture taken from Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
The Liturgy Of The Hours: Compline
“We entrust ourselves to the night as if it were a great ocean from which we can fish up all sorts of wonderful things..”
From The Music of Silence by David Steindl-Rast
Compline completes the Liturgy of the Hours.
Its end marks the beginning of the Great Silence
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“Let all mortal flesh keep silence..”
Picture taken at sunset, Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: Vespers
Vespers: evening prayer.
The dying of the light…
Picture taken at dusk in Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: None
None: the ninth hour:
a rainbow begins to break through the storm clouds.
Picture taken at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery. New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: Sext
Sext: the sixth hour
Picture shows the Abbey church and guesthouse, Kopua Monastery. New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: Terce
Terce: the third hour
Picture taken at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: Lauds
Morning Prayer
Picture taken during Lauds in Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
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The Liturgy Of The Hours: Vigils
A full moon lights the way to vigils.
Requiem Introit
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
A hymn becomes you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall a vow be repaid in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer;
to you shall all flesh come.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
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Picture taken on the way to 4:00am Vigils, at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery. New Zealand
The Search For Wisdom
I am off once more on my travels.
The search may take some time.
Cartoon copied from The New Yorker, without permission
Labours Of Love
As our flock increased from a single female to a couple of laying hens and young rooster,
the four-year-old dilemma of what to do with our side-yard solved itself:
Anu is digging up its unsightly concrete slabs to make way for a small kitchen-garden.
Whatever vegetables are considered easiest to grow will be planted out.
In this climate that will probably include cassava, beans, pineapple and more bananas.
The chickens run free from daybreak to dusk.
Much chicken-wire* will be required if we hope to harvest any produce.
“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer
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* Having been born, raised and lived in London for almost fifty years, the now glaringly obvious relationship between chicken-wire and chickens comes as something of a revelation to me!
Pictures show Anu and Dalila in our side-yard.
