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Soul, the price of life, and Lamborghini Moments
We watched Soul the other day – the new Pixar movie that tackles some of the toughest questions of life cloaked in the comfy blanket of being a family film. A middle aged jazz musician is at a crossroads, choosing between pursuing his passion, and “selling out” to be a high school band teacher when suddenly he dies, is on his new journey to the Great Beyond, isn’t ready to give up yet, and winds up inspiring a to-be-born soul to embrace life herself. It was filled with great music, and was a visual delight, but the thing that really got to me was a line I can’t remember, but…
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O Magnum Mysterium
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Child-caused music funks and frozen Andalucia
I’ve been in a random music funk the past few months because my child has completely destroyed my Spotify algorithm. Every time I log on I’m bombarded with JoJo Siwa and music from the Descendants (which is surprisingly good, it has to be said). And this wouldn’t be a problem except I use Spotify to discover new music, and that has gone all haywire now. I finally got around to signing her up for a Spotify Kids account linked to mine (not an easy task because we live abroad, and because with a family plan you all have to be in the same household, when I try to do it…
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O Magnum Mysterium
One of the most divine pieces of music I know is the O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen (I love it so much, it even played a starring role in my first novel). Before I say anything, take a listen: The O Magnum Mysterium texts is one of the oldest in the liturgy, making up part of the Christmas Matins, and telling the story of how Jesus was born in the manger surrounded by the lowly animals, and the Virgin Mary who trusted in God enough to step into an unknown journey. Now look, whatever you think about the literal capital-T Truth of the Bible (and I already talked the…
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Soul, the price of life, and Lamborghini Moments
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Guillaume le Gentil, and when your goals just don’t work out…
This week is the height of the Geminid meteor shower, which is one of the highlights of the night sky this month, the other being the appearance of the Christmas Star for the first time in 800 years. Sadly, I’m striking out with the Geminids myself because it’s raining this week. And this reminds me of a book I read several years ago about the 18th century quest to track the Venus Transit. Every 240 years or so, Venus transits the sun, which means that it will cross over between the earth and the sun. And this event happens in a pair 8 years apart. Back in the 18th century,…
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Writing about Weight – #45by45
So I stepped on the scale this morning. And my friends, it wasn’t pretty. About two years ago I put on some winter weight, of about 15 pounds, and it never came off, and now it has an additional five pounds on top of it. This, on top of the 60-ish I should lose. I’ve written a lot about weight on other blogs, but I figure that since this is becoming my new home on the internet, I’ll bring that conversation over here. Because it is the biggest mountain that I need to climb. I have always struggled with my weight. I was an athlete when I was younger (competitive…
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Thursday Book Chat: Bernard Cornwell and the Warlord Chronicles
I first started reading Bernard Cornwell back around 2010. It was his novel Agincourt, which I had picked up in Waterstones at Picadilly, and was immediately hooked. I began to search him out and devour everything he wrote, catching up on all the Last Kingdom books especially. I just finished his trilogy on the Arthurian legend, The Warlord Chronicles, and it was a bit of a tough slog, to be honest. These are some very early Cornwell books, and I can see his development as an author through to the present day Uhtred books. He uses some of the same techniques to keep us interested – for example, ending paragraphs…
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Expat Life: The Confusing Search for Tarjetes de Animales…
There’s a lot I expected about life as an expat in a country where I didn’t speak the language. Moving to Spain, I knew I would have to adjust to new foods, new cultures, new words, all of that. But there’s one thing that I wasn’t expecting, and that’s just how out of sorts I always feel because nothing is exactly where I think it should be. Everyday things suddenly become huge challenges. Case In Point: The Search for Animales Cards. Last January, my kiddo started bringing home these animal stickers from school. She called them tarjetas de animales – animal cards. They had little facts about them, and each…
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Don’t rush into Christmas so that you miss Advent
Frederick Buechner said: In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment. This is the magical time of year when we go in, quietly meditating, watching and waiting for magic, for light, for the extraordinary. In my personal faith tradition, this is the time when Christians meditate on the…
