A rich tapestry of color;
October fulfills its
Promise.
It seems that I am beginning to understand a little, very little, when I read, these days. The Old Testament class, which had been full of tension every meeting, broke loose this week as people began to relax. There was lively discussion, and our teacher laughed aloud several times at remarks made by students. He enjoyed the interaction and cracked a couple jokes himself. The release of tension was palpable.
He is an excellent teacher, but he has two subjects to cram into our 3 1/2 hour classes, Old Testament and exegesis. Either one is enough to fill a class period; the two together put a burden on him and the students. After our break (during which time we went to All-School Worship), he pleaded with us for 25 minutes of uninterrupted lecture time before we began the questioning and repartee again. We granted him that, but not much more.
Part of what has broken the dam of questions right now is our exegesis paper. It is due October 30, and the bulk of us have never done this kind of research before. It is very scary. I wish I knew Hebrew; there is so much that can be misunderstood when you don't know the language, and so much research to fill that gap. I've been reading and reading for background to my measly pericope of 25 verses. I can't imagine what the essayists who write about whole books of the Bible have to do!
I'm still not on the internet at school, and I can't access my school E-Mail from here. Others are having the same problem with the school E-Mail; they can get it from the school, through the network, but can't access it from home. For me it is a double nuisance, because I'm not connected yet. Now it is my own fault. We got the card I need, and I was afraid to put it into the laptop, so I made DB do it. By the time I got it to school, the "pigtail" had fallen off the card, and it was broken. Now I have to order another one.
Tuesday was a beautiful day. We convinced our music professor to hold class in the little alcove outdoors where we have had Morning Prayer a couple times. It was lovely. We were doing a bit of chanting, which sounds completely different outdoors than in the vaulted ceiling in the chapel. I love chanting, both to hear it (when it is done well) and to sing it. There are 7 of us in the class, all women, and most of us have had some musical training, so we can at least keep the pitch. And our professor has a beautiful and trained voice.
I composed the little haiku on the side bar this morning, driving home from my favorite supermarket (where I had treated myself to a giant cafe mocha). The sun shining on the changing colors was breathtaking. Now it is pouring rain outside. It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, also. I picked more tomatoes to ripen in the house when I got home. I have had a good crop this year, inspite of the frost killing so many of my plants in the spring. There are still many to ripen, though, so I hope we avoid a frost for a couple more weeks.
I've written a couple papers today, and tonight I have to plan a Morning or Evening Prayer, with full music, to pass in to my Liturgy professor on Tuesday. I've done a lot of reading, mostly for my exegesis, so I don't feel as pressured as I usually do on Thursday night. I have a big report to write for the Diocese tomorrow, which is just what I needed in the middle of my schoolwork! But I'm not going to obsess about that. And I have a parish call to make (which I love doing).
So, I'm not as frantic as I was a few weeks ago. In two weeks it is "reading week", when classes are suspended so that we can catch up with our work and get prepared for the major papers and midterms that will be due the end of October. I hope I will have gotten enough library work done before then that I can stay home all week. And I hope I can remember to say "No" if my internship priest wants me to do something that week. I had to do the healing service for him this morning because he is out of town again. It would have been one healing service I would have missed, if he hadn't been out of town. I could use the sleep.
We have to close up the Dollhouse at Pretty Bay this weekend. I've been using up the food since the middle of September, so I don't have too much to do. I will miss the people, and the quiet at the camp, but I won't miss living in three different places. It is a hassle to get ready to go out there. I have developed a new problem; I never know where my clothes are: here in the washer or dryer or the dirty laundry, in my closet at school, or at the camper? I have bottles of pills stashed everywhere in case I forget to move them from one place to another. I can never find my shoes (I've always had that problem, but it is compounded by three living spaces now), and my hairbrush is ALWAYS where I'm not.
I have almost finished one half of one semester. Only 5 1/2 to go, plus a couple January classes. See? I WILL make it!
Life is good again. Thanks be to God. Amen
7:16 PM
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