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This picture is mainly for Andrew. Stonehenge was great, but not my favorite. :)



Ok, for my regulars. I'm terribly sorry there's been no blog for the past week. I've been a bit lazy in switching it from .Mac to blogspot. But, here it is!

Now, for updates:

Class went on as usual this week. Lit. Crit. continuing to become harder and harder to comprehend and tensions are growing and easing in our Symposium as we continue to debate various topics.

We took a trip on Thursday to various sacred places around Britain. Avebury, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and Bemberton Church. If you have a Facebook, look me up and you'll be able to see the pictures. I can't put as many on blogspot, I don't think.

My favorite part of our trip was Avebury. It was beautiful and amazing. Exactly the sort of little village to which I want to retire. There weren't any ropes around Avebury (I mean, how could you without roping off the entire town?), so you could go up and touch the stones, though we were encouraged not to climb on them by various signs. :) There were also sheep grazing in and around the stones, ditches, and mounds. They didn't like being touched.

All in all, it had a completely different feel from Stonehenge, which has been commercialized to the point of madness. They sell Stonehenge Rock Cakes for heaven's sake! - they are quite good, but that is beside the point! The druids wish that somehow Stonehenge could be given back to "its natural environs." I learned quite a bit from the audio tour that came with our package (you go around to various points and press buttons on this little device and then hold it up to your ear and it tells you the history of and speculations about Stonehenge), but I really preferred the mysteries and quiet contemplation that Avebury offered. No offense, Andrew.

Our next stop was Salisbury Cathedral, which was awe-inspiring and extremely photogenic. Genius architecture generally is. We had a wonderful old guide who talked our ears off about the history of various artifacts (including a 750 year old clock with no face that still works!) and tombs about the place. He knew quite a bit and was a sweet old man. I don't think, though, that he expected our group to be a bunch of Christians. He began to explain the various scenes in Genesis and Exodus carved on the upper walls of the Chapter House, but when we began to name all the stories before he could get to them, he stopped. :) And we moved on to the only other copy of the Magna Carta still in existence, I believe. The other one was at the British Library and so badly burned it wasn't legible. But this one was pristine and...amazing to look at.

Bemberton Church just outside of Salisbury (Bemberton and Salisbury have kind of grown together). It was a small Anglican chapel and very quaint and wonderful. I would have loved to go to church there. Our group sat down in the chapel (and filled it!) and discussed the merits and disadvantages of going to a church like Salisbury and one like Bemberton. One symbolizes the awsome, though distant power of God and the other promulgates a more intimate, friendly God, which we Protestants are more used to. And of course I prefer the friend-God, though the omipotent-God from Salisbury is something I definitely need to be aware of.

This weekend I just hung around the houses while half the group had excursions. Stacie, Scott, and Nat went to Ireland and Emily went with her family to Wales. I decided to do a bit more exploring of the town in my off time and discovered this cute little antique shop. And antique here means anything from the late 1970s to before the time of Christ. It was amazing.

Just yesterday I decided to see what the big deal was about Port Meadow. I've been told I need to go there by just about every Childers and Rankin. And I would definitely recommend it to anyone as well. It was only a 15 minute walk from the houses and the moment I stepped through the gates the trees fell away and a saw the vast meadow rise up before me. It had to be at least 200 acres. There were wildflowers everywhere and a marsh and pond in the middle that is probably always there because of the rain. Beyond that, I could see small black, white, and brown shapes that had to be the grazing animals, since Port Meadow has been free-range grazing for all the farmers in Oxford for hundreds of years. I wandered around and watched the ducks and their ducklings in the pond, then went on a nature hike around the pond (another section of Port Meadow), then went out over a bridge into the grazing land. I was aware of nothing but horses, grass, and sky. It was really breath taking. I sat down and watched a particularly impressing yellow dun stallion grazing, since he reminded me of Cutter, a horse I used to ride a long time ago. I let him sniff my hand and then walked back (around the pond the other way, beside the canal and all the boats) to the houses. I plan on going back there soon, with some carrots. :D

So, I think you're up to date. Except for church today. I went with Rebekah, Amara, and T'auna to the Quaker service. It was odd. They all sit in silence for 45 minutes and people speak when they feel God moving them to do so. We had a "loud service" today, which means 4 people spoke for about 3-4 minutes each in the 45 minute period. And it took a half hour of compete silence before anyone spoke at all. And at the end, the to "leaders" of the service got up and shook hands and everyone came alive! There were announcements and we were invited back for tea and coffee. We chatted with various "Friends" - as the Quakers call themselves - and I was asked who I was voting for in the election this fall! Caught me off guard, but I think my answer satisfied her.

I hope I haven't bored you to tears. Please comment! They are the entire reason for this switch!