Frost on the Deck and Grass

Temps drop into the 30's at night now, and skies have been overcast for a few days. All the red maple leaves are gone now, as are most of the golden birch and poplar, leaving only the deep blue-green of the spruce, pines and cedar. Several of you have asked what I have been reading. I move between relaxing with novels and not reading newspapers (except the local Cook County Herald) which is odd because I come from a family of newspaper readers and I always "eat" the paper with my breakfast. We find we are "channeling" our parents, and are into a nightly habit of early evening news before supper and then late night wrap-up with the BBC. Fiction-wise, I found that reading both Marilyanne Robinson's "Gilead" and Alice Hoffman's "Blue Diary" have pushed me to think in new ways about forgiveness....about premature or unrealistic forgiveness and the difference between admitting/confession and real repentance (Hoffman), as well as forgiveness when the offence is once-removed from oneself (Robinson). Interesting stuff, and got me thinking about our IPC program on forgiveness with Fred Luskin (probably our most popular forum). I've also been plowing through my required reading for my first interim ministry training in December, which has alot to do with helping congregations in transition (which invariably involves all different levels of confession and forgiveness, now that I think of it). One of my Yale Div School classmates in Minneapolis loaned me the funny and poignant "Children of God Go Bowling" which I enjoyed. When I want to just drift a bit, I read cookbooks and have re-discovered a great receipe for a six-onion soup (can you guess what they are?) from "The Silver Palate Cookbook" which tasted delicious. Grey October days make great soup weather, as the evening darkens sooner and we stuff more logs in the woodstove.

-Anne