The Eagle & Child

What I need more than anything these days is time and space to think.  And maybe breathe.  Think and breathe.  Right now is the time that I’d like to claim last year’s birthday present from Dixie: a silent retreat or a weekend at a retreat centre of some kind.  It feels like life is barrelling [...]

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Be careful to preserve your health. It is a trick of the devil, which he employs to deceive good souls, to incite them to do more than they are able, in order that they may no longer be able to do anything. – St. Vincent de Paul via A lesson many of us could learn.  [...]

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I’ve been wearing my Cross Mr. Grumpy Face (Adrian Plass) for a couple of days, due to a combination of fatigue, stress, and being fed-up with the kids’ behaviour (and each cause accelerates the next).  For a while I felt like I had been yelling at the kids for two days straight.  However, I received [...]

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The material for my Patristic Fathers seminary course has arrived.  I’m looking at 2,000 pages of reading (which all looks interesting), not including whatever I’ll be reading for the research paper , plus lectures (on CD) and assignments.  I have 8 months to complete everything, but it still looks a bit daunting at this stage. [...]

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I’ve been holding off posting about this, but Phil W. kind of outed me in his comment on my previous post, which is perfectly fine, since I had no good reason not to post about it.  I’ve simply been holding my cards close to my chest again. So…I’ve been hired by our church to work [...]

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Me: What is your occupation? Client: Hairstylist… Me: (writing) “Hairstylist.” Client: …and esthetician. Me: Hairstylist and anaesthetician?  That’s an interesting combination. Client: ESThetician. Me: Oh, I see. . . What is that? Client: (tries to explain) Me: I’ll just put “Hairstylist”. _____________ – esthetician: someone who specializes in the study of skin care. – anaesthetist: [...]

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Part of my job is to pay out people’s mortgages when they sell their homes.  I request a payout statement in advance, but some banks or some mortgage types require confirmation of the payout amount on the day you plan on paying.  Today I called a bank to do just that.  (This bank has, confusingly, [...]

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