"is he grinning? I hope so." - I nearly toppled off my log! 😂
I'm glad you wove Zachariah in at the end. It makes me ponder whether the absence of any fatherly voice the whole time John was in the womb might have planted a seed for what was to come later... What was his mother whispering and singing over her unborn boy all those months..?
I love how the gospel of John wants to let us know that Jesus and his his besties, all them northerners found each other in the south, by the Jordan, surely all of them seeking an exit.
in Sonora we are about 2000 kilometres from Mexico City. I gather it's similar, its never been easy for the central powers to govern the northerners and the northerners have never been easy to tame. The territory is vast and the desert and its people are proud of their brutal honesty, to outsiders northern love is as prickly as the sahuaros that speckle the landscape.
It was just Saturday in conversation with Dougald and Andrew that I learned locusts as the insect rather than the fragrant, edible tree blossoms that we have in abundance here in these parts. Honey-glazed grasshoppers adds a depth to the story, and some protein. Much of this is new material for me, David. Thank you for your beautiful telling.
I have a friend who, being old enough to remember it, swears by the 1960s counter culture, and by how much it broke open. I asked him once, "what about all the chaos and overdoses, and disillusioning failures of those movements?" To which he said something like: "even so..." I find that sort of hopeful.
yes… ‘hope’ was very much a part of the general feeling at the time… a sense of connectedness to others …. and then mass culture money jumped all over it: you can be a ‘hippie’ by buying these jeans with holes already cut into the knees… I also remember when marijuana became a party thing, like beer, rather than a tool to explore your mind….
"is he grinning? I hope so." - I nearly toppled off my log! 😂
I'm glad you wove Zachariah in at the end. It makes me ponder whether the absence of any fatherly voice the whole time John was in the womb might have planted a seed for what was to come later... What was his mother whispering and singing over her unborn boy all those months..?
I find the grin and the wink are two very helpful hermeneutical devices.
I love how the gospel of John wants to let us know that Jesus and his his besties, all them northerners found each other in the south, by the Jordan, surely all of them seeking an exit.
Yes, I think the northerners/southerners divide in the gospels works much the same as it does in England. I'm not sure how it maps onto where you are?
in Sonora we are about 2000 kilometres from Mexico City. I gather it's similar, its never been easy for the central powers to govern the northerners and the northerners have never been easy to tame. The territory is vast and the desert and its people are proud of their brutal honesty, to outsiders northern love is as prickly as the sahuaros that speckle the landscape.
Extraordinary.
Illuminating, in this ongoing Roman peace / violence seemingly without end.
Thanks Caro. I believe Lydia is with you in York today. Blessings All.
We just had cake.
Obviously, I love this.x
Was very much improved by your input, thank you x
It was just Saturday in conversation with Dougald and Andrew that I learned locusts as the insect rather than the fragrant, edible tree blossoms that we have in abundance here in these parts. Honey-glazed grasshoppers adds a depth to the story, and some protein. Much of this is new material for me, David. Thank you for your beautiful telling.
I, on the other hand, am only just now learning from you about locust blossom. I never knew.
are honey glazed grasshoppers a thing? in mexico we have crispy chapulines in lime and chili powder, not at all bad.
You illuminate much of what we were thinking feeling doing some 60 years ago in our own explorations into the wood and wild.
I have a friend who, being old enough to remember it, swears by the 1960s counter culture, and by how much it broke open. I asked him once, "what about all the chaos and overdoses, and disillusioning failures of those movements?" To which he said something like: "even so..." I find that sort of hopeful.
yes… ‘hope’ was very much a part of the general feeling at the time… a sense of connectedness to others …. and then mass culture money jumped all over it: you can be a ‘hippie’ by buying these jeans with holes already cut into the knees… I also remember when marijuana became a party thing, like beer, rather than a tool to explore your mind….