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The arthritis in my hands has gotten so bad that it became difficult to open a can with a manual can opener. So, over the objections of HWMBO, I bought an electric can opener. It is fabulous. I wish I'd bought it in time to open the four cans of minced clams I used in the last clam chowder I made for HWMBO.
I am going to begin shedding some of the offices I hold in the Diocese of Southwark. I will be 61 in a few months, my health, while OK, isn't great, and I'm getting tired of always attending meetings. As I announce them publicly, I'll mention them here and on Facebook.
I'm having these stirrings that I really need to return to the Southern Hemisphere to visit some of the places I didn't get to in March and April. Queensland, Perth, and Darwin in Australia, the South Island of New Zealand, and who knows where else? I do have a bit of cash left from that trip and I've not spent any since I returned. Watch this space. I am conscious that I've not written up the rest of my trip here. I do have kind of a Facebook record of it so I'll be visiting that as well as uploading pictures to Flickr.
I am continually amazed at how much I am enjoying The New Yorker. I've done without it for almost 20 years, since I moved here from San Francisco, but the fact that I can read it on my iPad or iPhone means that I don't even have to take the paper magazine out of its wrapper. I don't seem to be able to get them to deliver it to me solely online, but I expect that as time goes on they will allow that.
The New Yorker also seems to have become an Anglophile since I read it last. This is good, in a way, as being in England I have a vested interest in things English, but I wonder whether the US readership is as interested.
I have also downloaded lots of ebooks to my Kindle/iPad/iPhone. This will stand me in good stead when I am mired in a waiting room, or the next time I'm imprisoned in the hospital. There are some books that are just too interesting to keep around for those eventualities, though. Zealot, by Reza Aslan, is one of those books. There was an interesting video of an interview Faux News did of Aslan, in which the interviewer seemed to believe that only a Christian could write a book about Jesus. This is nearly the silliest assertion I've heard this year. I've also seen a set of tweets from Aslan in which, while defending himself, he has kind of a potty mouth. That, of course, doesn't bother me. But it all makes me wonder what brings out the foul language in people when they sit in front of a computer monitor and keyboard.
So far, the book is quite interesting and, while I don't agree with everything he says, I do think that he's a serious scholar who does need to be taken very seriously indeed. Future writers who wish to touch on the historical Jesus question will have to engage with what Aslan has written. Those of us who are people of a Christian faith will have to engage Aslan's book within ourselves. I also downloaded his book about Islam, which I will read after this book.
I also have bought some dead tree books, but I'm really getting annoyed with authors and publishers who are not allowing their books to be sold as ebooks. I have shelfloads of dead tree books here, and I'm tired of it. Ebooks, for better or for worse, are the way the future looks and publishers and authors who aren't allowing their books to be digitised risk being left behind. It is amazing to start reading a book on my Kindle Fire, then continue it at the place where I left off on my iPad, and then continue yet again when I'm out and about on my iPhone.
The weather here's been frightful. We had a three-week heatwave after the wettest and coldest spring in a while. Now the heatwave has gone away (at least for now), but who knows what August will bring.
HWMBO and I will be travelling to Marblehead in October. I would have preferred September but his job heats up in September so he's not free to travel. We will be trying to get to the Topsfield Fair. After he departs for London I will probably go to New York City and Buffalo to see friends and perhaps even Niagara Falls (...slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch...) This is all assuming that my health remains fair to good.
I continually think of tidbits that I resolve to post here, but don't get around to. If I think of any more, I'll try to be more assiduous.
I am going to begin shedding some of the offices I hold in the Diocese of Southwark. I will be 61 in a few months, my health, while OK, isn't great, and I'm getting tired of always attending meetings. As I announce them publicly, I'll mention them here and on Facebook.
I'm having these stirrings that I really need to return to the Southern Hemisphere to visit some of the places I didn't get to in March and April. Queensland, Perth, and Darwin in Australia, the South Island of New Zealand, and who knows where else? I do have a bit of cash left from that trip and I've not spent any since I returned. Watch this space. I am conscious that I've not written up the rest of my trip here. I do have kind of a Facebook record of it so I'll be visiting that as well as uploading pictures to Flickr.
I am continually amazed at how much I am enjoying The New Yorker. I've done without it for almost 20 years, since I moved here from San Francisco, but the fact that I can read it on my iPad or iPhone means that I don't even have to take the paper magazine out of its wrapper. I don't seem to be able to get them to deliver it to me solely online, but I expect that as time goes on they will allow that.
The New Yorker also seems to have become an Anglophile since I read it last. This is good, in a way, as being in England I have a vested interest in things English, but I wonder whether the US readership is as interested.
I have also downloaded lots of ebooks to my Kindle/iPad/iPhone. This will stand me in good stead when I am mired in a waiting room, or the next time I'm imprisoned in the hospital. There are some books that are just too interesting to keep around for those eventualities, though. Zealot, by Reza Aslan, is one of those books. There was an interesting video of an interview Faux News did of Aslan, in which the interviewer seemed to believe that only a Christian could write a book about Jesus. This is nearly the silliest assertion I've heard this year. I've also seen a set of tweets from Aslan in which, while defending himself, he has kind of a potty mouth. That, of course, doesn't bother me. But it all makes me wonder what brings out the foul language in people when they sit in front of a computer monitor and keyboard.
So far, the book is quite interesting and, while I don't agree with everything he says, I do think that he's a serious scholar who does need to be taken very seriously indeed. Future writers who wish to touch on the historical Jesus question will have to engage with what Aslan has written. Those of us who are people of a Christian faith will have to engage Aslan's book within ourselves. I also downloaded his book about Islam, which I will read after this book.
I also have bought some dead tree books, but I'm really getting annoyed with authors and publishers who are not allowing their books to be sold as ebooks. I have shelfloads of dead tree books here, and I'm tired of it. Ebooks, for better or for worse, are the way the future looks and publishers and authors who aren't allowing their books to be digitised risk being left behind. It is amazing to start reading a book on my Kindle Fire, then continue it at the place where I left off on my iPad, and then continue yet again when I'm out and about on my iPhone.
The weather here's been frightful. We had a three-week heatwave after the wettest and coldest spring in a while. Now the heatwave has gone away (at least for now), but who knows what August will bring.
HWMBO and I will be travelling to Marblehead in October. I would have preferred September but his job heats up in September so he's not free to travel. We will be trying to get to the Topsfield Fair. After he departs for London I will probably go to New York City and Buffalo to see friends and perhaps even Niagara Falls (...slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch...) This is all assuming that my health remains fair to good.
I continually think of tidbits that I resolve to post here, but don't get around to. If I think of any more, I'll try to be more assiduous.
