une vacance!

I'm on vacation, just starting a week at glenmount.

i anticipate reacquainting myself with the marvels of autumn in old familiar spaces as i hike, cycle and run nearby and elsewhere on the Peninsula. This afternoon mom and i went rambling about on top of the escarpment and through 'our' planted forest - we gathered dainty dried weeds for one vase, and an armful of some wild micro-daisy variant of the mum family for another, a handful of brilliantly coloured oak and maple leaves, and topped off our found-harvest with puffball mushrooms to peel, dice and freeze for later nourishment and enjoyment in the form of velvet soup and savoury mushroom pie. we wondered if deer have been bedding down in the long grass. we delighted in the vigorous growth of the trees. we marvelled at the abundance of milkweed and the beauty of it's seedbearing silken tufts being liberated from the split pods and dancing en plein air.
...for the beauty of the earth, we praise you, Lord...

i expect to savour more delicious home-cooked meals featuring garden produce and the local harvest. On the weekend, i feasted among friends in London. Local features included homegrown pears and maple syrup in a salad, 'volunteer' acorn squash that grew out of dirt spread from Tim and Ericka's compost pile - halved and baked with that same family-sugared-off maple syrup, and ON apples grated into waffle batter and tossed into fruit salad. This evening, Mom, Dad and i enjoyed garden fresh beans and Canadian quinoa (from NorQuin in SK) with hearty and flavourful vegan Egyptian stew. i gathered a huge bowl of cherry tomatoes this afternoon, and noticed the abundance of ripening peppers, and the carrotts, beets and potatoes ready for the digging at any time.
... for abundant provision and the ability to participate in cultivating nourishing food,
we give thanks...

i do have some work to accomplish, so i've set up some home-office space here and the list of tasks is incrementally shortening, although some major ones should be written on in huge font - to remind me of their largess, and to increase the satisfaction in crossing out when that right is finally earned!
... for calling, intelligence, and capability - for your glory and your unfolding purposes...

i look forward to more reading - for work (research and critical appraisal preps)
and for induling other interests...
Here's the list of books I currently have on the go:
'Napoleon's Buttons: 17 Molecules that changed history',
'GRUB: ideas for urban organic kitchens' (Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry)
'57 Words that Change the World: A Journey through the Lord's Prayer' (Darrell R Johnson),
'Mudhouse Sabbath' (Lauren Winner)
...with gratitude for opportunities to learn from the past, marvel in your creation's complexity, live purposefully in the present, hope for a better future, and have faith in Your kingdom coming fully for forever...

and to spending more time with
friends -
on the weekend in London i savoured time to visit with Ericka & Tim, Kelly, Kent, Brent, Quang, Agnes, Fred & Hazel. tomorrow i'm meeting up with Carolyn for the evening, and Wednesday night is reserved for Corinna. there will be familiar faces and new ones too as others join in to fill the house for Thanksgiving weekend here.
and family -
i enjoy being in the company of my parents, lingering over meals and working away at various projects in and around glenmount as we talk on matters of greater and lesser significance. this weekend it will be wonderful to spend time with Jack and Carrie, and to chat with Jody on the phone all together and by turns. Our cousins and their boys from Ancaster will be here for the weekend too, welcome additions to the household anytime!
... with thanks for creating relational humanity, and for placing me within this family and these ever-evolving circles of community...

and now, for sleep...