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broodings from the burrow

December 22, 2017


virtual advent 2017: day 22
posted by soe 5:30 am

virtual advent tour

It’s the final Friday of our tour, which means we’re heading into the home stretch for getting everything done. Rudi and I are hitting the road for Connecticut imminently in our attempt to beat an ice storm to my folks’ place.

The song for the day comes from John Lennon via Vance Gilbert, a folk singer who attended the same college Rudi and I did (although a few years before our tenure). Vance has a big, distinctive voice and is one of those singers they’d ask to kick off the gospel hour Sunday morning during folk festivals, partly because he really didn’t need a microphone to reach even the tents furthest from the stage and a sense of humor that lends itself to side conversations with the ASL interpreters about the signs they were using.

Today the Virtual Advent Tour door opens on Molly Totoro of my cozy book nook. Molly is a regular Virtual Advent Tour contributor and one of the few folks from the original tour who’ve migrated with us. Today she has a post that’s near to my Nutmegger heart in which she recounts a funny story relating to the Feast of Seven Fishes and shares a recipe for one of the dishes.

See you tomorrow!

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flowering, replenishing, and warm
posted by soe 3:24 am

Pausing in the packing and cleaning to get a couple posts up.

Here are three beautiful things from my past week:

Orchid #2

1. Both my orchids have decided to bloom early this year. This week, the first buds on my second plant (which usually holds off until January) opened, which I thought was awfully nice of it, since I was going to be out of the office all next week.

2. Rudi was in New York City last week and before he caught his bus home he headed to the village to the shop where we buy our tea and picked up a couple types we were out of, which means I’ll still have favorite options in January, when I expected to have to opt between Darjeeling, Earl Grey, and Lapsang for every cup. (I like all of them, just not as much as Irish breakfast or Assam right now.)

3. In an age of climate change-induced disasters, it feels wrong to list a couple days of sunny and warm December days as beautiful. But it’s really hard not to appreciate them (and the ability to wear short sleeves and a jean jacket) when you know winter and its attendant weather is imminent.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

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