asteroid B612

There are days in May that just confirm that it is summer. Today is one of them. My darkened arms, itchy neck, and tanned toes bear testimony to the hours spent in the sun in the garden this morning. The Hamiltons (our pastor) are vacation, and I'm the garden sitter. It is summer. I picked 6 green peppers, 2 tomatoes, and bunches of green beans. It is summer. The sun beat down in the degree area of mid-80's. It is summer. The pile of weeds I collected was a mature, settled amount.
I think I'll go cut up that watermelon...

Last night we went across the lake to visit another church family. They have 6 kids, and the three oldest are in ballet. Since we won't be in town this weekend for their recital, we had hoped to at least see the rehearsal, but the trip over was a bit longer than expected due to traffic. So we went over to their house for dinner. The oldest kid is a girl, and the rest are boys. It was a good time of fellowship, and getting to know them better.

I'm buckling down on the dirt in this place. Chris (mostly) and I have kept it fairly under control for decency of living while I've been in school, but every once in a while we need a big clean. Today I cleaned out from under the bed, which is organized as a handy storage area, but also a breeding place for dust bunnies. I feel accomplished. I need to start working on my papers for my incompletes...so I'll probably organize the rest of time around cleaning a little, reading a little, cleaning, reading, etc.

Nick put this up on his blog, and I was very moved by it. Calvin's catechism for young children. I had never read it, and I'm glad it came by my way. Thanks, Nick!

The New Orleans art museum has a special exhibition contrasting the lives of Jefferson and Napolean...the dealers of the Louisiana Purchase. The Christian Science Monitor has a great article that is fashioned as a report, but also raises important historical questions, such as the use of art by Jefferson and Napolean to portray a certain image of themselves as ruler.

Chris pulled up in his fixed car and said, "Let's go see The Matrix!" So we did. Fun. Predictable. Interminable fighting scenes. They could've cut the time of the movie in half if they had cut out unnecessary prolongation of fight scenes, which were in a word, boring. Without the allusions, it would be a rather cardboard movie.

Yea..I don't know what I think about all this Matrix (first and second, the latter of which I haven't seen yet) stuff. It seems that "religious"/philosophical/existential/whatever studies that really pump it for all its worth in metaphors go a bit too far. In some ways, it's just the quintessential hero drama retold. But with tintillating names to spark the imagination. Yea, I want to the sequel, but I'm not looking for deeply profound experience.

I just enjoy this new movable type set-up so much that I enjoy posting whether or not I have much to say other than daily biographical happenings.

This weekend I've been catchin' up with church folks. I feel a little more able to face the world. We had fellowship lunch (will there ever be a satisfying name for that function?) at church yesterday, and today I have literally spent all day chatting. I ran by our wonderful, authentic French boulangerie this morning and picked up some croissants and a baguette and headed over to Divina's. And she had a pot of coffee, and we sat and ate and chatted for hours. It was like old times. It was such catharsis to go to her house my first year here. Even though our conversations aren't really deep, the company was so nice. We were going to go swimming, but Chris wanted to finish his car. So we went to the another church family's house where he and their son have been working on his car...wretched contraption that it is. So I chatted with Cari (who is Divina's sister). So now it's evening, and I think I've had my allotted coffee portion of the week.

We do do other things besideds watching movies, but frankly, for relaxation we don't have much energy to do anything besides watch movies. And we just like to watch movies. So that is my one-time apologetic for watching movies. I guess I shouldn't feel so self-conscious about it. I was raised in a non-watching movie home (not exclusively, but minimally), so maybe that's why I need to explain...whatever...

Anyway...last night, we watched Analyze That. I though Analyze This was pretty funny in a one-timey kind of way. And we were in the mood for something dumb, so I rented the sequel. Well, I actually thought the sequel was better...at least it was a better plot, though maybe not as good for laughs. But recommendable in a light, one-timey kind of way. Froth would be my official term.

Christian Science Monitor's movie guide is a great source of new releases and gives decent reviews.

We watched The Emporer's Club the other night. About a teacher (Kevin Kline) of ancient Greek and Roman history at a preppy boys' school in New England...and basically it's about how the teacher finds meaning and virtue in being a teacher. The characters and plot, though, don't have time to develop, so it ends up being kind of a washed out Dead Poets' Society kind of thing.

Another recently watched film that was really terrific, was a Japanese film Afterlife. About people when they die, they a week to choose their favorite memory from their life, a panel recreates that memory for them on film, and that is what they are left with for eternity. Very interesting.

Last night we went to the home of a new church family for dinner. Four kids aged five and under...very well-behaved and a lot of fun...and convinced that if they begged hard enough that I would sleep over (??).

Today I played 5 part viola da gamba music for hours and hours. I'm just exhausted. I done this before with the same group of people, and it's been a lot of fun, but this time none of the music was all that exciting until the very end, and by then, I was just exhausted.

Chris is fixing his car.

It's hot. It's summer. In NOLA we have a couple of months of summer, then a couple of months of super-summer, then a couple of months of summer, and then it's Thanksgiving!

I'm beginning to feel a bit more rested, and a bit more willing to face the world. Though, I still sit in silence with my thoughts at home...only venturing out if I absolutely must. (And since I promised Chara Grace that I would come play today, it appears that I must.)

I've been enjoying the time with a bit of study. Trying to define for myself what the Scriptures, and not cultural institutions and presuppositions around me, say about being a woman. There's an incredible amount of crap out there under the heading "biblical manhood and womanhood" and "Christian wifrey," and frankly I don't want to have anything to do with it, which makes it all the more necessary to consult Scripture. I've been reading for the first time Matthew Henry's commentary. He's right up my alley, too, being a 17th c fella. So lucid and profound in a short amount of space. I like that. I don't have patience to read reams to get to the point.

I thought my little study would take me the morning, but I quickly see that it will take me a lifetime. Silly me. It's mid-afternoon and I haven't gotten past the first few chapters of Genesis! What is interesting is the use of the word "man." It means male and female. We all know that, right? But the implications for that, and in light of this our responsibility to creation, perhaps we haven't quite thought through as extensively. "Man," as male and female, is made in the image of God. There are three aspects, according to Henry, of being made in the image of God: 1. It is our soul in its understanding, will, and active power that bear God's image. (God does not have a body, so our bodies do not bear His image.), 2. We bear power and authority...in governing the creatures and in self-governance, and 3. Consisting in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, which we are able to have anew in Christ, after the loss of purity in the fall. And the creation of "man," as male and female, has come with the blessings of fruitfulness and increase.

So what's my point? I don't know. I think sometimes we subconsciously associate "dominion" with men, and "fruitfulness" with women. But there's nothing here that makes that distinction. It is as if one person ("man") is doing all these things. We may know this mentally already, but it doesn't look like that when I see the tasks, enterprises, and mindsets that women and men set forth on and function in.