We found ourselves lingering at the breakfast table this morning, nursing a cup of Peet’s house blend. Scott and Lily had left, after our post-walk coffee, but I couldn’t get myself to move somehow over to my trusty Mac to start the process of re-inserting myself into the ‘real’ world.
Embarrassed by my inactivity, I unpacked my new La Guiole tableware and hand washed them (this is what most of us guys bring home from a France trip, right?). I moved the trip wash along (though I’d done most of my trip clothes in Ameugny, hanging them to dry in the French country air).
For the last 26 days I haven’t uttered a single Tweet, I’ve ignored Facebook and all but the most urgent email. I’ve only blogged infrequently, and services like Plaxo and LinkedIn haven’t even crossed my mind.
It’s been bliss.
Of course, we’re home now, facing stacks of U.S. mail, UPS failed delivery notices and the usual stuff. But I really didn’t miss ’social media’ – maybe after a few months in France, I’d work it back into my schedule. Then again, maybe not…
David has been calling me the ‘bible fanatic’ since I started an adult study class at Taizé – interesting choice of words, considering David is a priest, and normally approves of such behavior.
The Taizé Freres, in any case, are thinking person’s Christians, and the class, led by Frere Emil, a Quebecois, has been much more intereting than I’d imagined. These sessions are more like those offered by theologians (Marcus Borg and John Kater come to mind) than the typical ‘bible study.’
Most of the people who come to Taizé are in the 17 to 24 age range: my adult class (age 40 and over) numbered about 50 when it commenced on Monday. Since then, spurred by the French holiday of Ascension, the numbers at Taizé have grown to more than 4,000, and my class to more than 300. The commentary is offered in French, German and English. We are split into small groups in the afternoon to further discuss the morning’s themes. Everyone is assigned a community service job: I am the morning infirmary driver…
We’ve put together a number of snaps taken this month in and around Ameugny into a collection I’m dubbing the Ameugny suite (currently on Picasaweb). Work remains to be done but I think some of these photos will be headed to the Gulker Photo Archives. We’re trying to get a handle on some of Ameugny’s photogenic residents, too…
It’s raining this morning in Ameugny, the first time in two weeks that le meteo, the weather report, has been accurate.
Linda and I donned our rain gear and walked the 3 mile loop to Taizé for the morning service, then home to croissants, scrambled eggs, stawberries and coffee. Linda paused by the Ameugny sign, the kind of photo that her father would have taken on an European trip…
We’ve seen photos of crop circles, but Linda and I glimpsed our first cow circle this morning as we walked the long way from Ameugny to Taizé. Apparently, one member of this Charolais herd didn’t get the memo about this morning’s arrangement…
