Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

With three weeks or so left of the Spring semester, I can really identify with the persona in Robert Frost's famous little poem. Especially the last couplet.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Fahrvergnügen and Nichole Nordeman

I like Monday nights. I love the Spiritual and Ministry Formation class. Dr. Douglass always offers great insights. And, afterwards, I always enjoy the discussions with the other students in the class. Everyone seems to linger after this class, perhaps thanks to the coffee and St. Louis Bread Co. pastries that are served. It's a nice experience, and I gain some real insights from both the class and after class conversations.

And, then it is nice just thinking everything over on the way home. It was a beautiful night, and a nice night for a drive. As I drove along in my VW Bug and enjoyed the unique feel of a German vehicle connecting with the road on the nice, windy roads around Covenant, I thought, “yes, this fits the idea of fahrvergnügen perfectly.” I flipped on the CD player to find last time I had listened to it (which was a few weeks ago, actually, I often just listen to XM), I had been listening to Nichole Nordeman, so I picked up where I had left off. Nordeman's music fit perfectly on the drive. I had been contemplating the music and words of the traditional Doxology yesterday, so Nordeman's “Doxology”/”My Offering” were especially fitting.

It was a good night.

Rumors of My Demise...

…have been greatly exaggerated. Again. I'm still here, I've just been very busy on a web development project. I'm hoping to find time to blog on some theological topics soon. Particularly, “mystery,” the term “practical theology” and other odds and ends. One of these days, I need to return to my attempt to define what the word literature means too.

Early Mornings

I have early morning commitments three days, but as someone who is somewhat of a night owl (though not to an extreme, I usually go to bed between 12 and 1), I find it hard to actually fall asleep earlier every other night or so.

Now, I must go try, at least.

Really Cold, Even When Its Warm

I realized how cold it was today when it went above freezing and I felt warm. But, perhaps more revealing would be the rivers. Both the Missouri and the Mississippi have major pieces of ice in them for the first time I can remember in years. It's probably easy been five years since I've seen that, only it is frozen far more than normal. Up by Alton, the majority of the extra wide portion of the Mississippi right before the dam is just a giant sheet of waves frozen into ice.

Very pretty.

I got some great eagle pictures today. If I get some time, I'll upload some of them.

Incidentally, I see I received a lot of response to my last post. I spent the night doing technical support (heh) so reading the thread will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm behind

…on everything other than school (good thing, since I've only been at CTS for a day, eh?). I have articles to write, church stuff to do, e-mails to reply to, pictures to download to my computer, some programming work… And, I need to get back to some of my writing projects too.

But, what would I do if I ever got it all done?

I really will post one of these days....

A long time has past
Since I did post normal posts
But I will return.

(Hopefully y'all will still be reading at that point.)

Like a Truck Hit Me

I've done very little since I got home this afternoon. After barely sleeping last night and getting up at 6:30 this morning to go to orientation at Covenant (which went from 8:00-3:00, if you count the Biblical content exam, and took place in various rooms that were not properly heated), I felt like a truck had hit me. While I feel better now, I am going to go to bed. Time for church will come early tomorrow.

The Generators are Roaring

I can hear generators roaring all around as I write this. Despite all of the lines around here being buried up to the road, most of the neighborhood is dark. Somehow, I've been fortunate enough to have power throughout.

Even better, the storms appear to be warming up, so maybe that'll keep any new layers of ice from falling and breaking more trees. I hope.

The Second Wave

It looks like more ice is on the way, and given the existing coating, I'm expecting a lot of trees to fall. If they do, who knows if the power will remain on. In such a case, I may be offline for a few days. Hope y'all are having a good weekend.