Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…

Last night I went out and bought some school supplies, with the excuse that I had a rebate coupon that was about to expire and that I had some project planning to do and needed those supplies.  Truth be told, I could feel summer drawing to a close and the world gearing up to go back to school and, well, I felt left out.  I have spent a lot of years of my life in one kind of school or another and the tug of the approaching start of class was just too strong on my psyche to resist.  I have joked that I might need a 12-step group to…

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignright" width="150"] Goya's majos and majas[/caption] As I sit here, getting ready to head out to La Rambla, the big Madrid market -- apparently THE place to be for any resident of Madrid on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but think how different this trip to Madrid has been for me.  While I won't go so far as to say that I have become a maja (although I do play one on the stage...ha), I think that I have been an honorary Madrileña for these weeks.  That is just the Spanish word for a resident of Madrid. I think that everyone has a personal travelling style and, while…

Yesterday, I realized that I had been somewhat silent during June...yes, I was quite busy this month but that doesn't usually stop me from having something to say or something that I need to process by writing about it. A couple of days ago, while speaking with my spiritual director, I realized that, for a great deal of the month of June I had been experiencing something new -- freedom, peace, and contentment.  I have been, as the Psalmist might say, standing on the broad plain. No, I have not been continuing my Mexican vacation, sitting on the beach with pina colada in my hand.  In fact, I've been working…

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignright" width="300"] My writing perch...[/caption] Let me begin with some full disclosure here:  by the time I post this, I will be back at home and at my desk.  But as I'm actually writing it, I'm sitting at a wooden table on a deck overlooking the Caribbean Sea just off the Yucatan Penninsula.  I am coming to the close of what may be one of the most perfect vacation days, in a life filled with many blessed, beautiful days of vacation all over the world.  This may very well be the best of all possible days. So, why am I thinking about "embracing the imperfection"?  Well, it is…

Every once in a while a word comes along that captures my imagination, and for the past week or so it has been this word, new to me:  dialogic.  I come from one of those families where the parental response to the question "what does  (fill in the blank) mean?" was a trip to the dictionary and then an evening spent using the new word in conversation around the dinner table.  I still run to the dictionary, albeit an online one, and sometimes a word just seems to continue to seek my attention.  That's what is happening with dialogic. At first glance, it doesn't seem a difficult word; I've had…