Siena!

ECCE!




Rahel and I spent the weekend with her father and his partner Anna Martin in the village of ColleVal d'Elsa, about 40k from Siena. It was an ideal weekend.









































Devotional candle lighting - even pros like me still need some religious instruction from time to time.

Over the Bounding Main....

My friend Justin took me sailing















I was in control of the jib while Justin had the rudder and main sail. He also took care of cannon firing, parrot tending, officiating at the plank and the majority of the cutlass brandishing (I helped).








Somehow we managed not to fall in...

Oxford - the Crepuscular Edition

This is the Biology Fortress: they do medical testing on animals, and it's usually under siege by a phalanx of protesters.




The Rhodes House. According to Dan, they still have Cecil Rhodes' strategic plans for the recolonization of America.













HERTFORD!









One is fined for walking on the grass, but sitting is fine.

Theology Faculty and Pusey House (for Owen)

Friday I meet up with Andrew and Catherine at the Keble Chapel for the Symes Abbott Lecture. Jane Shaw gave a very good talk on the relationship between belief, practice, religion and spirituality.



We had dinner at a cafe around the corner and decided to have a digestif at Catherine's.




After a brief stop in the Law Library we took a turn around Holywell Cemetery, were lots of Oxford Church types are buried, including Austin Farrer and Charles Williams.












The later it got, the less attractive the walk back to Cuddesdon sounded, and Catherine generously offered to let me stay in her guest room. The next morning I hung-out for a bit while they did minor gardening in preparation for a visit from her folks.
























It was another beautiful day, so I went to Christ Church Meadow and spent a couple of hours working on my sermon for Sunday.