Thursday, March 02, 2006

snow & lent

Medieval snow: from the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry.

It started snowing early here in New York and now the roofs and the quad here at Columbia are dusted with white and the heavy gray sky is now letting fall freezing rain. A nice quiet afternoon for reading calmly about medieval Spain, which is what I should be doing anyway.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and for once the ashes on my head lingered there all day. I like Lent, its solemnity brings me back to myself in many ways. University life makes Advent difficult to appreciate, as things build to a frenzy just before Christmas and the teaching and grading load becomes unbearable. But Lent is somewhat easier, coming in the middle of the semester just when I need to be both disciplined and serious, allowing me both religion and study.

What does one say? "Happy Lent" doesn't seem quite right. I hope everyone has the Lent they need.

3 comments:

Talmida said...

We finally have snow here too. It makes up for the brown Christmas. There's something wrong about a brown Christmas in Canada.

:)

crystal said...

Hi Liam. Thanks for your comment about Ignacio Ellacuria. I write short stories too ... visited your stories page - very nice! :-)

Liam said...

Crystal,
Thanks for stopping by and for stopping by the website as well. It's nice to know my poor orphan stories still get visited from time to time.