I'm going for a walk or, rather, a month-long sabbatical from blogging.I have a lot of things to think about and a lot of things to do. Spending time on my blog is advancing none of those things.
My children are all, more or less, back in college. Embrace your lives. That's all I would really tell them. The time is much shorter than you think. You already know that people crash their cars, fall out of windows, succumb to cancer, waste away from regret. All of those possibilties apply to you as well. Find things you love and do them. Find people you love and be with them. Clean house on occasion. (The latter is not metaphorical advice. It is literal advice.)
I am reading Kristin Lavransdatter , and The Reluctant Parting (excellent book; not new material to me but a helpful perspective to a Christian teaching World History in a Jewish school), and The Gospel of Mark v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y (not my favorite of the four but it was, ahem, recommended)(KL was recommended by the same person at the same time. Those Jesuits.) and about a dozen other books.
In the Life's Coincidences (or not) category, I had just started KL when I was driving down to North Carolina a few weeks ago and flipped to a station playing music I recognized as something I had once known well, but could not for the life of me place. As I drove into the mountains of Tennessee and the station began to crackle away, I hoped desperately that an announcer would quickly make the piece known. It turned out, of course, to be Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites. I probably hadn't heard that music in 25 years, but I'm listening to it all the time now as I read Kristin Lavransdatter.
My students are engaged, to varying degrees, in the Sumerians and the Native American cultures of a millenia ago and British mercantilism. I have plenty of papers to read.
I am going to Pittsburgh and Chicago and Oregon this fall. Not bad for someone who broke the bank this past summer. Destroyed it, actually.
I might post some photos once in awhile. I've been playing with these (click to enlarge) from the Graveyard Fields trail in the Pisgah Forest. I would drive, and have driven, ten hours to stand in the exact spot in the Yellowstone Prong of the Pigeon River pictured above. And there's a spot a few minutes walk further, pictured below, that works perfectly when you need to sit on an ancient Appalachian slab where a silent pool lies before you and water sings over rocks behind you.
October 2. I might come back.
17 comments:
Don't you dare go away for good. I will not allow it.
Oregon. This fall. I live in Oregon. Please don't forget....
You are such a gifted photographer.
I will miss your blog entries... hope you return as planned. The second photo in this entry is now the background photo on my computer. What a peaceful scene. Your advice to your children was wonderful but I bet they won't really "get it" for another 30 years or so.
Damn, I'm going to miss you, but enjoy the walk and then tell us all about it.
Robin, I have read the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy twice. Loved it even more the 2nd time.
I was in the area of the Pigeon River you photographed just today. Am feeling a HUGE longing to put on my pack and walk off into those mountains to smell the smells, hear the heartbeat of the mountains in the rushing water, see the mists settle in for the night, etc. Oh! I need those mountains now!
It's good to step back once in a while. Sometimes our inner lives demand it. Take care and enjoy the walk.
Have a good break but please come back.
I will miss your blog. I hope you return as planned or sooner.
Oh, my dear, one of my favorite Searchers, I don't like that last word "MIGHT" (stamping my foot). We'll all feel the loss if you don't come back. You're always such a great source of travel ideas, soulful wisdom, enthralling photos, and intelligent reading recommendations. My only consolation is that I think you've taken breaks before and come back. I sincerely hope you do.
Love and best wishes in your quest for the next direction in your life,
*debbi*
Robin, I will miss you if you don't return. I know my comments have been few and far between, but I always read.
Have a nice break and walk. But I hope you do come back in October.
Oh, dear, GG. I'll miss you! I hope you do return to the blogosphere after a good time of sabbath and discernment.
Harrumph. I do not recall being consulted about this.
I am thinking of you.
judi
Enjoy your walk, but PLEASE come back. I always love coming here and reading your words.
Judi
p.s. - I read Kristin Lavransdatter years ago, and loved it.
These are two very places. I would drive as long as it took to see them too.
I hope that you are refreshed by your blogging break and will come back to us. You will be missed.
Too bad PA is such a BIG state....any chance you'll be travelling further east?
So - I finally return and you are off! I can say nothing! Except that I hope you profit from the rest and that you will return refreshed. You will return, won't you?
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