Tuesday, August 09, 2005

A Little Bit of Contemplation

We have just returned from a very nice, quiet week away by a lake in North Georgia - with grateful thanks to friends who let us use their holiday home. My wife and I read about five books each; one of these was, “Is Paris Burning”? An account of the Allied liberation of Paris, and the preceding French uprising there. Riveting stuff, actually.

As you do on these kinds of holidays, we took a few trips, but not enough to spoil the resting!

As a Georgia Tech fan, we ventured into enemy territory, on a visit to Athens, and the University of Georgia “Bulldogs” campus. A nice little town surrounds the college grounds, with a fairly decent Indian restaurant, where we ate our lunch.

We also took a scamper around old Gainesville on another day, which is really a small square dotted with teashops and little bistro’s. Amidst these, we found a “British” shop, filled with goodies from home, and lots of bits and bobs, and run by a very nice man called Sonny – though he’s not English. Dinner that night was a grilled batch of real bangers (sausages) with English Heinz baked beans, and toast- quite delicious! Yum!!

One book that I finished was the excellent, “A Call to Intimacy”, by Tony Horsfall, now published in the USA as “Rhythms of Grace”. A real gem of a book – introducing the contemplative and classic Spiritual Disciplines to Evangelicals and Charismatics. Very well done, practical, and very much needed.

I hope you find a good place to rest body and soul before the summer is concluded and the nights start to draw in again. I believe Daylight Savings Time is going to be extended in a few years time. How I wish we could have this done for holidays, so that they lasted longer!

Cheers!