unraveling

Wednesdays mean Kat’s! So let’s link up —

part i {making}

I’m going to spare you some word count and just say there’s been….

…more of this (L). And this (R). Though I did find my yarn tag I thought I’d lost! The shawl yarn is Shibui Cima. (Now part of Madelinetosh.) 70% alpaca; 30% merino. No wonder it’s so nice to touch.

April’s high temps are done; now, on to May

It was so cold for Monday’s game, I wore mitts and my winter coat!

As for my summer tee I’d threatened —

No go.

I just…

…wasn’t excited. Which tells me? Not the right pattern. Or the right time. Both? Maybe.

Regardless —

I’ll sit on the yarn and…

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part ii {reading}

I finished two books this week, both authors a long time coming for me. Why it took so long to get to either, I don’t know. Except, like I told my mom, I just don’t know how I’ll ever get to them all.

(Fact of the matter is…I won’t! None of us will!)

At the encouragement of readers I respect, I read Pádraig Ó Tuama’s In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World. I’d previously heard him with Krista Tippet. I’ve read some of his poems. Listened to some. Then, assured I wouldn’t feel ‘outside of it’ because I don’t share his faith, I read this.

In the Shelter is memoir told through poetry, story, biblical reflection, and prose. In it, Ó Tuama tells us [some of] his story, through different lenses. Stories of discovering, spirituality, religion, sexuality, [not] belonging, conflict, faith, love, hurt.

I liked his poetry and personal stories most. If we sat down for coffee (or tea), I’d ask for more stories. (From his work at Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace + reconciliation organization. About his move from Ireland to Northern Ireland.) He is a passionate, extra-ordinary theologian, so there’s lots of Bible in this book. (The Bible’s hard for me.) (And it felt like there was lots.)

Because of that — and it was me, not him — there were times in the first third I wondered if I should keep reading. I did, and I’m glad I did — because I wanted to know him more. I wanted to know how he is the man he is in spite of the…challenges…of his [capital-C] Church. How he can love and show up and see the way he sees. (I mean it. How?) Then there’s the fascinating way I’d say he knows Jesus.

I think it’s safe to say Pádraig Ó Tuama’s a little more…evolved…than the average human.

Though it’s not from the book, this poem is one of my favorite things I’ve ever heard from him. It’s possibly one of the most beautiful poems I’ve ever heard, period. (If you want to skip the intro conversation, go to 1:58.)

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I also listened to Terry Tempest Williams read Erosion this week, and while they’re very different books, I had a similar response as when I read Rooted, by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, in January.

They both lifted — and grounded.

As is often the case with non-fiction for me, there were times she went in the weeds — and I spaced. Then I had to rewind and remind myself, Pay attention.

There were more moments this week when I stopped, rewound, to listen again and again. In particular, to her questions and beliefs and unbeliefs about God:

Less words; more mystery.

Yes. Yes. I’m right there with you.

If you choose books by their covers, this one’s a winner.

In Erosion: Essays of Undoing, TTW masterfully marries naturalism, Utah and the American West, Indigenous Americans, activism, hurdles with her religion, family, marriage, dogs*.

And death, whether of the wild or tamed. Her essay about her brother Dan’s death by suicide, and her companioning of him, along with her other brother Hank — it was unlike any non-fiction I’ve ever read.

"If I can learn to love death, then I can begin to find refuge in change." 
-- Terry Tempest Williams

In a strange way, Erosion is a love song to hope. The literal eroding of our landscape and bodies…and figurative erosion of faith, of trust in humankind…leaves a new surface, new face.

Therein lies possibility.

A previously unexpected hope.

And that’s a way I’d have never thought to look at things —

“Eroding and evolving, at once,” she says.

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(The order should really be dogs — then marriage.)

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What about you? What’re you up to this week?