a time to judge??

Sorry for the long silence. I've been busy managing the house while Will has been traveling and the church while my colleague is in Tanzania. I'll get my turn away next week at the Collegeville Institute's writing workshop "Writing is Believing."

I've also been enjoying our wonderful CSA produce and reading about the bounties of the earth in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Kingsolver's depiction of how her family decided to eat wholly local for a year is seductive. I'm jealous not only of their gardens but of the cooperative nature of the family project that led to the book. I would love for our family to be able to experiment together in such a way. . .maybe once they're all potty-trained.

I also love her mini-rant about the culture of manners in our society: it's of course unacceptable to steal or to chew with your mouth open, but if you suggest out loud that someone's choices might be stealing from future generations, that say, your neighbor's Hummer might be  a vulgar use of energy that others will pay for later in carbon emissions, you're being horribly PC. Will and I struggle mightily with instilling our children with our values without having them catch the not-so-Christian disdain we have for those who live -- in our oh-so-perfect judgment -- wastefully.