As Many...

As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ....Alleluia!

Celebrating Hermione's symbolic death and resurrection in Christ, at Christ the Saviour Orthodox church in Ottawa. Her baptism was full of grace and love and the holiness of the sacrament. We were blessed to have the parish choir surrounding us with song (the musical tradition of the Eastern Church is really incredible, and this church has an amazing choir). Typically the whole parish shows up and shouts Sealed! for the chrismation...a powerful reminder that the body of Christ is a human body made of human members, as well as a mystical body. An organic unity.

Our journey to Eastern Christianity has been marked by what Will and I keep noticing as a peaceful integration between the human and divine, between tradition and charisma, between holiness and practicality, truth and love, past and present.

I would like to write more about it, but for now we are just basking in the glow of our tiny newborn saint.

Mirkwood and such

Garden man

(Don't call me garden man)

Matthias's birthday falls on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins. We are shameless Tolkien fans here. So much so, that Will would not allow me to name one of our beloved family dogs after Tolkien, because it was sacrilegious or something.

I foresee a lifetime of hobbit-themed birthday parties for Matthias. (Fortunately he is fond of hobbits so far.) Hugh made an enormous spider web out of string for the party-goers to hack down. It was pretty cool. We failed, alas, to get a photo of the Smaug that Willy painted for the partiers to shoot with bow and arrows. He also made some dangerous wooden arrows and I was terrified that one of our small guests would get shot. They kept wandering into the path of the arrows and I kept having to sweep them aside.

Will's garden was an overflowing cornucopeia of jungle this year, such a joy in late summer. As I write frost has taken down most of it, but we are still eating the kale and cabbages (yum! Or not...) calendula and cilantro. Cilantro is amazing. It makes Quick-Do-Something-With-The-Tomatoes-Before-They-Rot salsa taste awesome, and it doesn't seem to die. How does a plant that grows so happily in Mexico and Vietnam survive frost in Canada? Magic, I say.