There’s a little bit of seasonal humor in the air in the Sunday funnies. Today’s FoxTrot is all about the spice, pumpkin spice, that is. It’s not something that I find particularly appealing, but it’s definitely become part of culture these last few years.
But it’s today’s classic Calvin and Hobbes that captures something fun, important, and true about autumn. It’s also another visually beautiful comic.
Week two of fall break has felt significantly different than week one. Week on was full of movies; week two has been full of board/dice games. Week one was about wrapping up the first quarter; week two has been about setting up quarter two. One thing both week have in common is the (mostly) planned maintenance work: car service, dermatologist, regular doctor visit with prerequisite blood work. I guess this week feels a little heavier because of the last two. My routine hasn’t quite gelled as much this week, either (maybe because of the Monday holiday?). But no complaints. The weeks have gone well.
This was my first time ever not going on the school’s fall-break England trip. I knew on the last trip that it would likely be my last. It hasn’t been as sad as I thought it might be, checking for updates and pictures from the trip over the last week. And I’ve had my own bit of England and Scotland with me via the latest Rivers of London and Impossible Creatures books and The Hardacres and Lynley on BritBox. I’ve also gotten glimpses of that part of the world via Andrew Root’s latest, A Pilgrimage into Letting Go (which he wrote with his wife). The book follow’s their family’s pilgrimage to follow the trail of St. Cuthbert along the English/Scottish borderlands (including a quiet stop at Jedburgh, which I’ve visited a few times myself). So out of sight but not out of mind, I suppose.
I do believe that I’ve become a big fan of “maintenance” work, I just wish I didn’t wait until my late 40s to really do it. It’s a little bit like “scaffolding” a long-term assignment for students: layering things with regular check-ins instead of waiting until the very end to see what ultimately happens. Life is more the latter than the former, I’m afraid. So hopefully better late than never with the “maintenance word” of everyday life.
Last week marked ten years since the release of Andrew Peterson’s The Burning Edge of Dawn. It’s an album that has brought much encouragement to me over this last decade, the opening track in particular. Here’s a version of “The Dark Before the Dawn” that I’ve likely shared before; it’s so good that it’s worth sharing again, I think.
Lots of fun in the Sunday funnies, but a classic Calvin and Hobbes takes the title.
FoxTrot has some fun seasonal humor, with Jason trying to use tree-and-property knowledge to his advantage.
Canines end up basking in a better light than people in today’s full-sized Frazz comic.
But it’s today’s classic Calvin and Hobbes that stands outs. It’s the perfect blend of story and art, with a final panel that reminds you of how beautiful line drawings can be (especially when they are wonderfully covered).
And so fall break begins, not with a bang but with a . . . drizzle? (And a not unwelcome one at that.)
Today marks the first full day of fall break, which isn’t totally accurate because an odd overlap almost always exists between the old quarter ending, the break, and the new quarter beginning. So today and tomorrow are for closing out the grade book and later in the week will be for getting things in place for the second quarter of the school year. And next week? That’s for doctors and dermatologists and chiropractors.
The drizzle has been nice. The morning started with a trip to the gym followed by breakfast and time at the state library. Lunch was the messiest and best chicken salad sandwich around. And I may have snuck in a quick nap after some time in the classroom.
One of my main goals, as always, is to get some reading done. I’ve been taking way too long getting through the latest Rivers of London novel. Waiting in the wings? The second entry in the Impossible Creatures series. And then there’s a new Wendell Berry novel that I’m going to try (which will be a miracle because I’ve not been able to read any of his other novels). I’ve also got some theology books to work my way through. I’m almost done with Fred Sanders’s Union with Christ and the Life of Faith. And John Owen’s Communion with God (which I only know about because of Sanders’s book). There’s one other book, a last-minute addition to the list, that I’ll get to later this week. A week ago I didn’t know it existed, but it’s a perfect fit for this particular moment in time.
The quarter, by the way, was good, full (with some days being a bit too full). Much like this space, my personal journal has quite a few large gaps, but that doesn’t mean reflection wasn’t happening. I do think that some questions of meaning linger, are always just beneath the surface of things. I’m definitely carrying that with me into break.
But for now the drizzle continues and there’s hope for a quiet night and a peaceful end to the day. That’s a great way to start a break.
Quite the fun day in the Sunday comics today:
But it’s the annual Lucy-with-a-football day in Peanuts that sees Charlie Brown going for it yet again . . . and the banana isn’t even something for him to slip on.
Today’s Sunday-sized WuMo is a great reminder about planning ahead, but it’s today’s FoxTrot that reminds us of something vital in the conversation about AI in academics.
Lots of school and seasonal humor today. FoxTrot points towards the fantasy in fantasy football. Peppermint Patty tries to beat the clock with a math problem. And Calvin? Well it turns out that he’s the neighborhood alarm clock.
But it’s today’s Frazz by Jef Mallett with the imagery and the sentiment to be this Sunday’s Best.
This past week, Andrew Peterson celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of The Far Country. It was the first of his albums after Carried Along that I learned to feel deeply, that tapped into something I was still just starting to understand about faith and myself. When it comes to Peterson, one thing that always amazes me is his ability to synthesize so many powerful parts of the life of faith. The title song to this 20-year-old album is no exception.
I suppose that writing and reading advice can be found just about anywhere these days (assuming that you can’t get something else to read or write for you, which is more likely the case). So it’s a rare pleasure to see Alan Jacobs (of How to Think fame) sharing a nice statement about reading that tracks well with his Pleasure of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Lots of great advice in the piece. And Jacobs is the first person to name the concept of “reading upstream” for me (it’s kind of a version of my “following the holy footnote”).
Space Enough, and Time 