My Monday Night

Steve is taking Expository Preaching this semester at Talbot (a pre-req. in case he decides to do the Th.M), which takes place from 6:30 to 9:00 on Monday nights. At first I dreaded this... 2 more hours alone with the kiddo? But it has turned out to be a wonderful thing! Somehow I've seemed to have more energy for her after dinner than I do during the day--maybe because I'm not trying to get my own stuff done at the same time. Then, the moment she's in bed, it becomes all about ME for an hour! I have decided that I will spend that hour in complete self-indulgence all 15 weeks of the semester. Last week I finished reading a book I've been working on for well over a year, believe it or not (Sanditon, a completed fragment of Jane Austen's... might review that on Slayers of Evil Media). This week I started to finish Surprised by Joy (C.S. Lewis, as I'm sure you all know), which I started more than a year ago.

I sit out on our new patio furniture and allow myself to really get cold in this lovely weather. I bring out an insulated caraffe of decaf tea, and each week I will select a different delicate tea cup to use. Last week was a cup given to me by two spinster sisters that lived together until they died. They were dear women and friends of my father's in particular. They gave that cup to me for my wedding, and I had not yet used it. It was particularly expensive in its day and I believe is a bit of a treasure. I have no intention of selling it, so I decided to use it rather than just preserve it. Tonight was a teacup that was given to me by Steve's mom from her mother's collection just after she died. Next week will be my own dear china, which as its own story.

I felt very British drinking my tea and reading Lewis. Of course, I had the audacity to drink it "neat."