While I was attending a vespers concert at New College last week, in honor of the great Italian composer Palestrina, it struck me anew how the chapel architect had carved the Gospel into the very stones.
Apr3
Awed at New College
Tag Archives: Oxford
Mar31
Oxford Blooms
England may deserve its reputation for dreary weather, but it makes up for dismal winters with its slow-dawning, always charming, long-lasting spring.
The first blooms emerged this year in January (January!): dainty drooping snowdrops, too shy to raise their heads. Vibrant crocus followed, in pools of purples and pinks.
Then daffodils took the city by storm.
Read the rest of this entryAug10
among sandy gardens set: Winchester and Theale
originally published January 19, 2022
Read Part II: Wales, York, Edinburgh
A slick black engine shot me from York to London in two, maybe three hours, followed by a more sedate connection to Oxford. I alighted on the first morning of the Awakening conference, the Canterbury Institute’s pilot program for high school students on the verge of university studies.
Canterbury boarded me at St Edmund’s, a college I had yet to explore, and engaged me for two days in such fabulous sessions as, “What is the purpose of a university education?” and “What is the meaning of life?” One-on-one tutorials in law and classics (the participants’ chosen areas of interest) gave the program its backbone. With only two students attended by about a dozen graduate students, I suspect the conference staff relished the event even more than our guests did.
Oct31
Plain Living and High Thinking: Exploring Oxford
“We should celebrate!”
My first day out of self-isolation, the gracious Audrey paraded me around Oxford for a tour and congratulatory tea (in classic British style, with scones and clotted cream). We last encountered each other while doing undergraduate studies in Michigan – small world!
She inaugurated my first ventures afield into the puzzle of walls, roofs, and doors that unwinds from my newly built accommodations, overlapping medieval, modern, and everything in-between.
Sep15
Mi Mosse: Quarantine in Oxford
Never would I have guessed that my past six months would be spent on my family’s farm in the USA! When I concluded my Peace Corps service, I was making plans to return to South Africa as an independent volunteer in a couple of weeks… or a month or two… and then maybe for the summer… or even just for a quick visit?
Instead, South Africa’s borders have yet to reopen for international travel, and I grudgingly submitted to a time of restoration and fellowship, reconnecting with my loved ones while future opportunities unfolded.
Given the international travel climate today, I can only be thankful that I landed without incident last Wednesday in the United Kingdom: newly “enroled” for graduate studies at the University of Oxford.
