Ten Things I love Starting with The Letter T

Antony asked us to tag ourselves and play this game.

He gave us the letter and we fill in the blanks.

I actually found this quite hard…

I tried to do the first 10 things that came into my mind:

Time. Love it. Need it. Use it. Never seem to have enough of it to do the things I want. I am trying desperately these days to hallow time with prayer – Liturgy of the hours, meditation, writing, but the trap of being a sort of creative, in-the-moment, sort of fellow is that time slips away quickly when the inspiration strikes.

Tradition: It would be all too easy to just think of this in terms of Church Tradition, although I love that. I adore the idea of praying in ancient words, of celebrating vigils and rituals which Christians have observed for centuries (and I don’t find anything tired in rites or rituals…). I also love more folk traditions: Christmas trees, wreaths, St Nicholas Day biscuits, marking the date of Epiphany with chalk, family holidays, the whole shebang.

Talk. Nothing I like more than a good natter (although Coralie would call it a gossip…!)

Transfiguration Community: You Knew this was coming! I love this motley crew of travellers. We meet, we eat and drink, we pray, we love one another. We bring our experiences, our day, our selves, and healing and holiness is begun. A Privilege.

Test Cricket. I grow in appreciation of this game every summer. Strategy, courage, grit, luck, tactics. Up to five days of magic. And this year Australia won the ashes (Yesterday!) which is the equivalent of the world cup – but only Australia and England can play.

“The” Bands: I tried really hard to avoid any “The” ‘s but at least its at number 6. The Beatles, The Jam, The Style Council, The Church, The Small Faces, The Police, The Who, The Byrds, The Smiths – all some of my favourite bands. Just looking at that list tells me fair bit about myself. I like OLD music and my tastes are a fairly wide …

Thomas Merton: The patron saint of the emerging church movement, given many recent blogsphere posts in his memory. I love Tom’s work – some of the more edgy stuff especially, like his oriental interests (Te Ching???), his letters, outlines for monasteries and hermitages, and especially his notebook he kept when he visited Our Lady of The Redwood monastery. Merton also stands for a whole lot of monastic authors I love like Jean Le Clerq, Ester De Waal, Abhishiktananda, Bede Griffiths, Lawrence Freeman and so the list goes on. Helpful, heavy and hopeful.

Tea. Now hear me, I am a coffee drinker. Plunger in the morning, maccihato when I am out, espresso after a large dinner. But in true thirty something fashion, I am rediscovering the things of my youth – and tea is one of them. It took me to read an interview with the current heir to the Twinnings family about matching tea with food to get me started. He suggested having a large plate of bacon and eggs on thick toast with a cup of their English Breakfast, made to the specific instructions. Being a good little camper, I did as I was told and I was hooked.

Tonsils: I don’t have any, neither does my little boy. He breaths a lot easier at night (less like a freight train) and so do we…

Travel: I’ve only made some tentative steps with this activity, but I love it. I have travelled around a lot of Australia and to New Zealand and some other places. I can’t wait to take the family and explore the world together. Maybe I’ll come and visit some of you!