January 29, 2006, Sunset

Northumbrian Pilgrimage 1997

During the Summer of 1997 I was blessed to spend two weeks in Durham, England, for a seminar on Celtic spirituality and modern mission. We stayed in the Bishop's Castle, which is now a dormitory for University College of the University of Durham. Across the green from us sat Durham Cathedral, site of the shrine of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and the tomb of the Venerable Bede. The entire complex has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

We had day trips to Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Hexham Abbey, Wearmouth and Jarrow, Hadrian's Wall, and other sites related to Northumbrian history and the Celtic and Saxon saints who flourished during a rich age of cultural and spiritual cross-fertilization.

The timing of posts related to this extraordinary pilgrimage is related to my having a new scanner and being able to scan the photographs I took back then, along with having a bit of down time to do it. The posts themselves are at the blog for St Cuddy's and I am merely providing links here, but I wanted friends of the Byzigenous Buddhapalian to have easy access to them.

May blessings from the Creator abound in your lives and the prayers of St Cuddy support you.

The BB

Lindisfarne / Holy Island

Lindisfarne Priory-Part 1

Lindisfarne Priory-Part 2

Hobthrush Island

Lindisfarne & Durham Architecture-Part 1

Lindisfarne & Durham Architecture-Part 2

St Mary's Parish Church-Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne / St Mary's

The Chi Rho Page of the Lindisfarne Gospels

St Cuthbert foretells a death

Cuthbert becomes a bishop

I will update this if and when I have some more. Happy journeying to all weblog pilgrims!

The Retrograde Metronome

Gnus and views
and baby Kangaroos;
Fillets and skillets
and soldiers in very odd billets.

There once was a bearsy named Boris
Who questioned a tree in the forest,
"Can a teddy bear fly?"
"We don't know, silly guy,"
Replied the required Greek chorus.

As the rain still continued to drizzle
And the bull dribble piss from his pizzle,
The wind softly soughed
As the cannon was stuffed,
But when lit, all the fuse did was fizzle.

With that we conclude today's intro
Thought we're not really sure what we meant, so
We will quit while ahead
As the ungrateful dead
Haunt the vacuous spaces al dentro.

You've been great! Thank you all! Good night!

PES
18 February 2006

Well, I just thought my whimsy output had been way too low of late and this bubbled up while sending an e-mail to a friend.