AKMA’s Random Thoughts

I have a particular devotion to Peter Martyr a/k/a Peter of Verona a/k/a Peter of Milan, so I observe his feast today by looking fondly back at my photos of the Portinari Chapel at St Eustorgio’s in Milan (coincidentally, I was just talking at St Eustorgio’s yesterday with a colleague at lunch). Today, the New Liturgical Movement blog documents some of the glories of the Portinari Chapel.

Adequate run this morning, at about my (current) ordinary pace, and with no pain or stiffness. Coffee, hot breakfast (it’s Wednesday, duh), shower, Morning Prayer, home for coffee and toast, back to the Parish Centre for Staff Meeting, home for lunch, and later in the day I will go back to the Parish Centre to help a wedding couple plan their service.

The BBC story about the underground city in Turkey almost slipped past me without especial notice till I read a response post that read ‘A man renovating his home in Turkey noticed his chickens kept disappearing into a crack in his basement wall. When he dug it open he found the ancient city of Derinkuyu, an 18 level city 85 metres underground (275 feet) that could shelter 20,000 people.’ Those chickens struck a chord with me; I had read about this man and his chickens back in the sixties, in a book called Lost Worlds and the Men Who Found Them (obvious 60s sexism, sorry). Those chickens…

I took this morning’s miles at a jog/walk/run pace, about two-thirds of full-on running speed; as I said yesterday, I really don’t want any injury before I run Monday. I expect this will be my [second and] last time, since I’m beginning to consider other ways of staying fit. That’ll have a lot to do with where we move to, though.

Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, home for coffee, toast, reading and planning. I’ll go to Oxford for lunch, then come back here to see what more I can get done before dinner.

Morning run at a cautious pace (don’t want to risk any injuries this week in anticipation of the Bannister Mile next Monday), coffee and fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, signing some real estate documents, then coffee for public office hours at R&R.

Having missed yesterday’s run, I determined to run this morning even though I had the 8:00 service at St Helen’s, leaving only a narrow window for running, drinking coffee, editing homily, showering, dressing, and hurrying to church in time to assure the congregation I would in fact be there.

The run went beautifully — an excellent pace for me. I managed to make coffee promptly when I got home, despite my being winded for a while. I chopped part of the homily to make it short for the 8:00, ironed out some wrinkles in the full version (below) , showered and shaved (testing a new fragrance), dressed and made it to the church on time. Between the 8:00 and the 10:30, I had a coffee and pastry at Throwing Buns, back for the 10:30 at St Helen’s, and home after that, weary and relieved that all had gone moderately well. Continue reading “Sunday’s Run Day, Charlie Brown”

I took my morning miles at a jog-walk pace; my joints protested mildly, and with the Bannister Mile up next Monday I thought I would give them a break. I came home for sermon-writing and coffee and a hot breakfast, followed by more writing till lunchtime. After lunch, Margaret and I took Flora and Minke and wandered down the Thames Path partway to Culham, at which point turned around for home. We had Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa and Sloe Gin to refresh ourselves (not Flora and Minke), and will settle down to watch crime drama. All things considered, a thoroughly pleasant Saturday.

In between trying the Oud Sapparot and the two recent disappointments, I tested two fragrances that earned more positive responses from Margaret. The first was Tom Ford‘s Tobacco Oud, which Margaret liked for its warmth and its proximity to the Oud Sapparot; indeed, she indicated a slight preference for Tom Ford, I think, without her being more specific about it.

But the real winner so far (to my surprise) is Zoologist Tyrannosaurus Rex, which I sampled on a lark based on th name. Margaret likes this more than any of the others, and asks that I wear it again when she detects my wearing another trial scent. Reviews indicate it’s a Marmite fragrance, and since it’s a big, loud scent, that may put some people off. While I’d most like a crowd-pleaser, my principal evaluator is Margaret, and if this is what she wants, I’m there for it. It opens with a burnt almost mineral scent, but settles into something woodier and earthier. This is her current favourite.

Got some deep sleep last night, good run this morning (squarely at the new plateau) and most importantly it felt good, coffee, shower, Morning Prayer, will check messages, then in to R&R for public office hours. I hope to get to Oxford this afternoon for a lecture by Prof. Jean Maurais on ‘Recent Research on Septuagint Origins’. I’ll be thinking about my sermon(s) (a shorter version for the 8:00 congregation) for St Mark’s Day (transferred).

Margaret had two very strong negative reactions to scents (so far). She was dubious about Essenza di Colonia. She used ‘perfumey’ to describe it, and found it too sweet. I too was put off by the flowery scent — white flowery, like lily or jasmine in my imagination — and soapy impression. The description ascribes a citrus fragrance to it, but I couldn’t detect it. I tried it for a couple of days, but she gave it a firm thumbs down.

I followed that by trying out Maison Crivelli’s Oud Stallion. I thought it was agreeable, but Margaret had a strong, immediate negative response — again, it was too ‘perfumey’. It may be the jasmine; the jasmine laid in the background to my perception, but perhaps too strong for her. I turned away from it after one day.

Morning run at my new plateau (the ‘slow average’ I’ve been talking about), coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, coffee and toast, receiving the grocery delivery. Today’s plan includes addressing (wearisome) home-buying queries, answering questions from editors and publisher about The Last Essay, and — I dunno — reading and working on a book review? Oh, and preparing for Sunday’s sermon.

My running time this morning came in between my previous plateau and the new, aspirational plateau; so one could call it a slow average pace (with respect to the newer), or an incremental improvement (with respect to the past). Either way, on arriving at home I poured a cup of coffee, ate some fruit, Morning Prayer, public office hours at the reopened R&R, groceries from Waitrose (gluten-free and vegetarian/vegan), then home for the afternoon marking and working on a homily.

Morning run was on the good side of average — not pushing any boundaries, but just about the better plateau that I’ve been working from. Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, then in to Oxford for a morning revision for my Orielenses. I’ll be back after lunch.

Montale, Oud Sapparot

Margaret gave this an ‘agreeable’. It led with a sweet and smoky scent; it recalled for me a grilled pineapple sort of scent. Then settled into a gently earthy, spicy lasting impression with elements of wood and leather. M. says that if this is the best, she will like it. It’s fine with me, though I didn’t experience a wave of enthusiasm or a sense that ‘this is me’.

Jonathon Delacour is, I think, (or ‘would be’, I don’t know; if you know, please tell me) 78 this year. I read skimmed through his whole archive on the Wayback Machine, but I didn’t find what I was looking for; those pages reminded about some amazing times and conversations, and some very dear friends (some no longer blogging, some whom we know to have gone ahead of us). Why am I thinking about Jonathon, you may well ask?

For a long time, beginning from when I was in grad school and anticipated looking for a job, I decided that I needed to have a grown-up scent. Not just supermarket/drug store cologne, but something that I chose at a grown-up store. I’m not sure what the first scent was that I adopted, but between my adventure to Northgate Mall and my sister’s Christmas gift of an item she thought suited me better, but my first major, consistent, fragrance was Gucci pour Homme.

Gucci saw me through the 90s, but early in the 21st century Gucci discontinued their original formulation, and I couldn’t get any more. At that time, I asked around among my blogging friends and Jonathon responded quickly and helpfully. He advocated a scent from Issey Miyake (fittingly, since he spent so much time in Japan and was so saturated in Japanese culture). I went to an Evanston area department store, but they didn’t stock Issey Miyake; instead, I sampled, and selected, L’Instant de Guerlain pour Homme (2004). Not out of disregard for Jonathon’s advice, but simply because I could test Guerlain in person, but not Issey Miyake.

The reformulation bug got to Guerlain in 2016; I didn’t like the fragrance so much, but I managed to get a bottle of the original formulation. When that ran out, I reluctantly bought a bottle of the new formulation, and although it was fine, it wasn’t the scent I had chosen a dozen years before.

I’m nearing the end of that bottle now, and the reason I’m thinking about Jonathon is that I remember blogging and commenting with him about cologne and eau de toilette.

This time, out of touch with Jonathon, I’m starting with some recommendations made by John Darnielle on Bluesky, and looking around from there. I’ll post some reports as we test-drive options around here. In honour of Jonathon.

Had a fitful night, but that has the benefit of leaving me plenty of time for a run before the 9:30 service at St Michael and All Angels. I aimed at a slower, but not glacial, pace; in the end, I went more slowly than I’d wished, but the important thing was to give my legs an easy morning while still asking them to keep working. Coffee, fruit, shower, another cup, Morning Prayer, off to St Michael’s, now home for lunch, and shortly back to St Michael’s for a baptism.

I approached this morning’s sermon cautiously; I feared that it might run too close to a lecture, and I tend to discountenance lecture-sermons. I composed it so as to buffer the didactic tone with exposition and my usual speaking-preaching style. A number of the members of the congregation went out of their way to thank me for it, so it evidently hit a welcome note (pasted in below).

Baptism later, then time for preparing for a revision tomorrow, a newsletter blurb on St Mark for Tuesday, with an eye to a homily on Wednesday, and finishing my book review as soon as I can get it out. Apart from that, I’m idle as a painted boat upon a painted sea….
Continue reading “Put Title Here”

I do have a sermon to prepare for tomorrow, though two days of reading proofs took up some of my homiletical energies. That’s obviously my main task for today (the sermon, not the proofs, which I have returned to their editors with my input). I ran another very good couple of miles this morning — I hope I can keep this up through the beginning of May; it would disappoint me greatly to limp through this year’s Bannister Mile after having run last year despite a knockdown illness. Coffee, hot breakfast, more coffee, shower, Morning Prayer, and homiletical composition.

I was wondering whether the verb ‘refurbish’ had a non-iterative simple form; sure enough, there it is, and a good deal more specific in scope than the general sense of ‘spruce up’. According to Wiktionary, ‘furbish’ is used strictu sensu for ‘to polish, to make smooth and shiny by rubbing’ (though it can be used without the iterative prefix, which I think is just laziness) in the sense of ‘restore’. Just so’s you know.

I took a slow day for my morning miles, after having run so hard yesterday; it seemed a reasonable precaution. I’ll run hard again tomorrow.

Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, check messages, public office hours at Throwing Buns (the café named after the unique local tradition) because R&R is still closed for remodelling(?).

Home for lunch, reading, sermon work, dog attention. Checked messages again this afternoon.

My morning miles went by at a near personal-best rate (I had a week of faster times in March 2025, but then I was pushing so hard that I gave up timing my runs for four months to disarm my over-competitiveness), and felt mostly very good (a couple of slight twinges in my left knee). I’m hoping this betokens a favourable outcome for the Bannister Mile 2 ½ weeks from now. Coffee, fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, then home for more coffee and toast.

I submitted a book review yesterday, so that’s another small bit of writing in the works. Working now on another one….

I didn’t run this morning; I could have done, I woke up in time, but just didn’t pull myself together in time. I did make coffee and hot breakfast, showered, Morning Prayer, and headed into town for public office hours at R&R, but they’re still closed (they seem to be repainting the interior), so I went to Java. I handled some email, arranged a revision for my Orielenses, and read from a book under review. In a short while I’ll go in to the weekly Staff Meeting, then home to do some housework and (heaven and distraction permitting) more reading, perhaps dipping into my sermon for Sunday….