Peduncles, Brumes, Journey of the Universe, and Chardin

I wouldn’t know the words peduncle or brume if I weren’t married to a teacher/poet. Teaching and poetry are my husband’s (JS) vocations. He is a seeker and an information sharer, and he has imparted many of his discoveries to me on our journey together through life. As a result of JS’s meandrous approach to acquiring knowledge, through his vast and various interests, he became aware of the American Teilhard Association. The ATA is dedicated to the future of Earth and to the communities that inhabit her, and is named after PierreTeilhard de Chardin. You can find out more about the ATA here. The annual meeting for the ATA was held in New York City last weekend, so we decided to go, since we’re in the vicinity. We took the PATH to Manhattan, rode the subway up to Union Theological Seminary, where we ate lunch and then attended a lecture given by Mary Evelyn Tucker. ME Tucker co-authored a book with Brian Swimme entitled Journey of the Universe. The lecture related how the writings of Chardin inspired Journey of the Universe, which outlines our roles and responsibilities as humans toward the earth, and toward our fellow creatures, as life unfolds. The lecture was interesting, and we learned other things as well.

ME Tucker also co-directs the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, found here.

JS sat next to a lady named Terry, a retired NYC teacher, who told us about a wonderful book store on Crosby Street off Houston. The Housing Works book store boasts 30,000 volumes, all donated. We made our way over to the store, only to be told they were closing early to host a wedding! It looked wonderful inside, so we will be going back. They have a web site, which you can access here. Terry also told us about:

The Museum of Math and

Madison Square Park around 26^th off Broadway

Bereket Turkish Kabob House

Katz Delicatessen

All places we intend to visit.

As we got to the top of the stairs after getting off the subway, I heard someone crying. I looked down, and there was a navy blue button, obviously having been stepped upon myriad times. I picked up the button, put it in my pocket, and cleaned it up when we got home only to discover the words “BURBERRY” across the top and bottom. The button is now resting peacefully with its step buttons in my button box.

After we took the PATH back to Jersey City, on the way back to the car we saw a peregrine falcon swoop down to grab a pigeon….WOW!!!

In The Mystery of Edwin Drood I discovered a new word I was able to gift to JS for a change. The word is bumptiousness….isn’t that just one of the most fun words you’ve ever heard?!!!