Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Pleasuring

Wow! The whole month of July has passed by without me blogging. Renovations have taken up most of my time outside my regular work/parenting schedule but I have squeezed in some moments of enjoyment. One moment came tonight when I put away the mower and witnessed a spectacular sunset. Jean Vanier's Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John remains a consistent source of pleasure. In many ways the book embodies more than pleasure and often I feel the words reaching my soul. In addition to trans-soul communication Vanier provides many thought-provoking statements, e.g.

We human beings are a mixture of the presence of God and the absence of God,
of light and darkness, truth and chaos, goodness and evil, openness and closedness.
No human being in himself or herself is holy or pure.
We become holy only through the holiness of God.

I wonder if Hans, to whom I gave the book, has ventured into its rich pages.

Last week I went out to a Euro-pub for dinner and got to sample some fabulous beers from their menu : My brother said, "They have a Cognac beer." right away I ordered it. I also tried the Wee Heavy and a Chocolate Stout. Fortunately, my local liquor store carries these and the Cognac remains my favourite, its flavours are as complex as a fine red, though I am looking forward to the stout.

Also, for my birthday I finally picked up Hancock's Gershwin's World and Pat Metheny's Speaking of Now Live. Gershwin's World is much better than Possibilities (the last Hancock album I bought) in which Hancock voluntarily took a backseat to other artists. Joni Mitchell is amazing and rivals her accompaniment to Neil Young on The Last Waltz. Wayne Shorter always rocks and Hancock's talent, appropriately, stands out. Metheny, Anthony Sanchez and Richard Bona stand out on the DVD. Ironically (because Sanchez was present), the DVD was filmed among a conservative and relatively sparse Japanese crowd (possibly favoured for their expression of appreciation being limited to enthusiastic applause after each song as opposed to shouts during the performance).

Alpha Yaya Diallo played downtown for Canada Day. The concert was a highlight of July and the fireworks that followed rounded out an awesome night. Dancing with my family in front of the Parliament buildings and viewing the fireworks on my dad's boat stand out. Hopefully I will find the CD tomorrow.

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