New Look Blog, Sabbath and shoogly stepping stones!

Haworth 013
Decided to change the mood and dress style of the blog for the duration of my sabbatical. Don't be misled by the books on the top banner – I'll do my fair share or reading, writing, studying. But there is more to this wonderful life than books, and I'm going looking for it over the next few months. But I DO like the colour, the layout and the sense of lightness just bouncing off the page.

The picture  was taken while on holiday exploring a medieval monastery  and walking across the river using ancient stepping stones.  Amongst the benefits of a sabbatical  will be the chance to regain balance and  be able to  negotiate the stepping stones that are the next stages of life in all its vocational  possibilities. 

When  I did the crossing last year several of the stones were shoogly, moving just enough to remind the unwary or over-confident  pilgrim that  life isn't always free of shoogles!  Recreation, prayer, reading, walking, people, food -  in no order of priority – these are part of daily life, unless they are squeezed out by that over-determined work ethic that Sabbath is meant to interrupt and thus reset life to normal! So these are mostly what I'll be doing a refresher course in! That way I'll cope with the shoogles and nae fa' in. (shoogle is a variation of 'shog' which means 'to wobble from side to side' – 18th century NE of Scotland).

Comments

6 responses to “New Look Blog, Sabbath and shoogly stepping stones!”

  1. Catriona avatar
    Catriona

    Have a wonderful Sabbatical – and thank you for being someone outside my family to use the word ‘shoogle’! English-English is just so lacking in useful words of this kind. Just don’t get your Shabbat and your shoogle mixed up otherwise you’ll end up Shabbling through your Shoogattical which sounds rather painful!

  2. Catriona avatar
    Catriona

    Have a wonderful Sabbatical – and thank you for being someone outside my family to use the word ‘shoogle’! English-English is just so lacking in useful words of this kind. Just don’t get your Shabbat and your shoogle mixed up otherwise you’ll end up Shabbling through your Shoogattical which sounds rather painful!

  3. Jim Gordon avatar

    Thanks Catriona. My eyes are watering at the scary prospect of such verbal or anatomical contortions.

  4. Jim Gordon avatar

    Thanks Catriona. My eyes are watering at the scary prospect of such verbal or anatomical contortions.

  5. Graeme Clark avatar
    Graeme Clark

    “Sabbath time can be a revolutionary challenge to the violence of overwork, mindless accumulation, and the endless multiplication of desires, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Sabbath is a way of being in time where we remember who we are, remember what we know, and taste the gifts of spirit and eternity.
    An Excerpt from Sabbath: ‘Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest and Delight’ by Wayne Muller

  6. Graeme Clark avatar
    Graeme Clark

    “Sabbath time can be a revolutionary challenge to the violence of overwork, mindless accumulation, and the endless multiplication of desires, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Sabbath is a way of being in time where we remember who we are, remember what we know, and taste the gifts of spirit and eternity.
    An Excerpt from Sabbath: ‘Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest and Delight’ by Wayne Muller

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