Killing Time, Waiting for the Barbershop to Open

[Bloggers Note: This was written at 0805 this morning.]

So, here I am, sitting in the neighborhood Starbuck’s, early on a Saturday morning, nearly an hour to go before the barbershop opens, killing time. Why, you may ask, am I sitting here with time on my hands waiting for the barbershop to open? You know I’ve got to tell you. 

Yesterday, the postman left one of those dreaded little slips of paper saying he had tried to deliver a certified, very important, letter and I wasn’t home to receive it. I could sense the disdain. This important document would be waiting for me in the morning at the post office several miles from our home. I knew it was important because it was sent through the very important, even legally demanding processes of the U.S. Postal Service Certified Letter channels. It must be important for someone to go through the time and expense to send me a document in that way. In any case, I was now scheduled to report to the Post Office at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning.

I had been expecting some documents that might qualify for this process and at first thought nothing of this intrusion. Then I began to have doubts. What really awaited me at the Post Office? So far as I knew, I hadn’t offended anyone enough for them to be sending notice of impending litigation. I was confident that I had paid every dime, and more, probably, to my Uncle Sam. This couldn’t be a letter from the IRS threatening to take everything I owned, or ever will own, unless I promptly paid some amount approximately equal to the national debt as of today. No, it couldn’t be that. Still. . . All I could see was a mountain of legal bills piling ever higher. The future looked bleak.

I spent a restless night in anxious anticipation of morning, cursing the fact that I hadn’t been home when this nasty coupon was delivered. Perhaps I could have refused to accept the thing, or told him I had moved to Montana or something. By the time morning arrived I was in a state. I rose early and headed off to the post office. I hate waiting in lines, especially at the post office and even more especially when my life as I knew it appeared to be at an end. I haven’t yet learned the Benedictine virtue of patience.

A stroke of luck, I was there the moment the doors opened and I was the first customer at the counter. I stood and looked at the postal clerk. He gave me a puzzled look and I handed him the coupon. After a few minutes he returned with the envelope in his hands and a very serious look on his face. He told me to sign on the line displayed on the little electronic box permanently anchored to the counter next to me. (Who would steal one of those things?) I obediently signed and he handed me my fate.

I looked at the envelope and it bore the return address of one of the national political party’s congressional campaign committees. What could this be? Maybe they were coming to their senses and asking me to run for national office, recognizing, finally, the importance of having candidates of a certain maturity and wisdom? Were they looking for advice on a course of action for the future? It was about time.

I brightened, stood a little taller, and opened the envelope, ready to offer myself in service to my country with purpose and dignity. I began reading, “I regret the inconvenience sending this certified letter may have caused you, but . . .” It was a letter asking me to contribute big bucks (fat chance) to their campaign war chest. I drooped. It was a complete waste of time, all for nothing. So I went to Starbucks and wrote this little essay and now you’ve wasted your time reading it. So there. I’m going to get a haircut.

What Was I Thinking?

When I wrote the previous post, I was thinking that to write on a broader range of topics than those relating to Benedictine monasticism, I really should start another blog not referred to as an Oblate blog. What was I thinking?

The rational I used to justify the new blog was that William of St. Thierry, a Cistercian father, wrote a book that didn’t deal directly with monastic topics but rather focused on what it takes to be a Christian. I was thinking that he wasn’t writing in the monastic tradition, why, I don’t know. He most certainly was, because after all, what is the point of a monastery except to form a community dedicated to seeking God? What is the point of being an Oblate, except to seek God within my own vocation. It means, as I have said so many times before, that the whole point to the Rule, is to create a way of life that encompasses all important aspects of our human condition, work, prayer, conversion, community, hospitality, or dealing with authority and the importance of obedience. It’s all in there. I don’t know what made me think a study of the most important tenants of my faith, or commenting on what is going on in my world would be subjects not to be covered on an Oblate blog. What was I thinking?

I guess I just wasn’t, so I decided to correct the situation in the name of stability, another topic covered in the Rule.

A New Direction (From Apologia of My Own)

[This post was originally entered on another blog of mine but I wanted to be sure it was posted here.  Another post explaining more will follow.]

For some time now, I’ve wanted to branch out in topics I cover during my blogging career. For some reason I can’t explain, the impetus came from reading William of St. Thierry’s The Golden Epistle. William was one of the Cistercian Fathers, a monastic, who wrote simply about seeking God. He didn’t spend much time on specifically monastic topics. I thought about that and realized that I hadn’t spent much time reading or studying what it means to seek God as a Catholic Christian living in the 21st century. More than that, I wanted to get back to the roots of some Church teachings that I wasn’t too familiar with and some teachings that I was just plain uncomfortable with. I suppose chief among the latter topics would be the so called area of “social justice.” On top of all that, I wanted to spend time reading either original documents, or writers who lived not later than the early 20th century. So my study will be one of the areas of focus for this blog.


Other areas will certainly include current events, skirting partisan political issues as much as possible, and possibly even supposedly trivial issues such as the weather, football, and ordinary events of daily life and reflections on my past. In other words, anything that occurs to me at the moment I sit down to type.

To possibly set the tone for the future of An Apoligia of my Own, I offer the following video from Red Skelton. This short bit gives a beautiful example of the impact some serious thought can have.

Square Top Lakes

On the weekend we went up Guanella Pass, southwest of Denver, and hiked the South Fork Trail to Square Top Lakes.  The hike is entirely above tree line, starting at 11,500' or so and ending up at 12,150' elevation.  At that altitude, it's quite a hike.  The first photo is a small waterfall on the road up to the summit.  The second is at the trail head looking out over the countryside.  The third is one of two Square Top Lakes; these are alpine lakes fed, I  think, by glacial run-off.  Not too sure about that, though.  You do feel like you're at the top of the world.

Before summer's over, end of August timeframe, we're going to try to do more hikes, so perhaps more pictures will follow.

One Chipmunk, Not Alvin.

As promised, a few more shots from the Pancake Rocks trail that we hiked on Sunday. I mentioned "surprises," there is actually only one, this fearless little chipmunk in the bottom two photos. Usually, these little critters scurry around so fast they're gone before you notice them. Not this guy; in the first shot he actually looked like he was posing for me. He came much closer after that -- I think he was looking for something to eat. He seemed to live in the rock formation that you can see in the far right portion of the first picture, so, after he ran off in there, I left a few raisins on his doorstep. I hope he got them.

Enjoy.

Pancake Rocks

We made the hike to Pancake Rocks this past weekend. I was determined not to wait to get to see these rock formations. The first picture is of one of the dominant rock formations in this small area. By the way, these sit at approximately 11,000 ft elevation. The second photo is a shot of the little rock cairns that people have set up in a couple of places at the rocks. In the third photo, you can see the "view from top", so to speak.  We stayed up on top for about 20 minutes and were the only ones there, more hikers were going up as we started down.

The trail is 7 miles round trip, 3.5 miles each way, starting at an elevation of about 9,400.  It is quite a hike; the hardest part is the descent on the return trip.  Still, it was worth the hike for the view.  Too, while it was near 90 in Colorado Springs, it was in the 70's on the mountain.  Not a bad day for an outing.

I have some more shots I will share later in the week. They contain a couple of surprises!

Horsethief Falls

Did a hike up to Horsethief Falls and Pancake Rocks last Sunday and I got a few shots along the trail.  I think , on this trail, the best time for taking photos is in the afternoon, unfortunately, there wasn't time for that.  These trails are about an hour from where I live and the schedule is a bit tight for an all day journey.  I guess, too, I was testing the limits of my little Canon S90, but I continue to be very pleased with most of the shots I get from it.  I hope to go again soon to try to get to the actual Pancake Rock formations which were a little farther along the trail.  Just as a point of reference, the trailhead is at 9,400 ft elevation, goes up to about 11,100 feet and, the heartbreaking part, descends again to get the Pancake Rocks.  By the time you've gone up 2,000 ft or so the idea of descending, then climbing again to get back isn't the most appealing in the world.  Incidentally, Horsethief Falls is so named, obviously, because horse thieves in the old west used to hide out in the little canyon just below the Falls. .