Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The dipper's term ended in early December with a week's-long class trip to Palermo. We arrived the weekend before the class trip so that we had a chance to spend some time with my Sicilian relatives. Our time with family went really well. My family are warm, thoughtful, wonderful people.  My cousin's son--now 24 years old (boy do we feel old)--speaks very good English and spent lots of time with us. All three of my cousins also speak English, so we were able to communicate well with them. But we come back with the intention (again) of learning Italian. :-)

The art of Sicily, particularly Norman Sicily, is spectacular. It incorporates elements from the many cultures that have conquered and inhabited this beautiful place, although primarily Byzantine and Islamic. Modern Palermo is a dizzying mix of modern and antiquity, splendor and trash, culture and corruption. The island that was once the center of the modern world can still be glimpsed, but only if you look hard. For the first time, I felt the call of my father's homeland in the depths of my bones while I there. We aren't sure if it was the foray into history and art that awakened it, or the realization that, although not born and raised in Sicily, I am indeed part Sicilian at heart and have inherited many of the gifts and passions that we find in my relatives. One highlight of our visit was a visit to the family farm, where my uncle works hard growing (from seed and of course all organically) a stunning amount of vegetables as well as grapes, oranges, pomegranates, and other fruit, much of which we enjoyed with every meal. I am hoping to continue the journey of exploring my roots by writing my thesis on the art in Palermo, but it will depend on whether I find a good question there that is worth pursuing.

This term has been a period of intense busyness and growth for both of us, but especially for me. I chose the Courtauld as the best place to make me into an art historian as quickly as possible.  The Courtauld is a spectacular place, and lives up to its reputation. I am studying under, attending seminars by, and rubbing elbows with many of the art historians whose writings drew me into the field in the first place. Although the giddiness has not yet worn off completely, most of the time I feel a bit as if I am in boot camp for art historians. The requirements and expectations are high. I was told by a recent PhD grad that students in this MA program begin with expectations of attending all the seminars, learning a language, and holding down internships or jobs, but that by January all will have whittled their schedules down to just doing the work for this class which consumes all their time. The pace and the workload are insane, and it was not unusual for me to work 16 hour days and almost all weekends (hence a lack of updates on this site!). The results on my first paper at the beginning of term was disheartening, but I am making progress and received encouraging feedback on my first major assessed paper last week. It was only worth 15% of my overall grade, but hopefully it was an indicator of my development as art historian and writer. More than that, it gives me hope that I will survive this year and graduate with the piece of paper. It was also the first of my work seen and graded by my overall supervisor, Tony Eastmond. Tony will be teaching the class from now to graduation, and I and my classmates have all been nervous about what he would think of our work.

The moose has been an absolute brick. I would not have made it through this term without him. He has cleaned house, shopped, planned events and walks, edited papers, acted as a sounding board, and given unbelievable emotional support all term. Not sure how January is going to go while he is away in the US teaching his class!

Along with all of the above, the moose has been working away at the two projects he has assigned himself for the year. We had worried that commuting to Cambridge 2-3 times a week would be frustrating. It has turned into a blessing. He has time to think and read while watching the countryside fly past, getting him out of the 'big smoke' of London. He still loves his Brompton bicycle. The people he works with at Tyndale House Library, the Faraday Institute and the wider University of Cambridge have been encouraging with just the right amount of thought-provoking prodding and provided a community for him this year. He has also had a chance to attend seminars at Cambridge and at Kings College London and spend some time with his PhD supervisor. Both of his projects are going slower than he would like but are coming along, and he is enjoying the chance to step back and think and read more widely than Whitworth usually allows time for. He just sent a chapter of his Revelation commentary to his publisher for approval, and we wait to hear what they think about it and an extension he has asked for. He has also had to spend a bit of time preparing for Jan term in the Cascades and setting up his Jan term in Greece for the following year.

We have found a church nearby, Trinity Islington. We have not been able to be as involved as we would like because of my schedule. But despite our inability to commit to very much, the people who attend and who we are slowly getting to know, are thoughtful, kind, and understanding and all seem to be doing exciting or interesting or important work of one sort or another. The pastor and his wife especially have been a great encouragement to us.

We are doing our best to not accumulate things as it will not be possible to take much of anything with us on the plane home except our clothes. (Although the dipper recently realized that a fairly empty suitcase would be traveling with the moose to Spokane this January and so has been doing her best to fill it up! 😆)  We have, however, been doing our best to experience this incredible place that we are living this year by attending concerts, visiting museums, eating great food, and strolling through the city just enjoying its life and the wonderful diversity of people. We have included a few photos below, but have posted more of our adventures on Facebook. I also hope to include a posting later with some details of our walks and our trip to Venice and Ravenna from earlier in the autumn.

We hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas!  We head to a small cottage  in a remote mountain valley in Wales for fresh air, hiking and reading in front of a fire. We are very excited about the break, but sad we won't be seeing any of you! We are really missing our wonderful friends and family this year.

Lots of love from us!

Here are a scattering of photos of our Christmas celebrations in London:

Delicious dinner at Cicchetti's restaurant--an Italian version of Tapas.

Ice skating at Somerset House

Performance of Handel's Messiah

Dinner at Clos Maggiore. They decorate for Christmas beautifully, and are one of our favorite restaurants.
We've been coming back here for 10-11 years!

Primrose Hill on 22nd December. Warm and sunny!