We are now back in Cambridge and likely to remain there until our time in the northern hemisphere comes to an end, at the end of December. How do we occupy ourselves these days?
We drink coffee (of course). When we drink it at home, we enjoy the view from our lounge room. It looks across Sidney Sussex College. The tree right opposite our flat has recently been the scene of fervent activity by squirrels, as they search for food in the winter cold. See if you can see them in the following photos...
The view from our window is constantly changing, as the season evolve. The view that we had in summer was like this:
Now, it looks quite different. We have just discovered that, in winter, with no leaves to "block" the view, we can see much of the roofline of Cambridge. As we look across the nearest college, we can see the tops of the roofs of famous colleges along Kings Parade. Can you see the two towers which are atop Kings College Chapel in these photos?
Meanwhile, inside our flat, work goes on. Elizabeth here is enjoying her weekly art lesson with Mike Woods, a local artist whom we mentioned in an earlier post as a person we "discovered" on a visit to Grantchester.
Mike is a particularly gifted artist who has drawn and painted many wildlife scenes. He has had various exhibitions (we met him at one) and his work has been published in a range of British publications. You can see more of Mike's work at
http://www.michaelcwood.co.uk/index.html
We recommend that you explore this site and see the wide range of Mike's work. (And you can order work online.)
Meanwhile, John keeps working away at his New Testament writing. He recently gave a research paper to the New Testament Seminar of the Divinty Faculty at Cambridge University. This was held in the striking new building of the faculty.
There were about 30 people present, including doctoral students, Cambridge lecturers and a handful of professors as well. The seminar is held in the J.B. Lightfoot Room, named after an eminent 19th century British New Testament scholar. John sat under this imposing picture to read his paper.
Ironically, really, as Lightfoot was quite a conservative scholar, and the paper (on Romans 9-11) offered a reading that was not designed to support a conservative view! At the end of the session, the chairperson (Proferssor Judy Lieu) thanked John for generating a "spirited discussion" (a code phrase in academia for people disagreeing with one another!).
John has also been working away on an introductory book about the New Testament, which is well over halfway complete, and has finished an article on Christian-Jewish relations, an important subject, which will be published next year.
So, as you can see, life is not dull in Cambridge!
We have also been to visit a number of local towns and villages recently, so the next post will explore these.
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