At the monastery with my new machine

My sister-in-law gave me a tiny personal recorder to use for making verbal notes to myself. At first I wasn't sure how I would use it. On the last full day of my retreat I got up at 6:45 am and walked the quarter mile to the chapel for Lauds. I was so struck by what I was hearing and seeing that I pulled out my present and spoke a description into it. I'll transcribe it here, just as I spoke it early on one frosty morn in the great Shenandoah Valley.

It is just beginning to be morning. I can see a half-moon. The fields are illuminated. I heard a train. And the cows lowing. I can see the red lights of a car pulling into the parking lot in front of the chapel. It's not very cold, there are streaks of pink across the sky. High up are blinking towers. ‘Blinking towers' might be the right way to put it. I think the pink streaks are jet contrails catching the morning sunlight. It's still pretty dark. It's not very cold. I can still hear the train whistles, a very mournful sound but very pretty.

That was my morning walk as recorded on my new Olympus Personal Recorder. A neat little device. Thanks D-Annie!