susanstinson

On the plane, I read two accounts of the death of Jonathan Edwards' grandfather, written by his father, "for his own use and comfort." (Ken Minkema of the Jonathan Edwards Center was very kind to send the transcriptions, which were done by Ava Chamberlain. Deciphering that eighteenth century handwriting is no small task.) Timothy Edwards wrote that his father departed this life "on a Sabbath day about Singing Time in the Forenoon." Singing time. He quoted his father quoting one Mr. Shepards: "He that can Live in heaven shall, where there in Nothing but God to suck in, and breath out." The sudden flashes of the images like that make me catch my breath every time.

The metro stop for the Szechenyi thermal baths is very nice -- it's one of the oldest metro lines in Europe, with tiles and wood, and the subway plays a little tinkling tune instead of a buzzer when you reach your stop. Outside, it's a city park, with a big bushes with white flowers. I sat there at a picnic table and at a roll with salami and an apple before I went to the baths. It was very green, and the bush smelled just like Euclid Avenue in Littleton, Colorado in the seventies, where I grew up. Then I saw a magpie, like in Texas!

I loved the baths very much: I had a ticket for 2 hours, but stayed four. The grand building is bright yellow, and I thought it was a museum, and its full of hot pools, cold pools, steam rooms, saunas, wave baths, baths with tingly water because of the minerals. There were many old people there, working out their arthritis and all, and it was a great thing to do after such a long plane ride.

Outside, there were three heated swimming pools. The one I fell utterly in love with was the one where I stood with old women in shower caps (and many others) in sunlight geysers of water that would sometimes burst forth in clusters from the bottom of the pool. Standing in the spray or letting the spout massage sore spots was such a gorgeous way to be immersed, and then it'd be over!

I went to see opera – the cheap seats cost $4! – at the gorgeous turn of the century opera house. It was Hungarian, called "Karnyone," and it ended with a huge pile of bodies who all magically came back to life when the fairy girl and boy sang at the end – staged really hauntingly, with crystal trees that were like mirrors and cocoons, both. At intermission, I had a little piece of marizpan cake and a glass of white wine standing a marble counter that circled a column.

I bought a bunch of paprika at the great market hall. And a sour cherry and cheese strudel. And salami.

I had an allergic reaction to three pairs of new socks I brought, and my feet and ankles were swollen up with lumps the size of eggs and spots that itched and spread like poison ivy! I had to take prednisone when I got home, but I'm better now.

I was frightened in the night by a gigantic beetle, which charged my feet instead of running when I turned on the light. I thought maybe it had stung me and made my feet itch and swell! I drew a picture of it -- it had pointy turned up things like thorns on the back of its shell!

I felt like a kid in a candy shop at the conference: all Jonathan Edwards all the time, by truly gifted teachers. As described in a lecture on Jonathan Edwards and aesthetics by Professor Sang Hyun Lee, Edwards held that the essence of God is an infinite, eternal disposition to beautify. One thing that was very striking during the conference was how seriously many of the speakers took the idea of beauty in their writing: they were striving to communicate in beautiful ways, and it was very clear that their hearts as well as their minds were engaged in the work they were presenting. I find that rare in most encounters I have with academics, and it moves me.

It was also a complicated setting for me in ways that I'm not ready to articulate or try to explore here, but it was stimulating, for sure. I'm so glad I went.

Here's a link to an entry with a group picture from the conference on the blog of the Jonathan Edwards Center. If you click on the picture, you can see me wearing the peacock jacket that my folks gave me for Christmas -- I was about to go to the opera! Front row, third from the right.

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