Where I lay my head. Don Quixote reminding me
that it is all windmills. The cloud of witnesses (my forbears) cheering
me on to a good life. The city of Basel beckoning. The novel by
P. G. Wodehouse reminding me to laugh.
7. Where I Live and What I Do
If you and I met at a professional convention
and you asked me, “What do you do?” I would answer you in one way. But
if we met at a park bench, I would answer you in another. What follows
is the park-bench version.
I live in Amherst, Massachusetts, in a house
that we call Niggle’s Parish. We call it that after a place in a story
by J. R. R. Tolkien. The story is about how artists, even flawed and
obdurate ones, sometimes give us glimpses of truth.
Chris and Laurel Peltier and their children, Sarah and Elijah, are the
other people who live at Niggle’s Parish. The Peltiers are the owners,
and I am a housemate. Life at the Parish is a venture in Christian
community. We lead our individual lives in a context of interdependence
and cooperation.
I teach piano lessons, and do editing, and make
leaded stained glass, and compose music, and write.
Once a month I host an evening that we call the
Andreas Forum. People come over, and we have soup and a program: we
might read a play or have an illustrated talk or play music or read
stories to one another that we have written. There is a Web site about
it if you want to see more:
Andreas Center.
I have family nearby. One sister lives in
Portland, Maine, and the other in New York. My daughter Stephanie lives
in southern Vermont with her husband Konstantine and their children
Adaylia and Annika. My son John lives in Richmond, Virginia, and he and
Andrea have a baby boy named Mason.
If we met at a park bench, Maggie would
probably be with me. She is my chocolate Lab who lives for food,
comfort, and bodily contact.
Well, that’s about me. What about you?
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