0
  • No products in the cart.
Total:£0.00
September 2024 Digest - Mucknell Abbey
21301
wp-singular,post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-21301,single-format-standard,wp-theme-bridge,theme-bridge,bridge-core-3.3.4.6,has-dashicons,qi-blocks-1.5.1,qodef-gutenberg--no-touch,woocommerce-no-js,qode-optimizer-1.0.4,qode-quick-view-for-woocommerce-1.1.2,qqvfw--no-touch,qode-page-transition-enabled,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode_grid_1200,hide_top_bar_on_mobile_header,qode-content-sidebar-responsive,qode-smooth-scroll-enabled,columns-3,qode-theme-ver-30.8.8.6,qode-theme-bridge,disabled_footer_top,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-9.0.1,vc_responsive

02 Oct September 2024 Digest

Posted at 11:30h in News by

Welcome back to another month here at Mucknell Abbey. Looking back over the photos from this month, the transition from summer to autumn is very clear, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones feeling a nip in the air that wasn’t there a few weeks ago. The picture at the top of the page shows the lovely flowers that were in the Oratory for the feast of St. Michael and All Angels on the 29th, a reminder that every season has its beauty to offer.

Harvest Time

We’ve been busy as ever in the kitchen garden and on the estate. Our orchard, having given us a bounty of plums, greengages and damsons, has now moved on to apples and a few pears, all of which we are enjoying with gusto – many thanks to Br. Adrian for his harvesting! In the garden, we’ve been bringing in runner beans and sweetcorn, and are still enjoying our own tomatoes and cucumbers. Both the latter are almost finished for the year, so as you can see in the photos below we’ve starting clearing the plants. We’ve also harvested most of our squash; lined up in the greenhouse you can see delicata squash, a firm community favourite. The large orange-y torpedoes are a new variety for us this year, called Georgia Candy Roaster.

Diocesan Links

Here at Mucknell, we’re part of the Diocese of Worcester, and this month we’ve had several occasions to join with the wider diocese. The first of these, on 15th of September, was a visit to the Cathedral for the installation of Stephen Edwards as Dean, followed by another trip to the Cathedral two weeks later for Bishop John’s farewell service, as he retires as Bishop of Worcester. Both John and Stephen have been good friends of ours; Bishop John served as our Episcopal Visitor for ten years, and we join with the whole diocese in both gratitude for his ministry and best wishes for his retirement.

Sandwiched in between those two, on Saturday 28th, Br. Stuart led a day for all the curates in the diocese on prayer, which ended with tea here at Mucknell, followed by Vespers. It was lovely to meet the curates over tea and Br. Stuart’s delicious homemade biscuits, and also a joy to have them with us for 1st Vespers of St. Michael and All Angels.

Our celebrations of St. Michael and All Angels continued the following day, including some appropriately themed biscuits for tea on Sunday:

Rocky’s Ramblings

Rocky, as ever, seems to veer between being very present and very absent! He always shows up for breakfast and supper, and has got quite good at meowing down the corridor if he’s feeling ignored or hungry. In between times, though, he’s mostly out living (we assume) his best life on the estate. He has though blessed the kitchen garden with his presence a couple of times this last month, which gives me lots of chances to take photos of him:

And finally…

As the seasons change, and offer us a different view of creation, I’m reminded of the ongoing task of looking for signs of God’s presence wherever we may be. Here at Mucknell we’re incredibly blessed to have our grounds where we can watch the ebb and flow of the year in action. I hope and pray that in all our various situations, we can continue to be surprised by the joy of God, even, perhaps especially, in the unlikely places.