And the sky is gray

Yesterday it was 80 degrees. This afternoon sleet was bouncing off my car. A bout of wintry weather -- including frozen precipitation -- is coming through Arkansas today and tonight, but temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing. It's doubtful that my drive to the airport tomorrow morning will be affected.

For yes, I am off once again, this time to California, which I may reasonably expect to be sunnier than the currently soggy state of my burg. (Speaking of which: It was strangely exciting to see a few quick scenes from Conway on last night's American Idol, in the package for Kris Allen who is a student at my university. You know, for Arkansas we're a pretty major town, but boy did the place ever look dinky on TV.)

This will be the second time in less than a week that I'm on the 9:35 am LIT to DFW flight. But this time I won't be staying (sorry, Texas!). Instead I'll hop a flight for the Ontario, California airport north east of LA, a place I've been a couple of times in the last few years. I'm bound for the Rekindling Theological Reflection kickoff summit at Claremont School of Theology. This is one of a series of events launching a program funded by the Ford Foundation to rethink theological education. It's quite an honor to be invited, and I'm sure I'll learn much more than I'll contribute.

Our schedule has us booked from 9 am to 9 pm both Friday and Saturday, with an opening reception Thursday night. Not much time to relax and enjoy the California stars, much less see family and friends who happen to be in the area. But I'm looking forward to catching up on some work, blogging the second episode of Breaking Bad, reading, and knitting -- at least during my two days of travel. I anticipate a more solitary, less social trip; there are a few friends and acquaintances among the participants, but nothing like the folks I know and see yearly in Dallas. But solitude can be nourishing. We'll see what comes of it.