I love that strange combination of aridness and fecundity.  In Reno it is both-and.  Clearly, this is a desert town.  I am always amazed by how much can grow in the midst of great desolation.

Another contrast–the tumbleweed and sage and snow so close you think you can reach out and touch it.

There are a couple of Episcopal retreat centers on Lake Tahoe.  This one has a small apartment over the church.  My colleague, Joe was a Jesuit before becoming an Episcopal priest. He and I are discussing an alternative to my doing the 30 day Exercises at a traditional Jesuit retreat center.  One possibility involves staying here for 30 days by myself  if I can work out what will amount to a sabbatical, doing the exercises in a more Anglican style.

I also had a good laugh, looking out at Tahoe from Galilee Episcopal Conference Center.  Sometimes it seems to me that my dearly loved Episcopal Church has a very postcard kind of faith.  The view was not merely stunning, it was divine…