Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Merry Christmas 2013   It is December 23rd and we are experiencing gale force winds in Wales and Southern England. It’s a good day to be inside making Christmas goodies and reading Facebook Christmas greetings! Thankfully we planned on being ‘home’ this Christmas and we aren’t trying to travel internationally over the holiday.   Since…

We would like to open this Fall 2013 Update with a short reflection from Ky:   We are your gift…your offering…   That’s a rather extraordinary thing to say, isn’t it?  It doesn’t seem at all humble or self-effacing.  In fact, it makes me think of the far-from-flattering phrase, “He thinks he’s God’s gift to…

This will be a brief update to share a few highlights from the last couple of months and to share a prayer request.  I write this update on a wonderful Sunday afternoon from Oxford. It is one of those rare days with brilliant blue skies and full sun and I think almost everyone in England…

Today is April 27th, it is a lovely Saturday afternoon in Oxford, England. This is one of the first weekends of the year that it has been warm enough to do some outdoor work in our back garden (or back yard if you live in the USA). We were beginning to wonder if winter was…

Happy New Year from England   Wait a minute, how did it get to be the middle of January 2013?!?   Ky and I returned last week from a short trip to the USA. We enjoyed sunny days and warm times with family and a number of friends in Southern California. If only there were…

Thinking of ‘Home’ – Ky Prevette   Hello from Oxford, England, our home these past two and a half years.  I smile to myself as I type out “home” because I’ve lived long enough to know that “home” has many meanings!    Home is where I find my present life—within a small semi-detached house with…

The weather is warming and flowers are blooming in Oxford. The days are getting longer and we have just marked our second anniversary living in the UK: we moved to Oxford on April 1, 2010. The last four months have been busy and at times unsettling. Here are some of the highlights of our lives…

TRADITIONS Ahh…Christmas! Everything here is very much the picture of a traditional English Christmas; the English do keep the holiday, but for many in Oxford, Christ is not the central focus. However, the crisp winter backdrop is the perfect setting for Christmas traditions (much like our past Romania and Colorado settings once were).  Tonight we…

From Ky’s desk overlooking our small English garden (or ‘yard’ in American English): Oxford is an internationally recognized university city.  In the autumn, the new academic year begins and students flock back (increasing the town's population by over 20,000!), matriculation gowns grace the more casual scholarly attire (jeans and sweatshirts), and bicycles spill across the…

In true British fashion, a remark on the weather is always appropriate, so here it is — Britain remains on course for the hottest April since records began – it’s a remarkable contrast to the record breaking cold of the past winter!  The seasonal changes remind us that we have been here a full year…