[Tim Murphy]

Rory hopped over from Bristol, England, bearing copies of New Walk, which feature two North Dakota Farms. We stuffed him into a combine where he rode in the corn harvest. He had a blast, and of course the farmers were thrilled to have their farms appear in so fine a publication. This morning Msgr. Laliberte and I did a dry run of my Remarks on the Sullivan Translation, the big essay appearing over the course of two months in Chronicles. Our audience was the GK Chesterton Society. The reception was great. Three very rich days.

[Rory Waterman]

Tim also treated me to a reading, half of which I had the pleasure of choosing. Nobody reads their work better.

[Tim Murphy]

Because so many of my closest friends are available only by email or phone, it was great to have a young poet under my roof. Since I moved in here a couple years ago, my only other house guest was Aaron the Pooch. It was too windy to go up in the helicopter, so I gave Rory a ground tour of this 55,000 acre (25,000 hectare) farm, a slightly larger spread than the ones he grew up around in rural Lincolnshire. Thanks for coming so far, Rory. I'm a lonely man.

[Rory Waterman]

You're a good man.