The Strange Case of Cows on Malt

So here's the thing. The thing that I'm going to risk sounding a little crazy to say:

Does anyone else's milk taste like it has just a touch of malt added to it?

My last two 2-litre cartons (from a major grocery store) have tasted (and smelled) just a bit weird. I drink a lot of milk - and these last 4 litres have not been normal.

To cap it off, Noah's cup was accidentally left with milk in it all-day today in a rather warm place - when I came to it this evening, the milk was solid-ish (think Greek yoghurt) but smelled just like it did when it came out of the carton - malty.

My coffee, my breakfast, my tea... Noah's leftovers (!): none of them taste the same!

A Quick note on Second-Year

Two quick reflections on how second year is panning out so far.

1. The prospects for the year are just brilliant. The stuff we're going to be looking at (based on set reading lists, course content, etc.) really looks great. Nice and meaty; well interconnected but still a diverse range of thinkers to interact with (Colin Gunton, Martin Luther, John Shelby Spong, Karl Barth...). And the original-languages stuff is starting to bear the fruit that I think we'd all look for last year: We're moving beyond slavishly simplistic translation to doing something a little more nuanced. It really is exciting to get into God's words in the original languages. (Mind you, I still have a lot of confidence in our English translations).

2. There has been no 'easing into things'. We're only two weeks in and people already feel the pinch. Phew! I guess it's the flip-side of having a fantastic set of courses: you feel compelled to 'go the extra mile' in all of them!

Two cool things:

1. J I Packer lecturing on the Puritans (at Seminary level) thanks to the Reformed Theological Seminary. Check it out in iTunes U - the course title is "History and Theology of the Puritans". Incidentally, Packer's just been hit with a nasty lawsuit - good on him, is my first impression of the story.
   
2. My mission (chaplaincy) team: it's going to Ulladulla. I had no idea what that meant until my mate, Red, said, "Hey Berns, you're going to Ulladulla - pack your surfboard."