Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Saying farewell

(catching up!)
the reference (captions?)
Some time ago now we said farewell to Dave Mock the vicar of All Saints and St Barnabas, he's since been inducted as vicar of Christ Church Barnton. This picture is when Chris - one of the church wardens - spoke about the reference she gave him! We now look back to nearly 10 years of his ministry and care of us and look forward to whatever God is leading us to.

Teaser Tuesday - Aug 29

The rules are:
  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
I instinctively performed an appraisal comparable to a Homeland Security Threat Assessment. Were we facing a Low, Guarded, Elevated, High, or Severe Threat Level?
from Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me by Ian Morgan Cron. This was our book group book of the month. I wanted to like this and it tried very hard (too hard!) to be liked, but I just couldn't engage with this. It's a story of US minister growing up with an alcoholic father who worked for the CIA and sidelong looks at how his childhood affected his life. Glowing testimonies by well known Christian writers prefaced the book I wondered whether they'd read the same book! It was a book you either loved or hated the ceaseless rush of peripheral anecdotes just turned me off! Another sentence
Every eleven-year-old boy in the Western Hemisphere chooses to play one of two instruments: the snare drum or the trumpet.
- no they don't!

Monday, August 28, 2017

Mutterings - Aug 28

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:
  1. Slipping :: Side (thinking skiing?)
  2. Thin line :: blue
  3. Blur :: Artistic
  4. Dream :: On!
  5. Love :: Actually
  6. Full :: Burp!
  7. Attempt :: Record
  8. Breast :: Stroke
  9. Hang :: Glider
  10. Gill :: Eric


Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Mutterings - Aug 22

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:
  1. Anticipation :: Breathless
  2. Insecurity :: Chronic
  3. Forgive :: Forget
  4. Positivity :: Relentless
  5. Disappointment :: Tears
  6. Birthday! :: Cake!
  7. Purchase :: Impulse
  8. Sentimental :: Journey
  9. Lurk :: Sinister
  10. Superstition :: Fear

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Ludlow

The final day we took a circular walk to Ludlow. Ludlow - medieval house Again we took the easier course by retracing the route of the morning. Had a wander around the town - an enjoyable drink at a cafe also selling bottles of gin (we took some away!!). There was a brief meeting, by chance, with someone we met on our first Inntravel holiday in Almeria back in 2007! He was playing in a band in the town square.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Bishops Castle to Stokesay

DSCF9977
On the previous eaving we ate at the 3 tuns very much a pub but we enjoyed the food! The second day of our Shropshire break started and ended with a taxi ride. Unfortunately I was finding walking difficult (see account of day 1!) and we didn't get much time at Stokesay - it certainly would have repaid a couple of hours viewing - as you see from the photo. Earlier in the day the route took us over the huge Iron Age fort of Bury Ditches - wonderful views - and then a walk through Walcot Park lots of herds of cows that were fairly cooperative in moving out of the way! We stayed overnight at the Clive in Bromfield - ate there - they need to get the drinks waiters and the food waters to syncronise - on both nights we got drinks served when we were half way through the main course!

Teaser Tuesday - Aug 15

The rules are:
  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
Most of the temple soldierly had died along with them, and for the first three days Ish had been just a volunteer with a shovel, fighting fires, filling sandwalls, clearing debris. On the fourth day the surviving priests and temple military apparatus had pulled themselves together into something resembling a command structure, and now Ish had this scratch squad, himself and three soldiers from different units, and this mission, mapping the flood zone, to what purpose Ish didn't know or much care.
An apocalyptic vision from David Moles' 'A Soldier of the City' in the collection Engineering Infinity (ed Jonathan Strahan) a free volume from Kobo - hard science fiction - i.e. with strong technological component, ages since I read any in this style but quite enjoyed it.

Mutterings - Aug 15

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:
  1. Broken :: Promise
  2. Compromised :: Beliefs
  3. Delayed :: Arrival
  4. Ligament :: Strained
  5. Dramatic :: Entrance
  6. Fanatic :: Wild-eyed
  7. Exotic :: Bird
  8. Weeks :: Wakes (Northern English mill holidays)
  9. Walk it off :: Hangover
  10. Bruised :: Ego

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Mutterings - Aug 13

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:
  1. Headache :: Asprin (the power of old adverts!)
  2. Leftover :: (side of) Plate
  3. Corrupt :: Organisation
  4. Vent :: Rage
  5. Equipment :: Climbing (should I acquire some..)
  6. Jack :: Car
  7. Business :: Show
  8. Joint :: Clip
  9. Intership :: Exploitative
  10. Pain :: Bread!

Saturday, August 05, 2017

Mutterings - Aug 6

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:
  1. Baby:: Bouncer
  2. Hoops :: Hula
  3. Vulnerable :: Victim
  4. Literally :: Over-used!
  5. Relationship :: Blood
  6. Best :: Bitter (not something I often order!)
  7. Aggressive :: Stance
  8. Comfort :: Blanket
  9. Tunnel :: Channel
  10. Cancer :: Brain

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Teaser Tuesday - Aug 1

The rules are:
  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
"It's not easy to open, Mr Okada," said Creta Kano. I realized she was standing there - and in her early sixties outfit.
from Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Our book group book of the month, some seriously weird stuff here! A novel on contemporary Japan and its development from World War II.