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!
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.
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.
"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.
After the clergy refused to take note of the bishop’s report last February, this session left the bishops staying really quiet, with the exception of the more vocal liberal bishops, and the interventions of the Archbishop of York. On key theological issues they listened and didn’t lead.He seems to not notice how the bishops actually voted on the two issues that he (predictably) voted against: On the motion to welcome transgender people - bishops: 30 for, 2 against, 2 recorded abstentions. On Jayne Ozanne's motion saying that conversion therapy had no place in the modern world - bishops: 36 for, 1 against, 0 recorded abstentions. But maybe any bishop who voted against the Munro line is a wild liberal? As he was there he hasn't even got the excuse of misleading 3rd person reporting. The tables giving how synod members actually voted are here, the Bishop of Chester wasn't there for either vote -that would have been an interesting vote but I see that Don Allister - with a strongly conservative reputation - voted for both motions.
Nearly a month ago now we had a short break in Shropshire - arranged by Inntravel - as ever for us a walking break. We started off in Bishop's Castle - a lovely small town - I've never really been to Shropshire before only passing through on other journeys. The first day was strenuous and a walk along part of Offa's Dyke (my knee wasn't happy!) but we much enjoyed the walking and the countryside! The photo album from the break is here
