I just had an email from a Christian Booksellers, advertising this
NIV Craft Paper Pink Paisley Hardback Bible
Questions…
“Fashionable” Bible? What is that all about?
“Extra Thin Edition” Which important passages have they omitted?
Two pictures from last night’s event
Steve performing one of his illusions
And a shot of the audience – including one of our church members wearing his sarong! Well, it was a warm sunny evening…
Off to school now…
Early morning working at my PC, listening to Chris Evans…
…who was interviewing The Fonz, aka Henry Winkler…
…and he played the theme tune from Happy Days…
..which reminded me of the wedding of Alice Thompson [our former church youth worker] back in 2004…
…because that was the tune she chose to walk down the aisle with her new husband Steve Price …
…who is coming to KMFC tonight, to perform his act [click here] at our Kidzone BBQ…
I loved watching Happy Days – I even have the official LP somewhere. Mind you, HW has aged a little since the 70s…
…but my fondness for blokes on motorbikes remains.
The sun is shining, the sky is brilliant blue and I have a thousand things to do before the BBQ. Must dash!
I joked with a friend on Sunday that if the Government cuts mean I get less work doing Supply Teaching and One-To-One Tutoring, I shall have to set up in business doing sewing jobs for friends – after all, they will not be able to afford new clothes and furnishings.
Since then, I have had one colleague ask me about altering a top – and then yesterday I received this wonderful postcard from a friend.
This is definitely going to get framed and displayed somewhere!Being able to “Make Do and Mend” is a vital skill which needs reclaiming, and passing on to our children.
I had such fun on Saturday turning old curtain fabric into an outfit for Blousey Brown – one of the female leads in the Bugsy Malone production.
[Thank you to Ellie, my young neighbour, who helped with the fitting]
And on Monday I was working on my quilts at Cornerstones – all recycled, vintage fabric.
The dress is based on the same pattern as Tallulah’s – but knee length. And I found a cute fur collar in The Stash which really gave a neat finishing touch to the jacket. I‘ve a brown felt beret too.
All she needs now is her little suitcase.
But I’ve discovered that technology hasn’t made allowances for this sort of retro thriftiness. The ‘predictive text’ on my phone rendered the phrase “Sewing up curtains” as “Sexing up curtains” I can assure you, I do not do those sort of alterations!!
Be Warned – Rant Coming Up!
“Your hands may come into contact with millions of germs every day. But have you ever thought about those germs ending up on your soap pump? The Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System eliminates the need to touch a soap pump ever again.”
So runs the Tv ad for this new product. It costs around £10 for the initial kit, then a further £3 for refills [plus 4 AA batteries every so often] That seems quite a lot of money to me –and not very green’ either.
But the cost is not the thing that is annoying me – it is the reasoning behind the advert…
“Ooh look, my little boy is about to touch that old soap pump – and the last person to use it was my husband who had very dirty hands! Stop immediately, child! You may get germs on your fingers! Use this new pump instead, which dispenses soap without you touching it – so you won’t pick up any of that nasty harmful bacteria”
Erm – look, surely the reason** little Joe is reaching for the soap pump is because he is about to wash his hands. So he already knows his hands have germs on them. Furthermore, the next action he takes will be to use that soap to wash his hands – thus removing the germs.
Are you telling me that in the few seconds between touching grimy soap pump and reaching the tap, those extra ‘soap pump’ germs will multiply ten thousand fold and give him some vile life-threatening plague?
Or are those clever people at Dettol just playing on the guilt feelings of mothers, who worry they are exposing their families to extra risks? And making lots of money out of it! Or am I just cynical?
[**I am aware that some folk, ever since Lady Macbeth, are obsessive about handwashing, and theymay have different reasons for using the soap. But it is not fair to worry them still more with this product]
I like this Aldi product – 69p and it comes in three colours!
So don’t try and sell me a ‘No-touch pump’ – it just won’t wash!
Because of the first lines of verses 2 & 3, this Graham Kendrick piece was always called the Tortoise Song in our family
Jesus put this song into our hearts
Jesus put this song into our hearts
It's a song of joy no one can take away
Jesus put this song into our heartsJesus taught us how to live in harmony
Jesus taught us how to live in harmony
Different faces, different races, He made us one
Jesus taught us how to live in harmonyJesus taught us how to be a family
Jesus taught us how to be a family
Loving one another with the love that He gives
Jesus taught us how to be a familyJesus turned our sorrow into dancing
Jesus turned our sorrow into dancing
Changed our tears of sadness into rivers of joy
Jesus turned our sorrow into a dance
Yesterday’s Family Service at KMFC was focussing on being a family. I missed all the fun there because I was preaching elsewhere – but I did get back in time for coffee, and the children showed me the people they had been making…
The two on the right look a lot happier than Angry Man on the left!
I forgot the camera yesterday afternoon- so never got any pictures of the Open Air Songs Of Praise [held in beautiful sunshine despite the dismal weather forecasts beforehand!] Then we leapt into the car and drove across to Cornerstones [in the rain]
Here for just a day’s R&R then back to work tomorrow.
Among the more bizarre news stories this weekend, I found this one… [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/10300924.stm]
A vicar has revived an ancient law entitling her to call members of her parish together for archery practice.
The Rev Mary Edwards, of Collingbourne Ducis, near Marlborough, called residents to the village recreation ground on Friday.
Residents were rewarded for complying with the law with a bar, a barbecue and live music.
Questions spring to mind…
[btw a quarrel is a bolt or arrow with a quadrangular head, shot from a crossbow]
Really excited this morning to find that in the Queen’s Birthday Honours there is an OBE for my good friend, Kathryn.
Kathryn Broadhurst has been headteacher at Green Lane Infant School, in inner-city Leicester, for 29 years - she retires this summer. In her multicultural school, where over 17 languages are spoken, Kathryn has displayed a real determination to promote inclusivity and overcome language barriers. The school has won many awards and consistently received stunning Ofsted results under her leadership. Staff, pupils and parents all love and respect Kathryn, and know how important her Christian faith is to her. Kathryn is a member of our church in Kirby Muxloe and we are all very proud of her and what she has achieved. She’ll probably just smile and tell us she has just got on with the job God has given her.
[the picture shows some of her pupils admiring the wall mosaic at the school]
I was so intrigued by the Irish Fig Roll Commercial that I decided to check out the makers – Brown Bag Films. And I discovered some wonderful short animations – all about 4½minutes long. Back in the 1960’s a recording crew went into a primary school in Dublin and asked the children to retell Bible stories in their own words.
In recent years, BBF have taken these tapes, and added animation – and the results are great! I cannot imagine any of the children I teach now [except maybe one or two who attend Sunday School] being able to recall so much of the biblical detail.
There is a whole cache of these on YouTube – I am including two I particularly enjoyed – the story of Lazarus, and death of John the Baptist – this last one was Oscar nominated!!
Do watch out for the” Possels Taking Tea at Bethany and the “Leopards Full With Sores An’ All” being cured!
I love the way children put their own interpretation on things and if they do not recognise a word, often substitute one they do know.
I have a friend who tells me that as a child, she enjoyed the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Unicorn. And when my brother was about 5 he came back from Sunday School and told us of a character in the Old Testament who was so wicked that “The Lord smoked him and he died”
So be warned! Repent! and give up yer aul sins!!
The fig tree has lots of small hard figlets – but soon they will be ripe and ready to eat. But I was able to enjoy figs this morning at our church Coffee Drop In, because Stella had bought a pack of fig rolls. I adore fig rolls. When we were engaged, we used to attend a Monday Night Bible Study Group in St Albans, and Bob maintained I only went because Mrs Barber always served fig rolls with the tea!
In the States, they have Fig Newtons
Dear friends, these are not the same as our traditional British biscuits. The outside is are much more sponge-like in character. In Britain, they are made by Burtons Biscuits – who produce them for all the major supermarkets. The enthusiastic people at Nice Cup Of Tea And A Sit Down [yes that is a website, devoted to biscuits!] have a whole page analysing the content of fig rolls. I am happy to report that Sainsbury’s have a higher fig content than others!
In Ireland, fig rolls are made by Jacobs – and the JacobFruitfield website has some wonderful vintage ads. Do watch them – they are only half a minute long!
Figs are fabulous!!
At Sewing Club, the girls have been making bags using the “Kites and Stripes” technique. Here’s the front and back of Katie’s finished bag
These are based on four square foundation blocks – but there is an interesting variation using a triangular base here.
Ann has just finished another of her “Quilts for Heroes” – using all donated fabrics, and she has put it together in a matter of weeks
We were all very impressed by the back too…
I want to get back to Cornerstones and do some more of my quilting there!
Who’s there?
Al!
Al who?
Alpaca!
We had another visit to our Ladies Fellowship from Jill Abell, of the Peru Children’s Trust. Jill first visited us in May last year and told us of the work she does.
This time she showed pictures of the work done by three wonderful ladies, Luz, Otti and Marta, who help the sponsored children and run their Summer Camp. The work involved in organising Camp makes our Holiday Club seem like a picnic! Not least because the programme runs all day from early morning till late evening.
Jill brought more craftwork made by the Peruvians – including some beautiful alpaca knitwear. Being animal hair and not wool, alpaca is suitable for people with wool allergies, and it is amazingly warm. Maisie tried on a cardigan- and ended up buying it!
[Smile, Maisie, Elizabeth in India is going to see this on the blog!!]
There were lots of smaller craft items too
And beautiful jewellery
Because there is no ‘middle man’, the money paid goes directly to the men and women who produce these beautiful goods.
Their use of colour is stunning!
Jill works in a different part of Peru from our friend Scott, but many of their experiences are in common. Jill is going back in three weeks time – her suitcase loaded with gifts for the people. Simple things we take for granted, like bars of soap…
Her talk was really challenging – she said that since she began her involvement with the Peru Children’s Trust, she has completely re-thought her lifestyle and the things she buys.
Do you know this traditional rhyme for brides?
Something old, something new,
something borrowed, something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe
I confess that until this morning, I only knew the first two lines, and wasn't aware of the ‘silver sixpence’ bit. Apparently, the custom originally was for the groom to carry a silver coin in his shoe to ensure good fortune through his married life [it works better in the left shoe, allegedly!!] Now brides have to ‘wear’ the coin.
Not being given to superstitious claptrap, it wasn’t something that bothered me 31 years ago. But this morning a colleague in the Staffroom said “Oooh! You are the sort of person who could help me, I’m sure!” [If I had a silver coin for every time a teaching colleague said that, I could probably retire to Cornerstones tomorrow!] Her friend is getting married and she has collected the first 4 items, and wanted a silver sixpence.
“Aha"!” I said, “I know exactly where my box of pre-decimal coinage is” [another positive outcome of The Dress Pattern Hunt last week] I said that if I had more than one sixpence in the box, she was welcome to have it. “Can I pay you for it?” she said “I am desperate, whatever you think it’s worth” [2½p?] I said that if I had a spare, I would happily give it to her.
And there were three in my box! So I cleaned one up and will take it to her tomorrow.
btw quick way to clean silver coins – put a small piece of scrunched up aluminium foil in a pan, with a tsp of bicarbonate of soda and a cup of water. Put coins on the foil, and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Fish out the coins, let them cool on a piece of kitchen paper and then buff up. Your ‘filthy lucre’ will have become bright sparkly money – all the grime and tarnish will have disappeared.
Since sorting out the 6d, I have been checking out online – in the States there is the Silver Sixpence company which ships these [British] coins all over the world. Around £18 for me to get one from the US! Or £23 from the British Silver Sixpence Company, £18 for one from the Royal Mint – or £1 from eBay!
Personally I think that if I’d had a coin in my shoe on my Wedding Day, I would have been more like to suffer blisters than good luck!
I get more cynical as I get older regarding “traditions” surrounding weddings. Like that one about “The man should spend a month’s salary on the engagement ring” – that originated from a marketing campaign by De Beers [and remember, De Beers has a near monopoly on the diamond industry]
Our Bible reading this morning was all about faithfulness. If only people put as much thought, time and effort into the marriage relationship as they put into The Wedding Day, we might have fewer divorces.
Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—
Never take her love for granted!
And then the phone rang - when I answered, another Scottish voice said "Can I speak to Marie Goldberg, please?"
"Sorry, I think you have a wrong number" I replied and she thanked me and I hung up.
"Do you know anyone called Marie Goldberg?" I called out to Bob "Marigold who?" he replied.
Marie Goldberg, or Marigold Burg?
I don't know anyone of either name. Do people still call their daughters "Marigold" ?
I have certainly never taught a child with that name. And although the flowers are bright and colourful...
...I am afraid that my first thought when I hear "Marigolds" is...
I do hope my Scottish caller got through to the right person in the end.
Whatever her name was!
We were all given blindfolds as we arrived, and at one point, she asked us to put them on so we could appreciate a little of what it means to be blind. So when the rest of the congregation couldn't see me, I am afraid I took their picture!!
I think our fellowship are brilliant - they just get on and do whatever bizarre things the preacher asks of them. Here is Lydia after the service, enjoying a coffee with Helen, our Chief Steward.
Bob led the first part of the service, which included communion - and also a time of prayer for the people of Cumbria.
So many of us have been to that beautiful part of the world for holidays, and can visualise the places where the shootings occurred.
It is so important to pray for people in need, even if we do not know them personally. I am always a little uncomfortable when I attend a Sunday Service and the prayers are entirely 'self-centred', as if nobody matters or exists outside of that particular congregation.
Lydia said that surveys have shown that as a group, disabled people are the least evangelised throughout the world! She contrasted that with the ministry of Jesus - where 50% of his recorded miracles involve direct ministry to those with disability.
Torch Trust offer lots of practical support for those with visual impairment. Check out their website [here] for ideas as to how you can be involved. Thanks Lydia, for coming today.
It is half-term, last week was Liz's birthday, and it seems ages since we had seen the girls - and our present [cast iron cookware] was too expensive to post. So on Thursday afternoon, we drove down the M1. We knew we couldn't get to Steph till after 6, so we wasted a bit of time at the Westfield Shopping Centre.
Which seems like every other shopping centre, only Very Large. With Elephants!
There was one menswear shop which fascinated me - the window display was 200 redundant Singer Sewing Machines
I nearly went in and said "Can't you send those machines somewhere to be used?" [eg here]
Off to Steph's for the evening, and then up early on Friday and off to Borough Market. Unfortunately the Market did not get going as early as we had thought - so we went into Southwark Cathedral for a wander round.
Loved this inscription - sounds like a good chap!
William Winkworth's granddaughter was Catherine [1827 -1878] who translated a number of hymns. And her very elderly nephew belonged to my home church in Norfolk in the 1960's. When his widow died, I inherited her sewing basket - What a random connection!
Back outside to the market
The fish stall
Don't like the way he looks at me...
Gorgeous patisserie
Look, other people put odd things on their heads too!
Bread
Essex Oysters
But we just bought olives, aubergine paté, salad and bread, for our picnic.
It was getting to be very sunny and quite hot, and we were going to go on the train to the Old Deer Park in Richmond.
So we strolled along the South Bank towards Waterloo.
Lots and lots to see en route. Cattle as well as elephants...
There is a wonderful sense of history - the copy of the Elizabethan Globe Theatre, The Restoration Treasure of St Paul's Cathedral and the Contemporary Millennium Bridge
Bob was exhausted and needed a rest
Then we came across some minor excitement - just near the National Theatre, they were filming "This Morning" Live. The TV chef Phil Vickery was demonstrating his "Fish'n'chip" ice cream to a crowd [presumably gathered from passers by and to the presenter Eamonn Holmes.
There was a lot of high class recording stuff to see.
EH obviously didn't like the ice cream very much, and said so! And neither did the OAP who was also given a taste...
On to Richmond Old Deer Park - surprisingly empty
After a lovely picnic, snoozing on the grass and reading our books, the three of us meandered along the High Street enjoying the Charity Shops, then back to Steph's to get ready for the evening.
Mark and Liz arrived and we went out for our meal [Jon is Sheffield, so missed this treat]. I was amused by this door we passed
Steph had booked a table at Belgo - the great Belgian chain of restaurants, in the middle of their summer Lobsterfest
None of us had lobster - Mark and I had beef carbonnade, Steph and Bob has moules et frites, and Liz had goats' cheese. It was all lovely.
Then Bob and I got the train back to Elephant'n'Castle with Liz. This morning we three visited the Geffrye Museum.
The museum is "The Museum of the Home" and shows all sorts of room interiors. The building went up nearly 300 years ago as Almshouses - but closed in 1910, when the residents were moved elsewhere- but opened again as a museum in 1914. For nearly 100 years it has been maintained as a museum - but they have restored one of the Almshouses. We all enjoyed it, and although the museum itself is open a lot, the restored Almshouse is only open briefly on the first Saturday of the month [an unexpected bonus for us]. Do check out the website [here] as it has excellent pictures.
Then Liz took us for lunch - to a Vietnamese Place. I had not eaten Vietnamese Cuisine before.
The good thing was that the chili sauce, chili flakes, hoisin sauce, limes, herbs etc were all served as an accompaniment, so you could make your meal as spicy or bland as you liked. I hate spicy - Bob loves it, so it was brilliant for us.
Sorry family, it is hard to get a good photo of people eating!
There was iced coffee or Vietnamese beer to drink
It was an extremely filling meal, after starters - summer rolls [much lighter than Chinese Spring Rolls] and another pancake thing - we had 'pho' which are soft rice noodles, in a bowl of broth. It took us all some time to eat our way through the huge bowls, and we all had to admit defeat in the end - despite the encouragement on a nearby shop front...
We got the bus back to Elephant'n'Castle - and outside the Church opposite Liz's flat saw a wonderful bus which had just transported a wedding party...
The Used Ticket bin, and the poles inside, had all been decorated with flowers- the driver let me on the bus to photograph them.
We left Liz at 2.30pm and were home in Kirby by 5pm - a brilliant, if somewhat jam-packed 48 hours of eating, sightseeing, travelling, and spending quality time with the family. Thank you to both girls - for giving us such a good time, and for giving up your comfortable beds for us oldies to sleep on! Our Oyster travel cards were useful, and well used.
* "The Man On The Top Of The Clapham Omnibus" is a British legal term, dating back well over a hundred years, it is "a descriptive formulation of a reasonably educated and intelligent but non-specialist person — a reasonable man; a hypothetical person against whom a defendant's conduct might be judged in an English law civil action for negligence."
In case you were wondering, this is what he looks like...
