Monday I was teaching a course. There was some complexity over organising it as I had other things to do on the Monday morning, which meant that I had to fit it in at times that people did not necessarily expect. However I think my decision that first thing rather than later was good. The course went I think better than I felt it did, at least from the feedback that was given me. I suspect how well I think things go actually depends on how well rested I am. If I am well rested then I feel as if I am working well with the subject. On the evening it was the writers group final meeting for before the summer. It went fairly well. The piece I took was not my usual standard but I was not surprised about that, It had a weaker start and although the language had been tightened it had not been tightened enough.
Tuesday was a managers meeting for my team. As with three other people I only manage myself well that is not true, but I manage things rather than people. The thing was that I was able to check with my boss and she agrees that a blower heater is not a sensible solution to heating problems in my office (the central heating is no longer able to pump water through the upstairs offices). As we are only there for another year I am going to suggest a mixture of temporary secondary glazing and more sensible portable heating. On the evening went out to Bible Study at Herringthorpe. I am not sure that it is working properly and I am at present trying to gently challenge the presumed hegemony on teaching. Oh the leader started to draw a distinguishing line between spiritual and practical/profane. It is one line I have learnt to be increasingly sceptical about. The profane is often used to symbolise the spiritual and the spiritual can have practical/profane implication. He also said that ministers should decide the spiritual because God only speaks to individuals not to committees. That would be fine if God only spoke through the apostolic channel but God also speaks through the prophetic channel and the prophetic typically speak from the margins and the outside.
Wednesday I collapsed with a migraine. Actually I had noted that a migraine was hovering the last few days so I decided that the most sensible option was to let it come on Wednesday and get it over with. It was three weeks since the previous one so they are again spreading themselves out.
Sometime during the week I came across two different definitions of Liberal Christians. One was someone who accepted the Liberal tradition of interpretation of the Bible which often means a set of views such as: accepting evolution, dismissing male headship and the contextualisation of the bible. The second is somebody who believes that a variety of views should be tolerated within the church and respect for alternative opinions is important. The argument was not that a person isn’t both, but that a person needn’t be both. So you could have someone who accepts creationism but believes that those who accept evolution are valid. That person maybe described as liberal even though their personal theological stance isn’t. Equally people can accept the liberal tradition but feel that those who accept creationism really are not thinking reasonably and should be challenged by the powers that be in the church.
Thursday I was up and ready for work, indeed so up and ready I managed to find time to walk the slightly longer way in. Basically walk up Broomspring Lane and then down Glossop Road to the department. I hope to be able to do this more often over the summer. At lunch time I met with Cliff to do a check on the sound equipment in the church. When looking at the speakers it was felt that the speaker by the choir is actually aimed at the bookstall at the back. Now don’t get me wrong books are important but they don’t need to hear the service. However on investigating the ladder Cliff found that the rubber ends of the ladder were so old that they had gone hard. He did not feel safe going up it so we left more exploration for a later date.
On the evening I went across to lead a brain storm for the youth group at Herringthorpe URC so that they could collect ideas to make a video for me introducing the church to people their own age. I suggested that they might think of it as going onto the website. There were only four there, normally there is about seven or eight but the scouts were having a social. It is odd but I think I am beginning to know most of the youth group. Certainly the four there to me were not strangers to me. It was interesting that among the important things for them as for older people were the relationships they have with people. I am also beginning to think that we need to think of how we use electronic media in pastoral care. Just as the phone call became part of the tools for pastoral care, so for the younger generation (i.e. the under seventies in this case) are using electronic systems to keep in touch and know how each other are doing. They don’t exclude the traditional like visiting but where as churches might have in the past rung around to see who was coming to an event, now for younger people it is probably more efficient to send a text. It does the same thing. At Herringthorpe facebook is actually one of the tools of keeping in touch with people. I started using it to put up photographs of events, if I put them up for friends of friends then anyone who has Pauline the minister as a friend can see them without them being available to the whole world.
Friday was busy for all it was a day off. I went to Broomhall Breakfast, then onto PJTaste to pick the present for Fleur and Walters Ruby wedding. Then I went down to Waitrose as I realised I was out of instant coffee and breakfast cereal. I was tired after that and the day was stuffy warm so I went to bed for an hour. I am not sure I actually sleep but pictures flicker across my mind. One of them this time involved a flying gingerbread woman. Then I sat down and wrote up the brain storming from the previous evening before catching the bus out to the Dicksons for a pleasant evening.
Saturday was Fleur and Walters Ruby Wedding. This involved me getting a train to Stockport, getting a taxi to my parents, dropping my stuff for the weekend then going in the taxi back to the station with them and then meeting up with Ruth on the train. We got there to find Marion coming outside and wondering where Fleur and Walter were as they had not arrived yet. It was about 12:25 when she actually said that. Fleur and Walter and family were doing all the catering themselves although they had hired a room in the town hall in Macclesfield. This meant for once Walter was working the room while Fleur was trying to check that everything was going fine and talk with the people who wanted to talk to her. The major success at keeping the children happy and entertained were old fashioned balloons, which were thoroughly enjoyed. Bubbles were less successful, as the mixture was tipped on the floor rather than bubbles being blown. The two youngest spent most of the time following their mothers around. Anyway at the start of the meal I realised that I had forgotten to pack my medicine. I needed to take the evening tablets as whereas I would be okay today I would have had a migraine tomorrow, going by past experience. So I hitched a lift back with the Dicksons, who then ran me to the station while Ruth saw my parents back to Stockport. I caught a train back and have spent this morning being quiet at my parents while they went to church.
Showing posts with label Fleur and Walter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fleur and Walter. Show all posts
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Christmas Chatter
Thought I might write a Christmas missive, then remembered that about half way through the year my desk computer gave up the ghost. Well the hard disk became corrupted so badly it would not start. So amongst the other bits and bobs I lost were most of the people I contact once a year. Not much email this week so not much to comment on. So it may as well be a greeting sent through here and perhaps some reflection on the past year. Not that you need that!
Right first the thing I forgot from last week which was to report on Fleur and Walters house-warming come book launch for the second edition of Walters book which is now in paper back . I did the classic panic and arrived far too early. I put it down to me starting talking over the arrangements with Dad which meant he was calculating in time to pick me up and my natural caution on travelling a new route. Alright I did do it over a decade ago but got off at Stoke on Trent I think. The problem with Sheffield to Stoke is sometimes its quicker by Stockport and sometimes its quicker by Derby. Well with Dad worrying about picking me up in the rush hour from Stockport station, my timings got all out, though even on a good day on a new route an hour early is normal (yes I do aim to be in Birmingham an hour before a supervision or class). Also I try to avoid rush hour trains Sheffield to Stockport having done it for a year and can recall not just them being one to two hours late but also the fact that on one occasion at least it was standing room only and I was so tired I slept on the floor. So I was avoiding both the 17:10 and the notorious 17:40 and lost the invite so I was going on my timings not on the actual time when I booked. Anyway I to quote Walter arrived ridiculously early but as that allowed me to sit with a book and help a bit perhaps it was better for me that way. Fleur and Walter were busy in the kitchen and shouted for help when I could be of use, although I am less useful in a unfamiliar kitchen than in one I know and though bigger than the one at Blackbird Leys or at Sheffield it is long and thin. There must have been about twenty people there. I would have known about two thirds of them but mainly through my parents. My parents were invited but firstly the post office lost their invite then when this was realised they had my sister and the neice and nephew to stay for the weekend. My brother-in-law was on a lads weekend away, ostensibly buying the booze for Christmas but more accurately just having time away with other men. Ironically the guys he goes with are old friends of my sisters. Ruth, if you had wanted to make it, I am pretty sure a lift could have been arranged. Jan Berry, John and Yvonne Parry were in one car and Roger Tomes, Jack and Myrtle Mckelvey were in the other so two cars were coming from around where you lived. Marion Shadbolt was also there, she claimed at 9:30 pm that she was feeling tired because she'd been up at 2am trying to catch a rabbit. Most people who are up at 2 a.m. trying to catch a rabbit feel tired at 9:30 am let alone 9:30 pm. I met up with someone I had only talked with on the internet before. Food was a buffet and mulled wine was served. During the preparation Walter asked me if I new any recipe for non-alcoholic mulled wine, to which I had to reply no. For future reference Walter you can get mulling spices and just add apple juice. Actually for adults I would mix cranberry and apple juice for mulling. I got a lift back from John Parry. Initially Jack had offered me on, John picked up that I was talking about Stockport and so said he would take me instead. It was only afterwards he picked up that I was Dad's daughter and not someone totally out of the circuit. Although the fact that Roger came and sat down on a floor cushion beside me for a chat might have been a hint.
So onto this week. I made it to the Christmas Just Desserts last week and brought pudding. Well I had made a form of boozy winter fruit salad for the writers group get together the previous Monday and then had developed a migraine and not gone. The interesting thing was that I had cooked a packet of cranberries in a light syrup until they were soft, the result was that when I had added the rest of the winter fruit, brandy and such the dessert set solid. I think people thought I had used a jelly. I also had got asked if there was any flavour to which I replied no, after all it was a couple of glasses of brandy so that wasn't a flavour but a major ingredient! Yes it was delicious even though I say so myself. I spent the rest of the week eating it up for dessert.
On Tuesday I made the Advent Wreath for the carol service. This year I was doing the actual creation on my own. This was partly a mis-communication in the chaplaincy as the chaplaincy assistant should have been there to help not just as a gopher. My usual helpers both had good excuses and nobody from work volunteered despite two emails except Cliff who was busy on the morning but could help me clear up on the afternoon. Well I made it on time although I must admit I largely missed a bag of berberis until it was too late to put it in. The thing is berberis is a structural plant and needs to go in early so the filler plants can go in afterwards. I also learnt that using silver and white might be a better idea in the lighting than using gold (it is a very orange light so silver and white still look gold). However what I possibly learnt most from it was my own reaction. There was none of the joy of creation from doing it this way. I was relieved it was finished but I did not think "that's good" just "that's done". It made accepting praise for it feel very odd and took a lot of pleasure out of doing it. This seems to be my normal reaction when I try to do things that are just to hard. I do them but I loose the joy of doing them because of it. Indeed it has been a long slog to get my body back into balance afterwards and I am only hoping that I have done so today. Oh if you want to see the wreath it can be seen at on flickr .Wednesday I was off with a migraine and did not really balance out for the rest of the week.
Yesterday I finished the important Christmas shopping. Not much really a couple of small presents for mum, somethings from Lush and posted the parcel to Sue. I also went wild and spent money on clothes from Marks and Spencer to be worn at works christmas party, Christmas day and New Year day. Morag has also asked me to bring up craft things. She asked me to bring up all my craft stuff and I told her I was hiring a car not a small van, it still will be a couple of boxes. I also made chocolate covered cherries and ginger yesterday, so that will keep the office happy. Jobs left to do are just time consuming. About half a dozen christmas cards to write and two christmas emails. Then there is presents to wrap, shopping for New Year (alcohol, chocolate and coffee) and then it is collect car pack and go.
For those who don't know, I am at my parents 24th to 27th December with Christmas day at my sisters, then I am up to Morag and Tony's on 27 and staying there to 3rd, then coming home via my parents so I arrive back on 4th Jan. Return the car on Monday 5th and go to work 6th. So do not expect another letter from me until 12th January.
Alright so how has this year been. Well on the whole I think a good one. I have not got clear of the depression but I am getting better or better able to manage it. Migraines are a problem but any time I come across an new idea I will try it out. Some successes: sensible eating helps, as does doing relaxation and pacing myself; but also some failures: do not give me cider vinegar for migraine it just acts as an irritant and intensifiers the migraine.
PhD is coming along smoothly on the whole. I am into my second year at St Andrews Chesterfield and am also looking for my next placement. I got the letter drafted before Christmas but it was so close my supervisor recommended holding it to the New Year. So please hold thumbs then and I also need to get the transcripts sent to the first lot of interviewees. I need to listen to all the interviews to date while I am away over Christmas and review what I am getting with respect to my aims. Maybe also doing a first trawl of the diary. Oh and Amazon must have me down as a favourite customer.
Otherwise I made contact with Paul Weston who runs a charity called UR2 Associates. I put up some stuff for them on the web but I still have more stuff to put up. Paul has just sent me his Christmas update so I may well put that up in the next few weeks.
House wise it looks like the management company for the estate I am on will be buying the freehold for the flats on the estate. This on the whole I think is a good thing but I was told this would never happen when I bought my flat. How things change.
Other than that Mum and Dad keep each other going. During the year mum was diagnosed with alzheimers which is very mild and her memory keeps improving. Twice now she has apologised for forgetting something when I have had to point out that Dad also forgot so she was not the only one. The latest idea to keep them active is to get ice treads to help them get out in icy weather .
Sam and Hannah are doing well. Hannah settled remarkably well into school, going full time at least a week earlier than planned and Sam is doing well on the violin. He is now practicing of his own volition and not because my sister is checking on him. So my guess is he is enjoying achieving in that field. They both are water babies and take swinmming lessons but Sam gets tummy ache before a gala.
Cait asked before I went up to see them if I could make her a fairy finger puppet. I said no to the puppet but I would make a doll. I started without a pattern and ended up with this doll however having made something for Cait I needed to make something for Jenny so I suggested a amigurumi doll. Amigurumi is a Japanese approach to crocheting where you make child like toys. That resulted in the monkey. Unfortunately when I posted them the post office lost the parcel and I wanted a search not a refund as who could possibly refund me the time. However I then went and made a hedgehog for Hannah (pictures will go up some day), two ninja for Sam, a second monkey for Jenny and am at present making a sprite for Cait. I already have on order 1 bee (Cathy would you get me yellow double knitting wool please) for Hannah and an elephant (Cathy pink or grey). When I get to the end of the list I am going to make myself a monkey and a cat (to try and remember the balance between contemplation and activity). This fills a small niche, crafty short term projects that don't strain my left wrist (knitting does).
Right first the thing I forgot from last week which was to report on Fleur and Walters house-warming come book launch for the second edition of Walters book which is now in paper back . I did the classic panic and arrived far too early. I put it down to me starting talking over the arrangements with Dad which meant he was calculating in time to pick me up and my natural caution on travelling a new route. Alright I did do it over a decade ago but got off at Stoke on Trent I think. The problem with Sheffield to Stoke is sometimes its quicker by Stockport and sometimes its quicker by Derby. Well with Dad worrying about picking me up in the rush hour from Stockport station, my timings got all out, though even on a good day on a new route an hour early is normal (yes I do aim to be in Birmingham an hour before a supervision or class). Also I try to avoid rush hour trains Sheffield to Stockport having done it for a year and can recall not just them being one to two hours late but also the fact that on one occasion at least it was standing room only and I was so tired I slept on the floor. So I was avoiding both the 17:10 and the notorious 17:40 and lost the invite so I was going on my timings not on the actual time when I booked. Anyway I to quote Walter arrived ridiculously early but as that allowed me to sit with a book and help a bit perhaps it was better for me that way. Fleur and Walter were busy in the kitchen and shouted for help when I could be of use, although I am less useful in a unfamiliar kitchen than in one I know and though bigger than the one at Blackbird Leys or at Sheffield it is long and thin. There must have been about twenty people there. I would have known about two thirds of them but mainly through my parents. My parents were invited but firstly the post office lost their invite then when this was realised they had my sister and the neice and nephew to stay for the weekend. My brother-in-law was on a lads weekend away, ostensibly buying the booze for Christmas but more accurately just having time away with other men. Ironically the guys he goes with are old friends of my sisters. Ruth, if you had wanted to make it, I am pretty sure a lift could have been arranged. Jan Berry, John and Yvonne Parry were in one car and Roger Tomes, Jack and Myrtle Mckelvey were in the other so two cars were coming from around where you lived. Marion Shadbolt was also there, she claimed at 9:30 pm that she was feeling tired because she'd been up at 2am trying to catch a rabbit. Most people who are up at 2 a.m. trying to catch a rabbit feel tired at 9:30 am let alone 9:30 pm. I met up with someone I had only talked with on the internet before. Food was a buffet and mulled wine was served. During the preparation Walter asked me if I new any recipe for non-alcoholic mulled wine, to which I had to reply no. For future reference Walter you can get mulling spices and just add apple juice. Actually for adults I would mix cranberry and apple juice for mulling. I got a lift back from John Parry. Initially Jack had offered me on, John picked up that I was talking about Stockport and so said he would take me instead. It was only afterwards he picked up that I was Dad's daughter and not someone totally out of the circuit. Although the fact that Roger came and sat down on a floor cushion beside me for a chat might have been a hint.
So onto this week. I made it to the Christmas Just Desserts last week and brought pudding. Well I had made a form of boozy winter fruit salad for the writers group get together the previous Monday and then had developed a migraine and not gone. The interesting thing was that I had cooked a packet of cranberries in a light syrup until they were soft, the result was that when I had added the rest of the winter fruit, brandy and such the dessert set solid. I think people thought I had used a jelly. I also had got asked if there was any flavour to which I replied no, after all it was a couple of glasses of brandy so that wasn't a flavour but a major ingredient! Yes it was delicious even though I say so myself. I spent the rest of the week eating it up for dessert.
On Tuesday I made the Advent Wreath for the carol service. This year I was doing the actual creation on my own. This was partly a mis-communication in the chaplaincy as the chaplaincy assistant should have been there to help not just as a gopher. My usual helpers both had good excuses and nobody from work volunteered despite two emails except Cliff who was busy on the morning but could help me clear up on the afternoon. Well I made it on time although I must admit I largely missed a bag of berberis until it was too late to put it in. The thing is berberis is a structural plant and needs to go in early so the filler plants can go in afterwards. I also learnt that using silver and white might be a better idea in the lighting than using gold (it is a very orange light so silver and white still look gold). However what I possibly learnt most from it was my own reaction. There was none of the joy of creation from doing it this way. I was relieved it was finished but I did not think "that's good" just "that's done". It made accepting praise for it feel very odd and took a lot of pleasure out of doing it. This seems to be my normal reaction when I try to do things that are just to hard. I do them but I loose the joy of doing them because of it. Indeed it has been a long slog to get my body back into balance afterwards and I am only hoping that I have done so today. Oh if you want to see the wreath it can be seen at on flickr .Wednesday I was off with a migraine and did not really balance out for the rest of the week.
Yesterday I finished the important Christmas shopping. Not much really a couple of small presents for mum, somethings from Lush and posted the parcel to Sue. I also went wild and spent money on clothes from Marks and Spencer to be worn at works christmas party, Christmas day and New Year day. Morag has also asked me to bring up craft things. She asked me to bring up all my craft stuff and I told her I was hiring a car not a small van, it still will be a couple of boxes. I also made chocolate covered cherries and ginger yesterday, so that will keep the office happy. Jobs left to do are just time consuming. About half a dozen christmas cards to write and two christmas emails. Then there is presents to wrap, shopping for New Year (alcohol, chocolate and coffee) and then it is collect car pack and go.
For those who don't know, I am at my parents 24th to 27th December with Christmas day at my sisters, then I am up to Morag and Tony's on 27 and staying there to 3rd, then coming home via my parents so I arrive back on 4th Jan. Return the car on Monday 5th and go to work 6th. So do not expect another letter from me until 12th January.
Alright so how has this year been. Well on the whole I think a good one. I have not got clear of the depression but I am getting better or better able to manage it. Migraines are a problem but any time I come across an new idea I will try it out. Some successes: sensible eating helps, as does doing relaxation and pacing myself; but also some failures: do not give me cider vinegar for migraine it just acts as an irritant and intensifiers the migraine.
PhD is coming along smoothly on the whole. I am into my second year at St Andrews Chesterfield and am also looking for my next placement. I got the letter drafted before Christmas but it was so close my supervisor recommended holding it to the New Year. So please hold thumbs then and I also need to get the transcripts sent to the first lot of interviewees. I need to listen to all the interviews to date while I am away over Christmas and review what I am getting with respect to my aims. Maybe also doing a first trawl of the diary. Oh and Amazon must have me down as a favourite customer.
Otherwise I made contact with Paul Weston who runs a charity called UR2 Associates. I put up some stuff for them on the web but I still have more stuff to put up. Paul has just sent me his Christmas update so I may well put that up in the next few weeks.
House wise it looks like the management company for the estate I am on will be buying the freehold for the flats on the estate. This on the whole I think is a good thing but I was told this would never happen when I bought my flat. How things change.
Other than that Mum and Dad keep each other going. During the year mum was diagnosed with alzheimers which is very mild and her memory keeps improving. Twice now she has apologised for forgetting something when I have had to point out that Dad also forgot so she was not the only one. The latest idea to keep them active is to get ice treads to help them get out in icy weather .
Sam and Hannah are doing well. Hannah settled remarkably well into school, going full time at least a week earlier than planned and Sam is doing well on the violin. He is now practicing of his own volition and not because my sister is checking on him. So my guess is he is enjoying achieving in that field. They both are water babies and take swinmming lessons but Sam gets tummy ache before a gala.
Cait asked before I went up to see them if I could make her a fairy finger puppet. I said no to the puppet but I would make a doll. I started without a pattern and ended up with this doll however having made something for Cait I needed to make something for Jenny so I suggested a amigurumi doll. Amigurumi is a Japanese approach to crocheting where you make child like toys. That resulted in the monkey. Unfortunately when I posted them the post office lost the parcel and I wanted a search not a refund as who could possibly refund me the time. However I then went and made a hedgehog for Hannah (pictures will go up some day), two ninja for Sam, a second monkey for Jenny and am at present making a sprite for Cait. I already have on order 1 bee (Cathy would you get me yellow double knitting wool please) for Hannah and an elephant (Cathy pink or grey). When I get to the end of the list I am going to make myself a monkey and a cat (to try and remember the balance between contemplation and activity). This fills a small niche, crafty short term projects that don't strain my left wrist (knitting does).
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