Mike's musings

Jelly and Jerusalem

What we call jam, Americans tend to call jelly. So there's some sort of link with "Jam and Jerusalem" there, if only a weak one. Last time I preached, I preached on jelly (see entries passim): this time, I preached on Jerusalem, the William Blake poem. Today's Vocation Sunday, and I wanted to combine the issue of St George's day, and its misappropriation by the Far Right (the BNP, mostly), football hooligans, etc.) and vocations. I preached about how all vocations should - and must - be rooted in community, and how we're the Church of England. We have the opportunity to reclaim national identity, and Jerusalem is a very aspirational song: we won't be resting until we've brought Jerusalem - and the Kingdom - to England. I find it a very moving hymn, and we sang it at the end of the sermon to cement the message. It went down well.

A back home for another barbecue (though we ate inside as the weather couldn't make up its mind). Our mate Richard came round with Jo's friend Ellie, and the girls played absolutely brilliantly while the grown-ups chatted. A good day.

Labels: barbecue, friends, home, sermon

Time alone

(backposting) No, not on my own. With Moo. As of this week, we have regular time scheduled without the kids for the first time in 5 years. It's just an hour and a half while the girls do ballet on a Saturday morning (Miri's joined Jo's class), but it's actual time. We went for tea/coffee and cake, and I rather wasted some of the time by having a haircut, but it's there, and it's regular. Yay!

And afterwards we headed off to Freeport, where they have a bouncy trampoline-bungee thing which we'd promised Jojo she could have a go on if I went to Australia - as she did when I went to the US for 2 weeks last year. It turned out that Miri's now big enough, too, so they both had a lovely time. We headed off to Tesco for a big shop, came home and had a picnic outside in the garden, and then did some basic gardening (including the second lawn mowing of the year).

The evening, however, was BBQ time. We went round to the Plants, where they barbecued for the four of us adults and the four kids. Well, more like for six adults. And the kids hardly ate. So we stuffed ourselves. A good evening with Si and D and the kids.

Labels: barbecue, friends, Moo

An actual temperature

(backposting) Woke up not feeling very well at all. Shaky, achy, and running a bit of a temperature. Sleeping most of the morning really helped: thanks very, very much, darling Moo.

However, got up and was feeling much better, so light gardening duties beckoned. And a barbecue. So, all-in-all, with the shredder, it went well, though I did need to have a bit of a sit-down from time to time. Very nice to get the barbecue going - though the girls seemed in two minds about the chicken to start with.

Labels: barbecue, illness

The garden

(backposting) I'm not a gardener - at all. But I don't mind cutting, hacking and strimming, and yesterday afternoon, after 2 services, lunch and a lovely swimming session with the girls, I decided that I'd have a go at the patio area. Moo (and the girls, briefly) joined me, and after around an hour's work, we now have a proper patio area for barbecuing, which is about half as large again as it was, and a reclaimed border which we hadn't seen for about 4 years. What a great way to spend an hour! I celebrated by barbecuing, of course.

Labels: barbecue, garden

Springtime

It must be spring, because I cleaned and then used the barbecue for the first time this year. I'm not a loony "if I can stand outside and not be blown over or drowned, I ought to be barbecuing" type person, but I do like to get barbecuing when the weather's warm enough. It's been a lovely day, though I had to go back to bed again as I was so tired this morning (and grumpy): Moo very kindly took the girls while I took another 2 hours. Still tired now. This may be connected with the medical condition that we're investigating at the moment.

We took the girls to Clare Country Park this afternoon with their bikes. Now that Jo has her own, Miri has her old one, and was beginning to get how it worked by the end. A lovely day - and though it was warm during the day, we now have a fire lit.

Labels: barbecue