Season of fruitful enjoyment

Well after a slow start the hedgerows around here are finally coming alive with wild fruit. Blackberries in particular are my favourites, pies, crumbles take your pick!

However the last couple of years blackberry vodka has become something we have started making in time for Christmas. Some we make and give as presents, but most of it we drink as a warming nip on a cold or wet evening!

Simple as anything 1Lb Blackberries, 1Lb sugar, 1 Bottle of Vodka (75cl). Wash the blackberries, put in a container. Add the sugar and the vodka. Seal and give it a shake daily for about 6 weeks or until all the sugar has dissolved. Bottle it and serve. This makes about 1.5 bottles of blackberry vodka.

We do the same with Sloes and in fact this is an adaptation of a recipe for Sloe gin as given to me by my dear friend Anne mentioned in previous posts. Slainte Anne!

Doing the picking and all the preparation makes me feel somehow closer to nature and to the way things should be and makes me feel closer to the roots of my beliefs about God and nature being in harmony and that every season has a purpose.

My previous post related the sad news of the death of a close friend, Anne. I have to say though that we all went to Anne's funeral the following Friday with a deep sense of grief, but by the end of it I especially felt a whole lot better.
The funeral service itself was a wonderful celebration of Anne's life and was attended by somewhere in the region of 250 people, the church was absolutely packed - literally standing room only.
The hymns and readings were lovely and the family were so brave I was in awe of their calm courage.
All I can say at the end of it is rest in peace dear friend, I know where you sleep and I will visit soon.

Sad Day

As well as the fact I have een so busy of late the thing that I think drove me back to publish a new post tonight was the news earlier today of the death of a good friend from cancer after a struggle going on for nearly 3 years.

Anne was a lovely lady with never a bad word to say about anyone and always a smile for most
occasions. As a co worker she was without peer and a COBOL programmer of great talent. I will miss her dreadfully as will we all.

I am going home with thee, to thy home, to thy home,
I am going home with thee, to thy home of winter,
I am going home with thee, to thy home, to thy home,
I am going home with thee, to they home of autumn, of sprint and of summer.
I am going home with thee, thy child of my love to thy eternal bed to thy perpetual sleep.

God rest you Anne  
 

Thought I was going to have lots of time!

Well acording to my last post I thought I would have plenty of time to get some things down here to keep you all entertained.

That just did not happen!! Been busy doing lots of things including a three day expedition into the heart of one of the most remote parts of Scotland - Knoydart.

Absolutely stunning scenery but truly trying weather with a howling gale and horizontal rain for a couple of days. That being said I would still go there again like a shot.

Been MIA a Long Time

First post in a while as have been incredibly busy. Now on 2 weeks leave over Easter and can do a few things.

Before the weather turned a bit off I managed a 25k walk with the dog over the moors around here - not too sure the dog was happy about it by then end but it was pretty good

Back to normality - whatever that may be!

After the excitement of last week's course it is back to what passes for normality here and boy is that a culture shock even after a week doing something different.

There seems to be a tangible aura of dispair everywhere, the changes that have been implemented on the service seem to have done nothing except wreck an already fragile morale. Worse still no one seems to care or is hiding their collective heads in the sand.

I can feel a round of "blamestorming" coming on from somewhere inthe upper siberian reaches of the management stratosphere.

Plus ca change!

Something Missing - Something Found

This week I have been on a course in a nearby City and whilst the course is enjoyable I feel that I will be missing out on something because I won't be able to get to the Wednesday Eucharist service at my local church.

I checked out the local churches to where I was but sadly I could not get to the the lunchtime service due to the timings of the course

This has become the break in my week and to be honest a bit of a high point and it has felt like a part of me is missing.

That being said the train journey to get to the course has let me listen to a couple of Podcasts that I have been meaning to listen to for a while.

One in particular relates to the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible and for what appears on the surface to be a rather dry subject is actually a very interesting discussion which can be found here . So overall the week has been enlightening in a number of ways

Mysterious Ways

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways"

Well that is the saying and he has certainly moved in a mysterious way to me today.

How? Well I find myself being in complete agreement with the Local Government Minister Eric Pickles, a man for whom, in a decidedly un-christian way, I have very little time since I firmly believe that his agenda for changing things in this area is appalling and harmful to say the least and probably being done for deeply spiteful reasons at the worst.

However I find that I am in agreement with his comments over the ruling about Council Prayers bring unlawful.

Eric Pickles in a comment to the radio news I listened to earlier disagreed with the stance that has been taken and from the majority of the comments listed on the story above - so do most of the commentators.

I find myself in agreement on a number of levels in that -what is wrong with something that is a tradition? No one forced this man to participate in the prayers at all - he could quite easily have sat or waited outside whilst those who wanted to pray did so.

The decision to have prayers was democratically voted on - yet has now been overturned by the spiteful anti-democratic opinions of one man and a coterie of "religious" bigots intent on imposing their "non-belief" on the rest of us

What a sad day for democracy!

That being said - it has certainly strengthened my belief in God and and our saviour Jesus Christ because making me take the same side as Eric Pickles is a minor miracle!!

Got That Wednesday Feeling!

Ah Wednesday! The top of the working week hill - it's all down hill from here on in to the weekend and the respite from the demands of the job.

It's all those and until just before Christmas it was just that for me too. About a week, maybe two before Christmas I noticed that a local church was having a Eucharist service on a Wednesday lunchtime. And, because I was wrestling with a resurgent belief I eventually screwed up the courage to go in rather than vacillate outside trying to decide if I really was just pandering to some sort of self delusion. SO in I went and took part in a communion service for the first time in 30 years and found I managed to draw strength from that to actually face the rest of the week.

Actually I don't just face the rest of the week - I actually enjoy the rest of the week and I feel like I have been re-invigorated just because I spend 30 - 40 minutes quiet listening to the spirit within me being nurtured.

It is quite pleasing to see that the number of people who attend on a lunchtime is actually growing as well - you never know we might have to move out from the side chapel into the main body of the church if we are really lucky!

Maybe you could use some of that Wednesday feeling?

Alive Again

I enjoyed reading the Imbolc reflections and rituals at Mystic Christ earlier.

Certainly the signs of new life are everywhere even though the snow and frost might have caused them to pop their heads back down again temporarily.

The music that I most think of when I see this sort of thing is "May Morning" by Runrig - which seems to some it up as well May Morning Video

As the words proclaim "I'm alive again"

Snow Walks

Well the walks today have been well worth it, the snowy views have been very refreshing and the snow just muffles the world noise so nicely. Have to admit though the light was way better this morning at 8am but forget to pick up a camera. Oops!

Mind you I was having too much of a good time just looking at the views and the sunrise to really concentrate on taking photos.

The calming silence

Tonight was a good night - why? Because outide the world is covered with a blanket of snow and taking my four legged friend for a walk was a real pleasure since all we could here was out respective breaths and the crunch of feet and paws on the snow.

The other thing that stuck me was how bright the snow filled nights are, the darkness seems to pale back and many things become more clearly seen.

A good night too to sit and read, I am currently reading "Anam Cara" by John O'Donohue and feel lifted by the words I read into a timeless place.

I also have his poetry collection, "Conemara Blues" to hand on my Kindle and together with a couple of drams of Jura Superstition I can feel what he calls the Other, calling to me.

Calming and soothing words and a stillness of the soul to hear and feel the nearness of the Eternal.

Peace

May the peace of the Lord be with you all this night as I feel it is with me now.

Doubts

As I am sort of finding my way back into my beliefs I sometimes find it difficult not to have doubts.

Doubts about my reasons for setting out on this journey, doubts about the outcomes?

Has anyone else out there had / have these type of doubts and if you do / did how were they overcome?

For myself I tend to talk a lot when I am out walking, weighing up the pros and cons and asking God for some guidance for my GPS on this one!

Some People!

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way” - C S Lewis

Approaching Lent

As sort of a follow up to the last post I wrote I want to pose this question which I found myself pondering in when I was on my latest walk. Whilst out walking and just turning things over in my mind, I found myself thinking about Lent. No particular reason triggered this but for some reason I find myself looking forward to Lent this year. I find ths a bit strange, looking forward to Easter I can understand, but not necessarily Lent unless it is the anticipation of Easter.

Would anyone care to come back to me with ideas as to why this might be?

Solvitur Ambulans or Solvitur Ambulando

Not sure if this is spelt correctly or is grammatically correct, my Latin is severely rusty (sorry Mr Bush), but in theory it means or has come to mean "that which may be solved by walking".

I first came accross this in the book "Water From Ancient Wells" by Ken McIntosh - a great read and which has and is led / leading me to discover other aspects of the Celtic experience of Christianity.

I have always felt more "spiritual" when I am out in the woods and the wilds - I enjoy walking and climbing in what some people would call wild and lonely places. Wild they maybe but I have never felt lonely there - however I digress.

Walking gives me the time to think and to discuss with myself the thoughts and problems that are troubling me. Unfortunately I do not always have time to go for long walks to resolve my thoughts but you may notice that a lot of these posts are made latish at night. That's because I usually take my four legged friend for a last wander around the neighbourhood and even in this short walking time I usually have time to get at least some of my thoughts straightened out.

So my thought for today is try a walk, even a short one it might just help you solve that problem.

Follow Up To Reaching Out

I was quite interested to read this article from the Guardian which I picked up from the feed I installed earlier Guardian Article on Grief and Death

There are echoes of this need to "shoulder the burden alone" which many people feel they have to do even when death is approaching as I alluded to in my earlier post.

These are the times when we need people most and yet by and large we treat people as lepers when they are in both situations. Death and the approach of death are something that we dare not contemplate because it is something we are no longer in close contact with. We have sanitised it to the point where it is the great unspeakable, the elephant in the room.

Yet what are we so afraid of? Death will come to us all great or small, the mightly and the ordinary - it is the great leveller.

The sad truth in most of this, is that the vast majoirty of people today have lost their Faith in this increasingly secular oriented society and with this has come an increasing fear of death and dying. This is not just a Christian phenomonen either, I have a number of Muslim friends who bemoan the lack of faith in their children as they absorb western values.

This week saw the day on which we remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who when his sight was restored is reported to have had the "scales removed from his eyes". Perhaps we need the scales removing from our eyes too - to be able to see that death has been conquered and should no longer be feared and that the dying and those around them need the love and comfort of those they have loved before they set out on the next chapter of their existence.

Coast Path

Really glad to see this article on UKHillwalking about the first section of the Coastal Path. Start of Coast path

Dorset is really special to me and especially Portland as I can trace my family back more than 10 generations on the island

Rufus Castle is a beautiful location and deservedly the start of the path but if you go there take the back path, below the castle and go and see the ruins of the old church at Portland the overlooks Church Ope Cove as well before you set out to Durdle Door

Reaching Out

As is normal most Wednesdays I went to the lunchtime service at the main church in the town. I like this service as it breaks up my week nicely and - to paraphrase an old advert - it refreshes the parts others can't reach.

The sermon today was about St Paul in honour of being the festival of the conversion of St Paul and the priest took the theme about people reaching out in humanity to one another. To St Paul even though he had persecuted the early followers of Jesus and to each other in general.

A friend has just found out that her father in law has terminal cancer, her husband is distressed and the whole family are upset. I know from personal experience how this feels but reaching out to offer a helping hand and offer some words of comfort is the most natural human emotion I can think of.

If I could pray for only one thing today it would be that comfort is given to those who suffer fear and anxiety due to news such as this, so that they in turn can give comfort to the person in need to ease their burden.

E Church Blog

Just checked out the echurch blog - link on the left. How true is the posting about the picture of the universe centered on "Me" and how many people view the world like this.

Bishop Stephen Cotrell's book "Do Nothing and Save Your Life" has a good section that uses the same theme - Excellent read and probably did save my life!

We all make mistakes

Tuesday - often referred to as the worst day of the week by me is over but not without incident I would say! However the incident that happened would have been enough to get me really stressed out 12 months ago. But all things being equal I managed not to panic aor get totally stressed out about this, afterwards I began to wonder why.

Was it because it was not important? - No it definitely was and caused a few minutes disruption. Was it because I did not care? - No I care about my work and my professionlism in my work.

No in the end I decided that it was because I realised the error, acted quickly to solve it and most of all was professional enough to admit it was my fault. I am not being humble here I am just able to admit to myself that I am human, I do make mistakes and I have the strength to admit my mistakes and rectify them.

Most of all it seems to me that this inner strength comes to me from the faith I have been discovering over the last few months, which because it is faith in someone who was also human and knew what it is to be human and can see that we make human mistakes and yet can still forgive us when we do make a mistake then I personally feel more a peace with myself because I know that I am no longer alone

So if you make a mistake, be brave, admit it, learn from it so that you don't make the same mistake twice.

My biggest mistake was perhaps not realising this thirty years ago when I lost my way with my faith and beliefs, I am doing what I can to correct that too!

Abdication of Responsibilities

Monday is all but over and I seem to have achieved nothing today - just more questions - mainly about work but more so about the morals of the people around me. Not so much the oridinary litle peccadilos of my colleagues which trouble me not at all, but more related to the people in authority where I work who seem more concerned about their position, their power and the next move they will make on the greasy corporate pole. For some reason this seems to paralyse them and make them unable to make a decision which would benefit the organisation as a whole. Moreover they don;t want to be to blame if anything goes wrong - they are in effect refusing the responsibility they sought when they took the job. Sounds ro me like taking money under false pretences which I believe is a crime. This attitude is not only craven but fundamnetally dishonest on so many levels it is distressing to see it becoming so pervasive. Yet another indicator of the "Me" culture. Trying to be Christian and charitable towards people who abdicate their responsibilities is hard - I suppose the only thing I can do is hope and prey that they see the error of their ways.

The Anam Cara site is well worth a visit I really enjoyed reading some of the articles on the site. Mystic Christ is just getting going but calls to me in a way I can't describe except to say that Bruce from the site suggested that it was something to do with "I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God than in church thinking of the mountains"

New Site Links

I am just getting to grips with this (yes I know , Systems Analyst ,Computer programmer this sort of thing should be second nature - sorry this is not my natual home I am a Unix geek) so have only just added these.
If you think I am going over the top with my rush into faith be assured that I have been reading these for 12 months or more and have found them immensely useful, thoughtful and spiritual in nature which in turn raises my spirit and my faith

New Faith

Well this has been about 12 months in the making I suppose after more than 30 years in the wilderness.
About 12 months ago I was probably at my lowest point in a long number of low points when I came accross a reference to someone I had known more than 30 years ago as a young man.
Strangely enough this was a reference to his retirement from his daily like as a parish priest here in Yorkshire.
This sort of forced me to think about times gone by and things I had not thought about for a very long time or had dismissed as irrelevant to my life.
As I started to re-read and reconsider the things, in particular my faith, that I had previously dismissed as illogical I actually found I began to feel better in myself and about myself and my life.
So far this journey has led me to some wonderful new discoveries such as the poems of John O'Donohue in "Conamara Blues" and the writings in "Water from an Ancient Well" by Ken McIntosh. Most of all the book that made an impact on me was "Do Nothing and Save Your Life" by Stephen Cotrell and quite possibly has saved my life in more ways than I can possibly imagine