cheeses....

have had a very productive weekend with bea's parents up - shifted the bed out of the attic, lined the walls of the little room and fixed the 2nd step again.
went out to thyme last night for a meal which was (as always) delicious, and as a break from the usual, i finished the night off with a cheese board. cant remember what they all were, but there included a very tasty blue cheese, a buffalo milk cheese, a creamy brie like one and another. also noticed that all the cheeses were made by women.
think i'll be having cheese boards again if they're of a similar caliber. the resulting dreams were pretty odd too, but thankfully cant remember them too much..

what a lovely day it is today.

the little room is coming along very well at the moment, and its great to see barnaby again.
we're off to the cask & cutler this evening for a few drinks if anyone fancies coming down to see us. phone if you need directions.
i even won a little painting competition the other day.

it's the little things!

I have just been chatting with one of the diabled students at work - he is visually impaired and started losing his sight a few years ago. He was saying that even though he worked as a driver for most of his career, it wasn't giving up driving that bothered him when he started losing his sight. It was the little things such as cutting his toe-nails. I agreed - at the weekend I attempted to cut my toe-nails and it was really hard with my bump in the way. Painting them was manageable but with unique paint effects that I wouldn't normally use! Then yesterday I cried because I had bumped my head for about the fourth time by trying to do something that I used to be able to do without bumping my head - fortunately I had four batteries in my hand so I slammed these down on the floor which didn't help so much as make me feel a bit of release!

bea & baby

here are some pictures of a very pregnant bea for those of you who requested them and for those to whom they were promised.

Tru Dawgma ? Straight Tribbin'

ok - heres one for abigail to have a read and maybe offer a few translations where possible. if anyones gonna understand this its gonna be her or rob...

Eschatological know-how, not evangelical lowbrow
Postmodern cash cow
Revelation based on canonization
The millennial nation looms in dispensation
I spit pedagogy orthodoxy
Prima manifesto in the incarnation proxy
Imprimatur, my roots be the hypostatic union
The theocratic fusion, infusin'

Portiuncula mentalities be waxin'
Straight tribulation factions gaining esoteric traction
No apology, my strict epistemology
Will influence doxology and put you in a quandary
Infralapsarian? tribulation prose
Makes me wary and your pragmatism's blatantly exposed
I Didache your Tim Lahaye while rapture spankin' Jerry Jenkins?
Now cogitate this great awakenin'

Hook
Tribba-what (what?), Tribba-who (who?)
Flex eschatological like straight tribbahs do (2x)

Rapture, comin' at ya, gonna fetch ya, gonna catch ya
I be a theocrat with exegesis comin' natural
Ontology gazes in the wake of Armageddon
Pleroma in soma, not a disconnected remnant
Reviviscence is valid and callus as operatum
While your unbelief and disposition won't even fade Him
Cardiognosis, He knows your thoughts and your dreams
Like the Sadducees, your heresy is leaking out the seams

What, what, who? Henotheistic views
Are romanticized, sanitized, still ain't true
But from the parthenogenesis to the Parousia
We got imputed righteousness until the day we meet up
Since the ascension we got metaphysical nominalists
Refer to Postulates for obedientialis
Hidden like the pseudepigrapha in the
Deuterocanonical pack ? the apost-hata's back!

the collier approacheth

yon this very week coming, tween days of tues and frid, our true friend master barnaby collier esq shalt rise up from londinium and reside unto our country abode.
all rejoice.

Christian Hip-Hop Artist's Lyrics Too Theologically Complex for Rap Fans

NEW YORK ? As the hip-hop industry's tradition of wholesome, thought-provoking lyrics has slowly decayed since the 80's, one artist wants to buck the trend by adding a new level of linguistic complexity to his lyrics. Tru Dawgma, a self-proclaimed "exegetical elaborator," insists that his new style will help counteract hip-hop's recent reputation of promoting only superficiality, sex, drugs, and violence. But not everyone appreciates Dawgma's approach, as God's Fro Records recently terminated his contract and stated, "Most of our listeners don't have a GED, let alone an M. Div.!"

the holy observer has a new issue including this article - more here

nothern lights

got through the first 140 pages in an exam i've been sitting in - it's one seriously engaging, dark book.
it's imagary is so well done - i cant think of another book i've ever read that is so able to put you into the story to the point you can hear, smell, see the things going on around it. the fantasy of its background walking a perfect balance between reality and alternative. the communities created, the mysteries, the characters, relations, the creativity of a similar universe thats different in the most magical ways.

cant believe its taken me this long to getting round to reading it. i'm thoroughly impressed.

kate rusby cntd.

at last she has a new website - her previous one really was pretty poor - even i could've done better. but no. the new ones a lot nicer - at: www.katerusby.com

glasses fixed

and at no cost to yourself mr wilkins.
arent you lucky?!

kate rusby dvd

hmm. Just discovered Kate has a dvd out. Might have to get it.

Just extrovertly processing.

Last night was thoroughly enjoyable though - good to be at a gig again - even though mr wilkins broke my glasses (currently held together by a piece of paperclip) - thankfully he did say I can add a 4000% mark-up on any repairs that needed doing when invoicing him.

nostalgia...

Have been clearing out our loft space and under the cabin bed ready to
dismantle it and came across not only (matt p’s I think) N64, but also my
old SNES. Including a Legend of Zelda (ocarina of time) for the N64 and
Mario cart on the SNES, it was all just a bit much so I had to go down and
play a bit on them.

Has brought back loads of old memories from those days too.

oo yes - and this post was done via email, not blogger - how exciting!

What a lovely weekend!

Andy and I had a really lovely weekend. We went down south to visit Andy's Granny and then his mum and her partner mike. All the food was fabulous and the weather was amazing.

yesterday we came back via Coventry where we visited my best friend Sam who is doing her finals. and then homeward bound to plant out some things we pinched from Granny Dot's garden.

i still need to plant out my tomatoes - I have lots of compost ready and this year I have even got some water retaining crystals because I often forget to water!

jolie holland: escondida

being someone i'd heard of through the be good tanyas, i brought it a couple of days a go (well, actually swapped it at fopp for the blanche album which i wasnt too impressed with), and bea and i have taken quite a liking to it since.
its very much old style blues-jazz typed stuff, with slightly bluegrass tinged vocals, but only released a couple of weeks ago.
some songs to listen to:

old fashion morphine

mad tom of bedlam

amen

(although i think they just take you to the amazon.com page, but that's a good place to have a listen to her.)

strange things afoot!

Yesterday in particular was a very odd day. Andy and I were walking into work and as we walked past the Winter gardens a man in a wheelchairt was wheeled out and then carried down the steps. In itself, I suppose this is not too odd except for the fact that there is a wheelchair ramp just a couple of metres away! Then, wakling home, I crossed the road in town and as I stepped up onto the kerb I lost my balance and fell over. this morning I nearly fell over twice in the garden but there were things to grab onto to steady myself. So, having fallen over in the street, I got the tram home and couldn't face the walk up the hill (this now takes me about 15 minutes compared to the 5 minutes before I was pregnant!) so I rang the lovely Jen who gave me a lift. We came in and made a cup of tea, and as we went into the lounge I saw a pigeon sitting on the sofa. Then the pigeon went a bit crazy (it had come down the chimney) so I got a towel and Jen manged to catch it and put it outside. All very strange.

But in it all, God is so good:

1. There are miracles happening at work cos I am relatively calm and I am completing tasks in hugely unrealistic times.
2. When I fell in the street, I landed heavily on my hands and elbow but there are no scratches or even bruises.
3. The pigeon pooed but only on wipe-friendly surfaces, such as the leather sofa and the window sill and no soot from the chimney came down onto the new carpet etc.
4. My nextdoor neighbour, Vicky, is amazing. She is ready just at the right time to help me hang out washing or put the bin out and we are doing communal gardening which is great.

maternity leave

I have finally agreed a leave date with my boss!! woo hoo!! I shall be leaving on 9th June with the possibility of coming back in for a few days to hand over to my maternity cover. this is amazing - I now have a definite date to work to! Praise God for sunshine and good bosses called Paddy!

dreads! everywhere!

there are odd nights at the dev cat where you seem to notice a proliferation of a certain people group - normally its metallers on a friday and saturday night (corporation being roud the corner), occasionally its raver types (headcharge AKA head candy, at the same place), but last night there was a welcome collection dreads everywhere - then a few people from work (uni that is) came in and were off to a bob marley night (yet again, round the corner).

hence all the dreads, and come to think of it, a very slight smell of pot.

I got a letter today from the hospital to say that I have too little iron in my blood. Although it's not great to be anaemic, it is common in pregnancy and easily treated. In particular what it means is that I can get on iron tablets and hopefully it will have a positive effect on my tiredness and my wobbly emotions. Then when I eat my placenta I'll get such a fantastic boost of iron that you won't be able to slow me down!

hot dang! ben folds at the octagon?!

on the 18 november, bea, myself and baby are going to see ben folds play at the octagon - if you fancy coming, tell us, but do it soon, cause we want those tickets, and we're not waiting around on this one.

it gonna be good though!

at last.

we finally have blogger up and running properly again.
it looks like we've all had constipation - stuff building up and finally released...

pinks stag weekend

was very good - might try and get some photos up on there too.

the clay pigeon shooting was especially good and depending on how you scored i even got the top score.

and also...

matt p's blog

generally i completely agree with all that stuff. a "few" things: (well, a few, long things!)

1. d-f: since writing/ thinking that, i've been thinking about that a lot more than before and am starting to get lots of ideas about how it could work etc. will be trying some in near future i think.

1. g: whilst i'm really not questioning St Toms willingness to follow God's leading in things, your statement does still assume that anything and everything that God asks of any of us people (obviously incl st toms leadership) is carried out to the T. not saying this is a common problem at all, just stating (in a really pedantic and so not wishing to cause offence kinda way) that i think that particular point could simply be re-writen slightly better... really no offence meant by that.

1. h: i dont think certain people are saying that "musical/singing act of worship is all we'll be doing in heaven", (neither do i think you think they do either), its just the whole exclusivity thing. singing'll be a part of it, just not the whole part of it. crap point i made there. perhaps forget this one. might delete it...

2. b: (skipping forward a few lines) how is "protection in numbers" such a great thing to uphold? dont get that one...

but the main point of this whole blog, (and this unfortunately is making an assumption that you are referring to myself on this one. if not, then this is an unfortunate problem of blogging conversations and misunderstandings. if you are referring to me [(and i dont want it in this case to be a bad thing between us or anything - i definitely (in fact even more so) want to remain in conversation about this whole thing with you matt (maybe even set up a blg for this very purpose?!))whoah - to many brackets here.... square brackets to give closure to that sub-discussion), ] and possibly to others as well, i'l just speak for myself, not wanting to get others into trouble on this one, so here goes...)

i dont consider myself to be "operating in 'churchless faith' ". a lot of what i've been going through over the past year or more has been about re-defining what "church" is. whilst i would easily be able to say i have been operating in a largely (although not complete) "st tom's less faith" (or at least trying - having been a part of it (and only it) for so many years, its unbelievably hard knowing where my belief in God and belief in St Toms differ (if that is your point then this is a whole other conversation! assuming not...)). when i see the body of christ, i see a very large family of people that have common beliefs - not all agree, but are all seeking after the unbelievably huge heart of God. going to greenbelt last year (in retrospect only) was probably one of the most profound things to change and challenge my faith in God in a very long time. still trying to come to terms with it all now (having brought tickets for this years event), the ways it widened my eyes to what God's about and more importantly, who God is, i'm only just beginning to touch the tip of the iceberg now.

seeing a God thats into so much more than what i thought he was has completely refocused how i see so much of life, i hardly know where to start. whilst God is completely into, and in love with, the evangelical movement of his body, i've suddenly seen how he's into the other parts of his body. dang - this is going to start sounding liberal in a moment, but i've started to see what the liberals were all banging on about too. jesus DID die on a cross for our sins, to give us forgiveness, to reconcile the relationship we messed up with our Father, BUT he did also came to bring justice to the world right now, to get a bit political, to set us free, to be creative with who we are, to accept all the screwed up people in this world loving them as they are, and (dare i say it) get a bit fuzzy round the edges. generally speaking i dont think you disagree with me on this one (realising that is probably best said in an email to you matt, but its also where i'm at as a person, so can also be said on a blog), and also agree that we should be accepting all the messed up people of the world, but i think an inherent problem of all the different other parts of the church is that the various groups dont overlap very easily; but i'm not sure God minds that much. he loves all the parts of his bride, so surely we should to. i dont think any of us (neither personally nor types of churches wise ( i know there's a good churchy word that says that...)) have or ever will get it right and be a perfect representation of what the bride could look like, but i dont think we should be persecuting the other parts of the body just cause they look different ("ear says to hand" etc...).

eh...

i dont know if any of this is making sense. if we are all on a balance/ tension between the values of vision and grace (is that right? its been a while), all our life's gonna be is a constant state of change trying to get the balance right between 2 opposite but equally good/ God things. i mean we see things through very different spectacles, but i think we both think we are seeking the same thing, God and his heart for his people.

maybe i'll get a bit more clarity on this thing in a few days once i've ahd a bit of rest.

any way - off again for part 2 of pinks' stag w/e again at 7.45 tomorrow morning and the time is: