Mike's musings

Finished!

Still demob happy. Took the dog for a walk after the girls had gone to bed, then barbecued. It was great just being able to sit and not feel that I should be doing some reading!

Labels: dog, walk

A beautiful day

(backposting) Very cold, frosty and foggy in the morning, but a day to be thankful for in the afternoon. I took Buster for a walk once the sun had cleared the fog away, and it was just beautiful.

In the evening, after the girls had gone to bed, I prepared for a tutorial (in the "Christian Belief" module) on "The Holy Spirit". I'd done some of the reading before, but this rounded it off nicely.

Labels: dog, walk

Girls back

Moo, Jo and Miri got back around lunchtime - in fact, we met at Freeport for something to eat. I'd slept through to 9am (!), and then got up and done things like get some more food for the dog, get rid of some of the more obvious thistles and brambles in the garden, get some food in, and even have time for some tea and cake at the Cafe Clare.

I took Jo to pick up Buster, who was very pleased to see us. I gave him a bit of a groom, which he really needed, and he seemed to settle down OK. Did some work on an ERMC assignment, watched an Alan Partridge DVD with Moo.

Labels: dog, ERMC, girls

Renewal of baptismal vows

Went with Jo (who slept through past 0600 today, as did the dog!) to a service at Long Melford today which including a renewal of baptismal vows. Ian, the Rector, had worked very hard not only on the liturgy, but on the numbers. He told me that he'd personally invited at least 300 people, and there must have been around that number there. The service was very good, and even though, at an hour and a half, it was long for the younger members of the congregation, it all went very well, and there were things for them all to do. We all trooped past the font - and a mini-font for children - signing with the cross ourselves with the water that was there, and after communion, we were all given a candle, and they were lit from a flame which started at the Easter candle. We sang a hymn, and finished off the service with a blessing. It was a very good service, and I was very impressed.

After that, I picked up Moo and Miri and went went to Freeport, via The King's Head at Gosfield, where we enjoyed a very good meal (particularly the puddings!), despite some rather weird company on neighbouring tables... Only bought a pair of sunglasses at Freeport, and Moo spent most of the time feeding Miri in Starbucks. It was beginning to rain harder and harder, Moo lost it a bit with Jo (who was playing up), and we went home. Jo watched a little TV (CBeebies), and then, despite the rain, came outside to play on her new bike.

Once Jo finally went to sleep, I took Buster out for 50+ minutes. It rained very, very hard. No, really. My Akubra (hat), Drizabone (coat), Brashers and moleskins (trousers) did stirling service, but by the time the dog went into the lake, it was unclear whether it was making him wetter, or the other way round.

Labels: baptism, bike, dog, placement, services, weather

Sunday - and church?

(backposting) - no: no church. We managed to surface around 1215 - in that this is when we all left the house. We thought we'd try to catch a Newfoundland dog water skills day. So we drove to Mepal. I got it horribly wrong, and we never found the Newfs, but we had a good drive, and the girls slept, which has got to be a good thing. I accept all responsibility.

Labels: dog

Dog, pub, shopping

(backposting) Well, everyone slept in, including the dog (not a surprise, given how late we went to bed), and when we finally got up, we met Dottie (another Newf) and her owners (Sonya and Paul) in Clare Country Park, where we went for a lovely walk. Both Moo and Jo walked very well, given their respective sizes, and it's a pity that Sonya and Paul are planning to move to Cornwall, because Buster and Dottie got on very well. In fact, Buster got Dotty swimming for the first time, which everyone was very pleased about.

We went out to the pub (in Cavendish) for lunch, and sat outside, as the weather was so nice. Then shopping, and a lazy family afternoon.

Labels: dog, family, walk

666

(backposting) This is my 666th post. I have no truck with superstition, so I'm quite amused that it falls on Easter Sunday. In fact, today wasn't very easy. After I went to bed last night, Buster went for Gertie, Kate and Mac's cat, seemingly with rather less than love in his heart. He didn't get to her, but on the way he knocked over Kate. Things were still rather difficult come the morning, but we got there, and things had thawed somewhat by the time we left in the evening. We had a good drive down home, and Jo didn't even sleep, so she got to bed at 2150, which is really _pretty_ late for her.

The service wasn't great, either. I had to look after Jo, the music was uninspired (I don't have a major deal with music groups, but _3_ guitars, and trumpet seem a little over the top, especially if you also have a piano AND YOU NEVER SMILE), the sermon, well - hmmm - so, that's that. But I attended communion, as is the duty of every confirmed Anglican on Easter Sunday (and at least two more times a year).

Dad's eye was bad again, and he had to go into hospital. The prognosis isn't too bad, but he's in pain, and has no vision in it at all, which must be very scary.

Labels: dog, Easter, family

Supervision

Had a meeting with Keith tonight. We talked about baptism policy and sacred spaces, within the context of the module I'm currently working on. I ended up showing him around some of SecondLife, which was a bit of a revelation to him, I think - not to mention a culture shock. And that was without any interaction with other people - just showing him some of the sites.

We also talked about the great Synchroblog debate (see blogs passim) - he was very supportive, keen to pray for David and all others affected, and strongly in favour of my maintaining an "honesty" policy in my blog. This is very important, as he's a pivotal person in my training for ordination. He's a great guy, and I really appreciate his help and support. If only the dog hadn't tried to eat both of the cats at various points in the proceedings...

Labels: dog, ERMC, synchroblog

Settling in

Buster's settling in. Mel met him at home today - she'd met him at the RSPCA shelter - and he's much bigger inside than you remember outside! He's sleeping better, and so are we, and I'm loving the walking and exercise with him. And I get to pray on the walks, which is something that I've been missing enormously - more so than I'd realised.

Labels: dog, sleep

In Sudbury, yesterday

Labels: buster, dog

Today would have been better if...

I'd not slept on the floor in Buster's room all night in an attempt to stop him barking. Very loudly.

Labels: dog, sleep

Buster

Labels: dog, happiness

Newf

We're going to be a Newfoundland-owning family again. The RSPCA said "yes". Soon, soon.

Labels: dog

Moo's birthday

So, the call at 0730 was cancelled. I discovered at 0727. I could have been happier.

Despite this, we had a lovely day. Jo and Mel made a cake. We went to see Buster again, and signed up, basically. As long as we pass the home assessment (and we had Victoria over this afternoon to nail up some fence sections which had suffered with the wind (and we've all had that problem, haven't we?)), it looks like we'll have a rather big Newf with us in a few days. Mad? Yes. But it all seems right.

What else? Jo passed her 2 year assessment with flying colours (can you fail this?): apparently her speech is "exceptional", and a credit to us both. We'd add Mel and Jo, but hey.

Steak and baked tatties for supper.

A couple of pictures below - Moo at Aldeburgh, and Jo at her birthday party. Finally got them transferred to the server.

Oh, and some norty person's been trying to play with Moo's credit card. Bad you.

Labels: dog, Jo, Moo, photo, security

A great weekend - and a difficult question

Yesterday we had a fantastic day out in Aldeburgh, and today a lovely day, too. Moo's engrossed in baby stuff putting together, baby stuff sorting, baby stuff washing, baby stuff ... You get the idea.

In Aldeburgh, we ate at Regatta (terrible site, great restaurant) - very impressed to see that over half of the tables had children at them. The staff were friendly, helpful, and rushed off ther feet. We spent lots of time sitting on the beach, where for me mainly meant being handed stones by Jo, which I had to throw into the sea. I couldn't have been happier.

Today, we got up, did some tidying/hoovering, and then I took Jo to Holy Trinity, Long Melford. Apart from knocking down a portable display of books during the sermon (by a visiting preacher), she behaved very well, and I found that I had enough voice to sing "Guide me, O thou great Redeemer" lustily at the end. Ian, the incumbent, has pretty much agreed to supervise me for a placement, which is a relief and a joy.

Jo fell asleep in the car, so I left her there while Moo and I started our lunch outside - it was that warm today - and she joined us when she woke up. I then took her for a walk in the backpack we have for her, and we had a joyful 50 minutes chatting about pretty much everything, and to some horses we met. A cup of tea, then all three of us went swimming. Home, for a family supper, and then Jo to bed. I wrapped Moo's presents, wrote her cards (one from me (and the bump, codename "Fluffy"), one from Jo), and Moo's just gone up to bed. I'll probably log into SecondLife in a bit.

The difficult question is what to do about the dog we met on Friday. The RSPCA rescue kennel left us a message while we were out swimming asking us to come back if we're still interested. We're trying to work out if we still are. It'll make for a very complicated summer, but if the time is right, the time is right. We've decided to got back to see him again, to see how Jo takes to him in the open, to see how obedient he is, to ask how he is with kennels, and to try to get our heads round the whole thing. We'd like a dog again. Is now the time? Is he the dog? God knows (and I mean that).

Labels: church, dog, Jo, Moo, sea, walk

Husborne Crawley and Newfoundlands

We heard yesterday that a Newfoundland dog had been taken into the local RSPCA rescue centre. We went to visit it, partly in case it's the dog for us, and partly because Del Richards of the Newfoundland Club asked us to do an assessment. He's gorgeous, very big, and needs new owners who know Newfies. We're not in the standard brackets for RSPCA dog rescue, and it might not be very good timing, but who knows? Jo seemed to like him (though she was rather freaked by the load barking of the other dogs around), and he's lovely. A seriously big Newf.

The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley have been busy lately. Keeps me and Gary off the streets, I suppose.

Labels: dog, humour