Mike's musings

Gays, women and evolution

Drove into Cambridge today to buy a book about Windows 2003. Very big, very heavy book. Looks useful, though. Lots of work in the afternoon on Windows stuff and Xen, which I've decided to try out.

During the day, had a discussion on a mailing list I'm part of (hi, guys) about the Church. Why does everyone believe that the Church is backward-looking, reactionary and bigoted? That seems to be the set of messages that everyone picks up. So, questions ranged from whether women should be priests, to my views on homosexuality (I'm for it ;-)), to the virgin birth, to whether I believe in evolution (well, of course I do - d'oh!). It's good to have the opportunity to talk about this stuff with people, and I firmly believe that it's an important part of my calling. When I first felt the vocation, part of it was the question "if you were you, but not part of this Church, would you want to be part of it?" The obvious answer is, "no". And the obvious second part of that is, "well, go and do something about it then." That's what I'm trying to do.

Labels: church, friends, geekery, homosexuality, women

An old friend

(backposting) Well, she's not that old, but we've not seen each other for around 19 years, so Carolyn and I got together in Singapore, where she lives. It was great to meet up, and we spent about 4 hours chatting over curry and Tiger beer. Who we'd been in touch with, things we'd done at school, things we'd done since, etc.

Work didn't go well.

Labels: friends

More sleep

0720 from Jo. Wow.

Went into Cambridge, bought some books for work, returned some to the UL, handed in my final essay, attended a security seminar in the Computer lab, and ran into (the lovely) Scarlet, who'd not seen for around 10 years. They've moved back to Cambridge, and we intend to meet up for a barbecue, and to let the kids get together.

Labels: friends, sleep, work

Today, I shall mostly be ...

• ... sleeping in (but not as long as Jo and Moo)
• ... taking the girls swimming with Moo
• ... spending more money than I meant to in Waitrose
• ... clearing the dog poo off the lawn
• ... mowing the lawn (first time this year, if you exclude the two strims it's had)
• ... stepping in several instances of dog poo that I missed
• ... barbecuing with Si
• ... drinking beer with Si
• ... eating the barbecued food with Si, D, Morgs, Boo, Moo, Jo and Miri
• ... drinking wine with Si and Moo
• ... geeking with Si
• ... whilst drinking more wine with Si
• ... going for a walk with the girls, Moo and Buster
• ... having a bath with the girls (but not Moo and Buster)
• ... putting Jo to bed (very quick!)
• ... clearing around a bit
• ... loading the dishwasher
• ... doing some washing up
• ... and ... finishing my last essay for ERMC. YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Labels: drink, ERMC, family, friends, geekery, swimming, walk

ERMC day 1

Got there in the afternoon, had a good session on preparation for essays a number of us need to write on Christian Belief and Ethics. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to write about: it's a reaction to Edelman's No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, which I've mentioned before, in terms of eschatology. Only just getting my head round it, but we'll get there.

A hint for anyone planning to walk into a nun's bedroom in the middle of the night, assuming it's the bathroom because you've not bothered to check, and you're looking at a copy of Thomas à Kempis' "De imitatione Christi": make sure she doesn't wake up, and get out very quickly.

Picked up a free copy of Thomas à Kempis' "De imitatione Christi" today.

Labels: ERMC, friends, humour

Mother's day

Got Moo to church today, for a Mother's Day service at Kedington Church. This is in the benefice which Si and D have just joined, and where they were going for a Mother's Day service, so we joined them. A truly family-focused service, with lots of families there: mothers, children and fathers. The priest took an informal but reverent communion service, told the story of Moses in the bulrushes to a bunch of children (and me!) sitting on the floor in the nave (with adult participation). Jo, Miri and I went up for communion (Si was very impressed that the priest blessed Charlotte, their youngest, as "Boo"!), and Jo managed to get herself blessed twice: she moved from one side of me to the other as Miri was being blessed.

Moo really liked the informality of it, and how everyone was involved, which I'm very pleased about.

Fry-up for brunch, some tidying and then a walk with Victoria, Grenville, Charles and Sennen. Back to theirs for tea and drop scones. Yum. They're good friends, and it's always good to see them.

And interesting blog entry from Sally. which is definitely worth a read.

Labels: church, family, friends

Meeting a friend

After a morning which included an hour and a half of discussion (in which I didn't participate) on the most appropriate resolution at which to print barcodes on airline tickets, I met James, a good friend from Cambridge (with whom we also got together in Cornwall last year with his family), for lunch. We had a very good meal just off Lake Geneva, and it was excellent to see him. We'd love to get over for a while, but finding the time isn't that easy at the moment. We do owe them a visit, given that they came over with their girls for Miri's christening.

Labels: friends, work

Rural ministry

(backposting) Today's topic at the ERMC weekend was "rural ministry", and very interesting it was, too. Gave me a bunch of things to try, and to think about. It was led by Jill from The Arthur Rank Centre, who had an astonishing amount of statistics, experience, stories and ideas. Some of the people on the course found it less relevant, but then again, I'm based in the country, and given how I feel about towns and cities, likely to remain that way, so it was good for me.

Last night I stayed up till 0100, but didn't feel too bad. I got around 6 and a half hours' sleep, which really isn't too short of normal, but thought I'd go to bed a little earlier tonight. Say 11. We started learning some British Sign Language from Andrew, a guy on the course who's a chaplain to the deaf. Learnt the Lord's Prayer (which I can still mainly remember), and other useful words and phrases like "beer" and "Doctor Who". Ah, past 12. Well, still chatting, and doing some real theology and pastoral (ask the others who were there). Hmm 0100.

Went to bed at 0200. Lots of water - and I'd finished drinking a while before, but not the best plan.

Labels: ERMC, friends

New Year's Eve

(backposting) Giggle Factory (Sudbury), after a Waitrose trip and the purchase of the next stage of car seat for Jo. Miri really needs to move to the next stage, and Jo's ready, so we've passed hers down: this is _much_ cheaper than buying the next set up for Miri, so it's worked out quite well. After coming back from all that, Jo and I took our scooters to Clare Country Park. She was given one for Christmas, but Jen gave me a scooter 5 or so years ago. It's harder work than I'd remembered - though I never really used it much - but we had great fun. Jo started to get it pretty quickly, including gliding, which really does require quite a good sense of balance.

After that, a quick supper for the girls, and off to Si and D's for a New Year's Eve party. Nora (a bloke), Kate, Chris, Naomi, Debs, Andy, Zae, Moo, me and a goodly number of kids. Lots of alcohol. Pheasant (shot by Si), ham (not shot by Si, as far as I'm aware), chocolate, including a dessert of which I'm pretty proud. A number of us ended up in their hot-tub (in swimming costumes, it should be stressed). Moo and I left around 0100 with the girls. I couldn't find my shoes...

Spent quite a lot of time having pastoral conversations, which was interesting in and of itself.

Labels: friends, party

Miri's baptism

We started late. Only six minutes, but it does help to have the relevant person there to be baptised. Same goes for funerals, although there's old precedent for marriages by proxies. Dad celebrated, James P., Kirsty, Victoria and Si were the godparents. I preached on potential and belonging to the family of the church, and Miri only cried briefly, which was a surprise, given that she wasn't on very good form.

Then we all went back to our house for lunch and drinks. Lots of adults, and lots of children underfoot. We were a little worried that Jemma might get left out when Turtle turned up, as she and Jo get on so well, but not at all. Oh - it turns out that the rules for "What's the time Mr Nudey Wolf?" are pretty similar to "What's the time Mr Wolf?" as played by (naked) children with little grasp of the standard rules.

Some people stayed late, some didn't. We had a great time. James, Alex, Jemma and Alice, Kate and Mac all stayed overnight again.

Labels: church, friends

First tooth

Yup, Miri's first tooth has come through. Centre bottom, left. Yay!

D. popped in with Morgan this afternoon - just, of course, as work really kicked off, but that's typical. Lovely to see her, and Boo (Charlotte) has grown nicely. She did say that Miri basically looked like a toddler, though...

Had a good supervision with Keith. I'm going to be doing a joint Great & Little Yeldham service on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and he's approved the ideas that I had come up with for liturgy.

Labels: friends, miri, worship

Meeting old friends

(backposting) It's been years since we saw James ("JP") and Alex, but we'd decided to ask him to be one of Miri's godparents (or at least a sponsor if he wasn't baptised - though it turns out that he has been). JP (again, it appears that we're the only people who call him that) and Alex live near Geneva, and we went on a very ill-fated skiing trip with them at least four years ago. JP was head of the student union when Jo was woman's officer at college, and we've always got on well. I spent a lot of time with JP, and Moo with Alex, and we got straight back in the groove, which was fantastic. They're both divers, and we're already thinking about arranging some sort of diving holiday (and no, Moo won't have to look after both of ours _and_ both of theirs while we're diving: we'll sort something out).

We met at Polzeath beach (well, obviously), and one of the best moments was when Gemma was following me and JP to the surf, and came out with the immortal "you're my two favourite daddies". Whoa...

So, we borrowed from body boards, and James taught me how. Not much surf, but fun nevertheless.

Popped up to Tubestation: impressive. A Methodist-Anglican initiative, cafe, skating area, Internet access, looks like a good place.

Labels: church, diving, friends, holiday

Bank holiday - aargh!

(backposting) Just when you want some rest, it's a bank holiday. Moo really deserves some, as she had to look after the girls all last week, one of whom (Jo) caught a bug, and kept throwing up. They were all with her parents, but Jenny, Turtle and Mouse were there, so little rest was had by anyone. Did a bit of work in the front garden with Jo also "helping", and in the evening when to Si and D's for a walk with the dogs and then supper. Ended rather later than we'd planned, but had a good time with them all, plus Andy and Zae.

Labels: friends, walk

Gardening, barbecue

(backposting) In a somewhat desperate attempt to make the garden habitable, I cleared lots of brambles today. It's nice to have blackberries, but I prefer them not actually to grow in the garden. The other reason was that Victoria and Grenville came over for a lovely barbecue this evening. They waited until Jo was asleep, brought Sennon around, put him to bed, and then we had a lovely time. Grenville headed off around 2200 to do some work (!), so the rest of us stayed up. Moo went to bed around 0000, but came down at 0100 to tell me to sort the dog out, as he was still barking. This saved Victoria and me from drinking even more of the Scotch/Irish whisk(e)y that we'd been consuming, and was generally a good plan.

Today's toddler quote is "I got some in!". Jo had said that she'd get herself some milk, and had gone to the fridge to do so. I'd told Moo not to worry, because Jo's milk (full fat) wasn't opened, so she wouldn't have a chance. The sounds of "glug, glug, splash" made us realise that the other milk _was_ open, and being a resourceful young person, Jo'd gone with that. The cry "I got some in!" was accurate, but the stress would have been better placed on the word "some". Well, Buster got to lick lots of milk from the floor, and Jojo felt pleased with herself.

We prepared Miri's room today. Soon, we'll put her in there overnight, but Moo didn't think that today was a plan.

Labels: children, food, friends, Jo

Wii - and hot tub

We went into Cambridge, and I bought a Wii today. Jo can already play the tennis games as my doubles partner - serving fairly well and hitting the odd lob here and there (to be honest, I don't know exactly what a lob is, but she's hitting some balls back). It's great, and quite a work-out. Unluckily, I did the "find your Wii exercise age" thing on the Sports game, which is the only one we have atm, and it appears that I'm 64. I'd had the odd glass or two beforehand, though, so...

What's this about a hot tub, then? Well, Si and D have recently moved house, and we went round for a barbecue, and to see the lovely little Charlotte Phoebe Plant. She's tiny - only just 6 pounds (though she's only a little over 2 weeks old) - and Miriam looks more like 6 months old next to her. It turns out that their new house has a lovely shower, but no bath. Not inside, at any rate. Instead, it comes with a hot tub outside. Designed for four, and Si and I fitted very well into it with a glass of wine each and a child to look after, while D and Moo looked after the littles. Si lent me a pair of swimming trunks, but I'm planning to leave a pair over there for next time.

He's planning to come over to work from home at my house on Monday, as he doesn't yet have broadband and needs to look after Morgan. Oh, and he doesn't have a Wii yet, either.

Labels: computers, friends

Two wedding anniversary presents

You might think that this title might refer to the present that I bought for Moo, and the present that she bought for me, and which we exchanged today, as it's our 12th wedding anniversary today. But no. Moo's apparently ordered a present for me, but it's not arrived yet. And she thinks that she probably threw out the card she bought, in her mad recycling frenzy on Thursday night. I gave her a present - a lovely bag from Roots which I bought last week, and a card which I bought yesterday.

So what, you ask, is the second present? The gift of laughter. We went out to a nice pub for a meal with our friends Kirsty and Matt (hi, Kirsty!) over lunch, and while we were waiting for service (which seemed to be for much of the meal), I took Jo to play in the grass area. There were some deckchairs. Jo and I sat in one each, we got up, we moved around, Jo and I sat in the same ones again. *Crack*

I had to 'fess up to Moo and to the pub (who were fine about it). Moo thought it was very funny, particularly because I have some form with breaking seating furniture. This comes up quite often in the family, and I thought I was very generous to share this story with Moo (although Jo would probably have grassed me up anyway).

Labels: friends, humour, Jo

Prayers offered, prayers answered

First of all, please pray for Sally, and her son Chris. He's got serious heart problems, and went to the Brompton for tests today. He's got "atrial flutters, which apparently isn't good if you've only got one heart atrium left. So, prayers for them both and all their family and friends.

On a different note, I was just about to be driving past Si and D's house, and thought "Si's away this week - I know, I'll phone D and see how she's doing." So I did, and she told me she really wasn't well. She was waiting for the midwife (who was already running late), but told me she didn't want to come round: she'd be all right. So, I carried on, dropped off some dry cleaning, and decided to ignore her: I popped round. She wasn't well, and I decided to wait round for the midwife. Good thing, too - the midwife wasn't happy. So, I took D into hospital. Picked up Morgan on the way, Terry, his grandfather, picked him up at the hospital.

In the end, she's fine. Lots of prayers answered there. Si's back from Edinburgh (caught an early plane), and all's well. It's what friends do.

Labels: friends, prayer

Porky, Jen and Jake (and Turtle and Mouse)

(backposting) Jen, Moo's sister, came over with her tribe today. A veteran of crackedness and mastitis herself, and a great provider of moral support, I was so pleased that she could come, and Jo had a good time with her cousins.

Who, then, is Porky? Porky is Jo's imaginary friend who turned up a few days before Miriam turned up. We see (well, that's the wrong word) quite a lot of him. he had a brother or sister at some point (Ollie), but no sign recently.

Oh, Jo was running a temperature last night, and ended up with me in the spare room. I actually ended up feeling guilty because I got more sleep than I would have done with Moo and Miriam.

Labels: family, friends, sleep

Magnificat

"He hath showed strength with his arm..." - thank you, Herbert Howells (St Paul's service). Just doing my 10 minutes in front of the (muted) TV. Mary really had some things to say - not that Simeon didn't, of course.

I was back at work today, and got lots done, although my voice still isn't entirely sorted. I was supposed to have a supervision with Keith today, but he's not well either, so we've postponed for a while.

Forgot to post yesterday that we had a midwife visit yesterday. Yet another midwife - we've had very little continuity this time, but it doesn't bother us particularly. On her advice, we're off for a check-up at Colchester Hospital on Wednesday. They're not particularly worried, but the deal is that if you're measuring more than 3 weeks off what your expected size is, you're supposed to go and have a check-up. Jo was big, too, but not as big as this one. Moo's 32 weeks now, and measuring 39. No wonder people are asking her how long she'll be at work for - and that she's beginning to get more uncomfortable.

A good friend of mine from school emailed me today to catch up. We've talked a few times over the past couple of years. She suffers from mental illness (there are more people around who do than you might expect), and not all of her family know. She has a supportive husband, though. I'm really pleased that she keeps in touch - she was such a good friend at school, and one of those people it would be a shame to lose touch with.

Labels: friends, Mary, Moo, music, pregnancy

Jo's birthday party

We had a lovely time. Kate and Mac turned up in time for lunch, and we were raring to go for 1400 (despite Jo announcing, dead on the hour, that she wanted to go up to her bedroom for a sleep). Milly (+ Kate and Graham), Digi and Kalila (+ Nik and Tosha), Ruby and George (+ Jason), Max (+ Elizabeth) and Sennen (+ Victoria) all turned up, as did Mel. Everyone got on pretty well (helped, for the adults, by some beer and wine - important that it was the policeman father who brought some of the former and started things off), and we had very few tears (none from the adults, as far as I could tell). The food was good, as was the company, so a good time was had all round.

Wish I could say the same about the rugby. We're 57 minutes in, and it doesn't look like we're going to win. In fact, a white-wash is still a distinct possibility.

Labels: friends, Jo, rugby

Jo's new bed

Si and D came round today, and Si (and Morgan, a bit) and I put together Jo's new bed, the last piece of furniture for her new bedroom. We've been clean to get her into her new room as part of her "turning 2" (soon) celebrations, because we didn't want her to think that she was being turfed out of her current room by the arrival of the new baby. She slept in it for her nap this afternoon, and we made the decision to move her into it today. We went to see our friends Kirsty and Matt in their new (well, in July) house in Cambourne, and Jo had a lovely time, but we got back quite late, and she was therefore very sleepy. It meant that she went down quite quickly - we'd been concerned that she might be a bit over-excited. So, she's now in her first proper bed. She looks so _small_ in it.

The midwife came to visit this morning (coincidentally, arriving just before Si and D had to head off, so we didn't get so say goodbye properly). It was Debbie, who looked after us last time: she's not been around before for any of the appointments, and it was lovely to see her again. Moo's 29 weeks today or tomorrow. And measuring 36 weeks. She was measuring 34 weeks this time last pregnancy, and second babies do measure bigger, apparently, but still...

Labels: baby, friends, Jo, travel

Last post of the year

Sitting watching Sense and Sensibility, which we recorded last night. We love Alan Rickman.

Not sure there's anything much to blog about, to be honest. Meant to take Jo swimming, but all of the pools in the area seemed closed, so Sennon and Victoria came around instead, and we went for a walk. Made flapjacks, ate them, or some of them. Moo made a lovely fish pie for supper.

We've got a new synchronised blog coming up on the 10th January: spiritual warfare, which is a new subject for me.

Here's to next year, 2007. May it bring Light into the life of all who read.

Labels: cooking, friends, swimming, walk

Back home

It's lovely to be back. A pretty good journey home, and in the afternoon, our friend Leo came to see us. She's a pretty big time grown-up EU lawyer, and isn't over in the UK very often - in the end she only managed to get over for a little over an hour, but it was fantastic to see her.

I've still got an essay to write. For the 5th. It needs to be on Church History, and I've chosen the following:

Analyse and discuss the relationship of Christianity and one other faith during the period studied and any impact of this today.

I'll do Islam, because the second half is pretty obvious. I've only got 3000 words or so to write, so it shouldn't be too much of a nightmare.

"I'll do Islam". Well, you know what I mean...

Prayers for Sally's son Chris, who's in hospital.

Labels: essay, friends, home