Appalachian clogging

We were in Poole today, visiting Donna's Mum and Dad, after a light lunch we all headed down to the quayside where there was some folk dancing going on.

Appalachian clog dancing in Poole

On a previous visit a few years ago, Donna had been impressed by a local group of Appalachian clog dancers. They were performing in Wimborne last time, and we were delighted to see them again in Poole.

There were only a few groups active at a time along the quay so we had no reason to expect to see the clogging, we didn't even know the group would be there.

However, they were, and we enjoyed watching them.

The cloggers were wearing a kind of tap shoe, presumably the dance style originated with wooden clogs that were the standard farming footwear in many parts of Europe in mediaeval times. No doubt leather shoes with steel taps are much more comfortable and controllable.

Donna is interested enough to wonder if there is a clog dance group anywhere near St Neots. I'm not sure she'd actually find the time to learn these dances, but it would certainly be fun to go and watch now and again.

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Beaulieu village

We visited a community vegetable garden in Beaulieu today. And there, in amongst the cabbages and beetroots was a scarecrow all kitted out for Wimbledon!

Scarecrow at Wimbledon?

Wimbledon is proving to be a bit of an upset this year with several of the top seeds knocked out in the earliest stages. It opens the field for lower ranking players - but surely not for scarecrows?

Although he may be good at chasing away the birds, he doesn't seem to have a great action. In fact I'd say his performance is a bit wooden.

Beaulieu itself is a pretty little place, there's a small garden centre (Fairweather's) with a great restaurant attached called 'Steff's Kitchen'. They serve tea, coffee and good food, and they use fresh ingredients. from the community garden with the raquet-wielding scarecrow.

There's a teddy-bear shop and other small businesses focussing on the tourist trade. But the main claim to fame by this little village is the well-known motor museum, the Palace House, the old abbey and the nearby coast and the New Forest.

We haven't visited most of these sites yet, but I was very impressed with the work Fairweather's are doing in Steff's Kitchen and (particularly) Patrick's Patch. Not only is it good for the tourists like Donna and me, it's good for the local community involving schools, volunteers and more. Every small town and village needs projects like these. Well done Fairweather's and the good folk of Beaulieu.

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Water for life

Today I set up the automatic watering system for the tomatoes in our small greenhouse. The water trickles into each pot, providing the water the plants need to grow and produce a crop.

Watering nozzles for tomatoes

Without water, plants die. They also need light, temperatures within a certain range, and sufficient mineral nutrients.

But because I was setting up the watering system, I was thinking about their need for water more than anything else.

How long would a person live without water? Just a few days. Dehydration would set in and death would surely follow. Water is essential for life.

Jesus had a conversation about this with a woman who'd come from a village to draw water at a well. She knew how much she needed water, it was worth a journey, the weight of a heavy container, and facing the heat of the day. Jesus told her he could provide a flow of water that would rise up inside her and keep her refreshed without visiting the well. She was very keen to receive this water.

Jesus was talking about something that brings spiritual life, not just ordinary well water. What would you be prepared to do to obtain an inner source of spiritual refreshment that would never run out?

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A busy day ahead

I took a friend to Hinchingbrooke Hospital this morning. He needs special shoes and had to visit for some measurements.

The foyer at Hinchingbrooke Hospital

There's no hospital in St Neots, our nearest one is Hinchingbrooke on the edge of Huntingdon, a twenty minute car journey if the roads are clear, a bit longer at times of peak traffic.

Back at home I need to get the automatic watering system working and replace some broken glass. As I was mowing the grass yesterday evening a stone flew up and took out a large pane.

Then there's some weeding to keep me busy and I have to make a trip to town for food shopping and to drop in some paperwork at the Open Door office.

I also need to visit the tip, clean the car, pay in some cheques and finish a blog post on Journeys of Heart and Mind, so it seems like a busy day. Enough writing about what has to be done, it's time to get stuck in to all those tasks!

This evening I plan to be doing a Lyfe study at The Bridge House pub with a few friends. It's been good so far, this will be our third meeting.

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Life of the river

St Neots is built on the River Great Ouse with its source near Banbury and mouth at King's Lynn. As you can see from the photo, it's a wide river here in the town. The narrowboat with the man at the stern give some idea of scale (click the photo for a larger view).

A narrowboat on the River Great Ouse

Because of the River, the town has an excellent rowing club, some of the members compete at high levels of the sport.

After taking the photo this afternoon I was thinking about the life of the river. It seems to be unchanging (although the course of the river does change slowly over the centuries).

But if you follow the river from source to mouth it parallels a person's life from birth to death. The river starts off young, just a tiny brook in a deep-cut channel. It flows quickly, is active and uncontrolled.

As it matures it passes through teenage where it looks much more like a full-grown river but is still quite unpredictable and has changing moods.

In maturity it begins to wander across the landscape, full-grown, mostly placid, and able to cause serious damage if it floods out beyond its banks.

And in old age it is slow moving, set in its ways, and finally comes to the end of its course where it dissipates itself into the brackish waters of The Wash. Finally it is totally lost to view, even at low tide, and spreads itself out imperceptibly into the great North Sea.

What happens to a person when they die? Like the river they vanish from this world. Are they lost (just as the river vanishes) or do they become part of something greater (as the water of the river becomes part of the vastness of the ocean).

What do you think?

I think people become part of something infinite, not only physically but spiritually too. Visit Spiritual Journeys for more on this.

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Abandoning the washing up

Today was Tuesday, and that means Small Group. Donna helps our friends Roger and Carolyn run an Open Door Small Group and tonight we were meeting at our house.

The washing up

We begin with a meal together, then we decamp from the dining room clutching mugs of coffee (or tea) and head to the lounge to share in singing, prayer, Bible reading and discussion.

We just abandon the washing up in the kitchen. Everyone helps clear the table and stack the dirty plates, cups and cutlery around the sink.

When everyone has gone home I usually load up the dishwasher and set it going, often a second load is needed in the morning.

We only host the meeting once every couple of months, mostly it circulates around from house to house so everyone gets a turn at washing up - it's good for the soul!

Even washing up can make a good photo. Look at the range of colours in this image, some vivid, others subdued. Then see how many different textures you can find, and the reflections. There are transparent objects, translucent ones, metallic ones. An astonishingly rich scene.

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Feedly and Clover

Feedly and Clover are both worth checking out, but the Clover video shared by Feedly is amazing. I'll explain...

My laptop screen

Feedly is a software tool, a feed reader. Clover is a food truck and restaurant company. You can see references to both in the photo of my laptop.

Feedly provides me with all the information I need from all the websites I follow. I used to read this stuff in Google Reader, but like many users of Google Reader I transferred to Feedly when I heard Google were closing down their reader.

Feedly is awesome. However, on their blog, they shared a seminar given by the head of Clover, a small food startup in the Boston (Massachusetts) area.

Clover and Feedly have something important in common - they listen to their customers in radical, intentional ways. It's good for them and it's good for us.

The video is really great, please don't miss it. It's full of very important ideas. If you are running a business or service, just starting one, planning a project, working for yourself or for someone else, part of a club or interest group, planting a church, doing research, writing a book... whatever, do not miss the video! :-)

How can you apply these powerful ideas?

Oh... I'd better give you the link, then. Here's the video....



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The Marriage Course

Donna and I have been working through the Marriage Course, Open Door Church are taking it for a test run before opening it up more widely. Today we are running through the sixth out of seven sessions.

The Marriage Course Guest Manual

Having worked through most of the course now, I feel I'm in a good position to give a bit of feedback.

The way Open Door have run it has been very good. They've set out a coffee table for each couple with a flower in a small container. They ply us with tea or coffee at the start of each session and again with cake during one of the exercises.

The course itself is from the same stable as the Alpha Course. Visit the Relationship Central website for more information.

Each session involves watching a DVD presentation in multiple parts with short exercises between the parts. Most of these take the form of a series of questions or options to fill in separately and then to talk over with your partner. One of the exercises is longer and this is when the tea or coffee is served with cake - excellent!

Although there's a Christian element in the course it's not the main thing. Instead the course focusses on practical issues around communication, conflict resolution, the impact of family (parents, children etc), use of time, encouraging one another and more. The course is accessible and suitable for people of any religion and none. I think all couples would get something useful out of the course.

Kudos to Open Door for running the course and to the team for looking after us all so well.

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Full of energy

Young people are so full of energy. The picture shows the son of a friend about to kick his football. He's just eight-years-old, and full of energy and a zest for life. It looks as if he's shooting for a penalty or something! He's not, he's just taking a kick for fun, but he's totally wrapped up in the moment.

Shooting for goal

Why do we lose this zest and appetite for fun as we grow older? Our young friend is utterly focussed on this kick. Click the image for a closer view, look at the expression on his face, the movement in his arms and legs, the sheer focus on the moment. He's putting everything into that kick.

Life will bring us beauty and ugliness, joy and pain, laughing and crying. Is a child immune to these feelings? No!

Children fall and cry, they joke and laugh, they play and have fun, they mourn over a dead hamster. They are not free from pain. But they go through the pain and sorrow and then move on to the next thing. I think the key is that they tend to focus on the moment. Whatever a child is doing right now is likely to be more important than what they did yesterday or may do tomorrow.

Adults tend to carry with them much anxiety about yesterday and tomorrow. They worry and fret. It can spoil the happy moments of today. It shouldn't!

Take out a ball and kick it around. Even better, do it with friends who love you. Have some fun, live in the moment, celebrate whatever you have and whatever you can do, stop grieving over the things you cannot do. Donna and I had a wonderful time kicking that ball about.

Enjoy life. Every day is a treasure and a miracle. Enjoy each one as it comes along.

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The Old Falcon

The Old Falcon Inn is a landmark in St Neots Market Square. Except that for the last eight years it's been more of a blot on the landscape because it's derelict and uncared for.

The Old Falcon Inn

It's a sad story. The old inn has a long history and is a listed building. It has a plaque on the front proudly announcing that the district and county councils with English Heritage paid for its refurbishment in 1983. The plaque states, 'Historic Building Restoration'.

Part of the inn dates to the fifteenth century though it's been substantially extended and modified since then.

Since 1963 the inn has been owned by a limited company which appears to be moribund.

The present owner has struggled to get the necessary permission to redevelop the property. Dennis Whitfield bought it in 2005 and eventually managed to persuade the local authority to allow the demolition of a boathouse at the rear (the property backs onto the River Great Ouse). The agreed plan was to aquire a strip of land from the dentist surgery next door so that a walk could be built connecting the east end of the town bridge with the south-west corner of the Market Square.

But the dental practice won't sell the strip of river frontage. The deal has fallen through. Dennis Whitfield is tired of waiting (after eight years) and is giving up.

The Falcon is now up for sale and an Estate Agent's board (Giggs & Company) is visible at the back.


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Organic growth

I've been battling the weeds in my garden. For a variety of reasons I fell way behind with this work and now I'm paying the price!

Weeds in my garden

The weeds in my garden are a wonderful example of organic growth, similar to the kind of growth I'd like to see for the church.

For a start it is spontaneous. I left this plot tidy at the end of the autumn, in March there were a few weeds, but now look at it!

In the cleared area at the front you can see a courgette plant that I just put in today. And in the background a massive array of weeds of all sorts. All I had to do to produce this massive growth of weeds was - nothing!

They all grew from tiny, insignificant seeds. Little specks of life wrapped up in hard shells, just waiting for warmth and rain and sunlight. When the conditions were right the seeds sprang into life and voila - weeds.

Not only that, each type of seed produced its own kind of weed. So if I want to see the church grow, I'm going to need an insignificant-looking seed of the right kind. Then I need to place it in the right place at the right time and it will grow, just like that. But it had better be the right seed, the right time and the right place.

What does this say to you about planting churches?

How will I know the right time and place?

Where will I find the right kind of seed?

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Foxgloves are at their best

The foxgloves are in flower now in the garden. The flowers open first at the bottom of the tall spikes, soon it will be the higher flowers that are open and the lower ones will already be losing their petals and starting to develop seeds.

Foxglove flowers

The flowers are so amazing when you look at them in detail. There are tiny hairs and a spotted pattern inside the flower tube. Click on the image to see these details.

To pollinate the flowers a bee lands on the lower lip of the tube and crawls part way inside to gather nectar.

The plant is also known for the active agents it contains, digoxin, digitoxin and other related substances. Although poisonous (don't eat any part of a foxglove plant!), digoxin is medically useful for some forms of heart arrhythmia.

Foxglove is native to the UK and grows wild in most parts of the country. Often it can be seen in great drifts, in damp, shady places and in the margins of woodland.

You'll find foxgloves in many British gardens, particularly traditional cottage gardens where it was always a firm favourite. It's biennial, sow seeds this autumn for flowers the summer after next. They will happily self seed once established.

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Swans and cygnets

As I walked home from town I spotted these cygnets on the bank of Hen Brook, some of the youngest I've ever seen. Mum and Dad didn't seem the least bit concerned about people passing close to their offspring.

Swans with cygnets

Just after I took this photo, a father with his young daughter arrived on their bikes and they stopped to take a picture as well.

When you think about it, it's really quite astonishing how wildlife adapts to the presence of humans. Mr and Mrs Swan are not alarmed because they see people passing all the time and  they are sometimes a source of free food, but rarely a threat.

Last year's cygnets are of course fully grown, but many of them still have a few grey flecks amongst their new, white plumage. We have a lot of swans in St Neots, I think more than I remember in previous years.

I headed on home, leaving the swan family in peace and quiet - at least until the next camera-toting passer-by comes on the scene. I took the image on my phone; it's great to have a camera always to hand  in my pocket!

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The demise of the ash?

Our ash trees are in grave danger. The ash dieback fungus (Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus) has made its way over from Europe to the UK and the disease is spreading westward and north. Experts think that between 90% and 99% of English ash trees will die, transforming the countryside just as Dutch elm disease did in the 1970s.

Leaves on a vigorous young ash tree

The disease arrived in the UK in imported saplings. It appears to be a new pathogen, or at least newly vigorous and dangerous. From 1992 onwards it devasted ash in Poland and it arrived in Britain in February 2012.

The impact will be severe because ash is widespread and common in British hedges and woodlands as well as in our towns and villages.

I've been photographing ash trees as a record of what we are likely to lose. I've found a couple of specimens that may be carrying the disease, although I haven't been able to get a close look at the detailed symptoms.

All the other trees I've seen in our area look healthy - for the moment.

Unfortunately, modern transport systems and widespread travel make further tree diseases likely, though nobody can predict which species will be next or where the problem will begin.

In the case of elms, some older trees survive in a few localities and hopefully the same may be true for ash.

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Spider-Man party

Aidan is our grandson and today was his seventh birthday party. We travelled up to York to spend part of the day with Aidan and the family and to be at the party. As always, we had a lot of fun.

An icing-sugar Spiderman

Debbie and Steve had themed the birthday as a Spider-Man event. There was an awesome (or perhaps I'd better say 'an epic') climbing wall especially designed for junior age kids so Aidan and his friends had a lot of fun acting like Spider-Man!

It wasn't just a matter of random climbing and scrambling, the team who brought the climbing wall had organised a range of clever games and competitions to test the the young 'spider-men' against one another. Huge fun!

The picture shows a detail from the amazing birthday cake Debbie had made, Spider-Man sitting on the top of a high building.

The rest of the party involved Spider-Man cup cakes and much, much more.

Just to add to the fun I had wrapped Aidan's birthday present in multiple layers of plain and birthday paper, plastic bags, and more. Unwrapping it made him laugh, but he was very appreciative when he got to the middle of the package and eventually found his present.

We had to leave a little early as we had an engagement back in St Neots in the evening. But we saw the end of the party and helped with the initial stages of clearing up.

It was an awesome... er, epic ...day.

PS - The climbing wall was provided by an excellent local business, PE Plus+, highly recommended.


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The Rocket Park

Donna and a bunch of her friends from Open Door went to a women's day in Bedford, Ash had volunteered to look after Leanne's kids for the day so she could join them; I'd offered to give Ash a hand with this and they spent the day at our house.

Working the mechanical digger

Donna had left out a big box of craft materials, and that along with a pizza and spaghetti hoops lunch occupied much of the time. But for part of the morning I was at 'The Rocket Park' with one of the girls as she is really, really keen on the play equipment there.

The photo shows her shovelling sand on the little mechanical digger. I'd have loved one of these when I was little, but they're a relatively new idea. Simple but fun.

Why is it called 'The Rocket Park'? It's not an official name, just what the kids all call it. One of the larger pieces of play equipment is a big climbing frame in the shape of a rocket nose-cone. There are climbing walls, ladders, scramble nets and bars in the lower part and an upper floor with a central opening to access it. All the children love it.

Sometimes simple things are all that's needed to keep children occupied for hours. That was certainly the case today! And, if you think about it, far better than time spent in front of a TV or games console. And I had the opportunity for some conversation with one or two parents.

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Traction engine in St Neots

This not a sight you often see these days, a steam traction engine on the streets of St Neots. From the date on the front of the canopy, this one was built exactly 100 years ago.

A one hundred-year-old traction engine

Traction engines like this one were used for transport sometimes, towing a trailer like this one. But far more often they would have been put to work in the fields, this one on a vegetable grower's land in nearby Gamlingay.

They were used for pulling large, multi-furrow ploughs across a field. Two engines would take turns to pull the plough through the soil, winching it slowly but relentlessly back and forth.

This example was probably built locally, perhaps in Bedford, and would have worked the land until the 1930s or 40s when early tractors would have taken over. Although a tractor could not turn so many furrows at a single pass, they were more manoevrable and only one man was needed to do the work.

The day of the steam traction engine passed away and many of them would have rusted away and been scrapped. A few survived (including this one) and many of the survivors are now in the hands of enthusiasts who restore them and keep the polished and active.

This one was most likely on its way to a local vintage steam fair.

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Moving the movies

St Neots is having a six-screen cinema, originally due to be finished this autumn. But something has gone wrong and it will be delayed until early next year. The photo may give you a clue.

Old and new positions

Believe it or not, the new cinema was being constructed in the wrong place. At first it appeared that the developers, Turnstone, were at fault. Perhaps they misread the plans?

But no, they faithfully began building accurately in the wrong place - the fault seems to be with the architects. The plans were wrong.

Some of the local residents complained because the building was going to be some 800 mm closer to their properties than agreed. The developers decided the right thing to do was move the steelwork (it was almost complete by then). So the cinema framework has been partly unbolted, large sections moved as single pieces, and bolted down onto new concrete pads. It's been amazing to watch.

The photo shows one of the vertical steel beams in its new position with the old position marked in blue.

Sadly we will have to wait a little longer for our cinema. We were hoping to see the second part of 'The Hobbit' here this winter, but now it'll involve a trip to Huntingdon.

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After Earth

I've been looking forward to watching 'After Earth', and we went to see it this evening. Despite a panning from the critics I enjoyed watching it. The storyline is straightforward without any clever twists, but it was definitely not boring.

CineWorld in Huntingdon

And there are some some nice ideas here. 'Danger is real, but fear is optional', is one of my favourites. It's a reminder of the great biblical truth that 'perfect love throws out fear'.

And another thread running right through the film is that a father's approval is key to a stable and secure heart. For anyone that trusts Jesus, there is assurance that we have the Father's approval, not on our own merits but simply because the Son has rescued us and brought us into that place of peace.

Like so many science fiction films, this one has some useful talking points and good places to anchor biblical truth in conversation. It's potentially a good way to bring that truth to the hearts and minds of anyone open to receive it.

By this time next year we will have our own multi-screen cine complex here in St Neots, partly because of an American benefactor. But that's another story.

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Warming up June

It's June and the central heating has been firing up!

Our boiler's control panel

Most years, the gas boiler stays off after early to mid May and remains off until late September. I don't turn it off, it just stays off because the room thermostat doesn't need to demand heat.

But this year it seems that the temperatures are much lower than normal. Outside in June I would normally be in shorts and a T-shirt with a pair of sandals on my feet. But this year I'm wearing jeans, shirt and a fleece, with socks and trainers. We've had some warm days, but not very many.

What is going on? What is the explanation?

Well, for one thing there is always a lot of variation from year to year. That, at least, is normal. So having one odd summer is not in itself very peculiar. But we have been having a lot of extremes. Over the last ten or twenty years we keep seeing records broken - the driest, the hottest, the windiest, the wettest, the coldest and so on.

Nor is it just England, the rest of the UK has seen extremes as well, so has the rest of Europe and indeed the rest of the globe. Fires in California and Australia, floods in central Europe as I write, the US east coast storms last year, the huge tornado in Oklahoma.

There is a pattern of extremes over many years and in many places. This is global warming in action doing exactly what the climate scientists predicted. Our weather patterns are more unpredictable and more extreme - and this is just the beginning.

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People networks

Donna and I live in St Neots, a lovely town in Cambridgeshire. The photo shows part of the river front right in the heart of the town.

The River Great Ouse in St Neots

I walked down there this afternoon and took the photo from the town's main bridge before visiting Caffè Nero for a chat with some friends.

We sat outside this afternoon, it was warm but not hot, a grey day with no wind. The conversation covered all kinds of topics as it usually does.

I think many people today lack this kind of socialising. At work there are always people to talk to, but for those out of work or retired it can be a lonely business being at home. We all need people around us, even if we feel comfortable alone.

People create networks quite without thinking about it. The most basic units are family and tribe, but in the modern world there are many others. The workplace, the cafe, the pub, mothers with young children, groups of teenagers, people with hobbies or interests in common. I'm sure you could easily extend the list.

Any one person may belong to several of these groups and in this way they are all interconnected to make a human society. What a rich tapestry we form!

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Planting up the urn

Newly planted in the large urn

Donna and I visited Waresley Park Garden Centre for a light lunch today. After munching ham and cheese toasties and swigging our excellent coffees we spent a short time browsing around.

I bought a new hose for the garden and a trailing Petunia. Donna bought some chilli pepper plants and a Father's Day card.

Back at home I planted up the Petunia, a white Verbena, and a couple of Mesembryanthemums in a large earthenware urn we have in a patio outside the back door. It will be interesting to see how they develop over the summer. Hopefully they'll put on quite a show. I have no idea what colour the Mesembryanthemums will be, they came from a mixed tray and are not in flower yet.

The wonderful thing about organic systems is that they grow all by themselves. It will involve almost no effort on my part. Perhaps I'll need to apply a little fertiliser, enough water if rain is short, and cut off some dead flowers. The plants will just grow and flower abundantly.

What would we do without organic systems? We are organic ourselves, of course. We are far more capable than any robot and we are not in short supply. Maybe there are even too many of us in this world! Like all life forms, people are just amazing. Provide air, water and food and we multiply over time; we think and invent and write and make things, we interact in society, we are utterly amazing.

Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that we can take one another so much for granted. We should treasure one another and rejoice daily. Truly, familiarity breeds contempt. Sadly we see wars and struggles all around. People can be unkind, thoughtless, greedy and arrogant. But we are truly amazing even so.

So let's remember that we are amazing and love and respect one another as we should.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.) 

Little pathways

I've been meeting on Saturday mornings with my friend Mo. Today we walked to town from his home, had breakfast together in Cupcakes cafe in the Market Square, and then walked back.

One of the little paths we followed

Rather than follow the roads we decided to use the network of small pathways between the houses. Although the roads are well served with pavements, the traffic is noisy, sometimes kicks up dust, and emits fumes I prefer not to breathe into my lungs. That's why we chose the small paths.

It was a cloudy day, but dry. The paths are surrounded by greenery, there are areas of grass where people walk their dogs and childen play safe from traffic dangers, there are trees and bushes, and sometimes small bridges over rivers and streams. This all makes the walk pleasant and a source of gentle and healthy exercise.

It struck me later that the contrast between the busy roads and the little paths is much like the difference between traditional church and meeting with friends informally at home in a local coffee shop, pub or cafe. And it's like the difference between the banking system and simple exchange or barter. And it's like the difference between reading a manual with detailed instructions and learning a skill as an apprentice.

Roads, traditional churches, banks and manuals are structured, often rule-based (try driving the wrong way down a one way street) and somewhat staid. Little paths, informal church, simple exchange, and apprenticeships all work by watching, doing and exploring. They are free, open, and natural.

Long live the little pathways!

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Tea with friends

Donna and I spent part of the afternoon with our friends Roger and Ruth. Tea on the patio in their delightful garden was fun and it was good to catch up as we haven't seen them for some time.

Roger with his Jetex model

Roger got back into aeromodelling more than ten years ago, partly because I encouraged him to do it. He's developed a particular interest in small models powered by rocket motors, either the original Jetex motors from the UK or today's Rapier motors. Either way, the models are of a wide variety of jet aircraft.

Not only has he built and flown many models (some of them designed himself) but he's been making reproductions of kits from the 1950s and 60s. This is painstaking work.

Roger begins with photocopies of original plans and photos of the models, or sometimes with an unbuilt kit. He enhances and remakes the original artwork, prints it on special tissue which can be applied to balsa sheets, cuts out the parts, and uses them to build replicas of the original kit versions.

As if all this isn't enough, Roger also writes numerous articles about his modelling and is planning to redevelop a website about it all.

The photo shows Roger with one of his latest models, his version of an original Swedish kit.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.) 

A typical day

I was able to help Paul with a lift to Moggerhanger to return a borrowed disk cutter. Before heading off to do that we chatted with one of his friends over a coffee. There's a good chance another of his friends will do a Bible study with us soon. That's something to pray about and needs a little thought over the best way to approach it.

Seen on the walk back home with Sean

Life seems to be full of opportunities to share the good news about Jesus.

Later in the morning I got down to some serious weeding in the garden and cut the grass. I'm sure there's a lesson here. There is so much life in the garden, organic abundance and proliferation everywhere; it's just the way the church should be too. Yet all too often, unlike the plants and insects, the birds hopping on the grass and singing in the trees, church seems to be lacking in vitality.

At Caffe Nero I sat and chatted with the usual crew. I learned that one of the group plans to leave St Neots and will probably head to London where he will become homeless. This is a tragedy. There should be some way we could help him, but it seems there really isn't right now. I don't know what to do about this.

Sean and I talked about it when we met this evening. We had walked back to the house from town together, I took the photo of leaves in the sunshine on the way.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Starting a new blog

Hold on - I already have a blog ('Journeys of heart and mind'). Why would I want another one?

That's simple, the existing blog contains articles on things that interest me, I post two or three times a week, typically. But this new blog is for daily stuff, short items about what I'm doing and thinking, quicker to write and publish, quicker to read. I decided it's best to keep the two separate.

If you find any of this more personal stuff interesting, welcome! If not, you can still read the JHM articles without the additional daily clutter.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)