weblog > archives > April 2008
Easy decisions
April 30, 2008 5:08 AM
(Eggs Benedict)
Should we go up to visit my parents over the ANZAC weekend? Well, they are on a nice vineyard in the Hunter, I do enjoy spending time with them, it is a chance to get out of the house and relax... They are all good reasons, but the clincher is when mum says "How about I make you Eggs Benedict for breakfast?"
We weren't able to stay for the whole weekend, because I was preaching twice on Sunday morning (which went well, thank you for asking... I was preaching on the second half of Acts 17. Apparently, according to a reader at one of the services, Paul spoke at the Asparagus!), but we were able to head up on Thursday evening & stay till Saturday afternoon.
Rain was the name of the game, like most of the coast around Sydney, but with a warm fire going, a couple of scrabble games, and a cheeky red wine or two, the rain just added to the ambience.
Follow that up with a lovely misty morning on the Saturday & you have a recipe for success. The only downside to all the precipitation was that when we attempted to leave, the bridge at the end of road was under a metre of water! We had to drive 15km around to get off on another bridge. Again, all part of the fun.
Well, I have some other thoughts in my noodle that I would love to share, but they might have to wait for another post, which will hopefully only be in a day or so.
Instead, enjoy a couple of pics..
The foggy morning was lovely. There are a million little spiders webs on the vines!
Once the mist lifted, Saturday was magic. Not that that would make this a magic mushroom...
The road "should" continue down to a lovely wooden bridge.
A testimony to Shona's patience that she still looks happy having driven 15kms to get around to the this side of the bridge...
Comfort
April 22, 2008 6:30 PM
It will never be green like this photo in Australia.
But over the last week it has certainly had all the rain. To be honest, I had forgotten that it could rain like this in OZ. Deep, driving, constant rain. I think it's been going for about a week.
Days like today are fairly good for doing work. It's just the right kind of weather to camp out in front of your computer & bang out a bunch of Bible studies for youth group & spiff up your sermon for Sunday.
That said, it would be an even better day to be snuggled up in bed, a good book (for me the picture in my head will always be Lord of the Rings... a product of my childhood) some chocolate (again, my formative years declare that they must be "chocolate bullets", preferably the now defunct pascalls brand) with a Teddy bear (and now the option of my wife!) by your side.
Well, unfortunately, my day is more of the work & less of the vegging. Still, there's always a spare moment to remember lush green walks & rainy days with my niece's bear in bonny Scotland.
Hardly
April 21, 2008 12:31 AM
I don't know what you're talking about dude, it hasn't been that long!
Oh, what, ten days? OK, so maybe longer than I said I would leave without calling, but hardly the kind of timeframe that ruins a friendship or anything, right?
Right?
If it's any consolation, I have been fairly busy.
Hey, don't laugh!
Yeah, I know, I thought holiday time would mean that life is cruisy too, but it never seems to work that way.
Well, I guess it's like that because I wanted to make sure that I am on top of things for next term. That means putting together Bible study series....
Hey, as a digression, how do you pluralise a word like series? Serieses? series' serii? None of them ever sound right.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yeah, between Bible study stuff for youth group, writing a couple of sermons... Did I mention that I got sick? Nothing serious, just a cough & a cold, but it was enough to take that sparkling edge off me. Anyway, add all the other minutiae that make up the average week, and things just disappeared.
Like I said though, it wasn't all bad. Do you remember Tom & Ruth? They're from the halcyon days at Dural Anglican. Anyway... hey, do I use the word "anyway" too often? anyway, Tom & Ruth offered us free tickets to come with them & see the Swans play at Telstra stadium! Yeah, I know, sweet, but it gets better. We were only 4 rows from the grass, right in the middle of the field. Dude, seriously, Barry Hall broke his wrist about 3 meters from where I sat. Unfortunately I had already put the camera away by then...
Yeah, I took the big camera.
Look, tell you what, let me go to bed now and I'll promise to get back to you real soon, and just to sweeten the deal, I'll pop in a couple of the pics from my night out. Deal?
Deal!
Look, I know it is obligatory, but it really catches the mood of AFL. As a sport, they continually seem to be tipping their hats to the 30s & 40s... gotta love the streamer-wall anyway...
I'm not going to pretend like I know any of their names. I can appreciate the sport, but you know I am a rugby guy. Anyway (there I go again!) you have to appreciate the athleticism, plus you get an idea in this pic of how truly close we were!
For some odd reason, a lot of my photos are of the Eagles taking marks. Quite odd, considering how much they got beaten by!
That's better. We got to see a lot of this that night, which is perfect for your first night of live AFL! I'll have to thank Tom & Ruth properly later!
Good times
April 10, 2008 4:26 PM
On Saturday I went to Matt & Lisa's place for lunch.
Good times.
It's nice to catch up with one of your oldest mates & just kind of chill.
It's even better when the two of you are married & you can bring along your wives (and not too bad when his lovely sister-in-law and husband are there too)
And it's truly good times when they have two gorgeous boys for you to hang out.
Young kids are just like free entertainment. Who needs foxtel when you can watch the wild hijinx of "T" and "W". Will "W" be able to fit a whole piece of cake in his mouth at once? How psyched up can we get "T" as he heads lots of sugary stuff, then how likely is it that we will be able to beat Matt at Wii tennis, if "T", a four year old, is his partner?
Here's a couple of pics from the day. (Oh, and much thanks needs to go to Lisa for all her fantastic hosting skills. We were serious when we said the lasagna tasted awesome!)
"T" is rockin' it out old-skool style.
I've never seen such a whole-body effort when it comes to eating lunch.
They must be used to cameras... "W" is trying to push "T" out of the way. Who wants to share a closeup?
This was one of the early attempts of "W" to use his hand to eat cake, before he resorted to simply diving his face into it. Very cute!
Venetian Boid....
April 1, 2008 4:16 PM
(He was happy to splash in a puddle, at my feet, while I waited for a tour-boat in Venice.)
Do you ever ponder those chance meetings in your life? Surely we all play this game. I suspect most people just accept this idea & get bored of it by the time they are 8 or 9, but I am still fascinated by it.
As I looked at the picture of this bird, I found myself struck with a little sadness, thinking that the chances are it is now dead.
Following this little avian life could have made a lovely short film. After all, he lived in Venice. He bathed in Piazza San Marco, and possibly roosted in the eaves of a building centuries old. He watched countless tourists walk by. He's probably been snapped by a fair few of them too. He could be the black dot that looks too much like a dust mark in someone's otherwise flawless photo. But here he is centre stage.
Is that the joy and the sadness of a photo? Here I have this point of contact. He might be dead, and at best he is still 10,000 miles away, yet at this desk in Australia's central coast, his image is still evoking emotion. It makes me happy to look at him, and who knows, maybe he'll make 50 other people on flickr happy too.
If only God had a "where are they now" button installed in the air, a foot above every character on earth. I could press the button & find out just what happened. Is the bird still alive? Did he find love? Was he actually a she?
What mystery do you want to know the answer to?
The world is Black and White
April 1, 2008 8:51 AM
Oh that it were true.
Instead there are so many shades. Ever more so today as truth becomes a subjective.
Anyway, here is some more pictures of Scotland to encourage my sister...
Merchant street. Down in the Grassmarket area.
You have to be ready at any time in Edinburgh to escape the rain. On this occasion (in 2004) escape lead to the excellent opportunity to try out a deep-fried mars bar!