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Archive for May, 2012

Rapping a Catechism

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 23 May, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One of the MTs who will be joining us in September, Radiohead, is, rather surprisingly for someone in their early 20s, a big fan of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. He recently blogged about Cranmer’s Catechism that is contained in the BCP, and sketched out a version in modern English.

The same evening another friend linked me to this excellent rap from Shai Linne, who captures the basics of a catechism in truly modern English and includes a few ‘Big Words that end in -SHUN‘. I’m thinking our kids might enjoy the Shai Linne best at this stage. But who knows, maybe they’ll be Cranmer fans too once  Radiohead moves in…

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Clothing Bravery

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 17 May, 2012| 5 Comments »

This trailer for the new Pixar movie Brave caught my eye. I think you’ll guess why…

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Tree Surgery in the Vicarage Garden

Posted in Garden, Vicarage, tagged , , , , , on 16 May, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Today the tree surgeons came and took down a tree at the end of our garden that had started to lean rather precariously.

Here it is before they did their stuff:

And here is a short video of the tree coming down ending with a lovely clip of the tree surgeon’s local accent.

We’re glad the tree’s now safe. And particularly pleased at the fuel it’s supplied for next winter…

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Vicarage Recipes: Italian Bean Soup

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 9 May, 2012| 3 Comments »

This recipe is the favourite of Surfer, who is Godfather to the Joker. I used to make it when he came to pray with the Vicar back in the relaxed days of theological college. It’s loosely based on minestrone, but without the pasta. Pasta is a pain in soup cos it goes revoltingly soggy if you have leftovers, or want to freeze it. So this has beans instead and is easily made from things I normally have in the fridge and pantry.

Ingredients

  • 4 rashers bacon, finely chopped, or small pack lardons
  • Medium onion, diced
  • 2 sticks celery, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 1 leek, quartered lengthwise and then finely sliced
  • Tin of beans – haricot, borlotti or canellini
  • Tin of chopped tomatoes or jar/tetrapak of passata (sieved tomatoes)
  • Olive (or other) oil, mixed herbs

Fry your onion in a little olive oil and then add the bacon and cook until the fat begins to crisp. Then add other veggies, fry a little and add tomatoes and tinful of water or more to dilute to a soupy consistency.

Bring it to the boil and simmer for 10-15mins until the vegetables are tender. Rinse the beans and add to the soup, along with a smattering of mixed herbs or just oregano. Heat through and serve with crusty bread. This is good for May lunches, given the temperatures this year!

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Attic Progress: Sort Of (Progress, but not really Attic)

Posted in Vicarage, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 8 May, 2012| 7 Comments »

Today I’m posting some pics of our hallway, where we had to change all the doors as part of the attic renovations. Alas. Mostly lovely Victorian ones – we’ve had to replace 12 in total. We need to have pukka firedoors to comply with building regs because we are making our top storey habitable. I’m sure it’s supersafe and everything. But the building has stood since 1844 with open fires blazing and not burnt down. But there we go.

So I’m a bit sad about the lovely original doors. But also quite pleased about the nasty 70s one with the frosted glass that opened into the kitchen. Now replaced by clear glass which makes the hall and kitchen seem larger, and has the added bonus of enabling us to spot if children on the naughty step are staying there.

Whilst we were having everything done, including carpetting the attic, we decided to change our hall, stairs and landing carpets which were very tatty. So, for one night only, I give you our hall floorboards. But the Vicar has said “No” to sealed and sanded floorboards. Too cold, draughty and echoey. Sadly, he’s right. They do look lovely tho’, so I’ll just look up this post when I think about them instead. And enjoy the warmth.

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Resourcing Junior Church: Saul and the Donkeys

Posted in Church, Kids, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 1 May, 2012| 2 Comments »

Last week I was on Junior Church duty. As usual, we are using the excellent TNT resource On The Way, and we were beginning a series of four sessions from 1 Samuel on King Saul.

One of the reasons that we like On The Way is that bible stories are taught in full – not just the purple favourite parts. So we’re not just teaching the kids about Samuel anointing Saul, but other parts of the story leading to that point, and beyond it. Last Sunday my teaching was about the people of Israel asking for a king, and then Saul turning up at Samuel’s house whilst he was searching for missing donkeys. We did a lot of thinking about the temptation to want to be like the “nations” around, even when we really know that it’s not good for us.

It seems that the passage I was teaching (1 Samuel 8v1-9v26) is not a favourite one for Sunday school. On The Way has great resources and we used their printout to make little card Sauls and Samuels. But I always like the kids to have a colouring sheet and wordsearch to keep their fingers occupied as I tell the bible story.

And, even though I looked through the WHOLE of the internet (approximately), I couldn’t find a picture of Saul looking for donkeys, nor of the people of Israel whinging at Samuel about wanting a king. So I had to improvise with a simple picture of donkeys. And I made my own wordsearch, which meant I was able to use the exact words from the Good News Bible that we have in Junior Church.

Surprisingly, the kids quite enjoyed colouring two rather boring looking donkeys. And listened very well. Samuel will do the anointing in our next session, so that will be an easier surf for resources.

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