Author: stuart

  • Forty @ 40 – Completed!

    Forty @ 40 – Completed!

    1st January 2015 saw the beginning of Forty@40.  A challenge to fit them all in amongst other things!  This picture is a selection of the numbers, medals and other freebies collected.  Including a bottle of beer from Penmaenmawr fell race! All of this was to raise money for the Umeed Partnership which supports multi-faith schools…

  • The new King – No fixed abode

    The new King – No fixed abode

    Well, they asked for an ‘Address’ therefore I gave a ‘simple address,’ but perhaps it was not quite what was expected … The ‘new’ King, No fixed abode. Imagine the itching and scratching of heads, at royal mail head office with that on the desk, or straight to the box marked unfathomable instead? Perhaps though…

  • A little full, a little lost?

    A little full, a little lost?

    You might remember me saying that you would find me plodding through advent. It was not a reflection of the tasks of the time of year. The same is true for Christmas and Epiphany, and if the truth be told, the whole year. I’m not in any great hurry to see it pass. For me…

  • It is soooo much more than a bag, I mean – Baby!

    Each year amidst high tension and deepest secrecy the world waits in trepidation barely able to contain its excitement and in great anticipation of what the designers and creative minds will reveal – too soon and you’ll forget it, too late and it will be lost – for unto us will come, to us is…

  • dirty hands, grubby faces

    dirty hands, grubby faces

    I have watched nativity plays, and watched them being filmed and watched the play on the device as it is being filmed and wanted to scream,  just watch the … play.  Is life now only real when on a screen?   There is another world, of that I am convinced. Not a heavenly realm above…

  • one short moment in winter

    one short moment in winter

    Sitting on our bench looking towards Moel Eilio, the sky as dark as ever.  A momentary glitch in the programme and the clouds parted to show a little of the sky beyond…   Our world seems weary of its winter coat. Clouds part, and blue lies beyond. A soft blue streaked with white cotton as…

  • Giving Ourselves Away

    Giving Ourselves Away

    Lucy Winkett ended thought for the day this past Tuesday with the challenge to ‘give ourselves away’. Lucy is rector of St. James’ Piccadilly. Had I the chance to be in London over Christmas I would make time to go there to see the art installation by Arabella Dorman. It includes a dingy which arrived…

  • Gaudete Rejoice

    Gaudete Rejoice

    Gaudete – Rejoice.   You brood of vipers? Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Do these go together? They ought to! As the French Foreign minister struck his gavel to mark the agreement of the deal on climate change, he could have cited Luke ch3 as he sent the delegates home. A…

  • The St Nicholas Claus

    The St Nicholas Claus

    If I wore an elf’s hat, rang some sleigh bells, cried Ho Ho Ho and offered gifts, you might recognise the signs of a jolly bearded fellow who haunts shopping centres and visits many a Christmas fayre during December.  You might not however, think of St. Nicholas, but of course they are, or were, one…

  • Plodding through Advent

    Plodding through Advent

    You will find me plodding through Advent.  In all honesty I don’t suppose I was a patient child.  Waiting, especially in anticipation of Christmas is not something children are supposed to be good at.  I guess some adults are not that good at it either!  Waiting is a learned art.  However, Advent offers us an…