Lucky Jim is the youngest of our cats. He is a greedy (not so) little thing and we have to feed him on the balcony and lock the cat flap, so that the others can eat their meal without Jim muscling them out of the way so he can help himself!
Exhausted after stealing everyone’s dinner.
Usually when he’s on the balcony, he behaves himself, sticking his head through the railings, but nothing more. But at food time, when he’s finished, he jumps on the balcony railing to climb onto the kitchen window sill so that he can meeow pitifully to be let in.
This morning, as I came downstairs, Mr FD asked if I’d seen Jim. I hadn’t. Mr FD then said he couldn’t remember letting him in after breakfast. We called his name several times, and then (sure way to find him) I rattled the biscuit box. I opened the biscuit box. Jasper turned up, looking hopeful, but no Jim. Very strange… I poured biscuits noisily into a bowl. Jasper was very hopeful. No Jim.
“The kitchen mat had fallen off the balcony,” Mr FD said “and someone had picked it up. ” (It had been drying on the balcony rail, after a wash) “Maybe…?”
I went downstairs and opened the front door. A small(ish) ginger streak ^passed me by, from under the bushes in the courtyard. It was Jim!! We can only assume that he did his usual trick of jumping onto the balcony railing, landed on the mat which slipped and fell into the courtyard, taking Jim with it. Happily he didn’t wander away, but stayed concealed under the bushes.
He’s been very reserved this morning. I don’t think he’s injured himself in the fall (only one floor) I think it’s just his pride that is hurt, but we’ll keep an eye on him to make sure he’s OK. I gave him some biscuits, and he was happy to eat them!
Reading Bless’s meal plans over on her blog I thought I’d share mine.
I’m trying to cut down on snacks as I want to (need to!) lose some weight. I don’t know if I will be successful. I’ve changed my breakfasts from 2 pieces of toast with butter and jam, to one piece of toast, no butter, and either a poached egg or mushrooms. This seems to keep me feeling satisfied for much longer.
For lunch, there are no crisps. (Boo!) And one piece of french bread with some meat, or fish, or cheese. An apple and a biscuit.
Planned dinners are:
WED: Meatballs, tomato sauce, pasta + a kiwi fruit
THURS: halloumi, sweet potato wedges, HM coleslaw + fruit (depends what I buy)
FRI: Butter chicken and naan bread + fruit
SAT: feta, mushroom & leek quiche, salad, coleslaw + fruit
SUN: Gammon steak, potatoes, beans & mushrooms + fruit
MON: Spicy coconut salmon, leeks, mushrooms, noodles + fruit
TUES: beanburger, coleslaw, sweet potatoes + fruit
And, until we’ve finished them, one Lindor ball per evening.
Oh, to have this many Lindor balls!!
I feel it’s a decent mix of vegetarian and meat-based meals. With one fishy dish.
I don’t have generous neighbours like Bless – hers seem to be giving her delicious things to eat almost every week. It’s probably a good thing, as we’d be fat as mouldiwarps* on the yummy sounding treats that Bless receives.
* a mouldiwarp is an old term for a mole. And the expression “as fat as mouldiwarps” comes from a book I read as a child. And probably as an adult too. I have a feeling it was a Joan Aiken book (she of “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase” and others) but I’m not certain about that.
We’re still without a priest at Christ Church – we’ve not had much luck since Father Rob left in 2018…We had Covid, which made the search for a priest more complicated than it needed to be, then Rev Susan arrived, only to have cancer detected at a routine medical. She did what she could during treatment, but then resigned, feeling unable to continue. Our finances dipped, as we lost several of the congregation (for various reasons), so our ability to support a priest became less. Now, 5 years on, we are still priestless.
Happily, we have me, as a Licensed Lay Minister, able to lead the Eucharist with reserved sacrament; we have Father Thomas, a retired priest who enjoys coming from Paris once a month; we have three or four talented lay members who can lead services and give homilies; Bishop Mark enjoys coming when he can, and spent two months last Sept/October with us…but we are missing the pastoral care that a priest gives. We’re a small congregation (if we get 20 in church on Sunday, we’re lucky!) and so can’t afford a full-time priest. We’re hoping that in the next year, we may be able to support someone – possibly a retired priest – on a house-for-duty basis, OR a priest with a working spouse.
Anyway, I was leading the service on Sunday, and here is my sermon:
Take my words and speak through them, take our ears and hear through them, take our hearts & set them on fire with love for you
Before I say anything else, let me say that I am speaking to myself, as much to you, and that while today’s homily may seem rather political in tone, I am neither judging others nor commenting on anybody’s political leanings or actions. I am simply saying to you what I believe God, the God of justice and love and generosity, wants me to say.
In the readings from Exodus and from Matthew, I believe we are being taught a lesson on how God provides for his people, and how these same people react to that provision and generosity.
In Exodus, we see how – even though the Israelites have forgotten (already!) about God’s wonderful act of freeing them from their lives of slavery in Egypt and are complaining (already!) about what they see as a lack of protection and care from God – God does not punish them. Instead, he provides manna for them to eat. Not too much – they are not encouraged to be greedy – but rather enough for their daily needs. God provides. How often are we told that? God loves his people, and he will provide for them. This is a lovely thought, reiterated in the gospels many times: God cares for the sparrows, how much more does he care for you? Do not be anxious about where food will come from – God will provide.
But then, a little voice in my head asks: so why are there people living on the breadline? People starving? People forced to rely on food banks? If God will provide, why doesn’t he?
And maybe, somewhere in the reading from Matthew, we have the answer. If we see the owner of the vineyard as God, he employs people – gives them what they need – as they need it. Some are there, ready and able at the beginning of the day. Those left at the end of the day are maybe the old, the disabled, those who nobody else wants to employ…but they still need their food, their pay packet. And the owner provides for them – they do what they can, and they get paid for it.
And the able bodied, those who worked all day don’t like it. Because now they want to judge who deserves the day’s pay, and who doesn’t. They feel they should be the judges of where the provision (be it of money, or food, or labour) goes.
That is the answer to why God doesn’t appear to provide for those in desperate need…He does. But the privileged workers have decided to share out the pay according to their rules.
Enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world, but the UN estimate that 821 million people are considered “chronically undernourished”, while around one-third of all food produced globally is either lost or wasted, a staggeringly profligate situation that is estimated to cost the global economy some $1 trillion per year. Shockingly the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN have stated that If “Food Waste” were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest emitter of CO2.
The problem lies with the people who, like the workers in the vineyard, want to decide who “deserves” the resources that we have. Instead of reflecting on the fact that we live in a relatively food safe, weather safe area of the world, and that is why we have access to abundant food, people ask why send aid to foreign countries? Why support those who “don’t deserve” government benefits?
The justice of the world is based on who is seen to merit the resources (although that seems often to simply be dependent on where you were lucky – or unlucky- enough to be born) . God’s justice, and therefore our justice as Christians, is different. It does not depend on merit. It does not depend on wealth. It does not depend on what you put into the system or where you happen to be born. It is not looking at whether people deserve to be helped. It is looking at whether people need to be helped.
A commentator on this passage from Matthew, writing from the Eco Chaplaincy of the Church of Scotland says: God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous”. [cf Mathew 5:45] . Our experience is that this really is truth.
Justice should not be restricted, in our understanding, to human cultures, or to such abstract transactions as are unaffected by climate, and by natural conditions. It’s a hot day, but there’s work to be done, and people to be paid. And the conclusion of the story leaves no one in need, though some angry and perhaps ‘envious’. Dented pride is an acceptable cost for the wellbeing of neighbours.
One of the most distinctive, if challenging aspects of Christian participation in environmental campaigns and actions is the priority of grace – of ‘undeserved’ ‘favour’. The evening-out and levelling-up that is a sign of God’s involvement. All life is sustained by God – and indeed, depends on mutual involvement. We shouldn’t be oblivious to the fact that this is a story of farming – of activity which nourishes and sustains beyond the lives of those directly involved.
And is the landowner God? Not easy to be definite either way.
It shouldn’t be necessary, though maybe it is, to question the difference – as well as the common ground in perceptions of ‘fairness’ and of ‘justice’. God’s justice is the acknowledgment of need, rather than the wanton disregard of handicap or the reinforcement of privilege, entitlement. The pay promised is “whatever is right”.
Yes, it’s a story Jesus told, so characters say what the storyteller wants them to say, but perhaps the most telling phrase is “you have made them equal to us”.
And therein lies the problem. In God’s eyes, all are equal. In the secular world, this is not the view. And we don’t like being told that the beggar on the street, the refugee risking their life in a small boat, the worker in a sweatshop in India – or in a backstreet in France – is equal to us. Because then that opens our eyes to the fact that they are equally deserving of what we have – and that they don’t have it. And we should be doing something about that fact, whatever the cost might be to ourselves.
So what can we do? I’m not going to tell you that you should be doing this…or that… Each one of us – me included – needs to take time to think through our own situation, our own priorities, what we feel God is calling us to do, but here are some possibilities…
Of course, the first is donate, be that giving of money, of time, of food to a food bank…As a church we help support Restos du Coeur from time to time, with food collections, but do each of us do anything more? Perhaps we should revive our food bank box here at church, where we can put offerings of food. Is that something God is asking you to be involved in?
We can get involved in action groups, such as Greenpeace, or Just Stop Oil – either supporting them with money or joining campaigns that speak to us. Lobbying of MPs, of law makers, of governments, through letter writing, or tweeting can also be effective.
You may want to have a closer look at your own food consumption and food waste situation. I was brought up short when I saw statistics as to the amount of emissions, land use and water use that are attributed to producing a litre of dairy milk, when compared to producing a litre of oat milk. What we are consuming, and how we are consuming it, actually has a huge impact on climate change.
But there is also the ethical side to our consumption – both on the side of animal husbandry, but also the question of how the developed world’s hunger for, say, cheap soya products means that farmers are forced to produce a cash crop without being able to afford to grow food for their families? Are producers given a fair price for their products? Can we lessen that impact by always buying fair trade products, or “Label Rouge” meat even if they are a little more expensive?
With the cost of living crisis we all want to be able to buy things as cheaply as we can – but we must also think about whether cheap for us is expensive for others, and for the planet? Do we buy clothing that is lower priced while closing our eyes to the slave labour that made it cheap? Do we purchase another pair of jeans, that we don’t really need, ignoring the cost in water consumption (3,781litres of water per pair of jeans), the chemicals used in the growing and dyeing process that leach into the ground, and the sweatshops that produced them? Do we buy the cheapest eggs without thinking about the inhumane conditions that the hens are kept in?
However your conversation with God turns out, whatever you believe God is asking you to do (and believe me, he’ll be asking you to do something!) we must all be prepared to work to bring equality and justice to this world. The more hunger and oppression and inequality that there is, the more climate change and conflict will ramp up.
In God’s eyes, we are all equal; no one is more entitled to anything than anyone else.
He has given us enough to live on, if only our greed and sense of privilege and entitlement does not get in the way.
Let me finish with the words of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams: The environmental crisis overshadows every other issue :The story here is of an insanely unbalanced account of human entitlement and human capacity that has consistently, in the last three centuries, ignored any sense of the interdependence of human life and the life of the organic order as a whole: the life that matters has been, explicitly or implicitly, defined as human life – and human life lived in a specific mode, that of expanding consumption,”
FINAL PRAYER: God of compassion and concern – we pray today that where we have let attachment to our own understandings of justice deter us from taking the discomforting paths needed for the well being of our planet and the flourishing of all its inhabitants you would forgive us and free us to move forward & to grow in the courage, love and generosity which are the hallmarks of your kingdom. Speak to us, stir us, disturb us so that we might understand how you call us to work for justice and equality for all your children.
Ever since watching Inspector Montalbano on TV, a detective series set in Sicily, we have wondered what canoli are. Or what they taste like. Certainly they are something that the good inspector loves
The man himself tucks into a canoli
On t’internet I read the name comes from the Vulgar Latin of the shrub cannoli ” cane ” , with hollow cylindrical drum , which was used in ancient times for various uses , even to contain food ingredients. The cannoli , consisting of a fried crust must be crispy and then the cream cheese should be added at the end. The best pastries fill the cannoli at the time of sale .
When we found a Sicilian shop in Stresa advertising Canoli we decided we must try them. Obviously a good shop, as our canoli were filled at the time of sale with a mix of ricotta being squeezed into it, and a piece of candied orange placed carefully at each end
We only chose a small one (as we’d eaten well at lunchtime & Mr FD wanted a gelato as well!) but it was good to try. I found the filling a little grainy, but I guess ricotta is a bit like that.
They have been a challenge on the Great British Bake Off, with contestants making them with chocolate, with baklava-style filling, lemon cheesecake filling, and espresso Martini filling. I really don’t think Inspector Montalbano would approve!
Should you wish to make these yourself, here’s a link to a recipe
SUNDAY: We got up a little later than usual after our late night, but not too late. Mr FD had read about some cascades in a village not too far away so we thought we’d walk there. Unfortunately we didn’t have a map, and Google maps wasn’t very helpful. We fought our way through undergrowth and down abandoned terraces and finally found the cascades – but couldn’t get a good view. Making our way downwards to the road, we could hear voices and splashes, but Mr FD was downhearted and refused to acknowledge that the right path might be further down the road. So (easier to acquiesce than argue the point…and it was nearly lunchtime!) we made our way back to the car.
Happily we saw a small sign pointing to a restaurant, so we thought we’d try it for lunch. Another serendipitous find: more delicious food!! I had smoked trout to start, then ravioli stuffed with ricotta and a butter and herb sauce. Nom nom.
Mr FD deep in thought
After lunch we drove to the top of Mottarone, a local mountain between Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. We’d been last time, but it hadn’t been so clear. The views were wonderful – despite there being a lot of people around.
WesternEurope’s second highest mountain: Monte Rosa
Lake Maggiore
Then it was back to the B&B for the now habitual zizz, before heading down to the town of Orta St G. This time we parked up at the top of the road and took time to walk around the peninsula to the town centre. The sun was just starting to go down, and so everything had that peaceful feeling about it. The walk was about 1.5 km and when we arrived in the town centre, down by the quay for the lake, the sky was turning beautiful colours.
As we’d eaten so well at lunch time, we chose a panini in a restaurant, and sat watching the colours fade into dusky grey
After another gelato (same flavours!) we walked around the other side of the peninsular and back to the car. About 4 kilometres in all.
MONDAY: We decided to visit the islands on Lake Maggiore – there are several small islands, some with villas and gardens, some with small hamlets or single houses on. It is possible to hire a private boat, but much cheaper to take one of the frequent municipal ferries that go from island to island.
The first island we landed on was Isola Bella. The most well known and visited, this island is mostly made up of one villa and its gardens.
Because of being well known there were a lot of visitors! While the villa was impressive, I’m not very taken with visiting grand houses, so we didn’t spend too much time in the house.
The gardens were attractive, but they were too formal and too crowded for me to really like them. I much preferred those at Villa Taranto.
After this, we caught the ferry to the Isla Pescatori – the fisherman’s island. There is a hamlet of what were houses for those who fished on the lake. Now it was mostly restaurants and gift shops!
This was a small museum, in a preserved house – there were exhibits showing the different ways people fished and also how they lived in the past.
We had a “fisherman’s salad” for lunch – smoked trout and salad, which was very nice, and had a short stroll around the island. We took the ferry to the next island, Isola Madre, but didn’t stay long…I hadn’t put enough money in the parking meter back at Stresa to allow us very long!
Looking online, I think the gardens here might have been more to our taste – although they are of a similar style to Isola Bella, they are more extensive. Never mind. We can visit another time!
Back to the B&B for (yes, you’ve guessed it!) a zizz, and then we walked the 300metres or so up to the restaurant in Miasimo again. Here we ate something different, I chose guinea fowl served with peaches – which sounds weird but was actually very pleasant. When it came to dessert, I didn’t fancy any of the desserts, but the server suggested fresh red fruits and ice cream – which was perfectly just what I wanted without me knowing it was what I wanted!!
TUESDAY: With Mr FD, once we are going home, that’s it, there’s no hanging round, so up early, quick breakfast and on the road! Pause for a sandwich (much warmer, so I was happy to eat outside the car this time!!) and then home by 4.00.
SATURDAY: This was the day we’d come for – the festival, where Big Big Train were playing!! We were very excited. So much so, we decided to set off for the village where it was all happening immediately. We should have possibly thought more carefully, as when we arrived, there wasn’t much happening (although there was a flurry of excitement as we passed Alberto, the lead singer, walking to the village, engrossed on his phone!) We had a walk around the village (10 minutes at most) but didn’t see Alberto again, and we hung around for a bit, but still nothing happened.
We then drove to Lake Maggiore to have a walk, but didn’t really find anywhere appropriate. And it was Hot! So we then rather aimlessly drove round to find a restaurant…by chance, we passed through the Festival village and noticed there was a restaurant there. Expecting a village trattoria, we were surprised to find it was quite “gastronomic”! We had something very delicious – I think it was Iberian pork, beautifully cooked.
With a delicious biscuitty-fruity-creamy dessert we felt ready for a siesta…so we parked the car up in the shade and had a snooze!
I’d arranged to meet up with Greg, the bassist & founder of the band and his wife, so were able to chat with them, at about 5.00 and give them the card and a gift of some local beer for the band. That was good. Then we just sat and drank in the festival “atmosphere”.
Setting up the stage
The first band started at 6.30 – Dim Grey. I like their music, and their keyboard player is also in BBT. After them came two bands I didn’t enjoy, rather more metal than prog. We shall pass over them very quickly!
The main event, starting at 10.30, was Big Big Train. It was fabulous! We really enjoyed ourselves, listening to both old songs and new. There were a couple of points where I was in tears, as they sang one of my very favourite BBT songs, Telling the Bees,as a tribute to David, their lead singer who died 2 or 3 years ago, and when there was a song that I associate so much with David’s voice that Alberto just didn’t “fit”. But all in all, it was great!
The show finished at 12.30, and we were back at the B&B by 1.00 am. Despite the hanging around we’d done, it had been a good day!
We’ve been away for a couple of weeks – first in Italy, then back home for two days (for one of which I was at a work seminar), then off to the UK for a week. It was good, and we had a lovely time in both places, but now we’re home…until I go off to Weisbaden mid-October for Convention!
Italy was lovely. We were there five years ago, as a recovery holiday after my cancer treatment. We went to the same B&B, practically at exactly the same time! We did some of the same things, but we also did some different things. Should you want to read about that holiday, here’s a link to the first post – from which you can follow the rest of the posts. Some of the photos may be missing, as I’ve deleted them from the blog to make room for more recent ones.
I won’t tell you about every day in great detail this time, but just the highlights.
WEDNESDAY: Travelling. As the Mont Blanc & Fréjus tunnels were closed we went over the Col de Petit St Bernard. The views were spectacular! We paused at the top for a sandwich, but the wind was really cold. Mr FD won’t let people eat in the car (don’t tell him about when I’m working in Roanne!!) so I shovelled my sandwich down extra quickly as I only had a T-shirt on.
When we arrived in Miasimo, we rested for a bit, then went to Orta St Giulio for a pizza and gelato. Mr FD had the lemon-and-basil that he has been dreaming about since last time we were here. I had banana, coconut milk and lime – which was delicious!!
Mr FD is holding my gelato too!
THURSDAY: We revisited the gardens at Villa Taranto. We loved them last time, and we loved them again. They are so beautiful! Also, there were not a huge number of people, or so it seemed, meaning that it was possible to enjoy the flowers and the views and the peace, without being annoyed by other people! We spent all morning there, then had a salad in the café.
In the afternoon we went to visit another smaller garden, above Lake Maggiore, this time of alpine plants. It wasn’t as beautiful, or as extensive as those at Villa Taranto, but it was still pleasant to wander around, and contemplate the views. After this we went into Stresa, the main town, and had another gelato. I chose melon – it was okay, but nowhere near as delicious as last night’s! After a snooze back at the B&B, we went to the local restaurant for dinner – we both had lamb chops, which were very nice.
FRIDAY: We went for quite a long walk – 6.5 km, which (in general!) was very enjoyable. It wasn’t too difficult, but it was challenging enough for my knees. After a shower back at the B&B we had a huge sandwich and a beer in a café nearby.
Mr FD and a Roman bridge
Then we had a boat trip around Lake Orta – it was really only on the municipal ferry, that plies its trade between a couple of towns on one side of the lake to Orta St G on the other side, but it was still really nice to be on the lake, with a breeze. While it wasn’t too hot, it certainly wasn’t cool either!
We had dinner in a restaurant in Orta St G – I chose fresh pasta with a wild boar ragu. Very nice.
I’ve spoken before about my love of the music of the group Big Big Train. It is this group we are going to see at the Festival in Italy, and at Cadogan Hall in London. I don’t know what it is I love: I have always liked “prog rock” (Genesis, Pink Floyd…) and BBT are definitely in the prog rock stable of music. But it’s also the subjects of the songs – people,(such as the Winchester Diver, who I’ve written about before) events in history (such as the laying of the first transatlantic cable), places in England and beyond (such as “Winchester from St Giles’ Hill” or “Upton Heath“)
The band have been through changes, not least the death of their lead singer, David Longden, two years ago. But they have come through, and are as strong as ever with some excellent musicians, and a new singer from Italy, called Alberto Brevin. The use of brass gives a unique sound to their music, but they use violin, and David played flute on many tracks too, as well as the more common rock instruments.
One of the songs that is truly well beloved by fans, and which is a quintessential BBT track is “East Coast Racer” which tells the story of “Mallard”, the high speed steam train, which broke the record for speed.
On July 3, 1938, under cover of testing a new quick-acting brake, Sir Nigel Gresley and his team of designers, engineers, and railway workers pushed their brand new A4-class steam locomotive, the Mallard, to a world steam speed record of 126 miles per hour. It was a remarkable achievement in an era when steam still ruled the British rails. The record still stands. East Coast Racer is a tribute to that event and the people behind it.
Gregory Spawton, who wrote the track writes:
The story of Mallard has been described by Andrew Martin as being like Chariots of Fire with steam engines and it became, for me, an irresistible theme for a song. However, it wasn’t so much Mallard but the people who designed, made, fired and drove her that interested me. And it is their tale we tell over the 15 minutes or so of East Coast Racer.
It is a story with a wonderful list of main characters; designer Sir Nigel Gresley, his assistant Oliver Bulleid, fireman Tommy Bray and driver Joe Duddington. Alongside those with starring roles was a community of engineers and railwaymen who all played a part in the making of a legend.
But, in the end, we come back to Mallard.
So when I was designing the card for BBT to give to them at the concert in London, I decided on East Coast Racer, and I drew this:
The words are taken from the song, and I hope give the idea of the steam streaming from Mallard’s funnel. I was inspired by a lino print of the train that I saw on t’internet, but I used a photo of the locomotive to get the lines of the engine. I am reasonably pleased with it.
Here’s the band playing the song, with David Longden singing.
View from the Teapot 