The ongoing February, which feels as if it is the longest month of the past 12, is sapping my writing energy. Hopefully the oncoming spring will sort that out: today I saw my first queen bumblebee of the year flying purposefully around the neighbourhood looking for a spot to start her nest. This post is something of an appendix to the previous, with a few more photos. I’ve been repeating previous walks, but this time with the good camera.
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Keyword noise: photography, Cymru, Wales, Casnewydd, Newport, rheilffordd, railway, Bassaleg, rural, countryside, river, afon, church, eglwys, Brecon & Merthyr Railway.
Or, another post on death, discussed somewhat bluntly
Published at 8:14 pm on November 10th, 2020
Filed under: Dear Diary, The Family.
I’ve written a few things so far about my father’s death, just over a year ago now. Some were recollections written recently; the post about his death itself was written down not long after it happened. I’m glad I wrote it when I did, because, in trying to write this post, on how it felt to “host” a funeral, to be one of the more prominent mourners at it, there is an awful lot that I realise now I don’t remember.
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Keyword noise: death, funerals, The Children, The Mother, The Father, undertakers, religion, belief, church.
Another camera-equipped wander around the city
Published at 11:29 am on April 17th, 2009
Filed under: Photobloggery, Trains.
More weekend jaunts around Bristol.
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Keyword noise: alley, Bedminster, bridges, bridge rail, Bristol, broad gauge, church, footbridge, Hotwells, photography, rail, railway, Southville, swing bridge, Vauxhall Bridge, Wapping Road.
In which we visit Cornwall
Published at 6:43 pm on June 19th, 2007
Filed under: Photobloggery.
This June was originally going to be Photo Month on this site, given the oodles of photos I took on holiday. Unfortunately, I took so many photos on holiday,* I still haven’t managed to sort through them all yet.
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Keyword noise: arch, archaeology, beach, castles, church, Cornwall, cove, fogou, medieval, photography, ruin, sea, shore, souterrain, Tintagel, tunnel.
In which major international issues do not disturb the local parish
Published at 1:37 pm on February 14th, 2007
Filed under: The Family, Unbelievable.
Given that today, in the news, there’s rather a lot about the slowly-growing and now likely forthcoming schism in the Anglican church, I thought I’d ask the average churchgoer in the street about it. Well, the average churchgoer who is also my mother, at any rate. She’s a fairly average “active” Anglican, though. She’s white, lower-middle-class, female, edging towards elderly, lives in a commuter village, and goes to church every week. She’s a Sunday School teacher, has organised the parish’s Christian Aid collections, sings in an ecumenical Christian parish singing group,* and generally is far more active and puts more effort into religion than most churchgoers, never mind the huge percentage of Anglicans who tick the relevant box on the census but never cross the threshold of a church for anything other than weddings and funerals.
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Keyword noise: Anglicanism, Christianity, church, conservatism, gay rights, homophobia, parish church, Peter Akinola, religion, Rowan Williams, schism, The Mother.
As a prelude to next week’s run of posts about my trip to W and P’s wedding at the weekend: here’s some photos of picturesque Barking.
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Keyword noise: abbey, Barking, Barking Abbey, cemetery, church, East London, London, photography, river, River Roding, ruin.
In which Jesus has gone missing from our lives!
Published at 9:08 pm on December 22nd, 2005
Filed under: Dear Diary, The Family.
My mother is rushing around tonight in a bit of a panic. Being a regular churchgoer, and church organiser, Christmas is obviously a busy time of year for her. Tonight, though, the mother and all the other church organisers are all rushing round in a panic, searching all the cupboards at the church, searching each other’s houses and attics, searching and searching and saying to each other: “well, where did you last see them?”
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Keyword noise: Yuletide, Christmas, church, nativity, nativity scene, The Mother.