So, this morning I was a good girl - I undertook my first piece of reflective journalling for my Practice Mentor Course.  I logged into Blackboard, typed it all up, opted to spell check before saving and... crash!  All was lost.  An hour's work not down the drain, because the thinking was useful, but lost so far as UWS was concerned.  So, as today is not my Sabbath, I bought a sandwich from the shop round the corner (without getting zapped!) and returned to my computer to try again.  This time I wrote it in Word, saved it, checked it, re-saved it and then imported it to Blackboard... it seems to have worked.

Shame about the word count, but could not have done it in many less words...

Useful exercise in something or other... not so much in how to do theological reflection as in how to avoid exploding when the technology mis-behaves.  It was so much easier writing them with a pen once a week for three years for NAM, even if the postage costs were enormous...

We were advised that this exercise takes about 30 minutes - and I'd concur as a minimum (usually takes me nearer an hour) - thanks to technology it's taken me nearer 240...  Ah well.

The move has gone well.  All my furniture fits into the new flat, all the boxes have been opened and the vast majority emptied and sorted.  It appears a couple of pictures have gone astray, so I will have to get onto the original movers to see if they have a 'lost property' stash into which they may have been put as long ago as last autumn.  If they are lost for good I will be disappointed, but it's hardly the end of the world is it?

Anyway, I have rediscovered muscles I had forgotten I had (which now ache) and have a brain like so much cotton wool after a few days of physical hard labour.  This is when I realise that I am 47 not 27!

Still, I am loving my new home, and have all but one room pretty much sorted out now.  I also have no less than 6 boxes of stuff for the church spring fair as I have unpacked boxes and wondered just why I still had some assorted clutter I did.  And, shock horror, there are even a fair few books amongst what is going... maybe I am finally learning to hold my possessions a little more lightly?

Now I just need to finish preparations for tomorrow's service on the theme of 'time' as part of our stewardship... and then maybe fall asleep!

I am sure it must be, because the email I received from our wonderful choirmaster has been carefully crafted to resemble the classic 'notice sheet blooper'...

10am tomorrow
Now is the healing time decreed

Psalm 90 Restless is the heart

Something for Jesus
All on sheets that I will bring

Thank you P, that made for a great giggle at the start of Sunday!

Next week I move to my gorgeous new manse - and go up in the world to the third floor where, from my kitchen window, I will be able to see for miles south-ish over the Clyde.  As my Dad used to say, on a clear day you can see Big Ben... if you have a photograph in your hand.  And for those who think that's the closest to heaven I'll get... bless you!

Once more I've been sorting, packing (how did I gain so much more stuff in 5 months?!) and labelling boxes.  This afternoon the colour coding will get done in the hope the removers can get the right box to the right room...  Time will tell.

Between being at college on Monday and moving over Tuesday and Wednesday I won't be around much next week (and have already written my sermon for the following Sunday!) and this bit of blogland will be quieter.

So, if you want a few little gems to read over the next week then how about this from the Beaker Folk?  In amongst all the clever satirical posts, here is one that is pure theology at its best.  It certainly made me pause as I gleefully anticipate my new home, lending an appropriate perspective to it all.

Or, if you want to see a new take on an old idea (I heard something similar more than 20 years ago...) this from ASBO Jesus reminds us that the majority of "youf of today" are as decent as they were when we were the subject of similar comments back in the 1970s/1980s (or whenever it was for you!).

And for anyone who likes random bits of proof of how small the world is... some of my folk know 'Scottish Rhiannon' alluded to in my previous post here and the sister of one of my C of S colleagues played the part of the registrar who married Bradley and Stacey in this week's East Enders... whether she has to make a return visit to record Bradley's death who knows?!  This was the first time in more than a decade I deliberately watched episode of East Enders - and saw two episodes in one week.  That should do me for another decade I think!

Back soon, but really must go and sort out 5 month's worth of cardboard to take to the recycling centre.

I opened an email from an Anglican friend wishing me a 'happy Ash Wednesday' which seemed an odd kind of greeting, if a pleasant one.

Yesterday was spent with some C of S colleagues in Dunblane being quiet on a retreat day.  It was a good day, with plenty to ponder and enough space to draw breath before heading into Lent proper.  There was a vague Ash Wednesday theme going on, but it was more the idea of "greening", the new life that comes with spring as the days lengthen (the word Lent has its origins in Lenct which means lengthen).  The day ended with an ashing ritual, which was quite meaningful, but, not being Anglicans or Catholics, we all carefully wiped off the ashes before setting off for the train back to Glasgow. I'm not a massive fan of 'ashing' and always find the traditional words 'from dust you came and to dust you will return' rather discomfiting - even if they are valid.

And so to my daily readings from Genesis, which focused on the Genesis 2 creation story in which God first fashions Adam from dust, then the animals (cf chapter 1!) before making Eve from Adam's rib.  Although the theme of the notes was about morality, it was the making from dust that resonated in my mind.  The very 'earthiness' of our physical origins and the very 'Godly' breath of life are intimately linked.  It seemed to give me a more upbeat 'Happy Ash Wednesday' sense after all.

Just as a total side, yesterday was a glorious sunny day, despite a heavy frost.  The room in which we met overlooked Dunblane Cathedral and as the morning passed the frost melted to reveal green grass - except in the shadow of the church.  I couldn't help wondering if maybe this was a symbol of the institution standing in the way of the greening!!