This new venture sounds really exciting and full of potential.  Good to have been part of that story, albiet in a way that is now quite a distance in their past.  Wishing every blessing on this new project as a new season brings new growth, and in time another harvest to re-invest.

Today is going to be busy - and hopefully good fun.

Off in the next hour or so to church to lead worship on the theme of Ascension, with a side track via a quiz, some English literature and a couple of theologians.  Then over to the south-side for Sunday lunch.  Then back over the watter to an inter-church BBQ followed by a short, informal, communion service.  Then collect a house guest and bring her home - hope she can cope with the slightly chaotic state of my appalling house-keeping skills.

All good, all about communing and worshipping and relating and sharing and learng and growing...

But I will be glad of my lie-in tomorrow morning!

It's been a while... not done any baking since before Christmas, so it was fun to get up early this morning to start on a bit of a baking frenzy... two separate lots to do and lunch out in Falkirk to fit in as well.

So these are part of the first batch - little gifts for the friends with whom I am having lunch.  It's a long time since I've seen many of them so I'm looking forward to a good blether and lots of laughter.

Then, in a moment of rashness a few wekes ago, I offered to bake for the inter-church BBQ taking place tomorrow, and need to knock off a couple of batches for that - it won't take long and I can decorate them this evening or tomorrow morning so the pressure is not too great.

Above all it's fun - most people like cake, and it's lovely to do something that brings happiness to others.

Lots of tributes to Maya Angelou, and lots of quotes from her.

I liked this one, which I think echoes, or more properly parallels, since she was way before me in the journey of life, much of my own learning in life.  In any case, I have always believed that our discoveries are our own, even if zillions of other people have already amde them before us...

Yesterday evening I set off for my seven mile training yomp, going round the loop clockwise for a change.  I opted for a fleece rather than a waterproof as the cloud was light and the outlook not too bad. 

By a mile in it was drizzly and mizzly but hey ho, there were lots of runners, dog-walkers, a few other yompers in hiking boots, and plenty of evening strollers. 

Reaching the Botanic Gardens it was steady drizzle, never enough to permeate my fleece, but enough that umbrellas were up, wipers on, and most people head down.  I could, I thought curtail my walk, take the two mile route back home and still have four miles or so under my belt.  But I pressed on, turning left along great Western Road.

Tourists and students scuttled along to reach their destinations and then the sight that made me smile - a family group, anoraks zipped up to the chin, stocially sat at a table outside a pub sipping their drinks with that indomitable spirit that says "we are Brits, we are at leisure, we are having fun!"  Well, Glaswegians asserting that it is meant to be almost summer, anyway.

Up to the motorway, round the corner, down Woodlands Road and into Kelvingrove Park.  Some lads playing five-a-side football in the rain, a group of "britmilfit.com" people running up and down the paths and round and round the fountain, a smiling dog-walker, a courting couple.  The play areas deserted (probably by now past bedtime for the children) but cyclists zooming along.

Over the road, past the former transport museum, along the side of the expressway and back up into Dumbarton Rd - still warm and dry inside my fleece, even if soggy of hair, as the drizzle drizzled on.

Home again, with a sense of satisfaction, and the pleasure of having seen so many other people out in the dull, wet evening, living life, having fun... as the old saying goes 'that's the spirit!'

Not a spiritual post, but one emerging from a wet walk that reminded me of what it means to be fully alive.