It's exactly eleven years since my cancer diagnosis.  Some - I sense possibly a minority of - people are able to put it behind them, forget.  Most that I have met do not, or cannot.  The intensity lessens but the memory remains and is, for me anyway, important.  It reminds me what a wonderful gift life is, how amazing the NHS is, and how blessed I am. 

Today I had brunch out. Today I went to a Pilates class.  Small pleasures.  Great sources of joy and pleasure.

Annual nag - get the screening, do the checks, report the concerns... life is a gift, so let's all cherish it! 

This morning, we began to think about the upcoming CoP26 Climate Conference taking place in Glasgow in November.

We made origami prayer boats (watch our instruction video here) and wrote prayers on prayer postcards - as shown above.

We are hoping to gather a flotilla of origami boats to send to the fleet that will be displayed at the CoP, and to send boats or postcards to MPs/MSPs etc.

So proud of our young adults taking a lead and inspiring us to get active.

Just because it's summer and flowers are beautiful.

It's once again been a very long time since I posted anything.

Having successfully completed module one of my course in Pastoral Supervision, I have moved on to the second module - which is definitely a step up in terms of complexity and challenge.  More than anything else, there is a whole vocabulary to grapple with, and words have contextual meanings that may not quite match their usage in the everyday - so my interest in semantics is once more stirred.

I have huge piles of articles to read from fields of psychology, counseling and coaching, as well as assignments to submit on such topics as 'unconscious processes' and 'somatic resonances' ... a whole new vocabulary, and the whole thing of meaning being worked out in context (which is a part of what semantics is about).

It's fun, and it's stretching - I hope in the longer term it will also be valuable and helpful 

On Sunday our summer series moves on from 'The Jesus of History' (which focused on the Quest for the Historical Jesus) to 'Jesus of Hollywood' and portrayals in films of many genres.  Next week it'll be 'Jesus in the Visual Arts'.

The still above comes from a South African film we'll be visiting this Sunday.  I love how Mary's nimbus (halo) is formed from an electric  fan.  It's always the little details that are so very striking.

I wonder what others might notice on Sunday... will have to wait and see!