tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058251619545457102024-03-05T11:45:41.725+00:00Perpetually In TransitReflections from a roving retirementPerpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.comBlogger304125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-3689653009613613662018-04-29T00:21:00.000+01:002018-04-29T15:01:12.331+01:00A golden anniversary<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Five
years ago today I wrote a post </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/there-are-some-days-you-cant-forget_29.html">to mark our forty-fifth wedding anniversary</a> </b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and Grandson#2’s eleventh birthday. In the
years since then, we have sold our home of over forty years and moved down into
the valley, where we are now very happily settled. Today Grandson#2 reaches the
advanced age of sixteen, whilst DH and I pinch ourselves to be sure we aren’t
dreaming that fifty years really have passed since that wet April Monday in
Oxford when the two of us were married.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As
soon as I sat down to try to to think of words to sum up those fifty years, I
was swamped by so many memories, happy, sad, funny, serious, mundane or truly extraordinary,
that I despaired of distilling them into anything shorter than a sizeable book.
Instead I turned, as I do increasingly as the years pass, to images, to the
photographs which have chronicled the fifty years of our life together, as our
children were born, grew up and went out into the world and in their turn found
partners and settled down to produce a new generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By
and large these years have been good ones, for which we are both very grateful.
There have been difficulties and sorrows, but they have been balanced by joys
and the satisfaction of work and other interests and now by the contentment of our life together in our seventies. My hope is that these snapshots
will give you a at least a flavour of what those fifty years have meant to us
both.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ofujb0xFSHY/WuWmy7WxszI/AAAAAAAAD7Q/QMwbLt8NjvcbUVurD5znQ_mJ_mv5QVOVgCLcBGAs/s1600/JK%2Bwedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="952" height="332" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ofujb0xFSHY/WuWmy7WxszI/AAAAAAAAD7Q/QMwbLt8NjvcbUVurD5znQ_mJ_mv5QVOVgCLcBGAs/s640/JK%2Bwedding.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Fifty years ago today</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dnmK81HICjU/WuTWxPYOUOI/AAAAAAAAD6k/8Eb3G0Ag5UgDleJQXhFgAW1WcVQnpdMVwCLcBGAs/s1600/a524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="438" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dnmK81HICjU/WuTWxPYOUOI/AAAAAAAAD6k/8Eb3G0Ag5UgDleJQXhFgAW1WcVQnpdMVwCLcBGAs/s640/a524.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Young and usually scruffy...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mIthvCDJbig/WuTMACp5QgI/AAAAAAAAD58/CDHMOOhxZXkrddk8AKH6g4Xb9U5dpkflwCEwYBhgL/s1600/a398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="575" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mIthvCDJbig/WuTMACp5QgI/AAAAAAAAD58/CDHMOOhxZXkrddk8AKH6g4Xb9U5dpkflwCEwYBhgL/s640/a398.jpg" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">..though we scrubbed up quite well</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uxKLrsCgJ10/WuTMB-AvVrI/AAAAAAAAD58/VGQyXVFCMeIGe4w_dHOSztSgx9qFPGxQQCEwYBhgL/s1600/a776.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="341" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uxKLrsCgJ10/WuTMB-AvVrI/AAAAAAAAD58/VGQyXVFCMeIGe4w_dHOSztSgx9qFPGxQQCEwYBhgL/s640/a776.jpg" width="616" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">DS and his very young and inexperienced parents</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dKQc8R0Yy_k/WuTMBtJIloI/AAAAAAAAD6I/UBcnw4Mh22IIquXIoccMu9sFQRBFIisGwCEwYBhgL/s1600/a62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="551" height="475" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dKQc8R0Yy_k/WuTMBtJIloI/AAAAAAAAD6I/UBcnw4Mh22IIquXIoccMu9sFQRBFIisGwCEwYBhgL/s640/a62.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">At the chilly Northumbrian coast with DD and DS</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCniCCQX9So/WuTMBkOgYOI/AAAAAAAAD54/BZckMtMbc8cBqSG9iQfm6AruXA4ZsHlkwCEwYBhgL/s1600/a775.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="454" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCniCCQX9So/WuTMBkOgYOI/AAAAAAAAD54/BZckMtMbc8cBqSG9iQfm6AruXA4ZsHlkwCEwYBhgL/s640/a775.jpg" width="619" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Up in the Welsh hills and still scruffy...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm8ouQo7znk/WuTL_LhbiaI/AAAAAAAAD5w/z3WawJBvxsogwuEmKhw2wB1gDCiJt1tDgCEwYBhgL/s1600/a292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="812" height="416" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm8ouQo7znk/WuTL_LhbiaI/AAAAAAAAD5w/z3WawJBvxsogwuEmKhw2wB1gDCiJt1tDgCEwYBhgL/s640/a292.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">All grown and spruced up </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="919" height="472" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SrN3LbIDx4s/WuTL83mjcUI/AAAAAAAAD6I/LrYUZYfNUsY-bdt2TEUyqrVZhd7gGORLwCEwYBhgL/s640/a266.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">DS's graduation</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuZ1_380_s/WuTkCpD782I/AAAAAAAAD7A/hqOIj4SdHpcppZmS6QedFfp6NiKM1sdwgCLcBGAs/s1600/a96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="759" height="460" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuZ1_380_s/WuTkCpD782I/AAAAAAAAD7A/hqOIj4SdHpcppZmS6QedFfp6NiKM1sdwgCLcBGAs/s640/a96.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Grandmother and grandson</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSvHOX5XNdE/WuTMAXC_HMI/AAAAAAAAD6A/UgEMhkP7v54gY7HeFucoPGuesc02tgfBwCEwYBhgL/s1600/a485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="514" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSvHOX5XNdE/WuTMAXC_HMI/AAAAAAAAD6A/UgEMhkP7v54gY7HeFucoPGuesc02tgfBwCEwYBhgL/s640/a485.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Mother and daughter</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HbIg1q3j9fg/WuTMDZ97QQI/AAAAAAAAD6E/jBeb6oSu5SYtBw-P4ozQgi1QVJVTTs-jwCEwYBhgL/s1600/a874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1044" height="465" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HbIg1q3j9fg/WuTMDZ97QQI/AAAAAAAAD6E/jBeb6oSu5SYtBw-P4ozQgi1QVJVTTs-jwCEwYBhgL/s640/a874.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">A very happy family occasion</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cyPudJnLfew/WuTMDiGW4SI/AAAAAAAAD6I/DXs0iXso19MmXgjiWVATs_Xz11ol5LkwgCEwYBhgL/s1600/a986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="829" height="460" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cyPudJnLfew/WuTMDiGW4SI/AAAAAAAAD6I/DXs0iXso19MmXgjiWVATs_Xz11ol5LkwgCEwYBhgL/s640/a986.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Another special, happy day</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MrKjpqq2gxM/WuTR5E_eD0I/AAAAAAAAD6U/iZ4VAnEDY5kUPKZUbYbG6RWGBwUv4atXgCLcBGAs/s1600/a354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="875" height="436" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MrKjpqq2gxM/WuTR5E_eD0I/AAAAAAAAD6U/iZ4VAnEDY5kUPKZUbYbG6RWGBwUv4atXgCLcBGAs/s640/a354.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Grandson#1, who is now at university!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIuiudISyjvzaXknpvKaSqxHOZfSfX8BG_FlO8r7v7woNGYA4gVTr906aRV0u1-dIHj_a0JPxibySYuM7I9v5PA1qn7N_Jfsw-s_v3ch-cG-ikm0bxGmzmr2k2shNSfA9wpQs6kqdKkU/s1600/MumJames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="454" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIuiudISyjvzaXknpvKaSqxHOZfSfX8BG_FlO8r7v7woNGYA4gVTr906aRV0u1-dIHj_a0JPxibySYuM7I9v5PA1qn7N_Jfsw-s_v3ch-cG-ikm0bxGmzmr2k2shNSfA9wpQs6kqdKkU/s640/MumJames.jpg" width="588" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Grandson#2 (16 today) with his great-grandmother</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wgmr_A8Zqyc/WuTL7ZWNVlI/AAAAAAAAD6E/Hlji5yrQQ4cWleaEOFAYz5obJ68BSCm5wCEwYBhgL/s1600/Neil%252BRobbie0704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="461" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wgmr_A8Zqyc/WuTL7ZWNVlI/AAAAAAAAD6E/Hlji5yrQQ4cWleaEOFAYz5obJ68BSCm5wCEwYBhgL/s640/Neil%252BRobbie0704.jpg" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Grandson#3, who is now taller than us both.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oaDx9leneKU/WuTL_oDdVfI/AAAAAAAAD58/b50UrJV82johiX3KDvU511wcgS9rbaVggCEwYBhgL/s1600/WP_20150815_13_05_59_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1158" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oaDx9leneKU/WuTL_oDdVfI/AAAAAAAAD58/b50UrJV82johiX3KDvU511wcgS9rbaVggCEwYBhgL/s640/WP_20150815_13_05_59_Pro.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Our three beloved grandsons</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFWcD6xFmHA/WuTL7i5dr0I/AAAAAAAAD6E/STYb8g8x9Rghxc0JtY57qXzJJAGPb4FIgCEwYBhgL/s1600/K%2BOrdination%2B19880003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="604" height="428" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFWcD6xFmHA/WuTL7i5dr0I/AAAAAAAAD6E/STYb8g8x9Rghxc0JtY57qXzJJAGPb4FIgCEwYBhgL/s640/K%2BOrdination%2B19880003.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Ordination as deacon 30 years ago this year</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zOeYaTI7A2g/WuTL91moUQI/AAAAAAAAD50/AB7mtNfVhAo1Lp7_hSiA7q5v-bABhhu2gCEwYBhgL/s1600/a281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="738" height="505" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zOeYaTI7A2g/WuTL91moUQI/AAAAAAAAD50/AB7mtNfVhAo1Lp7_hSiA7q5v-bABhhu2gCEwYBhgL/s640/a281.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Nearly 9 years later, ordination as priest</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vFlwkdEXCZ4/WuTMBEdDQcI/AAAAAAAAD54/R7M7JEgiu94epA0xfp0PRqC8rjHNxSjvgCEwYBhgL/s1600/a608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="444" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vFlwkdEXCZ4/WuTMBEdDQcI/AAAAAAAAD54/R7M7JEgiu94epA0xfp0PRqC8rjHNxSjvgCEwYBhgL/s640/a608.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Three brothers</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Five sisters</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Fifty years on we're growing old disgracefully...</span></td></tr>
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-63576169919089162762018-04-01T00:27:00.000+01:002018-04-01T00:27:01.976+01:00Easter Dawn <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He blesses every love which weeps and grieves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And now he blesses hers who stood and wept<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And would not be consoled, or leave her love’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last touching place, but watched as low light crept<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or recognise the Gardener standing there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She hardly hears his gentle question ‘Why,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why are you weeping?’, or sees the play of light<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That brightens as she chokes out her reply<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">‘They took my love away, my day is night’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And then she hears her name, she hears Love say<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.</span><br />
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<i style="text-align: right;"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/">Malcolm Guite<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></a></b></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>A very blessed Easter to you all</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sonnet from: <b><a href="https://canterburypress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781848252745/sounding-the-seasons">Sounding the Seasons</a></b></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Music:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marienlieder - Opus. 22 (1859) - VI. Magdalena<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Image:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Master Henri, Noli Me Tangere from Livre d'Images de Madame Marie Belgian (Hainault),</span></span></i></div>
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-10180183049845835342018-03-30T00:03:00.000+01:002018-04-29T10:18:01.097+01:00Stabat Mater <br />
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stabat Mater dolorosa <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In sorrow a mother stood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the cross and wept <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While her son hung there.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I</span></span></i></span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">mage: Crucifixion, part of a series depicting the stations of the Cross. Chapel Nosso Senhor dos Passos, Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Oil on canvas, 19th century, unknown artist.</span></span></i></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Music: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stabat Mater (1736)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-46687278999158968642017-12-31T20:57:00.000+00:002017-12-31T20:57:08.392+00:00The new year begins <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just
grabbing a few moments peace and quiet, while DH takes the rest of the family into the
village to see the Christmas lights, to wish you all a very happy New Year. 2017
has been a difficult year for many, yet it is human nature to look forward at
the year’s turning and trust that next year things will be different and
better.</span></div>
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that spirit may I wish you and yours health, contentment and peace of body and
mind in 2018. </span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-32631096304556663182017-12-24T12:58:00.000+00:002017-12-24T14:48:32.921+00:00Nadolig Llawen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the first Christmas for 11 years that we will spend at home in Wales, so it seems appropriate to wish you all a very happy Christmas in Welsh. As it’s so long since I hosted the family for Christmas instead of being hosted by them, I’d forgotten how much work is involved. That must be why it’s taken me until the morning of Christmas Eve to gather my thoughts sufficiently to write my Christmas blog post. But now the house is quiet, with some visitors out, the younger generation busy with their own affairs, and DH en route, bring his mother to spend Christmas with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Searching for music was, as always, intensely pleasurable and also fraught with memories, conjured up by a few notes or bars of this carol or that. The carol I’ve chosen has been one of my favourites ever since I sang it as a first-year undergraduate in 1965, discovering the joys of choral singing as a member of the college chapel choir. The carol setting was still new and not yet well-known and I was young, which may be why it embedded itself in my heart and is still so powerfully evocative. The glorious rendering also dates from that era and it comes to you with my warmest wishes for a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Image: The Adoration of the Shepherds</span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> <i>by Matthias Stom (c. 1600 – 1652)</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Words: English traditional, circa 1420<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Music: John Joubert – Opus 14, 1954</span></span></i><br />
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-17813792718441328582017-12-03T16:02:00.000+00:002017-12-24T14:49:16.746+00:00Advent pause<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the sun gradually sinks towards setting on this Advent Sunday afternoon, I’m sitting in my cosy study in a completely silent house. DH is on one of his periodic visits to his mother and I am enjoying the peace after a busy and enjoyable morning at church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our bishop was with us for a special Advent Sunday service to mark the opening of communion to all baptised persons, whatever their age. All the congregations in our group had come together to celebrate the occasion and this being Wales, the singing at its peak threatened to raise the roof. After the service we gathered in the adjoining church hall for a bring and share lunch and a great deal of lively conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I drove home, I reflected on what we had just shared and it seemed to me to offer glimpses of hope and encouragement in what can so often seem to be our dark and divided world. The opening of communion to all is for me a symbol of the pulling down of barriers and healing of divisions. The sharing of food and fellowship was the perfect way to mark the church’s New Year and the beginning of the period of preparation for Christmas we call Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The hymns we sang were carefully chosen to reflect the twin themes of Advent. We began with “O come, o come, Emmanuel”, that great hymn of longing for the coming of the Messiah, and ended with Charles Wesley’s magnificent hymn looking forward to the return of Christ in glory. Plenty of musical and spiritual sustenance there to see me through all the busyness of the next three weeks until we again celebrate the wonder of the Nativity.</span><br />
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-78227999245997212412017-06-07T23:57:00.000+01:002017-06-08T19:37:56.202+01:00So many memories… <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XzUcXu1EAIA/WTh_wq7kqzI/AAAAAAAAD0U/fcOIWCJdr2ExlAnY-6wW3hvZ6B0lHKozQCLcB/s1600/S1010008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="693" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XzUcXu1EAIA/WTh_wq7kqzI/AAAAAAAAD0U/fcOIWCJdr2ExlAnY-6wW3hvZ6B0lHKozQCLcB/s320/S1010008.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yesterday,
almost exactly 44 years since we first saw it, our old house up in the hills
ceased to belong to us. New owners have moved in, with excited plans and hopes
for their life there, and DH and I have been left with our memories of the many
years it was our home.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember the day in 1973 when we went to view it for the first time and how we
seemed to be travelling through a green tunnel as we drove from the village up
the sunken road with its over-arching trees and high hedges, until we emerged
at the top to a glorious view over the hills of Mid-Wales. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XUBa_OFtkwQ/WTh8cNKH9zI/AAAAAAAADzc/Bm_0P44RpgcK3W0ChxaWJIqfHyYKbsqTwCEw/s1600/DSC08253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="697" height="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XUBa_OFtkwQ/WTh8cNKH9zI/AAAAAAAADzc/Bm_0P44RpgcK3W0ChxaWJIqfHyYKbsqTwCEw/s400/DSC08253.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I remember how we turned
off the road and went down a rutted lane until we saw the sagging roof of the
decrepit old farmhouse, which was all we could afford, and fell in love with it
there and then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBg3XLFPV64Z5TFHq29z22O4wKfazV0GsBZjUJOTCjM-NGoeuiss4RIDxNuR7QSoYKWWta7YGeU6kW_IHFrLFInRMo1pBKdeA9NqQXu749-ukizMXI9qMKRjoGLpoaYo0eekJcKUidVA/s1600/Oerle+1973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="694" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBg3XLFPV64Z5TFHq29z22O4wKfazV0GsBZjUJOTCjM-NGoeuiss4RIDxNuR7QSoYKWWta7YGeU6kW_IHFrLFInRMo1pBKdeA9NqQXu749-ukizMXI9qMKRjoGLpoaYo0eekJcKUidVA/s400/Oerle+1973.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember years of scrimping and saving until we had enough money to do the
necessary renovations and how we still managed to have a very happy life with
our two young children in its shabby rooms and lovely surroundings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P62GWpz1dL8/WTh8dWDkuhI/AAAAAAAADz0/vY-nyEVrR3YsbcKatmZ-Xb-Bot5Ya6cgACEw/s1600/a775.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="454" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P62GWpz1dL8/WTh8dWDkuhI/AAAAAAAADz0/vY-nyEVrR3YsbcKatmZ-Xb-Bot5Ya6cgACEw/s400/a775.jpg" width="387" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I remember
them playing outside in the summer and sledging down the big field in the snowy
winters we had in the 70s and early 80s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttFtUCE8x3o/WTh8ckcmhKI/AAAAAAAADz0/KqMNt8f_MuEJuneb12wPEYxmDrehH981wCEw/s1600/a146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="788" height="258" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttFtUCE8x3o/WTh8ckcmhKI/AAAAAAAADz0/KqMNt8f_MuEJuneb12wPEYxmDrehH981wCEw/s400/a146.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember the horrendous months of renovation work, during which we stored most
of our possessions in the garage and camped in one room after another to let
the builders get on with their work unhindered. It was during those months that
one of the most indelible memories of all was formed, when early one morning I
raced downstairs in my bare feet to the kitchen at the sound of the telephone
and stood shivering on the rubble-strewn floor to hear the news that my mother
had died.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember, indeed I will never forget, how the new bathroom created by the
renovation work gave us one of the most wonderful views any house could have
and how <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/tree-for-all-seasons.html"><b>this ash tree </b></a>through the seasons provided a leitmotif for our
life there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ys1G4x7p6Jo/WTh8aATm3iI/AAAAAAAADz0/RfKTAvm5ClAGoKFM57uS0urRV7w09fybwCEw/s1600/DSC07159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="695" height="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ys1G4x7p6Jo/WTh8aATm3iI/AAAAAAAADz0/RfKTAvm5ClAGoKFM57uS0urRV7w09fybwCEw/s400/DSC07159.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember our children growing up there, learning new skills, discovering their
potential, until first one, then the other, left for university and a new life
across Offa’s Dyke in England. I remember how they came to visit, first alone,
then with partners and children, especially at Christmas when the dark old
beams made a perfect backdrop for decorations and tree, but also in school
holidays and half-terms.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember the bedroom I turned into a study and how I spent almost every free hour
of three hard but rewarding years, studying for ordination alongside my
full-time work in the library. I remember DH helping me by typing my essays on
one of our earliest computers, stopping from time to time to suggest I rethink
or reword sections which were unclear or badly-expressed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember how, after my first diagnosis of cancer, DH suggested we could add a
conservatory at the back of the house where we could sit and look across to the
distant hills. I remember the fun of planning it and doing much of the work
ourselves, and how it was there that we watched Grandson#1 take his first unsteady solo
steps one holiday weekend. I remember sitting there a couple of years
later with my youngest sister and her fiancé on a sunny summer afternoon, as we happily
planned the wedding I would conduct for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGpcLoHUaHI/WTh-1FSf8XI/AAAAAAAAD0A/DxLC8xbMf44FN0y-KAmLHQKAWFkT3LZbgCLcB/s1600/S1290008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="848" height="292" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGpcLoHUaHI/WTh-1FSf8XI/AAAAAAAAD0A/DxLC8xbMf44FN0y-KAmLHQKAWFkT3LZbgCLcB/s400/S1290008.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember how we decided to turn the old cowshed across the farmyard into a
holiday cottage, which I advertised in the church press, and how for several years a series of
tired clergy came with their families to enjoy the peace and the glorious
views.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-onvz4I02Ad8/WTh-zg7qP1I/AAAAAAAADz8/8sZZnsBsuKc_M_5roKHQutuOEVECZ-SbACLcB/s1600/p71.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="552" height="270" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-onvz4I02Ad8/WTh-zg7qP1I/AAAAAAAADz8/8sZZnsBsuKc_M_5roKHQutuOEVECZ-SbACLcB/s400/p71.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later,
after our six years living elsewhere while I was in full-time parish ministry, I
remember how we moved back there when I retired and realised that it had never
really stopped being home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gpIFz7XHJ9I/WTh_wBL0m8I/AAAAAAAAD0M/IC54-pmxIO0OSuJSBJkhEK7FCk816T3tgCLcB/s1600/DSC02938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="691" height="277" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gpIFz7XHJ9I/WTh_wBL0m8I/AAAAAAAAD0M/IC54-pmxIO0OSuJSBJkhEK7FCk816T3tgCLcB/s400/DSC02938.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But
now it has. Now home is down in the valley, with a view of the hills above us
and of the river at the edge of the garden, while a new family discovers the
delights of living in that very special place, and we are content.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkpobIPlGmQ/WTh_wlqf46I/AAAAAAAAD0Q/n_qe27T1xKIc7qw-uWHCpUzwXl3frzx3wCLcB/s1600/DSC01487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="507" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkpobIPlGmQ/WTh_wlqf46I/AAAAAAAAD0Q/n_qe27T1xKIc7qw-uWHCpUzwXl3frzx3wCLcB/s320/DSC01487.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-73250116872358916472017-04-16T00:37:00.000+01:002017-04-16T00:37:00.160+01:00Resurrexit! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bP6A7yt_8Bk/WPCxVuwFjHI/AAAAAAAADyw/ESntm94ioAclnsKyHIscZlpJ3GcEDQnBACLcB/s1600/empty%2Btomb%2Bvarghese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bP6A7yt_8Bk/WPCxVuwFjHI/AAAAAAAADyw/ESntm94ioAclnsKyHIscZlpJ3GcEDQnBACLcB/s320/empty%2Btomb%2Bvarghese.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>He is risen and I know that my redeemer lives.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Wishing you all a very joyful Easter.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WXdWwnVL620" width="560"></iframe></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Image: The Empty Tomb by Hanna Varghese (1938 – 2007)</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Music: Handel‘Messiah’.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-80573264817693268182017-04-14T00:36:00.000+01:002017-04-14T00:36:03.850+01:00Love to the loveless shown<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9FqUrarKf4/WOqfcbXz0dI/AAAAAAAADyU/DnIbZnk0X64CMUuZR8-nZ-wOGNCmnqFOgCLcB/s1600/Lempertz-1029-1311-Old-Masters-and-19th-Century-Flemish-2nd-half-17th-century-A-Flemish-high-relief-of-%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9FqUrarKf4/WOqfcbXz0dI/AAAAAAAADyU/DnIbZnk0X64CMUuZR8-nZ-wOGNCmnqFOgCLcB/s640/Lempertz-1029-1311-Old-Masters-and-19th-Century-Flemish-2nd-half-17th-century-A-Flemish-high-relief-of-%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="440" /></a></div>
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</span><br />
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><b>My song is love unknown</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KTZgZU4shMw" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Image: A Flemish high-relief of the Crucifixion, second half of C17th.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Hymn: Words (1664) by Samuel Crossman (1623-1683) </span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"> Music: Love Unknown (1925) by John Ireland (1879-1962) </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br />
</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br />
</span></i>Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-84703130889814253642017-03-28T12:13:00.000+01:002017-03-28T13:29:42.024+01:00The road to the Highlands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KSAmk4Kv44w/WNpE_zFdWoI/AAAAAAAADx8/ST-q03jVWyEBAyUnGtS6SiYu8oTJvDrpwCLcB/s1600/DSC06098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KSAmk4Kv44w/WNpE_zFdWoI/AAAAAAAADx8/ST-q03jVWyEBAyUnGtS6SiYu8oTJvDrpwCLcB/s1600/DSC06098.JPG" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They
say time passes more and more quickly the older we become, but I still can’t
believe it’s two whole years since we were able to make more than a fleeting
visit to our beloved north coast of Scotland. But the calendar doesn’t lie and
two years it is. Thankfully the drought is about to break and on Thursday we
shall finally be heading north again. So while the washing machine is churning
with a final load, I’m taking a break from making lists and packing to bring
you up-to-date.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Looking
back to our brief trip early last year it’s hard to believe how much has
happened since. Back then the referendum on EU membership was still in the future
and the US presidential election was just moving into the primary contest
season. I could never have imagined how strongly my attention would become monopolised
by the unfolding drama that is politics on the other side of the Atlantic and here
at home the unfolding disaster that is Brexit. Add to all this the huge amount of work involved in the clearing and sale of the old house and it's no wonder my poor blogging muse
went AWOL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But
now spring is here, summer time has begun and it’s time to hit the road to the
Highlands once again. The very small campervan is now distinctly ageing and has
been retired from such long journeys, so it will be the very small car which
will somehow absorb all the things we need for a month’s stay in<a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/last-great-wilderness.html"> <b>one of the most beautiful places on earth</b>.</a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> So it’s hey ho for the open road and I’ll see you in bonnie Scotland.</span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-4341682900517327482017-01-11T19:19:00.001+00:002017-04-09T20:45:45.313+01:00Twenty years on – gratitude and hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ivI8DrRBLYQ/WHZ_bYkYh0I/AAAAAAAADwE/x0h30um1VfECMkF1AYbbI05w3_bhbq4bACEw/s1600/DSC_0378.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ivI8DrRBLYQ/WHZ_bYkYh0I/AAAAAAAADwE/x0h30um1VfECMkF1AYbbI05w3_bhbq4bACEw/s320/DSC_0378.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Five
years ago today, I wrote a blog-post </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/making-history.html"><b>to mark the fifteenth anniversary</b></a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
of my ordination to the priesthood. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was still pretty new to blogging and this seemed
to me a good opportunity to capture some of the memories of that eventful and
historic time and tell a story which deserves to be remembered.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This
year the Church in Wales decided <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38530906"><b>to mark the twentieth anniversary</b></a> of these
first ordinations with simultaneous services in all six Welsh cathedrals. We live at the very southern tip of Bangor
Diocese, so on Saturday morning DH and I set off bright and early to drive the
85 miles to our cathedral. Normally we would have revelled in the glorious
scenery through which we were travelling, but sadly that morning it was almost
completely shrouded in thick Welsh mist. Nevertheless we arrived in good time
and at 11am the service began.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of
the original nine ordained in Bangor all those years ago, only I and three
others were able to be there. One had died, one was ill, and two had moved out
of the diocese, while the last was unavoidably absent. However we were strongly
supported by the presence of many of the women ordained in the diocese since
that momentous first ordination and we rejoiced in the fact that the new Dean of
the cathedral, who presided at the Eucharist, was one of the original nine
ordained in 1997. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our
bishop relinquished his normal position to act as deacon to the women who led
the service and our preacher was an old friend from the campaigning days of the
mid 1990s, who gave us a sermon by turns thoughtful, inspiring and amusing. The cathedral
choir sang sublimely as always and the proceedings were filmed by BBC Wales who
had also covered the service twenty years ago. As we met up with old friends
after the service and exchanged reminiscences, it was hard to believe so many
years had passed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
following day I led the service at the
same church where I had celebrated Holy Communion for the first time 20 years
before and, thankfully, still with many of the same faces in the congregation. Now,
as I reflect on the past weekend and the twenty years since the events it
commemorated, I am filled with gratitude for the people I have known, the work
I have been enabled to do and the deep enjoyment and satisfaction it has given
me. And as I look forward to the consecration next week of the first woman to
be elected bishop in the Church in Wales, I am filled with hope and
encouragement for the future. Gratitude and hope – who could wish for more?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">A memory of 20 years ago</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Being welcomed by the Dean - one of us</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Listening intently to the sermon</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gc5Xkr4TYYE/WHaBi6QZM9I/AAAAAAAADw4/Ee6aDGjRcZUYJQa2v3HCaxRhTAd64qi_QCEw/s1600/DSC_0425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gc5Xkr4TYYE/WHaBi6QZM9I/AAAAAAAADw4/Ee6aDGjRcZUYJQa2v3HCaxRhTAd64qi_QCEw/s1600/DSC_0425.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Celebrating the Eucharist together, led by the Dean - and yes, it's still the Christmas season.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The final procession - cathedrals love processions!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Together with our preacher, second from left</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The Famous Four</span></td></tr>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-67934212434557828462016-12-22T19:15:00.001+00:002017-12-24T14:49:37.817+00:00Christmas peace <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vn_1ZenhQEY/WFwfLT7tkJI/AAAAAAAADvg/IO5kGsqUsKoc34cjXO39u6XG4Y__BqFpgCLcB/s1600/duccio-natgall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vn_1ZenhQEY/WFwfLT7tkJI/AAAAAAAADvg/IO5kGsqUsKoc34cjXO39u6XG4Y__BqFpgCLcB/s400/duccio-natgall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In this darkest part of the winter, at the end of what has been an extraordinarily turbulent and threatening year, I can’t think of anything we and our world need more than peace this Christmas. So this is what I wish you all, with gratitude for your friendship and the deep pleasure your blogs give me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in our corner of Mid-Wales the baking is finished, the presents are wrapped, and the suitcase is packed, ready for an early start tomorrow, as we head off to spend Christmas with DS and his family. Wherever you may be spending your Christmas, may it be full of joy and peace.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></span></i> <i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Image: Nativity by Duccio di Buoninsegna (c1255/60–c1318/19 Siena, Italy)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Carol: Stille Nacht<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Words by Josef Mohr (1792-1848)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Music by Francis Xaver Gruber (1787-1863)</span></span></i></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-5986876610851847082016-11-27T15:07:00.001+00:002016-11-27T16:26:47.675+00:00Advent pause for thought <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">On this calm, chilly November afternoon I’m sitting at my desk in my warm,</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">somewhat untidy study. Outside DH has been taking advantage of the dry weather to do some </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">jobs before the sun, which has been peeping out intermittently from behind the clouds all day, finally sets. The house is quiet and still, as befits the beginning of what is for me one of the most reflective seasons of the church’s year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The peace and quiet are very welcome after what has been a very busy and often turbulent year. At home it has been an unusual year, with none of our habitual peregrinations to Scotland and France, but with substantial changes, necessitating a lot of hard work, taking place here in Wales. In the wider world it has been a year of often shocking political upset, with both the EU referendum in Britain and the presidential election in the USA plumbing new depths of misleading and vitriolic campaigning, and their results plunging our two countries into deep and prolonged economic and political uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Into this turbulence and uncertainty comes Advent, with its message of hope and expectation, reminding us that however dark things seem there is always the promise of light and new beginnings. For me, as for most of us, it will inevitably be a busy time, with cards to write, presents to buy and lots of baking to be done. Yet I will try to hold onto this still centre of quiet and hope amid the busyness and the darkness, in anticipation of the joy of Christmas itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the pleasures of writing my annual Advent Sunday post is deciding what music to include. This year I have chosen a poem written by my friend <a href="http://blethers.blogspot.co.uk/">Christine McIntosh</a>, set to music by her musician husband John, and sung by their church choir at Holy Trinity, Dunoon, Argyll. The exquisite combination of <b><a href="http://blethers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/advent-song.html">words</a> </b>and music captures perfectly the expectant, trustful hope of Advent. I hope you love it as much as I do.</span><br />
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-20524390164816442852016-10-15T16:02:00.000+01:002016-10-29T13:01:59.068+01:00A flurry of endings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">2016
is turning out to be a very different kind of year from its immediate predecessors. Apart from <b><a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/heading-north.html">a last-minute dash to Scotland</a> </b>in January </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">to make sure the house was protected from
frost damage, we have remained resolutely in one place until my trip to Prague
last month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Instead
of our normal travelling we have been involved in two very different journeys. By
far the most significant has been <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/staying-put.html"><b>the decision to sell the old house</b></a> on the
hill which was our home for almost forty years. It finally went on the market on the day
before the EU referendum and three days later, to our complete amazement, we
received an asking price offer from the very first people to view. We were very
grateful for this gleam of light amid the profound gloom of the referendum
result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Given
the state of the market, and knowing how long some local houses have been for
sale, we had been mentally preparing ourselves for a prolonged and frustrating wait.
Instead we have spent the summer dealing with all the myriad questions and
details which accompany a property sale, which culminated this week with both
us and the buyers signing our respective copies of the contracts. Completion
will take some time, but the selling
journey has definitely reached its goal. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rbbay_xjwaU/WAJBYDj_frI/AAAAAAAADuY/er12QJTmQgQrVkZQs22vv9IWSwsdMR3hgCEw/s1600/Oerle%2B1973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rbbay_xjwaU/WAJBYDj_frI/AAAAAAAADuY/er12QJTmQgQrVkZQs22vv9IWSwsdMR3hgCEw/s640/Oerle%2B1973.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The old house as we first saw it in 1973</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FWJlDy7U9G4/WAJBYwxg3lI/AAAAAAAADuc/2BjllFJlvJ4vo4To8_a2n3nGZiJph3qrgCEw/s1600/S1010008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FWJlDy7U9G4/WAJBYwxg3lI/AAAAAAAADuc/2BjllFJlvJ4vo4To8_a2n3nGZiJph3qrgCEw/s640/S1010008.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The old house over 40 years later</span></td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Another
journey which reached its goal in the last couple of weeks was the seemingly
interminable saga of the conservatory. We started sending for brochures this
time last year and the building work was finally completed in August. DH then
worked like a trooper during my time in Prague, painting walls and laying
flooring, ready for the specialist removers to dismantle his beloved snooker
table, transport it down the hill and reassemble it in its new home. Since then
I can usually rely on finding him in there whenever he isn’t in his usual
haunts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">It’s
too late now for us to fit in a short trip to France and we have too much to do
to head north in November as we usually do. But we are determined that next
year, come what may, we will once again be perpetually in transit.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Foundation trench heading for Australia</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The walls rise...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">And the roof takes shape...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">He plays by day...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">He plays by night...</span></td></tr>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-7051926463007496432016-09-13T12:53:00.001+01:002023-06-22T21:30:44.164+01:00Despatch at the start of a journey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’m
sitting at my desk on a warm and humid day, the sky heavily overcast and
thunder rumbling in the distance. Upstairs DH is snatching a nap after a very
disturbed night. In the hall is a stack of luggage, waiting to be transferred
to the car in a couple of hours, when hopefully the rain will have stopped. We
will then head across to stay overnight with my mother-in-law, before DH drives
me into Oxford to catch the coach for Heathrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
after a static but very busy summer,
full of building works and house sale and interrupted by another debilitating
virus, I’m finally on the move again. This time it’s not to France or Scotland,
but to <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/what-is-it-about-prague.html"><b>Prague</b></a>, for a much anticipated and very welcome return visit to
my friend <a href="http://rickyyates.com/"><b>Ricky Yates</b></a>, the Anglican chaplain there, before he retires
next year. I’m looking forward enormously to <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/small-is-beautiful.html"><b>exploring Prague</b></a> again and catching
up with the friends I made on my previous two visits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During
my visit I will be taking a Sunday service in Ricky’s absence and on the other Sunday
I will go with him to Dresden, where he leads a monthly service of Evening
Prayer in English at the <a href="https://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/home">Frauenkirche</a>, the world-famous symbol of Dresden reborn. This time he has invited me to be the guest
preacher, a hugely exciting, if rather daunting, prospect. Wish me luck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve
spent a rather large number of hours in the past few weeks working on the
sermons I will preach and now they are nestling in my new super-light suitcase,
along with two complete sets of clerical robes, as well as an ample stock of more
usual holiday wear. The freezer is full, so DH won’t starve in my absence, the hairdresser
has again successfully tamed my unruly mop and I’m ready for one more
adventure.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-40368925278770167262016-05-31T18:22:00.001+01:002016-05-31T18:22:38.623+01:00Staying put<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I truly cannot believe that almost two months have gone by since I last posted, but the calendar doesn’t lie, so two months it must be. And what has she been doing with herself during those two months, I can hear you all thinking. She certainly hasn’t been reading and commenting on our blogs with any regularity, if at all. The answer is very simple. I have been busy, very busy, but with the kind of activity that doesn’t really make for rivetting (or even mildly interesting) blog posts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of these was the recent move from Windows LiveMail to Outlook for dealing with my email, since Microsoft, in its wisdom, has decided to stop supporting LiveMail soon. It’s been a tedious and longwinded process, as somehow the vast majority of my very large number of stored emails were inadvertently duplicated in the process of moving across and the duplicates had to be laboriously deleted by yours truly. Sigh… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the positive side, it proved to be unexpectedly fascinating to go back over long-ago events, as I dealt with the emails concerning them. I’d never before thought of email as a memory store, but for me it turns out to be exactly that. I have never managed to keep a diary or a journal for longer than a few weeks, but this has proved to be almost better than a journal in many ways, because the sequence of messages captured not only my thoughts, but those of others involved. As you can guess, the deletion process took considerably longer than it need have done…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then, of course, there are the preparations for the conservatory. The long-awaited ground-works are scheduled to start on June 2nd, and the construction of the conservatory itself will, all being well, take place in the last full week of June. As I type I can hear DH busily lifting and storing the last of the patio slabs (which were very solidly bedded in!) so that they can be reused eventually to create a small patio at the far end of the conservatory, overlooking the river. Thankfully the weather is being kind here in Mid-Wales, and we seem to be escaping the rain which is currently drenching much of Western Europe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, overshadowing everything else is the major topic which has been consuming most of our time and energy since I last posted - the firm decision to put the old house up the hill on the market at last. What with getting estimates from estate agents, continuing to work on sorting and clearing the house and outbuildings, and trying to bring order to the riot of greenery which has been making a takeover bid, there hasn’t been much time or energy left for anything else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The house will go onto the market officially as soon as the details of the sale particulars have been finalised by the agent, but, being us, we haven’t been leaving it all to the agent. Using material drafted by DH, I’ve spent a lot of time and effort in the last couple of weeks creating a website (using Blogger) to hold more information and images than any estate agent can include in normal sale particulars. It was a fiddly and sometimes frustrating process, <a href="https://welshfarmhouseforsale.blogspot.com/"><b>but it finally went live yesterday</b></a>, and we’re hoping it will help in the process of finding a buyer who will love the place as much as we do and be as happy there as we were for so many years. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Beyond our own small concerns there is, of course, the looming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, about which, you’ll be glad to note, I don’t plan to say more than this. It is a huge decision, with very long-lasting consequences, and you will probably not be surprised to hear that as convinced internationalists, DH and I are profoundly hoping Britain will vote to remain a member.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, because so much is happening at the moment, we have been forced to accept that we simply cannot go to Normandy as usual this year. What with the possibility of house viewings and the need to keep the undergrowth around the old house in check, we absolutely must stay here all summer – hence the title of this post. If all goes well we hope to get across to France for a short visit in the autumn, but for this year there will be no cherries, no kittens and no year’s supply of apricot jam to make and bring home. I’d better make the one remaining jar in the cupboard last as long as possible. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Even <a href="https://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-tale-of-travelling-pelargoniums.html"><b>the travelling pelargoniums</b> </a>are staying put this year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">The
big bonus of being here is watching our still newish garden blooming through
the spring and summer and having the time to carry on developing it. I wonder what new treasures will show themselves over
the coming weeks…?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-65935946902228757682016-04-03T18:38:00.000+01:002016-04-04T15:00:05.058+01:00Heading for the hills <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Observant
readers of this blog may have noticed that, since our flying visit back in January,
there has been no mention of Scotland in my posts. Normally at this time of
year we would be well ensconced in the far North, celebrating not only Easter
but also my birthday and our wedding anniversary during our stay. This year,
however, we are tied to Wales by the impending construction of a conservatory,
for which we need to be at home, but haven’t yet got a start date.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of
course it was lovely to celebrate Easter at the village church for the first
time in a number of years, but the really big bonus was that it meant DS and
Grandson#3 were able to spend Easter with us and give the new house their seal
of approval. They arrived in glorious sunshine on Good Friday and luckily saw
the garden and the river at their best, before the weekend’s rain and wind
arrived to keep us trapped indoors for the next two days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not
that the weather stopped us enjoying ourselves. We ate well, talked a lot and
played endless card games, but it made a pleasant change to wake on Easter
Monday morning to no rain and a clearing sky. On the spur of the moment DS
asked if they could stay for an extra day, so to celebrate this we decided to
go for a drive after lunch to show Grandson#3 some of the places his father
knew as a child. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DS’s
instinct is always to head for the hills and he had an ultimate destination in
mind. My instinct is to visit places of interest en route, so DH took us by
winding and scenic minor roads to one of these, a fascinating group of remains
of a once thriving local industry – lead-mining.</span><br />
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<a href="http://cadw.gov.wales/daysout/bryntail-lead-mine-buildings/?lang=en" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;"><b>Bryntail is very much the best-preserved lead-mining site </b></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in the area and
gives a clear idea of what this industry once entailed. It has the added
attraction of being situated in a steep-sided river valley directly below the
enormous dam which helps to control the water level of a major tributary of the
River Severn and mitigate the Severn’s once devastating tendency to flood the small
towns downstream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After
a very interesting wander round the ruins, we went back to the car and drove to
the viewpoint above the dam. This offers not only wonderful views over the lake
and the lead mine remains below the dam, but also one of the stunning panoramas
which are such a feature of this glorious corner of Wales.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From
here we drove along the lake and through the forest which borders it until we
came out onto the main road again at the far end of the lake. Soon after we
turned off onto a minor road which leads up over the Cambrian Mountains towards
the coast. We drove uphill past Dylife,<b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylife">once the site of a thriving lead-mining village</a></b>,
onto the high plateau and into a different world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here,
at more than 1500 feet, the weekend’s rain had fallen as snow, and though it
was beginning to melt in the afternoon sun, there was still enough to transform
the landscape and enable DS and his son to have a very enjoyable snowball
fight. After that the two of them headed down the track to DS’s ultimate
destination, <a href="http://www.visitmidwales.co.uk/Machynlleth-Wildlife-Trust-Glaslyn-Nature-Reserve/details/?dms=3&venue=1012077"><b>the Glaslyn nature reserve</b></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is a area DS hiked and visited with his
friends as a teenager, and though the going was very wet, they followed the
track past the lake and up to the viewpoint, from which they had a panoramic
view north-west as far as Snowdonia, more than 40 miles away. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
they finally rejoined us at the car nearly two hours later, they were tired,
happy and had extremely wet feet, despite wearing stout walking shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now
that Grandson#3 is nearly a teenager, I foresee more visits during which DS
will take him out onto the hills, just as our son-in-law does with our other
two grandsons when they visit. All of them love hiking and hill-walking and
there are plenty of wild, unspoiled places here to explore. Sadly my ageing knees
mean that I can only accompany them over rough ground in spirit, but it’s
enough to know that our love for the wonderful Mid-Wales countryside is being
handed down to the next generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-40167363925608784772016-03-27T00:15:00.000+00:002017-12-24T14:50:26.112+00:00Alleluia! <div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZz5fO2e1Cc">Christ is risen.</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">He is risen
indeed. Alleluia!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">I wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Image: ‘Noli me tangere’ by Giotto di Bondone Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua,
circa 1304-06.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Words:
Edmond Budry (1854-1932)</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Music:
Maccabeus (adapted from the oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel, 1685-1759)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-29240172450362398912016-03-25T00:30:00.000+00:002017-12-24T14:50:04.282+00:00A green hill far away <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t3867kWLiWg/VvRFdzJ_wvI/AAAAAAAADiU/CpvL6Y9-FuAwUXzDb8TXQ-ihbLKWxri1w/s1600/3533-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t3867kWLiWg/VvRFdzJ_wvI/AAAAAAAADiU/CpvL6Y9-FuAwUXzDb8TXQ-ihbLKWxri1w/s400/3533-b.jpg" width="337" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ybUpuLn8M" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>He died to save us all</b></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Image: Crucifixion by Edward
Vardanian ( born 1953 in Artashat, Armenia and moved to the USA in 1992.)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Words:
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Music:
Horsley (William Horsley, 1774-1858)</span></i></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-21038915871483835482016-03-23T19:37:00.001+00:002016-03-23T19:37:49.790+00:00We apologise…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8FPpKimShtg/VvLu9cGa3JI/AAAAAAAADiA/LDaLraGXzAoUP1UNMbJZwrzL9daR3vHEQ/s1600/pile_of_books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8FPpKimShtg/VvLu9cGa3JI/AAAAAAAADiA/LDaLraGXzAoUP1UNMbJZwrzL9daR3vHEQ/s200/pile_of_books.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">…for
this unplanned break in transmission. Normal
service will be resumed as soon as possible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When
I first started coughing during my trip to Belgium, I could never have dreamt
it would take me so long to get over the chest infection which had hit me. But all things come to those who wait and thankfully
I’m now well again at last and trying hard to catch up with all the things I should
have been doing during the past few weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One
big task which I’ve now started to tackle is to unpack and sort the boxes of books
which I accumulated during the almost thirty years of my active ministry, many
of which I no longer use and for which in any case we simply don’t have space.
Some I will keep, some I will offer to colleagues if they want them, and the
rest will go to a charity which supplies books to theological students overseas
who cannot afford to buy the books they need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So
far I’ve emptied and sorted some twenty boxes of books and am now taking a
break, as DS and Grandson#3 are coming to spend the Easter weekend with us, as
our poor daughter-in-law is going to be very busy at work. Once Easter is over I’ll
make a start on the long-delayed posts about my trip before tackling even one
more box of books – I promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In
the meantime I’m crossing fingers and toes that the weather forecasters have
got it wrong. After a nicely dry fortnight, they are promising rain for the Easter
weekend - a typical British bank holiday, in other words. I think our recently-neglected
stock of board games may come in handy once again…</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nLLmZwH1oZ0/VvLu9eagBzI/AAAAAAAADiE/hwvgSPqPSogVeXHYWkaJIJMxwjWelZNnQ/s1600/boardgamesandfika.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nLLmZwH1oZ0/VvLu9eagBzI/AAAAAAAADiE/hwvgSPqPSogVeXHYWkaJIJMxwjWelZNnQ/s320/boardgamesandfika.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Images via Google</span></i></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-81381066640357030162016-03-01T00:17:00.000+00:002016-03-01T00:17:07.601+00:00Serendipity is a wonderful thing<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WtnS9s0GCWI/VtSHkVFzi8I/AAAAAAAADhU/_ai4qY043Wg/s1600/DSC07671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WtnS9s0GCWI/VtSHkVFzi8I/AAAAAAAADhU/_ai4qY043Wg/s320/DSC07671.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Forty-four years ago this summer, almost entirely by chance, DH and I made a move which would change our lives forever. He was close to completing his professional training and was looking for his first qualified post and I had finally decided that I wasn’t cut out to be a teacher (my first choice of profession) and would become a librarian instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our children were still very young, but it wouldn’t be too long before DS would be old enough to go to school and we wanted to be settled before this important stage was reached. So in the winter of 1972, I began to apply to library schools and DH began to apply for posts in the areas in which those library schools were located. I was lucky enough to receive several offers of places and we waited anxiously to see if and where DH would be fortunate enough to be offered a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two of the library school places were in cities: Liverpool, in the north-west of England, not very far from where I was born and had grown up and Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east, where DH had spent his childhood. The third was in Wales, just outside Aberystwyth – terra incognita for both of us. Indeed my first ever visit to Wales was for the interview for my library school place – arriving on the milk train from Shrewsbury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite my tiredness and the tension of the forthcoming interview I can still remember how bowled-over I was by the beauty of the landscape through which the train travelled between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth and also how impressed I was by the brand-new college of librarianship at which I was interviewed. Now the question of where DH would be offered a job acquired a new urgency for me, as yet again I had fallen in love with a place at first sight, though this time it was a landscape, <b><a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/day-i-fell-in-love.html">rather than a city</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To cut a long story short, DH was offered a post about 40 miles from my library school (but what a commute!) and in the summer of 1972 we moved to Wales. After a very demanding but happy year at library school, I was offered my first professional post in the same local authority area as DH and we moved across the Cambrian Mountains to put down roots in the quiet, beautiful and unspoiled part of Mid-Wales where we still live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It may have been a lucky chance which brought us to Wales, but it will always be home to us now. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy Saint David’s Day to you all.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
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<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-47677383247157596752016-02-24T18:18:00.000+00:002016-02-24T18:18:25.129+00:00First impressions<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After
months and even years of planning and anticipation, my trip with my sister to
the battlefields of the Western Front proved to be a hugely interesting and deeply moving
experience. After three packed days of visits, two of them in glorious sunshine
and the third in the snow, we travelled back to the UK last Friday, tired but
very content.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next
morning DH collected me and drove me home, with my head whirling
with a kaleidoscope of impressions, my camera laden with almost 450 images, my
suitcase full of laundry and my poor lungs feeling very sorry for themselves,
thanks to a nasty chest infection which ambushed me and several other members of
our party partway through the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It’s
taking me a while to recover, but I’ve finally dealt with the laundry,
downloaded the photos and am just about thinking clearly enough to start to
organise all my impressions and memories. Though it feels like I have enough
material for a book rather than a few blog posts, at this stage I’m not even
going to use words. In their place is a selection of images, which hopefully
capture something of the essence of our trip - of cemeteries and memorials, of landscapes and the remnants of war that still scar them. The words will come later, when I
can find the ones I need.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-16374692015451387992016-02-20T07:26:00.000+00:002016-02-20T07:26:02.241+00:00Five years on<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_lK-pcqF3o/Vr4xZsFZTgI/AAAAAAAADfk/z5GjnmeKLZE/s1600/cartoon6243.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_lK-pcqF3o/Vr4xZsFZTgI/AAAAAAAADfk/z5GjnmeKLZE/s1600/cartoon6243.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It
was a cold, grey day in February (no surprise there) and I was alone at home, high
in the Welsh hills, DH being away on a visit to his mother. Being therefore
without transport for two or three days, lots of lovely, empty time stretched out
ahead of me and I wondered how best to use it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/while-cats-away.html"><b>Spring-cleaning</b></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">while
I had the house to myself, was a must, but no-one can spring-clean all the
time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Knitting,
of course, and reading my pile of library books, and a bit of TV watching, but
what else? One of my favourite ways of online interaction back then, a small
private forum, was temporarily offline, but of course there were always blogs
to read and read them I did. But somehow I felt I should be doing more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">I
had been reading blogs with huge enjoyment for some time and one or two
bloggers had been gently encouraging when I wondered out loud whether I might
one day do more than just read and comment. The absence of my forum friends spurred
me on to a snap decision and within an amazingly short time one Sunday afternoon
I’d set up an account with Blogger, registered a blog name, created a basic
template and by the evening had written and published <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/toe-in-water.html"><b>my first exploratory post</b></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">The
five years since then have flown by, as my life has become ever richer and fuller
with the growth of wonderful links and friendships with bloggers all over the world. We share
ideas and interests, experiences and insights, joys and sorrows. The rate of
posting waxes and wanes, as other aspects of life take over at
times, but </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">after five years and close to 300 posts, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">the sheer pleasure of blogging is still there and continues to bring me back to this most satisfying
of activities. It looks like you’re all </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">stuck with me for some time to come…</span></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Image via Google<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">P.S. This post will be published while I’m on my
way back from my Big Birthday trip, so there will be no replies until I’m home
again. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-49112081107143056332016-02-13T20:59:00.001+00:002016-02-14T08:37:51.712+00:00Goodbyee <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCT7lG4PekI/Vr-UplcMOOI/AAAAAAAADf0/W5H8Nos_WkM/s1600/WW1-Soldier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCT7lG4PekI/Vr-UplcMOOI/AAAAAAAADf0/W5H8Nos_WkM/s400/WW1-Soldier.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">As I was wandering round the house today in ever-decreasing circles, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">gathering together and packing everything I need for my trip, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">I found myself humming some of the songs of the Great War </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">which still echoed through my post-WW2 childhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes I heard them sung at local village concerts, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or even joined in singing them myself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes my grandfather would sing a snatch or two to me,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> which is how I heard the first French words I can ever remember hearing, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parley-voo?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes they provided the background music</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to a TV or radio programme </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">on the First World War,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> especially the haunting </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK7RTaIKY1o"><b>There’s a long, long trail a-winding</b></a>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some of them, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K1BdDVvV9Q"><b><i>Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire</i> </b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I only really heard when I was older, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">as the words wouldn’t have been considered suitable </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for me as a young child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some seemed to me, even then, incongruously cheerful for such a terrible event, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">until the wonderful, bitingly-satirical <i>Oh, What a Lovely War</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gave them a </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">context </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and interpretation </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">which made complete sense to me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I say goodbye until my return next weekend, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ll leave you with one of these, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">which I’m sure will stay with me as I visit the haunted landscape </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">where so many fought and died </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and pay my respects to them and to one young Yorkshireman in particular.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zr5ksOyxZRU" width="560"></iframe></div>
<br />
<i style="font-size: small;">Image via Google</i><br />
<br />Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705825161954545710.post-10885828693530304572016-02-09T18:35:00.001+00:002016-02-26T23:46:54.164+00:00Gallivanting again…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6V54LpCclGg/VrowGZoW_VI/AAAAAAAADfU/iyFWKtkixRI/s1600/Walter%2Bin%2Buniform%2B%2528East%2BYorks%2BRegiment%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6V54LpCclGg/VrowGZoW_VI/AAAAAAAADfU/iyFWKtkixRI/s320/Walter%2Bin%2Buniform%2B%2528East%2BYorks%2BRegiment%2529.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">...or
another Big Birthday trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Almost
five years ago, when my blog was still new and shiny, I wrote a post about a
holiday I’d just had with DD. 2011 was
the year I turned 65 and she turned 40 and to mark these momentous occurrences we decided to go to Assisi together on a Pax
Travel pilgrimage. I had been several times before and loved it, but for DD it
was her first visit. On our return I shared some impressions of our experience in a post called
<a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/big-birthday-trip.html"><b>The Big Birthday trip</b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This
wasn’t the first time in recent years that I’d headed off on holiday with a
member of the family other than DH. The previous year, my next-to-youngest
sister, PolkaDot, and I had visited Madeira only weeks after the catastrophic
floods of February 2010 and, once I had a blog, of course <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/have-some-madeira-mdear.html"><b>I had to write about it</b></a>. We both enjoyed our shared holiday so much that afterwards we
talked several times about the possibility of repeating the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In November 2011, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to mark Armistice</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Day,</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I had written a post about my Great-Uncle
Walter <a href="http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/they-shall-grow-not-old.html"><b>who died in the Ypres Salient in World War 1</b></a>. That sowed the seed in my mind of one day
doing what PolkaDot had already done and visiting Ypres in Belgium to see his
name on the Menin Gate memorial. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Time
went on and a couple of years later she suggested that we might like to go on
holiday together in 2016 to mark two more Big Birthdays - her 65</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> and my 70</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> - and also the centenary of Great-Uncle
Walter’s death on February 16</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now
February isn’t normally the time of year one would choose to holiday in Western
Europe, but some things are more important that the weather. When we discovered
that a holiday company had scheduled a battlefields tour that would take us to
the very area where Great-Uncle Walter had been killed, on the exact anniversary
of his death a century ago, the die was cast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We booked and now I’m busy with
my final preparations before DH drops me at my sister’s house on Sunday, ready
for a very early start next morning on our journey to Belgium. Fortunately the local weather forecast for next week is very much better than what we’ve been enduring
this week - cold and sunny, rather than wet and windy - and we’re both starting to feel very excited about Big Birthday Trip
Mark 2. My camera and notebook are already packed. Less important things like clothes will come later...</span></div>
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Perpetuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.com47