Life of a Steward

Frosty the Snowcar

2012-01-23T20:22:00.001-05:00

By the time we got outside to enjoy the snow on Saturday, the rain had covered it with ice, making it impossible to construct a snowman. Undeterred, the girls decorated their grandfather's car with a carrot nose, corn-cob pipe, and button eyes (not exactly true to the song, I know, but the pre-made Frosty kit they got for Christmas didn't come with coal).

First Snow

2012-01-03T10:42:00.001-05:00

Having missed the snow that came through in October because we were traveling, the girls are loving the break from class to dance in the snow. Hoping it keeps coming down, but probably it'll stop soon - they weren't predicting much today.

Packing Again

2011-11-30T16:55:00.001-05:00

After three months with Somer's parents, we are packing up to move. Four trunks, three duffels, two suitcases, and one fish - a Betta named Freddy. Tomorrow we head to my parents' house for the second phase of our Home Ministry Assignment in Baltimore.

Deep Fried Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:11:00.001-05:00

Continuing our theme of new American experiences, today we're having deep fried turkey for the first time. My brother built a little porch for the fryer well away from his house. It's out of the pot and we're just waiting for it to be cut!

VA Team Retreat

2011-11-23T17:07:00.001-05:00

We spent a weekend down in Virginia with some other couples who are raising money to join us in London. It was a great time of getting to know each other and having some fun. We stayed at a friend's house that was fully equipped with fishing rods, kayaks, and mini-golf clubs.

Learning American Culture

2011-11-23T12:08:00.001-05:00

Our girls have grown up with kids from so many other countries, that it's forced them to be more self-consciously American. Which is cool, except that they have never experienced American classics like Baseball and the State Fair. This summer, we remedied some of that.
The girls joined the junior dugout club at the Baltimore Orioles, even meeting the Oriole Bird himself. We also went to the Maryland state fair, where Andi won the water cannon game, and we discovered deep fried Oreos.

Earthquake at Claires

2011-11-23T11:42:00.001-05:00

Andi finally decided to get her ears pierced. While waiting her turn, she tried on hats at Claire's. Then the earthquake hit, making an already scary experience that much more traumatic.

London at night

2010-02-16T17:34:00.002-05:00

Our friend Simon took me and a couple of visitors from the USA on a night-time tour of London. This was the view from in front of the Tate Modern, according to Simon it's the best place to view St. Paul's. The Millennium bridge is just to the right, which you may recognize from the latest Harry Potter film.

Portrait for my birthday

2010-02-16T17:27:00.003-05:00

Now that I'm in my thirties, my perspective on what constitutes a good birthday present has changed a bit. This self-portrait was my present from one of my daughters, and she now proudly adorns the side of the bookcase in our living-room.

Monument

2010-02-16T17:22:00.003-05:00

I had a doctors appointment a few weeks ago down in the center of the city. When I finished the appointment, the tube station was closed because of crowding on the platform. Rather than wait for the station to reopen, I found a quiet place to sit and spend some time with God. As I was leaving, I realized that the monument to the great fire of London was nearby, so I decided to go up. I'd never been up it before, and the last time we tried to visit it was closed for repairs. 300+ steps later, and I got to see London at its foggy best. Quite beautiful, really. And the view back down the tower was pretty cool too.

London Snow

2010-02-16T17:13:00.003-05:00

We've missed all the great snow in Baltimore. We did get a few inches back in January, and made our way up to Regents Park to enjoy it.

Belgian John

2010-02-16T17:10:00.002-05:00

You may have noticed that I'm catching up here on lots of pics I've been meaning to put up. Back in December John, Oli, and I went to Brussels for meetings with the International Presyterian Church. Here's John looking happy.

Funky Jah Punkys

2010-02-16T13:51:00.003-05:00

I met these American dudes in one of the bars where we do weekly prayer meetings. They were in Camden for a gig, which I went to. They definitely know how to put on a show.

Bond Street Juggling

2010-02-16T13:49:00.003-05:00

Ever the center of attention, Jodie enjoys being part of the show with street jugglers on New Bond Street in central London. This was from around Christmas time.

With God & People - Church Planting Bath

2010-02-16T13:44:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I wish church planting were a bit more like taking a bath...but it's usually not that easy. Late last year I went to a church planting conference in Bath. I meant to stick up pics but never got around to it. This was a sticky note from one of our brainstorm sessions that captured the heart of the conference for me. A reminder to be with God and people.

London Rain

2009-12-09T07:15:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's winter in London.

The Fourth Plinth

2009-10-03T17:40:00.005-04:00

The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square has hosted interesting pieces of art over the years. For the next 100 days (ish...it's been going on for a bit already, not sure exactly how many days are left) someone will get the chance to spend 1 hour on top of the plinth, doing anything they like. A new person gets up there every hour. Tonight, my friend and fellow church leader in Camden, Brandon, got up there for an hour. He gave out little gifts, there was a fishing rod involved, and a make-shift boat. We left before his hour was up - had to put the kids to bed - so I don't really know what the end of the story was, or if there was an end. Check out the One & Other site for more info, as well as live video of what's currently on the plinth. Right now, there's a guy calling out Twister instructions to a bunch of people down below.

Art Show

2009-10-03T17:39:00.005-04:00

My daughter is taking an afternoon art class. Her teacher was part of an exhibition last night, and he has had the kids helping him out. Here she is pointing out the area she helped paint.

Anarchists get the boot

2009-07-31T06:26:00.002-04:00

We have a friend who tends bar at one of our local pubs. He also happens to be an anarchist. Not the 'smash everything up' kind of anarchist, but actually a well-read, socially conscious anarchist, who sees a need for society to focus on tackling social problems as well as technological ones. He recently was part of a group that took over an abandoned house that was being claimed as the 'primary residence' of a couple of MPs so they could get expense reimbursements for their 'second residence', a nice flat near the river. We went to the court case where the squatters were given 24 hrs notice to leave, and hung out with them while they partied after the decision. They knew they were going to lose, but they had done the job of raising awareness of the abuses of taxpayer money by elected officials.

LockStock Music Festival

2009-07-31T06:18:00.006-04:00

Last night the LockStock festival took place in Camden Lock market and surrounding pubs and tea shops. We listened to one of the bands at the outdoor stage.

Austria Retreat

2009-07-31T06:13:00.005-04:00

Last week we spoke at a retreat for World Harvest's summer interns in Austria. Our good friends from Philadelphia, the McMullens, were there, and we were really encouraged by them. A few pics of the beautiful scenery.

Climbing

2009-06-28T09:15:00.004-04:00

I've been taking Andi with me on my weekly climbing sessions with Dave and Barry (and sometimes Andy). She's been improving each week. This week, she got to the top four times, on two different routes. Very exciting.

Everything's OK

2009-06-04T13:09:00.004-04:00

This is Danny. Danny doesn't take himself too seriously, though he has a very serious message:

Everything Is OK
Except that everything is not OK. He rails against Capitalists, bankers, the police, government drug and terrorist policies. He says we just need to love each other. But then he says that everything around us, all the differences, are illusion. So what's the good of love if we're all the same? Kind of self-serving if you ask me. But that's ok, you see, in fact, everything's ok. Because Danny is just having fun. Or maybe not.
His speech is riddled with paradox, irony, sarcasm, and contradiction. At one point, he gets stopped by the police because he appears to be promoting drug use. At another point he grabs the megaphone away from his friend to announce to the crowd that I'm a Presbyterian. His partner and I chat for a while about why Jesus came, and why Christians teach that faith in Jesus is essential for life. It's easy to talk about these serious things, because nobody's taking themselves very seriously...or are we?

Dept of Urban Censorship Strikes Again

2009-05-29T13:02:00.003-04:00

On my favorite abandoned building in Camden. You can clearly see the "18" in the red circle next to the door. "This area contains violence, drug use, and bad language" the sign reads.
I'd love to see this place turned into a monastic house where prayer and glassblowing are the order of the day.

Dept Urban Censorship

2009-05-16T19:11:00.002-04:00

This 'sign' has been popping up in random places around Camden. It's quite big - maybe a meter wide. There's one on the side of the Dev pub, and one on the empty office building across the street from us. It's a clever bit of graffiti - if that is the right term (it looks like it's just a massive sticker). But what does it all mean?

Learning to Follow Jesus

2009-05-16T19:07:00.002-04:00

One of the things I want for my girls is that they learn what it means to follow Jesus by walking along that path with us. We've been handing out small bags to welcome traders to the new market that opened up down the street from our house. It's one small way of bringing Jesus' love to them. The girls were really excited about the whole idea, and insisted on helping put the bags together.

Lemon Cupcakes

2009-05-11T13:20:00.004-04:00

Right, so Somer has stopped blogging about food, but that doesn't mean she's stopped baking (nor have I stopped eating). Last night one of our neighbors invited us around for her birthday. These are the cupcakes Somer made. I cannot provide a recipe, but I can tell you that in addition to the lemon gummy candy on top, and the lemony cream-cheese icing, they also had a bit of lemon curd hidden in the middle. I can also tell you that the lemon curd was too sweet for me, so I scooped it out with a spoon.

I like big bumpers...

2009-05-11T13:07:00.003-04:00

So says the writing on the back of the Streetcar van. Streetcar is a company that provides car rental services in half-hour increments, with as little as 1 hour advance notice. We've used them since 2006 and have found it very useful to have a car (or in this case a van) available to us on short notice. I've lost count of how many cars they have parked around London - there are 3 vans and about 15 cars within a short walk from our flat. We've used them mostly for trips to Ikea or to pick up stuff for the homeless shelter. But on several occasions we've also helped friends move, as was the case earlier this afternoon. I was taking a when I first noticed the aforementioned quote. Why I decided to take a picture of the van open, instead of with the doors closed so you could actually see the writing on the back, I don't know.

Annoyed at Photoshop Elements

2009-05-08T12:15:00.002-04:00

Well, not so much at Elements as at the general slowness of my computer. My version of Elements only runs on OS 9, and as the new Intel Macs don't run OS 9, I have to use my old Powerbook, which is woefully under-powered. I was helping my friend Al with the sign for his new shop, which is a 3x1 meter beast of a file - 400+ Mb. Every time I made a change I had to wait a few minutes for it to render. We played a game of chess in between changes.

Holiday in the Park

2009-05-08T12:04:00.004-04:00

This past weekend was the first holiday weekend, meaning the start of summer and an extra day off work. As usual, the weekend started off with some glorious weather to lure us into a false sense of hope that summer was in deed upon us. By Monday, the cloud, cold, and wind had returned. But we made the most of the sunshine, getting to the park on Saturday. Our friend Caro joined us with her dog (empty can of Heineken firmly in his mouth like a chew toy). We walked back past our favorite bakery and took cupcakes back to Caro's boat.

London Marathon

2009-05-08T11:53:00.003-04:00

This is woefully late, but we went to Shannon's apartment a couple weeks ago to watch the London Marathon. She lives in Wapping, and the race went right in front of her building. She is also starting an enterprise that involves selling repurposed jewelery. The girls helped her with some of her necklaces.

Excitement at the book table

2009-04-01T05:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Oli and I went to put our book table up at its regular spot. The area is usually busy since it's right next to the local supermarket. But today, there was more activity than usual.
It seems there had been an attempted robbery on an armored truck just a few minutes before we arrived. Police were still pulling up and taping the area off as we set up our table.
We never did find out if the robbers were caught, but it didn't look like they got very far in their getaway car. It was abandoned about 30 yards down the road, boxed in by a workman's truck.

Spring Flowers

2009-03-30T10:45:00.005-04:00

Right, so I love flowers. I know that probably means there's something wrong with me, since one of those Psych tests includes a question about being a florist...but I don't care. The flowers are out in the park, and we're loving it. The last picture, where Andi looks all dramatic, was set up and shot by Jodie.

Sudanese Playboys

2009-03-30T10:34:00.003-04:00

Here's a shot from the Sudanese Playboys gig I went to with my friend Emmett. That's his friend Manuel on drums. Not the best picture, I know, but I really enjoyed these guys. Check out their myspace page (follow the link on their name).

God Phone

2009-03-07T08:45:00.002-05:00

Found this article this morning, about an artist who set up a mobile phone and voicemail for God. He says he won't listen to the messages, which I think is a shame - I'd love to hear what people say on the message. Maybe that's a bit nosy, I don't know.

London Snow Storm

2009-02-02T12:12:00.008-05:00

The biggest snowfall in 18 years has hit London, and we are loving it. It started flurrying off and on yesterday afternoon, and by the evening we had a light dusting. The girls went out to check out the snow on the 55 sign.

We had a few friends over for cake for my birthday last night. Then some of us went to Eclectic Electric night at Inspiral Lounge. On the way, we had a snowball fight in the courtyard by the canal. Oli took a few shots to the face.

It kept on snowing, and by the time the music and poetry finished at Inspiral, there were a couple inches on the ground. We ran into a trader I know from the market, and decided to walk with him up to Primrose Hill. On the way, we picked up a few sledding implements. It was a beautiful scene at the top, and pretty good sledding.

Then this morning we went back out with the girls, and called up one of their friends to meet us at the hill. The best runs had iced up overnight, and were too fast and dangerous for the kids. You can see all the people crowded at the top of the hill - people were snowboarding down, and someone had even built a ski jump - it was mayhem. So we had a snowball fight instead, then headed for a cafe. It's currently 5:30 at night, and still coming down steadily.

Inspiral Lounge

2009-01-24T11:21:00.003-05:00

I snapped this random shot at Inspiral Lounge while waiting for a friend. We were meeting for coffee, where we discussed the merits of religion and faith (he's a an atheist, though not one of the ones behind the bus campaign sited below). In the meantime I took a few pictures and played with a new app I have on my phone that makes them look a bit funky. I like the colors in this one, it gives the same cool, calming vibe as the music and light show that was playing that night.

There's Probably No God

2009-01-24T11:13:00.003-05:00

I tried to get a picture of the new Atheist/Humanist bus poster campaign promoting their views, but the sun was too low and washed out the words. The sides of the 29 bus route in North London now read: There's probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy life.
The 29 bus route is one of London's most dangerous, with fights, robberies, and the occasional stabbing. I guarantee you the misery of the 29 bus is not caused by its disproportionately large number of god-fearing riders. So sure, go ahead and enjoy life. Just don't try doing it on the 29 bus.

Woolworths Closing

2009-01-24T11:09:00.003-05:00

Before Christmas we saw the effects of the economic downturn first hand, with the closing of our local Woolworths. All the 'Woolies' in the UK have now closed. On this particular day, the Socialist Party was demonstrating out front, supposedly in support of Woolworths workers. I think it had more to do with them seizing a deeply felt issue to push their agenda forward, but then again, I'm a bit of a cynic.

Lake District

2009-01-24T11:05:00.003-05:00

Over Christmas we got out of the city and went up to the Lake District for a couple nights. We stayed in this little hostel with a great fireplace in the common room, and visited a couple of old abbeys and historic sites. These two were taken at Shap Abbey.

Pizza and Mom

2008-12-16T09:41:00.004-05:00

Two of the most comforting things around. My mom has been here for the past week, shopping, going to school plays, and generally fitting into the craziness of our schedule. On Sunday the girls and I took her to our favorite pizza place while Somer got the house ready for her knitting group Christmas party.
If you can see the sign in the background, you'll know why it's our favorite pizza place: £3.50 pizzas!! It's an amazing price for probably the best pizza we've found in London. It reminds us of K&J pizza in Glenside, PA. Greasy, cheesy, and cheap.

Lucha Libre

2008-12-13T16:55:00.003-05:00

My friend who works at the Roundhouse called the other day to ask if we wanted tickets to see Lucha Libre - Mexican wrestling. So John, Oli, and I went down that night to check it out.
What a show!! The picture does it no justice, but it's the best I could do. I should have taken an audio recording of the guy behind me. He kept shouting things like:
'Kick him in the knee'
'Not the Chest Slap'
'Throw him over the rope'

The Stages of Dan

2008-11-26T16:06:00.002-05:00

We have really been enjoying watching filming for Balcony TV over at Yumchaa. Last night Somer and I went with her mom to watch, and we realized that the girls would enjoy it as well. They did an extra filming session tonight, so we took them over to watch. They did great. Jodie got on really well with the presenter, who chatted to her in between takes. The highlight for me was one of the bands that played last night. Their name? The Stages of Dan.

Bond Street Lights

2008-11-22T16:04:00.002-05:00

On Thursday night, we met up with a few other World Harvest folks down on Bond Street. They were turning on the Christmas lights, and had shut down the whole street for pedestrians only. Snow machines blew soapy 'snow' all up and down the street - it was beautiful. The kids are here between two guys juggling.

Slack Top

2008-11-22T16:01:00.003-05:00

Went to Slack Top Christian Retreat Centre a few weeks ago. It's up in the wild Yorkshire moors. We had a really nice time walking in the woods, listening to the wind howl at night, and worshiping God. Here the girls are leading all of us in worship through a dance the kids put together with Fraggle, one of the leaders at the weekend.

World Record Attempt

2008-11-22T15:56:00.003-05:00

Last week while walking to our prayer meeting in the market I ran across this attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. The record? Longest lineup of pizzas, edge to edge.

Snowing

2008-10-28T17:58:00.004-04:00

Just a quick post to say it's snowing in London!! Yep, it's October 28 and it's snowing. Won't last long, I know, but let me revel in it anyway! There's gotta be some upside to the sun going down at 4 PM.

[Update] Just got back from heading down to 55. It was snowing pretty hard, and we now have a layer of slush on the streets and sidewalk, with parked cars covered in white. It was Tom's birthday down at the bar. He was working, so a few of his family and friends came in to celebrate with him. I brought him the first snowball of the winter w/ a birthday candle on top. It didn't last too long...snowballs and candles don't really mix.

Frieze Art Fair

2008-10-19T17:34:00.002-04:00

We've had another glorious fall weekend in London. Yesterday the family took a walk through Regents Park and checked out the sculptures from the Frieze Art Fair. This one is my favorite (or maybe it's just the only one I managed to pull my camera out for). Anyway, it was fun seeing the park we love transformed into an open art gallery. We walked through the free section - we weren't about to pay £25 each to get into the main exhibit.

Art Show Update

2008-10-19T16:11:00.002-04:00

The Shelter Art Show has been open since Wednesday evening. We had about 40 at our opening night, and it felt quite full in the side chapel at St. Michaels, which we had filled with artwork during the previous two days. The Mayor of Camden even showed up to help us officially open the show.
Tomorrow the exhibition will be open in the evening, and I'll be doing a few private viewings in the afternoon. Not to potential big-spenders, though. A couple of the classes from St. Michael's school will be coming down for a look around the gallery. I have to come up with something interesting for the kids to do - I may have them draw based on the theme of the show.
I'll try to get a few good pictures up tomorrow. Not too good, though, since many of the artists rely on selling their originals and prints. Having high-quality jpegs on the web would kind of defeat that purpose.

Balcony TV

2008-10-14T16:40:00.003-04:00

Just got back from watching fliming for Balcony TV London. Balcony TV is musicians playing on a balcony. Started in Dublin, now happening also in London. As it happens, the London balcony is just across the canal from us. Our friends at Yumchaa tea shop invited us to come over and check it out - the balcony in question happens to be theirs. We've had a leak in our flat, so I had to wait until the plumber sorted it all out (turned out to be the toilet above us...supply, not waste, thankfully for the cleanliness minded among us). So of course I was a bit late, but did manage to catch the end, hear some really good music, and chug a quick Red Chai. Now it's off to bed to rest up for the opening of our art show tomorrow.

Canal Concert

2008-10-01T07:19:00.002-04:00

We've been having some great weather over the past few weekends. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. During the afternoon we heard some live music drifting over from the canal/market area, and we went to investigate. A band had set up shop on top of a canal boat that was moored in the lock. The girls danced around in any open space they could find, which was hard to come by given the number of people who packed the bars, bridges, and walkways around the lock.

Football

2008-10-01T07:11:00.003-04:00

Prior to a tragic loss to Hull over the weekend, Arsenal dismantled Sheffield Utd. 6-0 in Carling Cup action last week. As it was Carling Cup, tickets were only £10, so I went with a couple of buddies. Tom (center) got the tickets, and we managed to sit 11 rows from the pitch! We saw Arsenal's first three goals up close, but then were far from most of the second half action, as they switched halves and Arsenal continued to dominate.
You may notice that I'm getting more pictures up these days - thank Virgin Mobile for that. They just sent me an upgraded phone with a better camera. Sorry about cutting you out, John, my self-portrait skills aren't that great.

Religion is Stupid

2008-10-01T07:08:00.002-04:00

We went for a walk along the canal this weekend and stumbled into an area of Camden we'd never been to before. It's hard to get to and feels quite isolated. We realized we had looked at a place to rent in the area when we first moved here, and are glad we didn't like the flat. I saw this stuck up on one of the signs by the canal.

Long Walk & Camden on USA TV

2008-09-22T04:49:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we went for an afternoon walk outside the city. We hopped on the train for 40 minutes and half-way through the ride, Andi says 'This looks like America!' Translation: 'I can see green grass and trees!' The plan was to walk a little bit, stop at a pub, and then finish the walk back at the station. However, shortly after leaving the pub, we missed a turn somewhere and ended up wandering around these fields for an extra hour, so by the time we got back to the train station we were exhausted.

Then last night, I watched the Ravens game. Here's the crazy part: There's a new advertisement for Windows called "I'm a PC". On the one that aired last night, there are lots of people who say 'I'm a PC, and I wear a suit' who are wearing all types of specialist suits. Then one guy says 'I'm a PC, and I don't wear a suit'. Behind him is clearly visible the pub that's around the corner from our flat! He's standing on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the canal and leads into the West Yard of Camden Lock market. I was so excited I stopped the game and rewound it to make sure.

Shelter Art Show

2008-09-18T11:07:00.005-04:00

Our annual art show to raise money for the homeless shelter we work with is in advanced planning. We have a venue (St. Michael's again), artists (currently six, we'd like a couple more), and plenty of enthusiasm. What we don't have is great marketing/advertising skill. How do we actually get the word out so that we get people actually coming; and not just people, the RIGHT people? Those aren't rhetorical questions...anybody have any suggestions?

Market Prayer

2008-09-18T11:07:00.002-04:00

This morning we met for prayer at Yumchaa in the Market. It was only two of us, so quite tiny. Spent half-an-hour praying for our friends and naming the things that we see in the market and in our own lives that call us to turn our attention and our hope away from God. Our hope is that as we name these things, the resurrection of Jesus will cause these things to lose their power over us and our city.
For those of you who follow our lives closely, you may notice that we switched the morning of prayer from Tuesday to Thursday. While Tuesday was good for the tea-shop because it was so quiet, we found that it's been TOO quiet in the rest of the market, and so we've opted for Thursday when more people are around.

Bowling

2008-09-16T18:33:00.002-04:00

We took the girls bowling this afternoon. We were intending it to be a family thing, but they each really wanted to bring a friend. So in the end we took four kids bowling. It was a blast. The lane has these ramps that let you put the ball on top, take aim, and then push the ball to send it flying down the lane. It was fun taking the girls and sharing the experience with their friends from school.

Harrison's Rocks

2008-09-15T06:41:00.008-04:00

I went to Harrison's Rocks in Sussex yesterday afternoon with my friend Dave. It's a popular climbing destination, and our first trip out of London for some 'real' outdoor climbing. The rocks are Sandstone, which makes for messy holds and slippery shoes, so not the best experience from a pure climbing standpoint. BUT, the weather was absolutely perfect, and it was great to get out of the city. We said "The Climber's Prayer" that I had written (i.e. stolen from the psalms) and then hiked about a half-mile into the woods to get to the rocks. I could have stopped without even climbing, the scenery was so beautiful. But the climbing was fun too. Some pictures:

Dave setting up our top rope on our first climb

Me and Dave (squinting into the sun - yes, it is sunny sometimes here in England)

Me jumping a small chasm to get down after a bit of bouldering

Dave flying above me

Dev Meeting

2008-09-15T06:33:00.003-04:00

"The Dev" is our local goth/alternative pub, serving Hobgoblin beer. Hobgoblin's tag line on their poster is "Afraid of the dark, lager boy?" with a picture of a mischievious goblin holding a pint of the redish drink. I had my first 'meeting' in the Dev a few days ago. One of the artists who is doing work for our art show in October agreed to meet there to discuss the details. Here's a pic of the sign above the bar. It reads:
No Smoking
No Drugs
No Younguns savvy?
The Staff are the law
Do not startle the trained monkeys

First Day of School

2008-09-03T05:22:00.004-04:00

The new school year started today, and the girls were very excited about it. Andi couldn't sleep last night - at one point she came out and asked if she should start getting ready (this was at 11 o'clock at night, mind you). This morning they woke up early and got their new uniforms on. They especially love their new shoes that we got at Target while we were back in the States.
They packed their lunches while I made breakfast, and we even had time for a few pictures before we all made the 10-minute walk to school. Jodie had made a card for her new teacher, and Andi made a few for some of her friends. When we got to school, Jodie wanted someone to walk her to her new classroom, but Andi said she would go up by herself. The halls were crowded with kids and parents trying to get settled into the first day. Here are a couple of shots from the morning:

The Eye

2008-08-30T20:44:00.003-04:00

I'd say my new profile picture is appropriate - seems my eyes are always wide open these days. It's 1:45 AM and I'm still awake. We arrived back in London on Monday, but I can't get seem to shake the time difference. Feeling very tired during the day and wide awake at night. The girls have been staying up really late too. Hope they adjust before school starts.

In the USA

2008-08-20T14:45:00.003-04:00

We've been traveling around the States for the last few weeks, telling stories from Camden and spending time with family and friends. I've spoken at six different churches so far, and have one more to go this coming Sunday. I'm totally exhausted.
But, it's been really good for us to be here and reconnect. It's also a good reminder of how far we've come since moving to Camden two years ago. It's hard for us to see it sometimes, because of how close we are to things, but to get the perspective of people who care about what we're doing and are observing from a bit of distance has been very encouraging.
I'm hoping to start blogging a bit more this autumn. I'll try focusing on pictures more, as lots of people have said they appreciate even little snippets from our life in London. We'll see how it goes - I can't promise anything grand.

Gardening in the middle of the road

2008-07-24T18:02:00.002-04:00

Just back from a great gardening session. A planter in the middle of an intersection has been transformed from weedy mess to beautiful garden, all in the space of an hour. I got to meet Richard, the guru of London guerrilla gardening, and a couple of other folks who came out to help. The patch was mangled by bindweed, but once we got that out we found some really beautiful plants underneath. Add a couple of Euonymus and Fuschia, and job's done.

Beautiful Day

2008-07-01T16:03:00.003-04:00

The weather is amazing today. 27 degrees (that's about 80 F) and bright sun. We met in the market for prayer this morning, finishing with a reading from Mark 1 to give us fuel for the day. Then this afternoon, wanting to make the most of the weather, I met with two other guys in Regents park for a bit of Lectio Divina - which is basically reading a text of Scripture several times through as a means of praying. Again we used Mark 1, this time reading a bit more. For one of the guys, it was the first time he'd used the Bible to pray like that, and for me, it was the first time I'd prayed with others in Regents park. We all really enjoyed it, and definitely met with God. It looks like we might make the afternoon thing a regular occurrence, maybe twice weekly or something like that. It's good. Camden needs it. I need it.

Foreskin's Lament

2008-07-01T15:53:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday I went to see Foreskin's Lament. Not being a regular consumer of plays, you might wonder what I was doing there. A friend of mine that I met at our regular Tuesday book table was playing one of the rugby players - a bit of a flippant, no-cares kind of guy who's easy-going approach to the game is confronted by the death of one of his teammates. The play mixes a bit of light-hearted comedy with powerful social commentary to great effect. The first and second acts were extreme contrasts, the first taking place in a locker room and involving jokes and banter between the guys; the second taking place at an after-match party and involving more intense dialogue and an incredibly powerful Maori dance (traditionally done by the New Zealand rugby team before matches). It wasn't a 'feel-good' story, so it's hard to say 'I enjoyed it' - because actually it was more about feeling the intensity of the social issues as felt through the conflict of the main character. But it was good.

Visitors

2008-06-23T06:10:00.002-04:00

In addition to everything else going on this week, we have several groups of people from the good 'ol USA visiting us. My team leader has a group of people from his old church back in Virginia coming to Camden for a few days, and then some high-schoolers from our church in Philly are coming on Friday (I think...gotta confirm that, come to think of it). We'll be putting them to good use praying for Camden and hopefully they'll help us see our city in new ways.
I was reading a book called Urban Christian a few weeks ago. It's by a man who was a pastor in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s. All kinds of horrible stuff going on then - race riots, gang warfare, the failure of basic governmental services. He says that people who live in urban settings tend to build up psychological filters to keep themselves from being overwhelmed by all the audio/visual/relational stimulation that comes from city life. But this means that we can fail to see things about our city that are right in front of us. Groups like the ones visiting us bring fresh eyes and ears, unchecked by the filters we've built up. They have their own filters, no doubt, but those filters were designed for somewhere else, so they see things about Camden that we tend to miss.

Euro 2008

2008-06-22T18:19:00.003-04:00

We've been keeping up on the Euro 2008 football tournament, but to be honest, there isn't much local interest. The English were put out at the qualifying stage back in the winter, which left us only with the Austrians to root for (one of our close friends is from Vienna). Sadly, the Austrians were unable to overcome Germany in their final group match, which has us clutching at straws to find connections to a team. Turkey has provided some very exciting matches - two unthinkable come from behind victories.
Anyway, tonight we had some friends over, but the Spain/Italy match didn't really hold our attention, and we decided to play Settlers of Catan instead of watching the whole match. Though I did manage to situate myself so that I could still see the screen. I was banker, so in the midst of watching I'd hand out cards and try to remember what move I wanted to make next. Oh yeah, and I still managed to win. Look out Erik, I'm coming for you.

Update on the garden

2008-06-22T18:17:00.003-04:00

So last week we discovered that our garden had been trashed by some people. Plants pulled up and trampled on, flower stalks broken off. It was a bit discouraging, but we got back to work again and it's starting to look really good. One more week or so and we'll have all the weeds cleared out and we should have plants growing nicely.

Primate Planting

2008-06-05T06:27:00.003-04:00

Can you guess from the title what I did last night? Here's a hint: The title uses a really bad pun on the audible similarity between the words Gorilla and Guerrilla. Still no?
I went Guerrilla Gardening. To be honest, this wasn't my first attempt at sprucing up some of Camden's neglected public spaces, but it was the most successful. I met up with four others that I connected with through a local website, and brought along one of the other guys on the team. We hit a raised planter along the canal near our house. It was overgrown and filled with weeds, with a few nice plants mixed in. We weeded it, turned up the soil, pruned some of the existing bushes, and added a nice mix of flowering plants and herbs.
The police came by at one point, and warned us to be careful of needles because the area was a hang-out for junkies. This was confirmed when we found a needle, which we removed to our improvised 'sharps box'. Other than the warning, though, the officers were encouraging and glad to see us there - I think we pushed the junkies off, at least for the few hours we were there.
At the end of the evening, we celebrated with a drink at the local pub; but not before stopping to water a few herbs and tomato plants that one of our fellow guerrillas had planted last week.

How many Texans...

2008-05-25T05:30:00.004-04:00

How many Texans does it take to fix a mobile phone?

In our case, maybe four. We have four guys from Texas with us for the next week. Their first hour here was spent trying to make their phone work so they could call home. They are part of a church that we connected with a couple of years ago. Since then, they have shown incredible love and care for us. As evidenced by the year's supply of Kraft Mac n Cheese that arrived with them, along with all kinds of other goodies.

We'll be taking them to Speaker's Corner this afternoon, followed by church with metal heads in Camden. Then they'll join us for game night at our house. Next week, they'll be helping with our book table, meeting new people in the market, spending lots of time praying for Camden, and helping run our Green Fair stall. Should be great. We always find we draw lots of energy when these guys visit. If any of their wives read this - Thanks for sending your men for the week!

Gardening

2008-05-12T09:57:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, I did a short talk at Inspiral Lounge as part of a learning day we helped put on called Deep Ecology. The idea behind the day was that humanity is deeply connected to the world around us. There is the obvious physical dependence, but there's also a spiritual element to that connection. Our role as humans in the world is connected to our relationship to God. We answer to God for our treatment of his world, and he reveals himself to us in creation.
I specifically spoke about why gardens might be good places to meet God - the silence, the reminder of who God made us to be, the markers that point us to God's beauty - among other things. It went pretty well, and the staff at Inspiral were particularly brilliant.
One of the results of the talk is that a few of us have decided to do a bit of gardening, trying to make our part of the world a bit greener. We've been looking for unused and rather ugly patches of ground where we can add a few bits of beauty. We're doing our first dig this afternoon. Will update with how it goes soon.
{update} So, it went fairly well. The first location we had chosen was no good, as it was full of roots and the ground was incredibly hard. We almost gave up, but then someone spotted a tiny little patch, perfect for a few of the plants we had with us. We dropped them in, topped up with some organic compost, and walked away. We'll be watering and dropping by to make sure everything stays alive over the next week.

Last Gasp?

2008-05-06T16:12:00.002-04:00

It's been a month since I last posted. I'm giving this blog one more shot at life. I'm going to try doing one post a week for the next month. If I can stick with it, I'll keep the blog going. Otherwise...

I picked up an old book on urban churches recently. I had read it before, and found a note saying 'blog this' next to a bit of Chinese wisdom. I never did. Here it is:

Go to the people,
Live among them.
Learn from them.
Start with what they know.
Build on what they have.
But of the best of leaders,
When their task is accomplished,
Their work is done,
The people all remark
"We have done it ourselves."

A day in the life of a market trader

2008-03-29T14:16:00.004-04:00

Well, not so much a day, as an hour. But it felt like a day.
One of the guys I've gotten to know in the market runs a Japanese animation stall in the Stables Market. He needed to go pick up keys to a flat, and texted to ask if I could cover for him.
So I spent the hour standing around, trying to find a way that I could watch the shop without breathing down the neck of each and every person who walked it. Someone asked about Dragonball-Z, and I had to mumble that it wasn't my shop, so I had no idea. Half-an-hour later I spotted some D-Z keychains, but she was long gone.
After about twenty minutes, the most exciting thing happened: Someone bought something! At the side of his little stall he also sells zipper bags. These aren't just bags with a zipper. They are bags made out of one long zipper; unzip the bag, and you've got a useless zipper, zip it up again, and you have a bag. Anyway, someone wanted to buy one. I was so excited!
They had been looking at the bags for about five minutes. I had to work hard not to stare at them while they browsed - didn't want to make them feel too awkward. But then the questions came. 'Do you have one of the black-and-white ones that shows more white?' I make a show of looking...'No we don't, sorry.' 'Do you take Euros?' What are you nuts? This is England. Well, ok, actually, I'd be happy to take Euros, but I don't know what the exchange rate is...'No, sorry, just Pounds.' So they pick out a blue and brown bag for six Pounds. The girl hands over a ten Pound note, and then her mom gives me a one pound coin. I open the change purse my friend gave me and see that it only has one pound coins in it. So I give the one pound back and start to take out four more for change. 'Don't you have any five pound notes?' Sheesh, I'm looking like a really unhelpful trader. 'No, sorry, just coins. But thanks, and have a great afternoon!' Gotta play up the happy American role...it counteracts the string of negative answers I've given.
The rest of my stint goes pretty well - I ended up selling five more bags, and had someone ask a question about an animé product that I actually knew about! Ok, so the question was 'What's in this box?' And my answer was 'Uh, it's a wallet.' But hey, I got to be helpful.
I learned a few things, though.
First was the absolute terror most of the traders must feel when they come to work every day, knowing that their livelihood depends on the willingness of the mass of shoppers to part with their cash. So many of the people who passed by would idly reach out and brush the merchandise, maybe make a comment to their disinterested partner, and move on. Clearly most people were in the market for the experience, snapping pictures when they could, drinking in the vibrant atmosphere. But that doesn't translate into spending money.
Second is the boredom/exhaustion. It's tiring standing up for long periods of time, and more so when there isn't much to do.
Third, and I think this is most important, is that the market traders are invisible to the average tourist. Except for the crazy-haired, multicolor-clad sales clerks at Cyberdog, nobody was interested in the people who were selling stuff. They just wanted to see the STUFF. Which is part of what has driven us to try to get to know the market traders and care for them. They are the forgotten element in Camden market.

Seder Meal

2008-03-21T12:11:00.002-04:00

Last night is the date that Christians remember the 'Last Supper' - the celebration of the Passover by Jesus and his disciples. For some reason I haven't been able to figure out, the western Church Calendar does not coincide with the Jewish date for Passover.
In any case, last night we celebrated a very simple Seder meal. I found an English version here, and my friend read parts of a Hebrew version.
Seven of us sat around the table, and we started the meal by reading God's explanation of the Passover to Moses in Exodus, and then the account of Jesus' celebration from Matthew. Then we sat down to eat the Lamb, because everyone was so hungry, and afterwards walked through the different items on the table and their meaning. We both thought it went really well, though next year we'll probably take a little more time to prepare, as it can get quite elaborate.

Climber's Prayer

2008-03-21T11:55:00.002-04:00

David and I decided we need a prayer for when we climb. So he set me the task to find/write one. I admit, I stole the first half from a 2,500 year old poem (aka Psalm 121).

I lift up my eyes to the mountains -
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;

Father, thank you for this mountain,
and for the ability we have to climb it.
It is so much bigger than we are,
and reminds us how great you are.
Please keep our rope together, our knots tight,
our harness secure, and our belayer alert.
Through Jesus our Lord.

I got the fear

2008-03-20T13:26:00.003-04:00

My friend Dave and I have been rock climbing each week for about 3 months now. We are planning to go up to Wales this spring for a climbing weekend. Outdoor climbing takes a lot of equipment, so we're slowly building up our collection, and our comfort with using it. We bought a rope and some quick-draws (those things you use to clip the rope into the anchors in the wall), and started lead climbing last week.
Lead climbing is different from top-roping, in that if you fall while climbing on a top rope, you don't really fall, you just kind of slip off the wall, because you're tied into the rope at the top of the wall. But in lead climbing, you start with the rope on the ground and clip into anchors as you go up. If you fall off, you fall twice the distance you've climbed above your last anchor. With anchors every five feet or so, you never fall very far, but it feels like a lot when you're clinging onto the wall.
On Tuesday, I didn't realize that I could reach a clip point. Dave thought I was getting ready to clip in, so he gave me some slack in the rope. I slipped off. Result? I fell about 10 feet, and in the process, got my leg caught on one of the quick-draws. I have a nasty bruise and rope burn on the back of my knee. But more importantly, it ruined my night, because after that I was under the control of fear, and I couldn't climb anything.

Off to Brazil

2008-03-03T06:30:00.003-05:00

Fr. Nicholas, the priest in charge of the parish that runs the girls' school, left yesterday to be a missionary in Brazil. He is moving into the City of God in Rio de Janeiro. We will miss him very much, as God has used him to care for many people here in Camden Town. The photo is of him serving communion one last time yesterday. It was very moving to receive the bread from him. The girls had found a friend from Andi's class at the service, and she came up with us. Nicholas took it in turn to bless all three of them, and as he did, I got tears in my eyes.

Photos

2008-03-03T06:23:00.006-05:00

A few photos I promised to put up earlier. First, two pics from the More Than Dust gig, showing my friend Alex and the bassist. Then a couple of shots taken by a friend with a better camera than mine during the fire.

Shabbat Dinner

2008-02-29T11:44:00.004-05:00

Our friends are still with us, and as he is Israeli, he has offered to make us a special Shabbat dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to it, but don't really know what to expect. Will post more later, maybe some pics.

Guests

2008-02-28T06:39:00.002-05:00

We've got some friends staying with us for a few days. They were given 3 days eviction notice by their previous landlord, and couldn't find something before she made them leave. So we told them they could sleep at ours until they find a new flat. They may only be here for a few days, but we're hoping to make the most of it.

Open Door Policy

2008-02-25T08:20:00.002-05:00

So, we try to keep an open door policy around here. Whenever someone wants to come over, they can. Our friends frequently drop by, or simply wave up at us from across the street. But this past weekend, I was pushed a little too far.
As I came in the house, I heard a small click in the lock. Didn't think anything of it until I went out again later that evening, and noticed that the door hadn't latched. In fact, the bolt was stuck inside the door and wasn't coming out again. We were about to have people over for a worship meal, so I couldn't do anything about it right then. By the time the evening wound down it was too late to fix the lock.
Now, some people would call me a bit paranoid, but I refuse to sleep with the door unlocked. I tend to jump awake at sounds as it is, and knowing that our door could swing wide open at any moment was just too much. So I did what any self-respecting man would do in that situation. I piled up chairs in front of the door. And I kept piling them, until they were wedged in between the door, the wall, and the step in such a way that nobody would be able to get the door open, no matter how hard they pushed.
Next morning I fixed the lock.

More than dust

2008-02-21T12:03:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday I went to a More Than Dust show at Camden's Purple Turtle. The guitarist is part of our little band of Jesus followers, and he often leads singing at our Thursday evening worship meal. It's bemusing to see the Alex I know as acoustic worship leader on stage with his head bowed, long hair obscuring his face. They put on a great show, though. Thumping good metal.

Camden Cowboys

2008-02-14T15:20:00.003-05:00

One of the market traders has written a song about the market and all its crazy inhabitants. You can listen to Camden Cowboys on his MySpace page. Check it out - we'd love to see as many people as possible listening to this and supporting Kareem and the other traders.

Market Prayer Vigil

2008-02-14T15:13:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday the High Street reopened and people were allowed to walk past the site of last week's fire. We spent about an hour walking around the affected area and through the markets that weren't burned, talking with traders and praying. Kathy met one of the shop-owners who's clothing store was destroyed. She had been praying that God would bring hope, and they ended up talking for a while about his love of Camden and his desire to rebuild.
It's clear that the fire has deeply impacted the traders who lost their shops. We've decided to spend a few minutes each day praying at the site of the fire, and I've e-mailed a few friends to come and hold a short prayer vigil at the site this coming Saturday. If anyone in Camden is interested in joining us, leave a comment and I'll get in touch with the details.

Camden Fire

2008-02-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

A large fire broke out earlier this evening, about two blocks from our house. From what we could tell, it looked like one of the six markets in Camden was burned, along with a number of high street shops and the Hawley Arms pub. They've got the whole area blocked off, so we should be able to tell more tomorrow. Here's a shot looking back up the canal towards the fire.

[update] Tim is correct, everything we've heard is that nobody was seriously injured. It's past midnight, and there's still a good bit of smoke, but no more flames visible, and several trucks have started to leave the scene. MSN has the story here, plus a nice little description of the Camden we know and love.

Cyber Wallet

2008-01-11T06:53:00.000-05:00

I've made a few improvements with my second wallet, including adding a change section in the middle and using plastic that is a bit more flexible. I've also managed to incorporate the company logo from the bag I used.

Recycled Plastic Wallet

2008-01-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

My old wallet bit the dust several months ago, but I've continued to use it out of laziness and cheapness. Well, I'll admit the 'cheapness' hasn't changed, but I have done something about getting a new wallet. I saw on Amazon this cool Duct Tape Wallet. Which gave me the idea to make a wallet out of stuff in my house. I realized that if I ironed old plastic grocery bags at the right temperature, I could get flat, flexible, and strong plastic sheets, that I could then melt together to make a wallet. Here's the first prototype. If anybody wants to help test and refine them, drop me a comment and I'll make you one.

Gingerbread and Beef

2007-12-22T17:08:00.000-05:00

This morning we headed down to Shannon Hopkins' flat for some holiday baking. The Jones family was down from Orkney, and they make a gingerbread house every year at Christmas. We made the dough last night and refrigerated it. By the time we arrived, Samuel had the blueprints drawn up and ready to go. The only complication?
The Joneses had brought a MASSIVE rib roast that needed to be cooked as well. So we had to juggle racks of building materials around pots of vegetables in the oven, with one eye always on that roast, patiently waiting its turn. Andrew explained to me that they'd been saving this roast for about seven months, as it was part of the half-cow they purchased from their neighbor in the spring.
In the end, the cookies got baked and the roast had its turn. The gingerbread house went up, along with my addition: an out-house around the back. Then we feasted, first on meat, then on the house. They had a great rule for the kids: if you eat a sweet, you have to eat the gingerbread underneath it too!
We do have a few pictures, I'll see if I can get them up tomorrow.

Random Pics

2007-12-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to take some of the pictures off my camera phone and put them up here, but keep forgetting. Anyway, here they are, some are quite old. One is a fireplace built out of organic vegetables from our weekly delivery. Another is yours truly dressed as Edgar Allen Poe for a recent fancy dress party. Finally, there's a shot from the blues jam that happens every week across the street - some American visitors of our teammates were making a guest appearance with a friend of mine who's a regular at the jams.

Winter Wonderland

2007-12-19T15:58:00.000-05:00

Took the girls to the Winter Wonderland today at Hyde Park, to celebrate the last day of school before the holiday break. They saw Father Christmas, and Andi told him she wants a reindeer for Christmas! It was bitter cold so we didn't stay too long. They watched people ice skating for a while, and said they want to try it sometime, so I think we might make that an activity for one of their days off.

Climbing Christmas Dinner

2007-12-19T15:50:00.001-05:00

Last night was my last climbing wall session of the year. There was a dinner planned for members of the climbing club, and about 10 of us braved the freezing temperatures for 2 hrs of climbing before heading off to dinner.
Freezing, you ask? At an indoor rock wall? Yes, it was about 32 F last night, thanks to the architects who decided to put netting instead of windows along the top of the three glass walls that surround the climbing surface. It's basically a covered outdoor wall, even though it's almost entirely enclosed.
Anyway, after some good climbing, we headed off to the local Indian restaurant for vegetarian starters and good spicy chicken and rice to warm us up. I connected really well with another climber who has kids, and we talked for a while about being dads. Before we knew it, midnight arrived and the restaurant chucked us out; but a good time was had by all, and I finally feel like after a year of climbing and not really meeting anyone, I'm getting to connect to some of the other guys at the wall.

Shelter Art Show

2007-12-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

Thursday night was the opening of the Shelter art exhibition at St Michael’s church. Shelter was conceived as a way to bring together our artist friends from the market and help raise money for the cold weather shelter we’re involved in. Artists submitted pieces on the theme of shelter (some stuck closer to the theme than others). They will donate a portion of each sale to the cold weather shelter.
We had been running around like crazy for the last week picking up art, fixing lights at the appropriate angle, and hanging pieces. It was great fun and hard work, culminating in our opening night.
A good number of people came to the opening, mostly friends and invitees of the artists. Somer and Kathy kept the mulled wine flowing all night, which helped compensate for the cold in the building (it was warmer outside than it was inside, as St. Michael’s can't afford to turn on the heat).
So why did we do something like this? Aside from the obvious answer that it takes money to run the cold weather shelter, and this is one way to raise money, there's a bigger picture. Our vision for bringing people close to God who wouldn't ordinarily set foot in a traditional church means that we look for ways to include them in projects that are close to God's heart. God loves art, he loves artists, and he loves the weak and needy in Camden. This show brings those things together, and does it in a beautiful building that has been used to worship God for over 100 years. We want to help people experience God as they rub shoulders with his people and participate in his mission to shelter the homeless. And we hope that they have helped us better to know the shelter that God provides us as they've expressed the theme in their paintings, photographs, and sculptures.

Candles

2007-11-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Tonight after dinner we finished a project we had started last night. We have been burning lots of candles to brighten up the apartment during the long dark hours, and we had a few that had burned out their wick but left a lot of wax. So, I made candles with the girls. We started last night, using scraps of wool yarn for wicks, but I discovered later that wool does not burn very well. So we started over tonight with cotton wicks, which work quite well. Here are two of the finished products.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's a week late, but our Thanksgiving was so much fun, it's taken us all weekend to recover, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. So, our second Thanksgiving in Camden looked like this:
Somer's parents were here for a visit, so they walked the girls to school in the AM. We decided to get them out of school early so they could participate in the rest of the day with us, so at noon we all walked over to the school and got them. Then it was off to lunch at our favorite cheap place: McDonalds. I think six of us ate for about £15, which I'm pretty sure you can't even do in America anymore. Then it was off to:
Regents Park Turkey Bowl I
At 2 o'clock, we kicked off a game of American football with about 10 other guys (half of whom had never played before). It was incredible fun - people were laughing, diving in the mud, catching touchdown passes. It was great to see so many spectators as well. It didn't hurt that my team won by 6 touchdowns.
We capped the evening off with Turkey dinner at our place for 18. Having our friends celebrate with us was really special, and added to the feeling of being thankful, since we are so grateful for their friendship.

Theft of the root vegetables

2007-11-14T04:17:00.000-05:00

I never realized how many different kinds of root vegetables there are. Americans generally eat two kinds: potatoes and carrots; and radishes if you're really adventurous. We've been getting an assortment of veggies delivered to our house each week, mostly because it's cheaper than buying them at the store. As it's getting cold, most of them have been roots of various types: potatoes and carrots, of course, but also swede, beetroot, celery root, parsnip. The swede and celery root both looked like old deflated basketballs that had been left buried for a while.

Anyway, this morning we woke to a phone call from the company that delivers the box to say that after they had delivered it, someone stole it - somebody else in our building also gets a box and had called them. Hope they enjoy - maybe they'll know better than us what to do with all those roots.

A night in

2007-10-22T14:45:00.000-04:00

Tonight I'm experiencing something I rarely have since moving here. I'm having a night in. Somer's down at 55 with a few other women for the first night of their knitting club, and I've just put the girls to bed. Pretty strange feeling, actually. Not sure what I'll do...maybe a little Family Guy. Or maybe something a bit more productive.

Weekend - Art and the Heath

2007-10-21T04:55:00.000-04:00

We went to Hampstead Heath yesterday for a leaf-hunt. The girls collected leaves from different kinds of trees, and we brought them back to do rubbings, which we made into a leaf book. Andi says that I should also write about our lunch: we went to a burger place on the way up there. Below are a few pics. Today I'm meeting with an artist about an art show we're putting on in December. We're trying to gather local artists to sell some of their works to benefit the cold weather shelter in Camden, and this guy is willing to help us.

Conga Police

2007-10-19T09:56:00.002-04:00

I was down at the market today, having a jacket potato from the potato guys (true, that's not their real name, but that's what I call them. They're two young guys trying to make a go of it by selling potatoes with anything you could want on top: sausages, chili, mushrooms, tuna, coleslaw, whatever). Anyway, I was chatting to them and

eating my lunch, when this appeared in front of me:

Quite strange, actually. I think it was some sort of publicity appearance for the local news. Something about putting more officers on the streets. I suppose I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I certainly feel safer when I'm walking the girls home from school and there's a pair of officers nearby; but at the same time, I don't see how the council could possibly ever put enough officers around to curb the drug trade and the disorderly weekend behavior. They just end up pushing the dealers to different areas or making them wait until the officers go off duty. Maybe their hope is to simply push undesirable behavior into areas and times when most people who aren't involved in such things wouldn't be around. Which is an interesting way of looking at policing that I'd never thought about. Instead of trying to 'catch the bad guys' - you just hold them at bay long enough for ordinary people to finish their business, then you let them roam free.

But who knows? I just live here, and probably the police are doing a whole lot more than I realize. In any case, I certainly appreciate having them around; they've got a tough job, no matter how many of them there are.

Turn Left, or Fly

2007-10-19T04:39:00.000-04:00

We live smack in the middle of two supermarkets. OK, that didn't sound right - we don't actually live inside the supermarkets; let's try that again: Our flat is equidistant from the two local supermarkets. One is a four minute walk to the left. The other is a four minute walk to the right. For some reason, we always go to the one to the right. Probably because the store is a little bit nicer, more spacious, a little better quality meats, etc.

Why am I rambling thus? Because our regular supermarket has closed down for the week while they renovate it. So what was my initial reaction? It wasn't "Oh well, I guess we'll shop at the other store". It was "Oh no, what are we going to do? Maybe we should go on vacation until they finish the work".

As it happens, the week coincides with half-term, so the girls are out of school, and we could in theory go away. But that's not the point. Sometimes we are able to look at a problem and see the easiest and most obvious solution (in this case Turn Left!); while other times we tend to fixate on a particular solution that may be complicated, costly, and a bit irrational (I actually started to look for cheap flights to Prague...but we couldn't find any).

Jesus is Risen

2007-09-20T17:58:00.001-04:00

This time last year, our 'team' in Camden consisted of Somer, Me, and the girls. We were sitting on the floor, eating meals off our suitcases, and feeling very much alone.

Tonight, one year on, eight of us gathered in our home to worship God. Two more couples - one English, one American - and a young Englishman joined us. We have been in the middle of planning the course of our ministry here in Camden, and making time to worship Jesus was a natural extension of that. We were asked to prepare for the meetings by reading through the book of Acts, and I noticed just how many times the message of the early church focussed on the resurrection of Jesus. "Jesus is Risen" is the main cry of his people - one that still shapes all of life for us.