Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Dinner, Supper or Tea?

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During the 7.5 years they’ve lived in England, Zoe and Irene have been invited by their classmates for dinner, supper and tea, and have puzzled over the difference.

The words are class-indicators, we’ve said, and not wanted to spell it out further, lest they helpfully repeat our rough class guide to their classmates.
Kate Fox in her 2004 book, Watching the English, sorts out the confusion,

One of the most common indicators of social class in Britain is the name and times of meals.

The evening meal:
  • If you call it “tea“, and eat it at around half past six, you are almost certainly working class or of working class origin. (If you have a tendency to personalize the meal, calling it “my tea”, “our/us tea” and “your tea” – as in “I must be going home for my tea”, “what’s for us tea, love?” or “Come back to mine for your tea” – you are probably northern working class.)
  • If you call the evening meal “dinner“, and eat it at around seven o’clock, you are probably lower-middle or middle-middle class.
  • If you normally only use the term “dinner” for rather more formal evening meals, and call your informal, family evening meal “supper” (pronounced “suppah”), you are probably upper-middle or upper class. The timing of these meals tends to be more flexible, but a family “supper” is generally eaten at around half past seven, while a “dinner” would usually be later, from half past eight onwards.

Both girls are out this evening, incidentally, at friends’ houses. One is having tea, one is having supper, and I shall keep this linguistic post to myself 🙂

Two Things in Favour of George W. Bush (from someone who abhors his foreign policy)

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I was surprised by how deeply upset I was when, as I saw it, Al Gore was cheated out of the Presidency by the shenanigans in Florida in 2000 (when we lived in Virginia).

And I despised Bush’s invasion of Iraq. And sad that he said he woke up at 5 a.m. to pray, read his Bible and Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest--and his foreign policy decisions crystallised in those hours. What?! (Tony Blair’s Bible reading at the time before the invasion of Iraq caused a wobble, and rightly so in my mind.)
I like two things about Bush. One is his ingenuous, much ridiculed and memorable statement that Jesus Christ is his favourite philosopher because he changed his heart.

You had your own experience of sin and grace when a reporter discovered that some words in unpaid pieces you wrote for a newspaper had been taken from other sources. You describe this in your book without flinching. What happened? How does someone in the White House, especially someone as savvy as yourself, start down that road? And how did the President respond when this came to his attention?
I’m pleased to be asked about this. Proverbs is correct: Pride goes before the fall. But in the words of T. S. Eliot, “humility is endless.”
In my time in the White House, I was becoming a very prideful person. This pride and vanity extended to plagiarizing columns for my hometown newspaper. I was not writing about politics, but about many other things that interested me. Pride takes many forms, and one of them is always wanting to be the brightest guy, the one with something interesting to say. I began plagiarizing these columns. I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was wrong.
One morning I came to work at the White House and when I opened my email I found a reporter asking whether this was true that I had plagiarized these columns. I literally fell to the side of my desk. I prayed, “Oh God, oh God.” I knew right away that the world as I had known it was over on that day. I felt, as I say in The Man in the Middle, that my world was collapsing. By return email, I told the reporter that it was entirely true, and I was guilty as charged. I had no one to blame but myself.
There are, in this world, two kinds of crises. One is where it’s beyond your control, and another is where you’re directly responsible. I was directly responsible, without excuse. I inflicted, as a result of my own sin, shame and embarrassment on the President, and on my colleagues and mentors. I had violated everything I believed in, and was a hypocrite to my wife and children and family. Categorically. So I resigned from the White House that day. That was on a Friday.
On a Monday, I came back to the White House to begin clearing out my desk and taking the pictures off the walls. I received a call from Josh Bolton, who had become a friend from the first Bush campaign when we met in Austin, Texas. Josh was now the Chief of Staff, and he said he wanted to see me. I presumed that would be the proverbial “woodshed” moment, which I thoroughly deserved.
The first thing he asked me was, “How are your wife and boys doing?” Then he extended to me his forgiveness. I was genuinely shocked and deeply moved by this. We spent a considerable amount of time together, and before I departed his office he said, “By the way, the boss wants to see you.”
So surely this, I thought, would be the woodshed moment, and again I completely deserved it. I expected other people to be there, but when I got to the Oval Office the only other person there was the executive assistant. I thought I must have come on the wrong day—but the President called me in. I thought: This is going to be really bad. I went in and closed the door.
I turned to him to apologize, but barely got the words out before he looked me in the eyes and said, “Tim, I forgive you.” To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I tried again to apologize, but he wouldn’t let me. He said, “Tim, I’ve known grace and mercy in my life. I’m extending it to you. You’re forgiven.”
I said, “You should have thrown me into Pennsylvania Avenue.” Again he said, “My friend, you’re forgiven. We can talk about all of this, or we can talk about the last eight years.”
I turned to sit on the couch in the Oval Office, but he directed me to the seat of honor beneath the portrait of Washington, where Heads of State sit. I sat there, and he and I had a conversation about two remarkable presidential campaigns, and what was at that point about seven-and-a-half years in the White House. I was by then one of the longest serving aides to the President. We embraced, and I thought this was the last time I would see George W. Bush. As I turned to head out, though, he said, “I want you to bring your wife and boys here, so I can tell them what a great job you’ve done.”
I was stunned and speechless. The leader of the free world, the most powerful man on earth, wanted to affirm me before my wife and children. Sure enough, my wife and boys came, the President gave them a great amount of time in the Oval Office and gave them gifts. We were invited back to the White House as a family on subsequent occasions. We were there at Andrews Air Force Base for his departure. I’ve seen the President a number of times in Texas and he’s never mentioned it again. So, in my mind, George W. Bush is and was grace personified.
So to go back to your earlier question about compassion: I was the wounded man on the side of the highway. I was totally and completely guilty and undeserving of the President’s forgiveness, and yet he gave it to me without reservation. He extended grace to me at the lowest point in my life.

Living in a Story Still Being Written

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Joseph Interprets the Dreams While In Prison - James Tissot
It can take ten thousand years for the light from some of the stars in our galaxy to reach us.

Why should we then expect to immediately understand the story of our lives?
                                                                * * *

Joseph, in the well, abandoned, betrayed.

It seemed meaningless–because the next chapter was yet to be written.

Joseph in charge of Potiphar’s household.

The shepherd boy becomes the head butler in an Egyptian country house.

Was that the meaning of the well, and the humiliations of slavery at the hands of the hairy Ishmaelites?

Part of it. The story was still being written. He was in it. How could he understand it?
                                                                         * * *


The dungeon, punishment for righteousness.

“But, Lord, I thought I understood the plot you were writing. NOW WHAT are you doing?”

Utterly forsaken.

But the dungeon, you see, was the way for the butler of a small manor to meet royalty itself.

The means of Joseph’s elevation to an entirely different social, economic and political circle.

Let no one underestimate the creativity of the Master Craftsman of the Universe.
                                                                           * * *


We cannot understand the story of our lives while we are still living them. We do not understand the significance of each plot element yet. It takes the retrospective glance to understand.

And my story? It has foolishness in it, things I have done. It has sin in it, my sin. It has sin in it, sins against me. It has injustice in it, injustices committed against me. It has apparent dead ends, and missed opportunities and incomprehension and heartbreak.

And because a master writer is writing it, it has gold in it, infinite possibilities for redemption. I don’t yet know how God will weave all the plot elements together into an eternal beautiful story, and make it all work out for good, but I know he will. He’s that smart.

And I trust him.


Relying on God’s strength, not my own

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Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Galatians 3:3).


Funny that that should be one of our struggles, isn’t it, to do things unaided, when aid is available?

It’s certainly one of my struggles. As I wrote yesterday, I am becoming better at waiting to hear God’s directive before I start something.

What I am still no good at is continuing as I started, by relying on God’s power, rather than running in in my own strength.

This is true both for things like blogging or writing, which are strengths, or dieting and exercise, which are weaknesses.

Learning to rely on God’s power and strength, rather than a sort of DIY is going to be a life-long battle.

And until I learn the art of asking for God’s help in my area of weakness, rather than simply failing (diet, exercise) or succeeding by overwork (in leading Bible studies, for instance, a strength, or writing), I guess I will not know what Paul meant when he said, “When I am weak, then I am strong. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Or hear Christ say, “My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.”

The weaknesses I need to rely on God’s strength for are diet, exercise and disciplining myself to be tidy.

And I also need to rely on God’s help in using my strengths–writing and blogging–so that I don’t exhaust myself, and so that what I write has value.

“If God doesn’t tell you to do anything, then why are you doing things? Why not just sit at his feet?”

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 I am reading, “The Grace Outpouring: Blessing Others Through Prayer. The Amazing Story of God’s Work at Ffald-y-Brenin” by Roy Godwin. Ffald-y-Brenin is a retreat centre in Pembrokeshire National Park, Wales. Roy, Zoe, Irene and I spent a blessed 5 days there in December.

Roy and his wife Daphne, out of their own brokenness, feel called to a retreat centre in Pembrokeshire. They stumble upon the simple act of blessing everyone who comes to them, blessing the valley, blessing the nearby towns. This simple act unleashes miracles–the farmers’ yields go up, the livestock have multiple births, B & B’s win awards, long-submerged streams start flowing. But they don’t seek to convict or convert, just to bless.

* * *

As his retreat centre prospers, and there are miracles, healings and deliverances from oppression, as people encounter the presence of God there, other people come wanting to know his “method.”

But he has no method to pass on. Roy Godwin writes, “The key is searching for God, learning to listen for his voice, burrowing into his heart, listening to what he says, and then doing it, however simple or complex it might be.

If He says it, do it. If He doesn’t tell you to do anything, then why are you doing things? Why not just sit at his feet?”

I love this.

* * *

Because sometimes, God puts you in a place in which learning to hear his voice is absolutely vital and crucial for you. A matter of health and sanity.

For me, as I’ve blogged before, I reached the stage where hearing the voice of God was vital for my life in 2006-2007, when we put both girls into an expensive private school, Oxford High School, and bought our dream house.

It rapidly became obvious that I would need to bring in real money, but how? I had taught Creative Writing at the College of William and Mary before, and found teaching was incompatible with writing, and too great a drain on my energy.

Write rapidly? In retrospect, I wish I had tried that–there have been books knocked off to pay for parent’s funerals (Johnson’s Rasselas) to pay off debts (Dostoevsky’s), but I didn’t have the faith or the energy.

Instead, I decided to start a business. I have three college and university degrees, but all in English and Creative Writing. What an amazing background to start a business with, right?

My first business attempt was exhausting and time-consuming. It was fun (selling antiquarian books) but definitely not sustainable for someone who loves leisure, reading and writing.

And so, as  in Psalm 107, I had to continually cry out to the Lord in my distress, because I was SO tired, and SO overwhelmed, and life was SO hard. And he responded by removing the burden from my shoulders, setting my hands free from the basket. He gave me a sustainable idea–publishing the very antiquarian books which were so in demand when I put them up on auction on Ebay.

And that enterprise was greatly blessed because (as far as I could tell), it came from God’s brain, not mine.

* * *

So I stumbled upon the vital importance of what Roy Godwin says, “Searching for God, learning to listen for his voice, burrowing into his heart, listening to what he says…

I do set aside long hours, mostly on holiday (luckily the rest of my family have more hiking and swimming energy than I have) to seek God’s face, rest in his presence, to run through the details of my life with him, checking in with him about them, seeking his wisdom and guidance and correction on what I am currently doing, and seeking his guidance for the future.

* * *

Now I need to work on the second part of this paragraph, which leapt out at me last night. “If he doesn’t tell you to do anything, then why are you doing things? Why not just sit at his feet?” Indeed!! That is the other part of our life which needs to be put through the sieve when in the presence of God.

The things that are draining and sapping you, did God tell you to do them? No? Then just stop. Why not just sit at his feet and wait?

We need to have drastically pruned lives to bear fruit.

* * *

And so, I am increasingly putting my life through the sieve of God’s will.

What does he want me to do in each area of my life? And what I am currently doing which he never told me to do? And this includes innocuous things, good things, helpful things–but which, however, are not things that God told me to do.

 

A Reward from God

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5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:5





We are promised a reward from God for each of our secret disciplines–giving, praying and fasting.

That’s sounds wonderful–and intriguing. A reward from God? I wonder what it will look like!

I WANT IT!

The Paradox Project: Gaining by Losing. #2

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Last Monday, I decided to have another bash at health and fitness: my Paradox Project: Gaining Health and Closeness to God, by losing weight.

Well, I started slowly. Have lost 2 pounds this week. It’s better to start slowly because a spectacular weight loss can set you up for disappointment when it cannot be sustained.
It’s funny, I was praying last Monday, and perhaps for the first time in my life admitted that I could not lose weight on my own, because the habits of seeking pleasure, comfort and relief from boredom through food were too engrained. So I asked God to help me.
Then immediately after I finished praying, coincidence or God-incidence, I had a new twitter follower, and checked out his linked blog. And he was using a free online Christian weight-loss programme called settingcaptivesfree.com.
It links you to a mentor, who prays for you and emails you daily. I am only in Day 8 and so far think it’s good and Biblically based. (Caveat: I am not recommending or not-recommending it, just telling you I am doing it. Will need to finish it before I can recommend it).
The programme has an emphasis on fasting, and uses John Piper’s book A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer, which I have bought, and which is excellent.
And which, sigh, I am practising. Nothing drastic, just a little mild fasting, and using the time of extreme hunger and weakness to lie down and seek the face of Christ. I find that incredibly refreshing and joyful, to tell the truth. So far, I have just been enjoying the presence of God, but this week will seek guidance on the year to come, and intercede for my family.
I will increasingly use the periods of fasting, when I feel too weak to do anything else, to study Scripture, and maybe blog about it.
So far, so good. Fasting is not easy for me. Scientifically speaking, as one fasts, one burns stores fat, which sends toxins and ketones into the bloodstream. So, depending on one’s past eating habits, this detoxification is naturally not pleasant–running on burning toxins rather than fresh food. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12: 11.

On the whole, this experiment in prayer and fasting is an interesting one, and I am praying that God blesses it.

So, have you lost a significant amount of weight? What helped you do it?

Personal Facebook Status Updates

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Most Read Posts on Dreaming Beneath the Spires.
1 When to fail quickly and quit.
2 1001 Gifts: My New Church

My Last Two Months in Facebook Statuses
Watched the last Harry Potter with some sadness. End of an era. We started on them in 2002, had each book delivered at the crack of dawn on publication day, I read each of them to the kids, we saw each movie as soon as possible. We’ve listened to the whole series on tape. What a rich, complex, enchanting world! What a pity it had to end!
Like ·   · 24 July
So Zoe returned from her Creative Writing week at Arvon in love with poetry, literature and writing!! She’s reading “The Puzzle of God,” and declares she adores philosophy, which she’s taking as an A level. I’ve never had much time for philosophy, and neither has Roy, so it’s good to see the kids stake our their own territory and interests!
Like ·   · 24 July
Had a superb dinner of sausages and homegrown baby potatoes, and homegrown swiss chard and leaf chard. In my 40ies, and I have just learned a) that potatoes have purple and yellow flowers B) that new potatoes are ready to be harvested when the plants flower. Duh! The asparagus we planted this spring looks beautiful–and will be ready in 2013. 2013!!
Like ·   · 31 July
So, my little skeptic, Irene, just called from the Lymington Rushmore Christian Adventure camp to say she is SO MUCH deeper spiritually and “100% converted.” ( She added that her best friend, Alice, who went with her, and with whom she’s lovingly competitive, is only 80% converted!!) Zoe is at a 16-18 year old Scripture Union camp in the Lake District, and Roy and I are enjoying the peace and quiet.
Like ·   · 01 August
Leaving tomorrow for Sweden. Both girls completely packed, with rooms tidied for the housesitters. The mum, however, has spent the day nursing her laptop, playing on her beloved blog, getting her iPad working, tethering her iPhone, so that her internet deprivation won’t be too severe. Roy hasn’t started thinking about packing. Zoe Mathias says, “We think if we were the parents, things would be so much better” Humph!
Like ·   · 11 August
Okay, Stockholm is FAR, FAR more enchanting than I imagined. Magical. Yesterday, we hiked in the Tyresta National Park right in Stockholm. Today, canoed around the Stockholm islands for hours. Exhausting, but fun. Also walked for a couple of hours around Gamla Stan, the medieval quarter with tiny hairline alleys, barely 3 feet wide!! and pastel painted overhanging buildings. Fun!
Like ·   · 14 August
Enjoyed Carolus Linnaeus’s garden in Uppsala, an interesting specimen garden, and Uppsala Cathedral, the largest in Scandinavia, massive with lovely paintings on the noble granite. Now in Gothenburg–visiting the amazing botanical garden–with the largest hothouses in the world, larger than Kew, with Scandinavian orchids. Night walk on the beautiful beach on which we are wild motorhome camping!
Like ·   · 17 August
Had a lovely day on Sillvik Beach, near Gothenburg Sweden. Basically spent the whole day lolling out on the smooth grey rocks, unusually indolent for me, but incredibly relaxing. Tried some more good, down to earth, hearty Swedish food in a beach cafe for lunch, and liked it.
Like ·   · 18 August
Overheard in our motorhome. Irene whispers to Zoe, “Mum is cross with me. Will she be cross all holiday?” Zoe whispers back to Irene, “You know Mum. She won’t remember tomorrow. She’s a new person each morning.” And thus reassured, we all go to sleep, murmuring together, “Star Light, Star Bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight.” Good night!
Like ·   · 18 August
So Zoe got her GCSE results today. All A*’s and A’s, thank goodness, and more A* the highest possible grade than A’s. She took Greek, Latin, French, Drama and History as her optional subjects. Now she starts A levels–Theology, Philosophy, French and English. Hey, I half wish I were 16 again and studying them!!
Like ·   · 25 August
oe and Irene caught a plane to India today for 10 days–just 48 hours after we returned from Sweden. Roy and I are spending the long weekend at the Greenbelt Christian Festival. It started today, but alas, I was fighting a fluish cough and decided not to go. Also, it’s feels good to be home after 2 weeks hectic exploring of Sweden–which is a very beautiful country, with nice people.
Like ·   · 26 August
Well, after 12 years of the whirlwind that Irene has been, we are not devastated to share her. Irene and Zoe are in India for the week, visiting my mother, while her namesake visits Williamsburg, Virginia, our old stomping ground. Stay safe, friends in Williamsburg!! I still remember Isabel!
Like ·   · 27 August
Roy and I have had a perfectly wonderful and very peaceful week, puttering, pottering, reading and writing while the girls were in India. They left on the 26th Aug. and will be back tomorrow. Imagine a sweet shaggy sheepdog and a big bounding golden retriever invading a sanctum of quiet middle-aged bliss. Yes, you’ve got it!
Like ·   · 03 September
Okay, so Zoe, Irene, 4 suitcases and bags of presents, and lots of noise and excitement are back home. Roy spent yesterday tidying their rooms and baking and icing them cakes with their names. “I like them,” he said. “They are nice girls!” Well, I agree on both counts, but fortunately, have never tried or learnt to bake a cake!!
Like ·   · 04 September
Ha! Nothing like starting the weekend with a nice, clean, tidy house. My grumpiest day of the week is Thursday when the impending visit of the cleaner is our cue to get everything put back in the right place. I am really cross then at the waste of time, but then, on Friday evening, to see everything clean and tidy=bliss!! Irene has a friend over, in her immaculate room, and of course, is pretending we always live like this!!
Like ·   · 09 September
Inspiring, Holy Spirit filled service at St. Andrew’s, North Oxford. Highly recommended! Our family moved there from St. Aldate’s around Easter, and though we miss aspects of Aldate’s, this does feel like a place of blessing, healing and creativity for our family. Though we hope to see lots of you around town, FB friends from St. Aldate’s!!
Like ·   · 11 September
Overheard at our house. “Mum, what should I write my religion and philosophy term paper on? He said, “Choose whatever you interested in.” Me, “Write on whatever you are interested in.” She, “But I need you to tell me what I am interested in.” Me, “How should I know?” She, “Mum, whenever I NEED you to have an opinion, you have none.” Yeah, mums are awkward like that!
Like ·   · 12 September
I go away for three weeks in August, and my garden turns feral! It’s suddenly feels so overgrown, and the work to turn it into a tidy English country garden seems overwhelming. Tempted to wait until everything drops off of its own accord, and start next spring with secaturs. However, our Rocket autumn/winter veggie garden is coming soon, so off I go to the veg garden.
Like ·   · 14 September
We’ve got one of those body fat measuring scales. Roy’s body fat logs in at 18%, and his metabolic age at 34. My metabolic age, that scale says, is 54! Grr. And I’m not even 50! Okay, then to the garden I go, to heave dirt and build muscle.
Like ·   · 14 September
Hey guys, check out t. guest posts on http://dreamingbeneaththespires.blogspot.com/2011/09/meek-shall-inherit-earth-guest-post-by_3384.html on the Old Testament statement echoed by Jesus–The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth. To come: Dick Woodward, Virginia Lea Woodward, Jan & Karoline Sassenberg etc. Much flack from Roy who claims I’m assembling the evidence on the rewards of meekness before I commit! No, this fiery, feisty girl honestly wants to become gentler & sweeter
Wow. Stuck on a line I didn’t understand. Which is–can you guess?–“The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth.” Discovered a great resource which collates numerous commentaries. Scroll through to the bottom. It’s great. Okay, studying over, now to the doing of it. Sigh!!
bible.cc/matthew/5-5.htm .
There was a talk in the Greenbelt programme this summer, “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth.” The speaker seemed to assert they do. I had a hard time with this concept, and kept puzzling over it. I have invited a series of guest posts on my blog on this theme–Dick Woodward will be writing tomorrow–and now am trying to write my own post. It’s a core Scriptural value, and so I praying for wisdom and insight to see how it might be true!!
Like ·   · 16 September
Okay, after keeping the kids TV free for 16 and 12 years respectively, one has succumbed. And to what? Irene watched The Great British Bake Off obsessively–and baked several delicious cakes this weekend. Like a true chef, she prefers creating to savouring. And guess who does the savouring. Sigh!!
Like ·   · 20 September
In the good old days, I researched and chose family DVDs myself. Now, the girls chose 50 percent of them. So this weekend, we watched “500 Days of Summer,” which was cleverly and innovatively presented, but essentially silly and vapid, and “Annie,” the musical. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy them a bit, but then one asks, “Well, what was the point of THAT?”
Like ·   · 20 September
Roy has been using this great time-management strategy for the last 3 weeks. http://dreamingbeneaththespires.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-way-i-know-to-dramatically.html. It’s amazing how we’ve cleared the most urgent things off our plates, have nothing “urgent” on them anymore, and are generally feeling more relaxed and caught-up!! And it was relatively simple!
Aaargh. I seem to be getting lots of colds of late. I am sure it’s the change of season, but obviously my immune system could be stronger. Any tips? What can I do about this period of one sniffle after another. Sigh!!
I will be blogging for the Big Bible’s (http://bigbible.org.uk/) new initiative, Digital Disciples, which focuses on being a disciple of Christ in our digital age. I will be guest-blogging on the 24th of every month, from October (skipping Christmas Eve, of course) on “The Vocation and Ministry of Christian Blogging and Writing” My family suggests I write a post on what NOT to do as a Christian blogger; friends from St. Aldate’s Church will appreciate that in-joke 🙂
‎”God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (Ephesians 3)
Like ·   · 29 September
Zoe and Irene visited India on their own this summer–reprising their solo visit in 2009. Zoe now has a new complaint, “Mum, you’re being all Indian.” “Don’t be so Indian, mum!” It’s 27 years (to the day!) since I left India for Oxford–and the first time I’ve been accused of being Indian. My crime:telling Irene reading or studying was a better use of time than baking (her new passion) or watching “The Great British Bake-off,” her latest passion.
Like ·   · 29 September
Roy has been working from home since June 2010. He’s become super-organised, and usually has something in the oven for when the girls come home. Lancashire hot-pot today. Beef stew, lamb roast, and roast duck are some of his other specialties. His latest saying, “Men should run houses; we do SO much better!”
Like ·   · 03 October
Ah, Roy’s latest culinary achievement–pretty darn good homemade, whole wheat bread. And it wasn’t too hard either. Thanks, Klaudia for giving us the idea. I think he is going to go on experimenting until he’s got it perfected!
Looking forward to a quiet family weekend of movies and maybe board games. Thanks to Ruth and Matthew for introducing us to new ones in my first board games evening in years. I also enjoyed having Lesley Crawley, AlanCrawley, Erika Baker and Klaudia Schwenk here for lunch. They motivated me to get my house all picked up and tidy:)