Labour Weekend

Goodness me. It says my last post was early September. Shocking!

I have been inspired to post by this article, about "Kumara the hot potato in UK"


Having just enjoyed a roast leg of lamb, with accompanying spud, pumpkin and kumara, it seemed appropriate. I'm horrified by how much they are selling for over there, when they are sooooo accessible and soooooo reasonably cheap here.
I was inspired to go looking for kumara recipes.

It's Labour Weekend here again, where we supposedly celebrate the great achievement of the trade unions, of the 8 hour working day. Gosh, I've heard of it, but what is it? Still, at least we get this glorious sunny day off.

Yesterday, I joined with some other graceway-ites to take our turn to read in the bible podcast. I read a few chapters in Zechariah and Malachi, and then my friend Marti got the transition into Matthew and the genealogy! I was delighted to then have a great chunk of the Sermon on the Mount as my final reading. After Marti had gone, Christine arrived, and told us that she'd taken her friend to church earlier in the morning. The person on "reading the text" didn't turn up, so, the minister, Jodie, turned on the podcast, and it was Marti, reading from the first chapters of Matthew. After this weekend, it will then be available, in chunks, for downloading.

Mark is in the middle of a series titled "generous orthodoxy", at Graceway at the mo. Last week he talked about evangelicalism, and this week was social justice. So, rather than talk about it, we went down to the complex where Mark and Bridget are going to be moving soon, so that they can foster more children at once, and worked on preparing the walls of their unit ready for painting. It was lovely to sit round in the sun afterwards and chat over the BBQ.

It's been a hard week, too. I went back to my previous school for a couple of hours on Thursday, so that I could be there to farewell and thank a dear friend. He has been battling cancer for a long time now, and has been told he probably only has 2-4 weeks left. He was so brave and determined. He managed to stand, to speak, and to laugh at times. It was good that he had opportunity to hear and treasure the kind words and appreciation that so often is only spoken at funerals. The school are going to have a mufti day this week, as a fundraiser, so that his wife and 2 children (under 10) will be able to do something special when he is gone from them. He goes into the Hospice this week.