The United Steelworkers of Montreal deserve some international exposure. So, um, we'll start with the south of Scotland. Everyone from Hawick to Bonnyrigg - listen up! They've got a couple of disks out and a few of their songs can be heard in the traditional manner but, to my knowledge, this is their first posh video. Enjoy!

If you're going to jump a fence in order to chase rabbits in the field next door you'd better make sure you can clear it.

Good advice for Labrador Retrievers. Good advice all 'round, in fact.

Clio didn't manage the jump without catching the wire - poor wee dog is now at the Vet's getting her wounds tidied up. It's not very pretty.

Update:

Got a call from the vet saying that Clio was proving a terrible patient, flopping around after waking up from the anesthetic rather than merely sleeping it off and could I please come and pick her up since she'd probably sleep better at the Rectory. Well - she hasn't and has been staggering around walking into walls. A bit better as of late with the odd whimper. Tomorrow the stitches will no doubt start to itch and I'll have to put one of those cone things around her neck. The other dogs will laugh at her.

Bread for the eater and seed for the sower.....

Having heard a tale of woe for decades about the state of farming in Canada (and by extension, the rest of North America) it's good to hear that the farmers are happy.

Good on them. They deserve it.

Something weepy for Lent and beautiful for Valentine's Day

Lenten videos were leaping out at me last year. I've had no luck finding anything new this year. From last year's list.

Toys for Lent I

Some of us are 'hands on' types and some of us aren't. If your family's observance of Lent is missing a little je ne sais quoi you can always make a Salt Dough Crown of Thorns with your children and fill it with little spikes that the children can remove one by one each time they do something good. In so doing apparently, they will even make Jesus feel better.

"For each Lenten sacrifice a family member makes, he or she pulls a toothpick out of the crown. This activity makes a great visual reminder of Christ’s suffering: Parents can explain to their children that sin brings additional pain to Jesus’ suffering and good works can comfort Him and show our love for Him. "

If what you say doesn't make sense at least you'll be able to prove that at the end of the day you came up with something which was practical.

Scottish Episcopal Lenten Blog

Some of the Scottish Episcopal Bloggers have gotten together and put together a Lenten Blog called Beauty from Chaos. Take a look when you've got time. Kimberly Bohan, Rector of Dunoon, is the organizing force behind this blog which goes online today.

40

Found this during Lent last year. Thought I'd repost it. The comics are by a cartoonist named Simon Smith. Music by Joseph Arthur.

One doesn't need to completely jettison one's sense of humour during Lent. The famous Lenten episode of Father Ted entitled 'Cigarettes, Alcohol and Rollerblading' is now available here in three parts. The Scottish Episcopal Bloggers are all busy at work, you see, and I thought I'd try to be a useful little Canadian limpet and provide a service as well.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The Martyrs of Japan (February 5th, 1597)

Padre Mickey down in Panama has a very good article (I can't rememher whether written by him or by somebody else) on the Martyrs of Japan. Their feast day is today. Other material here. Still more here.

65 years ago this week

A longish article worth reading about the sinking of the Dorchester in WWII and the four chaplains who were aboard. Thanks to T19 for the reference.

Can't help myself

A mother goes to church with her little girl.
The priest intones 'remember man thou art but dust...'

The little girl says 'Mummy, what's butt dust?'

Candlemas was yesterday. Today is the Feast of St Blaise when one is supposed to bless throats but there being scant precedent for the Service of the Blessing of Throats at St James' Penicuik we went ahead and modified our monthly Family Service along the lines of the Feast of the Presentation. Guitars, cellos, violins, a drum set, a djembe and a piano (me on the tambourine during a couple of the livelier ones). Candles were blessed. Things proceeded decently and in good order.

In the course of talking to the children about the various occasions where we still use candles in the course of our daily lives I spoke about their use as emergency equipment.

Years ago I was the Rector of Christ Church, Chibougamau and the Priest in Charge of St Barnabas' Waswanipi in the Diocese of Moosonee (northern Quebec). I lived in Chibougamau. My second point was 140 kilometres away. In order to say Mass in two places (twice a month, anyway) this made for a 280 kilometre round trip and it had to be undertaken rain or shine.

That particular corner of the world is a real snow belt - it gets as much snow as Winnipeg and it falls at inconvenient times. Add to this the occasional winter trip to our See City of Schumacher in Ontario (best approached via the back roads through Amos and Cochrane) and that makes one hell of a lot of winter driving in conditions which most people cannot imagine.

So it pays to be equipped. You can be stuck all night on one of these lonely roads without a soul coming along to help you. You keep a down-filled sleeping bag, extra matches, a jerry can of diesel, snow shoes, and a spray can of ether to spray into the air filter to give the engine a bit of a jump when you're starting it on a cold day. And candles.

A trick which I was taught by an old fellow who once ferried Lancaster Bombers over Greenland during the Second World War: You carry about a twenty ordinary builders' bricks and a box of emergency candles. If you have to ditch your bomber over Greenland or Franz Josef Land or if you wind up in a snowbank in the middle of northern Quebec you build a couple of small ovens out of the bricks and place a lit emergency candle in the midst of them. By isolating yourself in the truck or in the airplane's fusilage you can turn these little brick ovens into two small radiators which will prove adequate to keep you alive indefinitely.

Postnote:

Sam Thomas - our Regional Dean in those days - came to the Rectory in Chibougamau and noticed all the equipment lying in the back of my Toyota Landcruiser. After coming in and helping himself to a cup of tea Sam says to me:

Rob - couldn't help noticing that you've got an axe, ropes and a can of ether in your truck. It's no mystery to me why you can never get a date!

Fame and Fortune in Small Communities

Soon to be step-son was sitting in the back of the car the other day as I was driving him and his mother back to their house in West Linton. Children are always a good source of village gossip in West Linton. They share amongst themselves the things that their parents might not talk about in the Precinct so it's always 'all ears open' when the boy begins to speak. As I remember S was moaning that his life was dull and ordinary (as was, by extension, the lives of the adults connected to him).

As an example of what life could have looked like if he were luckier he gave us the example of one of the little girls in Primary 5.

"Her family's famous" he said
"They are?" I asked. "I didn't know that"
"Yes, of course they are. Her grandfather does the voice of the Gaelic* Pig on the television"

*Scottish Gaelic - not the other one

Rev'd Ruth - my colleague in Portobello reports:

“At a wedding ceremony that I was performing, I raised my hand to give the final blessing. The bride misunderstood my gesture and surprised me with a high-five. Not wanting to exclude the groom, I offered him a high-five, too. I was finally able to get my blessing in, amid the laughter of the guests.”

Gambia I

There's the Gambia for tourists and then there's Africa. The beach in front of our hotel regularly found itself traversed by a herd of local cattle. My daughter Hannah hasn't travelled much. We haven't actually spent an awful lot of time together over the last few years and since she was coming out to Scotland for Christmas the opportunity was there to take her somewhere hot and 'different'. Thomas Cook had some package deals for the Gambia so we booked some tickets. The country was wonderful - the hotel proved just a wee bit sealed off from the country. Relief came in the form of my colleague Kenny Macaulay from St Augustine's Church in Dumbarton in Glasgow Diocese who was coming down a couple of days later with his wife Linda. Kenny's been to the Gambia off and on now for a number of years - had his own wheels and knew his way around. So we got to see the country in the last four days of our trip.


We made a trip to Senegal. Bumped into a few fellow travelers from Scotland in the form of the Ospreys who were spending the winters in the mangrove swamps there. There's a Thought for the Day on BBC Scotland about this. The ferry ride across the mouth of the River Gambia was long and the return trip especially arduous and very hot. Shade was at a premium and Hannah managed to find herself a cool corner on the deck.

More pictures and stories later as I edit them and post them online

Good Clean Fun for Kids. The Zombie Walk

Something from the Edmonton journal in October - Canadians know how to have fun with their kids - October, yeah, which just before I kinda went offline sometime in November what with missing passports and all. I am now legal. No - not languishing in an immigration holding cell at the pleasure of the Home Secretary. Not dead - kinda Undead and looking forward to a busy Christmas and then off to the Gambia with my daughter for a week's holiday before returning and sending my passport off in the mail again for a Certificate of Approval to Marry. It's endless!

Back after a long journey, Raspberry Rabbit's new Canadian passport goes straight back into the mail for another adventure.........

The saga of the missing passport and the application for Further Leave to Remain in the UK continues.

It took a month - to the day - for the newly issued passport to travel by recorded delivery from the Canadian High Commission in London to my doorstep in Scotland. We've had a mail strike you see. Things have been stored in warehouses. The envelope arrived today (the 9th). I couldn't believe it. I'd already replaced the driver's license which was also in the envelope and ordered a new birth certificate from British Columbia. I was ready to apply for another passport. I looked at it several times, thumbed its pages, admired the fat and aging person depicted on the front page and wondered how I'd ever been young. Problem was - the passport was supposed to have been in Durham (thence to Croydon) last week in the company of an application to stay in this country a while longer.

I'd sent the application in on time but without the passport. I had found (surprisingly) a photocopy of the front page and the Residence Permit. I included that. I'd gotten a fax from London saying that the passport had indeed been issued. I included that. On Wednesday I did get a note from the immigration folks saying that they'd received the application and would I please not phone them to enquire about its progress. "We'll call you if anything is missing". The note had a reference number on it. I decided to risk a phone call anyway. The nice man named Dave at the enquiry line today said I could send it off to Croydon quoting the reference number and that it would be appended to my application. Which is what I did - special delivery - entrusting this document once again to the Royal Mail. Trusting that Dave hasn't led me astray. Every hopeful or maybe just desperate.

My parents are under strict instructions to stay well in the absence of my travel documents. I've a holiday booked with the daughter after Christmas which will require a passport. I'd even like to be admitted back into the UK at the end of the holiday. All is not yet completely sorted but it's looking better than it did a few weeks ago and your prayers and best wishes have been appreciated. One day I'll understand why things had to be this way.