On the Solent by RIB...

Spent the afternoon in the boat, since the kids were in London for the day. Forecast was a bit windy, but the sea was fine. Photos show the ferry entering Cowes, looking backwards down Southampton Water, and then looking forward.

Mudeford for Father's Day

Went down to Avon beach at Mudeford yesterday afternoon. It's our favourite "local" beach - even though it's about 35 minutes drive away - because it's sand rather than shingle. Also the beach cafe is a lovely place to have breakfast, overlooking the beach and great views to the Isle of Wight and the Needles. Stayed on the beach in the early evening and then spent the night in the local Premier Inn (as recommended by Lenny Henry...) which is only five minutes away. Then spent a lovely couple of hours on the beach this morning (after a very fine breakfast, I must say). The kids even managed to bring Father's Day presents hidden in their bags, bless them (and thanks to Grampsie who did the purchasing for them!) A jar of green olives (excellent!) and a book (Blood River by Tim Butcher).

Welcome Video

Thought I'd get a bit more technologically advanced and put a short video of me on the blog (how's that for vanity?!). This was done very quickly just to prove it was possible, and I don't think I look terribly natural or relaxed. Maybe if I have a bit more time I'll make a better video.

Cruise Ships

Had a pleasant late afternoon/early evening on the boat. Motored down Southampton Water to Calshot and were going to head over to the Isle of Wight, but it was a little choppy for Anna, so we came back. Actually it wasn't very choppy, really, but I didn't want to push my luck with Anna, since she sometimes a bit hesitant about boating. Managed to sit at about 25knots on the way back without Anna noticing - so that was good!

Anyway, Southampton really has become Cruise ship city. There were three of the huge, modern cruise ships left port while we were out, so got a good look at all three of them. The shot above is of Oriana, which was probably the smallest of the three.

Holidays, holidays, holidays...

Really, really, really must get on and book a summer holiday. Since, this has to be in the school holidays, I'm pushing my luck by not booking anything yet. Where's the year going, by the way? Can't be nearly June, surely?? I've posted a picture from last year - Bay of Roses in Northern Spain - as a reminder to GET IT SORTED.

Another Castle...

Bank Holiday Monday was a bit dull and wet in the morning, but the afternoon was better, so we visited another castle. This time, Portchester Castle, just west of Portsmouth. It's one of the kids' favourite places and is a pretty good castle. The outer walls are Roman - it was built as a shore fort to protect against the Saxons - and there's a later keep with great views. Surprising number of people around, but I suppose it was a Bank Holiday...

Zoom Picture...

I'd like to get some better pictures of myself here. Unfortunately, I don't have any!! (It's not my usual practice to go around taking pictures of myself...) Playing with a photo editor, managed to crop from one of the pictures from below, at higher resolution, so will have to do for the moment. I think a click on this piccie will give a decent resolution.

Actually, I've just clicked on it, and it's alarmingly high resolution! Please be prepared!

Two Years...

Today is exactly two years since Jen died. In some ways it seems like an eternity and in other ways it seems no time at all. I'm never sure how key dates like today will be (also Christmas, birthdays, wedding anniversary). Today has been OK - a normal sort of day; its been fairly busy because the kids have stuff on after school, but that's fine I think. At other times, raw emotion can just hit you out of the blue, with sometimes the smallest things bringing memories flooding back.

I decided to see if I could convert my powerpoint of Jen's life (which I made for her thanksgiving service) into a video format and have posted it to the blog. This was a brief history of her life in pictures, so it will only mean something to people who knew her. I've tried to reduce the picture quality to make the file size manageable.

Struggling with photos!

I wanted to post another photo with the last blog, but I seem to be having problems with getting the photo layout as I want it. This was just a random photo taken near Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower peninsula. Photo was taken in August 2006, so it's a bit old!

Favourite Places Nearby

Thought I'd catch up with a few places we've visited recently and see if I could add some photos. Three weeks ago we spent the day at Hurst Castle in west Hampshire. Great Castle - strange mixture of a Norman keep with lots of later (especially 19th Century) additions. Kids love it because it's a bit of a maze. Only drawback is it's not very accessible - it's on a shingle spit sticking out into the Solent (great views of the sea out to the Needles). Either a 1.5 mile walk along the spit (which we walked on the way out) or a 15 minute trip on a small ferry boat (which we did on the way back!) The first picture shows my two children at the start of the walk along the spit (they were somewhat less enthusiastic about the walk 30 minutes later...) The second picture show the view from inside the castle. Stupidly I didn't take any pictures of the castle from the outside! Since we're English Heritage members, it's free admittance for us. It was a good day - I hadn't been there for over 20 years! And it has a cafe with OK coffee, which is always a bonus...

Another favourite place is Swanage in Dorset, which is about an hour's drive away. It's got a lovely old-fashioned, unspoilt feel and a nice, sandy beach. There's also Durlston Country park on the south of town which is another good place for walks with kids. Lovely (safe) paths along the cliff, a dolphin observation hut (never seen one in many visits. Dolphins, that is. Clearly I've seen the hut many times...), a lighthouse, and of course a cafe with "OK" coffee (as you may gather I'm a bit fussy about coffee). The third picture shows us at Durlston. It was a cold day, which is why I'm wearing a slightly silly hat. Not sure exactly why Anna is proudly holding a cheap plastic frog with an extendable tongue.

Another week

Funny how time seems to pass much quicker the older you get. When you're a kid, each year seems to last for ages and ages, summer holidays seem really long, school terms seem to drag on, etc. I'm only commenting on this 'cos I can't believe another week has passed by. Where did it go? I don't seem to have done anything particularly useful (or exciting) and yet here I am on Friday evening again. Sorry - very uninteresting post...

Musical Links

Saturday evening - I often get a bit bored and restless in the evenings when the kids have gone to bed. Lots to do in the house - supposed to be decorating my dining room - but somewhat lacking in enthusiasm and drive to get it finished.

Been listening to a great song - "The Father's Song" which is written by Matt Redman. (Little bit self indulgent since I'm listening to the version on the Keswick convention 2007 CD, on which I'm playing keyboards!!) This song is really special to me for several reasons:

A few years before she became ill, this song became very important to my wife Jen as she was working through several issues with her relationship with God, family, etc. I didn't really know the song until she played it to me (from the New Frontiers Stoneleigh 2000 CD).

At our church, when someone becomes a Christian and is being baptised (i.e. adult believer's baptism), they're given a Bible verse as a kind of keepsake/encouragement. When Jen was baptised in her teens she was given an Old Testament verse, Zephaniah 3:17:

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

So, when she became terminally ill we had to discuss stuff like funeral service, gravestones, etc. Jen wanted at least part of this verse on her gravestone, so we agreed on "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save". This might seem an odd choice from someone who's dying, but to Jen it signified her trust in God above and beyond whether she was physically healed.

In her thanksgiving service, I put together a powerpoint presentation showing pictures from her life and put it to music - and chose "The Father's Song". We hadn't discussed this in advance, it was just something I decided to do a few days before the funeral. When I was doing this, I looked into the song a bit more and was amazed to see that it was based on the very same verses from Zephaniah.

Maybe I was just a bit slow and Jen knew that the song was based on those verses all the time, but it's an extra link that makes the song even more special to me.

Setting up a blog

Well I guess this is just a test post to make sure that the blog is working. I'm not sure why I want to start a blog, since I've not got much to say! Never mind though -I'll give it a whirl.