a short weblog on life, the universe and everything

The (extended) Burial Of Isabella Dale

Dan & Co's art show was featured in the Independent yesterday (though no sign of it online?), and is extended for (probably) 2 more days. I went again today, exploring spooky subterranean tunnels with my good friend Katherine...

Biscuit of the Week 2:McVitie's Milk Chocolate & Orange Digestive

Contrary to my first posting on this important topic, our second Biscuit Of The Week is in fact identical to this week's biscuit on the parent website. It's not quite the plain chocolate digestive you requested, Tim, but is hopefully a step in the right direction. I quote: 'How will we know if these new orange based Digestives are a success? If in six months time we see a Dark Chocolate variant then they will have served their apprenticeship.' Thanks Corin for the heads up on the Custard Cream ITV programme - sorry I missed it!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO KERST!

Looking forward to more food, prayer, laughter and song tonight, with you and your friends from far and wide. 2005... may its promise be fulfilled beyond your dreams.

10 Party Invitations To Jon's Flat

Northwood feels lonelier now Harvest First is in the ground. I'm glad that friends like Corin (aka Freifrau von M!) continue to pursue prayer and Presence in the town, but there are other people I feel I'm losing touch with. I feel sad about this.

So, I'm opening up the flat - with Lachlan's and Jacqueline's permission - on the first day of every month to those who might want to drop by. From 8pm-10pm, from Feb 1st to Dec 1st, consider yourself invited 10 times over. (I expect we'll take a break in Aug.) Please let me know in advance that you're coming, if possible. Bottles or nibbles are a bonus, but the only thing you really need to bring is... yourself!

New photo of my flat and yacht (above), for Freifrau von M's benefit especially.

24-7 prayer TAKE TWO

Following our *experimental week* of 24-7prayer last September (movie here), Oasis church.co.uk is now embarking on TAKE TWO - a fortnight of non-stop, creative prayer. Starts Feb 4th. More info next week.

Nicecupofteaandasitdown.com

Today, in a tribute to Vera Drake's love of a nice cup of tea ("better put the kettle on then..."), I'm pleased to bring you our first ever biscuit of the week, courtesy of nicecupofteaandasitdown.com. Biscuit enthusiasts please note: biscuits will not necessarily appear every week, neither will the biscuit of the week on this site necessarily correspond to the biscuit of the week on the original website, or other related tea/biscuit/cake websites. Thank you.

Biscuit of the Week: Custard Cream

The choice of the humble custard cream as the first featured BOTW on this blog is tenuously connected to my new About page short essay.

However, for some of the finest custard cream prose around, there is really no substitute for the nicecupofteaandasitdown website itself: "Its baroque embossing harks back to an earlier time where the Custard Cream was no doubt a sophisticated biscuit, not the old faithful its become today..."

Vera Drake. Go see it.

Vera Drake. An astonishingly beautiful film. Tragic, yet beautiful. I love the character portrayals, the plentiful cups of tea, the 1950s sets, the simplicity of the story, the poignancy of the dinner party scenes. If you can, go see it.

Hello, little Apples

Hello, iPod Shuffle

Hello, Mac mini

iJon, iDan, iDebs, iTim, iAuntieEnid...

It's a strange new, brave new world at Family Geek.

I mentioned my brother Dan's exhibition website a few days back. He's also developing his own online portfolio. Not content with that, my brother Tim has just started a blog about his Tanzanian adventures, and my globetrotting sister has done likewise with her own blog too. As if that weren't enough, my family has also launched an online 'photo exchange' so we can all upload pics from holidays and travels to one place. Auntie Enid now has her own email address, and is happily leaving a small trail of comments across blogdom. My Christmas was made complete with the gift of an iSight video webcam (free online video-conferencing, anyone? Just drop me an email or an instant message).

Happy New Years to you all!

i) New Year, New Banner (above - hopefully one of a series). The photo is from our Malaysia trip (Nov), pre-tsunami.

ii) New Year, New Biography. Well, less of a bio, more of a short (but long-promised) essay explaining why this weblog exists.

iii) New Year, New Photo. See bio page.

iv) New Year, Old Puzzle. Who is Frau von Münchhausen?!