les Davey de France

One of the best tips I was ever given about preaching was to read the text early in the week so your brian can just stew on it. Aha !

We have a chorale répétition this afternoon - we've got a choir together for the Carol Service. Tomorrow I am preaching in French at Anglade but the family will be at Cenon. Then the English Service in the evening, where Ben is preaching..

The weather was ridiculously good (up to 29°) and we just got away together.

In fact all in all I was quite taken with the area surrounding Carcassonne. It's three hours' drive south of us in Bordeaux and that's enough to make quite a difference to the landscape. It's dry and scrubby, much more mediterranean, with olive trees and the vines look less robust. Of course, the mountainous landscape helps, too.

On the Friday we went to visit a Cathare fortress called Lastours. It consists of four ruined towers perched up high on four crags. There are steps to get up to them but you do have to watch out as it's quite precipitous and there are cables laid to trip the unwary !

The weather has been exceptionally good this week while the kids have been on vacances de Toussaint. So this is to celebrate. And because the singer reminds me of my Auntie Maisie.

Last night Pat and I watched "The Pianist" and I was reminded again of the power of dehumanising peoples, groups, parties, by giving nicknames, etc... So profoundly destructive.

Another one ! Where do they come from ? Why do they hit me ? How come they only last one day ? I had another of my 'One Day Wonder Lightning Colds' yesterday. A BlitzCold. I'll try drinking orange juice to see if that stops them.

Ubuntu 9.10 launch day. Yippeeeee ! And it's a free upgrade for anyone and everyone.

is Bible Study evening in Carcassonne. We had borrowed someone's house who lives just a short walk from the cité and a slightly longer walk from the Bastide Saint Louis where the church meets. These photos will be noisy, but they'll give you an impression of the beauty of Carcassonne.

live in a lovely house on the hill side above Magrie, where the garden is surrounded by golden broom and wild fennel and the praying mantises prowl.

who have recently moved to Limoux to start a church. Limoux is the home of the Blanquette de Limoux - a sparkling white wine invented by a monk and the precursor to all champagnes and sparkling wines in the world.

Friend Barnesie reviews a recent book, "Darwin, Creation and the Fall" here . It seems to me that the issue of physical death is vital to our understanding of Christianity. If creation is true then death is the catastrophic consequence of our rebellion against God and is, in a very real way, an intruder. If evolution is true then death is God's wonderful way of bringing about the rich diversity that we see in the world around us and is, in a very real sense, the essential motor of all the beauty we see. And grief and mourning should give way to rejoicing: Another weakling bites the dust ! Onward and upward, eh !

I didn't take my camera to church, clot that I am. I almost never do, but I have vowed to change my ways.

Fear not, the young lady removes her coat in a rather flamboyant manner, but I imagine it is rather hot under those stage lights. Some people remove the handle from the sink plunger before using it as a mute - other like to preserve the two uses, or simply find the handle useful...