Easter 2013

At last. Lent is at an end. Yesterday evening we attended the Easter Vigil at St. Patrick's. There was a good crowd there, and the whole celebration went very well. We began with the Church in darkness, a new fire was lit outside, the Paschal Candle was lit, and from that everyone lit their own personal candle.
We had the readings, incense, renewal of Baptismal Promises, the Blessing of the water, and finally the easter Mass.

Everything went well and smooothly. We began at 8 pm and were all safely home by 10pm.

For the last few days the sun has been shining. There has been no new snow, though it can still be seen in places around. The gardener was here and did a tidy up. He will be back next week to some work in the rockery. We have paving slabs which have become very uneven. He will concrete them in. Hopefully it will all look good when it is done.

Therese and Damien stayed over.That was really nice. Sadly Therese has no holidays over this Easter period. She is very busy at work right now.

Hopefully the weather will stay nice for the school Easter holidays. The teachers and children would benefit from some nice weather. I have been in a lot over the last few weeks and I could see how tired and stressed everyone was becoming.  I trut they will ample time to recharge their batteries for the final term in 2 weeks.


These photos I took a few years ago at Black Creek Pioneer Village near Toronto.

The British Weather

You cannot have failed to notice that we have had some snow lately. And it has been very cold indeed. A few days ago we were apparently almost out of gas supplies in the UK. Not a pleasant thought.
At the same time, we are now being told that the evidence for rising temperatures, climate change, global warming or whatever title you care to give it, that evidence is just not there.
That our weather is the result of two major factors over whiuch we have no control or influence....Solar Spots and the Gulf Stream.

But Green has become the new religion, and over the last 4 or 5 years, the price of keeping ourselves warm has rocketed in the name of Global warming.

Hopefully, this will now end, and the pressure on companies will ease and the cost of heating will begin to fall.....aye...right!

Vested interests are hard at work making as much money as they can from gullible governments and poor consumers.. They are not going to give up the golden goose easily!

Meanwhile, here are some photos taken in my garden just before the cold spell descended on us. Look carefully and see the first bee of the Spring!

Lake District Break

Recently we spent a few days in the Lake District in Northern England. We stayed at the Windermere Hotel, in Windermere, overlooking the town.

The hotel was very pleasant, the food better than we expected and the dining experience was akin to a restaurant. All pluses. We paid extra for a"scenic view". But that turned out to be a view over the carpark, the main road and the rooftops of part of Windermere. Not my definition of a sceninc view.
The hotel did have free wi-fi available in the bar, and there was a totsl of £50 in house credit for drinks and additional food. So leaving out the scenic view, it was escellent value.

The weather started off really nice, but cold wet wintry weather arrived midweek. We travelled to Kendal, Keswick, Grasmere, Ambleside and the surrounding area.
We managed to get to Mass and Stations of the Cross in the Catholic Church in Windermere, a few minutes drive from the hotel. The church was bitterly cold though.

So, all in all, a very enjoyable few days away. We will be doing so again soon, but this time heading up to the North of Scotland. More later.

We now have our new Pope, Francis. I am trying not to read all the negative stuff out there. Let is leave it with God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_District

http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/

Loch Lomond

Probably everyone knows the song about Loch Lomond...

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

This loch can be just amazing on a crisp sunny day, as you will see from my photos on this page.
I spent a good hour just taking photo after photo, and I can say I was well pleased with the way they have come out. There was no Photoshop wizardry here. I cropped some and sometimes used a sunset filter, but that was all.

I have tried Photoshop, but I find it very difficult. I have seen what it can do, but it always leaves me wondering if a photo which has been complexly manipulated, is still a photo, or has it become something else?

We watched the dvd of Cats last night. I must say we all much preferred the live stage show. The dvd certainly let you see the close ups you cannot see on stage, but you do lose the total perspective of the dancing and the movement and the energy of the cast.
And the lack of an audience on the dvd means that it can be a bit flat.

It was only after our sons began their acting careers that it suddenly hit me just how much effect and audience has on a production. The actors need the feedback an audience gives. But the audience needs cues from the cast of how to react. It is very much a two -way process.
In one of John's shows, we wanted to clap, but the action did not stop and we could not applaud, which left us uncomfortable. You could see this confusion around the audience.

Visit here for the audio of the song and for some information about the Loch.


http://www.incallander.co.uk/loch_lomond.htm#thesong