Trace Bundy

A good friend of mine Andy has invited me to a gig I think it's at DeMonford Hall to see this guy, Trace Bundy, he plays an acoustic guitar ..... no that's not quite true, he REALLY PLAYS the acoustic guitar like no one I have ever seen or heard, enjoy this video.

A Catch up

Well in just over 10 days I can rejoin Facebook. To be honest I have missed some parts of it and I haven't missed other bits at all. But it will be good to see some old friends again.

Our phone contracts are up!!! and last night I did a new deal for two new phones which should be arriving tomorrow morning all being well. I am having the Nokia 5800 and Mrs EB is having the Backberry 8900. Both come with unlimited interweb and loads of txts and minutes each month which is good. Tomorrow is the start of our Church weekend away at The Pioneer Centre I am really looking forward to spending some time with friends. The last church weekend away was excellent and I will be remember my friends who I spent much of the last weekend with.

Last weekend was spent on The Robber Button with Mrs EB's sister Liz, we had a wonderful trip to Wolesely Bridge and back with an over night on the cut. We really would like some good weather this year to enjoy some good times with friends on TRB.

After my last cooking exploits at Church cooking for Alpha I have been asked to cook again!!! April 29th thats 4 weeks time I am guessing for 50 people again.

You Tube and copyright

You Tube has removed one of my videos, saying it breaches copyright? I don't really know how it can, it played everyday in Las Vegas and all I have done is to film it and redub the same music in time with the original played so it sounds like it did in Las Vegas. Ho hum. Anyhoo here it is now on my blog.

Blacking a Bottom

For the past 3 days I have been very busy Blacking the Hull of our Narrowboat The Robber Button. I have never really done D.I.Y on the boat before but I had a go. There are a few blogs here about it.

Apart from that not a lot has been happening.

People come People go

Life is strange, or maybe my life is strange. You have contact with people you make friends then they drift out of your life for various reasons then: Hey presto they are back again for short while. Over the years I have had friends from church who have moved on for millions of different reasons. One chap just drifted away, came back into our lives for a short time then drifted away again. I didn't see or hear from him for years and years, then I bumped into him one evening in my local shopping mall. We hugged and chatted for a few minutes, then I gave him my mobile number as he didn't have his with him. That was about a month ago....and nothing.

I received an email from someone this week who I made contact with again via facebook, we have been friends or over 20 years, he and his lovely family are in another country and work in the mission field, he is leading a hard but rewarding life, I was really blessed to read what he is up to and it is a privilege to pray for them. They have moved to a knew town in a different part of the country, they have new jobs teaching in a seminary and their daughter is in a new school. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch via blogs and emails and one never knows....

The 3rd and final ones are a few new people in my life I guess, I have 3 blogs, this one, one about the mission I took part in Mozambique and one about our Narrow Boat. The narrow boat community is a lively one and a lot of narrow boaters have blogs, I really enjoy reading about other peoples lives on the waterways. Their blogs range from the very informative, the technical to the musing of every day life. Life on the waterways is usually a friendly and helpful place and boaters in general enjoy the community and social life (usually involving pubs and grub) I feel after 18 months of owning a narrow boat we have been excepted into the life of our marina and that of narrow boat blogging world and community. Our biggest problem is we don't get enough time to enjoy our narrow boat.

Feeding of the 5000 less 4950

Yesterday was a completely different day, I spent the day cooking a meal for 50 people. As a Church we cater for many events one being Alpha and Alpha+ on a Wednesday evening. So armed with a small budget and knowing what the last few weeks meals had been I went to Tesco Tuesday afternoon. I had decided to make a beef and redwine stew with goose fat roasted spuds and a Apple crumble.

9am Wednesday I was peeling my many, many pounds of spuds, and an hour and half later they were pealed and cut and were washing off, then I was peeling my many lbs of apples, then onions and garlic. As I walked past one of my trays of goodies I knocked a box and broke a bottle of wine!!! then my mum phoned me, to see where I was as I wasn't at home? I told her I was cooking a meal at Church on my own for 50 people, I said I had just broken a bottle of wine. She phoned me back abut 20 minutes later to say she was going to pop down and give me another bottle and she also wanted to help me...

So about 30 minutes later my Mum was in the kitchen pealing the rest of the onions then making my crumble pastry, I was starting the cutting of the joints of meat then frying that off then frying off the garlic and onions. By 3pm the basic stew was slowly cooking with a bottle of red wine. I had started the vegetarian meal, of Mediterranean Roasted veg (they were roasting) in a spicy fresh passata I was reducing the tomato with garlic and fresh chilli. About 4pm my Mum had finished making the crumble and that was slowy cooking in the oven,I had done the first few batches of washing up, and we had called my Dad to collect her.

I had par boiled the spuds and they were going in the oven, the veg's had roasted and had a wonderful flavour and I had chopped the olives and all was well. I had no problems all day apart from the bottle issue... At 7pm I was serving up the meal into bowls to put on the tables. Mr and Mrs Church Administrator helped with the serving and washing up and I was home at 9pm.

I had a few compliments and I was very happy overall by the food I cooked, if I do it again there are maybe two things I will do differntly...so all in all a sucksess.

Boats and Food

We had a really nice weekend, Friday evening we arrived separately at The Robber Button, I arrived about an hour before Mrs EB and I spent the time cleaning the boat and getting it nice and warm. When Mrs EB arrived we drove up to Stone and had a wonderful curry. Saturday was far to windy to go out so we stayed at the marina, I helped Jon and John move a couple of boats and made us all bacon and egg sandwiches.

Sunday I couldn't get out of bed as I had a horrid migraine. Today I went to the dentist ...all very good mouth wise. Then I went to Tesco to do a shop and I also looked to see what they had for a large meal I am cooking for Alpha and Alpha+.

Cooking for Alpha and Alpha+ means cookin for 50 people... I haven't cooked for that many people for many years and I am a little anxious, I went to have a look at the kitchen this afternoon and to see what ingredients they have in the kitchen... they have nothing... Oh well I have a budget of £2 a head and I have 3 or 4 Vegetarians. All good fun.

Facebook

Well I haven't been on facebook for a few weeks now and to be honest I haven't really missed it, I do miss the funny comments I read on the front page but apart from that ...not so much. I guess come Easter Sunday I will log back in and turn my account back on...but there again I may not.

I phoned o2 I was supposed to be able to upgrade my phones today, I phoned o2 and no.... not until April 13th... ho humm so next month then.

Passion

I am one of those people who likes the TV on in the evening, but I also surf whilst watching it with one eye. But recently I have stopped watching even with one eye when the soaps are on, there is something so unreal about east enders and coronation street that I have lost complete interest even with one eye. I used to love The Bill and I do enjoy watching that but that seems to have come off the boil... maybe its the budget cuts or maybe I have changed?

I have loved watching Heston Blumenthal's new cooking programme on Channel 4, he is a genius and I love his way of solving a problem... A layered drink... click this link and enjoy I am one of those people that really do want to go his restaurant and try the tasting menu. There are people everywhere in all walks of life who are just natural brilliant people from social workers to brain surgeons, preachers to chefs, we all know them, we have seen them , heard them or watched them they stick out a mile at what they do, Heston is one of those people. It isn't a secret ingrediant that he or they have, it is just a passion for what they do. The greatest of all Passions is about to happen again, the Easter Story, Christ's Passion for Man.

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It is the commemoration of Jesus's death and his rising from the dead, also known as the resurrection. It comes at the end of Lent. The week leading up to it is called Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week and celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Crowds of people came out of the city to greet him, throwing down palm branches on the road. Many churches give out small crosses made from palm leaves, as a reminder of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem and his death on the cross.

On Good Friday Christians remember when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, breaking bread and drinking wine, which is now known as the Last Supper. Since then this meal has been symbolically re-enacted by many Christians as a way of drawing closer to God. This is called the Eucharist or Holy Communion, which means 'thanksgiving'. It is a reminder that Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind and is also a part of many services throughout out the year.

The Bible tells us that, later that night, Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. After his arrest, Jesus was brought before the Jewish high priests who found him guilty of blasphemy because he called himself the Son of God. They handed him over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.

As was the custom at the time of the Feast of Passover, Pilate gave the crowds the choice as to which of the two prisoners should be freed: Jesus, or Barrabas, a notorious criminal. Ironically, the the same crowd who had welcomed Jesus with palm branches a few days earlier now chose Barrabas to be released, and Pilate condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion.

On Good Friday, many churches hold services meditating on the events leading up to Christ's death: his interrogation, flogging, the mocking by the Roman soldiers, and his journey with the cross to Golgotha, the place of his death. Finally he was stripped naked and nailed to the cross, where he hung in agony for three hours, jeered at by the crowds, before he died. This is the day when people traditionally eat hot cross buns, because the cross on the bun is a reminder of the cross Jesus died on, and a reminder of the Christian belief that Jesus died to save us all.

Jesus was taken down from the Cross and laid in a Tomb to be made ready for death, this couldn't be done as The Sabbath had started and it would be another dau before Christ could be made ready for a burial.

Easter Sunday marks Jesus' resurrection. The Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to make Jesus ready, followed later by some of Jesus' disciples. They discovered Jesus' body had gone and that the tomb was empty. Jesus then appeared to Mary and many of his disciples, speaking with them on separate occasions during the following forty days. As he left them for the last time, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit so the disciples would know God would never leave them. He then ascended into heaven. The Church celebrates this on Ascension day.

an Update

We had a wonderful time in a cold Barcelona, the Gothic Area is a labyrinth of back streets crammed with little shops and Tapas Bars, which we visited a few of. It was wonderful to get away and spend a bit of us time.
Arriving back in the UK we got home and planned to visit The Robber Button, when I woke Saturday, Mrs EB was already wide awake and had been up a couple of hours, the sun was shining and we set off for Great Haywood Marina. We set off for Tixall Wide and had a few hours there enjoying the peace and quiet.

Barcelona Update

Mrs Eb and I are in Barcelona at the moment enjoying a mini break, the city is a busy city and itis full of charm and has someamazing eating places. Last night we went out to look for somewhere to eat, it was drizzling and cold so we wrapped up warm and I put my sweedish style hat on, as we crossed Las Rambles a man looked at us and said "English?" and asked us to go to his bar...we declined. How the heck did he know we were Englsih?

Anyhoo we are having an amazing time exploring the back streets, finding little tapas bars and just chillin' out. This lunch time whilst at El Xampanyet a world famous Cava Bar, Mrs EB and I were enjoying some Tapas and Cava and my phone rings... a chap from Norway asked if he could buy a photo of mine taken whilst diving...yay I thought. We will see what happens.

It all ends so soon, be back home tomorrow

mini update

It would seem I am a nerd, someone who likes and knows a little about computers, I have been playing with some .ico files on some websites I look after. The ico files are the little picture or letter you see next to the http web address like the B on a blogger page. I have been making some of these but without a box around them so you only see the letters. This has been a challenge, but I have managed it:-)) to see what I mean have a look here.

STOP PRESS!!!!

Yay I am now Certified!!! I have passed my Health and Hygiene Catering Certificate. I can now cook at Church for Alpha, I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing for both parties involved LOL

Friday Update

Wow 3 days without Facebook and I am still alive!!! I have been very busy designing a website for someone, so all of my time has been spent in Photoshop and Frontpage. If/When it gets approval I will post a link. After the Church meeting on Tuesday I spoke to Mission Team Leader and mentioned that I don't have a current Health and Hygiene Catering Certificate and would that be a problem as I am cooking a meal for Alpha in a few weeks???? We went and spoke to Church Administrator and he said aaaaah. So I need 4 hours uniterupted and click on the link he sent to me. I will try and do this, this afternoon after I finish vaccing and tidying before Mrs EB returns from London.
Monday is Mrs EB's 40th!!! so we have things happening this weekend and I am not sure of we will get time to go to The Robber Button... Shame :-(

Lent and Music

We are now in Lent... a period of sacrifice before Easter. Traditionally a big feast before giving up Eggs and Dairy, I tend to give up something that I will find very hard to give up. In the past I have given up Alcohol (that wouldn't be problem the amount I drink now) Curry!!! that was a nightmare I can tell you, Chocolate, that had an awful backfire on me, on Easter Sunday Mrs EB bought me a huge Easter Egg I took a bite and found I had gone off Chocolate!!! So this year I have given up Facebook!!! not a drastic sacrifice some would say, but I tend to have it on the background and have 4 or 5 conversations going on all day long as I do various other things. So it will be quite quiet for me for the next 40 days. I am hoping it will give a chance to remember what Easter is all about, the biggest sacrifice of all.

I heard a programme on Radio 4 on my way back from a Church meeting last night on a new website called Spotify a new way of listening to music???? "yeah right", I thought, then I heard the guy talking about it and some record company moguls and I thought, "OK I'll give it a try," they said they have access to all the albums, you can listen for free..and get the odd 15" advert beween a few tracks or pay £10 a month for unlimited access and NO adverts!!!

So my tried and tested test is an Album called "Original Sin" by Pandora's Box an album that is just not available anywhere and is Jim Steinman's first ever work on Album , I believe it was aa demo of some tracks that have appeared on many other albums. over the past 30 years. It has it!!!! I was very impressed until I looked up Mike Oldfield...... only a couple of his works...there again it was only launched last week here in the UK.

an update

I have been a little busy so no blogs sorry.

Last week I was here there any everywhere but didn't seem to achieve an awful lot. This week has been very different. The weekend started well, after Friday evening/night Mrs EB was singing at a celebration for 2 years great work by two friends who run support groups for Marriage, Marriage prep and divorced people called Foundations. We went to The Robber Button for the night, when we woke up the weather was good so we went out for our first proper trip of 2009, only a short trip to Tixall Wide, but it was just so nice to get out of the marina.

Sunday Mrs EB was singing at both services and I just enjoyed the services. Monday I asked my Dad if he would help me to sort out a couple of little problems on The Robber Button, I had fixed the leak on the Central heating but I wanted my dad, a retired Plumber to give it the once over, also I wanted him to use his power plainer to shave some wood off a plinth so we could fit a fly screen over our side hatch. This caused so much saw dust it is a joke and it will take forever to clear up. After that wonderful morning with Ronnie. I had to do our weekly shop (urghh). Tuesday was a day of meetings, I had a meeting with the Church Administrator to update me on a meeting I had missed in Mozambique. Then Team Leaders son asked I would do a further training session on Pro Tools with him, I enjoy those as he is very keen to learn and he has specific questions he wants to know answers too, or if I can set something up so he can then do something.

Yesterday I went to the Heart of the Black Country an amazing part of the West Midlands where they speak in their own dialect and it is often mimicked as a thick Brummie, it is wonderful and not dull and thick. Sorry...mini rant over. I went to give some I.T Support for a Christian Organisation, setting up a notebook and laptop and making sure that they were working and all the software was OK. I then went to sort the phones and two other PC's at the office, a very long but very rewarding day. and that is about it really.

Another week

Well I seemed to have had a migraine most of last week...which was a real pain. I woke this morning and it still there, but it isn't as bad. We popped up to the boat on Saturday, that was brilliant. The marina was frozen solid. We grabbed mugs of hot coffee and had a walk around the basin. There is something so beautiful but sad about a frozen marina... Nothing can move and boats are made to move, but it so peaceful.

Anyhoo I spent a bit of time doing boat things, like checking the oil, the coolant/anti freeze, water levels and eating bacon sandwiches. We also programmed the heating to come on a 2nd time in the night as the weather forecast for this next week is awful, and we really dont want any sort of burst on-board.

Mrs EB was out on Saturday night so I had a chinese takeawy and really enjoyed it, I watched QI XD on BBC2 its an extra 10 minutes and it is extremely funny. Sunday morning I went to Church and felt awful, my migraine had returned and I just wanted to go to bed, my Mum and Dad had invited us out to lunch and we went to The Speckled Hen a brand new pub in Mere Green. It was a training day and we had a free meal, it was wonderful, but I really couldn't do it justice, but I did try my best.

When we got home I went to bed and stayed there for the rest of the day, and that really was my week... ho hum.

New Season of Torchwood

The BBC has just released a new trailer for the upcoming season of Torchwood...Yay!!!!! This season will be on BBC 1 and each episode will be shorter than the 50 minutes of season's 1 & 2 ho humm but at least there will be a new series and then before we know it the next episode of Dr Who will be on at Easter.

Snow

Snow... England has a bit of snow and yep it grinds to a halt?

The whole of London didn't work yesterday? The UK's capitol ground to a halt, no bus's the trains not running? I really don't understand. The rest of Europe has snow, Sweden has so much of the stuff they even make Ice Hotels...yet we grind to halt.

Now I can understand schools closing, hundreds of kids and snow can lead to broken legs, cold wet kids could lead to hypothermia, Teachers have enough to worry about as it is, and having less 4x4 mums on the road can only be a good thing. But London on shut down? I am sorry but that is just pathetic and what does it say to the rest of the World during a recession?

Sorry we can't cope........ leave a message after tone and once the snow, frost, rain, sunshine, wind has gone we will call you back.

A prayer from Celtic oral tradition

As readers who follow me in the blogosphere regularly will know a few things about me. 1 being I am a committed Christian. I believe with a passion 2nd to none that God created the World and all within it, he sent his Son, Jesus to redeem our Sins and I am saved as I have accepted his love and try to follow him as best I can. I also love following blogs and down the side of all of my blogs (I have 3) you will see some of the blogs I follow. 1 such blog is from Media Chaplain (Tony Miles) who has a wonderful ministry. I have copied this prayer from his blog. This prayer really spoke to me this morning and I really believe it would sound amazing set to a piece of music and used in worship.

You are the peace of all things calm
You are the place to hide from harm
You are the light that shines in dark
You are the heart’s eternal spark
You are the door that’s open wide
You are the guest who waits inside
You are the stranger at the door
You are the calling of the poor
You are my Lord and with me still
You are my Love, keep me from ill
You are the light, the truth, the way
You are my Saviour this very day.

A prayer from Celtic oral tradition (1st millennium)