I admit, I have recently become the owner of a Kindle, but I still love real books, and these two clips bring me great joy! Enjoy:
Posts Tagged ‘Happiness’
Happy Christmas from the Church Elves
December 7, 2010Being the season of Advent, we Church Assistants have morphed into Elves for your entertainment! Click on the four links below…
With love from Hannah, Maw, Oscar, John and I.
Thanks John!
Weekends in the country
November 11, 2010I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but I need to make sure I escape London town and make for the hills every few weeks or so. Else I’ll go insane. I’ve had a lovely couple of ‘weekends’ of late with friends and family, and I feel really blessed.
The weekend prior to my birthday celebrations, I went to stay with my cousin, Mark, and his family in Leamington Spa for the weekend, which for me was a new thing; I’m the youngest of all our cousins, and they’re between 20 and 16 years older than me. So, when we (my brother and I) were growing up, for one reason and another, we didn’t really see our cousins that much.
Mark is ordained working as a vocations adviser for CPAS, where he runs LifeCall events. After conversations, he finally twisted me into coming along. As it happened, Dave went too.
I found LifeCall a really helpful day, despite being exhausted by the end! And I will explain more about this, specifically, in a separate post.
But it was just so nice, to get away from London for the weekend. To hang out with my cousin and get to build ‘adult’ relationships with him and Cathy, and mess about with their kids. We ate Chinese, we watched TV, we played games, we talked, we went to church… Just plain chilled out fun times!
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During the school half term, I put on my new boots and went to Burgess Hill to visit Hazel and Tony for a couple of days. I’ve not had chance to see them both properly, other than their wedding day, for ages! It’s the first time I’ve visited their house (which Hazel lived in prior to their marriage and Tony moving in), so it was really great to see them settled in. We went to the seaside, we celebrated birthdays, we went bowling, we ate lots of food, we played Monopoly; Tony won!
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This weekend, I traveled up to Liverpool in style; a First Class ticket was only £2 more expensive than the Standard one, so I figured it was worth it for the cup of Tea and internet! Cousin Heather and her husband, Alan, met me at the station, and again, it was great to spend time with them. Again, we had Chinese; it must be a Norris family tradition!
On Sunday, I went to Liverpool Cathedral, where I met Jules, ex LST lecturer, who was to be installed as Canon that afternoon. He showed me around the Cathedral, bought me lunch, I went up the tower as I waited for the Minibus with the LST contingent of supporters to arrive for the service. It was so Jules. It was wonderful to see him so happy in a job which is so much who he is! Jules took us out for dinner at a local Indian before we set off in the Minibus back to London!
I’ve really appreciated the opportunities to get out of the ‘big smoke’ for a couple of days each week for the past few weeks; probably should try to make it less often, but I know that getting out of town really helps me put life in perspective 
Autumn
October 24, 2010I love Autumn. Not just because it contains my birthday and bonfire night. But because of the beauty that is revealed to is in the created world. I feel so blessed with my new camera, that I can capture moments, and enjoy them for moments to come. Here’s some of what I saw this weekend around London:
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Girl Guiding 20:10 20/10 2010
October 23, 2010The Centenary of Girl Guiding has been celebrated in many diverse ways. The Finale of the centenary year was timely planned for a celebration, with renewal of promises at 20:10 on Wednesday 20th October 2010; I like to think they planned it for my 25th birthday; Guiding is officially four times my age!
A long story short, I was able to join in with the Finale celebrations with my home Guiding connections, rather than in Leicester Square, with people I didn’t know that well yet.
I met up with the local Brownies and Guides in the village, and we caught the bus into Nottingham. It turned out to be a beautifully clear night, which also meant it was quite cold, but we had a good time! 4,000 Guides piled into Nottingham’s Old Market Square for the event. Which was kicked off with the local ‘Guiding’s Got Talent’ Stars, a local band followed by a presentation from the County Commissioner, before linking up with the rest of the world via the Community Channel, and then to Oxford, where we renewed our Promise, led by the Chief Guide.
I Promise that I will do my best,
to do my duty to God,
to serve the Queen and my country,
to help other people,
and to keep the Guide Law.
Thank you Guiding, for all you have equipped me with, here’s to the next 100 years!
Here’s some of the pictures I took, playing with my new toy:
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On the Bus: Taken by a Brownie: Guiding is inclusive to all girls: Pretty lights on the Council House: Daddy playing with my new camera: Being arrested for being associated with a bearded fellow: Brownies and their leaders warming up in Starbucks! x2: Marc having been run over by a tram, thus bringing the system to a halt, and protecting the 4,000 girls in the Square! (that’s logic for you): Daddy playing with my goody bag things: The buzz from all those pink ears!: Council House again: St Peter’s Church in the moonlight: Nottingham streets: Birthday Pub times: etc…: Mum and Dad on the Bus: The Moon.
After the event, Mum and Dad, Marc, Colette and I ventured to the pub for birthday drinkies, which was lovely. On the bus home, I somehow took the best picture of Mum and Dad that I know of. Don’t know how it happened, but hope you enjoy! Dad and I stayed up chatting and trying to take pictures of the Moon, before going to bed after a wonderful, blessed birthday.
Birthdays
October 23, 2010Despite being pretty ill, my Birthday was a distinct improvement on last year, for which I thank God.
My parents, very generously bought me a new Digital SLR camera as a joint 25th Birthday and Christmas present.
As I was sick, I’d travelled home from London the day before my birthday, 18 hours earlier than planned, which meant I awoke on my birthday to one of the most beautifully crisp, Autumnal days I remember. Ever since I worked at Southwell Minster, Mum has always wanted to go up the tower. She was envious of Dad when I had the opportunity to take him round. I had wanted to try and visit the Minster while I was home, briefly, anyway, so adding all these things together, Mum changed her plans, and I took her up the Minster tower and was able to take some pretty exciting photos, too.
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I was also able to catch up with Andrew, the Head Verger, my old boss, which was, as ever, lovely. Andrew asked me to put my new photos on Flickr, as he’s not on Facebook. I have just about found time to oblige, so you can now view more of my pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabethalbery/
As it happened, it was my old school’s Founders Day service that evening, and there were some rehearsals for the occasion going on while we were there. I also bumped into Mr Vickers, my RE teacher, who was well known for his lessons on Derby FC and ending the lesson with ‘I digress…’ It was genuinely wonderful to see him, although we both couldn’t believe how long it was since I left. Scary thing, time.
Mum and I got home and Victoria, for whom I was bridesmaid in June, came over for lunch, was was wonderful to catch up with her and see her Wedding photos! Malcolm, Mum’s Viola playing friend also came for lunch, too, which was fun! Later in the day Mum and I headed into Nottingham for the Girl Guiding Centenary Finale celebrations, which I will tell you about in my next post!
Genius!
October 18, 2010One day… I might be able to think about playing this piece of music, which I have hidden away somewhere! One day… when I’ve learned more than 2 of the Popper studies…!
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
October 14, 2010I found myself reading Paul Williams and Barry Cooper’s book, If You Could Ask God One Question, last Saturday. It’s a book published by Christianity Explored, dealing with some of the questions which often arise during the first week of the CE course.
Whilst reading it, I was asked; ‘What’s your favorite part so far?’ I cheekily answered; ‘the bit where Jesus saves the day!’ Only to be caught out by the fact that the book doesn’t cover that explicitly.
So, to answer his question honestly, I think my favorite part was the chapter entitled ‘Why Do You Hate Sex?’ Specifically, I liked the analogy they referred to. After explaining how sexual intercourse binds one man and woman together, to deepen the “oneness” of marriage, they use this story:
J Budziszewiski tells the story of a university professor who tried to make this point to his students. Taking a six-inch strip of adhesive tape, he picked the hairiest student in the room, asking him to roll up his sleeve.
“Now,” the professor said, “Tell the tape not to stick.” The student obliged: “Don’t stick, tape!” The professor pressed the tape down on his forearm and said, “Let’s see whether the tape obeys.”
With a single rip, he tore the tape off the student’s arm. The student yelped.
“Let’s try it again.” said the professor, as he pressed the tape down in the same place, and pulled it off again. “Any better?”
“A little bit,” said the student warily. “How many times are you going to do that professor?”
“As many times as it takes for the tape to obey.”
The professor repeated the process five times and each time, of course, the tape was less sticky than the time before.
After the fifth time, the professor said to the student, “Now tell the tape to stick.”
He did.
But no matter how hard the professor pressed the tape on the student’s arm, it simply fell off again. It just would not stick.
They go on to explain that our sexuality is like this piece of tape. We were made to ‘stick’ to one partner. When we break this bond, we become less ‘sticky.’ As time goes on, the more and more meaningless our sexual relations become. We find it difficult to fit with another partner. It’s not only Christian writers who have observed this, either.
