Fishers of Men

Sheep in the pasture
An unfamiliar sight
Something my ancestors thought nothing of
Where do I fit into this vision
Who am I here in the fields of yellow
Travelling along an unknown road
Stone and mortar of days gone by
What is left of this sacred dwelling place
Did my people worship here
In the days of the old ways
It is spring when life begins
New growth, new life
"Unless a grain of wheat dies and falls to the ground"
Why am I here
For what purpose have I travelled to the home of my mothers mother
What will I learn about them
Will they teach me of what I am made
Where does my strength of character come from
Who has paved my way
What warrior women have fought the battles before me
Passing strength forward to the third and fourth generations
It is something extraordinary to go back and walk where your ancestors walked
Look up at the same night sky
Drink from the same well

Breath the same air

Worship the same God

Paradise Discovered in a Frigid Land.

Mother and daughter together walk into the sheep’s pasture.
The sheep greet us with caution; can we be trusted?
Through the fields we continue until the path brings us to what appears to be a tropical paradise.
How can this be in the North Sea?
The water is frigid.
The sun is shining.

We are in paradise,
for this one day.
We take off our shoes, this is a sacred place.
Dancing barefoot on this consecrated ground.

Dance for peace, dance for love, and dance for life.
Dance and be seen by Divinity alone.
He knows your heart, your heart for the children.
Dance for the young ones.
Teach the children to dance.
Teach them the power of dance.
Teach the children that
they can alter the world with a dance.
Teach the children to sing.
Teach them the power of a song.
Teach the children that
they can transform the world with a song.
Teach the children to drum.
Teach them the power of the rhythm of a drum.
Teach the children that
they can reform the world with the beat of a drum.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce

I aquired my love for sticky toffee pudding during an amazing ten day adventure across Scotland last May.
My daughter Anna and I were invited by complete strangers, Mark and Shona, to a Scottish feast in Peterhead. We enjoyed haggis, and black pudding, boiled potatoes and turnips, and an incredible meat dish (can't remember what it was called). At the end of the meal Shona presented us with the best ever dessert, sticky toffee pudding. As shown in the picture above.
Enough said about the dessert, the real story is all about the hospitality we experienced in the home of Mark and Shona. We arrived in Peterhead, the birth town of my grandmother and great grandmother and great great grandmother. Anna and I attended an evening service at the Peterhead Baptist Church, the church my grandparents were married in. The Pastor introduced us to the congregation as visiting Canadians with family ties to the church. Anna was suffering from some pretty heavy duty jet lag and fell asleep on my shoulder during the service. No one seemed to mind. After the service we were invited out for coffee and goodies to the home of one of the church members where we enjoyed great fellowship with this family and their other guests. We also received an invitation for dinner for the next day. Mark picked us up at our bed and breakfast and dropped us off after dinner. We were treated like visiting royalty, like "my house is your house." We ate and we talked and we listened to music and we laughed, we were definitely kindred spirits. The invitation to dinner and the way we were totally honoured in their home was truly the highlight of our first trip to Scotland. For our remaining time there we tried to find a sticky toffee pudding to match the one Shona made, but no luck, until now.
Found this recipe on the Internet. Try it, you'll love it and maybe you will get a little taste of the sincere hospitality of truely good people like those we met in Peterhead.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce

Ingredients

cake batter:

1 1/2 cups of pitted dates, chopped

1 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp. of baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

toffee sauce:

1 cup of whipping cream

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of butter

topping:

a dollop of whipped cream per serving

method:

Combine the dates and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until most of the liquid had been absorbed by the dates. Puree the dates in a blender.

With an electric mixer beat the butter with the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

In a bowl , mix flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Add to the wet batter and then stir in the pureed dates.

Spoon the batter into a buttered and floured 9" X 13" baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the top feels firm when gently pressed in the centre.

While the pudding is cooking make the toffee sauce by combining the cream, sugar and butter in saucepan. Bring to boil then cook, boiling and stirring for about 3 minute. Let cool slightly.

After the pudding has cooled slightly, make tiny holes on the top with a skewer or fork.

Pour half the toffee sauce over the top.

Must be served warm with a little toffee sauce poured over individual pieces. Top with a dollop of whipped cream.

mmm.. Hope you love it as much a we do.

While on vacation in a beautiful place

The world sleeps

While I set my alarm

Just in case I sleep too

Sitting on a bench

The little beggar birds are all around

Hoping I will allow one of my little bits of food to fall prey to them

Imagine all the freedom

Free in the waves

Free to climb the volcano

Free to rise early and walk the beach at sunrise

Free under the water in a world of colour and life

Swim hard, swim free.

Can you imagine the need to be alone

With myself

Who am I when I am alone

When the tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear

Does it make a sound

When I am alone crying into the waves and there is no one to hear me

Do I make a sound

Or is it just a silent scream

Who am I that I am so lost in a world full of no one listening

Can you hear me now

The sound of a child crying on the bench next to me

The dad says, "stop crying", without asking why he is crying

Is this where it begins for all of us

Oh but look, the dad picks him up and soothes the child, holding him close

The crying stops, they talk quietly now

So maybe it only happens to some of us

Being told to stop crying, be quiet

No one is listening

What's the point

Oh to be held as a child in loving arms

What is that really like

They say that God loves like that

But for most of my life I have not felt it

God so loved the world

Jesus loves me, this I know

Hold me like the dad on the bench next to me holds his son

I feel the sun warm on my face

And I love the Son

Heal the past

Bring life back into my hard heart

Like adding bread to hard brown sugar

Add the Bread of Life into my hard heart

Make me sweet, soft and useful again

So that I may add flavour to those around me

Non inferiora secutus

Not having followed mean pursuits

Buchan woman

Strong, alone

Brave and trusting

Loyal to death

Time to stop

I'm back in the shadows again

I need to be fed from the hand of God

Like the little beggar birds

I need the provision of God

I too am just a little beggar bird hoping that crumbs fall from the table of God

Rediscovering the Past.

Approaching the shoreline
I can see the ancient monastery silhouetted in the distance, the sun is setting.
My soul stirs, the ancients stir

Watching as I draw near, they whisper, “she returns”
I walk side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with the next generation, my daughter.
The pathway leads us to the cross, the cross of the ancients.
Standing for over a millennium, awaiting our arrival, awaiting our return.
We stand in wonder of the power within the stone.
The ancients understood, we can only imagine.
Time calls us back to the “time of understanding,”

The moment of the cross, the moment of the relinquishing of life.
I was thought of at that time, it was for me.

The moment of death was for my souls sake.
How can I comprehend, how can I possibly understand.
Death, the cross, was for me.
Remember me now, bring life to me now.
The time of death was then, the time for life is now.
Breath life back into me, “live, live, live.”
The ancients whisper, “death for life, life for death.”
Bring history into perspective, bring history into completion within my soul.
I stand in the shadow of the cross, then and now, with gratitude and love, in wonder and awareness of your presence in my life, then and now.