Sermons and Confessions

My two little boys are into building shops at the moment.  They get some chairs and form them into shelves and then have elaborate construction games where all sorts of rules are set up about what can be bought or not bought etc.

The Sith Lord decided to give his brother a bit of a present recently.  He found a blank certificate and wrote it out.  Then put a big green star on the side and wrote the award.  Beautiful writing for a not yet eight year old.  It’s a pity that the shop doesn’t actually sell grates.

Tonight my son came to tell me that he was scared by Monsters.  He had been listening to “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by CS Lewis.  It was one of my favourite books as a child, but I guess I would have been scared too if I had heard a dramatization of it at the age of eight. The scariest part so far is the part where they are on the island and an old sailor tells them that if they go too far they will fall off the end of the world.  I can tell my son something that might help him.  They don’t fall of the end of the world.  It all ends up alright in the end. Nice that I can still set his mind at rest.  Wish I could tell him how it works out with the real monsters, global warming, terrorists etc.

Today the four of us had lunch at Mum and Dad’s house with them and with my two brothers, one sister in law and one nephew. It’s not a great revelation, I suppose, but these sort of things are important and special. Mum and Dad still live in the house that I grew up in. It’s too big for them now and they are looking at moving in the next short while. I must admit that I will miss that house and the gatherings on the back verandah such as today.

Magic too to see the young nephew running around and doing all the things that yougens do.

She-Ra’s parents and family are great and I love going over there. I’ll always be greatful for the way they welcomed me into their family with open arms when we were courting and first married. However, there’s something about going to your own parents place, I don’t feel as comfortable anywhere else. So much so that I have to be careful about not ignoring She-Ra and the kids who, of course, get bored and want to come home eventually.

An area of trees has been cleared near my in laws place.  That isn’t the magic moment, that bit is a bit sad actually, but they have made three huge piles of mulch from all the vegetation.  When we drove past on the recent foggy and rainy Brisbane winter mornings we saw great clouds of steam eminating from the tops of these piles.  Three mini volcanoes in a Brisbane suburb.  Magic.

Called in to my local book shop to collect some book for She-Ra (who must be obeyed) the other day.  I always have a quick look for things that I might read and always especially look for the latest Katherine Kerr novel.  I first discovered them many years ago and they have given me countless hours of escapist pleasure since.  I am a cheap scate, however, and only buy them when they are released in paperback.  Imagine my delight when I found the Spirit Stone was waiting for my purchase.

 Set in the mythical kingdom of Deverry and its surrounds Kerr’s books have all the magic, battles, politics that readers of the genre love.  In addition the use of re-incarnation allows us to follow the same characters through life after life as they struggle to develop their characters and overcome their difficulties.

Indeed the depth of characters in these books are what makes them special for me.  There may not be much added to the blog in the next few days.  I have a book to read.

I took my son to guitar lessons today.  It’s always magic.  Just the two of us, going off together.  There was a time in my life when I didn’t think I would have children, when I thought I would never be good enough or lucky enough to marry.  I’m very glad it didn’t turn out that way!