Autumnsong: 2 of 2

I went home to Norfolk for Bonfire Night, and spent it at the house of someone I had never met before! An employer of a friend of my parents'.  Somehow, and I'm not sure how, within ten minutes of arriving I found myself in a garage containing half a dozen classic American cars from the 1950-70s.  They belonged to this man, and every year he goes back to America to hunt down new projects and buy the authentic parts which are used to repair them.  I'll freely admit to knowing very little about classic cars, but I can tell a beautiful piece of design when I see one.

We spent maybe half an hour marvelling and discussing them, although I barely knew what to ask.  I would not have minded spending a bit more time with that little yellow Corvette though.  The sound when the cars were started up was pretty thunderous and terrific.

Eventually we did make it outside and enjoyed the fireworks.  All the guests were asked to contribute a firework, so it was quite a show including some of my favourites.  (Oh come on, everybody has a favourite!)  Here's one of them.

It reminded me of last year's Bonfire Night when a few friends and I, with no display to watch, decided to make our own from the living room.

After the fireworks were over the immense bonfire was lit and we all stood about it, simply talking about nothing in particular, although as time went on some of the topics became a bit more profound..  It's amazing the things that come out with a bonfire present, something about the agelessness of fire that brings bigger notions to the surface as well as the usual small talk.  Even if everyone had been silent, I'd still have enjoyed just watching the flames.  There's something about the beauty, threat and alien nature of fire that I've always found fascinating.

Autumnsong: 1 of 2

So it's that time of year again, the season burning itself out in a blaze of glory, darker nights closing in about us and nature closing up shop for the winter.  But still there are reasons to be out and about; it may be cold but there's been lots to see and do.

On the sunnier days I've still been canal walking, mainly to see how far I could get in a particular direction.  On the first week I set out north, towards Normanton-on-Soar.  It's a nice walk, you get out of town fast and the fields open up quickly.  There's a great feeling of space.  Even when you reach Normanton there's no way to cross the canal while you're in the village, so you walk past it on the other side.  There's a church there, encased in scaffold and looking less like a Norman tower and more like some strange platformed treehouse.  On the way home I stopped to talk to some fisherman and a couple of day-trippers working the lock below.

The next weekend I headed the other way, south to Barrow-upon-Soar.  It takes you a little longer to get out of Loughborough and Barrow represents a very finite end to that section of the walk, but there were some very interesting things along the way and a lot of adjoining paths you could wander off on.  I saw a line of narrow boats up against the side of a bridge, with the underside of the arches turned into their own back gardens, with hammocks, log piles, and even chicken enclosures. Also, I was accosted by a projectile-acorn-wielding squirrel.

A week or two later I did this walk again with friends... and at night.  It was cloudy so the light from the surrounding towns was diffused through the sky well enough for us to see by and we didn't even need torches.  After some debate we stuck to the path we knew, along the canal bank, although on the map we could see a couple of routes we could have taken.  The weather was cool but not cold and the company was very welcome.  I'd highly recommend it.

I've been busy!

Mainly making little Bible story videos for church.  They've been doing readings at the start of easch session from the book of Acts and to make them more interesting some of us have been asked to knock up some different ways of getting the story across.  My friend Amy did a few doodle-videos, shutting ourselves up with bag of Playmobil and a lot of felt tip pens for an hour or two and despite a distinct lack of useful software they seem to be going down rather well.

Acts, Chapter One:



Acts, Chapter Two:




Also have been doing a few snippets for a Bible Overview Course, basically a whistle-stop tour through the Bible, looking at the main themes, journeys and plotlines.  I was in the class last time and found it fascinating and hugely helpful - the Bible is a pretty hefty book and it can be easy to get overwhelmed and lose track of what's going on and who everyone is- but this time I'm helping provide resources.  Currently we're on Abraham and Moses, so there's a lot of maps going an and also some cut-in-halfable animals that we're using to explain the concept of sacrifices in the ancient world.

Exodus: Part 1

Exodus: Part 2

Summary of the Life of Moses (teaching aid: no sound)

And on top of that I've been doing some sketches to illustrate a talk on the story of Ruth and Naomi.  It was great to read it again, now that I'm a bit older I see things in it I didn't see before.  It's not just a sweet story for kids, it deals with issues of pain, selflessness, poverty, work, being a foreigner and stranger in a new place, and there's a bit of a romance in there too!  Someone should really make a film of this.

I love the big hair I gave her.  After seeing Alex Kingston play River Song in the most recent seasons of Doctor Who, and the trailers of the upcoming Pixar film Brave with Princess Merida's gorgeous ginger curls I am all over big hair.  In retrospect I think I could have made it even bigger!