Stones for Bread

Just read another delightful book from Booksneeze. I had it free for review and was, I thought, the best choice in a relatively uninspiring collection. One of those I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy. It looked a little dull and complicated, with recipes for bread posted at the end of every chapter: too much dough and not enough yeast.

Wrong again.

Stones for Bread  by Christa Parrish is a beguiling story of bread and grief and romance and re-creation. And a rediscovery of faith in the Bread of Life.

Liesl McNamara's life is centred on bread. Centred..on the legacy of the sourdough starter she inherited from her mother, her grandmother...on the bread she bakes to sell in her bakery...and, though she does not recognise it to start with, on the Bread of Life. She wrestles with questions as if kneading dough, bringing them to the surface and then pummelling them back down until they rise, as inevitably as yeast, again. There is a gentle rhythm and cadence to the novel as Liesl's childhood, her present business and her future romance weave together into a glorious challah bread of a story for Sundays and holy days and holidays. And soul hungry days.

Liesl wrestles with life: with the healing of memories, the difficulties of the present and the possibilities of the future. She gathers ingredients while friends and family cluster round her, integrating themselves gently into her life, as yeast permeates a rising dough.

Christa Parrish creates real characters who encounter real life issues. Mystery bubbles up through the rising dough of the plot, so subtly hinted at that it takes a second and third reading to notice the clues. Just as yeast dough seems to rise slowly at first before it bubbles up triumphantly, begging to be baked, so the story gathers momentum, until I found myself turning pages as greedily as if I was taking a bite of oven-warm bread.

This book satisfies the soul, yet leaves it hungry for more. I turned back again to the beginning, rereading and highlighting wonderful phrases with which I long to fill my mind. And then, of course, there are the recipes - so delicious that they will make a bread-maker of me yet...

Lihou

Martyn pointed out that a "shimmying" seagull  results in an airborne bombing run...

Watching Channel TV.......Normal transmission will be resumed as soon as possible, once the repairman gets out of the view.

Force 10 from Lihou, no problems with the wind.

King Canute and the geriatrics at dawn, but the tide wasn't held back.

Moonset

Chasing the rainbow.

The Lihou luggage limousine.

Highest  tide of the year.

Morning prayers or perhaps it should be players?

Book review: A December Bride. Because it's December, it's Christmas holidays and it's switch off and read read read time.

I was delighted to get a copy of this little novella to review from Booksneeze - for free!  Thank you! I had already read Barefoot Summer, a full length novel in the Chapel Springs romance series, so it was delightful to become reacquainted with some of the characters.

'A December Bride' starts off in time-honoured fashion with a hero (introduced only as 'Murphy', though we soon find out his Christian name is actually Seth) who the heroine, Layla, is antagonistic towards. Then there is a problem - who will be Layla's date at a wedding; and an even bigger problem: the wedding is of an ex-boyfriend who, it seems, she hasn't quite got over. Throw in some misunderstandings (not least, that Seth publicly announces his and Layla's engagement - without her agreement), nasty remarks from the woman who stole the ex-boyfriend and the heroine's striving to change career and you have all the ingredients for a fun read.

And I'm really not giving anything away when I say that the reader knows how it will all end - happily ever after - but just as happily skips through the twists and turns, the acid conversations, the embarassing situations and the romantic encounters to arrive at the ending. Great fun.

This is the first in the 'A Year of Weddings' series by a range of contemporary authors, including Rachel Hauck of 'Once Upon a Prince' and 'The Wedding Dress', both of which were delightful. Denise Hunter is now firmly established in my mind as a similar 'go to' author. Thanks for the introduction, Booksneeze!

Pollards seasonal review for 2013

I love writing a yearly letter to friends near and far. Not just for the opportunity to reconnect with dear friends, reflecting on the privilege of having so many scattered around the world as a result of their - and our - frequent moves; but also for the opportunity to look back on a busy time full of blessings...It's fun to have a theme, too.  Last year it was films; this year, the seasons...

Winter. After a wonderful family time together, Cat returned to summer in New Zealand and her work at Christians Against Poverty. Jonny went back to Norwich, with Adele, who visited after Christmas. Guernsey saw more snow than it had in decades. Accompanied by gales and airport closure, the snow brought down 5 trees in our garden. Firewood for a few years...

Spring. A breath of fresh air brought reunions – both planned and completely unexpected. Family: and many friends from recent and distant past. Richard was grounded from flying for medical reasons. He has been holding the fort very efficiently since then.

Summer. Sunny conditions all round. Adele’s parents, Phil and Judy, came to stay. Adele and Jonny got engaged! We journeyed to Middle Earth to see Cat and also went to Sydney to meet up with dear friends...only 20 years or so since we had last met. Read the blog for all the detail!

Autumn. Jonny started a PGCE course to become a primary teacher. An Indian summer brought Byron and Lisa from Africa: 28 years of friendship.

Seasons of change. We have hope in our hearts and our eyes on the future. We look to JESUS, the reason for THIS season. Happy Christmas!

Lovely nativities...

I just love the 'made with and by children' nativity films from St Paul's Anglican church in Auckland. St Paul's make these films 'based on a true story'.

This is the latest:
 

and here is another:


Find them all here.

Christmas. Unexpected.

It is the 24th December.

Out last-minute Christmas shopping,which sounds stressy, but wasn't.

On my return, I found THIS on my doorstep.

No card. No name. No one to thank. 

Completely anonymous. Completely unexpected. Completely wonderful.

So delightful. I can't stop smiling for the joy.

Imagining Christmas...

Sharing this wonderful post below from A Deeper Story: "Jesus doesn't fix anything."

"in a manger
still and obscure
hidden beneath a star shone bright
swaddled in ancient words and found by foreign men
bruised heal before lungs even drew
a quiet night diseasing evil forever

after all, bruised beats broken
and that’s what the angels were singing
to shepherds, to wise, to whored and to falsely whole
    
we swallow brokenness like the drugs keeping us afloat
    our heads nod in restlessness and the receiving
    our hearts return us to the well to see the seer

and so this is Christmas
all white in the absence of snow
our hearts pushed in, and we know
the bruises beat the broken

holy night, hushed and aglow
promise’s arrival to a heavy handed world
time a refugee in the camp Grace swallowed
the Virgin knows what mothers do not:
how to hold the King of Angels
O, come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord

Christmas comes earlier once again.  Sales announce the season and joy fills our hearts.  It seems as though more of Christmas is lost in commercialism each year.  The story, faded into well balanced nativity sets sold for shelves and lawns grows more native in an adapted knowing that Christ came so we spread good will and cheer.
But look at the night.  Jesus doesn’t fix anything.  In fact, things get worse; a lot worse.  The king of the moment feels threatened at the report of foreign wise men arrived to see the foretold promise under a star.  So the king commands all babies under the age of two be found and murdered.  The people of the foretold promise bleeding again under the tyrannical rule of other men.  I’d say things worsened.
We’ve heard the story book-ended by Christmas and Easter unfold – the child grew.  The story builds anticipation as some realize the Promise arrived in a manger, grew into a man, touched people like God.  He gathered the bruised and buried the broken.  And then the story reaches climax with his public, gory death – worsened once again.  A strong shift of circumstance happens in Jesus’ resurrection, and then, a sort of to be continued hangs as those closest to him watch him ascend into the heavens.
And here we are.  Holders of the promise awaiting God’s glorious arrival, as a people once did.  So much of our world is broken; our very lives broken, too.
What if Jesus comes hushed again, undetected in our world obsessed with its own healing, demanding all must be whole before all can be all right?
Jesus doesn’t fix anything.  He comes.
Into the worst conditions, among a family gone amok, through the unchangeable circumstance of death and all the more that can go wrong, Jesus comes right into the middle where you are and abides.
And so, this is Christmas, this is Advent, this is promise and this is Jesus.  O, come let us adore him and belong to a Savior come and not a known cure."