In My Life

Homemade yoghurt – nothing could be easier, and cheaper!

All you need is a thermometer, a carton of UHF milk, a 1litre glass jar with a lid, and a couple of tablespoons of bought yoghurt.

Heat the milk in a saucepan to 40C.  Pour it into the jar and add the bought yoghurt.  Stir well.  Replace the lid and wrap it all up in a whole newspaper.  I then put mine into an Esky and cover it with more newspaper or a towel, then the lid. Otherwise, you could place it somewhere warm.  Leave it for 12+ hours.  Voila – yoghurt. 

(If using fresh milk, bring it to the boil, remove from stove, allow it to cool down to 40C before adding the yoghurt starter.)

Quotable quotes from Augustine – an Algerian Christian (354-430AD).

I believe in order to understand.  I love in order to know.

Having eyes is not the same thing as looking, and looking is not the same as seeing.  The soul, therefore, needs three things: eyes which it can use aright, looking, and seeing.  But only healthy eyes can see, and faith restores the health of the eyes.

From These Days

Don’t confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them

Jackson Browne wrote these lyrics when he was just 16. They’ve stuck with me ever since I first heard them when I was just a bit older than that. Rather than failures, I would say failures and failings because they’re on-going.

A Prayer

Lord, help me to be aware and wise, not only to the sin crouching at my door, but also to the sin that’s still crouching inside of me.

I thank you that there’s no condemnation hanging over me for my sin, for you hung on the cross in my place. You’ve exhausted its penalty and broken its power.

How I long for the day when I’ll be rid of the very presence and the pull of sin! Amen. 

A creation observation

Have you ever counted the seeds inside a papaw?  I haven’t either, but it staggers me to see just how many there are – enough, I reckon, for an orchard of papaw trees and a bountiful harvest.

A precious moment

For weeks now my wife (who has dementia) has not been very responsive, but, yesterday, when I leaned her back in the wheelchair and kissed her upside down, on the forehead, and told her, “Glenys, I love you!” she laughed and said (in an aw-shucks kind of way), “Oh! Thank you!”

Quotable quote

The insatiability of my hunger isn’t a bug but a feature – a signal that I long for something infinite.  Wanting more isn’t the problem; it’s where I keep looking for it. James K. A. Smith – “On the Road with Saint Augustine”

A movie worth watching

“Lars and the Real Girl” – Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson A story of friendship, community, and love for a delusional misfit

A blast from the past

There’s a reason why the lyrics of Jackson Browne’s “Daddy’s Tune” have stuck all these years – they could have been written about me when I was still lost and looking.  I came across it the other day while walking and listening to my ‘iPod’ on random.

No sooner had I hit the streets/ When I met the fools that a young fool meets All in search of truth and bound for glory… Living your life day after day/ Soon all your plans and changes either fail or fall away/ leaving so much still left to say…

Creation observation

I never cease to be staggered by the little, seemingly insignificant, marvels of creation.  With the help of YouTube, I’ve learnt how to grow basil plants from cuttings.  They take just a few days to sprout roots ready for planting in pots or soil.  From one scrawny plant, I’ve been able to propagate a dozen more.  

Recipe – Buttermilk Scones

Most people like light and fluffy scones, but I prefer them dense and substantial.  Here’s what I do.  Turn on the oven to 180C.

Sift together: 2 cups of flour with 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Mix in a small bowl: 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 1 cup of buttermilk.(No maple syrup, use honey.  No buttermilk substitute a mix of ½ milk and ½ plain yoghurt)

Add the wet to the dry ingredients. Knead gently.  Roll out and cut into 8 or 9 scones.  Top with a brush of buttermilk (or milk).  Leave space between scones in a small baking tray or cake tin.

Bake for 15-20 minutes – till they’re golden on top.  

These are great with sweet or savoury toppings – more like a meal than a nibble.

Hit the streets for your daily walk after 4.30pm and you’re bound to bump into half the neighbourhood.  In order not to literally bump into anyone and keep the recommended safe social distance, what you’ll find is a whole lot of zigzagging.  You see someone coming your way so you duck over to the other side of the street and once the coast is clear, you head back to the path where you were before.  The thing is, you’re not the only one, everyone else is taking the same precaution.  If a drone were hovering overhead, mapping out the paths we take, it would be a maze of almost crossed paths – a plethora of zigzags.  I guess it’s proof that we’re all trying to do the right thing.

Anniversary #1

22 years ago, on the Friday before Mothers Day, I got word that my mother had passed away – suddenly.  I remember that time well and the added sadness of it happening just two days before that special Sunday.  On Saturday, driving back to my hometown, I found my foot involuntarily retreating from the accelerator as though it wanted to spare me from facing the undeniable evidence of the awful reality. 

It’s taken 22 years, but the calendar for 2020 is back to that same configuration of 1998.  Friday 8th May, the anniversary of Mum’s death, was two days before Mothers Day.  How I wish she was still here to see all her great-grandchildren – she would love them!  There was only one when she died – Max, just 10 months old.

Anniversary #2

Back in 1971 there were three terms per year and school holidays were in May and August.  I met my wife for the first time on the first Monday after the May vacation that year.  With the help of Google I figured that it was the tenth of May.  So on that day 49 years ago I met the woman I would marry.  Earlier I had spoken to her on the phone as I was looking for accommodation and she had suggested an old farm cottage on the outskirts of the town.  After the call I remarked to my siblings, “The secretary sounds nice.”  I was wrong about that, like me she was a teacher and had only answered because her class was close to the unattended admin office.  Soon, my matchmaking students were suggesting, “Mister Byrne, why don’t you marry Miss Penman?” and hers were doing vice versa. They noticed the chemistry and electricity between us long before I did.  How perceptive those little kids were and how glad I still am for their proposal!

 

Years ago, when I first heard Cat Stevens’ Father and Son, I was young, so I heard the song from an angry young man’s perspective.  Though it’s the same singer voicing both parts, I identified with the son; not the father.  Now, as a grandfather, I find myself siding with the old man.  The song is the same, now I hear it with wisdom borne from years of painful experience. 

I have much the same reaction watching movies I first saw as a kid, with a child’s point-of-view.  As an adult, I notice nuances, glances, and motivations that I was blind to before.  What I appreciated back then is still there, but greatly enriched by fresh discoveries.  Take, for instance, Shane, one of the all-time great westerns.  I became the little boy, Joey, who was in awe of Shane the gunslinger.  Now I see myself in his dad and understand how he could miss noticing his wife’s attraction to this restless stranger, and marvel at Shane’s regrets, reserve, and readiness to lay down his life for this family.

I guess that’s one of the unexpected advantages of being older – being able to see and hear with new ‘cinemascopic’ eyes and stereophonic ears. 

Westerns – a genre out of favour, but well-worth exploring

Shane, True Grit (both versions), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Magnificent Seven, Slow West, North to Alaska, Rio Bravo, The Searchers…

What I’m currently reading

On the Road with Saint Augustine – James K. A. Smith (Brazos Press) We are less aware of his influence than we ought to be – the author illustrates how with references to current music, movies, and books.  

Jonah and Micah – Reformed Expository Commentary – Richard D. Phillips (P & R) This is not an academic publication, but a book of sermons with searching and heartwarming application regarding our walk with God.

Post Christian – Gene Edward Veith Jr (Crossway) Our culture has become – post Christian – and the writer offers guidance for those of us who want to live cross-culturally.

Piercing Heaven – Prayers of the Puritans – Robert Elmer, Editor (Lexham Press) This is a book to read and pray one prayer at a time.  Here you’ll find refreshing words to voice to the One who first inspired them.