Christmas Day Feast & Boxing Day walk

On Christmas Day the LMC, which was only three of us, hosted a meal for Christmas. There were the three of us, and friend of Dora-Marie's, four from Church, a church members mother, and two girls from the Radical Journey unit in Bradford, north England. You can see the crackers by everyones plate.

Getting the food ready in the kitchen. I'm fixing the last dish, the mashed potatoes. One of the Brits was disappointed that I made mashed potatoes as they are used to having roasted potatoes. Turkey is about the only thing we have in common with the Brits. Other things that are traditional for them.....Brussel Sprouts (how is that a treat?) bread sauce, and Christmas pudding (Blech!) They don't do pumpkin things. So we had a little of both. I made the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, Dora-Marie made a jello salad and celery with dip, and I made a pumpkin dessert and yeast rolls. The Brits brought brussel sprouts, parsnips, carrotts, and Christmas pudding.

This is Rachel Goering from Newton, KS and Kristen Leichty from Albany, OR. They are doing a one year term at the Radical Journey unit in Bradford, England.

On Boxing Day, Ed and I took the tube to Southwest London to Richmond and took a walk around. This is a lending library on the far left, and a theatre in the centre. Peter Pan was the play during the holiday season. It's traditional to have what they call "Pantos" during the holidays. They do the same ones every year. Often they are done up as a comedy and many of the female parts are played by men dressed as women. For instance, Cinderella is always done and the step sisters are always men in drag as well as the step mother. Peter Pan is another one, also Jack and the Bean stalk and a more serious one is A Christmas Carol.

We walked along the Thames in Richmond. It was cold but very sunny and pretty.

The area we are in is quite posh. This is a garden that opened up to the path we were on.

This is a little cafe which you get to under the bridge. You can see the arch in the background which is where the cafe is. These people are enjoying the sun and sipping on hot drinks.

A busker earning some money.

My new hat! That day I really appreciated it as it was cold and a bit windy.

Saturday before Christmas

Ed & I set out last Saturday to another market we hadn't been to yet. This one is called Borough Market just off the South Bank walk along the Thames. I hear that it is normally busy but we could hardly move! Since it was the week before Christmas was most likely the reason. This market has been around for a long time. There are a lot of vendors selling wild game and other meats, plenty of fruit and veg stands, pastries and other baked goods, teas, coffees, flowers, plants, no clothing at this market.

A tea shop across from the market.

This is the Charles Dickens Coffee House named such because Charles Dickens lived in the rooms above it for about 20 years. The small round blue plaque on the building has his name and dates that he lived there. This is right across from the market.

Tons of fruit and veg to be had.

This was all dried fruit.

The market came complete with a salvation army band playing carols.

The picture below was a shop close by that had nothing but tea cups & saucers, tea pots, and other tea paraphernalia.

LMC staff Christmas lunch & some keepers

We have been having internet problems....again...at the LMC which has prevented me adding to the blog. Two years ago I barely even did email and now I use the computer & internet for 3/4 of my job and a lot outside of my job. I've learned that people really get cranky when the computers or internet goes down. We had our annual staff Christmas lunch complete with "crackers". I described them last year and hope you can remember what crackers are. That's where the paper crowns come from. There are about three staff members that couldn't make it and Ed is taking the picture. After lunch we had a nice walk through a local park, then back to the Centre where we exchanged gifts and played charades. Dora-Marie, the one in the red hat in the fore front is leaving in the middle of January. She will take a 3/4 time position with MCC Canada in Montreal where she will work as program director. She will be greatly missed. She was our Interfaith, Peace & Justice Liaison. She got to get out the most, interacting with interfaith, peace & Justice groups. She has the "What is a Mennonite" speech down pat as she was asked to give it frequently. She had Ed's name for the gift exchange and he got a beautiful knitted red and white scarf which we had all been coveting while she had been making it, thinking that it was for a friend at home.

Ed has been working on going through a bunch of his digital photos on the computer and putting ones he is especially fond of in a folder that shows up as a screen saver. The type of screen saver that shows different pictures in a folder like a slide show. Here are two of them.

This was taken in Harper, Kansas sometime before 2007 out on our (then) front lawn looking West at the sunset. It must be winter as there are no leaves on the trees.

This one was taken around 2003 or 2004 in May during tornado season also outside of our house in Harper. There had been a lot of rain, wind, etc. and we had gone outside to look as all was quiet. We could hear a whirring sound above and when we looked up we saw this long skinny twisting rope-like tornado or something like it. It was strange as it was perfectly quiet and calm on the ground and this thing just passed over us looking like an umbilical cord. In true fashion, all the neighbors were out gawking at it instead of being sheltered in their basements.

This is Johnny Amobi. I tried to add this picture to the end of the next entry entitled LMC Christmas Open House but it doesn't seem to want to show up. So here it is. You'll have to read about it at the end of the entry.

Leaf raking day & LMC Christmas Open House

Saturday 6 December was our annual LMC Christmas Open House which starts off with a leaf raking and general garden clean up. Last year it rained miserably and we were not able to have the garden clean up. However, it was much nicer today. We had at least 10 or more show up to help. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough soup for everyone but I even had some left over. Here they are starting out.

This is team LMC practicing for a new summer Olympic sport called synchronised raking.

More synchronised raking.

"All for one and one for all!"

Here are Emilie, Dora-Marie and Sharon doing the smashing of the leaves, similar to the smashing of the grapes. The cage that Ed made for all the leaves wasn't big enough and so we had to have them trample them to fit in.

Janelle and Dora-Marie are putting the final touches onto the cookies before setting them out for the crowd.

In the lounge we had whole cloves for sticking into oranges, popcorn & cranberries for stringing, and various other things to make for the tree.

Down in the lower level next to the kitchen is where the serious cookie eaters and punch drinkers were hanging out.

For some reason this picture won't show up unless you click on the red x in the upper left corner.

Our neighbor Johnny Amobi entertained us with three songs. Johnny is a professional singer and actor. He has done a number of things in the West End (Same as Broadway except in London) and now makes his money with his voice. He was really good and we were left wanting more. He promised to do a benefit for us this summer in our back garden.

A visit; a photo exhibit; quaint cafe's; Camden Town!

Last week we had a visit from Luke & Luciana Thornton from Anthony, KS. Luke works at Harper Industries where Ed used to be. Luke was in Europe for work related things and was able to bring his wife, Luciana, with him. He and Luciana married in August (I think that's right). Luciana is in her last year of Pharmacy school, doing her rotations at hospital pharmacy's. She has November and December off and so was able to join Luke on this trip. We had spent the day at Spitalfields market, a place where there are mostly clothing items designed and constructed by the people who are in the stalls. Some of the designers "make it" and move on to a better venue and others are hoping for the same. Luciana was excited to find a man who was showing wool coats that she liked. He didn't have her size so he fitted her and said he would have it done in 48hrs and meet them at the train station before they were to head home.

Ed & I went to our third Photography exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Shell sponsors this competition where the photography is of wildlife and has different age categories. One of my favorites was actually in the 10-15 year old category. After seeing the exhibit, we stopped at a French cafe for these large coffee's....I actually had hot chocolate. A very nice way to warm up out of the cold drizzle.

On our way home, we stopped at the Camden Town Markets. Every time I go, which has been about six times now, I find another part of the market that I haven't seen before. Here we are under the streets and canals where there are small little stalls along long hallways. We were able to pick up a couple of Christmas presents.

Autumn leaves

Now that the leaves are mostly shed from the trees we can see Whittington hospital from our back yard. This is where we go to give blood, do lab work, or to be seen in the A&E (accident & emergency).

Ed and I worked in the garden on Saturday raking the leaves. It's a big job as we have so many trees. I helped for awhile but my arms felt like they were screaming so I had to quit sooner than Ed.

Other than the fallen leaves, it doesn't really look like Autumn. Many of the shrubs will retain their leaves all winter here.

I don't know if I ever have showed a picture of our train in our back garden. Somewhere along the years past, someone decided to shape the hedge into this train. It used to be a couple of feet taller but I told Ed it was too dangerous to trim and made him shorten it up.

House in the Rockies available!

I just realized that some of the comments that have been entered on some older posts was not published correctly and they aren't showing in the comment section. Sorry about that to you who sent those in. They are now published.

If anyone knows of a family, couple, or a single person who would like to live in a new home in the Colorado Rockies for a year or so then have them contact us. We thought we had someone who was going to live there from Jan 09 for a year but that has not panned out. We would really love to have someone live there to take care of the place. We do have two families that look in on it regularly but it is so much better if someone is actually living there. We would rather have someone we know or at least someone we know, knows. All we ask is for them to take care of it and to pay the utility bills. No rent other than upkeep. So if you know of anyone that needs time off, a sabbatical, a change of scenery, even if it's not for the whole year we would welcome people for a few weeks, months, or whatever.

Just know that it is also available for vacations. We would require that you leave it clean (launder your sheets & towels and remake the beds) and general clean up (vacuuming, put dishes away, clean bathrooms). Get in contact with us via email: ed55shirk@yahoo.com

November 15th...a special day.

First off....Happy Birthday to my oldest sister Rosie!

We have been rather busy at the Centre and so have not been out and about to take any pictures lately. Besides the guest rooms getting a lot of use, the Prayer Hut and Library have been busier than usual. There have been different groups using our meeting space and we have had several seminars recently. We have been "on duty", 24/7 for several weeks now. But, we meet such wonderful people that, what we do, doesn't always feel much like work.

Ed has been working on the Centre's fund raising campaign and filling in as co director while the director and his wife are in North America on a three month assignment for Mission Network. That plus all his regular jobs. I've tried to help him some with the yard work which has left me with some sore muscles. With all these trees the leaf raking is a constant job.

I wish we had more guest room space as I have to turn people away frequently. There are many people who are on their way to or from mission assignments that need to stay over in London. It's always interesting to hear their stories.

We only have 15 months left on our term here in London, so if anyone of our readers from home were planning on visiting, make your plans soon!

Fireworks

Guy Fawkes Day has come and gone, and there were some spectacular fireworks at a nearby palace but we knew that there would be thousands and thousands of people there and I didn't want to be shoulder to shoulder with them. So we climbed up on our roof and watched them from there. We couldn't hear the music but we could see them fairly well.

When we took a trip to York this summer we found the house that Guy Fawkes was born in.

The weather here has been dreary and rainy. Very much what I thought London would be like but hasn't been until the last six months.

We had Krista Ehst over for supper tonight. She is a Goshen College Graduate from Pennsylvania who is here for six months doing an internship with the Anabaptist Network. The Franconia conference has sent her to work with and report on the Urban Expression churches and their outreaches in East London. These are missional churches that are trying to draw in new people to Christ as well as those who have become disillusioned with the institutional church. The hope is for her to take some of these ideas back to the States to see if they will work there.

Victoria & Albert Museum

The London Mennonite Centre is a charity. And as with many charities, there are times when the bottom line doesn't look so good. Such is the case with the LMC. The programmes and activities at the Centre have changed and taken on different forms over it's 55 year history and now the Board of Trustees are having to make some decisions as to how the Centre can run more efficiently.

There are many people who have been positively affected by the LMC and want to see it continue. We are hoping for a positive response to our fund raising appeal that we are sending out this month and we covet your prayers for this appeal and for our staff, trustees, and programmes.

Here are a few pictures from a recent trip to the V&A (Victoria & Albert) museum in London. This is from the stained glass room.

This is an artists sculpture of Samson slaying the thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey at Ramath Lehi (Judges 15)

Daily prayers and a surprise snow fall.

Monday through Friday we have a short time of what we call Prayers. Right before lunch anyone in the house is welcomed to attend. We usually have a liturgical reading followed by prayers and end with a blessing. We take turns leading this and Phyllis is doing her part on this particular week.

We had a surprise last Thursday with some snow. It has been rare that London gets snow at all and especially as early as October. It was quite beautiful however. The past couple of weeks has given Ed and I plenty of opportunities to have theological discussions on many levels. We've had one of the LMC's counsel members visiting our library in preparation for a seminar he is speaking at and over coffee and tea breaks there have been good discussions. We've had numerous guests that have also joined in on our break times which have led to talks about their work for the church and a few days ago a guest that talked about why he has left the church. He is from Northern Ireland and it was intriguing to visit with him about his views and to answer all his questions about the Mennonites and Anabaptism.

October happenings

This is outside of our bedroom on the small balcony.

Here we are having a coffee with John and Naomi Lederach at Kenwood House. John & Naomi were at the LMC doing a project for the Board of Trust of the LMC for about four weeks and we had a great time with them while they were here. They are now back in Goshen where they live.

Ed & I took a leisurely walk along the South Bank of the Thames a few weeks ago. Ed is enjoying the music.

More pictures from Slovenia and an interesting question.

When you work at a resource Centre that has theologins hanging around studying and such, you are most likely going to come into contact with these people during the course of the day. Today out of the blue, one of these types stopped me in the lobby and asked me "okay Phyllis, just off the top of your head without thinking about the question much, what would you say is the problem with the church"? Of course I couldn't give an answer without asking a question which he didn't want but I asked "the Mennonite church or the 'church' in general? I guess the church in general, he says.
So what would you say? My latest 'religous' type book that I've been reading I'm sure had a large influence on my answer. The book is The shaping of things to come by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. It talks about Innovation and Mission for the 21st century Church. So having to say something quickly I said that I felt the church has a tendency to be too institutional and not enough mission focused.

So let me know what you think.