Sloane Square & Battersea Park walks

Close to Sloane Square was a small market selling lots of baked goods, sweets, some veg, and generally lots of other things ready to eat. Ed is munching away on a Jamacian pattie.

The is a walkway between the Royal Hospital where veterans of the army reside and Ranelagh Gardens.

Walking through the gardens of The Royal Hospital.

Snowdrops in bloom in Ranelagh Gardens which is the home of the annual Chelsea Flower Show in May.

The disused Battersea Power Station. We crossed that bridge to get to Battersea Park. Battersea Park is one of only two parks in London not administered by the Royal Parks Authority. Battersea has an informal feel and some wonderful views of the river and the city.

Crocus blooming in Battersea Park.

We took a break beside one of the ponds to eat our lunch and watch the ducks and swans.

Caught in flight.

Albert Bridge crossing the Thames.

At the end of our walking, we got on the tube and visited Will Newcomb who lives and works at The Centre. He is the bookshop manager and IT person. Notice he has in his right ear his phone. He had a hip replacement on Friday and as I write this note on the following Tuesday, he has just come home, walking on his own with the aid of crutches. Amazing.

A walk in East London

We made our way to Tottenham Hale Bus/Tube station where we started the walk. This advertisement on the side of the bus is a response to ads that were put on city buses a number of months ago that atheists put up saying: "There probably is no God, so stop worrying and enjoy life."

This is Sue and Peter Haslehurst. Sue is our lead Elder at Wood Green Mennonite church. Peter is the one who organised the walk.

After about two miles into the walk, we stopped at a rowing clubhouse for a coffee/tea break.

A view from the balcony of the rowing club house.

Break is over and it's time to carry on.

The sun started to come out which really makes for such a big change!

We walked by the construction area for the 2012 Olympics. We couldn't see too much as they had a lot of it barricaded.

Enjoying the view.

Just when we were ready to stop for lunch, the sun came out and it felt a little warmer.

Behind where we were eating was a place called three mill island. These were buildings where they made gin. The cones have something to do where the hops (sp) was dried.

After the second bit of the walk we ended up in an area called Lime House where this really nice harbour is and very nice apartment buildings.

Ed is looking over some of the narrow boats. (Canal boats) It appears that most of the ones we saw were where people were living.

Some more apartment buildings around the harbour.

And here are most of us at the end of the walk.

International Peace Award Winner at LMC

It continues to amaze me that we have such great opportunities to meet amazing people here at the LMC! Today I met the current winner of Community of Christ's International Peace Award winner. She joins an impressive list of others who made significant contributions toward peace throughout the world like Jane Goodall and two Mennonites - John Paul Lederach and Howard Zehr. (click on the title above to see the complete list of previous award winners)

I was not told her real name to protect her personal security, but she is a medical doctor from Darfur. She is the daughter of a Sudanese farmer who was passionate about the right of women to get education. Her story is exceedingly grim, with all the possible horrible things that happened to the people of Darfur. Though her childhood was a happy one, early on, it turned into a complete nightmare when civil war and corruption overtook the country. She continued to treat her patients until she finally had to flee for her life. She received asylum here in the UK a few years ago and has written a book about her experiences which will be released soon. Her compassion for her people is palpable. I found her to be an impressive woman in every way. EAS

Slideshow

I've added a new "gadget" on the upper right of this blog page. It's a slideshow application where I can pull a folder of pictures from Picasa. The one running at this time is from our trip to Slovenia in September with Weldon & Jenney Martens.

Leaving the LMC

Dora-Marie Goulet and Emilie Bourdages have left us this January. Here is Dora-Marie at her last church service. Notice that everyone is wearing their coats and jackets. It's seriously cold in our church....even most of the summer! My nose was so cold last Sunday.
Emilie (the one in glasses) has gone back to Montreal. Ed, Sharon, and I took her out for a meal a few days before she left. We let her choose the place to eat. This is a Moroccan restaurant in Crouch End which is just a 10 minute walk from where we live.
This is part of Ed's meal.
This is mine. It came with this cute little top on it, looked a little like a chiminea pot.