Flat Bread

Today was a flat bread making day. This occurs about once a week. I've been making flat bread now for nearly 20 years and I feel now I have the best receipe and method of cooking. Dough is made in a bread maker, not that you need to do this.

The ingredients are 425 ml of liquid which includes 1 tablespoon of yoghurt. To this I add 4 cups of sifted plain flour, 1 tablespoon of golden syrup and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and finally 2 teaspoons of instant yeast.

After the dough cycle has finished in the machine I get the dough out onto a floured surface and beat the dough the way you been a pizza dough. When I feel the dough is feeling pliable enough I cut it into 16 pieces. I then make the pieces into balls and stretch and flatten them into rounds before finally rolling them with rolling pin. You can roll them out really thin to use as wraps or as I mostly do roll them out to be about 5mm thick and big enough to fit into a toaster later. While the rounds are resting I fire up the barbeque and run it on high for 10ish minutes. Then I put a little oil on the hotplate and cook 4 at a time. When the first bubbles appear I flip them over and hopefully as the other side cooks the whole bread will puff up into a ball, but sometimes I have to keep alternating sides. It also helps to push on the bread to make the bubbles spread out.

They are great fresh. I keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge and refresh them in the toaster when I want to use them. Atalanta uses them to make ham, cheese and tomato things out of them. I usually use them with dips.

I'm finding it hard to know what to write

Life goes on in its quotidian way, but I need to say something.
Today I went to an opening in Meeniyan of Andrew Southall's prints and monoprints from his work from Umbria 2009. The work was there standing on its own. In the sense that it asserted its persona, which is what I think the work should do. A couple of the prints I found quite attractive. I got a ride across the hills to Meeniyan with Judy. The hills are looking strikingly green and soggy at the moment. It is a joy to have the rain after 14 dry winters. It does bring back the need for gum boots and raincoats. Low ground has water lying on it. I hardly dare hope that the weather has turned around, but there is reassurance in something of old reasserting itself. Coming back when I thought it had gone forever.

It's been cold today

We are nearly at the end of the winter and I'm looking forward to spring and in particular some warmth. Today I was thinking that in my journal I'm going to mark the first evening that we don't need have heating on and of course next year mark the beginning of needing the heating on.

It

Cursillo training at Raymond Island

We've just spent the weekend at Raymond Island training for the forthcoming Cusillo 3 day event. The weather was lovely after showery cold days at home. I also enjoyed getting out of a built up area to have that feeling of space.

Looking across the lake.

A Drawing

New Desert Boots

Years ago I wanted some red desert boots that I seen in the Good Weekend and Athena, while in Melbourne, one day spent quite some time looking for them. Eventually she found them in a warehouse outlet in Brunswick. I enjoyed having them for a long time, but the soles have gone so that when it rains they leak chronically and the shoe repairer says they're beyond help. Yet I can't quite throw them out.

The other Thursday I was in Melbourne getting a tooth fixed and decided to followup a net search I'd done for desert boots after that. I headed for Chapel Street and wandered down in the rain until I found the shop. Then I encountered a problem in that they had the brand of shoes that I was looking for, but of the 2 styles of boot they had the one I wasn't really looking for. They had another boot that looked good so now it was down to a comparison and in the end I bought some black Hush Puppies desert boots.

Being black & suede always bring to mind, for me, the image of the monk with pointy black suede shoes wiping he blood of them in The Name of the Rose, but that doesn't stop me wearing black suede, just every now and then the image pops into my head

The other thing with these Desert Boots is the Hush Puppies brand because Athena has just read the book Tipping Point and in the book it describes how Hush Puppies went form almost being broke to becoming cool and successful. There is some dissonance in this form me though because that has happened in America, but not Australia. They are not a cool brand here as far as I can tell. Still I'm happy with the boots.

As you can see I'm very even

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Rationality: Starting Points

One of the troubles with rationality and philosophy is starting points. How and where you start from and the logic that ensues may lead to a logical conclusion, but not necessarily a nice one. I could think of the results of some philosophical thought processes that lead to an elitist position. So that the values that we apply to our use of rationality are important and where do we get our values from?. Ultimately I think that our values are drawn from thought and relationships that provide the context of our lives. From this we create axioms _ unprovable assertions of basic value. And these axioms in relationship with our lives construct a world view that confirms our axioms.

An Outline of Our Trip

Sunday the 20th of June

After the services here in Trafalgar we drove to Kensington to stay with Arion for the night. It was a relief to leave stuff behind.

Monday the 21st

Arion drove us to Tullamarine early. We had to wait for our flight to Sydney. In Sydney we tranfered to the International Terminal and again waited. Then off on the bum numbing flight Bangkok for a refuel, security check and wait. More attenuation as we fly to Heathrow.

Tuesday the 22nd

Land at Heathrow and negotiate our way to the Tube. The Tube to Gloucester Road in Kensington & to our Hotel where we can't check in but can leave our bags. Kensington Gardens, Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College, The Science Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum, Op-shopping. Check into the Hotel. A wander through Earls Court. Rest into sleep.

Wednesday the 23rd

Walking to the Thames through South Kensington. Across the river on Albert Bridge. Along the river to Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda. Back across the river to the Tate Britain. The ferry to Tate Modern. To Suck UK to buy stuff for Atalanta. Back across the river to St Paul's. We rested in the garden on the north side and then went to the sung Evensong. Our legs were in need of a rest so we caught the tube back to Kensington.

Thursday the 24th

We checked out of the Hotel and carted our to stuff to our hire car place. The car was collected and we negotiated the London traffic to head south-west to Salisbury. In Salisbury we parked in the market square and explored the town. It is a quite lovely place. We enjoyed the sung evensong at St Mary's Cathedral. We stayed the night at the Youth Hostel.

Friday the 25th

Off to the coast. We spent time at Boscombe beach, not swimming, then off to Poole where they had a sand beach. From there we used a ferry to cross over to the Purbeck Hills. There we went to Corfe Village and enjoyed it and the views of the Castle. The drive onwards was through luxuriant green rolling hills to Lyme Regis with its famous harbour with the breakwater the cob. Then we has a short drive to our next stop at Beer a fishing village on the coast.

Saturday the 26th

We walked to Seaton along the coastal path. Some op-shopping. Then we caught a tram to Colydon and back. The tram travels up the Axe valley through reserves. We walked back to Beer and then spent time at the beach.

Sunday the 27th

In the morning we drove to Branscombe Beach then came back to Beer for the Church Service after which we went to Exeter and enjoyed wandering around. Then westwards to Boscastle Harbour in Cornwall. We walked along the coast. In the evening we checked into the Hostel.

Monday the 28th

A drive to Tintagel and then on the Port Isaac where 'Doc Martin' is filmed. Back to Boscastle and later northwards to Widemouth Bay, Bude and then Duck Pool Bay. After some time there we headed back to Boscastle for the night. We met a cyclist heading south from John 'O Groats to Lands End and a sea kayaker heading in the opposite direction.

Tuesday the 29th

Today we went south. We tried to find Perranzabuloe where my Great Great Great Grandfather was born and I'm sure we drove through it, but there were no signs. After this we went to Redruth where he spent most of his life. Then we went to St Ives where we did a drive through because the parking was too far from the town. We drove to the Lizard and enjoyed walking from the town down to the sea and back. We drove to Lands End, but found it too commercialised. We did enjoy the the traditional farm that was there though. From there we visited St Just which we found an attractive village. Back to Boscastle.

Wednesday the 30th

We left to go to Bath. Our first stop was Clovelly, but decided not to pay to enter the village as we had a long way to go. Stopped at Tiverton for a break. Next stop was Burnham on Seas for lunch with its wide flat beaches. The trip from there to Bath was through the countryside of Somerset, which was a pleasure. We arrived in Bath and had a little trouble finding the Hostel, but of course did. After checking in we walked into town and looked around. At the Regional Gallery we saw a fascinating exhibition of the landscapes of Matthew Smith. We went to the sung Evensong at Bath Abbey.

Thursday the 1st of July

Out and about in Bath. We visited the Baths and Jane Austen House. Following which we looked at the Circus and Crescent. On our way back to the Hostel we walked along the canal and watched as a narrow boat negotiated a lock.

Friday the 2nd

From Bath heading into Wales. We stopped in Port Talbot for lunch. Then on to Haverford West and later to Fishguard from where we headed to Pwll Deri Youth Hostel.

Saturday the 3rd

We walked along the coastal path to an old WWII monitoring post and back. We climbed a hill nearby which had the ruins of an iron age fort. After lunch we drove to St Davids to visit the Cathedral. On the way back we followed a trail to a local Church and then got lost heading back so we visited Trumble head and its lighthouse before getting back to Pwll Deri.

Sunday the 4th

A blast down the Motorway to Bristol to visit Alister, a priest involved in social justice and green issues. After visiting him we headed north back to Wales. Circling Gloucester we passed through Ross-on-Wye and reached Welsh Bicknor Youth Hostel. We walked along the Wye River and met some teenagers cycling from Lands End to John 'O Groats to raise money for cancer research. Later we met a Scottish Vet taking a Sabbatical and riding round on an Enfield motorbike.

Monday the 5th

Eastwards to Oxford without any troubles. We dropped the car off and then had a look around the town before later catching a bus to Cuddesdon and Ripon College where we checked in and later met our fellow Summer School people including Edie and the Fordhams.

Tuesday the 6th

Lectures begin. The Bible and Ethics in the morning and Tell it Slant in the afternoon. In the later afternoon we went for a walk around the village.

Wednesday the 7th

A day trip to Canterbury to the Cathedral with tour and then we wandered around the town.

Thursday the 8th

Translating the New Testament & later Are There Limits to Inclusivity.

Friday the 9th

A Panel Discussion on Inclusivity and Exclusivity. In the afternoon a tour of Christ College in Oxford.

Saturday the 10th

A trip to the British Museum to see some of the ancient stuff and its relationship to Biblical History and then on to Westminster Abbey for a tour and later sung Evensong.

Sunday the 11th

Church in the Morning. After lunch a few of us went to see the White Horse and Wayland Smithy an iron age barrow.

Monday the 12th

Exploring the Book of Revelation and in the afternoon Inclusivity and Exclusivity in the Old Testament.

Tuesday the 13th

The Bible and Science in the morning and into Oxford in the afternoon. Op-shops then the Ashmolean. Bus back and the Gippsland contingent had Dinner at the Bat and Ball.

Wednesday the 14th

Gloucester Cathedral and town. Op-shops. St Mary De Crypt. The Harbour, Folk Museum.

Thursday the 15th

Pauline Letters and Issues of Inclusivity and Exclusivity. A walk towards Denton. Farewell Dinner.

Friday the 16th

Pack and leave for Oxford. Potter around town. Walk along the tow path. Youth Hostel.

Saturday the 17th

More Oxford. Bus to Heathrow. Killing time. Check in and board. Off we go.

Sunday the 18th

Bangkok for the usual then onwards.

Monday the 19th

Sydney where we went through customs and on to the Domestic Terminal for our connecting flight to Melbourne. Bus to Southern Cross. Train to Kensington. Talk to Adrian. Basically homewards to Trafalgar.

Home from England & Wales

We are now back from our holidays. 4 weeks away in England and Wales. It was great! All the plans worked pretty well. I was jittery about the cascading line of bookings that I'd organised, but they all worked out. Of course the main problem is that you can't see everything and have to make decisions, but each day has new and surprising things to offer.

Now we're back in the cold. At least I know my nerve endings work.