MGG - 6.20 - Gloria - acting

Gloria had no interest in doing acting.  Lots of her friends, who knew how well she sang, tried to get her into community musicals or light opera, but she wasn't interested in that either.  Her voice was a gift from God, and it was to be used in God's service.  She also had no interest in acting: she said, whenever the topic came up, that she had spent far too much time and trouble figuring out who she was, why should she try and pretend to be someone else?

She did, however, get *me* into acting.  (At least, into formal acting.  I'm a teacher, and teachers do a *lot* of informal acting.)  "Walk to Bethlehem" was a famous Christmas event on the North Shore, put on by West Vancouver Baptist Church.  The church had an interesting building, or set of buildings, which could be configured into multiple stages for multiple scenes.  Therefore, a multi-scene play was put together where the audience moved and the actors stayed put.  The actors only had to act in 1ten minute segments or playlets, and they did it multiple times per night.  The audience would, literally, walk to, and through, Bethlehem.  Seeing the different scenes, and then walking on to the next one.

I knew about Walk to Bethlehem, of course: everyone on the North Shore knew about Walk to Bethlehem.  Thousands of people saw it every year, and many people saw it regularly every year.  At one point they added an additional scene at the beginning.  The regulars in the production, of course, all had their favorite regular parts, so they were having a bit of trouble casting this new scene.  One of Gloria's friends suggested that I try out, and Gloria thought that it was a good idea as well.  So I tried out and got the part of Jonathan the Fuller.

This particular scene does not take place at Christmas time, but seven hundred years before.  This initial scene is the prophecy of the Messiah's birth by the prophet Isaiah.  This prophecy, according to scripture, takes place in a fuller's field, so then they wrote in the part of a fuller: Jonathan the Fuller.  That's me.

A fuller was a cleaner, a launderer.  A fuller would clean clothes.  Since oxydol had not been invented yet, certain other materials were used to clean clothes.  The scene itself, as laid out, had grass representing the fact that it was a field, and a child's wading pool representing a pond. (There should have been a stream, for rinsing, but that would have been entirely too difficult to create in a fixed set with the resources available.)

The character of Jonathan the Fuller is primarily there for comic relief.  Jonathan the Fuller is a self-important little guy, who is only concerned about his own business, and really isn't aware of, and doesn't understand, the significance of what is going on around him.  He thinks that the refugees, streaming into Jerusalem from a war, will make him rich, and he's quite happy about that, not paying any intention to the fact that Jerusalem, itself, is under threat.

Most of the action takes place on a gravel pathway that is laid out in the scene.  For the pathway, the set designers used pea gravel.  This decision was obviously made because pea gravel is easier to clean up, after the production, then regular gravel.  However, pea gravel is pretty treacherous stuff to walk on.  The first year that I did this part, I played a part that was played, by the other team of actors, by the author of the script.  Unfortunately, on the first night that he played the part, he slid on the pea gravel, fell, and put his back out.  (The first entrance of Jonathan the Fuller is of him rushing out of a shed at the back of the scene, and down the path.  It's a bit tricky, appearing to be rushing, but still placing your feet *very* carefully as you "rush.")  Therefore, I had to play all of the performances that year.  I played Jonathan the Fuller in front of 6,000 people that year.

Gloria was a hard worker, but she wasn’t just a worker.  At least, not in the strictly commercial sense.  Of probably greater importance to her was her work for the church, devoted to her God.  She taught Sunday school.  She was involved with junior choirs, and their musical plays.  She made costumes for those plays, as well, combining both her musical and seamstress talents.  Many of those costumes are still stored, used, and sometimes loaned out from this church.  Again, a number of those church activities were chosen because her girls were involved in them.  As her job responsibilities increased, and her health declined, church work necessarily declined as well, but she always maintained a keen interest in a number of congregations that she had helped over her lifetime.

Gloria helped in another way.  An awful lot of the costumes that were used in the production of Walk to Bethlehem, had, in fact, been created by Gloria.  They had been sewn up many years before, to support a variety of *other* Christmas plays in theatricals that the church had put on before it got into Walk to Bethlehem in a big way.  So, the costume that I wore, as Jonathan the Fuller, had, in fact, been sown by Gloria, originally intended as a shepherd.

I played Jonathan the Fuller for about a decade.  It was fun, and I looked forward to it as a Christmas event every year.  Eventually Walk to Bethlehem was just too big a production for the church to sustain every year.  It took away from the church being able to do much of anything else over the Christmas season.  Latterly it was reduced in scope, and, in one production that was put on with a number of scenes on the sanctuary platform, I played both the part of Jonathan the Fuller, and John The Innkeeper. During those years, nobody could have told you who Rob Slade was, but *everybody* in West Vancouver Baptist knew who Jonathan the Fuller was.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-619-gloria-health-2.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/03/mgg-621-gloria-handy.html

Sermon 33 - Transplanting

Sermon 33 - Transplanting

Matthew 13:3b-8

A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Matthew 18:6

If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

I still don't know why I am gardening.  When I was moved to Delta, shortly after Gloria died, and I was gardening five different gardens, my baby brother asked why on Earth I was gardening, since Mom had made sure that we all hated gardening.  He was quite right.  As the eldest in the family, I bore the brunt of the bullwork necessary when Mom decided that any of her long-neglected gardens needed to be revived.  As the only one who had a job in town, I was also the one who had to do the weeding and other maintenance during the summer months.  So, yes, I hated gardening.  I had no interest in it.  I do not have a green thumb.  I do not even have a brown thumb, so much as a black thumb.  Between us, Gloria and I managed to kill every single living plant that anybody ever gave us.  So, I have no idea why I am gardening.

But, after Gloria died, I seemed to have a deep, and highly emotional, need to garden.  I don't know the why of that, either.  Maybe it is simply as facile as the fact that Gloria is dead, so I need to bring something to life.  It seems a stupid reason, but it's about the best that I can come up with.

I still don't know if that's the actual reason.

At any rate, I am gardening.  I am not, as mentioned, an experienced, or a good, gardener.  However, I did pay attention in biology and botany classes, and, as a scientist, I am a quick study.  So I am learning quite rapidly.  (Or, as rapidly as I can, when you only get one experiment per year.)

When I started gardening after Gloria died, I didn't realise you didn't grow things from seed.  I didn't realise that most people bought tomato, pepper, squash, sunflower, and cucumber plants as small plants, and then transplanted them.  Most people who are, actually, avid gardeners, do not grow tomatoes and peppers from seed.  Generally speaking, they will buy tomato and pepper plants.  These plants have been germinated from seed, but by somebody else.  And they have been put into little pots, all ready for you to plant the small plants into your garden.  But, of course, the potted plants are even more expensive than seeds are. 

I am also cheap.  I hate spending money if I don't have to.  So I am learning how to grow plants, and garden, spending the least amount of money that I possibly can.  And that includes trying to spend as little as possible on buying seeds.  I started growing things from seed.  I didn't have much luck.  I put a lot of seeds into the ground that just died.  Eventually I realised it was much more effective to sprout and germinate the seeds, and then transplant the seedlings.

Now one would think that seeds were the very *least* that you needed to buy.  However, if you pay attention, you will notice that there are a number of sources of seeds available to you for no money.  Or at least, for no extra money, beyond what you are already spending on food.

A lot of our foods are plants.  A lot of the plants contain seeds.  So, I am growing three types of tomatoes, and a bunch of bell peppers, in various colors, simply because I harvested and dried the seeds that were available in those plants when I bought them for food.

So, I harvested the seeds out of certain food plants, and I dried them out, and stored them, and, taking paper and plastic cups that I have cleaned up off the streets (I *told* you I was cheap), and dirt that I dug up out of the forest, and using plastic clamshell packaging from various baked goods as miniature greenhouses, I have germinated, sprouted, and transplanted a number of tomato and bell pepper plants.  I am also now on my third generation of sunflower plants, from a single initial packet of seeds.

All of this is very experimental, and a learning experience.  I have learned why most people buy their tomato plants as potted plants.  It's a rather tedious process to grow your own.  It's tedious to harvest and wash the seeds, and it's tedious to dry the seeds, and it's tedious to store (and label) the seeds, and it's tedious even to set up the mini greenhouse, and keep an eye on it, for when the plants germinate and sprout.  And then there is the transplanting process itself.  Starting from seeds, you may have to transplant tomato plants up to five different times.  Each time you will learn that God really doesn't care about efficiency.  Because each time, some of the plants die.

In the first place, not all of the seeds actually germinate and sprout.  Then, if they do sprout, you have to carefully take them off the medium that you have been using to keep them moist while they are germinating and sprouting.  If, for example, you use paper towel, the roots from the sprout often will have penetrated the paper towel.  So, even taking that initial sprout, and trying to put it into a small amount of dirt, to let it get started, means that, simply by pulling it off of, or through, the paper towel, you strip off the root hairs.

Of course the sprout is very tiny, particularly for a tomato seed.  So it's entirely possible that, simply by trying to pull the sprout off the paper towel, you will damage the stem, or the leaf, or the root.  And, of course, if you do that you kill the plant.  But, even if you are able not to do gross damage to the plant, pulling the root away from the paper towel may tear off the root hairs.  You probably don't even see the root hairs.  They are extremely tiny, and, of course, extremely delicate.  But they are also the actual active part of the root system.  It is actually the root hairs that start to bring in water and nutrients that the plant needs in order to grow.  The root hairs are also, in many cases, the beginnings of new side roots that the plant needs in order to develop an extensive root system, and to stabilize itself in the soil.  In either case, tearing off the root hairs is another likely way to kill the plant.  You have to be really, really careful when you are transplanting tiny new shoots.

Which brings me to church.  We have been given the great commission.  We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  We are to tell people the good news.  We are to transplant people from the natural world into God's world.

For some reason, we are not very good at this.  We find it embarrassing to go to people and tell them that they are sinners, and that they need a personal relationship with God.  We think it makes us look like religious fanatics.  Well, of course, we *should* be religious fanatics.  That is, in fact, where the word "fan" comes from; like a sports fan.  Shouldn't we be God's fans?  If we actually have good news, shouldn't we be telling people about it?  We have no problem telling people about our favorite hockey team, or restaurants, or TV show.  Shouldn't we be willing to tell people about the greatest thing in the universe?

But, okay.  I have dealt with that in a different sermon.  So we will leave outreach alone for a moment.  Will come back to that some other time.  (Even though we should be doing it all the time.)

Okay, let's do something a little easier.  There are people who have heard that we might have something good going on.  Just to skip back to the great commission for a second, someone has famously said that spreading the gospel, telling forth the good news, is not like televangelism.  It's more like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.  So, in some cases, somebody has already heard that we might have some kind of metaphorical bread.  Which they might think that they might need.  So they wander into our churches.

Now, that's a lot easier isn't it?  We don't have to go out and stand on soap boxes on street corners, and be seen as a religious fanatic.  The person who has come into our church already knows that we are religious fanatics, so we don't risk anything by acting like religious fanatics.

So here is somebody new in your church.  Now, of course, they may simply have wandered in out of the rain.  In Port Alberni, that is a non-trivial possibility.  Or, they may already be a religious fanatic, possibly even of our particular type.  They may just be looking for a church home; church shopping.

We still have a bit of a responsibility.  Whoever it is that wandered into our church, they don't necessarily know how we do things.  So, as embarrassing and uncomfortable as it may be for us, we may have to actually talk to somebody that we don't already know.

Yes yes, I know.  You don't like to do that.  You would much rather talk to your friends.  I can certainly understand that.  Unfortunately, God, in many, *many*, *MANY* places in the Bible, says that you have to welcome strangers.  So, you are going to have to talk to them.

Now, of course, you may luck out.  It may be that this person was just getting out of the rain, or, it may be that this person just simply wants to know how to join the church.  In either case, you can let them go back out into the rain, or you can turn them over to the church secretary, and your job is done.  You can go back to talking to your friends.

Unfortunately, sometimes this stranger may be that mythical vagrant wanting that mystical piece of bread.  No, I am not talking about an actual homeless person looking for something to eat.  I am talking about someone who has a need.  A need that God, and fellowship with the church, is going to provide for.

Now you're *really* in trouble.

Now you are faced with the stranger.  The foreigner.  Someone who doesn't know, or at least has only the most tenuous knowledge of, God and Christ.  And, moreover, someone who is probably in distress, in some kind of difficulty, very probably in some kind of pain.  Otherwise, why would they have come into the church in the first place?  It's not as if the church is known as a welcoming place.  Ninety-six percent of the population of Port Alberni knows, very well, that you stay away from any of the churches in Port Alberni.  After all, there is a reason why we don't advertise when we meet.  We don't want people wandering into our services.

The thing is, this presents us with a bit of a dilemma.  This is not simply a sin of *omission*, where we simply have not gone into the highways and the byways and told people the good news.  This is a situation where someone has already heard that we might, possibly, have some good news.  That there might be something here that they need.  And they, rather than we, have reached out.  They have come to us.  They are begging for that metaphorical bread.  And if we don't do anything, it is no longer a sin of omission.  It is now a sin of *commission*, if we turn someone in need away.

So we have to talk to them.

Actually, we probably don't need to talk to them.  Probably all we have to do is listen to them.  Now, yes, I know, once again.  Listening is *way* harder than talking.  After all, you can talk for hours, with no effort at all.  You can trot out Bible verses and cliches by the basketful.  You can ramble on, and *on*, and *ON*.  Feeding them stuff that they don't need.  Because you haven't listened to what it is that they actually *do* need.

So you need to listen.  Now, it's not as if you have to take on this person as a lifelong burden.  If you listen, if you truly listen, you may find that what they need is better addressed by someone else in the church.  If that is the case, then by all means, take the stranger and introduce them to that other person.  That more qualified person.  That more knowledgeable person.  That person who actually has gifts in pastoral care, when you don't.  Then you're off the hook, once again.

But, if not, if you can't think of someone else who has a better grasp on the Christian life than you do, who has more skills in addressing distressing personal issues than you do, then you have to keep on listening.  If something comes up that you actually do know the answer to, something that will, actually, address this person's pain and distress, in that one instance, then, certainly, mention it. But, of course, that still doesn't get you off the hook.

Because most people in difficulty have more than *one* difficulty.  You have to keep listening.  You have to listen and find out whether what you gave them did actually address one small part of their pain.  If it didn't, you're back to square zero.  And even if it did address that part of the difficulty, you have to keep listening and see what *other* sorts of distress to which that person is prey.  (And, people in distress are not necessarily accurately self-analytical.  So it's work.)

Now, it's possible that your various suggestions do address their distress.  If so, well and good.  But your job is not over yet.

To find out why, we have to go back to transplanting.  As I said, when you are growing something from seed, there are an awful lot of potential problems.  Jesus told us about them.  A sower went forth to sow.  Some seed fell in good soil and created a bountiful harvest.  But some seed got snapped away by distractions.  Some seed got carried away by feathered distractions.  But some seed actually sprang up.  It germinated.  It's sprouted.  It started to put out roots and shoots.

Unfortunately, it was not in particularly good soil.  It might have been in thin soil overlaying a rock.  It might have been in particularly rocky soil where there wasn't much soil in between the rocks.  It might have been in rocky soil where there was no moisture, and no water to promote its growth.  Growing plants need water.  Even if you're into hydroponics, light and water may be the only thing that they need, but they *definitely* need water.  All growing plants need some water.  More or less.

So that's where our stranger, who, if you are lucky, and you have been diligent, may be.  They are a new Christian.  They are starting to grow.  They are reaching out for the Water of Life.

You have to make sure they get it.

If they don't get water, believe me, they are going to die.  Sometimes it is possible, if they are only *mostly* dead, but not *completely* dead, to give them extra water and bring them back to life.  But, for the most part, you have to keep an eye on them.  You have to water them everyday.  Okay, possibly not every single day, but definitely regularly.  And definitely more than once a week.

You have transplanted them.  From their old life.  Into the new life.  But they have been transplanted.  They do not have a root system.  They haven't been stabilized in whatever soil they are growing in.  And the soil may not be perfect.  Once again, there may be multiple difficulties.  And you have to make sure that those difficulties do not prevent them from getting the water, and the growth, that they need.  If they die, from lack of water, and they completely die, there is no bringing them back.  They are mulch.  They are compost.  The fact that they have died, and their decomposition, may warn others of the need to turn to the new life.  But, of course, if this new Christian has been telling other people that the church, your church, has been helping them, and then you let them die, the warning will be, don't go to that church.

We in the Christian life, and the church, too often plant seeds ... and then we don't care.  If they fall on stony ground, or among weeds, or don't have enough soil, it's not our problem.  We need to do more transplanting.  Are people not worth more than the grass of the field that is here today and thrown on the fire tomorrow?

Matthew 13:9

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Sermon - Garden series

Sermon 2 - Broad Beans

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/01/sermon-2-broad-beans.html

Sermon 3 - Blackberries

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/01/sermon-3-blackberries.html

Sermon 57 - Leaven

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/sermon-57-leaven.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/09/sermons.html

Review of "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?"

I don't know if I saw "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" when it was relatively new, but I probably did.  I remember it as being in black and white, so I probably saw it on TV, on a black and white set.

It's not exactly a classic.  Just the fact that it was played on TV, all those years ago, likely proves that.  It's got some heavy-handed, and forgettable, slapstick.  It's got a few really good lines, but most of the dialogue is predictable and common.

But, watching it again, now, I can't help but feel that it still has something to say to a day when a lot of people feel that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, that the authorities are lying to you at every turn, that isolation is the only companionship, that the only way to save the world is to destroy it, that the world is therefore destroying itself, and so what's to worry, right?  (Sorry: that's one of the good lines from the movie.)

Get some grapes and watch it.  Preferably with a feathered friend.  (Maybe beware of bird flu, though ...)

Oneshotted

Recently I was made aware of a new term doing the rounds in the online world.  The term is oneshotted, or oneshotting.

This is a term that has come to us from the world of computer gaming, and particularly the first-person-shooter variety of games.  Shooting someone, be it another competing player, or a non-player entity that one still must kill or destroy, is sometimes more complicated than it is in real life.  Of course, in real life, one does have to make sure that the shot, or shots, hits something vital, like the brain or heart, or a major organ, or a major blood vessel.  Or that you shoot a sufficient number of times to hit something crucial.  But in the gaming world, you are not always shooting with a firearm, and sometimes the gun, or sword, or wand, or poison spell, has a certain strength rating, and that has to be compared against the strength rating of whoever, or whatever, you are trying to kill.  (Or destroy.)

So, it is a matter of some skill, in terms of aiming, and some knowledge of the parameters of the game, in order to kill, or destroy, something with a single shot.  One shot.  So, if you "one shot" someone, you are a skillful player in the game.

Then, there is the other side.  If someone kills you, with one shot, you have been careless, or possibly unlucky.  Or, possibly, you are a newbie.  And you have been oneshotted.

This term has moved out of the realm of shoot-em-up games.  It has now spread into social media.  And, generally speaking, it refers to some, usually sudden, event in your life, which changes your life forever.

As one of the bereaved, I definitely, and immediately, understood this concept.  I've even talked about it, elsewhere, as a sort of grieving quantum life.

I should say that, in general online parlance, "oneshotted," or "oneshopping," is generally a negative term.  Something has happened to you, and it makes it difficult for you to go on with your life as it was before.  Sometimes it is impossible to go on with your life as it was before.

Once again, in terms of grief, I definitely understand this concept.  Your person has died.  The world is no longer the same.  The person that you talked to, went to, discussed things with, could expect support from in any situation, has died.  The world is not the same.  Some of the battles that you face, sometimes on a daily basis, may be the same.  But you no longer have the resources to face them.

I definitely understand that.

But, as with any experience of grief, people react to the loss differently.

Yes, for some people, the loss is a loss, and it is a fatal loss.  If someone else doesn't pick up the slack; if you can't find a support resource, and quickly; well, you just can't survive.  That's what it feels like, and, in all too many cases, that's what it is.  Your life is, actually, over.

But people do react differently.  And, of course, not all losses are equal.  I lost my wife.  I lost my best friend.  Since I was also her caregiver, I lost my job.  I lost any semblance of schedule in my days, weeks, and months.  I lost the person that I most wanted to talk to in any situation.  The person that I had to discuss things with: whether they were movies, hockey games, or newscasts.  I lost all that.

But, of course, different grief is different, because different relationships are different.  When Gloria's mother died, Gloria had grief bursts for ten years thereafter, and even longer.  When Gloria's father died, she grieved, but not with the same intensity.  In the case of my parents, I didn't grieve that much for either of them, because our relationship simply had never been very close.  Not when I was a child, certainly not when I was a teenager, and not when I became an adult and started my career, and then married.  My parents and I were never particularly close, and so, while I did grieve over them, it wasn't earth-shattering.

When my father died, my mother didn't grieve all that much.  It didn't make that much of a change in what she did.  Different marriages are different.  The relationships are different.  Gloria and I had to make contact with each other pretty much constantly.  We had to talk, at great length, about whatever we learned, or encountered.  I have seen many many other marriages where this is not the case.  Where the couple live together, but have different interests.  They sleep together, they eat together, they raise children together.  But that togetherness isn't particularly close.  One has one set of interests and activities, and the other has a different set, and very few of those sets intersect.  So, when the one dies, the other will probably grieve, yes, but not extensively. And it doesn't completely change their life.  They haven't been oneshotted.

But others have.  Their life is completely changed.  *My* life is completely changed.  I am no longer writing books.  I am no longer teaching, at least not in any traditional sense.  I am not taking care of Gloria.  I am writing sermons, which I never did before.  I have started an intensive, and in-depth research into grief itself.  I am experimenting with providing three different, and fairly unique, styles of great support.  I am doing a great deal of volunteer work, with a great many organizations.  Yes, I have done volunteer work pretty much all of my life.  But I didn't have as much time for it while Gloria and I were married, and even before we were married I wasn't doing as much as I am doing now.

So my life is different. When Gloria died, one of my colleagues informed me that now I had the opportunity to reinvent myself.  My response was that I would pass on the opportunity.  But that ship had sailed, and, yes, I did know what he was talking about.  I am still trying to reinvent myself.  As far as I'm concerned it's not working out very well.  But I'm trying.  I've been oneshotted.  My life is over.  I am trying to, not rebuild or reinvent my life, but to build a completely new one.  So far, I don't like it.

MGG - 6.19 - Gloria - health (2)

Gloria had always had medical issues, and problems, but they were generally unpleasant, and painful, rather than life-threatening.  She frequently said, "My body has never been my friend."  She suffered from IBS-C (Irritable Bowel Syndrome of constipation type).  She had suffered with this since childhood.  Her father did not understand, and thought it was stubbornness on Gloria's part in her inability to produce a bowel movement.

She also suffered from a hiatus hernia.  For most of her life she felt that this was simply limited to gastric reflux, and pain, on occasion, when lying down, which sometimes meant that she could not go to bed.  Eventually, as noted, the diaphragm opened sufficiently that it became a major medical issue, requiring surgery.  The surgeon, at the time, noted that her diaphragm with paper thin.  This was rather odd, given Gloria's status as a soloist, and, as one choir director put it, a coloratura soprano, which normally requires a great deal of strength in the abdominal muscles, and in the diaphragm as well.

Gloria suffered from arthritis and joint pain.  She suffered lower back pain.  She suffered misalignment of her hips, and frequently had recourse to a chiropractor.  (On one occasion, when we were both in the car, and were rear-ended by another driver, Gloria went immediately to the chiropractor, and stayed in alignment for an unprecedented period of more than a year.  Rather ironic, given the circumstances.)

Again, somewhat ironically, given her career as a soloist, whenever Gloria got a cold, it went immediately to her chest.  Her lungs would get congested, and it would usually take quite a while to clear up.

Gloria had fibroids, and, eventually, a prolapsed uterus.  Requiring a hysterectomy.

Because of the arthritis, and other joint issues, Gloria was placed on a very strong anti-arthritis medication.  This resulted in bleeding in her gastrointestinal system, which was undiagnosed for many years, and resulted in extremely low iron levels in her blood.  (The iron deficiency was so sever that it did not respond to oral supplements, or even office intravenous iron infusions.  When Gloria finally went in for chemo, we were well familiar with the chemo centre, since we had spent many sessions, and hours, in there getting extensive iron infusions.)  This, in terms of her total energy levels, was probably not helped by an undiagnosed problem with her thyroid, which was only discovered when she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  No one ever did determine what the problem with your thyroid was, although they did determine that it was not a malignant tumor.

Following the multiple surgeries to deal with her diaphragm, Gloria was on a considerable number of medications.  Some had to be taken with food; some could not be taken with food.  Some could not be taken with each other.  It was extremely difficult to figure out a schedule of all the medications, and when they needed to be taken.  Different types of medications needed to be taken at some time distance from each other.  As noted, some needed to be taken with meals, and therefore meal timing had to be quite rigorous.  This determined our meal times, and medication times, and even the timing of other events, during the last decade of Gloria's life.  Therefore it determined much of my life, as well, and may explain the complete breakdown of any idea of schedule, and even appointments, for me, once Gloria died.

As well as noting that her body was never her friend, Gloria frequently stated that she wanted her Resurrection body, and she wanted it *right now!*  Well, now she finally has it. Although I miss Gloria terribly, I could never wish her alive again, and in the difficulties that she always suffered.  The one definitive piece of medical diagnosis that I was able to obtain during Gloria's final stay in hospital was a report, by an oncologist, noting that, if Gloria survived that stay in hospital, her remaining life would be short, unpleasant, and painful.  I cannot regret that Gloria died when she did.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-618-gloria-health-1.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-620-gloria-acting.html

Snowdrops

The developers didn't do much, if anything, with quite a large chunk of property next to the parking lot.  (Well, except for weeding out the sunflowers which I had tried to keep alive, by hand watering, during the hottest part of the summer.)

There is an area not too far from our property where people seem to have dumped quite a bit of yard waste.  In the late winter, there are clumps of snow drops, crocuses, daffodils, and other bulb based flowers.  So, last year, after most of them had died back, I had taken note of where the flowers had come up, and went and dug until I found some bulbs.  I took a few bulbs from the edges of a number of different clumps, and then planted them behind my car's parking space.  Predictably, the landscapers didn't do anything in this area, except dump another layer of mulch on it in the late summer.

So, the fact that these plants have survived the neglect, as well as an exceptional (for this part of the world) cold snap of two weeks duration, is the reason that I have been so chuffed about the little green shoots that have been showing up.  And, yes, I can now confirm that the earliest of the green shoots were, in fact, snowdrops.  I am reasonably confident that another clump of shoots, in a slightly darker green colour, are likely crocuses.  I think there is at least one Narcissus in the area, and possibly also a hyacinth.  So, as silly as it may seem, I am absolutely delighted that there is a bed of these hardy early spring flowers behind my (and only my) parking space.

MGG - 6.18 - Gloria - health (1)

I really don't know what to title this one.  "The Beginning of the End?"  Yes, this marked a significant change in Gloria's health, but most of it really wasn't related to her death.  Yes, it kind of marked the start of my career as Gloria's caregiver, but she always *had* had health issues.

Number Two Daughter was moving house, so we were babysitting the kids.  We took them to a movie.  They wanted to see the new Transformers movie.  Which was in 3D.  And was also around three hours long.  Wearing 3D glasses, for so long, is somewhat disorienting.  Coming out of the theater, and crossing the parking lot, Gloria slipped on a patch of slimy mud that had been the bottom of a drying puddle.  She went down.  She didn't get up again.  When I got to her she was in an awful lot of pain.

I drove her, and the kids, to the hospital.  We called Number Two Daughter, who came and got her kids.  It turned out that Gloria had broken her shoulder: shattering the top of the humerus into four pieces.

It was, of course, extremely painful.  As with any joint break, it took an awfully long time to heal.  In the initial stages of healing, Gloria was in the big armchair/massage chair that I had won at a trade show, very early in our marriage.  It allowed her to sleep in a semi-reclining position, and ensured that she didn't roll onto her shoulder during the night.  However, Gloria was not able to manage to get out of the chair by herself.  So, during the night, when she needed to get up to the bathroom, she had her cell phone with her beside the chair, and would call me on the house phone, so that I would wake up, come downstairs, get her out of the chair so that she could go to the bathroom, and then put her back in the chair, and go back upstairs to bed.

It was her right shoulder that was broken.  While everyone was extremely sympathetic to her plight, and her pain, when they went to comfort her, all of them, universally, patted her on her right shoulder.

She went to a physiotherapist over a period of about a year.  The physiotherapy seemed to help a bit at first, but then she hit a plateau.  We went back to the doctor, who eventually got more medical imaging of her shoulder, which determined that her rotator cuff was torn, and therefore physiotherapy was contraindicated.  Her right shoulder was somewhat restricted after that.

While it can't be said that this problem caused the further medical problems, this was the beginning of a long string of surgeries and medical issues.

Gloria had had problems all her life with IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  She also had a hiatus hernia, which caused gastric reflux, frequently seriously painful.  Her stomach and gastrointestinal problems seemed to be getting worse.  And then one day, she seemed to have heart or lung problems, so we went to emergency.  It turned out that the hiatus hernia had opened up sufficiently that her stomach was actually in her chest, where it is not supposed to be.  It was impeding her heart and lungs, because of the stomach occupying the space that they should have used for normal movements.

The hospital did surgery on the hiatus hernia.  However, there are two ways that you can do this.  One is to completely open the abdominal wall, and do the surgery with the abdomen exposed.  The other way to do it is a kind of keyhole surgery, using four holes, and special manipulators through the holes to reposition organs and sew up the diaphragm.  This was the choice of surgery in Gloria's case.

Gloria has always had problems with wounds taking a long time to heal.  In this case, the even the small surgical holds that were used for her diaphragm surgery, reopened after the surgery; a process known as dehiscence.  We went to the ambulatory care clinic, which we tended to refer to as the wound clinic, and, revisiting two or three times per week, had absolutely wonderful care from the nurses who viewed, cleaned, packed, and explained all the processes, in caring for the wound over a period of at least three months.  Finally, on one visit to the wound clinic, when Gloria was not feeling very well, the nurse treating her on that occasion said, "Congratulations, your wound is finally healed.  Now go straight to emergency, because you're very sick!"

So, we were back at emergency.  In this case, the problem was not determined right away, and so Gloria was admitted to hospital, and I went home.  During the night, the nurse who was on shift where Gloria was, was someone that we knew.  She knew that Gloria tolerated an awful lot of pain, and that if she was complaining of pain that it must be extremely painful, and so alerted a doctor, and insisted that Gloria be seen, since something was obviously seriously wrong.  I got a call at 7:00 in the morning.  The doctor had determined that the previous surgery had completely let go, and the surgery would have to be done all over again.  They transferred her to the Vancouver General Hospital, and did the surgery with the abdomen fully open, rather than trying to do the keyhole surgery again.  The surgery, in this case, took at least eight hours.  Gloria ended up in the post recovery post-surgical board with at least a dozen tubes and wires running in and out of her body.

It was a while before Gloria could go home.  And then the wound dehisced again. So it was back to the wound clinic, for another three months, to get that wound healed up again.  In this case, when Gloria went home, she had one tube still running out of her stomach, left there to stabilize her stomach in a position where an artificial scar would be formed inside, anchoring the stomach in position so that it wouldn't move again.  I had to clean her tube and wound twice a day, in order to prevent infection.

And then, roughly a year later, while she was still occasionally visiting the surgeon to make sure that her internal organs were settling into place properly, she got an inflammation around the surgical site.  Again.  We went back to the General, seeing the doctor, who sent us over to the emergency ward, immediately, to have this inflammation lanced.  It turned out that there was a piece of surgical suture, that had been in place from either the first or the second surgery, which the body had finally infected and rejected.  So, once again, it was back to the wound clinic, for another three months of sessions two and three times a week.  We were getting quite familiar with the wound clinic staff by this point.

Sometime after (and, once again, there was no causal link), there were some troubling indications, and Gloria was sent to an oncologist.  In pursuing the situation with regard to the cancer, it was also determined that there was a problem with her thyroid, so she was seeing a thyroid specialist at the same time.  Nothing was ever really determined about a specific problem with the thyroid, although she was put on hormone replacement medication, a synthetic form of the hormone that they thyroid normally produces to give you energy.  So, once again, two things were going on that seem to have seemed to possibly be related, but actually had no relation to each other, as far as anybody could ever determine.

The cancer was Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  This was diagnosed, but the oncologist wanted to get more details about it, so Gloria was referred for a PET scan.  As it happens, I went to UBC just after the TRIUMF cyclotron was put into operation, where PET scanning was invented.  So I knew something of the situation and process.  However, due to some kind of administrative mix-up, Gloria was delayed in terms of being scheduled for a PET scan, and so it was some months before she was actually scanned.

The PET scan process is quite interesting.  The process involves being injected with a sugar solution, where some of the component atomic particles have been replaced with positrons.  Because it is sugar, the sugars end up in areas that are more active than others, and, when you have tumours, cancer is generally one of the most active sites in your body.  Therefore, by looking at where positron radiation is being emitted from, you know where the sugar molecules are collecting, and can therefore pinpoint cancerous sites.  The positron scanning is paired with a CAT scan so that there is a reference as to where the emitting sites are in particular organs in the body.

As well as knowing about PET scanning, as a security maven, I also know something about border security procedures.  The technician doing the PET scanning, when she gave Gloria the injection of sugar, noted that she should not try and cross the border for the next 72 hours. Gloria found this kind of surprising, and I burst out laughing, because I knew why this was the case.  At the US border land crossings, there are extremely sensitive radiation detectors.  These detectors are so sensitive that, yes, anyone who has had radiation treatments, of whatever kind, will set the detectors off.

In the delay between Gloria's initial referral, and the final scheduled PET scan, Gloria's lymphoma had progressed from stage one to stage three.  It was an extremely aggressive form of lymphoma.  This is actually a good thing.  In the same way that a high performance car requires lots of time in the shop to maintain its operation, aggressive cancers are more susceptible to chemotherapy, and therefore, in a sense, aggressive cancers are easier to treat.  Gloria was treated with chemotherapy.  At least six sessions, and possibly eight.  I can't recall anymore.

I can recall that the chemotherapy brought her white cell count down very drastically.  In order to try and boost her immune system, she was prescribed an extremely expensive drug, which did not exactly *increase* white cell production, but did release the white cells earlier than they would normally have been released.  This meant that she did have some white cells in her bloodstream, but that they were primarily immature.  We joked about having to rely on her teenage white cells.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-617-gloria-glorias-hoodie.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-619-gloria-health-2.html

MGG - 5.52 - HWYD - 555-1212

OK, I might have been a little too subtle.

I posted, "My phone said I had a missed call from +1-604-555-1212.

"Can't quite put my finger on it, but I have the strangest feeling that it was from a scammer ..."

555 is, and has been for some time, a "reserved" exchange in the North American public telephone system (+1-).  No area is ever assigned 555.  For the most part, you will see all telephone numbers on Hollywood/American movies and TV shows are in the 555 exchange, since the telcos know that calls to those numbers don't go anywhere.

There are a few reserved numbers *within* the 555 non-exchange.  At one point various area codes used 555-1212 as directory assistance.

At one point I worked in telecommunications consulting, including some work with telephony, so I know these things.  I tend to assume that anything *I* know is common knowledge.  I *also* know that, these days, pretty much any call you get from a scammer is going to have a falsified number show up in automatic number identification (so-called "caller-ID).  (This is why the advice to block numbers from scammers on your phone is pretty much useless: scammers just generate random numbers, or numbers "near" your number, that they put out in automatic number identification.)  (Even I, with my *extremely* limited experience in telephony, and not being a phone phreak, know at least *four* *different* ways to generate false input to automatic number identification.)

So, when my phone told me that I had a missed call from +1-604-555-1212, I knew that that was impossible.  Being impossible, it *had* to be from a scammer.  So I figured that my colleagues in security would all appreciate the joke.

It turns out, the joke was on me.  As I knew, if I had thought about it for a minute, there has always been a gulf between telephony people, and data communications people.  And, even these days, when "the network is the computer," a lot of techies still don't actually know how the network works.  Even the data network.  So, a lot of them didn't get the joke, and went to work to help me out.  (Sorry, you lot.)

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2024/12/mgg-551-hwyd-community-policing.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2024/12/mgg-6oo-gloria-introduction-and-glorias.html

Job 6:8-9

"Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

MGG - 6.17 - Gloria - Gloria's Hoodie

As possibly mentioned elsewhere, my wardrobe, these days, consists principally of free clothing provided by vendors, trade shows, and conferences at which I have spoken.  This is the reason that my wardrobe is predominantly black: vendors have been in love with black for the past two decades, at the very least.  I have lots of black t-shirts, black hoodies, black jackets, and even black socks.

One of the conferences where I got swag was at CanSecWest.  However, I don't have very much of it, because Dragos (or whoever did his ordering), ordered from Malaysia, Indonesia, and other places where men are much smaller than they are in North America.  An awful lot of the swag clothing provided by CanSecWest, even when it was marked as 3XL (three times extra large) would be a medium, at best.  So, I didn't bring home an awful lot of that swag.

One hoodie that I did bring home was, in fact, too small for me at the time.  But it fit Gloria just fine.  And so she took to wearing it, and wore it quite a bit.  It was interesting when people would ask her where she got the hoodie, and what the logo was, and we then had to explain that it was clothing from a conference to which I had proposed a presentation, but it was too small for me, so Gloria wore it.

As also noted elsewhere, after Gloria died, I found that I had lost weight over her period of illness and death.  And then continued to lose weight, over the weeks that followed.  So, having been overweight for pretty much all of our married life, I figured that I should use this head start, and the fact that I was walking everywhere, to try and diet, and lose a bit more.

Shortly, therefore, I was down to a size where I could wear the hoodie again.  So I did.  I still have it, and, mostly because Gloria wore it so much, it could be one piece of my wardrobe that I would have trouble throwing away.  There were also a number of the t-shirts that I had, and still have, that Gloria would wear.  There were a number that were not big enough for me at my highest weight, but which Gloria could wear just fine.  They are now mixed in with my t-shirts, and there are only a few of them that I can specifically identify as being t-shirts that were Gloria's amongst all of mine, as I am now small enough to wear all of them, with some of them being exceptionally large.  But, as Gloria frequently noted, I never care what I wear so the fact that it's oversized isn't a particular issue for me.

I did finally get to speak at CanSecWest, six months after Gloria died.  (It was, in fact, six months to the *day* after Gloria died.)  And I was given another jacket, by CanSecWest, at that particular conference.  By that time, the largest jacket that they had available was, in fact, big enough to fit me.  So, I do have two pieces of CanSecWest swag that I can wear.  And do.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-616-gloria-monopoly.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-618-gloria-health-1.html

Review of "Wicked"

This is a review of "Wicked."  The musical, not the book.  The movie, not the stage version.  Part one.  (Of the movie, not the review.)

I read the book.  I appreciated the conceit of taking a known story, and looking at it from the other side, but, overall, I found the book to be disjointed, and lacking a central point or theme.  I was somewhat interested in what was added to, and dropped from, the movie version of "The Wizard of Oz."  (I've never actually read the book of "The Wizard of Oz," although I do know some of the changes that the movie made.)  (I must admit that I'm starting to get lost in the derivative nature of this work.)

I saw the musical.  In a rather problematic situation, but I noted the changes made from the "Wicked" book, and I liked some of the songs.  So I was actually rather eager to see the movie version.

The movie version, as spectacle, is impressive.  It is worth watching, as a movie.  However, I find it odd that, with a runtime close to three hours, the character development falters, and is more alluded to than demonstrated.  If you know all the versions (and can keep them straight in your head) you can see where things are headed.  But the spectacle and production does take away from other aspects of the story.  The theme has been narrowed (and, in some places, cleaned up), but is now simply a weak version of "you shouldn't dislike different people simply because they are different," and has lost some of the depth of the "Wicked" book.  The songs have, almost all, been turned into production numbers so lavish that you are a few minutes into them before you realize "oh, yeah, I remember that song, but it's not a song anymore."

I'm still interested in seeing Part Two, whenever it comes out, but I'm not so eager anymore ...

Death Cafe

OK, *that* was marginally disappointing.

The one thing our society refuses to talk about is death.  At a Death Cafe, we can.  I attended a few Death Cafes in Delta, and found them very useful.  So I have been trying to get one going in Port Alberni ever since I got here.  A Death Cafe is not (intended to be) grief support or counselling, just a safe space to talk about death and related issues.  At a Death Cafe people drink tea, eat cake and discuss death.  The aim is to increase awareness of death to help people make the most of their (finite) lives.

So, finally, the United Church offered me monthly space for six months.  Actually, I thought that was a bit much.  I figured that people might *maybe* want to meet quarterly.  To my astonishment, the people who showed up for the first one wanted to meet *weekly*!

So I scrambled around for the entire weekend, and finally got the hospice society to open up on a bi-weekly basis.  And got the word around to all those who showed up for the first.  And got a co-facilitator, in case I couldn't make it some time.  And we had our first meeting tonight.

And precisely zero people showed up.

Well, at least the co-facilitator and I had a nice chat.

But we will still try it again at the Alberni Valley Hospice Office, 2579 10th Ave, Thursday, February 27th, 7-9 PM.  Bi-weekly, so the next meetings will be on Mar. 13 and 27.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5p1or6CMY1Xj6pQtEPoKHw

https://x.com/DeathCafe

https://deathcafe.com/

http://www.facebook.com/deathcafe

Job 24:1

Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?  Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

MGG - 6.16 - Gloria - Monopoly

Gloria's Dad required a big Christmas dinner, and then a, basically identical, New Year's Day dinner.  He wanted to be able to have turkey sandwiches, from the leftovers from Christmas, for the entire period between Christmas and New Years, and then to do it all over again on New Year's.  As noted, except for Christmas presents, the two events were pretty much identical.

Including the fact that, after dinner, there was a game of Monopoly.  It was a tradition.  It was also vicious and cut throat.  Not everyone participated.  Gloria didn't like it.  Her Mum didn't like it.  But the Christmas and New Year's after-dinner Monopoly games were an absolute fixture.

I do not like games.  I do not play games.  I always have an awful lot of work to do, and ideas to develop.  I find games, even solitary games in isolation, to be a waste of time.  

I have a competitive streak, which I do not like.  I do not like the competitive nature which playing games against other people awakens in me.  So I don't play games.  Of pretty much any kind.

When I joined the family, I was encouraged to participate in the Monopoly game.  *Strongly* encouraged.  Basically, they bugged me to join the Monopoly game on every Christmas and New Year's occasion.  They urged me repeatedly that this was a requirement in the family.

Finally, one year I gave in.  I played the Monopoly game.

I won. 

I was never asked to play Monopoly again.  As far as I was concerned, this was a major win.  Not necessarily winning at Monopoly, but the fact that it meant that I was no longer urged to join the Monopoly game.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-615-gloria-infamous-pink-binder.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-617-gloria-glorias-hoodie.html

MGG - 6.15 - Gloria - Infamous Pink Binder

The Infamous Pink Binder was Gloria's wedding planner for our wedding.  Unlike most brides, she had been a wedding hostess, and so had plenty of experience and knew what to do for a wedding.  She didn't need to buy one.  She made her own, just using an ordinary three-ring binder.  Pink, of course, was her favorite color.

I still have The Infamous Pink Binder.  It's front cover has come off, and it's very tattered.  This is because it was not only the planner for our wedding, but was used, as a template and guide, for both of Gloria's daughters, and all of their friends.  It has been read and reread, and used and reused, so much that it is coming apart.  It's an excellent guide.

Gloria was an excellent event planner.  She did a fantastic job with our wedding.  I didn't think so at the time, because I wanted to help, and Gloria couldn't think of anything that I could actually do.  She had done it all.  But she was the most amazing event planner.  I have, subsequently, known people whose jobs it was to do event planning, professionally.  None of them could have held a candle to Gloria.

A lot of people thought that Gloria's crowning achievement was her parents fiftieth wedding anniversary.  She actually started planning it a little over two years in advance.  At one point during that time, she "assisted" her mother with Christmas card addressing, thus collecting their entire Christmas card list, and therefore the addresses of all their friends.  She was then able to contact all of their friends, without her parents knowing.  (Although, when it actually came down to it, she had to confess that she had done this, when she started to receive so many pieces of important mail, with news of deaths and so forth, and had to pass along those items to her parents, and let them know how she had obtained them.)

The anniversary was a fairly complicated arrangement, involving a dinner for close family, twenty-five people, and then the larger group of friends and relations.  The program for the evening, for the larger gathering, was divided into three sections, with space between for chat and socializing.  The program involved not only the traditional readings of letters and telegrams, (in this case mostly email), but also a history of the period when her parents got married, a brief recounting of the story of how they met, fell in love, and married, and a series of small plays or vignettes, for which Gloria wrote the scripts, outlining different family stories from their marriage which had been recounted over the years.  All of this was not made any easier perforce by a change of actor for the part of her father, which was required by the fact that the person originally intended to play her father suddenly could not do it.  Parts had to be replaced and rehearsed.

When Gloria arranged her parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary, we had access to one of their wedding photos which showed Sulla, Gloria's Mum, holding her wedding bouquet.  We knew what the flowers were (the species of flower was part of family legend.)  However, there was a lot of greenery involved in the bouquet, and we weren't too sure about that.  Gloria went to various florists to see if they could figure out what it was, so that we could match the greenery in recreating the bouquet.  None of them could identify it.  The picture was old, black and white, and not particularly high resolution.  As was the case with photography in those days, it was only a snapshot in any case.

I looked at the picture, and felt that the greenery looked an awful lot like sword fern.  So, since nobody could tell us what the greenery actually was, I asked Gloria if I should just go and get some sword fern out of the forest, so that we could have some greenery that, at least, looked similar to that in her Mum's wedding bouquet.  Gloria felt that this was an okay idea.

Out of idle curiosity, I went and looked up sword fern in a guide to local plants.  In the description in this book (which was written quite a while ago), it mentioned that, during the years around the Second World War, sword fern was harvested in BC and shipped, as floral greenery to florists across Canada, and particularly to the Prairies, in much the same way that salal is harvested and sold as greenery today.  So it seems very likely that we did recreate the bouquet perfectly.  It is very probable that the greenery in Sulla's wedding bouquet was, in fact, BC harvested sword fern.

In planning the evening, and the program, and structure, it was intended that the event should last until 10:00 PM. As the final part of the program for the evening, I was allowed to thank the various participants. As I was doing so, the girls yelled out from the back, "What time is it, Rob?"  I looked at my watch.  It was exactly 10:00 PM.

However, this was not what *Gloria* felt was her crowning achievement in event planning.  As the secretary to the principal of Regent College, she was there on the day when Billy Graham, and entourage, visited the college.  Billy Graham's time is was scripted almost as tightly as that of the President of the United States, and the college had been told that they had another appointment, and would not be able to stay for lunch.  During the morning, something changed their minds.  At 11:40 AM, Gloria was told that Billy Graham, and entourage, would be staying for lunch.  Gloria ordered food from a nearby cafeteria, sent some of the college staff over to get it and bring it back, found representatives of the faculty, the Board, and the student body, and arranged all of the lunch in one of the libraries at the college.  By noon.  Billy Graham's team was mightily impressed.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-614-gloria-webmastery.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-616-gloria-monopoly.html

MGG - 5.19a - HWYD - DISKSECURE

It's not really like I was doing anything that I was supposed to wasn't supposed to.  After all, even though I was primarily there as manager of the technical support department, given my research and background they had said that I should look into forms of security and antivirus protection for the company.  But, equally, let's face it: this really was more part of my ongoing reviews of antiviral products.

So this was a product that was new to me.  I don't think the company that had produced it had really researched the field of computer viruses very extensively.  The product said that it would protect against all computer viruses, and particularly computer viruses that were of the boot sector infector type.  It was software, so this might have been a little bit problematic.  However, others had done it before them.

One of the products that had done it before them, and extremely effectively, was DISKSECURE.  Not only was DISKSECURE extremely effective, but it was also free.  And, I knew the author.  I used disk secure on all of my own machines.  I had also installed it, for Gloria, at her workplace. DISKSECURE not only protected against computer viruses, and particularly the boot sector infector type, but it also allowed you to effectively password protect your computer, which was, generally speaking, not available with MS-DOS computers at the time.  The fact that we had used DISKSECURE to protect Gloria's computer allowed us to detect the fact that someone was trying to break into her computer after hours.

Anyway, I had installed DISKSECURE on my computer, at *my* office.  And, now I was trying out another antivirus product.

I installed the test antivirus product on my own computer.  And then, in order to make sure that it worked, I tried to infect the computer with a simple BSI virus.  And, lo and behold, the computer got infected.  The test antivirus product obviously didn't protect against boot sector infector viruses.  At least not the simple one that I tried first.  So, that was a black mark against it, and I got another (free) antivirus product to clean off the virus.

Only to find that the test antivirus product, which had not protected against the virus infection, now prevented the antivirus disinfector from cleaning the virus infection.

So, I tried to uninstall the test antivirus.  Only to find that, probably due to some corruption involved in the virus infection, the test antivirus could no longer be uninstalled.

So, to recap, at this point I had a computer with a an ineffective test antivirus product installed on it, which had not prevented an infection, so the computer was infected with a virus, but the test antivirus would not allow an antivirus disinfector to clean the virus off.

Fortunately, DISKSECURE had another trick up its sleeve.  One of the options that DISKSECURE gave you, when you installed it on your computer in the first place, was to create a backup copy of your boot sector.  And it also provided a function that would allow you to, in a fairly brute force fashion, use the backup copy of the boot sector to overwrite anything that had happened to the boot sector.  For example, a virus infection.

So I used this brute force overriding replacement to put the original boot sector back onto my computer.  And, lo and behold, the computer was clean, and uninfected, and I was back in business.  With a little extra cleaning up to do.

I immediately terminated the test antivirus, with extreme prejudice.  And, obviously, that particular antivirus product got a rather scathing review.  It was not recommended.

DISKSECURE, on the other hand, was extremely useful, in quite a variety of situations. I kept on using it quite extensively over the years.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2024/05/mgg-519-hwyd-women-in-developmentfonts.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2024/06/mgg-520-hwyd-we-like-it-that-way.html

Sermon 56 - Situationally Unaware

Sermon 56 - Situationally Unaware

Matthew 24:50

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.

Psalm 65:8

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

Military and law enforcement people talk a lot about situational awareness.  Working in security, we get to hear about it too.  The main concept of situational awareness is that you are aware of your environment, and particularly the threats and the risks in your environment.  Being situationally aware, you pay attention to the environment, and what in the environment is a risk, or what in the environment may become a threat.  You also pay attention to any changes in the environment, changes that might introduce a threat or a risk into the environment.  Being aware of the risks you can then do a risk analysis, and manage the risks and not be vulnerable particularly vulnerable to any threats.

This is a concept, as I say, that comes primarily from the military, and has been passed down to law enforcement, and then has come to us in security.  But, as I frequently say, an awful lot of security is simply risk management, and the management of any business involves two things; management of risk, and management of people.  This applies to life as well, so the idea of situational awareness is something that more people should be aware of.

As I have mentioned, I am the only pedestrian in Port Alberni.  And, as I have also mentioned, the drivers in Port Alberni are the worst in the entire world.  And, having studied the situation, at close range (sometimes literally), I think I have figured out what the problem is.  As I say, the drivers of Port Alberni are the worst in the entire world.  I have taught all over the world.  I have taught on six continents.  I have seen lots of drivers, in lots of places, with lots of different characteristics.  There are places in the world that have faster drivers.  There are places in the world that have more *aggressive* drivers.  But there is no place that I have ever been, in the entire world, where the drivers are more situationally unaware than in Port Alberni.  When driving, you have to pay attention to things that are outside the windows of your car.

So, the concept of situational awareness applies to life.  It applies to different aspects of life.  Situational awareness obviously applies to driving.  But situational awareness also applies to us in the church.

So, in respect of the Christian life, of what is it that we have to be situationally aware?  Well, not to put a point on it to find a point on it, everything.  Everything, and even more so.  We have to be aware of everything in our lives that we would normally be aware of, and some additional factors as well.

We are in this world.  We may not be of it, but we are definitely in it.  God has created the world for us to be in.  God has created us, and the world, and the entire universe, and any other universes that there may be.  And, because God created them, God must have had a purpose in creating them.  So everything that happens in our life is something that we have to be aware of.  The Bible, very often, talks about seeing God in the works of his hands: in the works of nature, in the stars in the sky, in the heavens above us, in all of the landscape that is around us, and all of the beasts that walk upon it, or crawl upon it, or fly over it.  God created all of them.  And God had a purpose in creating them.  And God may be speaking to us, through them.  So we need to listen to God.  And part of the way that we listen to God is by being aware of what is around us.  Because he created it.

That isn't the only way that God speaks to us, of course.  God speaks to us most directly, and most reliably, in his word: the Bible.  So, in addition to everything that is around us, we need to be aware of what the Bible says about it all.  How often are we aware of what the Bible says?  Of what God says to us, everyday, written down, in a kind of an owner's manual for the universe, if only we would read it.

Sometimes, of course, God has a specific verse, just for us, speaking to us and to our situation, as if God was speaking directly to us.  It just pops into our mind, and it directly addresses the situation that we are facing.  God is directing us.  But, of course, it doesn't just pop into our mind.  It pops into our awareness, out of our memory.  But we only remember it, if we have read it in the first place.  How often do we read the Bible?

Well, of course, we are all busy.  And we may not have time to take an evening off, every week, to go to a Bible study, where the Bible study might discuss possibly four or five verses out of the tens of thousands of verses in the Bible.  And of course, there is the preparation time to get ready for the Bible study, and then there is the time driving to the Bible study, and then there's the time for the study itself, and then, of course, there is the necessary socialization time.  So, yes, it might not be a completely efficient is of our time to spend two or three hours, per week, delving into four or five verses of scripture.

But, then again, it's awfully hard to find any justification in the Bible that indicates that God is at all interested in efficiency.

But, if you want efficiency, there is more than one way to read the Bible.

It's quite possible just to read it.

I recently had a conversation with a young parishioner in one of the churches in town.  She told me that it was her ambition to read the Bible all the way through.  It's a good ambition.  And I gave her a few tips.  I told her that you can buy One Year Bibles.  I know that these Bibles exist in at least two translations, the New International Version, and the Good News Bible.  I know that, because I have both of them.  And, with those One Year Bibles, you get a bit of the Old Testament, and a bit of the gospels, and a bit of the epistles, and a bit out of the Psalms, everyday.  You get a bit of a mix, so that you're not faced with chapters upon chapters of Jewish dietary law, all at one go, but you get to read through the entire Bible in one year.  In one year, you can read through the complete Bible.

In fact, you don't need one of the One Year Bibles.  If you read four chapters, every day, you can get through the entire Bible, in possibly just a little over a year.  If you read five chapters, every day, you will get through the entire Bible in slightly less than a year.  If you read ten chapters, every day, you will get through the entire Bible in five months.  And reading ten chapters, everyday, generally will take you less than half an hour.  Okay, if you are into Jeremiah, Jeremiah has fairly long chapters, and he and Isaiah, well ten chapters of them might occasionally edge you over the half hour limit.  Even so, when you get into the Psalms, ten Psalms might only take you ten minutes.  (Well, OK, except for Psalm 119.  But then, Psalm *117* is the *shortest* chapter in the Bible.)  So, on average, about twenty minutes a day will get you through the entire Bible in five months.

And then what?

Well, I just start all over again at Genesis.  It's funny: every time I read the Bible I come across a verse that I don't recall ever having read before.  Every time I read the Bible, even though I have read it over more than twenty times, I find something that sounds new.  And that speaks to me.  In my particular situation.  You'd think that, by this time, I would have memorized the darned thing.  But apparently not.

So, the Bible is something else of which we should be aware.  And aware of on an ongoing basis.

And there are other things of which we should be aware.  Possibly not things that we should build into, but we should be aware of the possibilities.  The Bible speaks of powers that are ranged against us.  That is, if we are on God's side.  There are powers that are ranged against God.  If we are for God, those powers are ranged against us.  Those powers fight against us.  Now, this is definitely not an area of expertise for me.  It's not even in an area in which I am interested.  After all, the Bible also says that we should not be too terribly interested in these powers.  We should not serve them, and nor should we ask them for help.  We should not call them up.  We should not be associated with people who try to call up those powers.  C.S. Lewis, in "The Screwtape Letters," notes that there are two mistakes that people make with respect to the Devil: the first mistake is that people are too afraid of the Devil.  After all, we do have God on our side.  Or, rather, we are on God's side, and God takes care of his own.  The other mistake that people make is to become too interested in the Devil.  So, no, I have not studied in this area, and I do not recommend that you study it, either.  It is an area fraught with peril.  And that peril is not merely physical, but spiritual.  But the Bible does say that these powers exist.  In fact, it mentions that these powers exist, and warns us against them, many more times then it mentions homosexuality, or abortion.  Combined.  So, it would be foolish not to be aware of the possibility.  Not terrified by it.  The Bible does not provide us with details, and God probably has a reason for that.  But we should be aware of the possibility: not terrified, and not too terribly interested.  But aware.

One more thing of which to be aware: you.  What do you need?  What drives you?  What do you want?  Why do you do the things that you do?  No, you can't just copp out and, with Paul, say, "wretched man that I am!"  Be aware of what traps and triggers you.  Be aware of what builds and fulfills you, and "think on these things."  We seem to go to great lengths *not* to be aware of ourselves.  We aren't supposed to think about ourselves.  That's selfish, and selfishness is bad!  Therefore, we reject thinking about ourselves.  But God thinks about you.  God loves you.  So, while trying not to go *too* far down the path of self-centredness, maybe you can try and see yourself as God sees you?  Something, some*one*, to be loved, and protected--and trained up in the way we should go.

Be aware of everything around us, even mundane things, which don't seem to be spiritual, but which may be.  For example, when we find that someone is in distress, the right thing to do is always to help them, if we possibly can.  "If we possibly can" covers a lot of ground.  So, anytime we see that someone is behaving oddly, even just seeing that someone is behaving oddly may indicate that they are in distress.  Maybe we can help.  Even just listening to their distress can help.  Be aware of these opportunities that God is giving you.  All too often we are busy, or find this person annoying, or this person just doesn't fit with our particular preferred life.  And so we decide to make ourselves situationally *un*aware.  We decide to deliberately ignore what God is showing us.  Because what God is showing us is an opportunity to help.  But it also means that it takes away our time that we would much prefer to spend watching television, or going out for a meal, or chatting with a friend, who isn't in distress, and so our chat is unlikely to demand anything of us.  And we can get off by saying well, we didn't know!  And there's a verse about that, in Proverbs ...

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/09/sermons.html

MGG - 6.14 - Gloria - Webmastery

Gloria always considered herself as not very knowledgeable about computers.  That was because she was always comparing herself to me.  In comparison to pretty much all of her co-workers, in all the various jobs that she had; in education, in industry, in government, and in business; Gloria, in whatever office she was working, very quickly became the person to go to for help with computer operations.

Even before she met me, Gloria was the person who determined the new computer that was to be purchased for Regent College.  She was the one who specified what was needed, and she was the one who had final refusal over the various proposals from vendors.

At one point Gloria was approached by an assistant manager, who noted that he had just deleted all of the boilerplate files that the staff were used to using as templates.  Gloria informed him that she was pretty certain that those files could not be recovered, because of the process that he had followed in doing the deletion.  Gloria, to double check, contacted me, relayed the process that had been followed, and I confirmed that, yes, she was absolutely correct, there was nothing that could be done: those files were gone.  Subsequently, the assistant manager came back to Gloria, and said that he had found a workaround.  He had found a listing of recently used files in one of the programs, and they would simply use those.  Gloria explained, as gently as she could, that that list was simply a list of pointers, and did not mean that those files were, in fact, still available.  (Gloria checked with me about that, as well, and I confirmed that she was absolutely correct.)

But what I, personally, found most impressive was that Gloria was asked, by the Vancouver Women's Musical Society, to take on the society's website.  The board felt that all that needed to be done was to keep the website up to date, by entering new information as it became available, and therefore this was simply a clerical function.  In fact, what they had asked for her to be, was their webmaster (or webmistress), and that this was a fairly technical undertaking.

I worked with Gloria on her initial review of the site.  Gloria was concerned about the different font sizes, font typefaces, and font colors, that had been entered into the site over a number of years.  An awful lot of the extraneous font information have resulted from people simply copy and pasting from MS Word documents, directly into the website.  The web content management system had tried valiantly to make sense of all of this material, but nobody had ever either planned what the website should look like, or looked at what was happening as they simply threw pieces of documents into the web pages.

In order to show Gloria what had happened, I taught her how to use the HTML editor (HyperText Markup Language, the building block of the Web), and taught her what some of the HTML meant.

Gloria had always loved the Word Perfect word processor.  She loved the control that it gave you, and the fact that when you turned on a printing or publishing feature, you had to turn it off again.  She took to HTML right away, loving it because of the same mindset behind it: when you turned on a change, you had to turn it off again again.  Logical.  She loved the control that gave her, and very quickly realized what she had to do to clean up all the hundreds of old, extraneous, redundant font commands that were buried in the HTML and all of the various web pages.  She became, essentially, a web developer.  She knew more about HTML, and could use it better, then an awful lot of the web developers who style themselves as such.

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-613-gloria-hand.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/mgg-615-gloria-infamous-pink-binder.html

Last place

It is not necessarily true that you always find what you are looking for in the last place you look.

The usual explanation of this truism is that when you find what you are looking for, you stop looking.

The thing is, you can look everywhere and still not find what you need.

Sermon 57 - Leaven

Sermon 57 - Leaven

Matthew 13:33

He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Hebrews 4:10

God rested from his work.  Those who enjoy God’s rest also rest from their works.

It was communion Sunday.  He said he was going to preach on communion, and on bread.

I am always disappointed when someone says that they are going to preach a sermon on communion.  And particularly when they say that they are going to preach about bread.  I always get excited when that is announced, because it is an opportunity to talk about yeast.  And then they never do.  I don't know whether this is because ministers are, generally speaking, men, and therefore don't bake.  Or whether it's because most ministers went to theological school, and didn't study anything about biochemistry.  Whatever the cause, talking about bread, and talking about communion, is an opportunity to talk about one of the most interesting things that God has given us, and then they never do.

We use yeast to make bread.  Bread is pretty universal as a foodstuff.  Almost (but not quite) all cultures have come up with some kind of bread.  We say that Jesus is the Bread of Life, referring to how necessary he is for our life.

Yeast is used to make bread rise.  Bread is, basically, a structure of membranes of the cooked bread dough, surrounding holes that mean that the bread is tastier, and also easier to eat.  But there are ways to make bread without yeast.  There is, for example, egg bread, where the holes are essentially made physically.  You beat eggs into a froth, the froth has holes, and you mix the froth and the dry ingredients together.  We can make soda bread, in the same way we make cakes, not using yeast.  We use baking powder, a chemical which, when wet, and heated, releases carbon dioxide and making bubbles.

The rising, in both bread and cakes, is due to carbon dioxide.  But the processes are quite different. Yeast is, when it's been reconstituted with water, and given a little sugar, and warmed up, living.  Baking powder is just a chemical.  If you keep it, sealed tightly enough, in the cupboard, it will never go bad.  If some moisture gets in there, it will probably release the carbon dioxide, and so it's not going to be as effective, but it'll never go bad.  It'll never grow mold.  It can't.  Mold can't live on it.  There's nothing there for the mold to eat.  Just a chemical, that's going to release carbon dioxide if it gets wet.

But yeast is different.  Yeast, in the right situation, is living.  Which gives a rise to the joke: what's the difference between Port Alberni and sourdough?  Sourdough has live culture.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yeast is a type of fungus.  Fungi are pretty great.  They give us tasty and nutritious things, like mushrooms, and they give us really bad things, like black mold.  (Actually, I guess some of the mushrooms can be pretty bad as well.  As Terry Pratchett said, all mushrooms are edible.  *Some* mushrooms are only edible *once*.)

Actually, yeast isn't just one thing.  It's not one species of organism.  It's a whole family of organisms that do pretty much the same thing.  As a matter of fact, there are quite a few different organisms that can be used as a leavening agent.  The yeast that you buy in jars, or in envelopes, just happens to be a particularly convenient variety.  It's a variety that eats, and produces carbon dioxide, at a particularly fast rate.  And it's also a variety that you can dry out, and store,  and conveniently transport, and sell in those little envelopes which will stay viable for a number of years even stored in your kitchen cupboard.  But it's not the only type of yeast.

And in fact, when we were talking about communion, the wine is also a product of a very similar process.  It's probably a different type of yeast.  As a matter of fact, different types of yeast get used in making different types of beer.  Different varieties of yeast will give beer a slightly different flavor.  It's possibly similar in wine.  A lot of different factors go into making beer, and a lot of different factors go into making wine.  And, in fact, depending on the process that you use, sometimes you let the carbon dioxide build up in the wine, as it is fermenting, so that it carbonates the liquid.  This is how you get sparkling wines, and champagne.  So, yeast is involved in both of the elements in communion.

(Unless, that is, you are a Baptist, like I am.  We, of course, don't use wine.  An awful lot of Baptist Churches have, mostly in the past, frowned upon the use of alcohol in any form.  So we tend to use grape juice.  And, now, there is a tremendous theological issue among Baptist churches, since Welsh's Grape Juice is no longer available.  What the heck are we going to do for communion now?)

But let's get back to the bread.  The leaven, that is mentioned in the Bible, was not of the dry, packaged in little envelopes, type of yeast.  Not that that type of yeast couldn't have been included in the mix: it probably was.  But the leaven that is talked about, particularly in the Old Testament; the leaven that is used as an illustration of corruption; is probably an awful lot closer to what we now know as sourdough.

I worked with sourdough for many years.  Recently, an awful lot of people have started experimenting with it.  Lots of people started sourdough cultures, and experimented with it, during the pandemic.  An awful lot of people did a lot of fancier cooking than they would normally be used to, because there was nothing else to do, and everybody had to stay home.  So, they started experimenting with different types of cooking.  And, a lot of people started experimenting with sourdough culture.  You can start your own sourdough culture.  You just mix up some flour and water, or flour and milk and water, and leave it exposed to the open air for a while, and, hoping that it doesn't actually grow visible mold on it, you then cover it up, and let it start fermenting, and bubbling, and increasing away.  It is possible to do this.  Spores of yeast drift around in the dust in the air.  Number Two Daughter did it.  The thing is, it takes a while.  It takes a while for the population, of different types of yeast, to settle in on the optimal variety that will, number one, raise your bread, number two, not grow visible mold, and number three, raise your bread quickly when you need it, and grow enough in the few days between when you make loaves of bread.

Just as a side issue, it's probably easier to get sourdough culture from somebody else.  At least, as long as you're not all locked up in your own houses, during a pandemic, and you can go and get sourdough culture from somebody else who's got some.  But even at that, your culture is probably not the same as the sourdough culture even from the person that you got it from.  It depends how often you make bread, it depends on whether you are making bread, or biscuits, or pancakes, and it depends what type of flour you use, and whether you add milk to your culture, and a few things like that.  You are going to get used to using sourdough culture, but the culture, itself, is going to get used to you.  The population of yeast in your culture is going to be a population that is best suited to the way you use the sourdough culture.

There is another aspect to bread.  This aspect doesn't refer to unleavened bread, because it refers to the bread rising.  But then, we've been talking about yeast, and leaven, so far.

When you are making bread, you mix it into a dough.  And then you beat, and fold, and stretch, and pull, and fold over, and beat down the lump of dough.  Bread making, if you have a sufficiently strong table to really work at it, is excellent therapy if you are angry.  You can imagine that the lump of dough is the person, or the problem, that is distressing you.  You can just beat the ... well you can beat, and roll over, and fold, and squish the dough as much as you like.  You cannot over-beat bread dough.  The more you beat it, the more the proteins in the flour mix together into chains.  Those chains make the thin membranes of bread that cover the holes that the carbon dioxide generates, stronger and more able to withstand the rising and the baking process.  If the bread dough membranes are not strong enough, then the membranes will break, and you will have bread which, instead of having lots of little holes in it, has a few very large holes in it.  This has to do with physics and something called surface tension.  And because it has to do with physics, almost none of you will be interested in it.  But it's a fact, just like the fact that the more you beat the bread dough, the better the end result bread is.

Anyway, when you have sufficiently worked out your frustrations, or when you are just plain tired of beating up the bread dough, you cover it, and you let it rise.  This period of rising is known as resting.  And I recently saw a meme, traveling around the Internet, as memes do, and it said this about the term "resting" as used to describe bread when it is in this resting and rising phase.  If you want light bread, you let it rest.  For quite a long time.  Generally at least a few, and sometimes several, hours.  And so, this person said, when it looks like they are doing nothing, and that they are just resting, that they are, in fact, bread.  And bread is better for a good, long rest.

And that is something that we should sometimes remember: we have to rest, to rise.

And, having pointed out all of this, I have to admit that none of this is relevant to the bread that was actually used at the Last Supper.  Because the Last Supper was at Passover, and at Passover they ate unleavened bread.

The story of the Exodus tells us that the Israelites had to leave in a hurry, and their bread hadn't had time to rise.  But there is another aspect to yeast, or sourdough, or leaven that is a theological point, and that has given rise to the modern tradition, as Passover, of having a game where the children search all over the house trying to find any yeast, and making sure that it is discarded or destroyed.

Yeast, as I said, is a fungus.  It is a living organism.  If you have sourdough culture you have to make sure you use it, and feed it, regularly, because it is alive.  And, because yeast is a fungus, some varieties of it can cause infections and other problems.

Because of all of this, leaven, in the Old Testament, became a symbol of corruption.  This is probably why Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees.  They had corrupted the intentions of God's Law.

Jesus also used this in a different illustration.  And, like He so often did, He turned the idea upside down.  He said that the Kingdom of Heaven was like yeast.

Just think about that for a second.  Think about it the way a Jew in the first century would have heard it.  What do you mean that this symbol of corruption is the Kingdom of Heaven?  Are you saying that God is corrupt?

And Jesus goes on to show what leaven does.  It's alive.  If you put it, even a small amount, into a huge pile of flour, it is going to start eating that flour.  And growing.  Until the whole pile is just one huge pile of leaven.

The point being that God's message is not just a story printed in words on a page.  It's alive!  If you let it, it will take this dead pile of cereal dust, and turn it into a living force.

OK, you can go for lunch, now.  Have some bread.  And think about it.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oguUslGkpVxkiFlCjxeAj

Sermon - Garden series

Sermon 2 - Broad Beans

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/01/sermon-2-broad-beans.html

Sermon 3 - Blackberries

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/01/sermon-3-blackberries.html

Sermon 33 - Transplanting

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2025/02/sermon-33-transplanting.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/09/sermons.html