Saints have their power, their brilliance, their victory, their attraction, and have no need of carnal or intellectual greatness, where these have no place since they neither add nor subtract anything. They are recognized by God and the angels, and not by bodies nor curious minds. God is enough for them.
Blaise Pascal
We were not pioneers ourselves, but we journeyed over old trails that were new to us, and with hearts open.
Who shall distinguish?
J. Monroe Thorington
Life drawing. I recall Paul Emsley leaning over my shoulder and whispering to me, tongue-in-cheek, “so James, are you going to make another beautiful drawing today?”. Not sure they were ever ‘beautiful’, but this is one of them.
Herewith the first Visual Faith Reflection: Mary Anointing the Feet of Jesus. The file can be viewed here: Mary Anointing the Feet of Jesus
“No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however faint, the imprint of the desert, the brand which marks the nomad; and he will have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can match.”
Wilfred Thesiger on his explorations in the Arabian Desert
One good dump is enough to make a season! The video can be found here.
It is almost impossible to describe in words what Nelson Mandela meant to us as South Africans. Someone akin more to a king than a leader or a statesman, we clung to him because he defined our new identity. What held us in awe was not his political mind, but the power and the breadth of the accommodation of his personality. I grew up surrounded by all the arguments against him, yet how could there ever have been an argument against the power of his humility. As near to a Man of Sorrows as a politician can be, he did not retaliate against the old oppressors, but offered them a home and an African home-coming. He set us free in our own land. I think this is why the world stands in awe of him, and the reason we celebrate his life.
Hamba Kakuhle Tata Madiba!
“The sea throws rocks together, but time leaves us polished stones” (“Ordinary Love” by U2)
A sunny surprise week in autumn. See here.
Gale force winds round the island? Why not paddle? See the footage here.
A long way round …
but with keen-eyed supporters and a happy flag, …
we sailed in to a top-ten finish. Hooray!
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