Tuesday, July 31, 2018

A pilgrimage by boat...

...with LOGS. Read here

Sunday, July 29, 2018

An important read....

...for an important anniversary. Read here....

Friday, July 27, 2018

On Monday....

...I will be off to Walsingham for the NEW DAWN gathering. Then, after a visit home to sort things out and reorganise....I'll be going back to Walsingham, this time on foot with a group led by the Dominican Sisters 

Other summer events for Auntie include a pilgrimage by boat, and two very important family gatherings, one of which is also on water...

St Teresa's Home...

...in Wimbledon is a most wonderful residence for elderly people, offering superb care and always in an atmosphere of great goodwill, joy, and peace. In this Blog, I have frequently written of a believed elderly relative who spent her last years there....it became also a sort of home-from-home for me too, where I was always welcome.

Recently, this wonderful Home marked its 30th anniversary, and we all gathered for a beautiful Mass, celebrated by Bishop Howard Tripp, and a delicious Tea, with scones with lavish jam and cream, magnificent cakes, lots of prosecco, and the joy of being among so many people with a shared affection for this lovely place.

I mention all this because I'll be back again shortly with some home-made blackberry jam...and will also (if only this hot weather breaks for a while) be joining the group taking some of the residents out for a visit to Richmond or one of the other pleasant local places where we enjoy a wander through parks and gardens, a lovely tea. and lots of chat and laughter...I love St Tetresa's.




Gratitude....

...to God for the glorious rain this evening. London has been parched and ghastly, lawns scorched and grey, great cracks appearing in flower-beds.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

...and the family...

...gathered for the beautiful and moving traditional funeral of a beloved mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother,

SUSAN GOWAN BOGLE

in the village church, with lovely music and tender memories....  The family crest stood in the sanctuary, and flowers covered the coffin, and the Rector led the service before a congregation of family and friends, and then we walked in procession to the grave, the church's flag at half-mast in the still air of the summer afternoon,  It was fitting and solemn and beautiful, and difficult to write about, because days like this are the essence of the story of our lives...

An Army wife, the creator of a happy home for her husband and sons, a dear mother-in-law and grandmother,  a wonderful  hostess, a much-loved woman, with a joyful spirit and a welcoming heart. May she rest in peace.




Tuesday, July 24, 2018

...and the blackberries...

...are just astonishing this year.  Two shelves in the Bogle kitchen are already stacked with jars of Blackberry Jam and Bramble Cheese, and as I write another vast batch of berries is gently stewing ready to be made into jam tomorrow...

Bramble Cheese? It's a creamed mixture of blackberry-and-apple, created through careful cooking and then pushing through a sieve. The "cheese" refers to the texture rather than to any link with dairy food. It's delicious on scones or buttered toast, and popular with people who don't like pips in jam. Also goes nicely with pancakes.

Signing a book contract...

...seemed a serious and exciting thing the first time.And in due course  we took a photograph in the kitchen where I posed with my completed manuscript, all wrapped up in a big envelope  and ready to be posted  Many years and many books later...well...it's still somehow exciting.  In the steady, scorching heat of this torrid summer of 2018 the post brought my latest contract, and the quickened heartbeat was just the same as thirty years ago.  Then, happy and excited, I set off to pick blackberries and ponder the work ahead.

No, I'm not going to tell about the book yet. Wait and see. There are in fact two books now in the offing. Plenty of work ahead.

Monday, July 23, 2018

The passing of...

...a great lady from the finest days of the BBC World Service. Dora Lavrencic had a remarkable life. She was brought up in Maribor, Slovenia, and was studying law, planning to be her country's first female judge. Her father was acting Mayor of  Maribor when the Nazis invaded. He refused to fly the swastika flag and was arrested. He died in Dachau. Dora and her mother later escaped over the mountains to Austria  where in due course  she worked for the British Army as a translator. She married Karl Lavrencic, lawyer, linguist, and author and together they worked for the BBC World Service and were leading figures in Britain's Slovenian community, and a voice for freedom in the dark days of Communism.. Read more about it all here: it's inspiring.  Their daughter Alenka, herself a distinguished journalist and author, is one of my greatest friends. It was a privilege to be at the funeral Mass held in the church at Cobham in Surrey.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

It was a real pleasure...

...at Westminster Cathedral the other day, to meet the Vatican Cricket team, enjoying a most successful visit to Britain. They have played the Royal Household, and a team from the Houses of |Parliament, plus an inter-faith game in which they joined with the Archbishop of Canterbury's XI plus cricketers from the Sikh, Hindu and Moslem religions...

On Sunday J and I  had the pleasure of  spending the evening with John McCarthy, former Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, who initiated this whole venture. It is superb to see it all flourishing: the Queen attended the Royal Household match.





Tuesday, July 17, 2018

In scorching heat...

...London's lawns are turning white, grass is dying, and feet  are pounding dry baked earth.At St Mary's University  the traces of the underground WWII air-raid shelter can be seen  as the drought reveals the pattern beneath the scorched grass.

You can read Auntie's take on it all here...

Monday, July 09, 2018

Recent news...

...a glorious First Mass for newly-ordained Fr Jonathan Creer at the Church of the Most Precious Blood on Sunday July 1st. He had been ordained the previous day at the Birmingham Oratory.

The Mass at Pr Blood was packed and was the last to take place in the church before big renovations begin with the laying of a new floor.

Afterwards, celebrations over fizz in the Redcross Gardens nearby: scorching sunshine across all of London so it was good to be in a place with some trees and greenery.The Gardens were initiated by Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust and much more...as she was a fervent High Anglican, it is somehow appropriate that the Gardens she created are now in regular use by the Ordinariate with that special heritage.

As the afternoon drew on, I made my way to London Bridge station where after a badly-needed cup of tea I  travelled to Tunbridge Wells, and thence to Pembury for Evensong and the blessing of a beautiful stained glass window which completes the transformation of what was once a dreary hall on the village green into a charming little church, St Anselm's.  A beautiful traditional Evensong with splendid singing, and then out into the gardens for more fizz and talk and celebrations...

An Ordinariate day...


Wednesday, July 04, 2018

THIS BLOG...

...has been silent for the past two weeks.

Pray for the beloved soul of

Mrs Susan Gowan Bogle, much-loved wife, mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. "Far above rubies" (Prov.31:10).

This Blog will recommence shortly.