phillsacre.me.uk

Well, Easter is well and gone but for posterity I thought I would post a quick precis of what happened:

Saturday – didn’t actually do much
Sunday – Easter service in the morning. Had big dinner afterwards, necessarily followed by long walk. Watched “The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency”. Determined to read the original books on strength of the TV series.
Monday – Went down to see Phil’s parents and sister. Had walk. Had dinner. Played games (all sorts). Good fun.
Tuesday – came back home.

So, that was a summary of our Easter.

Couple of other things to mention though. Today was spent doing decorating / gardening. Phil’s parents came up to help us decorate the bathroom (nearly done now), and make a border in our front garden. The front garden is now looking really good – having the border there transforms it. We put some bark down as well so hopefully that will help it to maintain the moisture and keep weeds out. At about 5:30ish my parents came round as well and we all had dinner together, we rarely get the chance to all eat together so that was really good.

One other thing – I read this article by Giles Fraser today. I can see the point he’s making, but I think he needs to read (or re-read) the “Cross and the Caricatures” article by N.T. Wright, and then “The Cross of Christ” by John Stott. Penal substitution is one thing, sacrifice is another! Let’s get our terms right. All in all, it just seems a rather late and unhelpful addition to a debate which hasn’t really gone anywhere. Although perhaps I shouldn’t moan about an article that appears on the Guardian website (it is for a popular audience after all…)

The random title is an oblique reference to what we were doing yesterday: priming the bathroom! When we had the bathroom knocked through we also had it re-plastered (the paintwork was cracking and coming off in places so it was worth doing). Up until yesterday, the bathroom looked very brown. Now it looks nice and white :) Phil’s parents came up and helped us (well, to tell the truth, Phil’s Dad did most of the priming).

We also did some work in the garden, i.e. put in a split log border along one of our flower beds. The back garden is looking pretty good now – although I don’t think one can ever call a garden “finished” it’s definitely much better than it was when we moved in. And I can’t wait to see it all in full bloom!

Anyway. Phil’s parents stayed for dinner, and then afterwards they went home and we watched “Firewall” which was on TV last night. It was a decent enough film but I couldn’t help watching it with a sense of Deja-Vu: an evil dude wants to rob a bank, so kidnaps a man’s wife and two children and basically holds him to ransom until he obliges (the man in question happens to be the VP of Security for a major bank).

I mean, the film itself was OK… Harrison Ford played the lead role and, despite being a little wooden at times, pulled in a good performance. Paul Bettany, the villain of the piece, was good despite me being a bit confused by his having an American accent to start with. Robert Forster (Arthur Petrelli from “Heroes”) was good but underused.

There were some plot holes, but nothing I cared too much about (it was just an entertaining film, not meant to be the best film ever!)

One thing me and Phil quite liked was the portrayal of one of the guys in the film: he was apparently a Christian, but this wasn’t portrayed in a positive or negative light – it was just sort of a part of him. At one point we hear his ringtone as “What a friend we have in Jesus”, and then later on we see him playing guitar in a church service, where they are singing “There’s a voice that must be heard (Jesus friend of sinners)” – one of my favourite rockier Christian songs. So it was nice to see a portrayal of a Christian character in a film which was actually quite realistic and not just a stereotype.

Oh, and finally, one little nice touch: at one point in the film, the Mum and kids are watching a scene from what looked like “The Empire Strikes Back”. If I’m right, nice little reference to a rather famous role of Harrison Ford’s :) (EDIT: according to the IMDB it was “The Forbidden Planet”. Ah well, it was only a split second, not going to watch it again just to check!)

I might have mentioned recently that we were having our garden treated by GreenThumb. They came on the Friday before we went on holiday (15th August) and sprayed the garden with a weedkiller, and then a fertiliser (well, the fertiliser was in sort of capsules and not in liquid form, but still).

It should be noted that before they came both our front and back garden were not in a great condition – the front garden was absolutely full of weeds, and the back garden wasn’t quite full of weeds but was quite patchy. In the three weeks since then, a lot of the weeds have died out (it did look a bit awful for the first week as the weeds turned a lighter colour and started curling up).

Since then, the grass has really thickened up and looks much more healthy. The back garden in particular looks great – the front garden still has a few gaps where the weeds have died, but I think another treatment or two will have it looking much more even.

Anyway, I’ve been very impressed with the way the garden has gone since then, and I can happily recommend them! If your lawn is looking rather patchy or full of weeds – it would be well worth giving GreenThumb a go, they seem to have done a good job with our lawn!

Just a quick note to let you know that we will be going on holiday for a week. I might have occasional access to the internet, but probably won’t be updating here for a while, just so you know!

I hope the weather is as good as it has been today – it was a beautiful day! The good folks at Green Thumb came and put some weekiller and fertilizer down on our garden, meaning that by the time we come back the grass should be looking much greener.

So… anyway, that’s all for now! I bid you adieu for the time being.

This weekend was a very enjoyable one! On Saturday, Phil’s parents came up for the day to help us with the garden. They brought with them a variety of shrubs and plants – as well as a couple of trees! – for us to plant in the garden. Although it’s still winter and they’re all rather bare at the moment, I think the garden looks much better for them! Also, I painted the shed green (amazing how much difference it makes!) and hoovered the car. It was quite a productive day, in general!

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and then went to lunch with some friends from church. It was a really nice day – the meal was lovely, and after dinner we went for a walk. It certainly didn’t feel like a January day, although it was perhaps a little on the chilly side!

We got back home in the early evening, and we had tea and watched ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ which is a costume drama that I’m actually quite enjoying (but don’t tell anyone that!).

I think that brings you up to date!