Monday

The Tall Ships in Belfast - Xtra Special Day

Many years ago (around 20) when the children were small, we had been to see the Tall Ships in Delaware.

A few years ago the Tall Ships were at our hometown of Londonderry in Northern Ireland but we were not living there anymore and also could not get there at the right time to see them.

Then when we heard that they were coming to Belfast (30 minutes from where we now live in Northern Ireland), I was determined that I would get to see them.





Well that was planned for last Thursday and yes it did happen as planned.

Everything seemed to be well organized for arrangements for transport and we we chose to drive to one of the Park & Ride locations to then be driven by bus to the docks at the Titanic Quarter of Belfast.

Wandering around looking at the ships from the dock  is enjoyable but who would go to this event without boarding one of the ships if possible.

Well not Fred & I anyway.

We joined a small queue and boarded the Netherlands ship The "Gulden-Leeuw" (Golden Lion)




Quite appropriate for us as we spent over 6 years living in Tervuren, Belgium and had to learn to speak some Dutch while we were there.


Although it was a bit overcast while we were onboard we did manage to get a few pictures.



I suppose I should be thankful that this Mechanical Engineer of a husband of mine did not end up in the engine room which happened one other time we were on a ship (another story to tell).


The ship in the background here is The Europa (The Hague, Netherlands)
and after we got back on dry land we noticed that something was happening onboard this ship but not where they would normally allow people to climb.




A well known reporter for The BBC was filming part of a report.





The BBC Early Evening Programme "The One Show" was going to be broadcasting live from the Tall Ships the following evening and his report would be featured then.

The thing I found most interesting was seeing how he got down from this position safely because of the harness and rope and clip (there is probably a proper name for that but Fred isn't here to help me with that).




When Dan Snow was unharnessed Fred suggested I go up to the same spot and he could get a picture of me.  
My husband thinks he's funny sometimes!


Just noting that there were some more quicker forms of transport around the Tall Ships too which definitely could not be classed as tall. 




Around this main dock there were two markets, one with international stalls and one with craft stalls.

We naturally walked around these and also saw the main stage with musicians, a funfair and another smaller stage with more musicians.

There were some activities for children but we did not see any of the street performers that we had read about online.
I was rather disappointed about this because I felt it would really have added to the atmosphere of the whole event - plus I wanted to see how large the bubbles were that the bubbleman was supposed to be making.

Perhaps they were not there because it was the first afternoon of the Tall Ships visit but the people were there so the entertainment should have been there as well.


Not all of the Tall Ships were moored at this main dock so we took one of the event buses over to Pollock Dock to see some more.



The largest ship here was the Statsraad Lehmkuhl from Bergen in Norway.

You can tell it had got sunnier now and I was able to hide behind my sunglasses.


The HMS Northumberland was moored here too but they were not allowing visitors onboard it.


This Type 23 Frigate was here to lead the Flotilla of Tall Ships away to the start of their races after their stay in Belfast.


Pollock dock was a smaller Dock however there was also a funfair here, a place to eat, another international market, a bar and a few tents which I think was to represent a Viking Village.

Then the thing Fred had been looking forward to - The BBC Zone.

He had a wander round their first tent while I found a seat to wait for him.

In the second tent I thought he was going to volunteer to do the weather forecast but I must say now we know more about green screens and what the weatherman himself actually sees as he is explaining the weather to us.

The third tent had the Daleks.
I got out the camera because I just knew Fred was going to have to have a go at programming the Dalek round a maze - well a few corners anyway.

I decided it would be good to try a short video on my phone camera so if you want to see how Fred managed with the Dalek you can watch it below.





Now apparently it was not Fred's fault the Dalek broke.

The girl explained that it was not programmed as accurately by them originally as it should have been.

So then he had another go




Actually before he had tried we saw two of the Daleks come apart and after he tried it was still happening to others but they were easily put together again.


There were various sizes of Tall Ships here at Pollock Dock as there were at the other docks.



To the right behind the Statsraad Lehmkuhl was the Sorlandet from Norway and then the Guayas from Spain.

To the left were some of the smaller ships.

After our time of much walking we rounded our day off nicely by meeting up with our son and daughter-in-law in Belfast and going out for a relaxing meal.






Yesterday the Flotilla of Tall Ships, starting with The Christian Radich (also from Norway), left the docks at Belfast and sailed up the Lough towards Bangor to the East, then turning to Whitehead on the West.  They eventually proceeded on up along the north coast until they were at the starting point for their races starting today.

We will have to wait now to find out which of the ships win in each of the 4 classes but I suppose we will be hoping that the winner Class A might just possibly be The Gulden Leeuw just because that is the one we were on.







Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 1



On some Sundays I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today is appropriately looking at Psalm 1 for our first week of this series.


This is one of my favourite Psalms probably helped by the fact that there was a song based on it that we used to sing many years ago and that has helped me to learn some of the verses.







For me this Psalm falls into three parts:

V. 1-3
the man who is blessed


V. 4-5
the ungodly man


V. 6
the comparison of the end of the two men



The Man who is Blessed.
Firstly we know he is blessed because of what he does not do.
Secondly we know he is blessed by what he does.
Thirdly we see what the blessing will be like - good foundation, strength, fruitfulness, good life.








The Ungodly Man.
Firstly we know he is the opposite to the blessed man.
Secondly we know that his future is not good - not with God.






The End of the Two Men.
God respects and recognises the Blessed man.
The Ungodly man will perish.

There is no sugar coating - we are one or the other and it is not decided by man but by God.

Hence it should be God we are honouring in life and not trying to please man or be liberal or go with the times or be swayed by the majority or indeed be goaded into compromise by the minority.

And how do we know what is of God and what is not of God?
By delighting in God's Word and thinking on it all the time so we can use it as our guide & measuring rod.









It is important we know what the definition of the ungodly is 

but 

the one we need to focus on is the man who is blessed.



We need to avoid the pitfalls 

but 

most importantly 

we need to turn ourselves to the word of God.







Update:
My husband was preaching on this Psalm recently in church and around that time he put the words of it to music to help us all get the words into our minds and thoughts because we all know that singing is a great way of memorizing.
Below I've included a video we then recorded that will help anyone to sing along - this and other videos of worship songs can be found on his You Tube Channel  Apostolic Worship




Monday

The Big Four - Book Review

Disclaimer:
There is an affiliate link on this blogpost.


I am trying to read through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and write a review on each one.

  





The Big Four. 

1927  
A Poirot Mystery.


Shelfari Description


It is a few years after the First World War, Hercule Poirot is preparing for a voyage to South America at the behest of a wealthy American. Captain Hastings has returned from South America on business and his arrival causes Poirot to cancel his trip. Poirot has discovered the existence of four immensely powerful individuals who together plan world domination. A Chinaman, An American, A Frenchwoman and an Englishman. An investigation is in order. Fortunately, Poirot has the faithful Captain Hastings at his side as he plunges into a conspiracy of international scope -- one that would consolidate power in the deadly cabal known as "The Big Four". The book contains several chapters which are almost stand alone cases as the Big Four and Poirot, Hasting and various police forces progress towards the final outcome a year after the first contact Poirot has had with the Big Four.






My Thoughts

This is the 8th book by Agatha Christie and the 5th for her sleuth Hercule Poirot.

I read this in one day.  Started it at the hairdressers in the afternoon and then read again in the evening and then finished it in bed that night.   I really did want to read it quickly as it was holding my attention well and I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next and who Number Four was, but it also helped that I had been unwell for the four days before this and still not back to fighting fit form so I did not feel guilty about reading so much in one day.

A very different storyline to her last book The Murder of Roger Ackroyd  with this one not being about a specific murder and the household of suspects.  Instead we had different events in different locations and always the feeling of having to look over your shoulder no matter where we were.  Also the ever present threat to Poirot was part of the suspense.

Was the fact that Hastings had returned and was the narrator a great addition to this book?  For me I believe yes and for others who have not read any Poirot novels and met his friend Captain Hastings I still think yes, as I believe the narration comments he makes just endear his character to any reader.  One thing that I feel is misleading about the Shelfari description above is that Hastings did not cause Poirot to change his mind about his trip at the start of the book.

I really did not remember this book even though I know I have read it many many years ago and even though I had seen the TV adaptation about a year ago there was such a difference from the original story that I felt I was reading something completely new as I went through it.

Some parts of this book may seem a bit dated nowadays but as with all Christie mysteries the main storyline can be ageless.  But maybe we could also say that some of this book seemed even more suited to this day and age because of our world powers, wealth and prestige.

So even though it is not a straightforward murder mystery that I love from Agatha Christie you can tell by how quickly I read it that I really did enjoy it.







 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Shelfari
Books by Agatha Christie




Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon via the link above I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.



Sunday

Songs for Worship #26

Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






Today we come to our last post in this series.



                         Looking today at 




God is the Great "I AM"










Holy



What heart could hold the weight of Your love
And know the heights of Your great worth
What eyes could look on Your glorious face

Shining like the sun



You are holy, holy, holy
God most high and God most worthy

You are holy, holy, holy

Jesus, You are

Jesus, You are


Your name alone has power to raise us
Your light will shine when all else fades

Our eyes will look on Your glorious face

Shining like the sun

Who is like You, God?


You are holy, holy, holy
God most high and God most worthy

You are holy, holy, holy

Jesus, You are

Jesus, You are

Who shall we say You are
You're the living God

Who shall we say You are

You're the Great I AM

The highest name of all
You're all You say You are



You are holy, holy, holy
God most high and God most worthy

You are holy, holy, holy

Jesus, You are

Jesus, You are


And You shall come again in glory
To judge the living and the dead

All eyes will look on Your glorious face

Shining like the sun

Who is like You, God?









If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below





Thank you for joining with me for this Songs for Worship Series and I hope you have enjoyed the songs as much as I have.




Friday

Organised Bookcases


I was still working at organising the study this week and I finished the Bookcases there.




Now I know I have a lot of ebooks on my kindle but I still have loads of ordinary books and that is one area I really find hard to tidy up and organise because I take ages to decide whether or not to get rid of some books.



The bookcases were really out of hand, completely cluttered and such a messy sight that I had to cut down on the number of books and move off a lot of things that should not really be there.




I love these 4 bookcases which we bought over 20 years ago when we were living in America and they are still in good condition after the move back to Northern Ireland and then the move to Belgium and finally back to Northern Ireland again.

Even though I decided to get a white desk 2 years ago I could have been tempted to paint these white to match but either I'm too lazy or I still love the type of wood in the bookcases and I think it truly is the latter.

The 2 bookcases on the left are full length shelved and the other 2 are shelved on top and have a cupboard on the bottom.

So taking them one at a time I decluttered and organised the bookcases and the cupboards.


Working from the left




This is the bookcase which contains our Christian Novels on the first 5 shelves.
They are in alphabetical order by author (yes I'm a bit fussy and like to be able to find my books easily - and now it is even easier without the clutter in front).

The bottom shelf is the hardest to get at so it contains all the bible study books we have had over the years working with youth groups and homegroups and personal ones too.

The second shelf has all my Davis Bunn physical books and then my kindle has the rest.  I have practically every book he has written and was also privileged to be part of his launch team for one of his books last year and got to review it on my blog - The Strait of Hormuz

The ornaments on the shelves are mostly little personal items and from previous blog posts you will know that I love Arks, and I love Bears, and I love Boxes.







The second bookcase continues on the Christian Novels in alphabetical order again for the first 5 shelves.

The bottom shelf this time is full of nonfiction Christian books.

If you look closely at the fifth shelf you can see a thick book (black & white cover) by Elizabeth Elliot who died very recently.  Sorting out these shelves made me want to read a lot of my books again and this is definitely one of those to reread soon.

Also on the 4th shelf are all my Penelope Stokes novels (as far as I know I have all the novels she has written plus her book about writing novels and her book about faith).
My favourite is The Blue Bottle Club which was the first book I reviewed on this blog.







The third bookcase has the top two shelves devoted to Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries and information books on the Bible.

Then the third shelf contains all my Agatha Christie books.
The red hardbacks are my complete Herron Collection of her books including the Who's Who and then there are two paperbacks of the two books that for some reason were not included in the Herron collection.  As you can see they are in two rows - 37 of them with two books in each.

I love to sit with these hardbacked books to reread the Christie stories before I review them on this blog.






The last bookcase has some photo albums of the kids (someday I might tell the story of those and why Linda always goes on about how you can tell she is the third child).

Then it also has some cookbooks and other miscellaneous books that are special to me, my journals from when we lived in America and in Belgium and some Dutch Novels.

The Bottom shelf just has some ornaments for now but I bet that later on it will be filled with other books because I just could not make up my mind about all of my non-Christian books yet.


Then there were the two cupboards under the shelves of 3 and 4





This is what was in cupboard 3 - Stationary but rather mixed up.


At least it wasn't as bad as cupboard 4 where lots of things tumbled out unto the floor when I opened the doors.





There were obviously too many books shoved in badly to the top shelf of this cupboard.


But then of course as Fred always says - I need to make a mess when sorting things out and that is what I did here because I pulled everything out and sorted it all there on the floor and replaced more than half of it.


It is now so much neater and better organised




with the top shelf dedicated to the books that I use to do the Sunday School Curriculum and the bottom shelf for all our Dutch notebooks and grammar books and exercise books.

Notice there is also some extra space on both shelves - wonder how long that will be there!


Well I also got everything out of cupboard 3 and sorted that into piles on the floor as you can see here when I remembered to take a picture half way through the job.




We love notebooks and files and folders as you can see above.


And the finished cupboard didn't end up completely full either.





Now I can see better what notebooks and journals I still have and can get at all the envelopes and files better.


You may have noticed something on the inside of the left doors of both of these cupboards too.

Gripping Stuff:
It is sticky on both sides so it sticks to the door (or other surfaces and then paper or card can be stuck to it.




It comes in sheets which can be cut to any size and I had cut two pieces just a little smaller than A5 size for the two cupboards a couple of years ago.

Then I had used 2 pieces of A5 card and written on them the contents of the cupboards with the intention of marking off things as we used them so that I would always know how many we had of things and where they were but I started that and then got lazy or forgot and after a while it was no longer accurate.
So not too sure what to do about this but that can be a decision I make when the Study is nearing completion.


Besides that small ongoing thought I am really happy with my