I HOPE THAT ALL IS GOING WELL WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES AND THAT YOU ARE IN GOOD HEALTH. PLEASE SEND US YOUR NEWS.
SCOTT, JULIE and I ARE SURVIVING WELL FROM COVID IN OUR SUPPORT BUBBLE, AND JULIE BRINGS US DELICIOUS FOOD TO EAT. HOWEVER, FOLLOWING MY INJURY IN 2017, MY PHYSICAL HEALTH HAS FURTHER DETERIORATED e.g. WITH DYSPNEA IN MY CHEST, ASTHMA, AND ARTHRITIS IN MY HANDS, TO THE POINT WHERE I'M QUITE IMMOBILE AND INCAPACITATED.
SCOTT'S HELP AND FORBEARANCE IN THE FLAT IS INVALUABLE. MY MIND-BOGGLING EXPERIENCES WITH UNREGISTERED CARERS FROM MY HOMECARE EDINBURGH DON'T BEAR REPEATING!!
I HAVE ALSO RECEIVED HELP FROM THE PASTORAL CARE TEAM AT BROUGHTON ST. MARY'S CHURC.H AND FROM VARIOUS CHURCH MEMBERS, INCLUDING JIM, IAN, DEBBIE, COLIN, AND REV. BILL TAYLOR.
The Garden Room in the Social Hub, Broughton St. Mary's Parish Church, Edinburgh
I HAVE CORRESPONDED DURING THE YEAR ABOUT IMPORTANT NOTIONS OF FORGIVENESS AND SPIRITUALITY WITH MY FORMER SCHOOL FRIEND REV. GEOFF FLOYD WHO IS RETIRED AND LIVING IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. WE LAST MET IN YORK IN ABOUT 2014.
GEOFF HAS, FOR EXAMPLE, GIVEN ME KEY INSIGHTS INTO THE CRUEL BULLYING AT SUTTON HIGH SCHOOL IN PLYMOUTH. UNFORTUNATELY, THE BULLIES NEVER SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THE LIFE-LONG IMPACT OF WHAT THEY DID WHEN THE ISSUES ARE DISCUSSED WITH THEM MANY YEARS LATER.
Rev. Geoff Floyd
WITH THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF REV. BILL TAYLOR, I'VE READ SEVERAL BIBLE PASSAGES AND POEMS TO THE SUNDAY SERVICES AT BSM, INCLUDING
. CHRYSALIS
I ALSO PLAY SCRABBLE IN THE SOCIAL HUB AT BSM EVERY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, IN PREPARATION FOR MY ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BATTLE WITH SCOTT AND JULIE. I FIRST STARTED PLAYING SCRABBLE WITH MY WIFE VALERIE IN ABOUT 1969, AND I HAVEN'T IMPROVED MUCH SINCE! RECENTLY, A NINETY-ONE YEAR OLD LADY BEAT ME HANDS DOWN WITH THE SEVEN-LETTER WORD 'AVEURES' WHICH SCORED 79 POINTS!!
I RECALL PLAYING AGAINST THE REDOUBTABLE JOAN FISHER BOX AND HER DAUGHTER (BOTH DESCENDED FROM SIR RONALD FISHER HIMSELF!)" IN GEORGE BOX'S LAVISHLY ENORMOUS MANSION IN SHOREWOOD HILLS. MADISON WISCONSIN ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1979. MY STAY WAS ABRUPTLY CURTAILED ALONG WITH THE SECOND GAME WHEN MY SHORT WORDS PERSISTED IN SCORING HIGHER THAN JOAN'S IMPRESSIVELY LONG WORDS! GEORGE SWIFTLY DROVE ME HOME FOR MY OWN SAFETY.
In 1978, JOAN FISHER-BOX AUTHORED THE BOOK 'R.A. FISHER, THE LIFE OF A SCIENTIST' ABOUT HER EMINENT FATHER. SEE ALSO SIR RONALD FISHER EUGENICIST one of a number of blog posts about eugenics by Scott Forster and myself.
SCOTT IS STILL WORKING IN RETAIL, AND WRITING HIS POLITICAL HISTORIES OF SCOTLAND. THE FLAT IS PACKED WITH REFERENCE BOOKS, AND SEVERAL MORE KEEP COMING THROUGH THE DOOR EACH WEEK FROM AMAZON.
SCOTT AND I ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN BLACK-LIVES-MATTER, PRO-TRANS, ANTI-SLAVERY, AND ANTI-IMPERIALIST COLONIALISM ISSUES (e.g. IN THE CHAGOS AND SOLOMON ISLANDS)
SCOTT'S GIRLFRIEND JULIE HAS JUST MOVED SCHOOL , AND SHE 'S ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT OF TEACHING SPECIAL STUDENTS
MY SECOND COUSIN GEORGE BARBOUR IS A WILD-LIFE CONSERVATIONIST AND RETIRED SCHOOL TEACHER LIVING IN EXETER. HIS GARDEN AT CRICKLEPIT MILL IS RECIEVING MORE AND MORE NATIONAL AWARDS. HE IS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MEMBERS OF OUR HUGE ANGLO-CANADIAN FAMILY (DESCENDING FROM OUR GREAT GRANDPARENTS WILLIAM AND LYDIA LEONARD)
GEORGE HAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED A SPLENDID BOOK
WHICH INCLUDES 100 HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF MARLBOROUGH AND DISTRICT TAKEN BY HIS GREAT GRANDFATHER
GEORGE'S BROTHERS AND SISTERS JANETTE, TERRY, NICHOLAS, PAUL, AND SARAH, ARE DOING WELL IN ONTARIO, WILTSHIRE, DEVON, AND CORNWALL.
MEANWHILE, MY FIRST COUSIN CHRIS AND HIS WIFE ENID ARE SELLING THEIR SECOND HOME IN MENTON, AND MOVING, IN ENGLAND TO CHELTENHAM
CHRIS'S SON SIMON IS FARING WELL IN CYPRUS
My cousin Penny is visiting her son Jonathan (a reporter for CNN), his wife and two daughters in the outskirts of Atlanta. On her return, she will be moving house from Devon to Richmond, in London. Penny is retired from the BBC.
According to Penny, Celia Hatton, our Anglo-Canadian second cousin once removed, is currently an Asian news editor for the BBC.
Celia has a strong voice about Chinese affairs and conspiracy theories. She is the spitting image of her American grandmother, my dear 'Auntie' Audrey, who lived kitty-corner from me in Plymouth, and her parents are both from Plymouth. My wife Valerie and I visited them and their three children in Hamilton, Ontario in 1978 when I was on sabbatical in Kingston, and recall us all eating pasties in Niagara on the Lake together. Rumours about who Celia is 'hitched' or married to abound. Her partner has also influenced the Tory-esque BBC view of Chinese politics.
John and Serene Hsu on the Union Terrace, University of Wisconsin-Madison in about September 2021. The magical Lake Mendota (The Lake of the Sunset) is in the background. This was one of my favourite stomping grounds (1979-1995) and it hasn't changed much since
MY LONG-TIME CO-AUTHOR AND FRIEND JOHN HSU SPENT THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/21 ON SABBATICAL (FROM UCSB) IN TAPEI. SINCE THEN HE AND SERENE HAVE REVISITED MADISON, WISCONSIN AND BOSTON MASSACUSSETS FOR BIG FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
JOHN TELLS ME THAT WE PUBLISHED A JOINT PAPER IN 2017 BASED ON STATISTICAL RESEARCH COMPLETED SOME 12 YEARS PREVIOUSLY AND THE ANALYSIS OF DATA IN INSURANCE AND PSYCHIATRY. THIS IS 28 YEARS SINCE WE FIRST PUBLISHED TOGETHER.
John and Serene, September 2021, John and I had dinner close to this spot in 1992, when we presented a conference paper at MIT on the Charles river together. The waiters laughed at us, perhaps because we both gave them a tip, or maybe because I asked them where the rebels dropped the tea into the harbour.
************************
ON 2 ND. DECEMBER 2021, I PARTICIPATED IN AN INDUCTION CEREMONY AT BROUGHTON ST. MARY'S CHURCH, FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF OUR NEW MINISTER, REV. LAURENE LAFONTAINE.
***********************
ON 22ND. DEC 2021, I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH SKIN CANCER IN MY EYELID. I AM NOW AWAITING SURGERY IN THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA EYE PAVILION.
No comments:
Post a Comment