Alhambra #1

Polka Dots

Dreamy, lazy summer days..

Those, long, hot, dreamy, lazy days of summer seem so long ago now.....  (pic needs to be enlarged, click on it to see it properly!)

The best of Spain

We had a couple of weeks in Spain earlier in the summer, so that my wife could get her sun-fix for the year. My ideal climate would probably be at least as far North as Scotland, possibly further, while my wife starts to thaw out much nearer the equator! Spain proved to be an interesting place. The water supply went off for over a week, and showed no signs of being fixed when we left - apparently the town council of Loja, couldn't afford to reconnect it, which despite the soaring temperatures, everyone seemed to accept with a resigned shrug. Here there'd be a riot if it went off for a couple of days, never mind if the authorities refused to fix it! On the other, even while we were becoming irritated with the chaotic infrastructure we were charmed by the people. The farmer from the house adjacent to ours (a mile down the dirt road), called in to share some of his produce with us, juicy red plums which were sweet and delicious. 

A Cross of Light

Faffing about with a candle and a long exposure.....

How many legs does a Spider have?

"Bigger than my hand". Lake Vinuela, Spain.

Olives at Dawn

Ventorros de San Jose

Book Notes: Fleeing Hitler, France 1940 by Hanna Diamond

Hanna Diamond's "Fleeing Hitler" is the sad, but compellingly told, social history of the collapse of France before the advancing Nazi armies in 1940. The main focus of the book is the extraordinary exodus of the French population as they fled West and Southwards ahead of the fighting, and the subsequent re-migration back to their homes after the defeat.

Despite the fact that this great migration and return was one of the great movements of people of the twentieth century (counted in millions, rather than tens-of-thousands), the events of that dark year are little known outside France. Diamond's book, is apparently the first historical work on the subject in English and as such it fills a major historiographical gap. Whilst most books on the WWII era, enhance or deepen our knowledge of well-known historical outlines, this book I found massively informative as it opened up a whole chapter of the war about which I knew almost nothing.

Diamond's research is thorough, basing much of her writing on diaries and memoirs of civilians caught up in the Exodus, bringing their individual human voices to bear on the larger statistics of migration. She also writes with great clarity and compassion, and the melancholy of the broken nation in 1940 is evident throughout. It is actually a profoundly moving piece of historical writing.

Whilst the focus of the book is of the millions of French people abandoning their homes and taking to the roads, with possessions in wheelbarrows or in carts; the trials and hardships of the road, the struggle for food, shelter, with uncertainty, chaos and desperation for news from the front; Diamond provides more than this. Helpfully, the core social-history of the book is mapped onto the broad outlines of the disastrous military campaigns, and the political machinations which shaped the collapse of the Republic; the rise of  Marshall Pétain and his assumption of dictatorial powers. The story of the chaotic and farcical collapse of the French government is tragic. She also explores the varying German policies towards occupied populations, and the ways in which initial French resistance was dampened by benign policies including significant assistance with organising the return to homes and resumption of normal life albeit under the false pretence that this would hasten the return of POW's.

This has everything a good historical read should have - it is genuinely breaking new ground, bringing to a wider audience important stories which are largely untold. It is nicely researched, well written and reads with great pathos, not clinical detachment. Another top-notch summer read for not much money from the annual Oxford University Press Sale.

Hobbit Feet?

According to a learned authority on the matter, my family suffer from "Hobbit Feet". Can this be true. Should I worry?

Night Streak

NO FOTOS

In truth they didn't seem to mind - as long as no flash was used.... At the Nerja caves.

The Caves at Nerja 3

The Caves at Nerja 2

The Caves at Nerja 1

Nerja, on the Spanish Coast has an amazing series of caves full of multi-coloured stalactites and stalagmites (which hang-down and grow-up, respectively!). Along with the amazing subterranean architecture, the other attraction of the caves is the cool, damp air and rest for the eyes from the piercing Mediterranean sun.

Book Notes: Atheism's New Clothes by David H. Glass

Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are the leading lights in the contemporary atheism movement known as The New Atheism. Their particular brand of atheist belief and secularist agenda has been popularised by a plethora of books, lectures, debates and TV appearances, of which Dawkins' "The God Delusion" is probably the most well-known in the UK at least.

David H. Glass is a physicist, and philosopher who believes that the New Atheist movement is deeply flawed in its methods, arguments and  therefore in the conclusions it draws. In "Atheism's New Clothes" he spends three-hundred plus pages explaining why he finds their proposals to be erroneous, their reasoning circular, their use of evidence suspect, and their understanding of both faith and philosophy to be woefully inadequate. 

Beginning with a chapter which serves as a good introduction to the New Atheists, Glass then begins his critique with a discussion of rationality, reasoning, and the ways in which Philosophy uses these tools coherently, and the ways in which they can be marshalled to argue for Theism, as well as for Atheism. Glass does not present one single argument for Theism, upon which all else hangs (this book is too subtle and nuanced for that), but demonstrates in each area that he explores, the ways in which the available evidence suggest the likelihood of a God - allowing a genuinely multi-disciplinary case for Theism to emerge across the different areas he assesses.

The second section deals with science - which is clearly Glass's homeground. While not seeking to take issue with the New Atheists appreciation of the detailed mechanisms of natural selection; he does rather powerfully point out the limits of science to provide meaning, values, and explanations for things entirely beyond its scope. Most significantly Glass's reading of the evidence is that the 'fine-tuning' of the universe is another hint of deity, which multiverse speculations fail to explain-away. Glass's ability to range across physical and biological sciences, as well as interact meaningfully with the worlds of philosophy and theology make this book a unique and valuable contribution to these current debate.

The historical section of the book, in which he confonts the New Atheist's claims about the alleged negative effects of faith on humanity is probably the easiest section of the book to read. Glass' argument is not simply that the reading of history of the likes of Dawkins and Hitchens is grotesquely selective, but further that a Theistic (and specifically Christian) reading of the same examples of human evil is both more faithful to the evidence, more internally coherent, and more persuasive. Going even further, he argues that the Atheist arguments of writers such as Hitchens in this field, use the categories of 'good' and 'evil' without any objective or compelling reason to define the terms in the way in which we all do. 

The final section of the book moves away from exposing the woeful inadequacies in the New Atheist literature, and to addressing his reasons for belief in God - in a specifically Christian way. This final section is a good, short and highly readable account of essential Christian apologetics demonstrating the inherent rationality of belief firstly in God, and then in categories such as revelation, and in the historical figure of Jesus Christ.

The final chapter pulls these threads together with a comparison of Christianity and The New Atheism as both intellectually satisfying and subjectively meaningful alternatives - commending the former as preferable on both counts.

One of The New Atheism's greatest weaknesses is its tendency to seek to shut down debate and refuse to engage with the best theistic arguments. Many fans of The God Delusion, (for example), have swallowed the arguments Dawkins proposes without critique - and have place their faith in his grossly over-confident assertion that a materialistic philosophy of existence is the only, inevitable result of serious engagement with science. It is not; and Glass admirably demonstrates why this is the case. Fans of "God is not Great", "Letter to a Christian Nation" and "God Delusion" would do well to compare Glass's book with these works in order to be able to come to  fair and reasonable judgements for themselves in the light of both sides of the argument.

Atheism's New Clothes is available online here

Glass is a regular contributor to the website, "Saints and Sceptics"

Chapter One of Atheism's New Clothes is online here

Lake Vinuela

The weirdly bluey-green water of Lake Vinuela, Spain.

TTFN

As with the last few summers   - just too busy with the kids for blogging. TTFN. THM.

The Parenting Teenagers Course, Week 5: Helping them Make Good Choices

The final week of The Parenting Teenagers Course contained a whole load of information and inspiration to help us help our teenagers to handle the increasing responsibility we hand them over these transitional years. By this stage in the course we were well-used to the format they used over the course, of informative talks, mixed up with interviews with a range of experts, along with teenagers and their parents too. This week the information and experiences related focused on the hot topics of drugs, alcohol, sex and the internet - with a wide range of useful pointers with how to empower teenagers and discuss issues meaningfully with them. Interestingly, the experts and parents all agreed that a "drip" approach of initiating small non-threatening discussions regularly is much more useful for shaping teenagers opinions than that of rare, intense, and long discussions which make might make parents feel that the issue has been ticked-off a to-do list, but us unhelpful for any teens. Equally interesting, was the observation made by several teens that they often felt (especially with sex), that they were being pressured into doing things they felt were wrong, or were too soon for them; and that parents can play a useful role in empowering them to have confidence in such decisions for themselves.

After the group discussion - in which we learnt a lot from parents with teenagers several years ahead of our kids, about how they have addressed such issues, part two of week five was entitled, "Equipping Our Teenagers". This re-iterated what we had previously learnt about listening and being available, but built on this with some useful suggestions. One of these was to work through various scenarios with them to ask what they would do, what they would say, and how they would extricate themselves from any situation in which they were uncomfortable. So - one teenager we know was being pressured to smoke, which was something he didn't want to do. He knew when all his mates would be smoking and when he would be under most intense pressure to conform. However, with his parents he had already rehearsed his answer (about his fears about his reduced sports performance) so he wasn't caught unawares, but was ready with an answer. Similar situations on the DVD were discussed including what to say if you realise the person about to drive you home has been drinking..

Other sections suggestions include, offering good and reliable information about sex, drugs, internet, alcohol, keeping track of where they are, encouraging a healthy lifestyle, exposing them to positive role-models, maintaining family traditions/identity. While some of what we are doing accords with much of this, it was useful to identify some areas where the suggested approach might be better.

There was also a short section in week 5 entitled "Praying for Your Teenagers", which was the only 'in yer-face' Christian element of the course which might have been a surprise to anyone coming to the course from outside a church context. The course is billed as being 'from a broadly Christian perspective', and there is a very short prayer at the end of the previous weeks course; but aside from this, the course is suitable for anyone, but anyone advertising the course should be up-front about this, so that any visitors know what they are coming to. The overtly Christian-element is carefully done in a way which is descriptive ("I pray for my kids because...") rather than prescriptive ("you should do x,y,z, because..."). Experience with the Marriage Course suggests that non-church folks are usually either intrigued by this, or dismiss it as irrelevant; but are very rarely offended, nor do they seem to think that it detracts from their appreciation of the course. As such it is nicely pitched so that a church can offer it to the community as a useful, practical service that has the potential to do real good; but without denying or covering-over what the church stands for.

The course is also quite broad in its inclusivity, in that examples given reflect a broad range of family set-ups common today. The caricature of a church-based course is that it would all be based on the experience of white middle-class, traditional family units. The course-writers have made sure that this is not the case, and so the course material is accessible by step-parents, single-parents, separated/divorced parents as well as those in traditional structures. Amongst interviewees on the DVD's there are a whole range of experiences reflected as well.

We come away from the end of the Parenting Teenagers Course with many observations and comments. The first is a positive recommendation, that the course is relevant, helpful, realistic and enjoyable. We are at the very beginning of the teenage years, but have already made quite a few changes to our parenting for the better, both as a result of the DVDs and the conversations with other parents. We have some very specific things we need to aim at, both in terms of our own approach to parenting and what we model to them, and have probably gained important insight into some of the reasons that our teenager reacts to situations the way he does. This inevitably makes us more patient... although there is perhaps more work to do there as well!

The course finale helpfully points out that they are NOT suggesting that their material is a formulaic guide to achieving perfect kids. Rather, they say that the wisdom and tools imparted through the course can enable us to do the very best in the real situations in which we find ourselves. Some great parents have dodgy kids, some great kids have dodgy parents. Nevertheless, our responsibility is to do the very best we can for the kids in our care for a decade or two - and this course has really helpful us.

More at http://www.relationshipcentral.org/

Midlake..

I haven't posted any music up here for ages - but I've been listening to Midlake today, love it... that Mellotron/strings/flute sound soaring through the background with haunting minor chords is so reminiscent of Woolly Wolstenhome.

The Parenting Teenagers Course Week 4: Developing Emotional Health

Week 4 of Alpha's "Parenting Teenagers Course" was as interesting and relevant as the first three weeks - this week looking at the area of "emotional health". Within this there was a very strong emphasis on the uses and abuses of that most powerful emotion; anger.

The DVD began with outlining some of the reasons that households with teenagers are often the scenes for considerable anger. Doing a course like this with other parents is great, because we sometimes have a very angry house - in which emotions can run high, voices rise and sometimes doors slam. While the people on the DVD assure us that this not unusual, its a very reassuring feeling to know from others in the room that we really are not alone in this! The section on "understanding anger" was therefore useful for us - not because it was new information (it was actually quite familiar from the Marriage Course), but as a timely reminder that anger itself is not wrong - but it is something  which can be handled well or badly. Helpfully the DVD points out that learning to handle anger constructively  might take a child 18years, and that modelling patience while they learnt this skill is more helpful for them than responding to their anger with anger.

The Marriage Course contains a useful section on anger in which spouses look at whether they tend towards "Rhino" or "Hedgehog" behaviour, that is to say exploding into anger, or burying anger and avoiding necessary conflict. The same typology is applied here, with the aim of helping firstly parents and then teenagers to be able to address conflict in constructive ways. Critically, (and relevantly for us) this is based on the understanding that our children will learn emotional skills from what they observe from us primarily, and so we need to apply these things to ourselves first, if we are to create the calm, safe and accepting environment they need. They suggest the following principles, (i) don't over-react, take time to calm down in the face of provocation, (ii) don't say hurtful things when angry, don't negatively label teens when addressing poor behaviour (iii) don't withdraw and be afraid of conflict, somethings do need to be said, and issues confronted. I was impressed with the experts who were interviewed on the DVD's who all stressed that as teens develop their own ideas and opinions they should be listened to, but that does not mean they can speak however they want to their parents. The aim must be to create an environment in which they are able to express what they want - but within some basic rules of politeness and respect. Easier said than done - but it does establish a sensible framework for us to strive towards.

The principles for resolving conflict at the end of the evening were again familiar to us as they are not radically different to the Marriage Course ideas which we know so well. What has been challenging has been the change from our kids been small and having to basically passively receive instruction, to a more negotiated pattern as they become teens with their own opinions. This is an ongoing and not always easy process which will continue for a few years yet!

My main learning points from this are to model the controlled and positive use of anger, especially in from of them, as well as to be much more willing to listen to what makes them angry, rather than just rushing on to the next item on life's frantic agenda.

July 1st Sunset

Another irresistible Perth sunset display last night. Click on an images to see them in a detail.

Wilt

Born Hungry

Rectilinear Friday

Perth' sunset on Friday night was jaw-droppingly wonderful. Click on the thumbnails to view images.

Sampling a Present from My Dad!

Rather delicate, sweet, and charming. Light, like Dalwhinnie, but more spicy, like Glenlivet.

The Parenting Teenagers Course (Week 2) "Meeting Our Teenagers' Needs"

Week Two of the  Alpha "Parenting Teenagers Course" was as helpful and interesting as the first week, which I blogged about here. Having previously done their Marriage Course, and Parenting Children Course, we are very familiar with the format, approach and content of these courses; but I think that this "teenagers" one is the most slickly presented and easily accessible of any of their materials so far put together. It may be that as they go on, the get each course more finely honed, and have tweaked the presentations to make them progressively more user-friendly - either that or we are enjoying this course especially because it is so pressingly relevant for us at the moment!

"The Five Love Languages", Gary Chapman's easy how-to guide to practical other-centred emotional intelligence, plays a part in each of Alpha's 'Family Life' courses - so it was no surprise to find it here in the teenagers course. Of course, having hosted the Marriage Course so many times, we are very familiar with each other's "language" - but again taking some time to think through our teenager's needs was time well spent. One interesting point made is that while married couples can (normally) communicate their feelings to each other, and young children emote all over the place - parents' on this course were encouraged to make themselves available, and accessible at whatever time or place the teenager feels most comfortable speaking - as many find it very hard to do so. Again, as in previous courses, the interviews with parents and teenagers were insightful in this.

This lesson was re-enforced in the 'communication' session in the second half of our evening together. Tweaking the "active listening" or "reflective listening" techniques we have practised on the Marriage Course to the particular communication needs of teenagers (in general) and ours in particular will clearly take a lot of time and sustained effort.

The only weak point (we felt) in the whole evening was the suggestion of practising the listening techniques, as a role -play. While doing the listening exercise on The Marriage Course works well, because there is no play-acting or embarrassed pretence; the suggestion of role play leads to embarrassed shifting about in seats and awkward silences. A unanimous decision was taken to move on! 

Busyness and Bank-holidays have meant that we haven't got to week three yet. Next week we hope to pick up again, as we move onto the next critical area "setting boundaries". I have to say that sometimes courses like this can make me feel like a failure - when I think about some of the mistakes we make with our kids. On the other hand, they really do help to focus the mind and help to point in the right direction for progress. Talking to the other parents in the group-discussion times, who are a few years ahead of us in this parenting-teenagers business has also been hugely encouraging and informative. Bring on week 3!

The Skye Volcano!

Sgurr Mhairi seemed to be erupting when we were at Sligachan....

Lush Glen Brittle

The Black Cuillin

Marsco & Glen Sligachan

A family walk down Glen Sligachan, underneath the great Corbett, Marsco.

Loch Harport

Sligachan Campsite

The view from the tent....

A Cuillin Moon

From Sligachan campsite, Isle of Skye

Memorabilia

Royal Memorabilia, Carbost Inn, Isle of Skye

Really?

NEXT, Perth

Meall Nan Tarmachan

No self-respecting 'Munro-bagger', climbs the same hills twice - while leaving other peaks still unconquered.  Very keen baggers might set out to complete the lot for a second time, but that is quite different from doing the same ones repeatedly! This year I am beginning to doubt my credentials as a bagger, as the last three peaks I have stood on have been repeats; but all for good reason! A week or so back on a church men's weekend we had an afternoon free - just time to trudge to the top of the familiar Cairnwell and Carn Aosda, located conveniently close to our base at the Compass Christian Centre.

This weekend I again found myself climbing a hill for the second time - and again for quite good reasons. Our daughter is now 6, and is quite a strong, steady and reliable little hillwalker, and so with a good forecast for the whole day we decided to attempt a family walk up a good sized hill. While she has been carried up several hills on my back when she was a baby, this was her first chance to climb a 'proper hill' without such assistance!

Meall nan Tarmachan was an obvious choice for a family walk. It's a beautiful hill, with a little exposure to enjoy on a delightful ridge. It breaks the mythical 3000ft barrier, adding a great sense of achievement for the kids. However despite its height and beauty, the starting point is relatively high above sea-level, reducing the overall climb, and there is a path to follow, meaning that navigation is not complex and so each of them can walk in front and be the leader! 

There is another car-park beyond the busy Ben Lawers car-park on the little road between Loch Tay and Glen Lyon. From here a land-rover track crosses a bridge and traverses around the base of the mountain for several miles. We followed this track until we reached an obvious footpath deviating from it to the right, striking almost due westwards to make the south-eastern ridge of 'Tarmachan', upon which it turns 90' due North, and reaches a top at 923m. This was a long, hard pull for the kids, and there was some toiling and groaning as we worked our way up to this great viewpoint. The discomfort of the climb was made worse by the intense heat - as Scotland roasted in a mini-heatwave; which in turn led to further discomfort for me as I had the privilege of lugging several litres of drinks for the whole family in my pack. 

The top at 923m gave the opportunity for us all to have a drink and a rest, and for the kids to look up at the summit, only a short, steep climb away. The steep path looked daunting, but they were encouraged by the thought that the coming climb was less than half the height of Kinnoull Hill - which they are compelled (under diverging levels of duress) to ascend most weekends!

The summit was made without difficulty, and we made our way along the Cam Chreag ridge to Meall Garbh, the rocky peak in the final picture above. The most interesting part of the Tarmachan ridge follows, as it winds it way across to the peak of Beinn nan Eachan. Young 'Norris' and I went along this ridge and enjoyed the little taste of exposure it gives, before working our way back to the rest of the family waiting on Meall Garbh. While the rest of the ridge looked inviting and there were plenty of hours left before dark, the smallest legs in the party were approaching their endurance limit, so we turned southwards from Meall Garbh, following an intermittent path, until we reached the landrover track which lead us back to the car.

Meall nan Tarmachan is justifiably a very popular hill. Shapely, dramatic, offering great views, and easily accessible, its a wonderful place for a family walk. Lying as it does next to the industrial bulk of Ben Lawers, The Tarmachan ridge feels friendly, soft, delightful and it is a sheer joy to dander from top to top, along its rocky spine. Hills like this, even a hardened Munro-bagger should climb often!