Back to the dentist yesterday for my last appointment on the sore tooth. Last visit the nerves were removed from the root - well, that's what she said. However I got the distinct impression that one still remains lurking somewhere up there in my chops.

"It might be a bit sore when the injection wears off," she said. "So you could take some painkillers."

Too right.

But I still prefer the dentist to the thought of getting cataracts cut out with a scalpel while I am awake.

I have spent the last two days holed up in a stuffy room at the Mission and Ministry Board meeting. To be honest, I thought it might be a tad boring but not a bit of it. Mind you, as I get older, I do find it difficult to hear some people so what with that and my wonky eyes, some of it passed in a mumble and a blur.

I imagine the content of the meeting is confidential so my bishop will be relieved to read that I am not about to spill the beans on everything we discussed. But perhaps I am allowed an observation... there was definitely more mission than ministry.

It was a dark and stormy night and very, very wet. But that did not deter the twenty good souls who turned out for our Prayer Shawl Workshop. We had a couple of women from Livingston and loads from our neighbourly RC church.

What a great night it was. We shared stories of learning to knit and garments never finished. Strangers quickly became friends as we found we had knitting stories in common. Newcomers and virgin knitters were offered assistance from old pros.

And at the end of it all, we have an ecumenical group setting up in Portobello and one in Livingston who are going to meet monthly to share stories and knit prayer shawls. I call that a success.

If you would like to learn more about the Prayer Shawl Ministry, or find out how to start your own group, then come along to St Mark's tonight at 7pm.

Amidst the clacking of needles and sharing of stories, we shall tell how it all began and how you can knit your prayers into a shawl for a friend. Don't miss it! It's going to be the new craze!

Yesterday was Harvest Festival at St Mark's and also our Family Service. The church looked gorgeous with fruit and flowers and the odd turnip thrown in for good measure. We sang lustily Our God is so Great (with actions) and everyone joined in.

We also acted out the story of St Kevin and the children all stood praying with arms outstretched. I didn't have a blackbird to put on J's hand so had to make do with a cockerel. But there was plenty nest to go around. We agreed that we wouldnt have been as holy as St Kevin who apparantly prayed like that for almost a month until the baby blackbirds hatched and were ready to leave the nest.

All in all, it was a good day. And may all your harvests be plentiful.

Yesterday was my first appointment with the Dietician. I have been referred by my GP because I am borderline diabetic and fat. Normally your GP can just give you a diet sheet but I have to be different. As I suffer from IBS this means that I can't do the 5 fruit and veg thing so it all gets a bit complicated. Too complicated for the dietician too, it would seem.

Anyway we met in a group in the foyer of a gym. So privacy was not high on their agenda. And I was relieved to see that I was not the fattest. After a wee chat about eating fruit and veg we were told to go in to the gym and have 1/2 hour of torture. I did the bike thing cos you get to sit down on that one. And I set it to easy coasting along on a flat road whilst admiring the scenery. Well, I say scenery. It was really MTV and loud music on a TV in the corner of the room. Why do they think that all people who go to a gym want to listen to rock music?

After 10 minutes of that the dietician took me back outside to discuss my 'problem' with the whole fruit and veg thing. She was stumped. Thinks that my GP should manage it better with pills. Anyway, she is going to put me on an exclusion diet after my holiday where I go back to cave-man (or woman?) diet and gradually introduce food to see which are my triggers. That sounds fun.

Not sure that I will go back to the gym. I'd like to say I will but in all honesty I think it's unlikely. However, my wee sister is bringing me over an instrument of torture which lurks in the back of her garage. Better tidy the study then...

According to the Scottish Episcopal website, so it must be true, the Bishop of Edinburgh will be washing feet outside St John's Princes St today at 1pm.

See http://www.scotland.anglican.org/

He will be joined by the Moderator of the CofS and Archbishop Keith O'Brien. I hope they are all wearing their gownies because that is a real sacrifice. Kneeling and shuffling and washing and wiping in long robes is no mean feat, I can tell you. And balancing a mitre as well in windy weather could be extra sacrifice.

And just in case you were planning to go along and get your tootsies out for a quick wipe, I am afraid you will have to wait for Maundy Thursday next year. This time it is only for the walkers who have been Peace marching from Faslane. Good on them.

It's easy to distract fat people.

It's a piece of cake.

This is what we did at St Mark's for Tracy's Thanksgiving service.

It's done. Yesterday at 6pm (1pm over the pond) St Mark's was full of Tracy's family and friends to send her off in style. Our service coincided with the funeral in North Carolina so it was lovely to think that at the same time Tracy's family and friends 'over there' were singing the same hymns and reading the same readings.

We sang lustily and with good courage (and thanks to David at the organ). How lovely it was to hear that again in St M's. We even had 2 bishops in the congregation and one of them managed to trip over the candles which were on a large wooden cross on the floor (in place of a coffin). It was an accident waiting to happen but I thought I had left enough room for folk to get round it when coming up for communion. His excuse was that he was 6'3" away from them so not easy to see. (By that you may have guessed which bishop!!)

After the service most folk signed a Remembrance book which we will send on to Ann and family. Then we all tucked in to a wonderful spread provided by Muriel, Douglas, Margaret and Gloria. It was lovely to catch up with friends far and near, even though it was tinged with sadness at the loss of one so young.

Another gorgeous looking Inspires issue out now. I just love the inside page with the index to features. Wonderful design.

The caption competition caught my eye too. This month's shows Fr David's curate Rev'd Tembu Rongong looking gorgeous and moody in a white nighty amidst spooky lighting. All clergy should have such a Photo CV.

Welcome, Bishop Martin of Argyll and the Isles, to blogland. How cool is that? Two Scottish bishop bloggers now.

http://followcolumba.blogspot.com/

Why is it that men are incapable of replacing the toilet roll when it runs out?

Set off at 8.30am yesterday to go to the dentist in Linlithgow. My appointment was at 9.30am for some delicate root canal work so I wanted to make sure I was good and early. At 9.40am I had reached The Gyle whereupon I stopped and phoned the dentist to see if it was worth my while continuing. It was not. That's the last time I go on the Bypass in the morning.

Back to The Gyle in the afternoon with Nephew #1 at the wheel to have dye put in my eyes to see how the cataracts were developing. First I had to read the chart with my glasses on and one eye covered. What chart? Didn't bother with the dye after that. It would appear that they are developing nicely and I am now classified as Urgent. But there is a long waiting list and they wondered if I could go private. Yeh, right! On a priest's stipend, I don't think so!

Yesterday's best conversation...

Son #2: Oh where did those eggs come from?

Me: Eggs? What eggs?

Son #2: Those three easter eggs in cups.

Me: What three easter eggs?

Son #2: In the dining room, on the floor. Can I have one?

Me: You mean the hyacinth bulbs?

(They were wrapped up prettily for my birthday present.)

We will have a Celebration of Tracy's Life at 6pm in St Mark's on Friday 15 September. Her funeral will be at 1pm in North Carolina so our celebration will coincide exactly with the time over there.

We continue to hold Ann and Sandiann, Muriel and Douglas and Margaret in our prayers.

Last night Tracy Engh passed away peacefully. We will hold a memorial service in St Mark's Portobello at the same time as the funeral takes place in the USA. More news later when I have the details.

Tracy is the beloved daughter of the Rev'd Timm and Ann Engh. Timm was rector of St Mark's from 1990 to 2002. Shortly after Timm's death Tracy was diagnosed with cancer which she has fought bravely with her mum, Ann, and sister, Sandiann, at her side. Our prayers must be with them at this time.

Rest eternal, grant unto her O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon her.

By the time my party came on Friday evening I was ready to sit down on my comfy chair with my baffies on and a wee glass of Amaretto at my side. However, it was face on, party pink top on (never again - more later) and smile in place to greet friends from far and near to the party of the year. Or in my case, the party of the last half-century.

And what a party it was. My boys did me proud and worked the bar and dealt with the cake speech thing beautifully. Some guests worked the room like old pro's, and the Glasgow table re-ordered my sanctuary when there was a lull in the conversation. My sister and her boys came too and managed to cope with being surrounded by so many churchy folk, although she did warn me not to open her pressie in front of them. I was very discreet on the night but unfortunately they somehow got left out and were found by two of the congregation the next morning. (And no, I am not going to say what they were!)

By midnight I was left with three very old friends and the boys and we sat and caught up with all the news and shared old stories. By 3am I was fading rapidly so we left the clearing up for the next day and headed home in a taxi. It was surely my best birthday ever.

Thankfully, some of my little flock turned up at 10am the next day to clear up the debris and transform St Mark's back into a church. Bless them.

(And I promise never again to wear pink to any occasion. In my defence, I bought this top because I thought it would go beautifully with purple. It was a lovely shade of fuschia but it would appear that I must not wear anything but purple from now on because I had at least 50 comments on that fact. 'When I am old I shall wear purple...' And nothing else it would seem.)

So far it's been a great birthday. My dear departed mum used to always phone at some ungodly hour to sing Happy Birthday and I had been thinking last night it wouldnt be the same without her. So it was a lovely suprise to have my sister do the deed this morning.

Then son #2 made me breakfast in bed and we opened the cards and some pressies - all gorgeous.

Now, I've just got to wait for the carpet fitters to phone so I can let them in to church to revamp the Marks of Friendship Room. What fun!

I had a complaint yesterday from one of my little flock about the lack of blog entries this week. It would appear that she likes to amuse herself reading my entry in her lunch hour at work - that's just in case her boss is reading this.

My response was that I am simply too busy this week to blog. Or rather the few things I might like to have blogged about could have brought about a libel case. One has to be very careful about blogging - you just never know who's reading it.

But it is my birthday tomorrow. The big 50. Half a century. Downhill from now on. And we are having the party to end all parties in church tomorrow night. All welcome! That will surely give me something to blog about.

Yesterday was our annual outing. The plan was for all the congregation and all the children to have an afternoon out with picnic and games and prizes for the youngsters. We booked a big coach and made plans to camp out in St Baldred's North Berwick in case the weather was inclement. (In fact the weather all morning was absolutely lousy but I am convinced that the power of prayer caused the sun to break through just as we left Edinburgh.)

Sadly, our enthusiasm for this day was not met by the majority of the congregation. So it was a rather depleted bunch who set out rattling around in the 40-seater coach (11 adults and 4 children) but we did manage a rendition of 'Ye cannae shove yer Granny off a bus' with actions. The children found this terribly embarrassing but there was no holding us back. Willie, the bus driver, was charm itself and couldn't have been more helpful.

We had our picnic in St Baldred's gorgeous hall (carpetted in a delightful shade of purple) before being driven down to the beach where we found a sheltered spot. Sadly, we left the games on the bus so the children had to make do with digging holes but they seemed happy enough. C went for a paddle and fell in getting competely soaked but luckily had a change of clothing. (C is a grown up!)

And the highlight of the day was watching some men trying to pull a Land Rover out of the sand where it had got stuck while towing a boat out.

So that's it over for another year. Next year we might do it differently.

I have finally finished Lifelong Learning (Theological Education and Supervision) by Frances Ward. I got it to learn a little more about theological education for the Continuing Ministerial Development which I co-ordinate for our curates. I'm not sure that I really learning much that will be of any help. In fact, I suspect this book may have been a Dissertation or PHD once upon a time and has been adapted.

The first third of the book is Case Studies of curates in training and there is lots that resonates amongst those pages. Then comes the academic stuff which occasionally refers back to those Case Studies (but no page number references so not much use if you read the Case Studies a month or so ago and then picked up the book again as I did.)

Really there were just three things which I were of benefit in a practical sense.

1) Keep a journal of your curacy: people met, quotes, poems and prayers found or used, feelings, hopes and fears, that sort of thing.

2) Good supervision with your training rector is vital. This should not be counselling, or planning meetings but proper supervision.

3) Guidelines for training rectors include: making a commitment to staying in post for the duration of the training period; is willing to undertake further training; self-awareness, strengths and weaknesses in own ministry; doesn't just want an assistant; will make CMD a priority for the curate; is capable of allowing a curate to develop in ways different from his/her own; etc.

I didn't find it an easy read and I'm not exactly sure what audience it is aimed at although there are little exercises to do which seem to be aimed at curates. You're welcome to borrow it before it goes on to Amazon Sales.

The monthly magazine of St Mark's is called The Marksman. Yes, I know, all you feminists out there are screaming like the recently found Munch painting. Last night the magazine committee had a meeting over a gin and tonic or two to discuss a new format.

We have decided to go for a quality magazine every two months instead of a sparse one every month. We are going from an A4 format to A5 designed with Publisher 2003. We are going to use a new Sans Serif font for easy reading and lots of white space.

However, we didn't discuss a new name. Any ideas for a new name incorporating St Mark?