Archive for April, 2007

For my cheeky Auntie Dorothy…

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

Another webexperiment

Friday, April 6th, 2007

We were told recently of an incredible spike in visitor statistics on a Santiago newspaper website after the publication of an article relating to un-iden-ti-f-ied flyin-g obj-ects being visible in Chile.

So we’re going to try the same experiment. In exactly 5 days (thursday). I’m going to post a blog, with “apparent” pictures of said object in the sky above Santiago. In fact, better than that, i might just create an entire category on the subject!

Those pictures will in fact, be pictures of the recent lunar eclipse, whose credibility (if they ever had any), is damaged by the additional interference of a young 5 year old, Mandy, pulling at my left trouser leg. Yes, they are more blurred than the eyesight of your average canine friend after polishing off a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale.

I don’t suggest you give your dog an “Old Dog”, but I do suggest you do your bit to feed the frenzy of web traffic attracted to our website by my selection of related keywords…. in english and spanish.

We’ll see if it has any impact whatsoever on visitor statistics (you can detect my skepticism already). Now, time for that pint…

Some quick requests

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

Hi all! We hope you are having a good Holy Week (semana santa) and that the Lent period has been a time of refreshment, reflection and preparation for the celebration of Easter and news of the living Lord Jesus.

We have lots to thank God for. In particular;

  • For providing a fulfilling and interesting job for Douglas, albeit requiring 7am starts and a lot of remote working.
  • We have been very grateful for time together, with Rachel in Santiago for 7 weeks. We have gained a (fairly) regular routine and have spent a good deal of time together.
  • For several weekend breaks outside of Santiago, enjoying the summer weather.
  • For good friends here in Santiago, to support, spend time with and learn from. In particular, for Carey, Naomi, Linde, Naomi (another one), Shana, Penelope and James, David and Anne, Christian, Blair, Colin and Maureen.
  • For God’s help in keeping our Lent commitments.
  • For helping Rachel to complete and submit an academic paper for publishing and for (relatively) minor edits required.
  • I guess your Easter weekends will be busy, but if you have a minute, we’d appreciate your prayers for the following:

  • Our friends Paul and Joyce are expecting a baby and, hilariously, they just skyped me to say that Joyce has had contractions for 3 hours now. Please pray for them as they have a child who will be chilean, british and american, in a chilean hospital! Pray that there would be no complications, in particular, that he/she might not have any sight problems (an inherited problem for their 1st son, Gabriel).
  • Second, please pray for Rachel who is at Paranal at the moment, working really hard. She is learning to use a new instrument, CryoRes, a high resolution infrared camera and enduring many problems with said camera!
  • Third, for our friend Naomi Irvine (see 3 day Huerquehue Hike pics below), who attemped the Santiago International Marathon last sunday but, sadly, retired at 24km with a hip/leg muscle injury which has disabled her for 3 days now. Pray for a rapid recovery of both movement and strength of her left leg.
  • For friends, Penelope and James, who require more english teaching and translation work here in Chile in order to live here sustainably. Pray for guidance for them and, if it is right for them to stay, more classes and more students.
  • Lastly, please pray as we organise the next meeting of our young persons group at the Church here, on the 14th April. We will study the bible character, David, God’s finest musicmaker, and will be rehearsing with the youth (who are very skilled players of oboes, pianos, violins and guitars….) to play at a service on the 22nd April.
  • Thanks!