Cleburne State Park: Fall and Fossils

Making the most of both our Texas State Parks pass and a sunny Saturday, we ventured out to tick Cleburne State Park off our list. It's relatively local - less than an hour away - and we had often driven by on the main highway, but not yet turned off for a visit. The park is not a particularly large one. We walked almost all the way around the edge in just a couple of hours, with disappointingly few views of the central reservoir, but plenty of rugged ups and downs and a few pretty streams to cross. And - excitingly - a scattering of shell and ammonite fossils. It's pretty awesome to think that the rock your trainer soles are now scuffing was once mud way down on the sea bed - and to kneel down and stroke the ridges that immortalise one of the creatures that lived and died there, millions of years ago.

Quite a big beastie.

Rock by the lake outflow.

The lake.

A bit of Texas countryside.

Autumn leaves.

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Supercars and Selfies on the South Coast

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I wasn't sure whether to read another set of theology books this year. Could the time I spend on it be better spent on something else? At what point does it become reading for the sake of it, without having much impact on my wider life? It's difficult to tell. However, as usual, I had a growing list of books I wanted to read. I do need to think about what I'm doing as well as what I'm reading, and I don't expect to continue this specific discipline indefinitely. But I decided there was space for at least one more year of Reading for Spiritual Formation. So, without further soul-searching: The Books. Three Mile an Hour God Kosuke Koyama Japanese theologians are few and far between; Christianity is still very much a niche religion in Japan. Kosuke Koyama was Japanese and appears to be both influential and accessible. Not every theologian is both! So I'm excited to read his recently republished book Three Mile an Hour God. It was originally written in 1979, and is

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

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