A windy, windy day with gales last night and started again this evening. I started work on the Sunday service and very soon Bob arrived, followed soon afterwards by Dan and some of his colleagues from Kilmarnock College. We put up the plaque on the bridge their team had constructed and, over coffee, made plans for next year – talking through the ideas of more teams coming to spend time here as well as involving the college in the creation of works of art for the glebe, and the college taking charge of our signage project for the glebe as an ‘enterprise activity.’ There is a lot still to talk about but there are exciting opportunities for us all. Showed Dan’s colleagues around the facilities and then, at lunch time, climbed the Strone (again). When I came back I met with the local police team and told them about the new opportunities which were opening up for us – and about the trip to Rovigo (which might benefit from a police presence)! Then it was back to the study until time for the film which was ‘The Oxford Murders’ which I enjoyed. Back to the study to get the web-site in order and then bed.

Today I spoke at the Park Guild meeting. It was an afternoon meeting and I enjoyed being with them and sharing our Arrochar and Luss adventures concentrating particularly on our youth project. Back in Luss I met with Andy and Mike to talk through the next stage of our 2010 plans. With the recession, grant funding may be even harder to come by so we have to be aware of this. We started looking at our own congregational resources and I was struck by how many people now are travelling significant distances each Sunday to be with us. In the early New Year we need to get everyone together for a meal and to make sure they now how much their travelling is appreciated and to listen to what they are thinking. We need more ‘talking time’ – I enjoy meeting with wedding folk after Church but I do miss out on the chat with those who are always here for the service.

Up early and into the study. Then out and about with folk to see. Met up with Alan Galt (who helped us enormously with transport in the early days of the project) and Tom and I showed him around the Glebe. It was good to see him. Started planning to have an exhibition board at the Community Day on Saturday and just after lunch walked to the top of the Strone and back – turning the idea of a Baptism Orchard over in my mind. The idea was launched by Lorraine at the Bible Study group last night and enthusiastically picked up by Alison. The idea, I think, would be to take the area of the Glebe off to the left once you cross the bridge and pass the trees by the river bank and to create an orchard with an apple tree planted for each child baptised in the Church. Apple trees are often associated with holy places and were often planted at monastic sites. Roy is convinced there was an orchard going back to Kessog’s time on Inchatavannach and his picture of Kessog is of a round, jolly man with an apple in his hand. By the end of the day I learned that this site is indeed an appropriate one and also that one plants different varieties of apple together so that they cross-fertilize. Sounds fun and, with all the baptisms we are sharing in just now it will soon be quite an orchard!

This morning I was up and on the top of the Strone by ten to eight. It was still dark, very wet and a totally opposite day from yesterday. Tomorrow I will sleep in and you can bet it will be a lovely day. Worked in the study and then set off for Braehead to get some of the materials which we need for the future programme – why are shops always so far away! Back in time to get everything ready for the Bible Study Group. Having looked last week at John Wycliffe this week we examine John Huss who preached in Prague and who taught that you don’t need to go through the Church to reach God! Revolutionary thoughts for his day. He came to a sticky end, condemned in part for being a disciple of Wycliffe, for teaching scripture in the common tongue and for challenging the authority of the popes at a time when the Church was struggling for unity after years with two competing popes. Condemned and burned in 1415 his life and teaching prepared the way for the Reformation proper which we shall begin to look at next week.

Sunday. Up early and off to Arrochar before returning to Luss by which time our girls had been breakfasted by Jessie, May and Carol and Blair and his Praise Band from Fife had arrived, set up, had coffee and were ready to lead the service. I enjoyed their music and, even more, I enjoyed the many voice meditation which they had prepared on the theme of ‘the mustard seed.’ It was really good (and can be seen on the downloads section of the web-site for the next few days under ‘Reader Scripts). I enjoyed having our new youth group in Church as well. Over coffee I met with several weddings and a baptism for the next few weeks and then we all lunched. May, Jessie and Carol had prepared roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with all of the trimmings. Another lovely meal. After an extended coffee and chat everyone dispersed – our girls to Glasgow and Dundee (I drove one group to the train at Balloch), Blair and his team to Fife. Rachel, Anne and I settled down to take things easy for a few hours – but the phone continued to ring, until at only 9 p.m. I retired to bed! What a super weekend.

A day I had been looking forward to! Up early and left to climb the Strone at 7.25 a.m. as soon as it got light. On the summit about ten past eight – tired and although it wasn’t wet on the way up, it rained heavily on the way down. Home at 8.30, showered and changed. Wrote the Pewspaper (leaving space for a final paragraph later in the day) and printed the colour blanks for the Pewspaper. Laid the fires in the dining room and lounge, put on the heating in the Pilgrim’s Palace and in the cottage, printed the menus for the evening dinner and got ready for the weddings. Two weddings today: that of Hugh and Kirsty at 2.30 p.m. and then Louis and Geraldine at 4.30 p.m. It was already dark by the time the second wedding couple came out of Church. By now we had folk arriving for our new youth group. Saara had come from Finland (she is studying in Dundee), Jayde, Gemma, Kayleigh, Chelsea (from 2007), Laura, Lauren, Lorraine, Pauline, Alexis, Audrey (from 2008). We had a fantastic evening. Anne had prepared a seven-course feast for our guests (which also included Andy, Bob, Gus and May). The menu included Mozzarella Salad, Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil, Prawns in Marie-Rose Sauce, Chicken in Barbecue Sauce with Fresh Vegetables, Cheese Board, Rich Chocolate Mouse, Coffee and Mints. Between courses Andy had a variety of entertainments before we moved through to the lounge for some of his games including a version of Prize Bingo where nobody had a Bingo card! Between times we also talked through our plans for next year – Easter when some of our girls will host a party from Finland, next summer when Jayde and Gemma will help write the programme for another big exchange programme and later when we shall all go to Italy and then welcome the folk from Rovigo back here. It was late when everyone made their way to bed – Anne had prepared a superb meal and Carol, Rachel and May had assisted with the presentation and serving. Completed the Pewspaper and printed it. An even better day than I had hoped for!

Up and off to the doctor again. It was as I suspected – I hover between glucose intolerance and diabetes and so a further test was necessary. I persuaded my doctor that it would be a good idea (!) if I didn’t have to give any more blood now but that I would spend the next month getting fit – going up the Strone at least three times a week and losing enough weight to stop being overweight – and then give her some more of my precious blood. She laughed a bit (I suppose at the idea of me actually managing to keep up what I’ve taken on to do) but was happy to agree and it will, I am sure, make the difference. Perhaps this is the wake-up call I have been needing! My doctor suggested that it might not be an activity for a month – but with some people it can take a year to change your blood condition! We shall see. Now all I have to sort out is my feet – but there can’t be much wrong if I can get up and down the Strone at my age (realise that I wrote that yesterday too – this is going to be my watchword: if you see some old guy toiling up and down the Strone come and say hello).

Back home for breakfast – scrambled egg and toast (noticed how much more healthy I had suddenly become in my eating habits)! Into the study to catch up on what I hadn’t got done yesterday (when I had a mountain to climb) and then conducted the wedding of Jillian and Andrew, a really happy occasion. By the time this was over it was time to meet with Michelle and James (Michelle’s died abroad last year and we are preparing a Memorial Service for her for a week on Sunday), then Donny arrived with some paper for me to sign with regard to the group we are trying to set up to provide local support to the National Park. We need to find a way of encouraging local people to feel that the Park belongs to them, almost like a ‘Friends of Loch Lomond’ but more exclusively for local people, residents and those who work here – and also to be able to campaign for issues about our local area such as the problems of vandalism and destruction from which we suffer. However, more about this if we manage to get something happening. Now I had a wedding rehearsal, that of Geraldine and Louis who will be married at half-past four tomorrow afternoon. I do hope that it is not dark! Back to the Manse for an evening meal – healthy fish-pie and eaten early, just after six. Still on track. By half-past seven another wedding rehearsal party had arrived. This time Hugh and Kirsty whose wedding tomorrow is at 2.30 p.m. Weather forecast doesn’t look too bad for tomorrow – we’ll see. The rehearsal went well – back to the Manse where everyone was sitting down to watch Taggart. Joined them before bed.

Into the study this morning to work on Sunday’s service. Everything was going well until Lilly from the Doctor’s surgery phoned to ask me not to eat anything overnight as the Doctor required more blood tomorrow morning! Worked out that the tests had been inconclusive – a border-line reading between my usual state of glucose intolerance and diabetes, I suspect. If that is the case then this is good news – I had feared much worse. In truth I have been too wrapt up in things to take proper exercise and to eat properly. So I decided that I would immediately set-to and put things right. It was a bucketing wet day and there was a mist over the hills but I put on my anorak and set off up the Strone accompanied by Skye. Soon my heart was pumping a million to the second and I was sure that would explode. But I got to the top and phoned home to let Rachel know where I was. Coming down was slippery but less strain on the heart! By the time I got home Anne had arrived and together the three of us had lunch and then I set off into Helensburgh to buy a good set of bathroom scales. Took my weight and according to the handbook and the calculations it included I am not yet obese, just overweight. So that’s my two targets – exercise and lose weight. And don’t think there can be much wrong with me if I can get up and down the Strone on a day like today!

By this time there was a wedding rehearsal to be organised and then the film at the cinema club. We were to have watched ‘Into Austen’ but on opening the box we discovered that this was a four-part television programme. So we had a vote of the audience and decided to watch Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in ‘An Affair to Remember’ – I hadn’t seen it before and it really was very good! Back into the house, watched Newsnight and went to bed.