FLICKING through some photographs the other day brought back some wonderful memories of holidays and student days, of people and places I'd half forgotten.

HOW good are you at trying something you've never tried before?

TIME passes so quickly! Our youngest offspring, in her attempt to get back from her sponsored hitch to Morocco, ended up in Brussels.

THERE'S nothing quite like the smell of a bonfire - except that is, when it seems to stick to your clothes and hair for days on end.

REMEMBER to put your clocks forward this weekend.

THE best man at a wedding I conducted last week was 6ft 9in plus he had a 6in Mohican hairdo on top of that. I came up to somewhere around his belt buckle.

WHENEVER I decide to go for a walk, I'm conscious that it takes a while before I actually get out the door: especially at this time of year.

I TOOK a picture of the two of them the other day there, just in case they disappear soon as I'm sure they must.

IT'S started. The countdown to Easter has begun. The cream eggs have been in the shops since Christmas Eve but it is official now. Lent, which is the doorway to Easter, began on Wednesday past and so we're headed now for Easter a mere six weeks away.

HAVING St Valentine's Day fall on a Sunday this year is a good thing.

AFTER all the festivities things are getting back to normal. Whatever "normal" is!

THE mornings seem to have got so much darker so quickly over the last couple of weeks.

I'M drinking out of a mug that says on it: "Every time I learn something new, it pushes old stuff out of my brain."

I GOT one of those letters. A recall. "Your mammogram shows that further tests are required", the letter said, and immediately your mind goes into overdrive.

HAVE you ever gone into the kitchen and then stopped in your tracks trying to remember what it was you were going into the kitchen for?

WAITING is awful. It must be one of the hardest things to do.

A TRIP to the north-west last week to talk to the Friendship Group in Kinlochbervie was amazing and not only because of the company that greeted us when we finally arrived.

BETTER than the world's most glamorous job landing at your feet.

AS I write this I'm conscious of feeling slightly uptight. Actually that's not true. I'm feeling a lot uptight.

THE chill in the air, the turning of the leaves and the steadily shorter days trumpet abroad the end of summer and the start of autumn, with the threat of winter just around the corner.

IF you take the way people react to birthdays as a case in point.

WHEN was the last time you did the touristy stuff where you live?

I'VE just heard a friend has done something I long to do. It's taken them three years or so years to do it – but they've done it.

"THERE'S no such thing as bad weather, it's simply a case of wearing the wrong clothes," so I was told.

THERE will no doubt be lots of relieved parents and grandparents this week. School is back.

"I'M all a-twitter!"

I'D planned a long lie-in. I thought I deserved one and I hadn't had the chance for ages. The other half got up and I lay still. Then it started.

ONE sunny morning last week I was making my way to Inverness as usual for work when, about Clashmore, I realised that my car was probably not going with me.

THE sermon preparation wasn't going well, so I took off with the dog for a late afternoon walk.

DRINKING three or four cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking water – so says a study just out.

AT Songs of Praise last Sunday night in Dornoch, we had a lady in the congregation, a visitor, who wasn't singing the hymns, she was signing them; and I have to say it was beautiful to watch.

I WAS reminiscing with a friend the other day about my childhood.

WE both enjoy taking photographs, the other half and I. I don't like being in them, so taking them means I'm on the right side of the camera.

IN a foolish and rash moment I challenged the congregation one Sunday morning to start out on 40 days' worth of simple daily tasks designed to make us think more about our faith.

THE cat has had a traumatic few days. A van (one of many), belonging to the workmen who are renovating next door to us, nearly ran her over as he hurtled along our narrow street.

I'M a twin. We're both girls, we're both around the same height (short!), we both like food and we probably have a number of other personality traits in common.

I BOUGHT a few new golf clubs and immediately it rained. All I could do was admire them as they sat in the bag waiting to be played with.

THERE are lots of things in this world I don't understand, but this morning, as I walked the dog, I was reminded of what I consider one of the world's greatest mysteries.

I'VE never been to a nightclub. I've never got dressed up, ready to start going out at 9.30 at night.

ON one single day last week I had two joiners, one plumber, a Rayburn engineer, two window cleaners and the man who cuts the grass at the manse all turning up at roughly the same time.

I WANT it framed. Someone sent me an e-mail to say thanks for a service I'd done, and amidst their thanks they also remarked on my singing: and excuse me while I admit to feeling these next few words should be in capital letters and bold print, but they remarked positively on my singing.

SPRING appears to have sprung!

IT'S strange the things you see when you don't have a camera.

PEOPLE say some daft things. Do you remember your mum telling you when you were small and she saw you up a tree or walking along a high wall or something equally dangerous, that if you fell and broke your leg you weren't to come running to her!

TWO couples who were both visitors introduced themselves to me in church last week.

DOGS don't care what the weather is like outside. If it's time for a walk, it's time for a walk.

WE live in the most glorious part of the world.

EASTER eggs have been on sale in the shops almost since Christmas was over.

I WAS hearing about a Dornoch local who, in the recent snow, got up to take her dogs out and spent an absolute age getting all the snow off her car and then scraping and defrosting the windows.

TWO nations separated by a common language.

AS you read this I'm hoping I'm sitting by a pool, reading a book.

I WENT down to Glasgow for a meeting last weekend. I don't know Glasgow as well as I know Edinburgh and I found the experience of walking along Sauchiehall Street then down Buchanan Street quite daunting.

ON the 25th of January, this Sunday, the Scottish Government invites us to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's best known poet, and to celebrate his birth by getting involved in what they have designated Scotland's very first "Year of Homecoming" when everyone with any connection at all to Scotland, however loose (if you own a tartan pencil, it seems that will do) is being invited to visit these shores.

THE poor thing has been failing for a while. It's obviously been struggling to cope since the start of the winter but two Sundays ago it finally decided to give up the ghost completely and the battle to keep it going was lost. No amount of skilled tinkering and repair work was going to do this time. We had to let it go.

I'M not a great believer in making New Year's resolutions. Mainly because they don't usually last more than about five minutes!

THERE'S a door right in front of you. Where or what or even who it might lead to, you don't know; but what you are sure of is that once you walk over the threshold and through that doorway there will be no turning back. And that makes you take a deep breath.

IN this part of the world most people at Christmas, whether or not they hold on to the Christmas story or go to church, will celebrate the season by sitting down to share a meal with family or friends – or both.

THERE are so many things in this world that I just don't understand. Why the moon, for example, the other night there, should have had a halo of light and then a rainbow rim around it; and why my camera didn't work when I tried to photograph it.

IN the last parish I served, I remember on one occasion going to do some visiting in the local hospital and I got out of the lift to see a young friend in her 20s in the corridor.

WHEN I was growing up we had no central heating and we had no double glazing.

THERE are some people who are incredibly organised and have their Christmas shopping just about all sewn up already. Needless to say, I'm not one of them. I'm someone for whom Christmas comes accompanied by varying degrees of panic.

NEWSPAPER print seems to be smaller than it once was. I used to smile to myself when I looked out upon the congregation and saw people holding hymnbooks at arms' length – or even reading the book belonging to the person in the pew in front.

NAMES are important. Ask any young couple facing the imminent arrival of a bundle of joy and they'll tell you how hard it can be to find just the right one.

IAN Usher put his life up for sale. He and his partner of 12 years had split up, and everything so reminded him of her that he decided to sell the lot and start over again.

"IT was the best of times, it was the worst of times...". Those are the opening words of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and that's how this last week has felt to me.

IT'S sad when a marriage breaks up. It must be even worse when that break-up is carried out amid the glare of publicity, when the couple concerned are much feted and the general public can't get enough of them.

AYE, the nights are fair drawin' in. If I was a housewife, I'd be thinking of changing my curtains right now. I'd be taking down the summer ones and putting up the heavier winter drapes.

I'M thinking about giving up my day job. I've had a taste of something else, and I quite fancy a career change.

I'VE only ever abseiled once, and you can call me a wuss if you want but the fact is that I've never done it since.

LAST weekend was not the greatest weekend for British sporting interests. Nick Faldo's team managed to lose their grip on the Ryder Cup and tennis team GB were relegated from the elite world section of the Davis Cup to the Europe/Africa zone.

WOULD you like to impress the other half without too much expense or effort?

WE'RE just back from holiday. We went to Zurich where I was to conduct a wedding ceremony the day after we arrived. The plan looked fine. Arrive Friday night at 7.40pm – go to the wedding the next morning at 11am.

AN empty nest. For the first time in over 20 years we're on our own. The birds have flown! Both of them started at university last week and there's now only Derek and I (and the dog and cat) rattling around in the manse.

A STUDY has been done recently that gives credence to the old theory that each of us is only six degrees of separation away from one another.

"I CAN see clearly now the rain has gone. I can see all obstacles in my way" – so sang Johnny Nash in the 70s and Susan Brown in August 2008.

I SUBSCRIBE to a monthly magazine that's all about food.

ON the daily early morning walk with the dog today I didn't see very much and, yes, I had remembered to put my contact lenses in!

I LIKE to think I'm quite trendy – not, I hasten to add, in a dress sense but technologically trendy.

THE annual holiday approacheth. We're supposed to be going to a wedding in Zurich and I'm at the stage of thinking it would be quite nice to shed a few pounds before then. The only trouble is as soon as the 'd' word (diet) enters my brain I become completely obsessed with food.

MY SISTER called me to tell me she’d just done something she’d always wanted to do.

I'M A sensitive soul to whom many are highly attracted. I want everyone who reads the Northern Times to know that. Sensitive and attractive – that's me.

THE best laid plans... Let's have an outdoor Songs of Praise! And let's have a barbecue with it.

WE have a cat that does what cats do. She rules the dog and brings home "presents".

WE DO it without thinking. We jump in the car to fetch a pint of milk, or to drop the children off at school, or to post a letter, and we don't really give it a second thought – at least not usually.

I DO it virtually every day – or at least every time I switch on the computer. I look up the met office website and check the weather forecast and if it's not looking too good, I then check the weather on the BBC homepage.

MY other half, Derek, has gone off to a European hospital chaplains' conference in Estonia.

BECAUSE OF the good weather we've had, I decided to search out the BBQ, clean it up, and use it.

I WAS asked if I might help when it came to the scattering of ashes of one of the former members of the Dornoch congregation.

ON one page of a daily newspaper there was the story of a Wester Ross head teacher swimming across the not exactly invitingly warm waters of Little Loch Broom along with half a dozen parents, in order to raise money to fund the transport costs involved in getting the pupils of Scoraig to their swimming lessons in Ullapool.

I WAS out on my bike on Saturday morning, enjoying the fine weather, getting some exercise and relishing the fresh air.

SO DID your name appear on the Sunday Times rich list last weekend?

MY mum is really pleased with herself because she's taken the dog for a long walk today without any problem. She's only been able to do short walks for the last wee while. She says she's getting old.

THE CHURCH is on its way out. After 2000 years it's past its sell-by date and about to be given the last rites – at least that's what the pundits would have you believe.

I'VE had an attempt at trying to tidy out the study in the house. Five completely full bin bags later and the relocation of enough bits and pieces to fill at least another two, and you can just about see the study carpet!

THE OTHER half (some would say the better half) has been in Arkansas in the USA this week. He tells me he's at a conference for hospital chaplains but he seems to be doing a fair bit of sightseeing while he's there. Not that I'm jealous of course. Not much!

WE live in a world that never stops moving. I know this planet of ours spins on its axis on average once every 24 hours (to be exact it rotates once every 24 hours plus 0.0016 seconds) but that wasn't really what I had in mind when I was thinking about our world on the move.

WHY do they call it good? Good Friday, I mean. It's anything but good for Jesus and his disciples.

PRAYER is a bit of a problem. I don't mean whether it's answered or not (although perhaps that could be the subject of some future Food for Thought): prayer is a problem when it comes to knowing what we should and shouldn't be asking God for his help for.

I'M not an overly grumpy person (good job my children are not reading this first sentence) but there are certain things that do ruffle my feathers and cause the blood pressure to rise.

AT the youth group last night we watched Ratatouille – a great film in terms of entertainment value but great, too, as a way of getting young people to think about things like loyalty and friendship and not pre-judging other people.

TEN years is not a long time in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it's just a drop in the ocean when you think of the billions of years the earth has been in existence.

I BOUGHT a pack of filter coffee. Nothing too exciting about that. What attracted me was the name. "Rich Italian" it said on the label – but there wasn't one inside!

EARLIER this week we were given the welcome news that for the first time in over a thousand years the number of people moving into the Highlands exceeds the number of those moving out.

AT YOUTH group this week, I gave the youngsters piles of newspapers (Northern Times included of course!) and asked them to cut out words that they thought others might use to describe them.

THE same... but different. I'm a twin. I have a twin sister and even although we look nothing like each other, when we were growing up we were dressed the same, which managed to cause a certain amount of confusion – especially among our teachers at school.

HANDS up if you're perfectly happy with the way you are. I don't sense a great flutter of copies of the Northern Times falling to the floors of the houses of the people of Sutherland as all hands go into the air!

I USED to visit a lady who, at the time, was in her 90s and every day she’d watch the six o’clock news on BBC1 whilst riding her exercise bike.

THEY SAY that confession is good for the soul – so let me begin this New Year with a confession.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28; NIV)

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2; NIV)

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. (Isaiah 26:3; KJV)

THE shops were crowded. The woman had been shopping for Christmas presents.

ONE freezing winter's night, a farmer heard a ragged bump-bump-bumping against the glass of his kitchen door. He went to see what was causing it. A flock of frightened, shivering sparrows had been attracted by the light and warmth and were trying to get inside.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise. (Proverbs 12:15; NKJV)

Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly. (Proverbs 17:12; NIV)

IN THE operating theatre of a large well-known hospital, it was the nurse's first day on the surgical team.

When you say yes, mean yes; when you say no, mean no. (Jesus of Nazareth)

In this world you will have trouble. But don't be afraid – I have overcome the world. (Jesus of Nazareth)

THIS is a true story. It happened to a mate of mine (I'll call him Jim) and it could have scarred him for life.

IT'S AN odd thing about life, how we so easily allow things to get out of proportion.

The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17; NIV)

Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46)

THE writer John Ortberg speaks about DTR (define-the-relationship) conversations – conversations that define and crystallise relationships between individuals, often changing those relationships in a radical and revolutionary way.

THREE guys were playing golf. The conversation turned to work.

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:12,13; NLT)

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? (Woody Allen)

IN 1942 Ernest Gordon was a captain in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. After the fall of Singapore he was captured by the Japanese and sent to work on the infamous Burma Railway. He was one of the POWs who built the real bridge over the River Kwai.

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. (Mark 10:15; NIV)

God made the wild animals according to their kinds. ... Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. ... And there was evening and there was morning – the sixth day. (Genesis 1:25,26,31; NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9; NIV)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36; NIV)

He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out. (John 11:43,44; NKJV)

"A community is never there just for itself or for its own glory. It comes from and belongs to something much greater and deeper: the heart of God to bring humanity to fulfilment. A community is never an end in itself; it is a sign calling further and deeper, calling people to love." (Jean Vanier)

He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray. (Proverbs 10:17; NKJV)

WE’RE just home from holiday. Two weeks in a cottage above Brora, reading, visiting old friends, chilling out and walking Lucy the dog along the beaches and through the woods. A quiet time for recreation and reflection.

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

I'M SURE you've all heard of the Lusitania. She was the 36,000-ton passenger liner torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland on 7th May, 1915. A total of 1201 people lost their lives in the disaster, including 785 passengers. Among them were 94 children, 39 of them infants.

Whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life. (1 John 5:12; The Message)

IN 1999, the American golfer Payne Stewart died when his LearJet crashed.

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms..." (Deuteronomy 33:27; NKJV)

Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently He spoke to us directly through His Son (Hebrews 1:1,2; The Message)

A MAN went to the slave market to buy a slave. He chose his slave, paid his money, and took his purchase home with him.

TECHNOLOGY'S humiliating. Even low technology. I had a call to make in the high-rise block behind the church where I'm standing in as caretaker (so to speak) until the congregation gets a new minister.

A UNIVERSITY professor once asked each of his students to write out his or her personal list of the seven greatest wonders in the present-day world.

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4; NIV)

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3,4; NKJV)

The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. (Psalm 18:4,5; NKJV)

In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. (1 Corinthians 1:17; NKJV)

“TWO THINGS I know: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Saviour.”

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18; NKJV)

YOUR attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8; NLT)

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8; NKJV)

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (Psalm 46:10; NKJV)

God saved you by his special favour when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-10; NKJV)

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12; NKJV)

A MAN went to his doctor. After examining him, the doctor told him, “I’m terribly sorry; you only have three weeks to live.”

I WAS visiting a couple in the congregation last week. “I’m so happy,” she said. “After thirty years I’ve finally cured my husband of biting his nails.”

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made...

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2; NKJV)

THIS ISN’T a nice story. People of a nervous disposition might like to look away for the next few minutes.

OVER the past few days I’ve received a number of communications from church headquarters.

“The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself….” (James 3:5,6; NLT)

Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for all his wonderful deeds to them. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalm 107:8,9; NLB)

You shall give Abubu eight portions of… SOMEONE wrote these words on the wall of an Egyptian turquoise mine deep in the Sinai desert 4500 years ago.

SOMETIMES you come across a story that you just have to share with other people.

LAST WEEK we met Jacob, the J. R. Ewing of the Bible. We heard how he lied to his father and stole his brother's inheritance. And now he was on the run.

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilful hunter - while Jacob was a quiet man, living among the tents. (Genesis 25:27; NIV)

What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

THERE are houses going up across the burn. The lorries go in and out regularly, delivering prefabricated components such as windows, door frames and roof trusses.

ON CONGRESS Street, Boston, Massachusetts, you will find the New England Holocaust Memorial, six 54-feet glass towers each about 15 feet square, etched with the numbers that were tattooed on the arms of the six million Jews (and others) who died in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War.

A PLEASANT and insightful book of Christian counsel is C S Lewis’s Letters to an American Lady.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

I DON’T normally go shopping in my working clothes; going round Morrison’s frozen food section wearing a clerical collar tends to attract odd looks. And occasionally, as on Tuesday, some folks get the wrong idea.

WE HAD a break in our electrical supply this morning, just enough to set off the burglar alarm in the contractors' premises across the road.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you … (Isaiah 43:5; NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (1 Corinthians 1:3,4; NIV)

"Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise him half enough?" (Psalm 106:2; NLT)

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord….” (Romans 6:23; NKJV)

And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone... (Genesis 2:17; NKJV)

I DON’T know about you, but I’m easily irritated by certain TV advertisements and advertising slogans.

I will not leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5; NKJV)

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another - even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12,13)

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

IN AUTUMN 2003 the Reverend Joe Wright was asked to open the Kansas State Senate with prayer. It's usual on such an occasion to "pray safe", avoid controversy, and not rattle anyone's cage. The Reverend Joe, however, was of another mind. This is his prayer: