The Garden Window

Photo Day 30

2012-01-30T20:51:00.000Z

Photo Day 30 - Nature

As it is barely above freezing today, I have resurrected a wintery photo I took in Dec 2010 of a cobweb that was completely frozen. There was no sign of the spider, whom I hope had found somewhere safe to sheleter from the bitter weather.......

Clash Of The Titles

2012-01-29T09:05:00.000Z

I found a great site today, called Clash of the Titles.

Excerpts from two books are posted, and you get to do small critiques/answer questions about the books, with the opportunity to enter a giveaway contest.
The current one is based on the works of two famous Amish Romance authors; I've read one but not both, and the excerpt of the unread one has really whetted my appetite to buy it :-)
Or maybe win it :-)

Photo Day 29

2012-01-29T08:43:00.000Z

Photo Day 29 - The Inside Of My Fridge

Looking a little bare as we have a grocery order being delivered tomorrow.....

Photo Day 28

2012-01-29T08:40:00.002Z

Photo Day 28 - Light

This is the light nearest the computer desk. It looks pretty but is functionally useless for detailed or close work, even when all three bulbs are working. Replacing the defunct bulb will be a job for DH as I get vertigo just standing on a chair, and I am too short to reach it even on a chair :-)

Photo Day 27

2012-01-29T08:33:00.000Z

Photo Day 27 - Lunch
Sorry about the delay; I completely forgot to take a photo of my lunch on Friday - which was scrambled egg on toast. That was what DH felt like, and I was not in the mood to cook something else for myself .... and I only remembered about photographing it after I had swallowed the last mouthful. Whoops.
So then my good intention was to photograph my lunch yesterday, but I totally forgot till after I had eaten it, so here is a picture from the Web of Friday's lunch. Eventually :-)

Photo Day 26

2012-01-26T17:41:00.000Z

Photo Day 26 - Colour

It has to be this photograph I took of the daubings inside a reproduction hut at the Celtic Village , St Fagan's outdoor museum near Cardiff :-)

Book Review : Michael Recycle And The Tree Top Cops

2012-01-26T17:10:00.002Z

One of the fun things about helping out every week in our school's library is that I get to read children's books, which often are far more interesting than "grown-up" books ! Part of my work is looking for new authors and concepts which we need to add to our library and which the children, aged 3 to 11, will enjoy.

I've been looking for good conservation/ecology books aimed at the younger end of the age range and was delighted to be be able to review a digital copy of "Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops" courtesy of the publishers via NetGalley.

Our hero is Michael, whose passion is conservation and the environment, so imagine his horror at finding a forest being torn down to provide paper for magazines, and we get to see how he finds a way not only to protect the trees, but also to convert the magazine producers to a greener way of thinking.

It is cleverly written in verse by Ellie Patterson and is a beautifully and humorously illustrated picture book by the talented Alexandra Columbo. It is a thoughtful, funny and extremely attractive short book of 24 pages, ideal for reading to younger children or for those beginning to read independently.

It is being published in the USA by IDW Publishing on March 20, 2012 and I hope it will soon be available in the UK too.

The ISBN: 9781613771617

Corned Beef Pie Recipe

2012-01-25T17:53:00.000Z

.... especially for Michael The Hungry :-)

450 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
one half teaspoon salt
Mix these together

Add 120g diced butter ( or of margarine, or half lard /half margarine)
When combined, add up to 120 ml cold water to make a ball of pastry. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in fridge.

For the filling:
1 large onion, roughly chopped - or more if you really like onions
About 750g potatoes - it depends on the size of your pie dish............ I like lots of potatoes.
dice and boil with the onion in lightly salted water.
When cooked, mash them roughly , then add the diced contents of a 340 g tin corned beef and mix well

Divide pastry in two, roll out and line an ovenproof pie dish. Add the filling mix, cover with pastry lid, pierce in several places for steam to escape, and brush with a beaten egg.

Bake in the centre of a Gas mark 4 / 180 C oven for approx 30 mins till golden brown.

Enjoy !

Photo Page 25

2012-01-25T17:28:00.000Z

Photo Day 25 - Something You Made

This is my famous Corned Beef Pasty Pie. Easy to make, and yummy. Real comfort food..........

Photo Day 24

2012-01-25T17:24:00.000Z

Photo Day 24 - Guilty Pleasure

I had money for my birthday so I bought myself some Amish-based fiction :-)
I have read the two Christmas themed books, and am saving the boxed set for a Bad Day when I need cheering up........

Eat To Boost Your Immunity

2012-01-24T09:00:00.002Z

I've spent a very absorbing few hours reading a book by Kirsten Hartvig called "Eat To Boost Your Immunity".
We have a strong history of asthma, bronchitis and eczema in our family, and I am always on the look-out for information and ways to lessen the risks of these problems for my own children.

I really like the glossy, well laid out and and beautifully illustrated large format of the book; it is attractive, easy to use and crammed full of information about beneficial foods and most importantly, has lots of recipes !

An informative section about how the immune system works opens the book, followed by a section on the many foods which are known to help the immune system function more effectively and includes recipes using each type of foodstuff. Part Three discusses health problems and gives specific information about which foods will helps the most with that condition; a wide variety of specific problems from cystitis to migraine and diabetes are discussed, as well as stress-related issues.

Part Four provides a wealth of recipes in specific soup/starter/snack/main meal/salad/dessert/drinks categories. This makes the book very easy to use; many of these recipes are easy to make and look absolutely delicious......I am looking forward to trying them all out, especially the smoothies and herbal based drinks !

It is great to find a book which pulls together information about healthy eating, illnesses and beneficial foods in one informative and up to date volume which is as equally interesting to browse through as well as when looking for information about a specific problem or food.

Photo Day 23

2012-01-23T14:07:00.000Z

Photo Day 23 - Something Old

One of my oldest books is this lovely Latin/French prayer book, bound in leather and tooled with gold.

When it arrived, I was thrilled to find that the seller had kindly left in these beautiful lacy paper holy cards; it is nice to think of a previous owner using these as bookmarks for favourite parts

of the prayer book.

The earliest date on the table of moveable Feasts is 1822 but the inscription on the flyleaf is dated 1851. Either way, it is the oldest book in my possession.

Photo Day 22

2012-01-23T13:58:00.000Z

Photo Day 22 - Your Shoes

Lest any of you might have some vague notion that I am in any way houseproud, I should confess that I am not, and provide this photo of our shoe corner under the stairs to prove it.
To keep it on topic, only the third shelf down actually contains my footwear :-)

Birdbrain

2012-01-21T09:03:00.000Z

I did something really foolish on Thursday. I am now officially a birdbrain.

I left my mobile phone at my Mum's house. When preparing to leave, I was talking to Mum's elderly friend and completely forgot to pick the phone up from the coffee table in the extension where it receives the best signal.........

I initially thought I could manage without it and that I would simply go up and collect it on Friday morning after I had dropped DD4 at school, and it was only at 8.30 pm on Thursday night that I realised with a sickening realisation that my phone alarm was set to go off - to wake me up - at 6.30am the next morning, and the alarm would continue to ring very loudly indeed until
a/ turned off or
b/ the wretched battery is fully discharged.

Knowing that Mum would be totally confused and frightened as to why this incredibly loud alarm is ringing if it wakes her in the morning, and that none of us would be there till at least 08.30am to turn it off, I headed straight back up to Mum's to retrieve the phone.

When I let myself in, she was already asleep, so I tip-toed into the other room to retrieve the Phone of Doom and let myself out equally quietly, heaving a huge sigh of relief that I had remembered about the alarm in time.........

Photo Day 21

2012-01-21T08:35:00.001Z

Photo Day 21 - Reflection

My precious little lake, yet again.........

This was taken in June 2011.

And this was taken this week, walking DD4 home from school in the mist......

Photo Day 20

2012-01-21T08:33:00.002Z

Photo Day 20 - Someone you love

Well, it would be unfair to single out any one human amongst my family and friends, all of whom I love dearly, so I am opting to use this photo of the Dog of Doom, squashing himself into the tiny gap between my legs and the computer desk just so he can have a cuddle.
And probably more likely because I was eating biscuits at the time :-)

Photo Day 19

2012-01-19T16:13:00.000Z

Photo Day 19 - Sweet

My Dear Husband bought me this as a surprise part of my birthday present - a cuddly Clanger, which is also a microwaveable hot water bottle :-)
♥♥♥

Photo Day 18

2012-01-19T16:11:00.000Z

Photo Day 18 - Something You Bought

Bedsocks !

Photo Day 17

2012-01-17T20:18:00.000Z

Photo Day 17 - Water

It was so hard to choose that I have picked four :-)

This is a frequent view in the ancient town of Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. As you walk through the town, there are narrow passageways giving tantalising and delightful glimpses of the sea.....

Tenby again.
The water really was that colour blue !

And yet again, but this time looking across to the wonderful holy island of Caldey, home of many Saints since the very earliest days of Christianity in Wales, and still home to a monastery even now.

Perched just offshore from Tenby, when you go there, it is a different and very peaceful world. I would love to go there again soon.

And my dear little lake :-)

These were ripples from a swan landing in the water......

Finding, Choosing And Reading Books With Your Children

2012-01-16T16:34:00.002Z

Have you ever been at a loss to know how to get your child really interested in reading, or wondered just how on earth you are supposed to choose books which your child will enjoy when there are literally thousands of books to choose from, and which can vary dramatically in price? Quality is also an issue; books can sometimes be quite boring, use overly complicated language, be poorly illustrated or have awkward typefaces and font sizes - any of these can so easily discourage a beginning or reluctant reader.

Like many other parents, I relied a great deal on word of mouth recommendations from friends whose children were of similar ages to mine, as well as consulting with my friendly and knowledgeable local librarian and bookseller. Now there is the added bonus of being able to do the same thing but on a much bigger scale, thanks to the Internet.

Over the years I have bought lots of books from Red House, and I was delighted to find that they have now introduced an interactive section to their website, My Red House, where you can browse recommendations and reviews from experts, children and parents alike, enter competitions, download resources and activities, and even "chat" with other parents. You can read interviews with famous authors and illustrators and search for book signings and book related events all over the UK, as well as vote for your favourite book in the upcoming Red House Children's Book Awards.

Once you have found a book you like, you can purchase it directly from Red House Books at a bargain price and have it delivered quickly to your home.I have had great fun browsing the site and I will certainly be bookmarking it in my "Favourites" folder!

Photo Day 16

2012-01-16T07:40:00.000Z

Photo Day 16 - Morning

I walk past this little lake most mornings, and here the sun is shining on it.
Taken October 2011.

Photo Day 15

2012-01-16T07:35:00.001Z

Photo Day 15 - Happiness

is seeing my DD2's face when year after year, she has a chocolate caterpillar cake on her birthday ! She has loved these cakes ever since she was a small child, and we were sad one year when we could not get one for her anywhere.....
She never, ever eats the icing face... that always gets given to me :-)

Significant Dates

2012-01-14T17:21:00.001Z

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of my father's death.

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Donald......

Some dates are simply seared into my heart and mind.......

ETA: Thank you all for your prayers ! They are much appreciated !

Photo Day 14

2012-01-14T17:03:00.000Z

Photo Day 14 - Something You're Reading

These are my current three books "on the go".

"The Stripping Of The Altars" is a magnificent, weighty and scholarly tome which manages to be an utterly absorbing and readable account of the English reformation. I have read this book several times, and it reduces me to tears each time as I see the last vestiges of Orthodoxy forcibly ripped from the English people....

Codes & Ciphers is a small book but crammed full of the most fascinating information and instructions about creating and breaking codes and ciphers. One day I will actually master Morse Code !

Georgette Heyer, Biography of a Bestseller by Jennifer Kloester is a delight. I am rationing myself to a few pages each day because I cannot bear to reach the end. Georgette Heyer was an intensely private woman, a meticulous scholar and researcher whose knowledge of the Regency period was phenomenal and unparalleled in her lifetime - or ever since. I have been reading her books since I was 12, and am relishing each and every page of this biography, for which Jennifer Kloester was given unprecendented access to the Heyer family documents and photographs :-)

And now I am up to date in the Challenge !

Photo Day 13

2012-01-14T16:52:00.000Z

Photo Day 13 - In Your Bag

The contents of my bag are:

My Blackberry

My old phone, as I cannot face the thought of having to contact all the official bodies who use my old number to contact me about Mum's care and business matters....easier to carry that phone with me in case they need to phone me.

Hairbrush

Purse

Diary

My St Ambrose Western Rite Orthodox prayer book, as the prayers for the dying and the dead are wonderful and so comforting, just in case I get a phone call to see Mum for the last time and I forget to take it with me........ I must add a small Psalter too.

Photo Day 12

2012-01-14T16:36:00.000Z

Photo Day 12 - Close Up

In October last year, I was in the kitchen one morning and could see something stuck to the old peanut feeder. I thought it was an old leaf, blown there in the wind and went to brush it off. I stopped myself just in time; it was no leaf but a lovely, well-camouflaged moth resting quietly.
Needless to say, I did not disturb it in any way, but just took some photos and left it well alone. The next day it had gone, and there has not been another one since.

Words

2012-01-13T19:11:00.001Z

Updated to add:

Thank you all so much for your prayers and loving thoughts.
I am lucky if Mum manages to say a dozen words a day to me now.........it is very hard to bear. I keep thinking of things I wish I had said when she was truly able to understand and respond to me........

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Words are powerful things.

They can be innocuous, enthralling, damaging, inspiring, disheartening, soul-destroying, frightening, comforting, joyful, sad, healing...... the list goes on to infinity.

Once uttered, words can hurt people, and even if the words are retracted and an apology is made, the hurt lingers and can fester for years.

Conversely, if powerful and encouraging words are used, their effects can work wonders for the rest of someone's life.........

All too often, we only perceive what an amazing gift and blessing speech is when it is no longer possible to utter any words at all.

My mother has been saying fewer and fewer words each day, and she is obviously struggling to find words to express her thoughts and feelings, so much so that she is disengaging from the world and from all of us just a little more each day. She seems to find it almost as difficult to comprehend speech as her illness progresses slowly but inexorably.

Lord have mercy.......

Photo Day 11

2012-01-13T18:55:00.000Z

Photo Day 11 - Where You Sleep

Well, if you are my second daughter's utterly adorable pug puppy called Bertie, you'll fall asleep absolutely anywhere :-)

Photo Day 10

2012-01-13T18:50:00.001Z

Photo Day 10 - Childhood

It was such a delight to think that just as I had loved walking our family dog when I was a child, now my own DD3 also loves walking our family dog.

These are the things memories are made of.....

Photo Day 9

2012-01-13T18:35:00.000Z

Photo Day 9 - Daily Routine

This was a difficult choice.
Eventually I settled on birdwatching; it is second nature to me to take note of what birds are around me in my daily life.
This delightful male blackbird was in the courtyard outside the back door in December 2010, waiting for me to put food out for him :-)

Photo Day 8

2012-01-11T20:39:00.000Z

Day 8 - Your sky....

This is possibly the most dramatic sky shot I've ever taken, and it was taken on Monday this week, at 09.11am. The sun was shining and making the pale yellow paint on the buildings glow brightly, but it was just about to rain and the clouds were becoming blacker by the minute. It rained heavily two or three minutes later :-)

Photo Day 7

2012-01-11T20:33:00.000Z

Day 7 -Favourite

My favourite couch potato companion is my precious Dog of Doom, His Serene Highness, Prince Vasyl :-)

Photo Day 6

2012-01-10T18:53:00.000Z

Day 6 - Makes You Smile

This was a recent birthday gift from my very dear friend Mary R, who always, always, manages to find the most delightful, thoughtful and utterly perfect gifts for me :-)

I ♥ it, Mary, and it makes me smile each time I look at it, so thank you once again!

Photo Day 5

2012-01-10T18:38:00.000Z

Photo Day 5 - Something you wore

My husband spotted this super pair of Cotton Traders trekking shoes

on special offer (and on sale too!) on the weekend.

He bought them for me as part of my birthday present,

so my feet are now going to be both warm

and weatherproof for the winter.

They are so comfortable :-)

Thank you, sweetheart !

Photo Day 4 - Letterbox

2012-01-10T18:33:00.000Z

Yes, I am trying hard to catch up :-)

Day 4 - Letterbox

My poor letterbox has had a hammering during the atrocious winter weather; living quite close to the sea means the poor front door gets a lot of direct exposure to the elements.

Once spring arrives, the door needs painting and the letterbox needs a thorough clean.......

The line in the pane of glass is not a crack, but part of an integral stained glass decoration, by the way :-)

Take 12 Minutes Of Your Time....

2012-01-10T16:28:00.001Z

......to watch this video clip.

You won't regret it.

Lots more information about this incredible exhibition in English here.

Photo Day 3

2012-01-10T13:32:00.000Z

Day 3

Something I adore - has to be chocolate.

In fact, I like it far too much :-)

This box was part of my birthday gift from my eldest

daughter and son-in-law, Mr & Mrs DoomHamster...

News On Andrea Gleason

2012-01-09T18:46:00.000Z

Andrea continues to recover well after her brain surgery, God be thanked :-)

Videos of her walking are at the link above.

May the Mother of God always shelter dear Andrea under Her Protecting Veil !

Growing Crystals

2012-01-09T13:31:00.000Z

DD4 saw this and couldn't wait to buy it.

We duly assembled the cardboard sheets into their allotted places

on the plastic base and added the sachets of chemical solutions.

Lo and behold, the plain cardboard has grown

snow, flowers and trees of delicate crystals, much to her absolute delight.

I envisage this is going to be a fixture on the

windowsill of my laundry area for a long time to come :-)

Recently Read

2012-01-09T13:25:00.000Z

The Sacred Gift of Life is a book that repays careful reading, re-reading and pondering. As modern medicine continues to develop at such a fast pace, we desperately need Orthodox ethicists who can look at the moral dilemmas which confront us as a society and offer guidance. This book was published in 2000 and we are continually confronted with new advances which make originally published guidance somewhat out of date all too quickly. I do hope this is one title St Vlad's Press will continue to amend, update and make available on a long-term basis.

Holy Days is a privileged view into the life of a Hasidic Jewish family, a group which, along with the Amish, tend to be tightly knit and private communities set apart from the world. This is the second time I have read it, and I gained even more from it this time round.

Photo Day 2

2012-01-09T12:45:00.000Z

Day 2 - Breakfast

This was a post-birthday treat to myself, especially as the weather was cold and horrible when I walked up to town after taking DD4 to school :-)

I had a latte and a 6 inch bacon and egg breakfast sub with sliced red onions and onion sauce for the princely sum of £2.

Photo A Day Challenge

2012-01-08T10:14:00.000Z

I'm shamelessly borrowing this from Missingbecheery because it is brilliant !

I know I am late starting, but here goes :-)

Day 1 - You

A while ago, we visited a living history WW2 museum in Swansea. It was chock-full of artefacts from the period, and many of them could be picked up, clothes tried on and studied.
We all especially loved the dressing up, and I took a photograph of myself in a mirror whilst wearing period hat and coat. In the background is a photograph of my youngest daughter wearing an authentic gas mask.

I love history in any shape or form, and I like the juxtaposition of old and new, historical and modern, congruous and incongruous in this picture......

Thankfulness

2012-01-07T08:33:00.000Z

Yesterday was One Of Those Days.

The sort of day where everything seems to go wrong, everything is more difficult than usual and life seems totally and utterly determined to "get" you.

My final straw came in the early evening when I was kneeling down, rummaging in a food cupboard, frantically searching for a carton of passata to finish making my pasta sauce. As I crossly grabbed items, checked labels and grumpily replaced them, a very large but mercifully plastic jar of fruit in juice fell out of the cupboard and hit me straight in the face. If it had been a metal can of equivalent size, it would have really, really hurt.

I squealed, then uttered a few expletives. My dear husband, who was standing nearby washing dishes at the sink, looked rather surprised at the flow of somewhat colourful language and the sight of me clutching my cheek with tears streaming down my face and muttering "I give up. I've had enough, I just want to go to bed, pull the quilt over my head and shut the world out for a while and complain."

After a minute or so, during which time my dear husband went to the garage and returned with four cartons of tomatoes, one for me to use now and the rest put into the store cupboard, I stopped sniffling in self-pity and started to laugh.

It's so easy to apportion blame everywhere *except* where it is due, isn't it ?

If I had cleared out the cupboard last week, as I had intended, I would have known exactly what food was still in there so I wouldn't have needed to rummage frantically, the wretched cupboard would have been organised and tidy so that everything was easily visible and accessible and the precariously balanced jar of fruit would not then have been placed in a position where it was able to wobble off the top shelf and fall on me at all..... but no, *I* had become side-tracked and distracted from my list of household tasks I needed to do, and had chosen to spend an extra hour on Facebook and leaving me no time to finish clearing out the kitchen. I hadn't bothered to finish off those original chores on subsequent days, either.

Sigh.

And the very fact that the kitchen cupboards are plentifully stocked with food should always be a cause for thankfulness and gratitude in a world where so many people are hungry and in need, and not a cause for complaint.

I thanked my husband, finished making our meal in a very thoughtful frame of mind and said Grace with careful attention to the words. Afterwards, I looked in the mirror at the tiny bruise the jar had left on my cheekbone, and was profoundly thankful I didn't have a black eye instead :-)

Asking For Prayers

2012-01-07T07:54:00.001Z

...........for seven year old Andrea Gleason from Omaha.

Here she is being communed with the Holy Mysteries prior to major surgery to remove a large brain tumour....

http://youtu.be/ahDOQdboswE

and here she is being anointed prior to surgery......

http://youtu.be/qECHX8CEHfc

I have had news that she has come through the surgery safely, thanks be to God, but obviously there is a long road ahead of this Western-Rite Orthodox family.
Please do keep them in your prayers.........

New Year Wishes

2011-12-31T20:15:00.000Z

As 2011 draws rapidly to a close, it is my heartfelt prayer that 2012 may be a peaceful and blessed year for all of us.

We are all missing our dear Matt, and send heaps of love winging across The Pond to him and his wonderful parents in Colorado !
It's not the same without you, my dear son-in-law; fingers crossed that all legal formalities will be completed quickly so that DoomHamster will soon be reunited with you and we will then have an awesome excuse to come and visit you all :-)

Recently Read

2011-12-31T19:39:00.002Z

Finished a few more :-)

I have yet to read anything by the Chief Rabbi of the UK which has failed to engage me deeply.

Radical Then, Radical Now is a remarkable Apologia for Judaism, written for his son

on the occasion of his marriage, and explains why Judaism has been so important

throughout history and why it continues to be relevant even now.

I borrowed this from the Library and will certainly be buying a copy of my own......

For some reason, my "point and shoot" digital camera did not like the glossy cover of this book and refused to auto-focus properly in the gloom of the evening......

The book is called Vanilla Beans and Bodo and chronicles the life of a couple who

settle in the small fortified Tuscan village of Montalcino,

a place with a truly remarkable history and breadth of customs.

Some sections I found a little tedious and skipped over quite quickly,

and at 456 pages it was longer than was truly enjoyable.

Verdict - interesting, but not going on my "keep heap".

Year's Mind

2011-12-31T19:28:00.000Z

This evening is the sixth anniversary of my dear stepfather Gordon's death.
Of your charity, please say a prayer for the repose of his soul.........

Recently Read

2011-12-27T18:24:00.000Z

Two medically oriented books. Mountains Beyond Mountains is the remarkable story of a determined American doctor working to bring health care to someof the remotest and poorest areas of Haiti.

The Essential Difference is a fascinating account of research done into the differences between male and female brains and the links with autistic traits.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder relates the story of Alan Morinis' quest to find out more about Jewish Mussar spirituality, and is a book I have read - with great profit- several times. Definitely a keeper !

I love historical books, and this one, Princesses, by Lady Antonia Fraser's daughter Flora is a fascinating account of the quite sad lives of the daughters of King George III.

Come, Follow Me is another much read book of mine, which I dearly love.

I have read several books by the mother & daughter team, P J Tracy, but Want To Play? is the first in the series, and was exceptionally cleverly plotted.

These two are Elinor Brent-Dyer books only tangentially connected to her Chalet School series, but excellent and enjoyable reads.

Travels in an Old Tongue is the story of an American who falls in love with the Welsh language and decides to travel round the world meeting other Welsh language learners. Her journeys take her to Scandinavia, Japan, India and many other places where one wouldn't imagine that people would be learning Welsh......

I ♥ Miss Read's delightful stories about life in Fairacre and Thrush Green :-)

Amish Peace is another re-read, to great spiritual profit.

I have three other of Carol Drinkwater's books about her passionate love of her olive farm in the South of France. In this book, The Olive Route, she travels around the Mediterranean to try to find out more about the history of olive cultivation, and it makes for fascinating reading.

People Watching

2011-12-17T18:28:00.000Z

I had occasion to visit a law court to settle some legal business last week. It was all routine and expected, so no cause for panic, but what did surprise me was the experience itself.

The door to the court was not properly signposted, so I ended up walking right around the building till I found an enquiries desk, and was directed back almost to where I started, LOL.

Walking through the main doors triggers a buzzer mechanism which alerts the two security guards, one male and one female, both very burly indeed, but very, very pleasant. I had to empty the contents of my pockets into a tray to be examined, pass my bag to be checked and then walk through a metal detector. The chap who entered before me was being frisked, a fate which I mercifully escaped :-)

I was directed to go upstairs to a waiting area, where I met my barrister at the appointed time and went through some last minute checks and form-filling, and was sent back out to sit in the waiting area. It was interesting watching what was going on; apart from my self and half a dozen barristers and solicitors, who were dressed smartly, everyone else was either wearing jeans or tracksuit bottoms and hoodies.

It never even occurred to me to attend a court hearing, no matter how insignificant the reason, in anything other than respectable looking clothing, not casual slob-around-the-house clothing. They were lounging around in the waiting area, eating, drinking, chewing gum and playing games on their mobile phones.
I must be getting old....

One barrister approached me and asked if I was there for the house re-possession hearing against a mortgage lender. Mercifully I was not, but I felt so sorry for whoever it was who was indeed facing the loss of their home over the Christmas period. Lord have mercy.....

Once in court, the business was over and done with in less than five minutes; the Judge was so pleasant and as I left, he even wished me a Happy Christmas. For the rest of the day, I couldn't help thinking of everyone else who was there for more distressing reasons, and hoped things went well for them all.

Book Review of Proverbs "Reconstructed"

2011-12-17T10:52:00.000Z

Proverbs "Reconstructed "

by Gus Dallas

Published by Thomas Nelson

The Book of Proverbs has always been one of my favourite Bible books. It is chock full of wisdom and advice relating to just about any everyday situation you can imagine and remains as relevant to us in the twenty-first century as it was when originally written down.

Most people from even a nominally Christian background will be familiar with some of the proverbs as they have passed into everyday speech and usage, but the original arrangement of them in the Bible makes it pretty difficult to quickly locate the one you might want unless you have access to a Bible search engine which can isolate the quote for you using a keyword. Gus Dallas has produced a book which solves the problem in a neat and no-nonsense fashion.

He has looked at the themes running through Proverbs and categorised them; enabling partially-remembered proverbs to be quickly identified, and also making it possible to study which proverbs relate to a particular theme so it is possible to see what said about marriage, being a good or bad neighbour, etc. Just about every topic you can think of is included, from Abomination through to Zealous, covering ants, horses, feet, rebellion, and winking....

This is definitely a keeper; the only minor drawback is that a modern translation is used, and to my ears, the proverbs are much more memorable and impressive in the King James Version.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.

Recent Photos

2011-12-16T12:55:00.000Z

At strategic points in our town, there are three almost life-size Nativity scenes.

This is the one outside the medieval parish church.

On a recent visit to BlogTown, we had to go by bus

and it was so very lovely to walk through the bus station

and see a very large and lovely Nativity scene !

The bus station is completely enclosed,

but the pigeons still manage to get in and forage for food.

This one actually flicked the food up into the air, hence the blurry shot !

Another shot of a pigeon...

as requested by DD3, who loved this pigeon :-)

This ornamental cherry tree is on my daily dog-walking route;

it is in full blossom in December !

We have had heavy hail showers every day this week;

this one happened up my Mum's

on Tuesday, so I took some photos of her back garden.

It went white within twenty seconds....

Recent Photos

2011-12-09T16:06:00.001Z

The Dog of Doom relaxing in front of the fire :-)

Taken at the seafront on Monday.

Yes, we do have a tarmac beach.

Don't ask .....

The landmass you can see in the distance just below the rain clouds is the coast of Somerset !

We stood for ages, watching the waves crash on to the beach.

It was a very blustery day.

These last two pictures were taken today, when I was walking the Dog of Doom...the sheep were grazing tranquilly.

The view across fields and sand dunes, and across the bay to the next town is so pretty.....

Make Your Own Snowflakes !

2011-12-06T19:22:00.000Z

This is such fun to play with :-)

The Band that Played On

2011-12-03T12:10:00.000Z

The Band that Played On

The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians Who Went Down with the Titanic

By Steve Turner

Published by Thomas Nelson

Like so many other people, I have always been fascinated by the tragic and doomed first voyage of the magnificent Titanic. So much has been written about the survivors, the conditions on board the ship and the amazing rediscovery of the wreck at the bottom of the Atlantic. Then came James Cameron's epic film, with the evocative scene of the band, heroically playing to try to keep the passengers and crew calm , before the ship finally sank with such dreadful loss of life.

But are any of these names familiar ?

Wallace Hartley

Roger Bricoux

William "Theo" Brailey

John Wesley Woodward

Percy Cornelius Taylor

Fred Clarke

Georges Krins

Jock Hume

These were the band members who provided music on board the ship throughout the voyage.

They came from a variety of backgrounds and educations; two were French, but all were united in their love of music and a certain longing for travel, excitement and adventure.

For the first time, the story of these men, their lives, families, work and music has been told. This truly fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable book tells us about these men, and how their loved ones reacted to the news of their deaths, and what happened afterwards.

BookSneeze provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

I Just Liked Them....

2011-12-02T20:40:00.000Z

Walking up to Mum's a few weeks ago, the weather was lovely and these horses were in just the right part of the field for me to photograph them.........

Bonfire Night

2011-11-30T08:48:00.000Z

Doom Hamster and I took the little ones to see the public display of fireworks at the beach on Bonfire Night, whilst DH stayed home to keep the Dog of Doom company, as he really doesn't like the noise of fireworks.

As usual, I forgot my camera in the rush to get there on time, but I did have my Blackberry which DD2 very kindly gave me when she bought her brand new iPhone, so I was able to take a few pictures with that....

We stood on the beach, as the tide was out, and had a great view.

What wasn't so great was the behaviour of a large number of people in their teens and early twenties, whose language was obscene and their general demeanour appalling; it was not nice for those of us with young children, and for the elderly folk, to have to listen to such vile language and constant sexual references.

It might have been better if part of the viewing area had been designated for families only , which would then have solved the problem to a large extent. It wasn't just me objecting to having my children exposed to this, there were quite a few other parents expressing their dismay and concern......we quickly decamped onto the beach, where the general behaviour was much better.

We stopped off at the fish and chip shop on the way home, which was also fun :-)

It's A Dog's Life....

2011-11-30T08:35:00.000Z

Fiction Fun

2011-11-28T17:16:00.000Z

Some of the work I have been doing for NaNoWriMo 2011 is now up on my writing blog:

http://miscellaneousmumblings.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/the-babushka-chronicles-babushka-barbara-the-biter-of-bialystok/

http://miscellaneousmumblings.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/the-babushkas-guide-to-life/

and

http://miscellaneousmumblings.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/canes-excerpted-fromtbgtl/

Feedback will be welcomed :-)

Recently Read

2011-11-28T17:09:00.000Z

I did enjoy A Thousand Days in Venice a great deal; it gives a very different picture from the normal rose-tinted view many people have of Venice, but still an affectionate and loving account of starting a new life in this wonderful city.

I so loved Katherine Swift's first book and was thrilled to find that she had published a second book about the garden she created at Morville. This volume is profusely illustrated in colour. Well worth getting the hardback edition if you can !

I disliked this book. I disliked the arrogance and foolishness of the couple concerned, their disdain for the French way of doing things and their expectation that the guests who were paying good money to stay at the Chateau should just have to put up with the chaos of extensive renovations and often malfunctioning amenities around them without complaint. My 2 cents worth, at any rate.

I was glad I borrowed this from the library.

A good read if you like SAS fiction - which I do :-)

I have a great fondness for the writings of Lady Winifred Fortescue, capturing the Provencal way of life between the two World Wars, and this was a welcome addition to my collection. Perhaps not her best book, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

Fascinating, poignant and heartbreaking. It was good to read a factual account of one group of soldiers' experience of war in this troubled land.

I don't really know what to say about this book. It made for fascinating, if at times rather irritating reading but provided an insight into the British education system which was all too woefully familiar to me. It purports to be an absolutely true account of her time teaching, but has been criticised for being far too fictionalised. Borrow it, don't buy it.....

I waited a long time for this to be released, and read it twice in quick succession.

It is a much better book than some of his more recent offerings, but there is still a very dark undercurrent running through it at times. There is much "laugh out loud" humour, and it is a delight to get a glimpse into the lives of Sir Samuel and Lady Sybil's life together, especially as young Sam is growing up to be a delightful hybrid of his parents' characteristics. Wherever Sir Samuel goes, he discovers crime, and this book is no exception to the rule.

Great fun, and I did love it.

It was interesting to see how socialist and atheistic Winifred Foley's book detailing her life during the last century was. Quite how characteristic this was of the areas in London where she lived, and then back in her beloved Forest of Dean area, I really cannot say without doing further research, but the poverty and deprivation was really quite staggering. Despite her disdain for God, it is interesting the number of times she sees fit to drag Him into the conversation.....

Mallowan's Memoirs was a truly fascinating account of the travels and experiuences Sir Max Mallowan had as an archaeologist in the Middle East, particularly when he took his wife, Agatha Christie, with him on so many of his "digs". A little technical in places, but really interesting for those who like history.

On The Go !

2011-11-20T20:05:00.001Z

DH has sorted out my Blackberry issues and this message is being
brought to you by phone. :-)

Baby Bertie :-)

2011-11-19T18:57:00.001Z

Can't resist the pom-poms !

Sleepy Bertie

And it's been hard work, having to put up with all the love and attention of the whole family.........

Waving

2011-11-19T08:12:00.000Z

I am still alive, honestly !
Real life has been both very hectic and very difficult for the last month, and I have been struggling to cope or to motivate myself to do anything more than the absolute essentials.

Mum - well, she continues to get worse, day by day. It is heartbreaking to sit with her, heartbreaking to hear her struggle to have a meaningful conversation. She has started to develop some pressure areas as she has now been bedbound since August. Fortunately the lovely district nurses quickly arranged for her to have an electric air-flow mattress fitted onto her hospital-type bed, which seems to be making a big difference to the pressure areas and providing Mum with much more comfort.

Last week, Mum manage to wedge her arm through the cot-side bars fitted to the bed at some point during the night; her carers arrived just before I did , disentangled her and showed me the very marked areas of bruising which resulted. I contacted the GP and the district nurse, who came up, dressed the wound and immediately ordered padded cot sides to attach to the cot-side rails to prevent that happening again.

My Mum's favourite cousin, my Uncle Bob, passed away unexpectedly in his sleep last week. It was a blessing in some ways as he had a peaceful end in his own home with no pain, despite his cancer. Breaking that news to Mum was dreadful, and she was absolutely distraught.........
Bob's body will be received into the local Anglican church on Sunday afternoon, in readiness for the funeral service on Monday afternoon and I will be going to both services.
On Friday I attended the funeral of one of the oldest members of our Latin class, Meinwen. She was a bubbly, outgoing, feisty, fiercely independent and extremely intelligent lady, who will be very greatly missed by her friends as well as her loving family. Her funeral was held in a local Welsh-speaking chapel, and was one of the most spiritually profound and nourishing funerals which I have ever attended outside an Orthodox church. It was a privilege to be there.
Memory eternal.....

DH has been given notice that his job contract will definitely be ending at the end of December this year, which is causing much stress.

On a happier note, DD2 has bought a darling little pug puppy named Bertie. He is coming down to visit us today - and DD2 and RobRob will be visiting too, of course - so hopefully I will have photos to post over the weekend !

My act of escapism from Real Life at the moment is the fact that I am taking part in NaNoWriMo for the third year running. The widget on the blog page which says 2011 is actually reflecting the current word count for this year; I just haven't got round to changing it yet , LOL.

Although I haven't been blogging much, be assured that you are all very much in my thoughts and prayers, and I thank God daily for the privilege and blessing of knowing you !

I will try to blog a bit more regularly from now on, even if it is only a few lines at a time.......

Recently Read

2011-10-23T12:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know, it is way overdue :-)

I love all the books written by Lady Winifred Fortescue; living in Provence between the wars, she depicts a different world to our own. Not always idyllic, but delightful books nevertheless.

The Don Camillo books are real comfort reads for me. Thoughtful, delightful and always funny with an undercurrent of great depth.

Having borrowed this from the Library, I was pleased to get a hardback copy of my own from the Thrift shop for 50p :-)

Last Man Down was a very interesting account of one firegighter's experience of 9/11, but it smacked a little too much of the author blowing his own trumpet for my tastes. I have the utmost respect for all firefighters and would be pleased to buy this guy a drink, but I wouldn't want to spend the evening in his company.......

Body Trauma is essential reading for anyone writing a story which involves injuries, accidents or Emergency Care. Gruesome and gripping in equal measure. Be warned !

I really enjoyed Holiday SOS. It was a last minute "Quick, grab a book to read and check it out before the Library shuts" decision, and was really absorbing reading. The author is a doctor who medi-vacs injured or ill people from all over the world back to the UK, on behalf of medical insurance companies. It was a side of medicine I had never encountered, and it was really interesting.

All David Crystal's books are good, but this one really captured my imagination. He traces the development of the English language from its very earliest times, and it is a large, closely-printed and scholarly tome. I enjoyed every single page but found that I could only manage five or six pages a day before it felt as if my brain would explode with all the information; consequently it has taken me months to read, but it was well worth it !

I had some vague recollection of having read an article about the restoration of the gardens at Heligan, in Cornwall, many years ago, and was so pleased to pick up this signed copy at - you guessed it - my favourite Thrift shop ! I didn't realise that the author, who was the deus ex machina behind restoring Heligan is also the same person who conceived and brought to fruition the amazing Eden Project !

Laughable Latin is exactly what it says, a great miscellany of useful phrases translated into Latin. After all, doesn't everyone need to be able to say "I'd like to order twenty peacocks for my banquet tomorrow and one hundred snails gorged on milk?" - Viginti pavones et centum limaces satiatas lacte pro convivio cras reservare cupio ?

The Whitby Witches series are marketed as children's books, but quite frankly are wasted on anything less than a teenager. Scary, creepy and so sad, they have been perennial favourites in our family for the last fifteen years, and I do hope they all come back into print soon.

This was an audio book from the Library, which I took out in great anticipation. I have read five of the Falco books and enjoyed them all, but despite repeated attempts, I could not stick this book beyond Disc two, and returned it to the Library. The story lacked coherence as an audio book, but I will give it a try in hardcopy form in the future.

This was a charity shop find, but the illustrations weren't brilliantly reproduced and it could have been such a good book if they had......lots of really useful information.

I borrowed this from the Library, and gave up after a hundred pages. it bored me to tears, which was a shame as I love Woman's Hour on Radio 4 !

The Hamster Chronicles, Part The Second

2011-10-22T14:19:00.002+01:00

Saturday evening:

I have had a satisfactory day. I have explored my cage and all its facilities, re-arranging things to my complete satisfaction and am now ~~plotting world domination~~ resting quietly, or so my unsuspecting humans believe. I have had a huge amount of fuss, praise and attention showered upon me, particularly by my owner's older sister, who looks at me with a slightly wistful air. I think she may be fertile ground for my next subliminal whispering campaign.........

Sunday morning:

09.00

There is a great deal of activity going on downstairs. I do so hope my humans don't think that this is acceptable behaviour for a Sunday morning; I have had a busy night playing on my hamster wheel and gnawing on my see-saw and I do need my rest.

09.30
There have been many conversations going on amongst the humans; it transpires that my hard work last night has paid dividends. The slightly older child has expressed an interest in having a hamster too, and the male parental unit has been having a long discussion with the female parental unit. I have had my back legs crossed, which did raise a curious glance from my owner, who was concerned that I hadn't yet worked out where I was to "do my business". Sigh. I could do with a partner in crime, not a widdle, thank you very much......

10.00
Patient negotiations and promises of good behaviour have been successfully completed, I overheard one of the humans say that they will be going to the pet store when it opens at 11.00am in order to get new suction pads for my water bottle and also get the other child a hamster of her very own. I cannot believe how easy this has been......even the female parental unit has been saying how cute I am, and wondering why didn't they get hamsters before. She too may be a willing convert to The Cause one day !

10.55
The house is quiet. The humans must be just about arriving at the pet store now, waiting for it to open. I do hope they are able to sort out my water bottle suction pads, as the water dish they have given me, though satisfactory, does tend to end up with bits of my sawdust bedding floating in it, which is not much fun to drink.......

12 midday.
I hear the noise of a key in the front door lock, and some excited voices. There is someone saying something about "a wretched creature trying to eat her way out of the carrying box."
What on earth is going on ?

Ah. All is revealed. The female parental unit and the biggest child are holding a box which appears to have unnaturally large air holes in it..... and now another rodent is emerging. There are shouts of "Open up the new cage before she escapes!"

and they only just manage to get the box in the cage before my fellow hamster emerges. There has been some collateral damage......

...my fellow hamster has foolishly and rashly bitten the hand that will be feeding her, which is never, ever a Good Thing to do.

This is Margo, the bloodthirsty vampire hamster with whom I shall have to share the house and the humans. Do not be deceived by the sweet innocence she shows in the picture below..... she is a fearsome warrior indeed.

The moment her cage grille is lifted, she is ready for action and attempting to escape. I presume this is for world domination purposes, as we seem to have the whole household under our spell - apart from the female parental unit, who uttered some very uncouth words after Margo had bitten her.

P.S. They did sort out my water bottle. All is well in my little hamstery universe!!

The Hamster Chronicles, Part The First.

2011-10-03T15:51:00.001+01:00

Thursday night:

Send subliminal messages to the youngest daughter along the lines of "Yes, you really do want a cute, adorable, sweet little hamster for your forthcoming birthday. Make sure you really stress this to your loving parents, preferably repeatedly over the next 24 hours......"

Friday night:

It worked! The child has made ardent representations to her parents, promising that she will dutifully and lovingly care for the intended hamster, including cleaning out the cage at least once a week. The parents are weakening. We will infiltrate this household; I am confident of success !

Saturday morning:

08.00
The child has woken up bright and early, asking what time they can all go to the pet shop to "look at" cages and hamsters. The parental units have stressed that there is no guarantee that hamsters will be bought today, despite the quivering lower lip and tear-filled eyes of the aforesaid youngest child. It is turning into a family outing; we have an added chance of success as Mrs DoomHamster is accompanying them on the excursion, and we all know how obsessed she is with hamsters.....

09.00
The entire family has been processed through the decontamination showers to make sure they do not bring any noxious odours or germs to the pet emporium. This is looking very promising indeed.

09.30
What ?
They are not going straight to the pet shop? Do they think this is some sort of day-trip, with these plans of going to The Big M's for the bizarrely named "Happy Meal" ? These parental units really do need to get their priorities straightened out. I can see I will have to lick them into shape pretty smartly once I become Numero Uno...

10.00
They are in the car, en route to their feeding stop. I will be able to see them eating from my pet shop, and will be sending subliminal messages to encourage them to bolt their food as quickly as possible. At least there is not a queue in the fast food place......

10.45
They have entered my building. The smallest child has dragged most of her siblings to look at all the hamsters while the parental units look at the price of the cages.
Rats ! there is a major technical hitch; the lower life-forms (AKA gerbils and Russian dwarf hamsters) are on the lowest two tiers of cages, and therefore at perfect eye level for the youngest child... we are stuck on the top shelf and SHE CANNOT SEE HOW WONDERFUL WE ARE !
Semd loud messages to taller members of the party.... ah, that's better, they have lifted her up so she can see how fluffy, adorable and ~~megalomanic~~ cute we Syrian hamsters really are.
She seems to be weakening; now we just need to convince the parental units, who for some inexplicable reason, remain somewhat sceptical.....

11.00
Bother. The shop assistant has warned them that they will only be able to keep one of us in a cage because we are likely to ~~murder maim kill destroy~~ fight. How can we achieve world domination if we can only have one hamster per household ? We may need to have alternative plans.....

11.10
I have been chosen ! I am currently in a cardboard carrying tube whilst the male parental unit is paying the bill, and I am on my way to my new home. Little do they know what awaits them......

12.00
I am safely ensconced in my palatial new home. I must say, it is a vast improvement over the last domicile. I have a spacious perspex and pink plastic cage, a wooden see-saw, my own little house, a ramp, a platform, and best of all, at last I have a Hamster Wheel !

I even have a name; the youngest child has called me Charlotte. It is a sweet and demure name, lulling them into a false sense of security - hahahhaaha.

12.05
There appears to some sort of technical hitch... apparently the rubber sucker pads to affix my water bottle to the outside of the cage are missing, which will necessitate a return trip to the store, though that won't be today. I have been given a sturdy dish of water instead.
I can live with that.......

To Be Continued.......

Catch Up

2011-09-23T10:32:00.000+01:00

The weather finally seems to have settled down a little after the high winds and days of torrential rain over the last fortnight or so. The waterfowl at the local pond are no longer hunched miserably on the pond, heads tucked down and being buffetted mercilessly by the high winds rather than being blown off the grassy banks where they normally sit and rest........

We have blue skies and sunshine today, and the last few flowers in the garden and looking pretty. The nights are drawing in and it is really chilly first thing in the mornings; autumn is definitely here even if the trees are only just starting to show signs that the leaves are getting ready to change colours.

When I was in my fave thrift shop on Tuesday, I noticed that they had a few of the Agatha Christie Collection of magazines; DoomHamster has the complete set of books from several years ago but is missing a few of the mags, so I sent her a text message to ask which ones she was missing in the hope I might be able to fill in the gaps in her collection. Having gained the information, I knelt down to access the magazines on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, only to have a heartsink moment.

My propensity for attracting unusual people had struck yet again, and a woman was standing behind me, singing loudly and tunelessly, and swaying in time to the song. That would not have been too bad, but as she was carrying a bag, and simultaneously leaning over me to pick up books from a shelf above my head, it meant I was being tapped on the head every few seconds. Why she could not have stood next to me on the other side and then she could have reached her books much more comfortably and without bashing me on the head remains a mystery, but I couldn't move as I would then have been blocking the staircase :-)
I did manage to find one magazine for DoomH, so it was worth enduring the noise and the head-tapping. The following day I managed to get a HB copy (in very good condition) of Bill Bryson's "At Home" for DoomHamster for the princely sum of 80p at the same shop, but without the musical accompaniment, LOL.

The interlude with Mum being very bright and lucid has now passed. She is back to being confused and struggling to find words, and getting very tearful again. Whether this is due to the fact that Monday was the second anniversary of my brother's death, I'm not sure, as her grasp on time and date is extremely tenuous at best.... I went to the cemetery, washed the gravestone, lit the grave lantern, prayed the prayers for the dead and put fresh flowers (a red rose, a red gerbera, and white dahlias and chrysanthemums) in the pots, so it looked nice. Mum is starting to sleep a lot more again, so when I am with her, once the dusting etc is done and all the vast quantities of dirty laundry have gone in the machine, there is often little for me to do other than read; I've managed to get through quite a lot of books this week and will be doing my regular Recently Read post in the next few days.

I've restocked the bird feeder, so it now sports fat (suet and seed) balls, bread, peanuts and a net feeder of assorted seeds as well as a water dish, and the birds have been flocking back, to my delight. I've left the windfall apples for the birds and insects to feast on, which makes the garden look messy but helps my feathered friends. Our cotoneaster and other shrubs have loads of berries, so I am wondering if the folklore that this presages a harsh winter are true.........I'm really glad our firewood for the winter has been ordered and will be delivered next month. We have plenty to last us till then, but I am trying not to light the wood-burning stove just yet, as it makes the winter seem terribly long if it has been burning since September!

Glorious Orthodox Books For Children!

2011-09-22T17:58:00.000+01:00

The new catalogue from Potamitis Publishing, home of wonderful Orthodox books for children, is now available.

Bigger and better than ever, and now featuring full-colour flip pages so you can clearly see and delight in what you are purchasing :-)

The Queen And The Cats - A Story About St Helena

2011-09-22T17:19:00.000+01:00

I was recently asked to read and review a children's illustrated book about St Helena the Empress's visit to Cyprus.
I was of course very happy to do so :-)

"The Queen And the Cats: A Story About St Helena" is a delightful little book, written by Calee Lee and cleverly illustrated by Turbo Qualls in an unusual - and visually very striking - manner .

It tells the story of a very young girl who meets St Helena during the imperial visit to Cyprus to bestow a portion of the True Cross to the islanders for veneration. This generous gift by the Empress is not as straightforward a blessing as they had all hoped, and puts the islanders in grave danger until she finds a way to make the island safe again. I know this is a bit of a teaser, but I was so thrilled to learn about this particular story that I would hate to spoil the ending for anyone else who does not know it :-)

The book is very well written from the viewpoint of the young girl, and lovingly displays her innnocence, puzzlement and enthusiasm over some of the things that happen to her, her family and friends as events unfold. It is particularly suitable for children of pre-school age right up to ages 7 - 8, though my older girls and I thoroughly enjoyed it too!

The book is available in the traditional paperback as well as in Kindle and Nook formats and a generic Epub format. The latter worked very well indeed on my basic Elonex ereader.

For those who may not yet have an ereader, Adobe Digital editions and the Kindle software can be freely downloaded to a computer to enable you to enjoy this inexpensive book; Kindle software is also available for iPad, iPhone and Android devices.

I will certainly be getting the paperback version of this book for my library of children's books, and it would be a blessing to any Orthodox or Catholic family which has a veneration for St Helena.
Thank you, Calee, for allowing me to read and review, and **please** keep on writing !

Computer Troubleshooting

2011-09-18T09:47:00.001+01:00

On Wednesday last week, I used the desktop computer downstairs to check my email.
{This is the old workhorse computer- ancient, battered, much loved, and the one we talk about nervously, wondering just when it will finally give up the ghost. So much so that I did a complete backup of the files I would be sad to lose only last week, just to be on the safe side.}

It worked perfectly then. A while later, I walked down to school to collect DD4 and after we had walked home and prepared tea, I decided to crank up the computer and catch up on my blog-reading. I pressed the "on" button and nothing happened. Not a beep, bleep, crank, whirr, cough or any sort of sound at all. I checked the other electrical equipment, wondering if we had suddenly lost power in the house. Nope, everything else was working well, including the computer monitor.

I turned the power off at the wall socket, waiting a few minutes, and tried turning the computer on again. Still nothing.
How strange. In my naievete, I would have expected the computer to have at least bleeped or something even if it was on the way out.... After a few rants and raves about the handful of new files being lost since the last backup, and the lack of money to buy a new desktop computer in light of DH's uncertain status at work at present, I consoled myself with the thought that DH would be travelling home this evening and would no doubt have a look at it before pronouncing it dead.

Later in the evening, my beloved arrived home. After making him supper and a cup of tea, I mentioned the apparently defunct computer. He pressed the button, and nothing happened. We turned off the mains power etc again, and tried again. Nothing. DH found a spare power cable and we tried plugging that into the back of the computer.

Whirr, Beep. And there was Life !

So we had now tracked the problem to the power cable, which we could replace. The computer is on a desk in the corner of the room, and changing a cable involves some poor soul lying on his/her back on the floor, feeding cables through an inch wide gap , so it is not for the faint-hearted. DH changed into his old clothes, knowing there would be dust etc in the darkest recesses of the cabling junctions, and set to work, pulling in the old cable from the computer through the spaghetti tangle of wires.

"Goodness", he said, "the cable is quite badly kinked. Most likely that's the problem."
He followed the cables back behind the children's huge craft box to the multi-socket extension power cable leading to the main socket in the wall, and there was a shout. He had indeed found the problem, and he held out a battered, much-chewed and loved bone.

The dog likes to sit/lie on the children's craft box, and always has done, for some bizarre reason. He had obviously dropped the bone behind the craft box and had been scrabbling/pawing at the cables to pull the bone out again, and in doing so, had partially dislodged the power cable from the electrical socket.
No wonder the computer wouldn't work; it wasn't receiving power from the mains ! And nothing short of a miracle that the dog hadn't electrocuted himself in the process !

The dog was by now happily bouncing around the room clutching his beloved bone in his jaws, with his tail wagging as though he had just won the Lottery. DH and I were profoundly relieved that the dog was okay and that the computer lives on to fight another day.

Although we have our web-books, I find that I cannot use mine for long periods of time as the screen is only 7 inches wide, and as the problems with my sight become worse, I am finding that I especially need the large 17 inch monitor screeen for any detailed/complex tasks.

DH is now officially my superhero . As for Basil, he is indeed the Dog of Doom, and obviously has at least nine lives :-)

Catching My Breath

2011-09-15T12:25:00.000+01:00

This week has been whistle-stop. Mind, most of my weeks feel whistle-stop at the moment. As I said to one dear friend this morning, I feel very much like a feather bobbing up and down in a veritable Tsunami wave.....

The girls have been busy in school, and at work respectively, and I have been much occupied in dealing with Mum's affairs and looking after Mum herself.

Things have been considerably easier on an emotional level, as Mum really has been like her old self from way before my brother was ill - laughing, joking, teasing the carers, taking a real interest in what's going on around her, rather than being a very unhappy automaton in a bed. She seems to be able to cope much better without the supplemental oxygen on all the time now, but there again, she is now totally bedbound and moving little, so her activity levels require little oxygen, I suppose.

Then I look at her, with her knees being the widest part of her legs, having no control over her eliminatory functions and looking so much like a little doll dressed in outsize clothes, and then the harsh reality strikes home hard, that this is possibly only a very temporary lull before her condition deteriorates further.

But we are determined to make the most of it and enjoy it while it lasts ! We have got her watching a portable DVD player, and she has enjoyed The King and I, as well as listening to various music CDs. She has asked me to order her the new Doris Day CD, and she is looking forward to receiving that one in due course.

Today, DH celebrates his birthday - Many Years, my dearest one!

It is also the year's mind for Les, the reposed husband of my very dear friend Laura; those of you on Facebook will likely recognise her in her persona as Babushka Laura. Please keep Laura, her family and Les in your prayers. On Monday will be the second jahrzeit for my dear brother Mark, an anniversary which has come round unbelievably quickly. He would have broken his heart to see Mum so frail and weak.....

Weird and Wonderful...

2011-09-15T12:13:00.000+01:00

I cam across a truly fascinating article the other day, over at the Jane Austen's World blog.
It is not for the faint-hearted, I suppose, but I was enthralled and somewhat creeped-out, all at the same time.......

Birthdays, Shopping and Latest News

2011-09-09T09:55:00.000+01:00

September is our busiest month for family birthdays; starting with DD2 then moving to Mr DoomHamster, my very dear son-in-law, who celebrates his birthday today :-) closely followed by DH, then his mother 's birthday at the end of the month.
I've actually started my Christmas shopping early and have bought a few presents already, unlike last year. We are on an extremely tight budget this year, so it is going to be challenging fun to find appropriate and affordable presents for our widely disparate family !

Much of my time continues to be absorbed with Mum, who seems brighter in herself at the moment but is in a state of inexorable and relentlessly increasing physical frailty. This is causing her a great deal of mental and emotional distress and she is very tearful on occasions, and hating being dependent on others to care for her bodily functions.

This week has flown past, and the girls are really looking forward to the weekend off after a busy but enjoyable first week back at school. I must admit, I am looking forward to the weekend too, with only household tasks to worry about and no alarm deadlines to meet for a change.....

Recently Read

2011-09-09T09:44:00.002+01:00

This first book was not one to simply read through like a novel; although an utterly fascinating book, it would have been far too indigestible . A few pages a day was all I could manage, but it really was a riveting look at the secret life of the classical recording industry, and also a list of the very best - and worst - recordings ever made. Great fun for anyone with an interest in classical music and musicians.

This charity shop bargain was a hardback, complete with dustwrapper and cost me all of 50p. Made my day, and the story was jolly good too :-)

Robbing the Bees was utterly wonderful, and definitely a keeper. She outlines her own adventures as a beginning beekeeper, interspersed with visits to established beekeepers and businesses, describes how bees live and work, how honeycomb is processed into honey and the myriad uses (including medical) of the amazing foodstuff, culled from historical and modern sources. I love bees, and was really sad to reach the end of this book.

44 Scotland Street was great fun to read. A light-hearted but thoughtful insight into the lives of the people who live in flats at the eponymous house, it produces some wonderful characters, the most poignant of whom is the rising 5 year old boy Bertie, who is being relentlessly and cruelly hothoused by his awful , pushy mother. My herat ached for Bertie, and I was silently cheering him on in his acts of rebellion :-)

Greece On My Wheels is a re-read, but I enjoyed it immensely the second time round too :-) A pensioner cycling round Greece makes for good reading, even more so if you ignore the introductory drivel written by his son, the soi-disant comedian Harry Enfield.

I remember the Neil Boyd stories from my youth, but I never actually read this particular volume, Father Under Fire. Boyd was a RC priest for some time before being laicised, and these reminescences of his life as a curate are delightfully irreverent in places but never actively unkind. Tragedies as well as episodes of great humour cover the whole spectrum of life rather neatly.

Strange as it might sound, Dark Winter was a comfort re-read. Gripping, terrifying plot involving terrorism and biological warfare, it is immensely well-written.

Dewey is also a re-read. It's a nice book, but much too long.

Firefight was an amazingly good recent purchase, and will certainly be meriting a re-read in the near future. A much more thought-provoking book than is usual for this genre, dealing with some of the more despicable aspects of recruiting spies, and how easily it can all backfire.........

Family Catch-Up

2011-08-30T07:34:00.000+01:00

Mum is not very well at all; she has had a chest infection and although she has had extremely strong oral antibiotics for seven days, it does not appear to have resolved significantly . She is adamant she does not want to go into hospital for IV antibiotics. She isn't drinking much fluid, though she is eating a reasonable amount considering she is almost completely immobile and bedbound. Since having the infection, she has been very much more "with it", although she continues to sleep a great deal even in the daytime.

The Young Ones are determined to make the most of their last week of school holidays, and we will be going to the Library today to exchange books. The weather forecast alleged we would be having a nice few days, and I was hoping to take them to the beach today, is looking very grey and overcast at the moment, and cool enough that I am happily snuggled up in my fleecy dressing-gown whilst I type this over breakfast. School uniform and supplies have all been bought, but I need to wash DD4's rucksack......... writes quick memo to self :-)

Mr DoomHamster has had to go back to the USA {he flew back early Monday morning} to deal with some family business and to do the groundwork for DoomHamster's visa application so that she can join him over there at some hopefully not too distant point in the future...... she does not want to stay in her flat in the Big City on her own over the next few months, so has moved back in with us for the time being as a cost-saving exercise so she can save money. It will mean a lengthy commute to work each day, but will save her oodles of money.
On the weekend, we were thrilled to have Mr & Mrs DoomHamster and DD2 and RobRob over on Saturday, for a farewell get together before Mr DH left. It was lovely to have everyone under one roof!

I've been having a clear-out, and have taken no fewer than 12 bags of clothing to be recycled/reused for charity. We have thrown out several garbage sacks of rubbish and have piles of stuff to go to the charity shop, including 83 books which have been culled from my shelves. All I need to to do now is persuade DH that we really do not need all the redundant electrical items he is saving in the garage "just in case" he needs spare parts ....... we have several televisions (which do work, I must be fair, but are not needed), digital TV boxes, a spare but very elderly computer, and old vacuum cleaner. At some point, all that will need to be tackled as we have a delivery of winter firewood scheduled for Oct, and that will take up an enormous amount of space in the garage.......

NaNoWriMo is creeping up again, and I am starting to ponder some plot ideas. Whether I will actually have time to do it this year, I have no idea, but I would really love to manage to complete it three years running :-)

The Coolest Dog In Town !

2011-08-22T19:22:00.001+01:00

The Dog of Doom, ready for a walk to the beach today :-)

Sunset....

2011-08-22T19:19:00.000+01:00

Recently Read

2011-08-22T19:15:00.000+01:00

This was a fascinating look at Cyprus, shortly before the annexation of the North.

Sea Room is a book which I took months to read. Not because it was boring ; very far from it, but it was densely crammed with information that it took ages to process it enough to do it justice. The author owns a small group of Scottish islands, and has published this book as a geographical, sociological, historical memoir of the islands, their inhabitants and the flora and fauna. A wonderful book indeed.

Sorry about the photo; once they appear on the Blogger upload page, I can't rotate them ! Perfume from Provence is one of my all-time favourites; it details the real life adventures of Sir John and Lady Fortescue when they relocated to Provence after WW1. It is a loving, delightful and gentle book, whose only sad part is the death of her beloved husband, known to all as "Monsieur" , at the end of the book...

An interesting look at the education system in the UK, and the effect it has on staff and pupils alike. I wouldn't bother buying it new....

The Know-It-All was a re-read, telling the story of one man's epic read of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I enjoyed it, apart from AJ's habit of using "Christ" as a blasphemous expletive, which is rather peculiar considering he is Jewish.....

Snow Blind was unputdownable. Gripping, horrifying and so well-written.... beware, domestic/spousal abuse in graphic detail, but germane to the plotline.

Hands Up annoyed me intensely. That's all I am prepared to say in public.

Road To The Dales is WONDERFUL ! I loved every single page. Anyone who has ever enjoyed Miss read's delightful expositions of country life will undoubtedly enjoy this real-life autobiography of Gervase Phinn, who has written so many witty books about his life as a Schools Inspector in Yorkshire...

Six Wives has also taken me several months to read, as it is a mammoth tome. What I found particularly interesting was just how much of a pivotal role Ann Boleyn played in engineering the religious Reformation in England, which is underplayed in every other book I have read on the subject....

Out of the Woods was a very nice book, but is more of a compliation rather than all-new material.

Thirteen Days To Midnight was a teenage fiction book DD3 borrowed from the Library, and enjoyed it so much she gave it to me to read. I also really enjoyed it, but the end was mega-creepy. I would not let this go in the hands of an under-13 year old.......what would you do if you had the power to stop people from dying ? How to choose who will live and who will die?

Alexandria is another wonderful Roman mystery novel starring Falco and his wife, the inimitable Helena Justina :-)

Call The Ambulance was a heart-rending and hysterical insight into the life of an ambulance man who has had a very long career in the service and seen the very best and worst of situations in which people can be precipitated..

Family News

2011-08-20T10:25:00.000+01:00

Mum's central heating has been updated and a new boiler fitted this week, and on Thursday I had a phone call to say the hospital bed (requested many weeks ago by the District Nurses) would be delivered on Friday.

As you can imagine, with every upstairs room, the hall, landing and stairs all having had furniture removed, carpets and floorboards lifted etc, the house was in total pandemonium to start off with, and then the living room had to be cleared enough to get a full size hospital bed in situ......

I managed it, and by lunchtime yesterday, after a great deal of disruption, Mum was safely ensconced in her whizzy electric bed, watching her big TV. At least now she is comfortable, in the midst of things and the carers can get on with their work in safety, with minimal distress or disturbance to Mum. She seems pleased to be in the living room, but I have seen a big deterioration in her this week. She has been frequently saying "I want to go home", seemingly oblivious to the fact that she is in the house where she has lived for 43 years.

DH suggested that perhaps she is talking about wanting to go back to her childhood home, and I think he may be right.

Kyrie eleison.

1927 Footage of Epiphany Water Blessing

2011-08-20T10:14:00.000+01:00

British Pathe newsreels have now been digitised and previews are freely available from their site

I was thrilled to find this 1927 footage of Blessing of the waters at Bucharest :-)

a

BLESSING THE WATERS

Asking For Prayers

2011-08-18T13:42:00.000+01:00

- for the close relative of an old friend of mine, and for his family.

Simon Richardson, an accomplished Paralympic cyclist, was seriously injured on a cycling training run by a hit and run driver. He is critically injured, and we are all so worried about him, and distressed for his family..........

Full details here

St Wandregesilius

2011-08-17T14:05:00.001+01:00

It is with the greatest delight and joy that I have permission to post a link to the Life of the 7th century French Saint, St Wandregesilius, who is especially venerated at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Parish at Mettingham, Suffolk.

The link to the PDF file is here:-
http://www.joyofallwhosorrow.org.uk/media/files/The_Vita_Prima_of_St_Wandregesilius.pdf

The new Icon of the Saint can be seen here

and details of the parish are here

When I have formal permission to do so, I would love to add the Canon to the Saint......

Family News

2011-08-15T10:57:00.001+01:00

DD3 thoroughly enjoyed her week at Scout Camp, returning exhausted but exhilerated on Friday afternoon, with a prodigious quantity of dirty and mostly soaking wet laundry, due to a combination of inclement weather, going to the beach, long hikes and a day spent kayaking down part of the River Teifi :-)

She seems to have grown-up so much over the week she was away, and gained in confidence - I am so glad we were able to afford for her to go, as by next summer, she will have moved to the Young Explorers troupe, and this was her only chance to go summer camping with her Scout troupe.

DD4 missed her terribly, as did we all, and the house was so quiet without her constant chatter! It is wonderful to have her safely home, and almost as wonderful that I have now completed all her laundry :-)

On Saturday, we were blessed to have Mr & Mrs DoomHamster (DD1 and dear Son-in-Law) spend the afternoon with us, and we had so much fun. The house rung with laughter.........

On a more serious note, Mum's health continues to be very poor, and last week, her Social Worker and the Care Manager came to the house to assess her. After lengthy discussions, we have collectively agreed on a new care plan that both takes into account Mum's current physical and mental needs and the resources available.

Lifting and moving equipment has been ordered and delivered, to make things easier for the carers, and we are waiting for a hospital-type bed to become available too, though this is proving problematic to arrange.. It is remarkable that despite all this new equipment being provided by the NHS for Mum, it is still only a fraction of the cost that keeping her in hospital for a single night would cost the NHS. Simple economics would dictate that keeping those infirm elderly folk - who desperately want to stay in their own homes and die peacefully in their homes, surrounded by family and friends rather than in a hospital - is a much cheaper option, despite the initial cost outlay. So why do some bodies and agencies put so many obstacles in the way of achieving this ?

I feel as if I have been trying to co-ordinate a three -ring circus for the last few weeks, battling ferociously to get Mum the things she needs to keep her at home where she wants to be....... I am so, so exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. Mercifully, the two ladies I mentioned earlier have been truly wonderful, and have willingly put their considerable energies and influence into the fight to get things for Mum.

Without them, I would have been sunk.

Meeting People

2011-08-10T09:23:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, I took DD4 to town . We had a few things to buy, some errands to run and we were planning on having lunch at Subway as a special treat. We checked the bus timetables online, and made our way to the bus stop, where there was a lovely older lady already waiting. She asked what time the bus was due, and we began to talk. I am so glad that the bus was running late, because this lady was an absolute treasure, and we simply loved talking to her !

She didn't look it, but she was an active, spry and very alert 89, and was telling us about what a culture shock she had when her family moved here from London, during the early part of the war, to this small and very quiet town. She had been a teenager, and had really missed all the London dance halls, and was appalled that no-one here had even heard of the jitterbug dance, let alone knew how to dance it ! I have a sneaking suspicion that this feisty lady very soon taught people all the latest London dances :-)

It was such fun talking to her, and even more fun when it transpired that she is the mother of an acquaintance of mine :-)

The bus was jampacked full and we had to stand on the journey, which was a bit of a pain as the bus was rocking and rolling like a thing possessed, and I was mortified when I accidentally trod on one poor lady's toes. And of course, she was wearing sandals, so it would have really hurt.... I did apologise profusely, but she was not very happy, as was to be expected.

It was a relief to get off the bus and onto terra firma , and we headed up to Subway to have our lunch. The last time I was there, it was filled with loud and foul-outheed youngsters, who made being in the same room as them a misery, so we were a bit on edge, but we needn't have been. As we were there by about 11.45am, there were only one or two families and some sweet, chatty teenage girls there. We had a lovely, leisurely lunch then headed off to buy some lacy net fingerless coloured gloves for my Mum, as she is very conscious of the perpetual and unsightly marks on her hands as the result of the medications she takes. We bought some lovely kingfisher blue ones, to match some of her clothes, and a pair of sensible black ones, before we went to the charity shops and found some little treasures, which will be blogged soon :-)

A trip to the Library for DD4 to sign up for the summer reading scheme and then to buy a few things from the supermarket, and we were on our way back to the bus stop. We met a dear friend of my brother's, whom my mother calls her "second son", and were able to tell him of the most recent developments in Mum's health. He will visit her very soon, bless him. We also met a work colleague of my mother's, so we had a brief chat with her to give her the latest news, before finally staggering onto the bus. - this time, we mercifully found a seat!

The rest of the day was peaceful, but with the evening came growing anxiety about the wellbeing of friends and loved ones in areas of the country which are being badly affected by the current civil unrest. I was up till very late indeed, waiting for confirmation that dear friends were safe and well, and I slept only fitfully, troubled by unnerving dreams. It was a relief to get up this morning and check the news.

Family News

2011-08-07T08:58:00.000+01:00

Mum's health continues to deteriorate, and she is now totally bedbound, with two carers visiting together to nurse her, three times a day. On Saturday, she was very sleepy indeed, finding any movement - or even speech - to be an effort. Her appetite remains pretty good, but she is still a little weaker and thinner every day. I am with her as much as I can be, and even just making sure she has all her tablets and inhalers at the appropriate times is almost a full-time task, let alone doing the copious amounts of laundry each day.

DD3 is off with her Scout troupe to Summer Camp in West Wales today. Needless to say, it is raining here....hopefully the weather will be a bit brighter for them when they have to pitch their tents this afternoon ! DD4 is down in the dumps and will miss her big sister terribly, so I am thinking of things we can do together to keep her occupied and happy as well as having to be with me "on-call" with my Mum.......

Recently Read

2011-08-03T15:18:00.000+01:00

Only a quick update, due to a poorly computer.......

False Colours, by the inimitable Georgette Heyer, is a wonderful comfort read when I feel down. With its delightful characters, intricate plot and satisfying resolution, it always works wonders when I am feeling jaded. The vision of poor Sir Bonamy Ripple, struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that he is shortly to become married to the woman he thought was safely unattainable, always makes me giggle!

The Colossus of Rhodes is a juvenile fiction book by the classicist Caroline Lawrence, and a thumping good read set in the early Christian period.

People Who Say Goodbye was such a poignant, well-written and in places, an incredibly humorous book. If you get chance to read it, do so. It's definitely in my "keeper" pile.

This book of two Sherlock Holmes stories by David Davies was most enjoyable. My favourite was the first, dealing with the Giant Rat of Sumatra, to which Conan Doyle alludes in one of the original SH stories. Both were enjoyable reads, however. Even better was finding this brand new and unread for 20p in the charity shop :-)

The Freedom Writers Diary was fascinating. An idealistic teacher of teenagers gets them involved in examining racism and discrimination in a variety of forms, and their interactions with people involved in this wide-ranging and complex field, and how this subsequently affected the youngsters involved, was very moving.

Victorian Pharmacy is a wonderful "living history" book of the eponymous TV series, which is being repeated in the UK at the moment. I missed the series first time round, and am recording it this time ! How anyone survived the horrors of Victorian medicine, with its dependency on arsenic, mercury and opiates in virtually everything is truly remarkable....... there are many non-toxic recipes for the curious reader to experiment with at home, for toiletries, cough syrup and the like.

Meg, you inspired me to look for a copy of - and read- Winter in Thrush Green , and I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I haven't yet read every book, but I am trying hard :-)

Twelve Babies On a Bike is the diary of a student midwife in 1956, and the families she met. Funny, sad and sobering in places, anyone who is interested in midwifery would enjoy this volume.

Memories

2011-08-02T19:59:00.000+01:00

On a whim, I decided to go right back to the archives of this blog, and read the first few years worth of posts. I started blogging mid-August in 2004, so the blog is very nearly seven years old.

Some of the posts, especially of the trials and tribulations of life with children under five made me smile, others brought me close to tears. I read of good news and bad, difficult times and fun times, but always with the sense of God's blessing and purpose for our lives, even if we couldn't always see it or make sense of it at the time.

I have so very much to be thankful about, and it is very beneficial to take stock of one's life every once in a while........

Walsingham Akathist Added !

2011-08-02T15:01:00.000+01:00

The "other blog" has been updated, in honour of the Dormition Fast :-)

http://akathists.blogspot.com/2011/08/akathist-to-walsingham-ikon-of-mother.html

Competition Link!

2011-07-22T18:48:00.000+01:00

Have you ever wondered how best to explain Orthodoxy to your heterodox family and friends ?
This book looks simply wonderful and you can enter the competition to win a copy by linking to it.
Good luck !

Recently Read

2011-07-22T09:10:00.000+01:00

I've finally got round to uploading photos to the computer, so it is time for another Recently Read post :-)

I've introduced a new category of books I really wasn't enjoying and decided not to waste time finishing....

I have read The Prisoner of Zenda, many moons ago and enjoyed it then. I couldn't finish it this time.

The Alice Thomas Ellis book bored me to tears, and I simply couldn't engage with any of the characters in the first chapter.

The Complete Father Brown Stories was very variable in quality, in my opinion. Some of the stories were very clever indeed, but an equal number were weak in plot and not well characterised. I did get about half way through the huge tome before conceding defeat.

Dolly's War - I did get three quarters of the way through this non-fiction "Life in theWar" book before abandoning it purely because I found the character of the narrator to be utterly objectionable. She portrayed herself as the sort of person I would have fled from if I had met her.

These two were from the Library. I have discovered that I really like Simon Scarrow's Roman military history books, and went on to buy several more from charity shops..... The Mitch Albom book was also very enjoyable indeed, and I'm looking out for a copy of my own. The only book of his I really couldn't enjoy was The Five People You Meet In Heaven, though I really did try.....

BirdwatchingWatching was great fun ! A father who is a fanatical birdwatcher and his sceptical grown-up son decide on a year-long challenge to see who can spot the greatest number of bird species. I laughed till I cried at the sneaky tactics, military style planning and general shenanigans undertaken by both parties in a determined attempt to win.

Definitely one of my Keepers!

The Godseekers Guide - well, I don't know what to say. I normally love everything written by Rabbi Lionel Blue, a truly gifted writer, but this book just did not cut it for me.

It was designed for those who feel there is a God-shaped hole in their lives and want to get closer to God, which is very commendable indeed, but it certainly isn't Orthodox reading, and I found the mention of homosexuals and their specific problems and needs, whch cropped up at least every few pages throughout the book, to become a little tedious, even though I have several homosexual friends. One's sexual orientation is not the be all and end all of life, when all is said and done. It may have been better entitled The Godseekers Guide For Those With Same-Sex Attraction and Lifestyle.

H V Morton's wonderful descriptions of English life and places spanning forty years are always a delight, and I was so pleased to find this book in a charity shop to add to my collection!

The Story of England was an excellent TV series, and I bought the book and enjoyed it. It covers the political, religious and social history of one ancient English village from virtually prehistoric times to almost the present-day, using archaeological evidence, documentary evidence and personal recollections, nicely woven into a very readable book.

This was a fun light read, based on the blog of the same name......

Spanish Steps was one of those books which really makes you wonder why the author bothered. I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I have read many of Tim Moore's books and enjoyed them.

Quite why an agnostic would want to travel the ancient pilgrim route to the Shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela, an arduous and actually still quite dangerous journey by foot even in the present day, puzzles me. I remain puzzled, even after I finished the book !

Comments about people, places and donkeys are often sexually explicit , so Caveat Lector.......let the reader beware !

This was one book I really did debate long and hard whether or not to bother finishing; I did finish it, but was vaguely disgruntled at having wasted time doing so when it really was not in the least edifying - even if the author did get the occasional religious insight, his constant blasphemies really did spoil it for me.

Ranulph Ffiennes book was fascinating. I always knew about him as an SAS man and a famous explorer, but I did not know he was a committed Anglican, whose faith means a great deal to him, as is evidenced in the book. He has diced with death so many times, pushing at the boundaries of what the human spirit and body can withstand - a truly remarkable man.

I know, more SAS military books. I really do enjoy them, and loved both of these. The Kremlin Device had an **excellent** plotline, as did Kill Zone. Both of these are keepers.

I remember being utterly enthralled watching Jane Lapotaire's wonderful portrayal of Marie Curie on TV when I was a teenager, and grabbed the chance to read this from the charity shop. She suffered a serious brian aneurysm at a relatively young age, and this book chronicles her long, difficult and courageous attempt to rebuild her life after traumatic brain surgery, and how profoundly the surgery affected her ability to maintain normal relationships with her dearest family and friends.

Another Simon Scarrow - what more need I say :-)

I was thrilled beyond measure to find this hardback in a charity shop :-) An elderly friend of Mary Russell's finds an ancient manuscript when working in the Middle East which purports to be written by Mary Magdalene. When the elderly friend is killed in mysterious circumstances, shortly after depositing the manuscript with Mary and her husband Sherlock Holmes, the mystery gets deeper and deeper.....a cracking good read.

Life & Death On The Streets is a sobering look at the life of a paramedic in Britain. Funny, sad, tragic and terrifying in equal measure, this book is a tribute to all those who work as ambulance crew.

The Happiness Project was found at the Library and I liked it so much that I am hunting for my own copy.The author decided to spend a whole year testing ideas on how to become happy. Some worked, some didn't, but the book was beautifully written and oh so funny. There is even a blog - written as part of the project.

The background story of the incedibly talented and incredibly private Georgette Heyer. I commend it highly, and after hearing the audio version, I went straight to EBay and bought a hard copy of the book to devour.

Nine Minutes Twenty Seconds is the length of time it took for a plane to crash after a propeller failure irrevocably damaged the engine of a small plane, and the gripping story of the passengers and crew who were on that flight., as well as the engineer who had previously inspected the propeller blade and passed it as fit to use. Heartbreaking in places, but always fascinating, I must stress that the engineer was subsequently exonerated of all blame when the investigation into the accident was concluded, as he had followed the procedures he was taught in all good faith, not knowing they were intrinsically flawed.

A Time Of Gifts is quite simply wonderful. The author, as a young man, decided to walk from London to Constantinople, not long before Word War Two started to seethe into ferment. His experiences and reminescences are utterly enthralling, and well worth reading.

Even more Simon Scarrow :-)

A Nurse's War was so brave and poignant that it reduced me to tears on occasion. The author underwent truly arduous training as a nurse and was part of the Army medical teams that went to the battlefront in WW2 to nurse the injured soldiers. That was harrowing enough, but she subsequently worked in burns and plastic surgery units , which were still in their infancy, and the heroism of the men who were so gravely injured is heartrending yet inspiring. Well worth reading if you can find a copy.

I have read other books in this series, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I have to say that I think the author was really running out of steam and subject matter when he wrote these. I read them, and they were okay, but they have gone straight on my pile to donate to the next charity sale.

Sobering.....

2011-07-18T15:51:00.002+01:00

I found this clip from the funeral of the last of the Hapburg royal dynasty, Prince Otto, to be incredibly sobering and poignant.

As part of the funeral, the procession goes to the Capuchin Friars' Church in Vienna, and a formal request for interrment of his body is made.

The request is rejected the first time when his noble lineage is read out: "We do not know him".

The request is rejected the second time, when all his personal achievements are listed: "We do not know him."

The third time, the request is made thus: "Otto, a humble sinner" , to which the reply is : "Thus you may enter here."

Wonderful stuff, and a sobering reminder that we stand before God not with our titles and achievements, but in humility.........

May Prince Otto rest in peace, and Memory Eternal.....

His titles were:
His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Prince Imperial Otto of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
By the Grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Hungary and Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; King of Jerusalem etc.; Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukowina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Silesia, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Guastalla, Oświęcim and Zator, Teschen, Friaul, Dubrovnik and Zadar; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trento and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenburg etc.; Lord of Trieste, Kotor and Windic March, Grand Voivod of the Voivodeship of Serbia etc. etc.

Weekend Woes

2011-07-17T14:03:00.000+01:00

It has been another long, hard week. Mum continues to deteriorate steadily, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Today, she was only able to bear sitting on a chair for 45 minutes, before the discomfort drove her back to lie gratefully in her bed :-(
DH and I took the little ones up to see her, and DD4 especially was very distressed to see her beloved Nanny in such discomfort, even after taking her painkillers.

I don't honestly know if it will be wise to take the girls up there again whilst Mum is unable to avoid vocalising her discomfort so constantly and obviously; I have tried to explain to them as best I can about my mother's disinhibition in expressing even quite minor discomfort. DD3 was able to understand this quite well at 13; DD4 less so at age 9.

Mum is actually on enormous doses of painkillers and her pain levels aren't as severe as the sounds make them appear to be; Mum is able to be distracted from vocalising her discomfort, and we were able to do that today by watching a TV programme with her, and she very soon stopped groaning, and started chatting about the programme until she felt too uncomfortable to sit up any longer, and I walked her back the short distance to her bed before leaving her to rest, and taking the children back home.

I need to phone the hospital in the morning to see if we can arrange an ambulance to take her to hospital on Thursday for her cataract operation to take place, as she is definitely not steady enough on her feet to be transported by car.
Prayers for Thursday will be much appreciated, and also for my dear friend Mary's husband Ray, who is also having an operation on that date.

My Boy

2011-07-10T18:53:00.000+01:00

If I am on the computer at the desk,

the Dog of Doom feels compelled to sit at my feet

and squeeze his head under the desk so he can rest his head on my lap.

It does make for some fun photo opportunities :-)

And he likes sitting at DH's feet and resting his head

on the crossed ankles of his Master....

Photos Of My Garden

2011-07-10T18:47:00.000+01:00

This one isn't a view from my eponymous Garden Window,

but is one of the Gelsemium shrubs in my front garden :-)

Especially for Deb, my lavender shrub :-)

Honeysuckle and lavender - the smell is wonderful.

The lavender actually stands almost five feet tall from the ground......

If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see a juvenile blackbird

hiding under the raspberry canes.

He has loved being fed raspberries by his devoted parents !

The lavender attracts huge numbers of bees,

which makes me happy,

even if they do move so quickly

I can only ever get blurred pictures of them!

Muscles. A Love- Hate Relationship

2011-07-09T18:08:00.000+01:00

About a fortnight ago, I turned quickly on the driveway to run back to the house to fetch something and felt an excruciating pain in my left calf, along with adefinite prolonged ripping sensation and great difficulty in walking... I had torn a muscle.

A few days later, I woke up to find my entire shin was yellow and black where the bleeding from the muscle tear had tracked through the tissue layers to manifest as bruising. After hobbling for several days, the muscle gradually began to heal, though I was still unable to walk quickly or for long distances without pain, which made walking DD4 to school something of an ordeal when DH was working away.

On Thursday morning, I climbed on a chair to get something from the top of one of the tall kitchen cabinets, and used my injured leg to get down first. This was a seriously bad move, as there was a return of the pain, the ripping sensation and a certain amount of shrieking from me. Luckily I did not lose my balance and fall, or I would have caused worse damage to my poor calf than I already have.

I woke up this morning to find, yet again, that my entire shin is black, blue and yellow with extensive brusing.

Ho hum. I shall be hobbling around for another few weeks, I suppose :-0

Another Week....

2011-07-09T08:03:00.001+01:00

Mum has been much brighter this week, since starting her new painkillers, which is great, but she has had two minor falls at home, requiring using her Lifeline tele-alarm to get the Mobile response Team out to assist her :-(

The first fall on Monday happened in the day, when she was getting from her chair back to her bed, but caused no injury and she was not unduly distressed as her dear friend John was with her, and kept her company till the emergency team got there.

Last night, I had a phone call from the Lifeline service at 8pm . {Mum wears a small emergency alarm around her neck, so if she falls or feels ill, she has only to press the button on the alarm and it automatically dials up the Lifeline service, and the operator can talk to Mum via the loudspeaker telephone attachment. It is all very clever stuff, and makes such a difference to her confidence , knowing that she can always get help, no matter what time of the day or night.}

Mum had fallen, and they had despatched the Mobile response Team to assist her, but they were concerned because she was very distressed. DH drove me up, so I was there within five minutes, and I found Mum on the floor, no serious injuries, but very upset and scared. The Lifeline operator had stayed on the phone to talk to her and reassure her until I arrived, which was great. Within twenty minutes, the Team arrived and used their special equipment to get her off the floor, back on her feet, and safely back in bed. Her only injury was a small graze to one hand, so she was very fortunate, thank God.

She had gone to bed, slept for a while and woken up very disorientated as to time, and got up, thinking it was morning and she needed to use one of her asthma pumps which she keeps by her chair. This shouldn't have been a problem, but she hadn't used her Zimmer walking frame for support, and had consequently wobbled and fallen. It was such a shame, as she had had a really good day apart from that. She is eating better, is much chirpier and happier, and is very much improved from last week, though her physical condition is still desperately frail.......

The Mobile Team said they would contact the Carer Service to request a formal review for Mum by a multi-disciplinary team, who will re-assess her current care package, and what alterations need to be made to make things safer. She may well need a late-night carer just to pop in and make sure she is safely in bed with no problems, as currently, she has a carer attend in the morning to get her washed, dressed and up for the morning and another carer visits about 6pm to get her ready for bed and settled for the night. In the meantime, Mum's friend John and I take turns to be with her in the daytime.

Quite how long she is going to be able to stay at home alone at night is debatable; she is adamant she wants to stay in her own home and not move in with us. I think she may well need a night-sitter soon, just to keep an eye on her throughout the night.........

On a happier note, on Tuesday I could see from her bedroom window that her golden roses were in bloom. The bush was planted by my late step-father, and produces luscious huge flowers with a truly delightful scent. I went and cut some of the flowers and put them in a vase by Mum's bed, where she spends the vast majority of her time, so she can see them clearly and enjoy the lovely fragrance. Such a little thing, but it has brought her such delight and pleasure! By Thursday, the blossoms were fading so I cut her some more, including rosebuds, which have lasted really well.

She smiles each time she looks at them :-)

A Day With Mum

2011-07-02T21:08:00.000+01:00

Mum has had a nasty chest infection which has made her rather confused on occasions throughout this week. She is on strong oral antibiotics, having vehemently refused medical advice to go into hospital to have IV antibiotics.

This is what happened on Thursday.........

Up at 6 am, got the children's breakfasts, lunches made and all ready for school. As soon as DD4 was safely in school DH drove me to Mum's so I could make sure she had her antibiotics at 9 am, as the carers don't arrive till around 10 am for this week's schedule.

She was awake when I arrived, so she had her meds, and I made her a nice cup of coffee, which she enjoyed. She said she wasn't hungry and didn't want her breakfast just yet, so I pottered in the kitchen, sorting things out. She called, so I went to her room to see what she needed.

" I need more tablets"

"No, you've had the antibiotics. You don't need any more tablets till 10.30."

"Oh. I need more pads. Find me another pack of pads! I need pads straight away!"

"Which pads do you need? The big ones to go on the mattress, or your special ones for your undies ?"

"Yes."

"But which one, love?"

"The one you just said, of course!"

I showed her the bed protecting pads, and she shook her head. Wasn't those.

I showed her her incontinence pads. Wasn't those either.

"You're not listening to me. Why don't you listen to me and just get me my digital pills like I have been asking you for ages?"

"What do you mean, digital pills, Mum ? You haven't got any digital pills." I was completely baffled by this point, not being blessed with the ability to mind-read......

"I need more digital pills ! Please listen to me and get me my digital pills!" She was getting very irate and agitated by this point, so instead, I asked her to tell me *what* she needed them for, because I didn't have a clue what she was trying to make me understand at this point........

"I need them for the carer to wipe me with, of course !" was the indignant reply.

It transpired that she wanted me to get another pack of wet wipes from the box by her bed and put them on her trolley table which goes over the bed, even though she already had a full pack of wet wipes in the trolley.

She lay back on her pillows, exhausted, and I retreated to the safety of the kitchen, boiled the kettle and made myself a stiff cup of coffee, ready for the next conversation......

Once she was washed and dressed, and sitting out in her chair, she was chirpy and much more coherent, even though she was dozing back to sleep every few minutes. I sat on the settee by her, reading my book while she slept, and talking when she wanted to talk, and we had a very companionable day after the slightly strange start !

Let's Go Fly A Kite !

2011-06-28T12:28:00.001+01:00

Walking up the hill, this is the first glimpse of Margam Castle....

Today is a small Kite Festival, and we have come to join a handful of people flying their kites on the grounds in front of the castle. Not the best flying weather, with only an intermittent light breeze, but it was fun.

Some stalls selling kite equipment.

The year before last, there were loads of these stalls.

The Recession seems to be hitting everyone very hard.

The bushes in the grounds were in full bloom and looked lovely.

Kites flying above the ruins of the old monastic chapel of Our Lady on the hillside above the castle and the medieval Abbey church which is still in use for Anglican worship.

Some more shots of the Castle. Next time we visit, I must take internal shots of the Great Lantern tower, which is lovely.....

No shots of us flying our kites, as I couldn't fly and photograph at the same time :-)

A Piece of History

2011-06-24T20:36:00.000+01:00

Fairly near our town is an old WW2 Prisoner of War camp, commonly known as Island Farm. During the War, it housed many German prisoners, including many of high rank.

There was a famous escape via a tunnel dug by the prisoners, and it is such a shame that the local council, in its infinite wisdom (hollow laugh) decided to demolish all the camp except for one hut, padlocked shut in a neglected field. Plans are afoot to build a sports centre on the majority of the historic site......

There are some excellent web sites, which I have atttempted to collate in one place:

Some famous prisoners

The main site

An excellent and very comprehensive site

Treasures Of Heaven

2011-06-24T19:59:00.000+01:00

Catching Up

2011-06-22T14:01:00.000+01:00

After a very difficult few weeks, Mum has finally acknowledged that she really does need extra help at home and has agreed to have a carer to come in every evening to help her get ready for bed and administer her medications. It seems to be working well so far. She remains quite low in mood, as she realises now that there will be further deteriorations in her physical health . It has not been easy for any of us........

Our old runabout car was vandalised twice last week, and is not repairable. We are thankful we still have the other car, but it was sad to see the old car having been badly damaged by some thug who did it on a whim. DD3 has had a hospital visit which revealed a multitude of problems with her jaw which means quite a number of future hospital visits and invasive treatments in the future.
Oh, and I have torn a muscle in my calf for good measure......

It's not all doom and gloom, though.

Great-Uncle Bob is safely home after a long hospital stay and my Uncle Bob is doing well after his surgery to remove a brain tumour; he is going to be home very soon too.

My lavender is in full, glorious bloom, nestled next to flowering honeysuckle, with bees buzzing happily around both of them, and the wonderful smells early in the morning, in the evening and after it has rained are utterly amazing.

My apple tree branches are heavily laden with rapidly growing little apples, and the boughs are bending under their weight, so much so that each time I go to put washing on the line, I have to duck to avoid headbutting the apples :-)

My raspberry canes are producing loads of raspberries and my new rhubarb crown is growing like a triffid. Within the next week or two I expect to be harvesting our very own organically grown rhubarb!

Latin class is going well and I am having enormous amounts of fun.

And tonight, DH arrives home for five nights before work beckons him away again :-)