Latest Project

This is my latest project for the garden.


Where do I start?

Hmm!

It's becoming clearer.

Finished and in situ!

This morning I treat myself to a mini-greenhouse for my poor tomato plants to see if a little TLC will help them to grow a bit.  At the front there is a panel that zips closed.  In the photo it is rolled up and tied so you can tend to the plants but they can be kept enclosed as in a greenhouse.  Another Wilkinson bargain at just £13 !  Where would we be without Wilko's?

Summer at Last

What a differnece a few days of sun has made to the garden.  Just want to share a few photos taken this afternoon.  It's good to see the bees and butterflies doing their work of pollinating.  (But didn't manage to get a photo of a butterfly)

That's Life!

After such a lovely weekend last week, this week has been quite a contrast.  It has felt as though everything was working against me.  I'm sure many have had that feeling when nothing seems to go right.

On Monday, the rain had cleared for a while and so I went into the garden to see if there was any fruit worth picking.  The cherries had been just about ripe, only needing a bit of sunshine to turn them a rich red.  I was surprised to see that there were no cherries there at all.  At first I thought that the birds must have been very hungry but then noticed that they must have been absolutely starving to pick them complete with stalks from the tree!  It seems that while we were out, someone had been been in our garden and picked them all.  Later that morning while doing a load of washing, the spinner stopped working.  So I was wringing out the clothes by hand.  I phoned to arrange a repairman to come.  They cannot come before next Monday. 

 I had arranged my journey and booked my train tickets to go to Bath on Thursday for a family funeral.  I was to pick the tickets up at the automated machine at the station.  But then they said that the station where I had to get the train did not have such a machine so on Tuesday I had to travel to another station to get my train tickets.  Nothing seems straight forward!

Wednesday was one of those domino effect days.  It began with an appointment at the hairdresser to have my usual 6 weeks trim.  My usual hairdresser was on the sick and so another one cut my hair.  She asked how I wanted it and I told her I like it short.  Not quite that short! 

She was running a bit late and I had a doctor's appointment after this.  The result was that those extra 5 minutes meant that I missed the bus I should have got so I waited for the next one that should have got me there just on time (with a bit of a squeeze) but that bus just didn't turn up.  (You couldn't make this up!)  The next bus got me there about 20 minutes late.

I apologised and explained everythig to the receptionist.  She said she would have to have a word with the doctor.  After a few minutes back came the verdict - as I was so late, I couldn't be slotted in between patients so I would have to re-book.  The next available appointment was on Monday ... but I couldn't wait until then as I would run out of some of my medication by the weekend.  I was advised to look online in the morning and see what was available.  When I checked, the only available appointments were early which meant that I would need to get the bus before 9 am and so not be able to use my Senior Bus Pass.  Well needs must, so I booked my appointmtent. 

On Thursday I set out for Bath feeling that surely nothing could go wrong ... ... except the train was delayed about half an hour which meant that I eventually got there just in time to creep in and sit in the back row as the service was about to begin.  But it was good to catch up with family we don't often see and be able to stand with them in their time of bereavement.

Hopefully things have taken a turn for the better.  This morning the bus fare was not as much as I had expected, I now have my new supply of medication and we have now had more than 36 hours without rain!  I guess it's a case of keep plodding on, looking forward to my washing machine being fixed on Monday and a new week ahead.  Hey ho!  That's life, as they say!

Lost and Found

It has been a strange week of lost and found.  Last week we heard the news that an elderly aunt had passed away.  Aunty Jenny was only one month from her 100th birthday.  Then on Tuesday I received an email from a cousin telling me of the passing of another cousin, Henry.  It seems sort of expected and not quite so bad when the person is of a previous generation but when it happens to someone in your own generation, even when in their late 70s it feels a bit close for comfort.  Death does not concern me as such but is something you don't really think about until a moment like this and you are suddenly reminded of your own mortality.

Henry was one of my husband's many cousins who with his English wife came back to live in England around the time that we did in the 1970s.  He and his wife used to visit us often especially in the last years before my husband died and were a real source of comfort and support.  So many memories came rushing back to mind.

But on a brighter note, on Saturday we met up again with the cousin and aunty we re-discovered earlier this year after so many years.  Aunty Betty is now our only living aunt.  On Friday, my elder son arrived for a long weekend visit.  My sister and son who also live in Yeovil also came for lunch, so it was a day of meeting and re-encounter.  Strangely my cousin’s wife didn’t come as she was meeting up with a cousin of her own who emigrated to New Zealand in 1974 and was over to the UK on a visit.   She was having her own re-encounter.  It was quite a day full of chatter trying to close the gap and catch up on the intervening years.  It was a day we plan to repeat in the not-too-distant future.

Yesterday I continued to enjoy the company of both my sons.  We had a trip out to the small town where my husband and I spent the first 6 months of our marriage before sailing off to Argentina for the next 10 years.  We drove up the street where we used to live – another re-encounter with some distant memories.  We continued a couple of miles down to the coast and as it turned out to be rather cloudy at first, my son got out an umbrella he kept in the boot of the car – just in case.  On our walk around the bay we stopped for coffee and were going back towards the car when I realised that I no longer had the umbrella.  We retraced our steps to the places we had been but to no avail – lost!

In the evening we went into town for a meal and found a Mexican restaurant we had never visited before.  The tasty meal was a lovely end to a rather mixed lost and found week.

Missionaries

I have been greatly encouraged lately hearing about young people with a heart for missionary work.  It took my mind back to the time of Albert Schweitzer and his work in Africa.  In those early days of missionaries, they went simply to serve the people and help them in their need.  Those like Gladys Aylward who served God in China, totally identified themselves with the people they lived amongst.  They didn't go out with the idea of some project for the church back home.  They felt God's calling to serve those among whom they lived.

Gladys Aylward

Sadly since those days the whole idea of missionary work has, in some areas, changed its perspective.  Some think of it as a form of outreach to expand the limits of their denominational empire.  It has become more about projects and programmes, large crusades to increase numbers in attendance.  Sometimes it is used as a step on the ladder upwards in church heirarchy.  It has become more and more about giving a glowing report of what has been achieved and being able to calculate success in some numeric form.  But happily I am aware of other ways of working.  My friends in Latvia are among those who live among the people as they live.  They don't have mission targets and are not sponsored but live as those around them live.  I have another friend who goes for 9 months of the year to Nicaragua to work among the families who live off the rubbish tips and try to get the children into education in order to improve their prospects in life.  I could mention others around the world, just going where God has called them and living there and asking God what He wants them to do.

Working on the land in Latvia

I am also following the blog of a local doctor who has taken a 3 months sabbatical and is currently in India helping out at the local clinic and working with people in the slums.  I am encouraged as I said at the beginning because God has a way when we mess things up and go off the rails a bit, he stirs the hearts of others to go out and just do things differently - simply wanting to serve those who are there without any over-riding plan or trying to prove that they have been successful.  How can you measure the success of a friendly smile to a child living in poverty? How can you make a helping hand in a time of need count in some numbers game?  God is alive and at work but not always in the organisational or denominational plans and projects.

Alien?

I have come to the conclusion that I must be an alien. It seems that you must be interested in sport in order to be considered 'normal'. I am not! I would rather take a long walk in the countryside and watch the wildlife or sit and read a book than watch sport. Up to now this summer we have been bombarded with headlines and television programmes about the European football, motor racing, tennis and many more and we still have the Olympics to come.

Don't get me wrong, for those who are interested in such things, I'm glad when they do well after all their training and hard work and the effort they need to put into achieving good results. But, for me at least, that is not the be all and end all of my life. There are headlines in newspapers saying that we are praying for someone to win. Really? I guess I should be happy that they are praying but can't help asking 'Is this what Jesus meant when he told us to pray to Father?'

What about the person or team who lost? Are they not worthy of God's compassion? Does God appreciate the efforts of one country more than another? I pray that those who pay hard earned money to go and see sporting events, have an enjoyable day. I pray that those taking part will not be seriously hurt in the process. I pray for fairness and good sportsmanship and good and cordial behaviour among fans. And I pray that the person or team that proves to be the best on the day, wins.

I admit that sport is a very healthy pursuit and good for you - if that is what you like to do. But just because I don't does not make me weird. So this evening I am going to enjoy the last in the Chris Packham series 'Secrets of our Living Planet'.

The Untouchables

The title of this blog entry is the title of a film I remember seeing quite some time ago.  It was about the American Federal Agent Eliot Ness and the story of how he sets out to stop the famous gangster Al Capone.  Al Capone and his mob thought that because of their intimidation, force and control of unauthorised business dealings that they could do whatever they wanted as the authorities couldn't touch them.  In the end he was taken to court and subsequently imprisoned, not for his illegal gangster activities but for unpaid tax.  He was not, after all, untouchable.



Kevin Costner (2nd from right) in the role of Eliot Ness in the film 

Throughout history we have heard of people who have thought of themselves as untouchable.  The Caesars of Rome claimed to be gods and that whatever they said must be done.  They could decide a person's fate simply by the hand gesture of 'thumbs up' or thumbs down'.  Most of them, however, came to a very sad end as did the whole Roman Empire.  History is littered with stories of empires that rise and fall.  Even in recent times we have seen systems of government that ruled with an iron fist but now are no longer in power.

Over the past few months there seems to have been a plethora of revelations about irregular dealings by politicians, the media, the global financial system, multinational companies and pharmaceutical claims.  Much is spurred on it would seem by sheer greed and power.  Maybe it's time that such people read a little history and learn from it that no-one is untouchable.  The phrase 'How the mighty have fallen!' comes to mind. (2 Samuel 1:19)

For my convenience!

It's strange how we can be all for something until it actually affects us in some way.  For online banking I have a card reader that I need to use in order to avoid anyone hacking into my account.  That is good! ... ... until ... ...  something goes wrong.  For those unfamiliar with such gadgets, you put your bank card into the small opening and put in your PIN.  Then there appears a number on the small screen which you copy into the correct place on the online form.  That is fine as long as the number is clear.  But lately my card reader has become ever more unclear to read.  The other day I must have misread the number and so it refused me access to my account.  I tried again and was told that access to this account was now unavailable for security reasons.  What?!  Now what do I do? 

If this had happened when someone else was trying to get into my account I would have been very happy.  But not when it was me!  I was given a phone number to use to apply for a new card reader and for them to unblock my account.  I was asked if I minded answering (a whole string of) security questions to ensure that I am me.  Of course not - that is what security is about, isn't it?  When asked what payments had been made in the past month from my account my first reaction was 'If you allow me access to my account I could tell you!'  But then thought of the regular monthly outgoings with dates and amounts.

I now have a new card reader and all has been rectified really without a great deal of problem, I am glad to say.  I have also made a list with pen and paper of all my regular outgoings with dates and amounts, just in case I need to have the information again but you can be sure that now I am ready, it won't happen!  But I had to smile at myself.  I am so pleased that online banking makes it difficult for anyone other than myself to access my account so why was I getting more irritated by the minute until it was sorted?  It seems that I like things to be all tied up neatly and secure as long as there is no inconvenience to myself.