It All Depends ...

First of all I must say for any who are not in touch through social media and so haven't seen my update, my son and his wife arrived home safely on Tuesday after spending a weekend in Paris.  With the happenings over the weekend, their time did not go as they had planned - the scheduled concert was cancelled by the authorities and most of the sight seeing attractions were closed until the Monday.  However, we are all very relieved that they are safe and well and can live to celebrate other birthdays in the future.  Now for some musings for this week.   

It's that time of year when those of us who like feeding the wild birds over the winter  start to buy various things to put out in the garden trying to attract them to come and feed.  Apart from the usual seed mixture there are the sunflower seeds, either whole or just the sunflower hearts.  For the finches they tell us to put out nyger seeds.  There are various types of fatty goods - suet pellets, fat balls and large 'cakes' of fat all mixed with seeds, insects or mealworms.  And we mustn't forget the peanuts.  All of these various goodies also need varying types of containers.  It's no good putting seeds into a wire container and fat balls needs to be in a container that the birds can peck through.  It's not that they're fussy eaters so they need a bird table menu to choose from, it's more a case of some foods suit some birds and not others.  Some are happy to cling onto feeders while others prefer to peck at the bird table.  Others, mostly the larger birds tend to just walk around pecking what is on the ground.  It would seem though that the nightly visitor to our garden will eat anything that s/he can get hold of.  Some people get urban foxes while others have problems with deer somehow breaking through their fences.  We have a nightly visit from a badger who will eat whatever s/he can get or dig holes looking for something.  He even seems to have the ability to reach up and pull down off the tree the container with the fat balls in it.  I thought I had put it high enough to be out of his reach but the fat balls and the container have disappeared - again!  Ah well, I'll have to think of another way of letting the birds get their needed fat intake.



We are starting to look at all the Christmas goodies that are appearing in the shops and I'm starting to make my lists of things to buy, food stuff that is - things that can be made at home and kept, other things that can be frozen or stored safely while there is always the list of the last things to buy that need to be fresh.  I prefer to plan ahead and not rush at the last minute.  That's just how I do things - with plenty of time and loads of lists.  The butcher has the order for the turkey which will be collected at the appropriate time.  I like to try and cater for everyone's tastes and take into account any allergies.  But I think we all tend to eat those extras that all the year round we avoid often for health reasons but somehow feel that because it's Christmas they won't have any affect on us - that is until we get on the scales after New Year - if we dare.  And don't mention the presents!  Personally I have great difficulty with so much choice, usually with inflated prices just because it's Christmas.  I always prefer gifts that are useful and not something that will just be put in a drawer and either forgotten or recycled next year for someone else.  Not everyone would agree with me and that's ok.  We're all different and do things differently.  It's just that that's the way I function.  It works for me.


This week I received an unexpected phone call from a cousin in Canada.  She normally phones sometime between Christmas and New Year.  The purpose of her call was mainly to tell me that her mother who is now almost 95 years of age had recently gone into a nursing home and so the address I currently have for her is no longer valid.  The strange thing is that she said to address it to Stefana.  She is actually an aunty of my late husband who I first knew when we lived in Argentina many years ago.  I have known her for 50+ years and have always called her Tia Nancy (Aunty Nancy) and now 50 years on I learn that her name is not Nancy at all but Stefana.  Surprised, I presumed that Nancy must be her middle name but was told that she isn't called Nancy at all.  Her name is Stefana but everyone, even all of her own family have always referred to her as Nancy and that is how she is known to most people.  I can't think of her as Stefana.  For me she will always be Tia Nancy.  I guess that's ok when it comes to Christmas greetings cards and personal letters.  If it were a legal matter then her real name has to be used.

All week I have been thinking about this and the fact that how often we live for years with a certain supposition and even when we know that the truth is different from what we are accustomed to, we carry on as before regardless.  Nothing changes.  Old habits die hard as they say.  Some things we do just out of habit even though it's not quite correct.  I have been reminded of such life lessons again with creation and life in general.  How we are all different and need different things in our lives for us to be complete and flourish.  It's not that one is right and others are wrong, we are just different and have varying needs. It all depends on our unique make up and circumstances.  The same goes for our personal taste in food and in life choices in general.  Some times though we need to recognise that some of the things we do and say are not strictly correct and that often we do and say them purely out of habit and a false sense of what is right.  Even the ordinary occurrences of life have much to teach us. But that all depends on if we listen.

Now and Then

The farm owned by the blogger mentioned

A blog I follow commented this week about the way the countryside has changed, at least in the USA.  He was noting the difference between the number of small family farms that have now been taken over by the much larger and highly mechanised form of growing crops and farming animals.  He says that today only 15% of Americans live in rural areas.  In 1945 30% of Americans were farmers owning land with an average 195 acres.  Today less than 1% are farmers and most crops are grown on farms of over 1000 acres.  You can see his blog post on this link entitled Disappearing Farmers (October 21st).  I guess that is only one of the changes in the way our food is produced.  It is also true that the way we food shop has changed greatly over the last few decades and our expectations when we shop.  We now expect and usually get fresh food all year round as though there are no longer seasons for crops.  We can get food grown in more tropical climates whenever we want, more or less, without considering the cost of shipping this around the world just for our convenience.

The other day I had a conversation with a friend about the basket she was carrying.  She had made it herself from willow that grows on her land.  I made the comment that she should try selling them and make a business for herself.  Her reply was practical but a bit sad I thought.  She said that what she could charge for them and what people would be prepared to pay just wouldn't pay for the hours it takes to make them and so it would just not be cost effective and certainly not a way to make a living.  We came to the conclusion that sadly many old crafts are slowly dying as people either don't have the spare time to take them up as a hobby or they are no longer a way to earn enough money to be able to sustain a decent way of life.  To be fair, I had to admit that when buying something, price is a big consideration and if the item serves the purpose we buy it.  For most of us then it's more a case of why are we going to pay more just to get something that has been handmade when the cheaper version serves us just as well?  .    


This week saw a very important date in time travel.  Many will understand when I say the date October 21st 2015.  That was the date that Marty McFly experienced when he flew in the time travel car from the year 1985, 30 years into the future in the film Back To The Future.  There was much on the news as people considered just how many of the things that he experienced in the film actually are now commonplace and which things never came to pass.  Of course much of the technology we now take for granted could not have been envisaged 30 years ago - individual mobile phones, internet connection on the go from just about anywhere and being able to talk face to face to someone on the other side of the world.  I'm sure you can think of many other ways that our lives have been revolutionised and changed forever. 

All this brings to mind the truth that things are continually evolving and changing.  Some things are sadly lost while other things are received with much pleasure.  Maybe it makes us think about the things that are under threat and if we really want to lose them or if they no longer serve their purpose in a modern era.  The same goes for religion.  We hang on to traditions, just because they are traditions when maybe we should be letting them go in favour of other ways that are more compatible with our world today.  Tradition is good but only if it is fit for purpose.  Just as we evolve and change and the world around us is constantly evolving, we should continually be evolving in spirit in order to continue to follow where the spirit leads.  Why do we do the things we do?  Is it simply because that's the way we've always done them?  Is what worked in days gone by working today?  Is it making a difference and making our world a better place?  Our faith is worth nothing if it's not applicable to our lives now in the 21st century.  It is good to remember the past but not to live in it.  What do I need to hold on to and what should I let go?  My belief system must be relevant to my life now or what's the point?  These and many more questions come to mind when thinking about my spiritual journey now and then.

I'm OK Right Here

Si(mon) King and Dave Myers - aka The Hairy Bikers

At the moment there is a series on television with The Hairy Bikers as they ride through northern Europe, eating the local cuisine and making dishes from local foods for other guests.  I love to watch them, partly because they are not what you expect from cooks/chefs and also of course being a Geordie myself, it is so lovely to hear Si's Geordie accent.  (He's the one on the left in the photo)  Although I have lived in many other parts of the UK and abroad and my own accent has changed somewhat over the years, I do love to hear that accent genuinely spoken.  It's somehow comforting when lovely memories of childhood days come flooding back to my mind.

Dishing up a meal to some of Muhu's inhabitants

This week the adventures of The Hairy Bikers took them through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  Having visited friends in Latvia about 4 years ago, I was interested to see what they showed and cooked.  It was all very interesting but the thing that really caught my attention was when they went to Estonia (sorry Jo and Ian - my friends in Latvia)  They went to the island of Muhu off the Estonian coast and thought that one of the restaurants must have a difficult time obtaining all the ingredients that they would need to make a first class meal.  As it happened, the chef showed them how they gathered wild sea kale and other herbs and ingredients that were growing wild virtually on their doorstep.  Along with fish freshly caught by a friend from the waters surrounding the island, they served up a delicious meal using only the things that were round about them.

Wise words from Arthur Ashe

How often we spend time wishing for this or that without noticing the richness that we have on our own doorstep.  It's so true that often visitors will tell us of things they have seen that we barely notice because it is so familiar and to us seems nothing special.  On a spiritual level we so often say that if we were like so-and-so or had such-and-such a talent we could do great things for God.  I am reminded of when God called Moses and he kept making excuses for not going to Egypt.  God''s reply was simply, 'What have you got in your hand?'  With the staff in his hand, God showed Moses how powerful he is when we just give him what we have and are.  Many times Jesus told people just to go back home and tell others there what he had done.  It's not everyone whom God asks to leave everything and go to the ends of the earth (although for some he does ask this and for those they should do just that)  How often we think, when this happens or when I'm in a certain situation then I'll be able to do something for God.  Don't worry and wish your life away wishing you were something you're not.  He made you the unique person that you are and asks you to use just what you have.  Don't go looking and coveting what others have and do.  Be yourself, where you are.  The wise words of Arthur Ashe the great American tennis player come to mind - see picture on the left.