Serendipity

Wow. Two posts in one day... but I can't resist this one.

I also love it when things sort of slide together into place. An example.

To the left of my desk is a very large wall map. I glanced at it a few moments ago as the clouds cleared and a shaft of brilliant sunlight poured through the not quite drawn curtains and fell on the world at my elbow.

At the very same time, an email pinged into the inbox... from a friend... asking for prayer for a missionary family who may have to return to the UK if they can't find teachers very soon for the kids.

Of course, the couple in question work in... India....

So, an email about people I don't know, in a country I don't much think about, just as it's "highlighted" for me?

Co-incidence? Serendipity? A God moment? Anyone got a better name for these delightful little incidents that you feel should mean something...?

Maybe there was a reason! If you're reading this, and you can teach music, English, RE, art and PE to A level, get in touch, I know a place where they need you urgently.

Nyangye....

I love those soft, gracious posts where bloggers tell you what they can see from their window, what's on their mind and what they're wearing.

So it's my go.

Favourite lilac flannel shirt, teashirt (not a tee shirt - it wouldn't give clues as to what one had been drinking....) and half dead black sweatpants (I'm in my own study in an empty house and they're comfortable - get over it). On my mind... what do worms taste like? Y'see, there are lots of birds heaving themselves at the freshly tilled field across the road... clue to what's going on outside my window. Today's new word is "Nyangye" -the kind of air you can chew. Happens around this time of the year when the farmer is helping nature along by spraying the field with something not quite natural.. and within "chewing" range of my study window. Bleuchgh.

(birds cleverly disguised as dots....)

senior moments?

So after a hectic couple of weeks, it's nice to pop in and say hello again. (Confession, it was busy - but not THAT busy - I actually forgot who I was and couldn't bloomin' log in! There you go. A senior moment. Oooo that feels better now.)

Little visitor time and we were baking again.... yummy buns this time;

and braving the freezy breeze to hit the beach with nanny and granda;

Then it was time to sort out the rental house to make it easy for the nice inspector to give us five lovely red stars! Whooopeeee.... all that hard work rewarded!

Not so nice was spending hours in the A&E department of the Ulster Hospital with an elderly aunt who'd broken her wrist and was very confused. She's a little unsteady on her feet, so I wasn't quite sure how I'd get her to the car once she'd been plastered (paris of... not the other kind!!) but help came in the form of the hobbling angel and her hubby. Sorry for your trouble Ali, but very thankful for the help! The Lord works in mysterious ways.......

Back to work

Several thousand emails to sift through, a 2007 diary to dump, dusty post-its to bin, and a phone to re-programme. Names to remember, and emails to send. But the worst? 13 months,and 2 weeks and 1 day's worth of cracker crumbs and cream cheese smear to wash of a plate and a knife... I meant to call back into the office at the end of the afternoon session of the course, but there were obviously other things on my mind that day.

It's weird being back at work...

So it wasn't his priority after all!

I have to admit it, I was wrong. I was so sure President Obama was a man of his word. Despite his promise to prioritise the legislation to make it easier to kill babies, he clearly didn't have that as high up the list as bankrolling other people to do the job, not just in the USA but in many developing countries. If you missed the news, he lifted a ban on providing federal funding to foreign family planning organisations that facilitate abortions. Shame on him.

Add that to today's news from Belguim where another man went crazy with a knife among the babies and toddlers in a creche, killing two little ones, an adult and injuring another 10 children and 2 adults to the extent they all needed surgery and you have to ask what's going on.

These stories hit the headlines today. Yet while our focus is directed towards them, we shouldn't forget the many children in other places who also endure pain, neglect and abuse at the hands of those who should protect them.

If ever our most vulnerable needed saturated in prayer, it's now.

A new era.. with freedom of choice on the way

This week, all the stops were pulled to help two newborn British children survive. You can read the story here, but in brief, their mother went into labour 10 or 11 weeks early and in snowy, windy conditions, the nation's best went into action to bring them from the Isle of Lewis to a hospital in Glasgow and to care for them. Everything possible is being done to help the little girl and boy survive.
Tonight, our American friends have a new leader. He'll have many tough decisions to make over the next four years but at least one pre-election promise needs re-thought.
While doctors in Scotland "care for" these little ones, doctors in other clinics continue to "take care of" other babies.... in a very different way. President Obama has said that making it easier to kill babies is one of his priorities.... ok, maybe he didn't word it that way, but watch the video clips yourself and tell me how you read it. To clarify, when "choice" is mentioned in the clips, they're talking about a women's right to choose whether her unborn baby should live or be killed. The "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) President Obama's going to make his priority, will make abortion much more available and with fewer rules.

The Soggy Bottom folk

Awoke to a house that felt like a refugee camp - beds, bodies and "make do" everywhere. Lovely - just the way I like it. I escaped to play for a panto rehearsal (Oh no you didn't, oh yes I did) and that was short but sweet.

Now, when the forecast says "gale force winds and driving rain" and gives a "stong weather alert", you'd think sane adults would have more sense than to sit in the middle of it all, outdoors, watching 31 men hurtle round a field trying to stay warm. So I was reassured when Ali and Anon's other half said... the wind will get us, but not the rain...we won't get wet in our seats, never get wet there.... never in all these years. Except today.

Dreepin' ringing soaking puddle-bums the five of us were... like there was no roof over our heads. I've never really seen such persistant horizontal rain before, nor have I seen players take shelter behind the padded bit of the poley things (technical term), but hey! A good result. Well done Ali and co for ... re-enthusing me re rugby. I'll be back.... especially if Ulster keep winning ;0) Next time I bring a hip flask.

Now... cranium is planned at number 6. Hope they have the fire lit!

Things are looking up!

It's howling with a gale outside and there's piddly rain too, but it's a good day. Here's why:

I got a big fat pink "good news - everything looks good" from an assortment of doctors this week. I'm now officially over the first year bump. Clear skies ahead! Thanks everyone who supported me over the year with fun stuff, kindness, love and prayers. You made a difference.

I'm doing sugarcraft again - one wedding cake on the books already for the spring - happy days! That means I might have a few more to add to my album!

My camera issues are now sorted! The credit card statement arrived this morning to show a full refund from the company since they couldn't return my camera to me! Happy happy days and my faith in the decency of small businesses is now restored. More nice shots from around our coastline on the way! (This one's from Donaghadee.)

There's a full house this weekend - everyone above plus Grace - all coming for a big fat sleepover. Yeay!

How much more happiness can a girl take?!

Very unusual birthday present!

My just-turned-10 God-Daughter number 2 (hereafter GD2) had an unusal birthday present this month - a Hampshire ewe and two lambs! Goes without saying almost that the l'il guy adored them - he blew a raspberry everytime the ewe "huff puffed" at not having her lamb right beside her - very funny. Pic shows GD2, her sister and the l'il guy. A cold, but very happy day!

New Year's Honours....

Hooooey - I've just been given an award. The Lemonade Award.

Yeah I know, anyone who knows me is laughing hysterically at the very idea of my name on "the" new year's honours list! (Not exactly the strongest supporter of HRH and the old "honours" system... but hey, this one a-peel-ed to me!) Thanks Ali - undeserved as it is - this one doesn't give me the pip! In fact, coming as it did from Dana to Ali to me, I'm chuffed to wee bits. Thanks girls. I'm "honoured".

No big sticks!

Hi, new day in the diary, so "happy new day". I prefer that to "happy new year". It doesn't seem so daunting or set up for failure if you get my drift. No big sticks to beat myself up with.

I don't "new year resolutions" - somehow when the lose weight/get fit/become frugal/walk more/be kinder/pray more/study more/stop kicking cats/quit-drowning-slugs-in-booze routine falls by the wayside (by day 3), it sort of knocks the head of steam out of you a little. Having a "new day, fresh start" thing going, gives you a regular chance to start afresh.

So with that in mind, the "not eating any sweets" goal (which lasted 6 hours) can kick in again tomorrow can't it? And it'll not do any more harm to just finish the box of jellies. It's not all gloom though - the "walk more" got started ok. I walked to the car. And in again. Does that count?

"Find someone with a pulse to play backgammon with" is the next goal - s'got to be more fun than beating a computer .

happy Christ mas everyone!

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given...

Breathtaking isn't it? And how big a contrast with the nonsense and noise all around us.

I hope whoever you are, the wonder of the greatest gift reaches your heart this Christmas. The gift was a baby, born in the poverty of a stable. Years later, as a man, he allowed himself to be sacrificed for us, then rose from the dead and now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords... welcome him, get to know him, and the joy of this season will last all year round.

You can read his story here. Happy Christmas!

aargghh...

My mememememe as requested by Ali, who's going to promise never to do this again to me!!!!!!  (Hear me do ya?)  But in the spirit of the season...  good wils an all that jazz:
8 TV shows I watch (if this is my editor reading this... it's being ghost written by a non-BBC employee on my behalf.  Clue - IT'S WHY I DO RADIO.........)

1. the News, and uh....
2. the News on another day and so on.  (In fact, I might "see" the news maybe once or twice a month.)
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. 
   

8 favourite restaurants:

1. 1608 in Bushmills.
2. The Bushmills Inn.
3. Pier 36 in Donaghadee.
4. Amazing 66 in New York.
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. 
   

8 things that happened to me today:

1. a friend from work called to visit
2. we struggled our way through half portions of Christmas dinner in the local greasy spoon at lunchtime... a rehearsal for Thursday
3. I shopped.  On a Sunday.  Waiting for the lightening... but it was for antibiotics from the pharmacy, so maybe that's ok?
4. we were so early for the "candles by carol-light" at church, I had time for a little doze before the service started.  Am hoping anyone who noticed assumed I was deep in prayer. 
5. I started to make fudge at 1145pm.
6. The fudge took a while so I made cranberry confit to go with the Christmas turkey. 
7. When the fudge and the confit were ready, I stuffed dates.  I hear you.  Life's too short.
8. I made the mistake of opening my emails and having a blog wander before bed.  It's now 1.38am.

8 things I look forward to:

1. bed!
2. having "the l'il guy" here all day tomorrow
3. finishing the quilts I'm making for Christmas
4. (sort of...) going back to work in the middle of January
5. curling up with a book and a toasty fire
6. the Good Book club
7. book and pudding circle
8. catching up with friends home for Christmas

8 things I wish for:

1. a clean bill of health for all my friends and family in a season of bugs
2. Christmas day... with the family all here
3. Boxing day... with the rest of the family all here
4. the day after... with nobody all here!
5. a cure for cancer, and in the meantime, a way to treat it that doesn't feel worse than the disease
6. a vegetable garden that isn't full of clay and doesn't get blasted by salty sea winds
7. everyone in the world to have a roof over their head, food in their belly, clean water to drink, and the warmth of friends and family in their lives
8. for Maddy and all the missing children to be found safe and well and be returned to their loved ones and for the sickos that abducted them to find their dangly bits shrivel up and turn to ash at the stroke of midnight.

8 people I tag:

1. None - my new year's resolution getting early exercise. 

Yeay.  All done.

...it was a return ticket!

Lol - I think I forgot I had a blog. Cheers Ali and Anon for the reminder.

Yes, I came home from the States... but not until I'd had a blast. A couple of trips to New York (cheers for driving Michael) and a trip to Philadelphia (you too Salim!) and the gaps were filled in with visits to shops, soccer games (YES - ME!) but only because Luke was playing.... and a record three birthdays!

Tata - the great-grandmother was 100 - what a dame! John - the dad was 70, and I was .... uh, old enough to forget my age, and anyway, my birthday was really the day after I got home, but heck, who'd turn down a birthday cake!! And to ice the cake of indulgence, I discovered the joy of silk underwear. No more to be said. Mmmmm.




I'd plans to visit other friends and wander about a bit, but the old energy levels were low when I arrived, so I just decided to stay put... and knit. (Got that scarf finished yet Ebbs?!)

So it's geeky, but I got to visit a little wool nook in Soho (The Purl Bee) having browsed the website loads... if your a wooly type - I recommend it, and the quilting shop they own - it's a handful of shops up the street. If you're in the area, wander down a few yards to "Once Upon a Tart" - their chocolate and pear offering with a glass of fresh lemonade is worth it. "Amazing 66" in Mott Street did the job for lunch in Chinatown - best sesame chicken ever...



Now then, for serious quilters - if you're ever near Kutztown PA- the Wooden Bridge Dry Goods store is well worth a visit. They managed almost singlehandedly to double the weight of my luggage on the way home. I had nothing to do with it - bolts of fabric just jumped into my trolley and unwound themselves round my credit card.

Life will be quieter now in Forks Township now I'm back home. I suspect some of the local stores have noticed the drop in takings. Salim will have less grief and no one to argue back! Jennifer won't have to buy as many teabags. Ebby's fabulous choc chip cookies will last for longer. Coley, Luke and the dog will welcome the end of the endless yackering and Hannah will have one less "pupil" to "teach" when she's playing school. But heck, I miss them. Return match soon?!

Salim, Ebbs, Hannah, Jen, Nicole, Luke.

The Gang on an NY visit: Freezing cold on the eighty-somthingth floor of the Empire State building - minus something and very, very cold.

So, some snaps - not many, as my camera is STILL not back from the repair shop after NINE WEEKS! I am so unamused I can't say.... had the old one with me.

And home to the viral Gallop and Gulp that seems to be sweeping the nation... yeurchhhh, and sympathies to anyone else who caught it - have horrible images of the half of Ireland sitting on the loo with a bucket on their knee....

I'm in heaven...tra..la

Ok, the title's a lie, I'm really in Pennsylvania, but hey, if you know how much I love drinking tea and visiting quilt shops, you'll get the drift and let me tell you, it's been great since the moment I stepped on the plane!  

Yes I know, I moaned the whole way home from Spain, and grumped most of the flight from Portugal but I had SPACE this time.  Two whole big fat empty seats beside me which meant I could kip whenever I felt so inclined. Yeah!  And to satisfy the geeky bit, I taught myself backgammon on the touch screen do-dah in front of me and got even with the computer, (after about 20 games... I'm a slow learner).

And now, I'm in temporary residence with my friend and her family.  Jen and I have known each other since we were in single digits when she started visiting her grandmother in Northern Ireland, and we've been the best of chums ever since.  I love being here and catching up and enjoying the fun and endless tea with her, her Lebanese husband and four children (20, 15, 13, 5). 

For a news junkie though, (professionally speaking of course) I had a famine through the start of the week so have had to sneaky peek at the web to find out The Results. (Thanks BBC News team - keep it up guys!)  The camp under this roof is somewhat divided (an Irish/Lebanese split) so we don't talk about it ;o)

The perfect Autumn Sunday...

...is a happy mix of 3 year old enthusiasm at Sunday school, a wander round the harbour with the li'l guy on his new trike (not too close to the water and then off to run at the lazier seagulls on the ground), a late roast dinner with a table load of family and friends, warm amaretti pears for desert (yummy) then a rehearsal of nursery rhymes round the piano, all against the background of a warm, sunny autumn day.

Today's most heartwarming moments? The spontaneous "thank you" prayers from the kids this morning and the li'l guy this evening... thank you God for trees, for butterflies, for food and for family. The amusement of a mini haircut... for the 2 year old li'l guy in his mum's arms while granny distracted him with bubbles - I'm thankful I didn't cut his ear off!

Tomorrow's a last minute shop, tree plant and pack. I'm off to the USA early Tuesday morning - interesting day to arrive huh!

Air getting in maybe?

It was raining, so maybe her brain rusted.... or maybe this afternoon's strong winds blew the wit out of her.... but in the space of an hour or so;

"there's only spaghetti... but it's the pasta sort of spaghetti". (Rather than the... what kind?!)

"Are those the cutting kind of scissors?" (yes... I left the "weave-the-fabric-back-together" scissors at home.)

"you're so slow... are you writing an epiphany?" (.....??? you really couldn't fake it could you?)

and the slightly more obscure one; "now, he wasn't a cow or anything... he was a man, but he said he was a fresian and he lived on food he found in bins." (Uh... would that be a freegan? Nearly crashed the car laughing at that one.)

Good news for Northern Ireland

Ok. Indulge me, I'm climbing on the soapbox. . .

Abortion is a hot issue on both sides of the pond, but it's getting hotter closer to home. Britain's "Pro Choice" supporters have been yakking it up that women in Northern Ireland are "second class citizens" because abortion here is illegal, except in exceptional medical circumstances, such as when the mother's health is at risk.

So they're raising their game in the hope of making abortion legal here. I doubt that they ever seriously thought they'd get through the hoops this time, and suspect they're ground stomping to lay a path for the future. The vast majority of people in NI don't want abortion on demand legalised here - but since London still has the final say so on some of our lawmaking, the "pro-choice" "anti-life-ers" figured they could over-rule what the majority think and push for the extension. How democratic. The subject never got aired because the schedules got fiddled and it'll take a while before it's raised again.

Now here's the thing. I don't feel like a second class citizen. If anything, I'm relieved that I live in a country where human life is still valued. I'm sorry, deeply sorry for all the women who find themselves with an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy. Whatever circumstances led to it, you have my sympathy if it's not where you want to be right now in your life. But you know the saying about two wrongs never making a right? Every action has a consequence and in your heart of hearts, you know that you need to do the right thing rather than the apparently easy thing. And don't be fooled, it's not the "quick fix" you want it to be.

So to the Diane Abbots and Evan Harrises of the world.... and the poor misguided souls in the "Alliance for choice" group in NI; you might just pause and reflect for a moment on the FACT that women in Northern Ireland DO have choices.....

• we can choose to educate our young women to value themselves,
• we can choose chastity outside of marriage,
• we can choose not to have unprotected sex,
• we can choose not to get out of our minds on booze or drugs so we're still capable of making wise decisions,
• we can choose to get ourselves medically seen to if we don't trust ourselves to make wise decisions,
• we can choose to remember that actions have consequences!
• we can choose to give our unwanted children to responsible adults who'll love them and care for them.

Boy do we have choices!

Northern Ireland's had enough slaughter in it's past for us to be sure we don't want it in our future. But here's the thing. The champions of "convenience" are not going to give up easily, so helmets on chums, there's a battle ahead!

Big day for a little person!

Today, we had a birthday in the family. A special birthday because 2 is a very special age to be.

It's when your cousins and grandas and grannys and aunties and uncles all come to visit and home becomes happy bedlam.

It's when a guy gets so many cards and gifts, he just has to cosy up in his new blanket for a few minutes just to take it all in.

It's when you get a "2"cake with Mr Tumble and lots of stars on it because you love stars... and the whole thing has so much sugar you'll fly round the ceiling for a week!

It's when YOU get first blow at the candles, and start the singing of "for he's a jolly good fellow" and get everyone hip hip hooraying because you're such a happy chappy and you love a party.

It's when there's so much going on, you're happy to share your things with younger cousins!

"What a shame you can't buy
tokens of time, save them up
and lengthen the good days
.......
days you wish would last forever."

("Days" by Brian Moses)


Happy birthday little guy and many, many more "good days".

And the total is.... (drum roll please...)

a staggering, breathtaking £3,500.

For coffee. Oh, and tea.

Isn't that a humdinger! I never honestly believed we'd get anywhere close to that - but heck, we did and listen up people: WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE. If you were part of it all, then I hope you feel a wee glow of satisfaction, because you done good!

And I'm also delighted that we have been fruitful too... and seeded the idea. Ali's next where she and the family are growing their own little Call for a Cuppa day in a couple of weeks time. YEAY!

(lol - just looked at Ali's blog.... maybe anyone from across the pond should sit down before checking it out!)