HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!

WHEREVER YOU ARE, AND WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING FOR CHRISTMAS, I WISH YOU A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN 2009.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given......"

Isaiah 9:6

A quiet place

The other afternoon I was at the local hospital, visiting a friend from Church. It was incredibly busy everywhere, lots of people and lots of noise. Even the ward was, somehow, a hive of activity with lots of coming and going. My friend walked me to the ward-door at the end of visiting time and, as I waved goodbye to her, I realised that everywhere was still crowded, hot and noisy. As is my habit when visiting someone in hospital, I made my way to the Hospital Chapel and sat down to pray. I revelled in the total peace and absolute quiet. Then, slowly, it dawned on me that I would actually have preferred to find the Chapel as busy as everywhere else - rather than being the only place in the hospital that afternoon that was empty and quiet ............

Grumpy Old Woman

It's been a while since I posted anything. Truth is that I'm currently trying to keep lots of plates spinning and this has made me tired and grumpy. Some of this is justified - namely the poor service that I have received from a couple of suppliers - gas and telephone. Shall I name them? Shall I tell the reasons? Maybe not - to go over it all again will only make me even more grumpy.

However, I am horrified at the cavalier attitude of some companies toward their customers. Do they not care that they may lose custom? In today's economic climate should they not be doing absolutely everything they can to keep their customers? If it's not their attitude, then it must be sheer inefficiency, and this makes a joke of the large salaries that their 'management' command. I sometimes feel - call me old-fashioned - that so called progress is sometimes rather cold and faceless.

A photo or two...

..... one photo of my younger daughter and my grandson, patiently waiting for the bride! One of my elder daughter (centre) with two of my nieces. And two photos of my four nieces learning ceilidh dances!

And now for the good news 2 !

I recently attended my nephew's wedding, which came just six weeks after the wedding of my niece. How lovely to celebrate good things! Another lovely day, and such a pleasure to be able to spend time in the company of all my family.

Here's my nephew with his lovely wife, and my sister and brother-in-law.

And now for the good news ......

Last weekend I travelled to Lancashire to attend the wedding of my niece, Chloe, my late brother's daughter. A lovely day, and I enjoyed spending the weekend in the company of my two sisters, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law.

TASHA

Our lovely Tasha was put to sleep by the Vet 10 days ago. Her quality of life was deteriorating fast and it became obvious that this was the kindest thing for her. We enjoyed her company for over fourteen years, so we are going to miss her a lot...............

If you can't say anything nice ......

That is it! Finally got to give vent to my feelings! I'm fed-up of people 'having a go' at people. At the moment the media are particularly bad - they suddenly seem to be having pops at people who have done them no harm at all. What happened to the phrase "If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all."?

I can understand why some people are targeted but totally perplexed as to why U2 should be the latest addition to the long list of those who are used as the brunt of a cheap laugh.

Who do you think is an undeserving target?

QUOTE

"I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive." HENRY MILLER

Pride

...... caught a bit of "Britain's Got Talent Tonight" and there were some very talented young people performing. Their parents were talking about how proud they are of them, quite rightly, and that made me think. I'm proud of our children too. I'm proud of Sarah because she copes, most of the time, with her disabilities with a smile. I'm proud of Catriona because, despite panic attacks, she has achieved so much. I'm proud of Nathan because, although he left school early, he has worked his way up to a manager's post. There are many other reasons that I'm proud of them - but I think they are the people I should be saying this to, so I will!

Photos of Brazil

A wee rant

As mentioned in my last posting, Joe and I have just returned from a holiday in Brazil - amazing, fascinating, and we had opportunity to rest. However, at church this morning I was chatting to folk who asked for my impressions and (like so many other countries that I have visited) my overall impression is one of overwhelming contrast between the very rich and the very poor.

I just feel so dreadfully frustrated that there is so much wealth in the world - and so much poverty. I could jump up and down screaming with the injustice of it all!!! Yet, that is tinged with the guilt of being able to go to another part of the world on holiday .........

I know that many others must feel the same. But, what can we do? Can we do anything?

We're home.

Home - always good to be home, no matter how great a holiday. We had some adventures in Brazil, some brilliant experiences, and I'm going to attempt to put some advice/suggestions on Trip Advisor.
What did we miss while we were away? Joe missed a decent cup of tea - tea, as we know it, could not be found! I missed people. What do we miss about Brazil? The warmth and being right beside the sea.
I'll post some photos soon.

Nostalgia

I'm going away on holiday soon. We're going to Brazil and looking forward to exploring - but after we've had a rest!

For some reason I've been thinking of my holidays when I was a child. They were all spent with my maternal grandparents in a small fishing village on the north-east coast of Scotland. They owned the village's general store, Post Office, bakery, haberdashers, etc - the shop sold everything! I can still remember the smell of newly-dug potatoes, in sacks leaning against the food counter, and the fabulous scent of newly baked bread. There were huge slabs of butter and cheese, which were cut with a long piece of wire, and biscuits were loose in tins and sugar measured into thick, dark blue bags. I can remember the 'bop, bop, bop' sound of Granda stamping the mail before it was collected by the Royal Mail van.

The house was huge and part of the same building, and the ground floor was rented out to a family. There were three bathrooms, all in a row, and three huge attic rooms which we children used as playrooms when the weather was bad - there were boxes of clothes, games and a huge brass bedstead in each room. From the windows you could see the beach and the sea at the bottom of the square and, twice a day, a herd of cows processed through the square on their way to milking. The garden at the back was massive and filled with every kind of vegetable, including curly kale, which fascinated me. There was a huge strawberry plot and a greenhouse with fragrant tomatoes and a vine twining along the roof.

Magical stuff! Although I loved being there all summer, I certainly didn't realise then just what an idyllic sort of time and place it was.

Quote

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Mother Teresa.

Family Update

I know that I haven't posted anything for ages, but I have been terribly busy and have also been unwell. I had one of those horrible headache, dizzy, nausea 'bugs'.

One of the reasons that I'm so busy is because Joe and I soon go on holiday to Salvador, Brazil. We are very much looking forward to the rest and relaxation, but will also explore the history of the area, and I wonder if there will be turtles on the beach! But there is much to do beforehand. Next weekend I go to Perth for my Christian Workers' Certificate Spring Study Day - these are good days but I'm a bit nervous about giving a ten minute presentation.

Our youngest grandson, Iain Joseph, had his first trip to A&E last weekend! He suddenly decided to do a somersault off the sofa, hurting his head, so his mum and dad decided to take no chances and drove to the hospital. Thankfully he is none the worse for his acrobatics!

Tasha, our lovely old cat, is not very well at all. She now has a bad heart and spends a lot of time sleeping. Tablets seem to help however, and she seems happy enough and is eating, which is always a good sign.

Reasons To Be Cheerful!

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend at Kilcreggan. I must admit that when I arrived I was feeling pretty frayed at the edges !!!! But, as always, God is good and within 24 hours of having arrived I was feeling rested. By the time we left I felt refreshed physically and spiritually. The house is lovely, the scenery gorgeous - Joe and I took a walk down to the waterfront on the Saturday afternoon (down an amazingly steep hill) - and even the weather was fantastic! The company was brilliant, the food good (and plentiful!) and my bed was right in a bay window overlooking the water - the sunrise on Sunday morning was very beautiful.

We shared times of fun, including a quiz-night and rolling eggs (and people) down a hill on Easter Sunday morning. We experienced a real sense of God's presence during worship and prayer and we soaked in His peace and were 'quietened by his love'. So much more than I can describe here!

As I said, we left on Monday after lunch and even the flurries of snow and the heavy traffic couldn't dampen our spirits! And as we approached home and the 'coming back down to earth with a bump', I looked around and was reminded yet again of what a beautiful part of the world I live in.

HAPPY EASTER!

I'll not be blogging for a few days as Joe and I are going to Kilcreggan House, along with lots of others from our Church, for the Easter weekend. I'm sure it is going to be very special.
I wish you a happy time over the Easter holiday!

Sunday Morning

I couldn’t sleep last night,
Or the two nights before,
Nothing is right,
I can’t take any more.

Friday was awful,
The worst day ever,
Dark and dreadful,
And filled with terror.

I saw no-one yesterday,
I sat and thought and cried,
I feel lost without my friend,
And wish it was me who died.

I wish it was Thursday again,
And we were eating supper in the room,
Instead I hide in this damp morning mist,
Watching women walk towards the tomb.


Sheena Conroy

Washday

Thought I'd share this wee photo - cheered me on this dreich day!

Computers!!!!!

I know I haven't blogged for ages, but there is good reason! Quite apart from being terribly busy, my computer has been totally unreliable.

It starts off fine, then I go away to have a meal or answer the 'phone or whatever and when I return, the screen is blank and nothing will bring it back. Only option is to switch the whole thing off. However, this leads to a process that can take anything up to 2 hours!

When I switch the computer on again it may, or may not, still have a blank screen - only alternative is to switch it off again. This switching on and off can need to be carried out any number of times. When eventually somethings shows on the screen, it is only the wallpaper, with no icons. Again totally useless, so I have to switch the computer off again. This sometimes leads back to the blank screen scenario............

After many attempts, success! A screen displaying icons! However, no connection to the Internet! Or, by way of a change, the keyboard is not working - so, everything is in place but it is not possible to key-in anything. A variation on this is the mouse not working.

Now, when everything is working, I'm reluctant to leave the computer at all because it may revert to the dreaded blank screen - and the whole process begins again! So, if I don't blog again in the near-future, you know why!

Image

Wildlife

Well, there I was at 1:00am, doing my usual locking-up..........................

Whilst checking the living room window, something over the road caught my eye - took me a moment or two to realise it was a fox! As casual as you like, walking down the pavement! I've seen foxes on the street when I was staying in Glasgow, but never expected to see one here. I can't imagine where it lives - it is so built-up, with very few green spaces to suit foxes.

However, he or she quite made my day!

Stop the world, I want to get off!

I feel a little world-weary. The news seems to be full of sad news - yet another shooting at an American college and, in the UK, a story of young people committing suicide. All so absolutely tragic, and my heart goes out to the parents, families and friends of all these young people. I wish I could do more than just pray for them.

In Britain we have the usual mix of political wrangling, religious misunderstandings and the (boring) ubiquitous cult of celebrity. In Scotland winter is dragging her heels - even though there are some signs of spring - and there's not even anything good on TV to divert us!

On a personal level, I am concerned for Sarah - she is a bit volatile at the moment, and has been suspended from College. There is no easy answer - we just have to wait until she becomes more stable and hope that, in the meantime, she does not loose too many of the things that both she and those who support her have worked so hard for. So, I pray for Sarah too.

Of course, my real problem is that I would just like to be able to 'fix' all these things, but I can't, so I pray - because I know a Man who can help!

And now for the good news ......

Spring is on it's way!

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Power!

I seem to be full of wee moans these days....... We have just received a letter from Scottish Gas saying that the cost of both gas and electricity is to increase by 15%. That's a lot. The company say that their costs have increased such a lot that they are having to pass on these costs to their consumers. Fair enough I suppose.

However, I'm curious to know what kind of profit the company is currently making and if they are paying-out to shareholders. It is difficult to find the extra money to pay these increased costs, so how are folk on a pension or suchlike coping?

images

Hurray!!!

I've finally submitted my latest (and late) assignment! I'm so relieved I had to share this with someone! Now for the next one, due all too soon. Why am I doing this?

Cholesterol

Feeling a bit miffed! I have to double the medication I take for high cholesterol. All seems very unfair - apart from the odd chocolate or piece of (half fat) cheese I eat very little fatty food. Ah well, I suppose it's all for my own good.

A short pause......

It's been a while since I posted anything, reason being that I'm soooo busy and will be writing an assignment for the next two days!

However, wanted to mention that Church was great this morning! Three people were Baptised, and there was a real sense of celebration. The Service was followed by a very delicious lunch!

Over the last couple of weeks I have had such a wonderful sense of the absolute 'wonder' of God. It's difficult to put into words. I pray that everyone can experience it!

When I was a child .....

When I was a child…..

Time moved very slowly
Summers were sunny
Sleep came easily
And there were no pains in my body.
My heart was undamaged
I trusted the world
Each new thing discovered
Each experience learned.
My mind was free
My spirit could fly
My dance was hope
And my song was joy.

As years passed by
The world pushed in
Trying to steal my joy
And imprison me.
Pain and sadness
Tried to drown me
And hopelessness
Rose up to engulf me.

Though the world has tempted
Bullied and scared me
Though I walk with a limp
And need glasses to see
Though time flies by
And I don’t always cope
My song is still joy
And my dance still hope.

SAC (January 2008)

QUOTE

"Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier."

ALBERT SCHWEITZER

SECURITY

If I had not been in this place
I would have missed so much.

I would not know the total assurance
That You are in control,
And my anxieties are wasted.

I would never have known
What it is to reach the end of everything,
To discover that it is just the beginning.

The relief of being at the very edge,
And find it holds no fear
Because that is where You are.

To have You help me
Stare terror up close,
And find it doesn’t have a face.

I would have only been able to guess
How much detail You control,
How You arrange all things for our good,
Even though we do not always know
That is what You are doing.

Now I am certain that You are with me,
Everywhere, all the time.
That I am Your child,
That I am in Your care,
That I am loved,
That I am safe.

(I wrote this poem in July 2002, on completion of follow-up treatment for cancer.)

Heros

As a wee bit of fun, have been doing some of those "which character are you?" quizzes. Got me thinking. Although I would love to be one of the amazing fictional characters (although maybe only for a wee while!) there are also some real people that I would like to emulate.

Elizabeth Barratt-Browning - for her poetry; Fi Glover or Sandi Toksvig - for their use of language and quick wit; Judith Chalmers - just to visit all the countries that she has!!; Jane Austen - oh to be able to write like that!; Jackie Pullinger - what an amazing woman with an amazing relationship with God! And, from the Bible - Joshua!

So. Who you would like to be? Especially which Bible character?

My News

I've had the 'flu - or something very like it! Feeling a bit better today so heading back to work tomorrow.

My Christmas holidays got off to a good start, meeting some of my friends for a meal. We had a great evening!










On Sunday 23rd we had a lovely Christmas Family Service at church and our Sarah was able to join us. In the evening a number of us from church joined some of our friends at a local housing association for a Carol Service.

Joe was working on Christmas Day and the family celebrating in their own homes - so Joe and I had a quiet Christmas dinner when he got home, and we spent time with the family later in the week. Our youngest grandson is now walking, which is keeping his mum on her toes!

Of course we also had snow, which is very pretty (when viewed from inside!)



Well, I wonder what 2008 has in store for us all? I pray that it is full of good things for everyone.

A NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
To anyone who reads this blog - I wish you all that's best for 2008.

I wonder what this year will bring? As usual for this time of year, I was thinking - reflecting on last year and pondering on my hopes for this new one. One of them is that I can grasp the pure joy of the fact that I have a relationship with God!!

Another is that I can find happiness in the simplest of things. I watched Michael Parkinson's final show - a compilation of his memorable interviews. Amongst them was a clip from 1980, of Larry Adler (on harmonica) and Itzhak Perlman (on violin) playing Summertime. At one point, Larry Adler smiled at Itzhak Perlman - and it was a smile of sheer enjoyment! What struck me was that he was smiling out of the sheer pleasure over the music that they were making. He was not smiling because he was being admired by Michael Parkinson, his guests, the studio audience and all those watching at home. He was not smiling because he was famous and rich. He was not smiling because he held centre-stage. He was smiling with the joy of making music with another great musician.

In this age of celebrity, and the desire of so many to be famous for the sake of being famous, I pray that we can all treasure the simple pleasures of life, most of which are found in God's creation - the natural world and people.