kaleidoscope

Through facebook I was aware that one of my 'friends' was going to be on BBC1's 'The Big Question' discussing the problem of alcohol.
Martin's Dad occasionally preached at the church where I spent my early adult life and we were enthralled at the amazing work that was being done in Kingston. There was always an open invitation to visit and have a meal in their cafe with its big red aga and expresso machine.
But Eric always emphasised that no-one should think that they could copy their work but that each church had to work out for themselves the work that God wanted them to do.
Over the years friendships were established and when I had my call to the ministry, it was suggested that the call should be tested by putting me on the reception desk to help dispense Methadone. Some of my shifts were during the day, sometimes in the evening but often I would start at 11pm by locking the gates, logging off the computer for the day and then clean the reception area which meant mopping down the floor and cleaning the loo! Eventually I would get my head down and be woken by my alarm in time to wash and dress, get the computer up and running for the day and unlock the gates ready to welcome the first clients of the day at 7am. These were often well dressed men and women who would then commute to London.
Very occasionally a client would get chatting asking me why I was there, and although I was rather wary of telling them, they were always delighted and would tell me about their faith. But sometimes they would let slip a little about their lives which left me thinking... what would I have done? how would I have coped? I learnt that very important lesson about never judging someone else, especially if it is very unlikely that one would ever have to walk a mile in their shoes.

I went to the doctor's and now I have a cold!

Each year I have a general check up for both my asthma and diabetes which fortunately and with a lot of will power, I manage to keep under control. But unfortunately a few days later I started sneezing and blowing my nose. By Tuesday I felt washed out and have spent most of the week taking it very easy.
Then this morning we saw the weather forecast predicting snow overnight and for most of tomorrow! and we thought we should do the weekly shop today before we are likely to get snowed in, although we do realise that the forecast could be wrong!
So this afternoon I'm back on the sofa with my feet up and a blanket over my legs but I have been reminded of my recent session at college where we have been looking at self awareness, concentrating on being aware of our bodies.
As other blogging friends know very well, it is when we are confronted with a serious illness that we take far more notice of our bodies, because if we are unaware or work through pain or stress our bodies can become quite unwell.
In Psalm 139 we are reminded that our bodies, all the delicate and inner parts were knitted together in our mother's womb by God. And so it is up to us to take great care of our bodies and not to abuse them.
And as someone who loves knitting, I love the idea that God picked up knitting needles and made me!

fancy meeting you here!

Back in the late 70s, I was asked by our minister if I would help out with the young people. Some years previously, the churches in the centre of our town in South London suburbia had agreed to work together to eventually become one church by 1980, and the youth group was where all the young people from all the four churches met each Sunday evening. Sadly, one of the churches eventually voted against the agreement, but the youth group carried on.
I have kept in touch with some of the group; previously with the swapping of Christmas cards but more recently with the aid of facebook.
Last Saturday I was shopping in our local supermarket in South Wales when I saw a familiar figure - a tall, fair haired lady who looked just like one of the youth group. I did a quick calculation and thought; "well she looks like Kate but does she look as if she is in her late forties?" the answer was "no!". But I couldn't get the idea out of my mind and kept looking at this lady through the various isles. I then saw that she was with two other ladies, one about the same age with darker hair - that clinched it, because Kate's sister had dark hair.
This was so strange that I could not concentrate on my shopping and I left hubby with the trolley and approached the dark haired lady as the other two had now walked away.
What was her name? I remember some confusion when her then boyfriend had ordered a cake for her 18th birthday and the person who iced the cake got her name wrong.
"Excuse me, is your name Julie?" "Judith" she replied - so I had got it wrong too!
I introduced myself, and it seems I have changed in the last 34 years! Gradually, Judy recognised me and called Kate back "Look it's Sue from Teens!".
Kate had seen us chatting and thought it typical that Judy having come from South London for a visit should bump into someone she knew!
Although I have been living here for five years, Kate has lived here for the last twenty years, while the minister mentioned above has lived in Wales for nearly thirty years and another member of the youth group also moved to Wales many years ago, and I will be seeing her this coming weekend, something I haven't got around to before!

is it really worth it?

I see that Easter eggs are appearing on the shelves! 
I don't think I had hit my teens when I realised that they were rather expensive for the amount of chocolate that they contained - so I asked my Mum and Dad if I could have a large bar of plain chocolate instead - even now it is difficult to buy a plain chocolate Easter egg!
Then the following November, I asked if I could have chocolate instead of fireworks - again they seemed so expensive and were often a dismal failure - a few seconds of sparkle in exchange for a lot of money!
It seems that I am unusual - but I wonder how many other people find the millions of pounds spent on a ten minute display at the beginning of the year, rather distasteful in this economic climate. 
Where does the money come from?
And how many more millions - no billions are going to be spent on the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympics? I love the procession of those taking part but isn't the rest of it us just showing off? but please don't burn all that money on fireworks! 
And before that there will be the Queen's Jubilee? I know that many people will be doing something special to celebrate the event but do we really need yet more fireworks!

Happy New Year!

We all say it, but life isn't all happiness and the first Christmas wasn't all singing, presents and gurgling babies either! It was very quickly followed by a jealous king killing all the boys under the age of two. So our service yesterday was a bit down-beat, remembering all those who still grieve for their children killed through war, accidents and disease.
But we also have many things for which we gave thanks. We welcomed two new deacons who are long standing members of the chapel and are now in a position to give more time to the fellowship.
And we also introduced to the congregation our new lectern.

We are very fortunate that the husband of one of our members is a very gifted carpenter who specialises in church furniture. We wanted a lectern that would fit in with the woodwork of the chapel and could be adjusted for people of different height and for those who are a bit unsteady on their feet and would prefer to sit to read. The top is also adjustable for those who prefer a different angle! 
I asked if we could have a celtic cross carved into it.

We are so very happy with the finished result! It is brand new but looks so at home in our 174 year old chapel. Thank you Jeremy!

busy doing nothing

The calendar looks very strange for this week - there is nothing written in for the whole week. Each morning I wake up and can decide what I will do that day - so it has been a week of doing things that have been left for months - no... years, waiting for some spare time.
When we moved in, two and a half years ago, curtains were hung up but in most cases they were too long. The curtains in the bedroom were floor length, which is no good if the radiator is under the window - so for the last two winters, each evening when the curtains were drawn the spare fabric was stuffed onto the window cill. They now end just below the cill and I shall save the spare fabric to recover our matching cushions - one day!
This morning I decided to shorten the bathroom curtains which were originally in my study when we lived up north. They are made in the William Morris design 'Strawberry Thief'. 
Many of our curtains are made in William Morris designs which is mainly due to my school days. The school consisted of three large Victorian houses in twenty-six acres of grounds.
Two of the houses were then joined together by the 'New Building'. One of these houses was originally owned by Mr Sanderson of wallpaper fame who was friends with Mr Morris and the whole school was decorated with Sanderson/Morris wallpaper with a piece of original wallpaper underneath the glass top of the 6th form table in the library. As a first year I remember looking longingly at the table thinking that it would be years before I would be able to sit there. But the day did come and although I cannot be certain, the design may have been 'Iris', the same as the bedroom curtains.
No photos of the bathroom yet - still work to be done but the end does seem to be in sight!

Happy Christmas

Our Christmas Day services always start an hour earlier and folk like it to be short! and I'm quite happy to oblige. There was a slightly larger than usual congregation and the singing was superb - but then we are in Wales. There were no children with their already opened presents - but a few of the grown-ups told us what they had received. One lady was brave enough to tell us that her grandchildren had given her some anti-aging cream!  
We celebrated Christmas on Friday with some of the family, so today we had 'left-overs' for lunch. Cooking a large meal for more than just the two of us seemed to slow the oven down and I always find it difficult to make sure that everything is cooked at the same time. But today was a far more calmer event and although we both enjoyed Friday's meal, today's seemed even more tastier!
So what will I be doing for the rest of the day? Well after the recent visit to the Chapel by the local school - the teacher saw that we collected stamps for BMS (the Baptist Missionary Society) and has kindly donated a huge amount of stamps to us - and so I will be sitting trimming off the excess envelop from around the stamps. I've already spent several hours doing this but it keeps me quiet and out of mischief!