January 2011

I'm not really prone to making New Year's Resolutions...after a few weeks they don't mean anything anymore. Nevertheless, this January marks the beginning of a new me! I have over 100 lb to lose, and have started off well, losing 10.6 lb in just 3 weeks! I'd post a photograph of me now, but I simply can't abide to look at me! I'll wait until I'm positively anorexic before I post 'before' and 'after' photographs!! I have a semblance of pride left in me!! I have joined Weight Watchers (yet again!), but this time I have a few friends who joined with me, which makes for great support.
Hurray for new beginnings!

Remembering Christmas Eves Past!

A long time ago, when my children were quite small, too small to notice such things even, I would sit up all night on Christmas Eve wrapping everything in tissue paper that was destined for their stockings. At the bottom of each stocking, (which, by the way, I had knitted for them when they were babies), was a tangerine or clementine, a walnut, and a handful of chocolate coins. I made tissue~bags full of M&Ms: 6 green ones for Hannah, 6 green ones for Emi, and 6 green ones for Soe. Then I'd start on another colour, dishing out the exact amount of each colour...to be fair! I was quite mad! There were wind~up toys for the bath, Hello Kitty pencils and paper and envelopes and toothbrushes and coloured pencils and combs. Hello Kitty stuff was a hot item in the stockings! They all had exactly the same in each of their stockings, so careful was I that one wouldn't think that they had been out~stockinged by her sister. After they were all stuffed, around 4:30 in the morning, I would oh so carefully lay them at the foot of their beds, remembering that wonderful feeling, years before, of the weight of the filled stockings across the foot of our beds at Marston Magna! Tiptoeing everso quietly, I found my cozy bed, where my slumbering best friend lay, quite oblivious to all the hard work that had gone into this annual affair! But alas, no sooner had my exhausted head snuggled up into the soft pillows, 'twas then that the pattering of little feet came running, accompanied by squeals of joy: "He's been! He's been! Wake up, come on, wake up!!" .... My girls are grown now. Sapphie is going to be 2 the day after Christmas, and her little brother or sister will be here in early February. My 3 girls have so much to look forward to! Pattering feet on Christmas Day in the morning!

Leweston Manor - 1958-1963

A long time ago, when I was quite new, I went to school and lived at Leweston Manor, a convent in the North Dorset rolling countryside. I wasn't an ardent scholar, let's face it, and the smell of the chemistry lab determined that I would never excel in the sciences. I have recently been reminded that I would often feign collapse at the beginning of any class in the chemistry lab to get out of the class! My fervent interests lay in reading about the Elizabethan Voyages, Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, art, and needlework. I enjoyed Ancient History, Algebra, Geometry and Latin. My piano lessons were a delight. Mrs. Likeman was a true saint! On those days when she just knew that I hadn't adequately practiced my scales and arpeggios, she'd whisk me off to her cottage and we'd make toffee, or draw pictures of her rose-covered cottage in Long Burton! When I first went to Leweston we slept in a dormitory of about 12. Mother Margaret Mary's cubicle was in the corner of the room, and it was always a great mystery to us what it must be like behind the locked door. Anne Fuller decided it for us, and threw my teddybear over the high cubicle wall! I had to retrieve old Ted, so with the aid of many helping hands I managed to 'hup!' my way up and over. Unfortunately, for the crucifix, which was lying just so on her pillow, when I jumped down onto her bed, it went flying, and landed in more than a few pieces on the floor! I gathered up old Ted and threw him back over the wall, then gathered up the scattered cross, and poor Jesus, Who had fallen off, and replaced them lovingly and carefully on Mother's bed. Then clambering up onto the bedstead, and taking one last look into this immaculate, private world of a young nun, I 'Western rolled' it out of there! I was an instant heroine! The bar had been set, and from that day on, if there was a dare to be given, it always fell in my lap! One of the more pleasant challenges was to sneak into the huge walled fruit garden and pick large amounts of redcurrants for the huddled masses on the other side of the wrought iron gate...it wasn't locked, simply 'out of bounds'. Hmm, in reflection: was I, indeed, the heroine they made me to be, or actually, their slave?!! No matter...when I think back on Leweston Days, there are only smiles in my soul!

How To Blow Bubbles!

LESSON ONE: Sit quietly and calm your soul. Raise loaded bubble-maker to within an inch or two of your lips and blow gently, but with determination.

LESSON TWO: In the event that Lesson One doesn't produce any bubbles, shift position slightly, and repeat Lesson One, eliminating the 'calm your soul' and 'gently' directions.

Okay, Auntie Hannah, now you try!

20 years shepherding the flock!

There are 20 blossoms in this gorgeous bunch of roses, each one representing a year, as we celebrated 20 years of ministry in Newport yesterday. An overwhelming amount of love and effort went into the day: the kitchen crew came early on Saturday to prepare for this barbeque extravaganza. The chaps busied themselves around the 3 huge grills showing off their well-practiced barbequeing skills! Hundreds of people came: even from Holland, Scotland and the Philippines!! My poor chickens became extremely anxious while the barbequeing was going on, and held a little prayer meeting, praying fervently to their Maker that we wouldn't run out of chicken before the day was through!! I had to keep going back to them to reassure them of their safety! Thank you, Newport Church Family, for your unprecedented show of appreciation and love toward us...we love you dearly!

Reveries

Take me down to the sea again,

To the crashing, spewing foam.

We'll spend happy days by the sea, my dear,

Then wend our way back home.

June 2008/August 2010

Old friends

Isn't it extraordinary that true friends can just pick up after 45 years, and it's as if you just blinked your eyes...?

Here is a picture of Cizzy and Sal after a lapse of 45 years, enjoying a week in the sun, catching up on each others' news, remembering when...Cizzy flew all the way to Florida from England, so important was it that we spend some time with each other.

I feel renewed, and inspired by her visit...I MUST find more friends!