Suprise!!

On Wednesday I put the washing outside for the first time this year - I've never had a tumbledrier and during the winter, or in bad weather, washing is dried on a rack suspended on a pulley over the stairs. There is something about line-dried washing, especially sheets and duvet covers.

Today I decided to do a bit of gardening, clearing out the leaves and last years foliage from the front border. I enjoy gardening but find it hard work as bending down restricts my breathing but my knees do not appreciate kneeling or crouching. I tend to use the giraffe's technique, legs apart, to get close to the ground. The frost seems to have been strong enough this winter to make the acanthus die back to ground level, previously I have had to cut it back so that the new shoots can come through, so I was able to rake out the leaves etc fairly easily. While pulling up the dead montbresia leaves, I found lots of green shoots and a green frog! I left a patch of leaves in a corner for him but as we don't have any ponds nearby, I assume he is just passing through.

All things bright and beautiful

Last week I saw lambs tail catkins on the road to South Yardley; today I saw pussy willow glistening in the drizzle and the snowdrops by my front door are breaking out of bud. Yippee - spring has sprung!!! (My primroses were originally from my uncle's garden in Devon and flower from late November so they no longer count as indicators of spring)

Yesterday I made some barra brith for the Start! course on Wednesday. I had written on the recipe that it fitted a 2lb loaf tin but I think that was when I used the weights - this time I used my new cup measures which Heather gave me and it was a bit much. Perhaps next time I will use the 3/4 cup :0)



My cup measures



Barra brith - Speckled bread

I am currently reading Can these dry bones live? by Frances Young on the doctrine of the Atonement. It is one of those books I need to read with a notebook to hand in order to get my thoughts straight.

Out with the old, in with the new

So far this year has been marked by a cold which does not want to go away! Every time I think I am getting better, I do a little too much and back it comes. I did use the Magnet service at Acocks Green and it seemed to go down well. I used it again on 6th Jan (actual Epiphany) at Space in Solihull where Deb and I discussed ways of making sure that our services were as inclusive as possible.
Last Sunday was our Covenant Service at Dorridge and straight afterwards I drove Holly back to Cliff. There was a holdup on the A38 south of Burton (which I think in hindsight probably had something to do with the draw for the FA cup which Burton were part of) so we went for a mystery tour through Barton under Needwood amongst other places. Back on the A38 again we made good progress and stopped for lunch at our favourite Little Chef at Alfreton. I was very tired by the time we got to Cliff and really needed the mug of tea and sit down after we had transfered her belonging up to the second floor. I decided not to stop on the way back but trundled along with no problems, getting home by around 6.30.

This week has been the start of my 'new me' resolution.  I have put on about a stone since the last time I was at Papworth in the summer and I need to shift at least some of it before I go back in March. They also want me to improve my fitness. Last year I was attending Pulmonary Rehab twice a week which is an hour of gentle, self-paced exercise but in November I started going to aquafit once a week at my local leisure centre. I found that I enjoyed it (one of the things I have missed since being on oxygen is swimming) and, by using the longest tube I have for my portable, I can manage to work on the spot. I can pace myself and the water supports me. This year I am going to go twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, which means that it is worth me getting a daytime membership. That also means that when I feel up to it (or I want a change) I can use the exercise bike in the gym or go to spinning (indoor cycling) classes without paying extra.

This Sunday I am preaching at South Yardley about whether it is wise or foolish to follow someone as the first disciples followed Jesus. We will be looking at what we are prepared to give up or leave behind and what we will take up as we work to keep our covenant promise.

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home and the shepherds are back with their flocks, then the work of Christmas begins. To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people and to make music in the heart.

Merry Christmas!!!

Back from Christmas morning service, husband down the pub (having put turkey in the oven and left everything else ready), daughter and sister moving partly done jigsaw from dining table to jigsaw board so that we can eat later. We didn't go to midnight service as I was too tired but there were a lot of people at the morning service as several families have relatives staying. I was woken at 7, not by my daughter who as a student is not into early mornings any more, but by my sister and niece in New Zealand. It was Christmas Day evening over there and so they rang up to say Happy Christmas and thank you for their presents. Caitlin, at two and a half, was very excited by it all and I do not envy her mum trying to get her to sleep that night.



Holly's campervan teapot!

 We have opened our presents and are snacking on a variety of things prior to dinner at about 3. The weather is glorious - sunny and clear - but Nick's car themometer said -10 on our way to church so I may just look at the day from in here!

Advent has been strange this year without Holly to share in it, I think next year I will try to find or write a set of daily things which we can share even in two different places. I have a service next week at Acocks Green and am thinking I might use the service in Magnet about the kings gifts.

One cello, two lamps and three sets of music.

Feeling very tired now. One of the problems of a lack of oxygen and an excess of willpower is that when I stop, I really stop! On Sunday, the choir were singing in the morning service and the younger children were using clay models they had made to act out the Nativity. This involved Nick making up a long lead to allow Hannah to video the scene at the front but still be connected to the gubbins at the back which then projected it onto the screen. It was very much a 'seat of the pants' service but all went well. Then home to eat a lovely roast dinner - the blessings of an oven-timer and a husband who can operate it.

In the afternoon, Holly and I set out for Acocks Green with one cello, two lamps and three sets of music. I used it as an opportunity to get Holly to drive in the snow and she managed very well. A short rehearsal and then candlelit carols at 4. At 5.15, after a cup of tea and a mince pie (or two) we set off for Dorridge with one cello, one set of music and two lamps. The choir were only singing a few items in Dorridge candlelit carols - we did our carol concert last Sunday - and Holly was going to sit in the congregation. 7.30, time for more tea and mince pies before setting off for home.

There was no Mustard Seed on Monday due to the weather and so I walked into the village with Holly for her dentist appointment. I did some shopping while she was poked and prodded and then back home where I tried to encourage her to start one of the four essays she has to do before January 13th. In the evening she went out to the Solihull Scout Network Christmas do and I drove to Heartlands to sing some more carols around the wards. The roads were OK apart from the traffic jams.

Today I drove us all into town as there were cheques to pay in and Holly was meeting up with some friends to see a film and stay overnight. Nick and I abandoned her there and then went to Tescos to do the final bit of shopping and fill my car with fuel. By the time we got home my body was telling me I needed to stop. Tomorrow's planned trip to Bicester to be a LAM lady that lunches has been cancelled due to weather and illness so I am going to have a quiet day - as long as the buses are running, otherwise I will need to go and fetch daughter!

Right now I think a cup of tea, the Telegraph Toughie and a long hot bath followed by an early bed.

Memories are made of this.

Watching a couple of programs I recorded last week on folk dancing - Come Clog Dancing and Still Folk Dancing. Brings back memories of my time in Petticoats Lost, a female morris dance side based in Thame, Oxfordshire, and makes me want to learn clog. We used to dance at various pubs through the summer and practise in Thame during the winter. The summer after Holly was born (and I was diagnosed with LAM), I danced at Leveller's Day in Burford and I think that was the last time I danced :(
The problem now is that I am on liquid oxygen and if I jig up and down it sloshes around in the backpack and freezes in the outlet tubes thereby stopping the flow. I don't think I could manage morris any more but clog (as opposed to clog morris) might be possible as the upper body stays stiller. Rapper (double-handed swords) looks fun but my backpack might get caught up when threading.
I do still have my tankard and the leather strap to attach it to me while I dance.



Dancing at Ye Olde Leathern Bottle at Lewknor - I'm 2nd from right



In the bleak mid-winter

Today is definitely the bleak mid-winter! At 10 this morning I had to have the standard lamp on in our living room (which has big windows at both ends) to see to read and when I got back in this afternoon at 3, I had to put the light on. Bring back the cold, clear and sunny weather please - but no snow until after I have fetched Holly from college on Thursday. The number of Christmas cards on the side is growing, Nick will need to put the strings up across the room soon before we run out of (clear) flat surfaces - my pre-advent tidy didn't last long.
Yesterday morning was spent discussing the Start! course which we will be running in January at Dorridge Methodist Church and we decided that I should produce a flyer for it so that might be a job for this evening.

This is a tealight stand that I bought in a charity shop in Shirley yesterday. I try to get something 'new' each year to add to the decorations and I liked this.
Another thing to do is make some gingerbread biscuits - my sister bought me a set of russian doll measuring cups for my birthday and I need to work out if they are American (most likely) or English cups before I can use them - for various people for Christmas.