Iffy Monday...

Regardez vous les page links at the top of the page! Who's a clever girl then??? And if you follow this link you too can impress your readers!!!

Now its much easier (I hope?) to check the status of the Barter/Swap, by going to the page title above, then choosing the link you want. Obviously you're all too busy to read at the moment though!

I'm skipping the Challenge Check today as I've nothing to report- wicked lazy, yeah! yeah!

For your amusement, here's the Hub impersonating Rhydian for the Charity Concert on Saturday:
And BBug impersonating Idina Menzel!
They both sang well and had great fun. The Hub had dyed his hair 'blond' (actually red!) and had to try to dye it back to its normal colour before Church- he wasn't very successful so you can imagine the ribbing he got!

And talking of Church, yesterday we had a group of visitors from TEXAS, no less!

Unfortunately the Organ was on a roll, playing by itself every opportunity it got...I was a wreck by the end of the Service, the Church wardens were mortified, and the congregation dispersed with their fingers in their ears. Something is seriously wrong with it. I offered to go up the Loft and kick some pipes but my fellow Organist suggested I take a hatchet to the 8' D Swell 'Open Diasporan' pipe and fix it permanently...
We've a Service on Wednesday as it's St Patrick's Day so I've left the Loft heater on. It'll be a real shame if I can't open all the stops Wednesday as it's the one day in the Church calendar when we can unashamedly roar all our favourite Irish Hymns and no one complains about us being Nationalist!

Nearly finished the quilt from the 'Trunk That Time Forgot' and hallelujah to THAT! One flower to quilt and the binding to attach.
Since there is hazy sunshine out and the ground is dry I intend to re-take several of my Etsy photographs as I feel they could be better. Also I discovered several items I'd forgotten to post so need to put them in the shop. Organised, amn't I?

I'm presently listening to the real Rhydian's CD and enjoying it after a week of impersonations...a powerful pair of lungs has the Hub, but he's not always in tune...ditto BBug, but she is in tune more often, and can also sing quietly! The Hub has no volume control!

Look what I found in a box last week- a SILK quilt top!

It was made from a bundle of old silk shirts I was given many years ago, but what I was thinking I have no idea, and its not backed or anything. I must have been desperate to sew and used every scrap as there are even button holes and shirt pocket flaps included!

I'm reading a fascinating book at present- 'Hospitality in Medieval Ireland 900-1500' by Catherine Marie O'Sullivan. The more I read about Medieval times here the more it seems to me that many of our social and national characteristics have their roots from then. Only the surface has changed. Perhaps its partly due to living on the west coast where things change notoriously slowly.

Wham! Doink!

I had a blinder in Church this morning, although the idea has been bubbling since the beginning of Advent. Please visit? I tell you what though, if the Lord wants this new blog to be updated regularly He'd better wangle me some extra time in the day!

The Hub was taking the Service in another Church in the Parish, so after attending Communion in the Cathedral we headed out to Morning Service! The roads were fierce icy this morning, we slithered from place to place, and when he was walking out to the car the Hub did a glorious cartoon-style slide down the drive onto the road! It certainly would not have been amusing if it had happened to one of our elderly congregation. Also, on the way to Church we were stopped by the Guards and he was breathalysed, which everyone found uproariously funny. Needless to say the insults were fairly flying and if there's one thing the Irish do well it's creative insults!

Have you heard Rhydian's new album 'O Fortuna'? It has a very rich sound, and Kiri Te Kanewa sings on it too and I just adore her voice. At the moment it is drowning out 'The Mask of Zorro'- I don't need to be distracted by Antonio Banderas when I'm trying to think!

Thankful Thursday!

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more- a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

George Herbert.

Last Thursday I came across this 'Thankful Thursday' meme (http://truth4thejourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/thankful-thursday-47.html), then LMB wrote about keeping a Gratitude Journal (http://littlemsblogger.blogspot.com/2009/10/five-simple-words.html) and I thought I would do both! I think that being grateful for what one has is very, very important!

So here are my 'Thankfuls' for this week, but since it was a good week it has been difficult to choose- other weeks may be difficult for the opposite reason!

1. This morning we got up to a fabulous sunrise. It had just been raining but the clouds cleared as the sun rose and the day became diamond sparkly and then golden. When I took the dogs out before breakfast the only sounds were hens, birds, snuffling dogs and the cows doing that huffing noise they make on cold mornings. It was a very serene start to the day.

(below) Can you see the sheep coming down off the Commonage? Time to get the unhardy plants in as there must be a frosty snap on the way- I love country signs like this.

I took this almost into the sunrise which is why its a bit overexposed, but also there was a cold mist rolling up the valley from Lough Doon which fuzzed it. Who could be ungrateful on such a morning?

2. The next one sounds really silly...I found a new packet of knickers in the back of my drawer! Oh the bliss of new knickers! When will manufacturers learn that a good pair keeps the elastic attached to the top for the entire lifetime of the knicker- i.e. until the seat wears out? Its awfully disconcerting when the body of the knicker slides slowly down your posterior in the course of the day but the elastic stays put...especially when I'm teaching and can't either take on the spot remedial action or rush out to the loo...

3. Have you heard Rhydian's album; its just called 'Rhydian'. He's a Christian and has chosen to sing not specifically Christian songs but they are all meaningful. The Hub has used some as a starter for the Message when he is taking Services, and we often play the CD at home in the evenings. B had it out last night as she intends singing the track 'What if' in her Music Exam and was working on intonation. I taught the children at school 'I believe' too. Its just uplifting music.

4.I am especially thankful that the Hub arrived safely at his Aunt's house last night. He left here about 4.30am yesterday morning to get the 8.20am ferry from Dublin. He texted a few times during the day when he stopped for coffee, once in Wales and once somewhere near Reading I think when roadworks brought him to a halt. He arrived safely in Surrey about 6.30pm, and I don't know who was more thankful, his Aunt or me! No small feat for a little African boy to drive all the way across Ireland and England in one day! His Mom arrives from East Africa this morning for a two and a half week holiday and is he excited! They are spending ten days in UK travelling to see all the relations, then coming across here for the last week. Granny Africa is the ultimate Mad Hatter and we all can't wait to see her!

5. And the last thankful is very personal: we've finally got the house finished enough (and tidy!) for me to be able to put my quilt frame up and hand quilt a new quilt. I love hand-quilting, I feel as though it connects me with the generations of women who have gone before and done the same thing, who stitched their hopes and dreams and fears and sorrows into their quilts over long days and weeks, who have made do with what they had, who have watched the seasons pass and children grow, and just been thankful for their blessings however small. I love the serenity of the stitching and the fact that it makes me accessible to the family while still keeping my hands busy. And I love the finished product, the look and feel and satisfaction of a hand-quilted quilt!

And there you have it!

And a final 'Thankful'- I'll be heading to school shortly to finalise my Singers for the Harvest Service on Sunday morning and I know they were beginning to get excited yesterday when they heard how much they had improved. I love shiny faces singing their hearts out and being allowed to work with them is a blessing in itself...although it has its moments of anxiety, as with small people things NEVER go quite as planned! Sunday's Service will be 'interesting' for all the wrong reasons!