On Saturday I was reminded of this hymn; the words are just beautiful!
Its title in the Hymnal is 'Slithers of Gold'- very evocative, don't you think?
Today I awake and God is before me.
At night, as I dreamt, He summoned the day;
for God never sleeps, but patterns the morning
with slithers of gold or glory in grey.
Today I arise and Christ is beside me.
He walked through the dark to scatter new light.
Yes, Christ is alive, and beckons His people
to hope and to heal, resist and invite.
Today I affirm the Spirit within me
at worship and work, in struggle and rest.
The Spirit inspires all life which is changing
from fearing to faith, from broken to blessed.
Today I enjoy the Trinity round me,
above and beneath, before and behind;
the Maker, the Son, the Spirit together-
they called me to life and call me their friend.
(by John L. Bell and Graham Maule)
It seems to me that this was written srarting from the words of St. Patrick's Breastplate, which is very well-known to the Irish in general.
See what you think of this post too, if you have time?
Monday, 12 July 2010
Friday, 9 July 2010
Memories
Mist and Drizzle today, look here if you've forgotten what rain looks like!!
Last Sunday it was ten years to the day that we arrived to live in Ireland. Its odd how the mind seems to fracture into sections of time. The others have been talking about the last ten years and the changes it has brought for them, but my mind seems to have turned back to East Africa and I've been wandering through memories of that time.
There are many things about living there which I don't miss- drought, food shortages, the poor roads and worse driving, lack of phones, electricity and water rationing, lousy security, the uncertainty of day to day living, two hours driving and more to get to a supermarket or School or friends or Church, riots, living in fear...and being homesick.
But although those are some of the reasons we decided to leave, there were many many delights to living there:
Once you get to know them the people are lovely; resilient, amusing, easily amused, forthright, chancers, generous and kind. Like the Widow at Zarephath many people would share their last meal and smile while they did it.
Of those who are Christians their faith in God's provision and goodness is absolute.
I miss being around African people.
The countryside is incredible; everyone who visits will tell you so, and its true. The variety from tropical greenery and endless coconut palms along the Coast, to the red dust and rocks further up-country, to smooth green tea and coffee plantations, the little cultivated plots of vegetables and bananas dotted everywhere and the huge swathes of blueish pineapple plantations.
For a while I worked in a Del Monte Plantation school and besides money, my salary included two pineapples a week and a tee-shirt at the end of the year!
Having grown up by the sea in the West of Ireland, whenever we had the opportunity we headed either to the Coast (eight hours driving to Mombasa, another couple to Malindi or Diani), Lake Baringo (five hours driving, very arid) or Lake Naivasha (three hours, highly populated, very lush). With those distances we didn't get too many safaris but still over fifteen years of living there I reckon I saw parts of just about the whole country.
I was lucky though because when I arrived the country was only beginning to change and it was still very safe for a single girl in a beat up car to belt about on her own- the only risk really was getting stuck somewhere and not being able to dig myself out by myself! That was the only problem I ever had and it happened just the once when I was trying to get away rather fast from some annoyed elephant, came round a corner too fast and misjudged the ruts. I bottomed the Datsun and was on my hands and knees under the car digging when a taxi load of Russian tourists came along and their driver stopped to give the Datsun a push. It then took off so suddenly I had to tear after it to grab the handbrake before it hit the taxi- still full of Russians sitting watching out their rear window!! It was terribly funny- the driver and I stood and roared laughing, we couldn't help ourselves!
At the Coast it was a humid heat but once you are up 1000ft or so it is drier and very pleasant, in the Highlands and around the Aberdares and Mt Kenya it gets frosty at night. Since the only heating is by a fire, and usually the only hot water too, in many places to sit around a fire every night is quite normal, having had to stay in from the heat through the middle of the day.
I've heard it said that East Africa is a place of contrasts, and I suppose that is true in many ways, but when you are there you don't notice, its just the way it is. It is still a rather slower and more old-fashioned way of living, certainly in the rural areas, and you soon learn to be very self-sufficient but inter-dependant too. You would never pass someone who needed help, you'd offer lifts to people until your car could hold no more (thereby turning many journeys into a party!), you talk to everyone language barrier or not because that might be the only person you see all day, and as I said above, you learn to be generous with everything you have because you never know when you'll be on the receiving end.
This isn't meant to be a summary of fifteen years, its rather a collage of present thoughts. I love living back here, and will stay as long as the Hub can get work, but East Africa had its moments too!
Last Sunday it was ten years to the day that we arrived to live in Ireland. Its odd how the mind seems to fracture into sections of time. The others have been talking about the last ten years and the changes it has brought for them, but my mind seems to have turned back to East Africa and I've been wandering through memories of that time.
There are many things about living there which I don't miss- drought, food shortages, the poor roads and worse driving, lack of phones, electricity and water rationing, lousy security, the uncertainty of day to day living, two hours driving and more to get to a supermarket or School or friends or Church, riots, living in fear...and being homesick.
But although those are some of the reasons we decided to leave, there were many many delights to living there:
Once you get to know them the people are lovely; resilient, amusing, easily amused, forthright, chancers, generous and kind. Like the Widow at Zarephath many people would share their last meal and smile while they did it.
Of those who are Christians their faith in God's provision and goodness is absolute.
I miss being around African people.
The countryside is incredible; everyone who visits will tell you so, and its true. The variety from tropical greenery and endless coconut palms along the Coast, to the red dust and rocks further up-country, to smooth green tea and coffee plantations, the little cultivated plots of vegetables and bananas dotted everywhere and the huge swathes of blueish pineapple plantations.
For a while I worked in a Del Monte Plantation school and besides money, my salary included two pineapples a week and a tee-shirt at the end of the year!
Having grown up by the sea in the West of Ireland, whenever we had the opportunity we headed either to the Coast (eight hours driving to Mombasa, another couple to Malindi or Diani), Lake Baringo (five hours driving, very arid) or Lake Naivasha (three hours, highly populated, very lush). With those distances we didn't get too many safaris but still over fifteen years of living there I reckon I saw parts of just about the whole country.
I was lucky though because when I arrived the country was only beginning to change and it was still very safe for a single girl in a beat up car to belt about on her own- the only risk really was getting stuck somewhere and not being able to dig myself out by myself! That was the only problem I ever had and it happened just the once when I was trying to get away rather fast from some annoyed elephant, came round a corner too fast and misjudged the ruts. I bottomed the Datsun and was on my hands and knees under the car digging when a taxi load of Russian tourists came along and their driver stopped to give the Datsun a push. It then took off so suddenly I had to tear after it to grab the handbrake before it hit the taxi- still full of Russians sitting watching out their rear window!! It was terribly funny- the driver and I stood and roared laughing, we couldn't help ourselves!
At the Coast it was a humid heat but once you are up 1000ft or so it is drier and very pleasant, in the Highlands and around the Aberdares and Mt Kenya it gets frosty at night. Since the only heating is by a fire, and usually the only hot water too, in many places to sit around a fire every night is quite normal, having had to stay in from the heat through the middle of the day.
I've heard it said that East Africa is a place of contrasts, and I suppose that is true in many ways, but when you are there you don't notice, its just the way it is. It is still a rather slower and more old-fashioned way of living, certainly in the rural areas, and you soon learn to be very self-sufficient but inter-dependant too. You would never pass someone who needed help, you'd offer lifts to people until your car could hold no more (thereby turning many journeys into a party!), you talk to everyone language barrier or not because that might be the only person you see all day, and as I said above, you learn to be generous with everything you have because you never know when you'll be on the receiving end.
This isn't meant to be a summary of fifteen years, its rather a collage of present thoughts. I love living back here, and will stay as long as the Hub can get work, but East Africa had its moments too!
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Book Club Excitement!
Ok, I readily admit that I nicked this picture from Hazel's Place- but there's a reason!
Hazel's Book Club is on the 27th July, and my copy of 'Shiver' leaped through the letterbox yesterday absolutely howling to be read! And its GOOD! I started it last night!
Please visit Hazel's place if you'd like to join in- this is the first time I've taken part in an online Book Club, so I'm looking forward to it...as regular visitors here will know, I LOVE books!
(The link will take you to the page where Hazel has written about 'Shiver' so you can see what sort of book it is.)
Today I'm gardening between squalls of rain, more more normal Irish Summer than the heat and sunshine we've had the last two months! Mind you, when one's digging out a new flowerbed, and de-stoning the earth and heaving out ####### great rocks, wind and rain is good weather!
Hazel's Book Club is on the 27th July, and my copy of 'Shiver' leaped through the letterbox yesterday absolutely howling to be read! And its GOOD! I started it last night!Please visit Hazel's place if you'd like to join in- this is the first time I've taken part in an online Book Club, so I'm looking forward to it...as regular visitors here will know, I LOVE books!
(The link will take you to the page where Hazel has written about 'Shiver' so you can see what sort of book it is.)
Today I'm gardening between squalls of rain, more more normal Irish Summer than the heat and sunshine we've had the last two months! Mind you, when one's digging out a new flowerbed, and de-stoning the earth and heaving out ####### great rocks, wind and rain is good weather!
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Cleaning?? Oh! Cleaning!
You know its long gone time to clean when:
The dust Bunnies are having grandchildren
Spiders on the window ledges don’t just roll over and play dead; they turn their back on you and keep spinning
The house plants have cobwebs
There’s mould growing on the shoe pile at the bottom of the stairs
Even the cobwebs are dusty
The yoghurt pot of nettle tips you picked and brought in a few weeks ago to keep the flies away have grown to nearly 8” tall- on the dregs of the rinsed out yoghurt?
The dogs have run off with the floor rugs so many times that even they have forgotten where they are
The potted ivy has grown over and completely obscured the vacuum cleaner- ah shame!
You’ve lost the best tablecloth and it isn’t until you clear the dining table of accumulated leftover homework and end of term school projects that you discover the table cloth has been there all the time
You can’t remember the colour of the bedroom carpet
You have to lift the lid of the goldfish tank to check whether the fish are still inside because you can’t see through the glass for green algae- scrap this, the goldfish have cleaned up the glass themselves…its amazing what can be achieved with a bit of windolene and a chamois cloth, even when you’re a fish
The utility room is unusable due to the amount of re-cycling waiting to be taken to the quays
you could have sworn there were five humans and two dogs living in the house with you but you haven’t seen a soul for weeks now…
You decide to go stay with your sister for a week to get away from it all…and you can’t find the front door to leave...
The dust Bunnies are having grandchildren
Spiders on the window ledges don’t just roll over and play dead; they turn their back on you and keep spinning
The house plants have cobwebs
There’s mould growing on the shoe pile at the bottom of the stairs
Even the cobwebs are dusty
The yoghurt pot of nettle tips you picked and brought in a few weeks ago to keep the flies away have grown to nearly 8” tall- on the dregs of the rinsed out yoghurt?
The dogs have run off with the floor rugs so many times that even they have forgotten where they are
The potted ivy has grown over and completely obscured the vacuum cleaner- ah shame!
You’ve lost the best tablecloth and it isn’t until you clear the dining table of accumulated leftover homework and end of term school projects that you discover the table cloth has been there all the time
You can’t remember the colour of the bedroom carpet
You have to lift the lid of the goldfish tank to check whether the fish are still inside because you can’t see through the glass for green algae- scrap this, the goldfish have cleaned up the glass themselves…its amazing what can be achieved with a bit of windolene and a chamois cloth, even when you’re a fish
The utility room is unusable due to the amount of re-cycling waiting to be taken to the quays
you could have sworn there were five humans and two dogs living in the house with you but you haven’t seen a soul for weeks now…
You decide to go stay with your sister for a week to get away from it all…and you can’t find the front door to leave...
Monday, 5 July 2010
Get Ready to Cheer Loudly...
Winners Ahoy!
So....lets pretend that today is Saturday. Ok? Got that?
Now, there were eight entries to the Doggerel Contest and you know how I like to give as many as possible in the audience something to take home? Well my family and other animals came up with three prizes:
Funniest
Best
and A Grand Draw
The funniest is a joint prize because after much gleeful chortling, no consensus could be arrived at. So the Winners of the Funniest Doggerel Rhymes are......Ta Da!
Gran and Griselda Pugh! (cue Mad Clapping everyone, thank you thank you!!)
Now the Winner of The Best Doggerel Rhyme was unanimous and easy, no fisticuffs involved:
Amanda! (cue Wolf Whistles and More Mad Clapping, thank you thank you!!)
And finally to The Grand Draw, much fun was had with this:
Sorry to say the Hat was too large for this draw, yous all kept getting lost in the dents, so I used a candle holder instead- but removed the candle first (and the paperclips and a cork...).
Then Midd'list stirred yez all together and choos'd one:
Ta Da! LadyDi is the winner of the Grand Draw!!!
(cue Cheers and Even More Mad Clapping, thank you thank you!!)
So....lets pretend that today is Saturday. Ok? Got that?
Now, there were eight entries to the Doggerel Contest and you know how I like to give as many as possible in the audience something to take home? Well my family and other animals came up with three prizes:
Funniest
Best
and A Grand Draw
The funniest is a joint prize because after much gleeful chortling, no consensus could be arrived at. So the Winners of the Funniest Doggerel Rhymes are......Ta Da!
Gran and Griselda Pugh! (cue Mad Clapping everyone, thank you thank you!!)
Now the Winner of The Best Doggerel Rhyme was unanimous and easy, no fisticuffs involved:
Amanda! (cue Wolf Whistles and More Mad Clapping, thank you thank you!!)
And finally to The Grand Draw, much fun was had with this:
Sorry to say the Hat was too large for this draw, yous all kept getting lost in the dents, so I used a candle holder instead- but removed the candle first (and the paperclips and a cork...).
Then Midd'list stirred yez all together and choos'd one:
Ta Da! LadyDi is the winner of the Grand Draw!!!
(cue Cheers and Even More Mad Clapping, thank you thank you!!)I'll email the people whose addresses I don't have and by the end of the week there will be THINGS in the post for yez all!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well I don't know about you peeps (that's what Eldest calls everyone) but I had SUCH FUN with this contest!
Thank yous all for entering, and if you want to read the winning poems check back to the comments here where they are preserved in aspic for generations to come...well, maybe not...and what's aspic when its at home??
And just in case you are afraid the fun is totally over I've had a GREAT IDEA for the next Contest- but you'll have to wait until some significant number of posts or something to see what it is- but its not Doggerel, for a change!!
Ha! Ha! (did that sound Witchy? or Gleeful? it was meant to be Gleeful.)
(On the other hand, with threats like that overhanging my Friends like a Damocles Sword will there be anyone left to enter the next Contest I wonder to myself????? Mumble mumble...)
Friday, 2 July 2010
Ode to Slurry- King of Smells!!
Monday the grass was cut and baled for silage:
Thursday they began 'mook shpreddin' (muck spreading to non-Irish) and I'm tellin' ya, the smell is enough to make your eyes water!
But as they say, 'its just good clean dirt!'
Thursday they began 'mook shpreddin' (muck spreading to non-Irish) and I'm tellin' ya, the smell is enough to make your eyes water!
But as they say, 'its just good clean dirt!'Anyhow, since I've got yous all writing Doggerel I thought I'd grace you all with my
Ode to Slurry!!
Oh Slurry, Slurry, King of Smells,
Thou black and goopy pong
Spreading wide o'er hills and dells,
Thy Stench remaineth long.
The Farmers love you very much-
They say you smell of Money;
It may be that their Hearts you touch
To us that's very funny!
Oh mucky Slurry, King of Smells
For you I sing this Song:
Please soak in quickly, deep and well,
And do not linger long?
Last chance- I'm picking the winners tomorrow, two prizes- one for the best and the other a draw! I've been sewing surprises yesterday!
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Tinkful Toisday!
Thank you to Greg for hosting Thankful Thursday! He gets up REALLY early to do it you know!This week's Thankfuls:
1. Thankful for this amazingly warm weather we are having, and also that it rained over the past few days- good growing conditions. For us, this warmth is wonderful!
2. Thankful for all the flowers, wild and cultivated, which are presently blooming; they do so brighten up the hedges, the countryside, the garden, and my day!
3. Thankful that when the car has been in the Garage recently they have been able to lend us one of their run-around vehicles. Being a rural one-car family has its challenges!
4. Thankful for the Sunday School children in Church and the fun of being with them. Last Sunday was the Sunday School Prize giving and the children did a play and sang- all four of them! It was great! (Our Congregation would consist almost entirely of retired folks, and of those of us with children they are mostly Secondary School and College age.)
5. Thankful that with all the 'away' activities my girls are into, that I can trust God to keep watch over them and to hold onto them. I've said it before but I'm saying it again- how do parents cope with their children's antics without a faith in God's love and providence?
Well, that 's my Thankfuls for this week- if you want to join in do visit Greg? He welcomes everyone at his place!
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