Mr and Mrs Captain Butterfly on their Balcony

 

We made this little selfie video a couple of weeks ago at the request of the Canada Branch of the Butterfly diaspora. Greetings for Malcolm came in from as far as NZ.  You can hear the Channel softly roaring in the background.  Now if we had done it this week you would not have been able to hear anything but the Channel. There is a storm on - wonderful waves outside our window.

All that power, all that energy.  And how I could do with some of it.  I failed yet again to get myself to the meeting on Sunday morning in person.  I need to re-think and re-strategise.

In the meantime, I am so grateful for the Zoom provision.

It means I can not only attend the meetings, but take part in them too.  As can all of us who are housebound, or intermittently housebound.

It is comforting that we are so carefully provided for  - a reminder that Jehovah cares for all his people.

Tuesday was the first of my three medical things this week. We drove to a local hospital through sun and rain alternating - no rainbow seen though - and saw young Dr.Ali. She is very sweet and is trying her best to help. She has suggested an intensification of one of my meds and will see me again in 6 months. She will also speak to Rheumatology, who I see on Friday. I have another local doctor's visit to accomplish tomorrow, as does Captain B.

Dr. Ali was wearing lovely shoes, both smart and comfortable, as befits a very pretty and hardworking lady.  My shoes can only be sensible these days, alas, but I can still admire a stylish shoe.

Barton in the Beans

 

Barton in the Beans

by Joanne Limburg

For comfort on bad nights

open out a map of Middle England

and sing yourself to sleep

with a lullaby of English names:

Shouldham Thorpe, in gentle sunshine,

Swadlincote, in a Laura Ashley frock,

Little Cubley, veins running with weak tea'

Kibworth Beauchamp, praying on protestant knees,

Ashby-de-la-Zouch, saying 'Morning',

Wigston Parva, smiling - but not too widely,

Ramsey Mereside, raising an eyebrow,

Eye Kettleby, where they'd rather not talk about it,

Market Overton, echoing with the slamming doors

of Cold Overton, where teenagers flee every night to their rooms,

screaming that from Appleby Magna to Stubbers Green

they never met a soul who understood.

They never met a soul.

At Barton in the Beans, the rain says Ssssshhhhh...

I was reminded of this poem, which I have loved for many years, because of the names of the two roads I have been given to work. I have to do my preaching work by letter these days, as I can no longer walk well enough to go door to door. They are new roads, on a new estate, and one is a "Chase", the other is a "Grove".

Was there ever a hunting party that regularly hunted on that "Chase"? Was there ever a grove of trees where this "Grove" now stands?

Didn't those terms mean something once, as the name Barton in the Beans did?

I was thinking for instance of Ramsbottom - a numinous name from my childhood as it was close to my Granny's - and a name that has nothing to do with sheep and their rear ends, but means a valley of wild garlic. See Col's photo of Ramsons Wild Garlic above.

It is not a name that is likely to be poached for some new road on some new estate though - not upmarket enough.

Words, which should be full of import, are being drained of their meaning it seems. And is that all helping to cut us off from our past, leaving us adrift in a meaningless present?

In contrast, Jehovah uses words with great care - and we need to pay attention to everything he has told us in the Inspired Scriptures. Every word is important - vitally important. We are so close to the moment described at Daniel 2:44. Please look it up, and think about it. And if and when you do, bear in mind that the Seventy Weeks prophecy in Daniel not only told the Jews the exact year the Messiah would appear as he did - but warned them what would happen afterwards - as it did.

We can be sure of the rescue Jehovah has promised. But we do need to take hold of it.

We had a visitor on Saturday afternoon. One of the old boys from Col's recent School reunion. "Old" being the operative word these days. When we had all caught up on each other's health issues over tea and biscuits, we plan to meet up in a year or so when he and his wife have sold up in the Philippines and moved back to the South of England.

Catching Moments in Time

MOTHER OF WATER
by me


A blue spotted fish, swimming on the step,
Seeing me, nervously backs off
A turtle, rising out of the green deep,
Stares at me, and swiftly sinks away.
He’s worried that I might attempt to hold him
And all the thoughts that come up in my head
Melt just as quickly into heat
Before I can stir myself to know them.


FRANGIPANI BLOSSOM
by me

Frangipani blossom in a plastic cup
And the sprinklers singing
In the cool morning air

As the sun revs up.


I have blogged these poems before, but not for some years. They are moments in time from one of our early trips to Thailand that would have long vanished from my mind had I not written these little poems.

Will they inspire me to catch a few more moments in time in verse, which I still try to do occasionally.  But now that I hope to "inherit the earth"and live forever upon it, catching the moments as they fly past does not seem so important as it did in the days when I felt there were so few of them and my life was flying by so quickly.

I couldn't find a blue spotted fish in Col's photo gallery - and I can't even remember what the fish looked like - just that it was small, with blue spots, and it swam briefly onto the water covered step just below the step my feet were resting on.  But I did find a photo of a turtle. I don't know if its the same kind of turtle I saw in the Chao Phraya river. I just remember it was small, and I only really saw its head as it popped out of the muddy water, the same colour as the water, in my brief glimpse.

It gave me the metaphor for the poem, as it made me think of how the thoughts that came up just melted away in the steamy heat.

Tuesday I did manage to get some things done - made a rather uninspiring veggie and bean stew out of all the remaining veggies before our next order of fruit and veg arrived.  Did some witnessing, Zoomed to the field service group, washed the bathroom floor and cleaned the fridge. Wednesday I made the now routine apple crumble - along with a sugar-free jelly for me.

Do I see any moments there that inspired me to catch them in a poem?  Not really, but who knows?          

Dreaming of Chuck and Mary

 

A poem from our first years in Saudi:

I TRY TO IMAGINE RAIN

by me

We are scorched into our bed of sand

By the cloudless sky and pounding Arabian sun

“Its raining here, and still very cold”

Each week they write to us from home.

So I try to imagine “Rain” and “Cold”.

Did Heaven turn all its sprinklers on?

And, as for “cold”, - well, family,

Don’t just sit there shivering

Go and turn down the air-conditioning!

I dreamt about Chuck and Mary the other night.  In the dream Col had decided we were going back to Saudi to work and suddenly there we were, having supper with Chuck and Mary in their big hospitable house and Col was asking them to supper with us the next night. I was thinking that I must get out some of my old recipes - something with rice - and beginning to wonder how I was now going to cope with it all.

Whereupon I woke up. And it was quite sad as it had been such a vivid dream that it took me a few minutes to realise that Chuck and Mary are gone - have been gone for some time.  We never got to visit them in Texas.  Anyway, I chose this picture from Col's photo gallery of one of our winter camping trips.  Mary used to bring her excellent chile and cornbread and Col would build a fire and we would sit round it. The desert can be very cold at night. And its hard to eat in the desert until the sun goes down, as it doesn't matter how remote and empty the area is the moment you get any food out in daylight swarms of flies materialise from nowhere.

The time of Chuck and Mary is one of the memory layers of our expat life. We had many trips together - to the desert, to Bahrain, and even dove the Barrier Reef together - well me by submarine, they by scuba. And I saw more than they did.  And poor Mary was so cold. In Saudi, even the water from the "cold" tap was warm.

I don't know if they still run those min-sub trips or not as, fascinating though they were, I seem to remember that we did bump and scrape the reef a bit.  It was a long time ago of course, autre temps, autre moeurs (which I hope I have spelt right).

And of course, once the Kingdom of God is ruling over the earth, all will be brought back into the harmony it had in Eden - and we will be able to see and enjoy the reef without doing any harm. Nor will the critters of the reef harm us.

And of course I hope that Jehovah will wake Chuck and Mary from the dreamless sleep of death, and they will see this lovely earth, this splendid universe again.

Friday I had a late start, took me ages to get going. I moved on with my Bible reading - watching the introduction of the Book of Judges.  We learn so much from that book - for one, how patient Jehovah was with the Jews, when they were his chosen people - which is a patience all us damaged children of Adam badly need. I made a big veggie/lentil/curry stew for our lunch for the next couple of days. And we had a phone call from Bea and a letter from Kathryn. And, another plus, an email from Pen to say she had Zoomed to my small part in the school on Thursday and enjoyed it.

So another day, another good day, and it's all a bonus at my age.

Snow - and - A Part in the School

 

I had a part in the School on Thursday night, Part 4, a 2 minuter. The Script, with the brief as its heading, is here:

November 2025    4. Starting a Conversation

(2 min.) HOUSE TO HOUSE. Use a jw.org contact card to start a conversation. (lmd lesson 4 point 4)

4. Make clear that the Bible is the source of the truths you share. God’s Word contains thoughts that touch people’s hearts. When we use it, we are building their faith on the right foundation.

**************

Sue:  Good morning.  I am Sue Knight, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I can see you are just about to go out, but do you have a moment?

HH:  I’m waiting for my taxi.  I thought you were it!  

Sue:  Oh, then of course I won’t keep you. Could I leave this card with you, in case you would like to know why it is we call.  My contact details are on the back, and it also directs you to our excellent website, JW.org.

HH:  Well, OK.  But look I don’t want to waste your time, I’m really not interested.  I know you witnesses feel that the world is soon going to end, and I agree we are making such a mess of it, but even so I am much more positive than that. I think the planet will survive.

Sue:  Oh - and so do we I assure you, because that is what the Bible tells us.  If you remember Jesus famously said that the meek would inherit “the earth” - and when he said that he was confirming the lovely promises in the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament.  Just let me show you this one, if I may.  It’s at Psalm 37:29, and it says: The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it.

The righteous will possess the earth and they will live forever on it.  That is our guarantee that the earth will not be destroyed, as wouldn’t it be a bit difficult to live on it forever if there was no earth left?

HH:  Well - fair enough I suppose.  But actually I thought the Bible was all about going to heaven when you die. Which doesn’t sound very likely to me either.

Sue: Yes, I thought that for many years. It was such a revelation to me when I found out what the Bible actually says - a wonderful revelation. And this is why we offer a free home Bible course to all who will accept one. We want everyone to know.  Oh, here is your taxi, and I don’t even know your name. 

HH:  It’s HH.

Sue: Then please do have a look at our website HH. Think about that Bible Course and you are so welcome to contact me if you would like to talk some more about this.

There was snow in the North this week, and a brief sleet/snow slurry here on Wednesday. But for sure it has got much colder.  So I thought I would search the Captain's photo gallery for a snow shot - one from Sheffield maybe - and I found this from Endcliffe Vale Park in winter.

The Hull branch of the family sent a photo through of the garden at Lilac Tree Farm covered in snow.  It looked so lovely.

Please Buy our Books, Part 2

I really must make an effort and try to get some book sales, and hopefully sales for my fellow Fantastic Books authors too, as they are all so good - providing masses of good reads.  And our books, and some of our authors, will be appearing at the York Book Fair on December 6th.  

Mark Henderson who writes a lot about the Peak District will be there.  His books have taught me so much about the country of my childhood, its landscape and its legends.

He also writes some interesting fiction.  I reviewed Perilaus II in this blogpost:

https://sueknight2000.blogspot.com/2023/06/perilaus-ii-by-mark-p-henderson.html

It's a thriller, but also made me laugh. Here, for example, is the author, trapped in the world of his book, driving a strange car:

"My relationship with the Land Rover encountered teething troubles. Its controls were in unaccustomed places. An elderly Sunday driver in a hat, nodding dog in the back window, challenged my patience. Irritated by her adagio manoeuvres, I bruised my fist on a part of the steering column that was innocent of horn and then washed my windscreen at her."

This is what I have tried to do in Disraeli Hall, make it scary, but also funny. It is set in Mark Henderson territory, as Disraeli Hall is sited on the very edge of the Peak Park. 

The inspiration for the book was the lost world of Nabbs Cottage - bigged-up into Disraeli Hall -  and hopefully I conveyed something of it. The second staircase, the darkness at its foot, play a big part. But the book took off in a different direction from the one I had expected.

And as all these layers of memory change all the time as we get older and older, if I were ever to revisit the two houses of my childhood in fiction again, no doubt it would take yet another unexpected turn.

Our lives are so short now.  Our threescore years and ten go by so quickly. Didn't a poet compare it to the flight of a sparrow through the mead hall - a brief moment of warmth and light between darkness and darkness.

If we are all in the restored earthly paradise, with everlasting life ahead of us, I doubt we will want to think back too much on the tragedy we have all been living in since the loss of Eden.  But won't we be building new memories, layer upon layer, with no sadness in them, no regrets?

And how will that feel... I can't really imagine, but once again I hope so much we are all  there to find out.

Well, one bit of good health news - an increasingly rare commodity in old age. Yesterday was my 6 monthly dental check up, and my kind, if stern, dentist told me I was doing OK, and has given me some advice about regularly using a fluoride mouthwash to try to ward of the problem that my sicca (dry mouth, dry eyes) will cause, given there is no real medical answer to it.

But no dental work needed to be done.  Hurray!  Grateful for that. Very. (As Mr. Alfred Jingle might have put it.)

Fear of Flying

THE FLAT FIELDS OF HOLLAND

 by me

The flat fields of Holland
suddenly tilt and fall away from us
Take-off, Schipol, Amsterdam
God, we are all now in your hands.

I have never flown in one of the contraptions above - and have no plans to!  I found it in the Captain's photo gallery. Anyway, my flying days are over - unless I am, as I hope to be, in the earthly paradise and we travel on planes there - but I realise I would be much more nervous now if I did fly.  Although there is not a lot of point worrying once you are up there. There is nothing you can do after all.  It stays up, by some miracle (insofar as I can understand it), or it doesn't.

We had one near miss, that I know of, in our Maldives days, when our driver had to emergency stop the plane just as it reached takeoff speed. We were taking off from the tiny Maldives Airport Island, so he had very little leeway. We all thought we were going into the sea and tried to brace ourselves as best we could (the seats were very rattly).  We flew very cheap in those days.  However he managed to halt it just in time, hurtled round and went for take-off again, this time making it. Though we hit a patch of turbulence as soon as we got up and once again we all thought that was it.

The existence of this blog is of course a spoiler alert.  We did indeed stay in the air and make it all the way to the Emirates. However we were stopped there as the pilot had damaged the landing gear when he did the emergency stop and the plane was grounded. We had to wait for another plane to arrive. It was a long night, but we all got there safely, which is the thing.

But Fear of Driving might have been a better title for this blog in that I had to drive my little red car on Thursday for the first time in months - eyes/cataracts/cataract surgery.  Very nervous even though it was only round the corner to the doctor's for yet another blood test - somewhere I could have walked to just a few years ago.

Another spoiler alert - I did make it. Thank God.  But the parking would have been impossible if I hadn't had my blue badge. There was nothing on the road, nothing in the surgery carpark, so I drove round the road to the Disabled Parking outside the library. Which was available.  And while it meant a bit of a hobble, I had my stick with me and made it to the surgery early.

How different things are now from our early retirement years.  But I am very grateful for all of them, and so grateful still to be here - and to be able to see the small yet dramatic sunrise over the Channel this morning. The sky is heavy with cloud, except for the Eastern corner where the rising sun is beginning to announce itself.

Once again I asked Jehovah that one day Col and I might be able to watch the sun rise while thanking Him for all this from a perfect heart.