Small Cat Diary

Scooter attempted to get me again last night as I bravely went off to bed on my own leaving Captain Butterfly watching something ghastly on the telly.   However, we had just been watching a programme about lion prides made by one of those wonderful guys from Big Cat Diary - the one who isn't Simon King - so I was sort of hyped up to face her.

She got under the bed to ambush my feet, but, using the sort of firm voice I would have to use in a similar situation in the Serengeti - "NO, that's naughty" - I got into bed safely (and very quickly).  

There were various clatterings and comings and goings and tramplings during the night, but nothing that kept us awake.

Jim came round last night!  Haven't seen him for years.  He is just about to be a granddad.  But he really doesn't look any different.  He really doesn't.    He and Claire are now living in town. We hope to get together later in the year.

Col is walking Ollie, I am waiting for Alana the Cleaner to arrive, then I have to go off and do some shopping.  Today is scheduled for Chutney making, so we hope to leave some jars of the famous Butterfly date and tomato chutney for our hosts.  

In Expatland The Captain used to make it with freshly picked dates.  Nowadays they are freshly picked from the Supermarket shelf.  Bought with our own fair hands.

Ken has started making marmalade again, so we have been enjoying it on our breakfast toast.

Cat Attack!!

Scooter attacked Captain Butterfly's foot as he was getting into bed last night, and savaged mine a few moments later as I foolishly let a bit of toe slide out from under the duvet.  I will see if the valiant Captain can get close enough to the fearsome creature to photograph her for the blog.

We are in my Northern hometown sitting on Ollie the dog, the fearsome Scooter, and the elusive Daisy while my sister and her husband are at a conference, even further up North.

He also has a photo of a mouse on the terrace (so much for Ollie the Terrier) - plus some flower photos.  The garden here is always lovely.  It was my father's for many years and he and my mother were great gardeners and bird feeders.

Sundays...

...are often busier in retirement than they are when working.  However, yesterday wasn't, as i spent the whole afternoon in bed, asleep.  The arthritis I think. Its an exhausting condition.  I did get to the meeting at the Hall  in the morning though, thank goodness.   Mick gave the talk, which was about why we fear Jehovah - and how that makes us happy and secure (unlike most fears).   I have certainly found that to be true and am more grateful than I can say that the God of Abraham sent his witnesses to my door all those years ago.

We also learnt that some people have a fear of the dawn - and that there is a name for it which I have since forgotten.  My two remaining brain cells are kept at full stretch remembering my own name these days.

A specific fear of the dawn is odd.  I can understand the fear of a new day.  I did not like Monday mornings in childhood as that meant back to school after the happiness of the weekend.  As for the dawning of the first day of a new school year...  aaaaarrrggghhh... I can remember the feeling even now.

But the dawn itself is so lovely and one of those times when you can feel the holiness of the world.  Its been a quiet greyish dawn today over the English Channel, which is very calm at the moment.

On the doors with June

I spent the morning on the doors with June.  We started off by doing some return calls - found people in - had lots of talks - got lost on our way to the territory - so did another return call.  All in all, I hope, a productive morning.  I also bought two jars of homemade ginger marmalade off one lady we called on.  And that inspired me to make some marmalade cupcakes, which Captain Butterfly is enjoying.  He had a great time at his Dive Exhibition Thingummy, which no doubt will be written up in The Captain's Log.
Talked to Jackie, Jill and Audrey on the phone.
And Bob facebooked re updates on the Thai-Burmese earthquake.  Which seems to have been devastating enough.
Apparently some hot springs have disappeared since the earthquake.  Which makes me worry - Where have they got to?!

An evening with Jackie...

...and Tom and Jill - and of course Captain B, who did his usual sterling job - and even did all the clearing up this morning, which was a lovely surprise.  Usually I do the cooking, he loads up the dishwasher and sorts out the kitchen while he makes the coffee, and I put everything away in the morning.
We had chicken, a dahl, a sort of Indian version of a tomato salsa, and some stir fried veggies - all courtesy of my Madhur Jaffery cookbook.   And a cheeseboard, and ice-cream.  Oh and smoked salmon to start.
We all laughed a lot so I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
Col has made an early start this morning as he is off to the dive show in London.   I am out on the door to door preaching work with June and am hoping that the rain will hold off for a few hours. It looks very overcast at the moment.
I always always pray to Jehovah that he will keep my precious cargo safe when I am driving my brothers and sisters.
Apparently there has been a Budget...  I have no idea what it says but it seems safe to assume that everything will cost even more than it does now.   Unless you are superrich, in which case it will all cost less, and you will probably get even superricher in some amazingly complex "the world" way.
No complaints though.  I know the country is in a big mess financially.  We are loving retirement so far and we can't hope for more than that.  But this must be a very difficult time for young families, just starting out.  Dare I hope the Budget offers some help for them?
And I can't help but wonder how they can always afford to start a war with someone - especially someone far away who poses no threat to us at all.
The mystery of politics.   In which I take no part.

A Busy Day

A busy day for me.  Maggie and I did some of her magazine route calls and return visits, and found some of them in.  I still can't find my last magazine call at home. And then I met Louise at the Kingdom Hall.  Brian was there hall cleaning and I chatted to him until Louise arrived.  She had had a real busy morning at work.  We went and did some return visits and not at homes. I was able to explain to two people - using Matthew 24:14 - why we keep calling.  And the second lady said that we may call back.
El Capitano B shopped for the chutney ingredients and has a big pot of his famous chutney simmering on the stove as I type.  The chicken is in its marinade for tomorrow evening, and I am just off to the Hall for the Thursday night meeting.  I feel extremely tired and hope to sleep well tonight.
Its a cooking day tomorrow as I have to produce curries for five.  But first thing is a visit to the Optician.
What you don't realise before you retire is how much of your time will then be spent in propping up your crumbling body...
Looking forward to seeing Jacks tomorrow. We haven't seen her for over a week.

Water off a duck's back

Our walk this afternoon was along the River Arun.  We met this baleful looking duck - some swans - and a couple of kayakers.   It was a lovely Spring afternoon.  The River was Danube blue - really high too.  Spring tides.

So I was thinking about the power of water and the tsunami in Japan.  The videos we have seen are chilling - especially the ones with the tsunami alarms screaming and screaming as the irresistible sea comes surging in.

One of my favourite childhood poems is Jean Ingelow's "High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire".   They had no videos back then, but how well she conveys the horror of it all to us in words. Especially how fast that water comes.

So farre, so fast the eygre drave,
The heart had hardly time to beat
Before a shallow seething wave
Sobb’d in the grasses at oure feet:
The feet had hardly time to flee
Before it brake against the knee,
And all the world was in the sea.

http://www.bartleby.com/246/604.html

The Lichen Tree

Amazing acid yellow trees on our afternoon walk in Pagham Harbour.  There was a forest of them, covered in this vivid lichen. I don't think I have seen anything quite like it before.  Of course, for my 20 plus years in Expatland I didn't see many trees other than date palms.

Col took some great bird photos.  And quizzed me on birdsong.  "A great tit" was the right answer, but only once.

We looked for butterfly eggs on the blackthorn - now covered in white blossom - but didn't find any.

Audrey and I had a nice morning out.  It has been a classic Spring day - blue skies, white clouds, blossom and daffodils everywhere.  We were all up in Angmering, doing return visits.  We did find quite a few people in and had some brief conversations.

I got to the Hall carpark a bit later than usual and try as I might - reversing over and over - I could not get my car parked.  But Roy, an elder, gallantly rode to my rescue and parked it for me.

Mick gave us the perfect talk.  For some reason, I had been very apprehensive about going out today.   Its probably due to the sleepless nights from the arthritis attack, but I felt very down and tired and incapable, and afraid of driving to Angmering - on that Big Grown Up Road with its Giant Roundabouts.

Mick had us all read some lovely words from Isaiah that were just exactly what I needed to hear.  And they energised me - and all of us.

(Isaiah 40:26) “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one [of them] is missing."

Jehovah is the source of dynamic energy.   We can ask him to energise us, and He will.

(Didn't Einstein make this point - about the Universe being created through dynamic energy - with his famous equation - something equals something else?  And that is as far as I am going to venture into the realm of physics.  All I can remember about it from school is Iron Filings and magnets.)

And we also read:
(Isaiah 40:29) "He (Jehovah) is giving to the tired one power; and to the one without dynamic energy he makes full might abound."

What could I have needed to hear more?

A Monday in Retirement

What happened yesterday?   There was a sea-fret in the morning - making the Channel look misty and romantic and disappear for a while.  Captain B had his Metal Detector Hat on and flew off to a conference in Kent, taking a packed lunch with him.   The arthritis gave me back my limbs for a while and so I spent the morning doing some of the housework that had accumulated, and the afternoon studying and watching daytime TV.
I don't find the evening TV of much interest these days, but can always find something on during the day.  One one morning, I even found myself agonising over whether or not Thomas the Tank Engine would get the waggonload of ice-creams to the beach before all the children arrived.
To put you out of your misery - it was touch and go - but he did it!
Good old Thomas.  You can rely on him.  You can also rely on no-one getting hacked to pieces, or being raped, or both, in lingering gory close-up on Thomas the Tank Engine.
In a thread about rats and things on Facebook this morning, I got an opportunity to use this poem (verse) I wrote many years ago:

A MORAL DILEMMA

 by me

Why do I feel

No pity for the flea?

I suppose because

It preys on me

The two giant spiders

In the bath

Fill me with such panic

I have to ask

Ken-next-door

To take them out

But I do not wash them

Down the spout

I do no harm

To mice or rats

A philosophy not followed

By my cats

But fleas I kill

With sprays and no remorse

I spray the cats

As a matter of course

Fleas probably die

An awful death

Slowly choking

Robbed of breath

Do they feel?  Think?

Care?  All that?

Have they just

Achieved their cat?

A comfy home

With lots of bites?

A decent future

For their mites?

All in all

A scratchy heaven?

When suddenly

I am upon ‘em

PIFF PAFF

I squirt their furry host

And the fleas’

Paradise is lost.

Its very nice its come in useful after all these years.   I am just off on the doors with Audrey, via the Tuesday morning Field Service Group at the Kingdom Hall.

On the doors with Jean

Jean and I did about an hour and a half on the door to door preaching work yesterday morning.  I couldn't manage more as my neck and shoulder were stiffening up painfully and I had to get us both home while I was still able to drive.  Spent the rest of the day dozing on the sofa in a haze of painkillers.

Today Col is back from his Course - hurray.   And with a shiny new certificate in tow.

Lovely meeting at the Hall this morning, of course.  And I have a busy week of witnessing mapped out IF the arthritis will just ease up.   I was thinking back to my early days with the congregation when I didn't know anyone, didn't know the territory and wondered if i would ever get into the way of it.  

Now i am already booked up work with four different sisters during the week.   And Frances wants me to work with her in April.  

We got an invite from Bea today, so we hope to be seeing her shiny new bungalow soon.

Bahrain

I have been struck down by a very bad arthritis attack - back, right ankle, hands, you name it.  Two sleepless nights so far. So I haven't been doing much.   But I was thinking about Bahrain - that pretty island state which was so peaceful in our days in ExpatWorld.  We spent many weekends there, with Chuck, Mary and the Shoal, then later on we would just go over for the day - shop and have lunch.  We saw a wonderful Brian Ferry concert there with Bob during The Troubles in Saudi.  It was a baking hot Bahrain summer night, and we were outside in the grounds of the hotel.   He finished with a resounding version of "Woolly Bully".  And he didn't do any encores.  But then Brian and I are not as young as we were.

And we went through the airport in Bahrain many many times.

I wrote this, twenty (?) years ago, during a long weary wait in the small hours.

WAITING IN BAHRAIN

 by me 

The landscape to the East

Is tilting fast towards the sun

Clouds are being edge with pink

Runway lights grow pale and wan.

I note that I didn't manage to get anything distinctively Bahrain into the little poem, but there again, these days, one international airport is much like any other.

Ivy Lake

Ivy Lake could be a character from an Agatha Christie book - perhaps a housemaid who foolishly keeps what she has seen to herself, tries blackmail, and becomes the next victim - but in this context it is where we went for our bird walk today.  Lots of wildfowl - and swans were a'dabbling, tails up, which I don't think I have ever seen before.  If anyone passing by had been wondering how to re-choreograph Swan Lake it might have given them some strange ideas.

I have done some studying and made us lunch and dinner, emailed Bea and spoken to Maggie to let her know I have her magazines and will bring them with me tomorrow.  I feel a bit depressed now.  I don't know why.  Anyway, I have an evening with Captain B ahead of me - and was thinking again today how nice it is to have weekdays together as for most of our marriage we both worked.  And tomorrow I have a morning with my dear sister Maggie, so I ought to cheer up.

There is blossom along the roadsides now - once again I am surprised at how early Spring comes down here as compared to my Northern hometown.

Baby nettles are surging up everywhere, and the grass is starred with daisies.  No dandelions as yet, but they will arrive.  Perhaps its all this Spring that's depressing me, given that i am now rather old?   That is a sad thought, and a cue for a flower poem - or more correctly, a verse - with no angst in it:

OH DANDELION SEED

by me 

 Oh Dandelion Seed!   Oh Dandelion Seed!

 What a heedless seed you are indeed

 Crashing on carpet without a care

 How do you think you can grow in there?

  

Oh Dandelion Seed!   Oh Dandelion Seed!

 I’ll take you outside, I will indeed

 I’ll place you in topsoil never fear

 But who’ll be weeding you up next year?

Isn't a dandelion seed a miracle of artistry and engineering?  And isn't that comforting and reassuring, speaking as it does of its Grand Creator, Jehovah of armies.

Birdsong 2

I missed an Arun walk this morning - with sunshine and good light for photos (see The Captain's Log).  Spring has sprung, and apparently the local robins (see photo) got very loud and sing-y  and did a lot of territorial proclaiming, warning other robins off.

"As you would, if another man dared to fly near me, your precious (and stunningly attractive) Mrs.Captain", I said complacently.

The Captain failed to burst into his warning song at this point, so his Spring courting rituals need some polishing.

Audrey, Jean, Maggie and me were out on the door to door work this morning - in Angmering - which is why I missed the walk.   We didn't find too many in, but had a few interesting talks.  I placed the March Watchtower with a young lad who had one of those pit bull/bull terrier sort of dogs. It came bounding out at us, but fortunately was very friendly and cuddly.  I think they are if they have a nice owner.

It is a wonderful Watchtower, which starts with  Jesus words at Matthew 24:14 - which explain why we are at your doors in the first place.

It says:  "And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come".

And I left him with these two questions:

What is the "good news of the Kingdom"?

And what is going to come to its end?

The articles show how the Bible answers those questions.

I only have one copy of that Watchtower left now sadly.

Birdsong

Colin's new Ipod came into its own on our walk today - by the River Arun - along blackberry alley.   We chose music from it for the car and then its birdsong index came into play.  He is using it to try to teach me the bird songs.

"What bird is that?" he would ask every time some bird went and sang something.

"I don't know", I would answer truthfully.

Anyway, I did learn something.  The answer - when walking by the Arun in March - is usually "A great tit".  (Or was that me, for not knowing the answer?)

I can manage to recognise a pheasant though as it has a sort of rasping clockwork cry to go with its fast clockwork flight.

Shopped, studied, and changed my library books.

Out with Audrey on the work tomorrow - via a trip to the shops first.

Curry On Cooking

We had a nice Saturday night with Jackie and Ubbeh over a chicken curry and some dahls.  Reliable Madhur Jaffrey recipes.
Col was out butterflying today - see The Captain's Log - I can only hope the butterflies are suitably grateful.
The meeting at the Hall this morning was lovely, as it always is. But I didn't go out on the work afterwards as I had meant to. I feel exhausted today.  We used to do so much entertaining in our Expat days, but its a different me now, one who is exhausted by anything and everything.
I spoke to Jackie on the phone.  Got through to Claire and introduced myself.  And Lida and I became Facebook Friends today...   I am just remembering when the IT Crowd joined FriendFace... but surely my entry into Facebook World won't turn out like that?
Bea is back on-line!

Three Miles Up

The boat hidden in the reeds reminds me of that wonderful and scary Elizabeth Jane Howard short story "Three Miles Up".  We saw it on our walk along the Arun yesterday. It was grey and cold but beautiful of course.

I was out on the work this morning with June.  It was a lovely sunny Spring morning, but apparently its snowing in Scotland and is overcast now.  We were all working on the same road so after about an hour June went on some return visits with Mick and young Ronald and I and did three return visits.  We found one lady at home and had quite a long talk. She has been reading "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" and had some good questions for us.  She said we may call again.

Now cooking awaits me, if Jacks and Ubbeh are to have any food tonight.

The extent of the devastation in Japan is very hard to take in, but I know that my brothers and sisters there will be regrouping and looking after each other as best they can. And the Watchtower Society is always quick at getting help in.

Tsunami - and the calming of the Sea of Galilee

We spent much of the morning watching the horror of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on the News, seeing the devastating power of water.  The tsunami warnings are sounding throughout the Pacific.  I have emailed Clody (who has family in the Philippines) and Dorothy (in NZ), and wondered about ringing my brother and his family and waking them up...   they are in Oz.  However, they are in the East, as Col pointed out.

But what next?  And where?  I am looking out at the English Channel, a calmish grey-blue, surging outside our window, and wondering - and thinking about all my brothers and sisters in the Pacific coastlands - I hope and pray that Jehovah will take care of them.

The Japanese are very competent and organised, but this is an awful lot to cope with - including a burning oil refinery, that was described as 'apocalyptic'.

Yes, we live in a time of increasing natural and social disasters, as Jesus warned.  Its as if the rebellion in Eden is now coming to its full fruitage - once and for all time.  In Eden, Adam and Eve cut themselves off from their Creator, their source of life, and found they could not even keep themselves alive, let alone run this beautiful and complex planet.

Maybe this is the time to remind people that Jesus, the King of God's Kingdom, calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee when he was on earth, showing us what he can and will do as Jehovah's annointed one when God's Kingdom comes.  I don't know if there will be tsunamis then, but if so they will do no harm.

I was out with a young pioneer sister yesterday - we go out on the preaching work together every other week.  We did some return visits, and found two people at home and had a chat, and delivered 4 magazines.  We only did an hour, and finished just as it was starting to rain.

When Ruby and Wilhellmina called on me, all those years ago, in my Northern hometown.  I invited them in.  I had been looking for nearly two years I think, and was probably reading a Bible or puzzling over some book of theology when they arrived.  I thought, well, maybe they have one piece of the puzzle.  Although I would never have thought of talking to the Jehovah's Witnesses had they not come to my door.   Which bring it home to me how important the door to door work is even in such well worked territory.

Anyway, they stayed 20 minutes.  And in that twenty minutes, I learned more about the Bible than in all my churchgoing/convent school years.

Today, its the optician (new glasses for Mrs Captain B - and no straying towards the expensive Gok Wan Frames Shelf - sadly I usually end up more Dame Edna - minus the glamour), shopping & cooking - Jacks and Ubbeh are coming for curry tomorrow, and i need to get the chicken bought and in its marinade.

A Cooking Day - and a CAT! warning

If I had to characterise this particular day of retirement, I would have to say it was a cooking day. We didn't go anywhere - beyond Captain Butterfly's trip to the hairdresser.  He had left out the cooking apples in rather a pointed manner - quite rightly actually, they needed using - so I made the usual crumble, and also used up the mushrooms to make a soup.   The Captain has been wrestling with inexplicable ipod issues all day - and I now have to use a different password to get onto this blog.

I spoke to Maggie a la telephone - all her health tests so far have come out fine!  So I hope to see her tomorrow night.  And I replied to an internet friend who has written a book about government.  I am hoping he might consider the heavenly government, the incoming Kingdom of God, the government that will put things right on the earth - more wonderfully so than we can now imagine.  That was it really, apart from some study and some daytime TV - including the wonderful Harry Hill.

And I felt a little upset to read some headline about "Are Chickens Really Birdbrained?"  

Surely we know enough now to know that a hen's brain is a miracle of engineering?   And I happen to think that birds are very smart.   My parents were great bird feeders, and my mother got to to know the birds alarm calls and would rush out if she heard the CAT! alarm call to chase the cat away.

Then she observed something rather strange (and, if she observed it right, rather cunning - not bird-brained at all).

I wrote this poem about it:

BLACKBIRD, BLACKBIRD

by me

Blackbird, blackbird

You are young, strong

And cunning

As you hop around

Greedily

Picking all the cheese up

You keep the other birds off

With a steady 

CAT! warning.

Forget what did

I have no idea what on earth we did yesterday. For sure, I admired the balcony plants, wrote a card for Bea (posted today), made some veggie soup and did some studying. Perhaps that was all there was to it?   This morning Audrey and I went out together - she agreed she would do some first call work - and I had to drive on the big grown up road and round a couple of Big Boy roundabouts.  We didn't find many at home, but did place a few Truth leaflets.   Captain B has hunted down Rice suppliers on the net and, after a lunch of cheese on toast,  we drove over Brighton way to fetch a sack of what I hope will be the same lovely rice I used to get by the sackload in Saudi.  The Chinese Emporium that sold it is interesting - I noticed it had lovely looking coriander for instance, so I hope we will be going there again.   I used to get through sackloads of rice in our expat days as we entertained so much.  Whereas this one may well see us out...   aargh.  We stopped off for a Mill Hill walk on the way back in the hopes of seeing the first butterfly of the year, but the sun went in and it was too cold.   A quiet night in lies before us if all goes to plan.

Lost in the trackless wilderness of Lobbs Wood

Actually, even I couldn't get lost in it, given that it is only about 20 steps back to the road whichever way you go - so its not going to work as a venue for a scarey movie, made with our handheld cameras.  Anyway that is where we were yesterday, photographing the spring flowers, via a visit to the library.
I was also out on the door to door work with a young sister and her little boy.  It was very cold and we only managed an hour.  That was enough for his little legs (and my arthritic ones) anyway.
Jackie had us over for a lovely meal of salmon, with a cheeseboard and a lemon roulade.  Ubbeh was there too, as she starts her new job on Monday.
I did a half an hour magazine delivering after the meeting today - its sunny but cold.  The talk was wonderful.   As was the Watchtower study - all about how we can take refuge in Jehovah.
Still haven't managed to get through to Anne on The Cape

The balcony in its Spring glory

"Have you admired the balcony this morning?" barked Captain Butterfly at breakfast.  "Oh, er, I am just going to", I said, hastily suiting the action to the words.  And it does look lovely.  It was so cold last night I worried there might be a frost, but everything seems to be flourishing.

A quiet day (so far).  We shopped in the morning, including a trip to the Farm Shop which now has its cheese counter back, and we went to Worthing in the afternoon to collect some things from the Homebrew Shop.  I sorted some more books to give to the second-hand bookshop next door.

Col has got an IPod, which means he spends most of the time on the computer, looking intense.

Talked to Anne from The Cape on Skype yesterday - well, there was something wrong at her end so she talked and I replied by typing fast into the little box thing.  She messaged later to say it was working now, but  i haven't been able to get her to reply yet.

Posted reply to Kathryn yesterday, and a butterfly card introducing myself to Claire, who Christine wants me to get to know.

Rides for Butterflies

Captain Butterfly flew off this morning in the direction of the East Sussex jungles, as he is once again joining the work parties clearing the rides to make them right for butterflies.   I only hope that, if he goes and puts his back out, a swarm of butterflies will turn up and help me push his wheelchair up and down the seafront.

He did a heroic job with our balcony yesterday, and its now ablaze with Spring flowers.   We picked up Ubai and all had a nice hour grazing in the local Garden Centre.  It made me wish we had a garden again, but with his back and my arthritis...   And we love our balcony.  I like to do my Bible studies out there, once it warms up a bit.

There are two witnesses to Jehovah - his Inspired Word, protected and preserved for us to this day - and the glory of the creation itself, which tells us of its Grand Creator - from the intricate beauty of a butterfly to the power and splendour of the sun.  So I can study the Bible looking out over one of God's grand creations, the English Channel.  Its very calm and blue today.

We are going to Jackie's on Saturday and will see the photos of the new great-granddaughter.

Time marches on, and now our friend's don't just have children - they have great-grandchildren.

A great grandmother!

Audrey and I met a lovely lady on the doors today.  She is on crutches and will be for some months.   I can empathise as I too was in plaster and on crutches for months. You feel really wobbly on your feet when they take both plaster and crutches away.  I hung on to my hospital walking stick until they wrestled it away from me and sent me out into the cold world on just my own two feet,  like a middle-aged toddler.

She and her husband are both churchgoers, and when I called on her husband last month he said that I could drop the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in every month.  So we took round the March magazines today.

As she obviously says the Lord's Prayer, I asked her what she was praying for when she asked for God's Kingdom to come.  And I showed her that the main articles in the magazines would show her exactly what the Bible says it is.

It was too cold to keep her talking at the door, but the magazines say it much better than I ever could.

We did a big Tesco shop this afternoon - but a quiet day otherwise. I am just off to do my studying now - rather late in the day.  I replied to Kathryn's beautiful postcard from Tenerife which had  lot of news on the back but failed to post it at Tesco, so it will have to go in the post tomorrow.

Today Jackie has become a great-granny!!