An Evening with Lorrie

Don't seem to have caught my breath, and an awful lot of dozing on the sofa in front of the telly simply hasn't got done.  Jacks over last night - I made a fish pie and a fresh fruit salad - and we had our usual fun evening  - laughing at our plights.

Then I got an email from Linda - ex-Planet Expat - to say that Lorrie was in the country and could they both come over on Sunday...   a lovely surprise.  But not much notice.   So, after the meeting in the morning I took AM with me to Waitrose - she needed some shopping too - and I also visited Cooks and put together a sort of chill cabinet Asian meal - Thai chicken, Tamarind beef, Indian rice, and Chinese spring rolls. And made another fresh fruit salad.

It was great to see her.  Brought back many happy memories from Planet Expat.

Captain B had been out for both days -  Marshalling on Saturday (a fundraiser for SUSSAR) and Metal Detecting yesterday.  He was looking very angst ridden in the car on Saturday when we shopped - I thought that he was perhaps wrestling with the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything - but it turns out he is thinking about buying a new metal detector and is agonising over which one to have.

He is not one given to philosophical musings which is one of the many things I love about him.  And he would never write me a poem (except of the "Your teeth, like stars, come out a night, but Dentisomething will keep them tight" variety).  Which is another of the things I love about him.

And when I asked him if he could possibly take Jean to the hospital tomorrow, he said cheerfully "Of course, happy to". 

We had a trip into our youth Saturday night, as we went to see Kiki Dee, who was appearing in Graffham.
https://www.midsussextimes.co.uk/whats-on/music/west-sussex-date-for-kiki-dee-1-8471033

We drove through the Downland on winding country lanes in the lovely Spring evening, and had a great time. It was a tiny venue, so we were very close to her and Carmelo.   She sang "Amoreuse", and a great version of "It was a very good year", and lots of new stuff too.

FIVA

When we were up North, I found a copy of "Fiva" by Gordon Stainforth.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiva-Adventure-That-Went-Wrong/dp/0957054300

I had bought a copy, new, via Amazon, some years ago, but it is somewhere in the family's revolving library, so it could even be in Oz. And I was longing to read it again. So I bought another copy (from Oxfam).  What can I say except if you want a gripping read, please read it.  Gordon Stainforth takes us right with him and his brother as they tackle the Fiva route in the Mountains of the Trolls.

They had what mountaineers call "an epic".  And how they survived it, I do not know.

So I thought I would name this blog after their route/book.  Or I could have called it "I Sold a Book!!  Because here is a first.  I, the exact opposite of a salesperson (aka The Despair of Alan Sugar), sold a copy of "Waiting for Gordo" on Wednesday night!

Captain B was giving his talk on The Maldives - wonderful slides of impossibly dazzling fish, corals, sponges etc - and as "Waiting" was inspired by those lovely islands and set among them, he had included a slide of my book and I took some along. The kind Chairman's wife politely bought one. I do hope she likes it.

I really tried to make it a good read. And so far everyone has at least seemed to find it page turning, in that they did want to finish it and find out.  And I spoke to Aunt Jo this week - she is so frail now - and we are both rather deaf - so our conversation is difficult to say the least, but we managed. Anyway, she said she found it very funny!   Hurray. No-one else has said that about it yet. Frightening, yes, I have heard that. But it is meant to be funny too.  My next one is also supposed to be both frightening and funny. And now I have to find a moment to finally finish it.  I have fans - about 2 to be honest - who are actually looking forward to the next one.

Nute says she might try to arrange another writers workshop. This one was so helpful. 
And, with all this hate whirling round in "the world", let me say that her neighbours, who lent us their lovely house for 3 days, are Pakistani Muslims. And I don't see how she and her husband could have better and kinder neighours.

I visited Maggie on Wednesday afternoon, having not seen her last week. She seemed a bit more, I don't know how to say it,  more less-there than the last time I saw her (if that makes sense) but another sister joined us and as we began to talk and laugh, Maggie really brightened up and even managed a sentence - an almost sentence.

I was out with my siblings yesterday  - on the door to door work.  My partner and I both had a lovely call each, and we then Drove to Angmering (how my heart sank when my partner suggested it) and did some returns.  And I was glad we did as we found a lady I had met and talked to months ago, and she remembered me and took some literature.

The only thing is keeping up with all the return visits. 

But, as Isaiah reminds us:
"He gives power to the tired one And full might to those lacking strength.  Boys will tire out and grow weary, And young men will stumble and fall, But those hoping in Jehovah will regain power. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary; They will walk and not tire out.”- Isaiah 40:29-31

And yes, those words are true.  We can keep going with the support of Jehovah's holy spirit.

Sausage and Mash, but hold the sausage and hold the mash

We got back from our trip 'oop North on Monday - left Sheffield at 9.15, arrived back home at 2.30 - two stops - so a good journey, thank God.  As I am writing this we are in the throes of unpacking, watering plants, sorting, opening the mail etc etc.

Adam's merry men are doing the carpets downstairs.

The Derby branch of the family came over for lunch on Sunday bringing the two youngest granddaughters.  The menu was planned with them in mind - sausages (from The Real Meat Company), mash and peas, followed by ice-cream.   Firm favourites.   Although... oldest youngest granddaughter didn't want to eat any sausage or any mash (but she had her choc ice), and youngest youngest granddaughter didn't want her mash and wouldn't eat her choc ice - it had chocolate on it and it was cold.

At that point we all remembered the occasion on which youngest oldest grandaughter was asked if she liked Captain Butterfly's homemade strawberry ice-cream. "NO. I don't.  Its cold and it tastes of strawberry."

Was there a time when children ate what they were given?   And of course they usually pretty much have to, but doting grandparents do try to provide treats at Sunday lunch.

It was a busy week - lots of writing and editing work done  - lots more to do - and I am now feeling SO TIRED.

But I hope to get out on the doors this morning with my siblings. What better way to cope with the horrors of the news, the difficulties of old age, and the stresses and strains of the system than to try to tell all who will listen of the coming and imminent rescue?

I doubt I shall do much else though, beyond a necessary shop and making supper tonight.

Writing, Editing, Publishing

I just read Janet Dean Knight's about to be published novel - not sure if I can name it before its published - a good read - and very evocative of a lost world - working class England of the 1930s, just pre-war. I particularly like the way she has the names and the tiny details right.

We saw Dan - my young publisher - briefly this week - and I must remember to send him one of my short stories as soon as I get back.

Captain B was out in Endcliffe Vale yesterday afternon.  Its a lovely day and I feel frustrated I can't go, but I do hold him back. Also we have no hot water. The tank sprang a leak a few days ago and none of us can have a shower while it awaits repair.  So I don't want to get hot sticky and dusty.

We would have left on Friday, but Col has Metal Detecting Business this weekend. Important stuff he assures me.

Alex, Nadine and the two youngest granddaughters should be joining us for lunch today. Sausages and mash - in deference to 7 and 4 year old preferences, to be followed by mini choc ices or ice lollies.  The Captain's alarm went off at 5.30 and he, his metal detector and a box of sandwiches, have vanished into the wilds of Derbyshire.

Foghorn Doris has been barking madly at squirrels.  The garden is full of them. Fortunately the foghorn gives them ample warning, as she is a Jack Russell and would not be kind to them if she caught them.

The Writer's Workshop

Monday was my first ever day at Writer's Workshop. Just the 3 of us, Nute, Penny and me, and a big big house all to ourselves.    We finished today, Wednesday. And I have to say it works well.  I am back in the world of the book I have been working at since the Millennium, and have shrunk it a lot. But realise how much more work it needs.

My two fellow writers have got their new thrillers underway.  And today we rescued an exhausted bee - two doses of sugar water, with a rest in between and it flew off.

Fish and chips tonight.

And I have sent today's Scriptural Thought to a fb friend.  It seems so exactly what she needs to hear at the moment.  I am hoping to find a response on my page.  It is, of course, exactly what I need to hear too.

Wednesday, April 18

Keep conquering the evil with the good.​—Rom. 12:21.

Even if we had a difficult childhood or if our present circumstances seem hopeless, we need to keep contending and persevering. We can trust that if we do so, Jehovah will bless us. (Gen. 39:21-23) Think of a situation that you are facing and that may be a trial for you. Perhaps it is some type of injustice, prejudice, or ridicule. Or the trial you face may be that someone falsely accuses you, perhaps out of jealousy. Rather than drop your hands in defeat, remember what enabled Jacob, Rachel, and Joseph to continue serving Jehovah with joy. God strengthened and blessed them because they kept on showing deep appreciation for spiritual things. They kept on contending and acting in harmony with their earnest prayers. We are living close to the end of the present wicked system of things; thus, we have strong reason to hold on to the firm hope set before us! Are you willing to exert yourself to gain Jehovah’s favor?

The Bank Vole

Col got some great sightings and shots of the Arundel Bank vole the other day - see his blogpost:
http://colinknight.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/bank-voles-and-wren.html

When I have gone there to see them, its usually been nothing, or a quick flash of fur as one darts from one hidey-hole in the log pile to another. They really posed for him this time.

Woke up to find that the English Channel had been stolen!   However, panic over when the mist cleared and it re-appeared.   It was Field Service at the Kingdom Hall this Saturday, so I took us to the Hall, and Jean and I were given a Crescent of our own to do. We managed to do quite a bit of it - and had some good calls.   It was such a lovely morning.  Sunny, but with a slight mist coming and going.  At one point some tulips shone in the misty distance like jewels.  And the blossom!

Our last call was on a gentleman who assured us that the Bible was outdated, old-fashioned, and of no relevance.   "Have you studied it much?" asked Jean, gently.  It turned out he had only ever read bits of it.

Please don't make up your mind till you have studied it.  If it is as it claims the Inspired word of the Creator of this amazing planet, set in this awe-inspiring universe, then the proof lies within it.

We just have to hope that the doubting doorstep gentleman will change his mind before too long.

We had lunch at the Hall - then the April broadcast - then I drove my passengers home.  A nice day.

But a sad and frightening day news-wise - with the attacks on Syria, and the seeming return of the Cold War.  Our April  Awake!  magazine is so relevant.

I read one lady - a grandma looking after her grandchildren - these two verses which are quoted in the last article, and she took the magazine:

“[I have] thoughts of peace, and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”​—Jeremiah 29:11.

AN END TO WARFARE: “Jehovah . . . is bringing an end to wars throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the military wagons with fire.”​—Psalm 46:8, 9.

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/awake-no1-2018-mar-apr/way-of-happiness-hope/

A Showy Display

1 John 2:15-17 says:   "Do not love either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him;  because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.  Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains forever."

I think the expression "the showy display of one's means of life" is a very good description of the Designer Label world we are presently living in.

Jean and I had a lovely morning on the doors on Tuesday - and I visited Maggie this afternoon. She was quite traumatised by the fact that she was in a different dining room - the usual one is being re-decorated - and that when we got back to her room, it was still in the process of being cleaned, the bed not yet made.

When someone has lost nearly all of their words, its impossible to explain what is happening. Anyway, I went and found a kind nurse, and we got the bed made and we got Maggie settled.  But she looked much frailer than usual, and clung a bit when I had to go.

But John was in to see her in the morning and I expect she will have another visitor or two before I next go.  Its all very sad though. And such a lovely spring day - blossom, daffodils under the trees.  But Maggie and I are not in the Spring of our lives.

Which brings me back to 1 John, which assures us that "the one who does the will of God remains forever".  So I hope that Maggie and I have "unnumbered springs" ahead of us in the restored earthly Paradise.

Walking and Talking

Jean and I went to the Field Service group on Saturday morning. Good thing we did really as there weren't many of us there.   A lot of us are on holiday this week.  However, the territory was not suitable for us. It meant too much walking.  Jean's ankle was really bad - she was heroic to be out at all. So we did calls.  The first one - not at home - the last one - not at home - but the call in the middle was at home - asked us in for coffee - and lasted nearly two hours!    And we are invited back.

So that was just right.  Jean's ankle got a rest.  I walked her to her door - I can't park right outside it - she said she did not need any help up her stairs but would wave to me from the top to show she had made it.  So I waited till I saw her wave.

Old age makes doing the most ordinary things extraordinarily difficult.   We were saying that to Jacks, who was over for supper Saturday night - and agreeing that its a good thing you don't realise when you are young. It could blight your life.  Its not that you don't see some of the difficulties of age, but you are young, you are never going to be old...   then, suddenly...

The sad thing is that getting older should be wonderful in every way.  I don't know anyone who would go back and be young again, unless they could go back knowing then what they know now.

Which of course is exactly what the Bible promises us.
Job 33:25 says: "Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor."

Yes.  Please. 

We had curry on Saturday night, mainly from the Waitrose chill cabinet, I must admit. But I did make a cucumber raita and a tomato curry.      I feel so desperately tired that its worrying me.

I chauffered two passengers to and from the Hall today - and a sister from Worthing was there, sitting with Jean and me.  I used to give her a lift in the old days - pre-knee.

The Butterfly Memberships flew through the letter box yesterday and I really ought to make myself go and do them so I can get the packages into the post tomorrow.

I am looking out over a grey and rainy Channel today - its been one continuous "April shower" all day.  Not that I mind.  I love all weathers, and don't want blazing sunshine every day.

MRS RAVOON and Mrs Raven

Many years ago. during my time on PlanetExpat, the competition in The Speccie was to write a MRS RAVOON poem.

This link explains the genre:
http://mrsravoon.com/mrs-ravoon/

And I thought - At last, a competition I can enter!  (They are usually far above my abilities.)   So I decided I would address the question of where the monstrous lady came from in the first place.

And this is what I wrote and entered:

MRS RAVOON

The ship has returned from the alien star
Captain and crew, who knows where they are?
Nothing inside but a large silk cocoon
in which form the features of MRS RAVOON

I didn't win.  Or even get a mention.  But I still quite like it. 

And Mrs Raven, of the TV series "My Hero" was a bit of a MRS RAVOON.  She was the doctor's terrifying receptionist - and in one episode she even became, briefly, a malicious superhero, The Raven.

I remember this excellent moment when she is tormenting all the waiting patients even more than usual with her rules and regs, and one guy shouts at her "This is just like Nazi Germany!".

"Why, thank you,"  says Mrs R. a rare wintry smile flickering across her face.

Its Wednesday morning, as I am writing this, (but probably won't post this till tomorrow), we are off to Chichester for my postponed ear appointment.  I foresee a long long wait, a depressing interlude of me saying "What?" to all their questions... and perhaps no answer beyond everything is wearing out.  I am wondering if I should ask the Captain to take me for lunch in Chi after...it will depend how we feel I guess, plus it is the Easter hols, so everything might be rather crowded, especially the car parks.

We can remember a time when you could drive into central London for an evening out without parking worries.  That is how old we are,

The weather is still cold and damp with thundery showers forecast - hail - and snow in Scotland.  So March came in like a lion and went out like a lion.

It all went well yesterday - though the Clinic was running late, they did my tests while I was waiting and then I saw a very nice doctor - who is puzzled by my ears.  Like everyone.  Yes, I have pronounced hearing loss, but why it comes and goes is the puzzle. So I am now waiting for a Scan, and then I will see him again.

I did manage to get over to see Maggie, though only for half an hour.   She was delighted to see  me, but all visitors delight her. She doesn't know who I am any more.  But as long as she wants visitors, I hope to be able to keep going.

Should we be Allowed out On Our Own?

The question for April.  Should Jean and I be allowed out on our own?   We tottered off on Friday - C.O. conducting the Field Service group - got our territory - started working on the wrong road - realised it just as we were being rained off anyway... it was a very cold rain, that made our elderly bones ache even more than usual.

Now it was my fault. I can't blame Jean for that - though I  am trying to work out a way to pin it on her.  Anyway, hopefully, I retrieved the situation a bit by having arranged some indoor territory just in case - flats, with lifts. We managed to place the rest of our Memorial invitations, and the valiant Jean would have gone on to every flat with just the meeting invites, but she simply wasn't able. Which was a relief to me as my knees were getting so painful.

She had  a cup of coffee with us afterwards and Col ran her home while I got lunch - sausages for Captain Carnivore and veggie soup for me. 

Saturday we got to the C.O. Field Service meeting at the Hall and had a morning doing calls - getting a lovely welcome from those we found at home.   And Sunday was two talks from the Circuit Overseer.  So timely - much needed.

The first was the Public Talk:  How Can I Survive the End of the World?     And it is important and urgent that people know that this lovely earth is not coming to an end, but it is the wicked system of things on it that will end.  Which is why it is so important to be "no part" of it.

As the Book of Revelation promises, Jehovah "will bring to ruin those ruining the earth".   Only then will the meek be able to inherit it.

Then his special talk was:  Go With the Strength you Have.   The key scripture was:

Judges 6:14-16: "Jehovah faced him and said: “Go with the strength you have, and you will save Israel out of Midʹi·an’s hand. Is it not I who send you?”  Gidʹe·on answered him: “Pardon me, Jehovah. How can I save Israel? Look! My clan is the least in Ma·nasʹseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”  But Jehovah said to him: “Because I will be with you, you will strike down Midʹi·an as if they were one man.”"

We have a vast Kingdom preaching work to do - plus we have a struggle with our own imperfections, and with the stresses and strains the present system of things is causing us.  But if we do our best, and keep going, Jehovah will do the rest.  We can rely on His strength and His promises.