The FitBit and the Sedan Chair

Captain Butterfly has bought me a FitBit...   and I feel super athletic as I hobble round with a fitbit on my wrist.

Jean and I went out Tuesday morning, later on - we don't seem able to cope with the early start that will get us to the Field Service Group at the moment - but we are going to try on Saturday, and do some first calls.  We had a good morning out - a couple of good return visits and each placed some literature.

Wednesday morning we -  Captain Butterfly and Mrs.Captain B - went out to find some nourishment for our new moth babies. They are very fussy about what they eat.  We found a little something to be going on with.  And Himself did an expedition by car later to get a whole troughload. Their mum has died on our balcony, so we will now have to do our best.

I plan to knit a hundred little woolly vests, now that I am a moth-er.  September nights can be chilly.

Re my Fitbit, it hadn't dawned on me that it needed to be charged, just as my Ipad (which it talks to) does.  So when Captain B took it away to charge.  I had to order a Sedan chair on the spot.  I wasn't going to waste steps - uncounted steps! - walking from lounge to bedroom.  No way.

Thursday morning I was out with the congregation doing first call. It was very hot.  But we managed to complete our territory and were invited for a coffee afterwards.   It is always nice to have a coffee with siblings.   So it was a lovely morning.

In the afternoon I fell asleep, after making sure I had Captain Butterfly's tea well in hand.  Veggie soup - he said it was a very good one.  He had a whole day's detectorising in Hampshire to do, and a meeting in the evening.  So he only had a short supper window. 

He found a couple of nice little silver coins too - which I expect will appear on his blog in due time.

The Misadventures of Doris (a Saga) - and ANOTHER arthritis flare-up

The saga of Doris, my sister's latest rescue dog, continues to great effect on facebook.  I thought her latest advenure was too good not to share:

"Doris is generally an amiable and well-behaved dog (apart from a few regrettable lapses), and in every way, much easier to manage than Ollie was. However, once in a blue moon she pulls off a stunt that would have left Ollie standing, open-mouthed with admiration.

Like yesterday evening, for example. We are always careful to keep the door of Ken's studio closed, as there are hazardous things in there, and Doris, being a Jack Russell, will, if given half a chance, find them. But around eight, I went in to get something and left the door open behind me. Doris followed me in.

The next thing I knew, she was racing off down the corridor with an illicit prize in her mouth. I went after her and grabbed her, landing on the floor in the process, while she tightened her grip on what turned out to be a tube of superglue, which burst.

Doris decided she didn't like her new toy, spat it out and started wiping her face on the floor. I tried to leap to my feet, except my knees were now glued to the carpet so I landed on my face.

I crawled to the phone with a carpet tile attached to each knee and my hands glued together, called the vet and explained what had happened. 'Is her jaw glued shut?' she asked. I looked at Doris who was busily trying to remove Ken's hand as he wiped her face clean. It was clearly All Our Fault, and Doris wasn't prepared to be forgiving about this. 'No,' I said, 'I don't think so.'

The vet advised us, against what sounded like a background of guffawing, to feed her little and often to keep everything moving, and bring her in if she seemed ill. 'She seems fine at the moment,' I said, as Doris proceeded to shred the flannel Ken had been using to clean her up.

I spent the next half hour peeling my hands apart and freeing myself from the carpet tiles. That's one pair of jeans I won't be able to wear again, but at least the carpet tiles are in an inconspicuous place.

Doris ate everything we offered and took herself off to bed, while Ken and I opened a large bottle of wine. This morning, Doris in fine, apart from some rather stiff hairs round her mouth. Ken and I are still twitching and picking superglue off our hands."



Monday was a Bank Holiday - very hot.  We shopped for us and Jacks, and I rang Jean to say that hopefully we will be able to go out on the work tomorrow.

And I also made a batch of marmalade muffins as I am down to the last piece of cake in the freezer - and Col needs a lot of packed lunches at this time of year - he is out Butterfly hunting, Moth hunting, Treasure hunting, and sometimes helping to hunt for Lost People when he gets a SUSSAR callout.

https://www.sussar.org.uk/website/

The Day of Maggie's Funeral

Mother of Pearl, Pleuroptya ruralis

Friday, the day of Maggie's funeral, was a beautiful summer day, blue sky, white clouds, refreshing breeze.   Captain Butterfly chauffered me and J - poor Jean could not make it, she is having a very bad time healthwise at the moment.    One of our elders gave the talk.  He spoke about Maggie's life, and about the hope for her, when God will wake her from the dreamless sleep of death.  It was just right - a good balance.

The music was lovely.  Starting with the Skaters Waltz (Emil Waldteufel) - and one of the things I learnt about Maggie, along with her having 9 great great grandchildren! - was that she was a keen skater in her youth.   The service ended with Bolero (Ravel).  And we sang "See Yourself When All is New" during the service.

And I must put in a word of praise for the Rustington Manor Hotel, where there was a reception afterwards.    Everything was ready when we arrived - an excellent cold buffet set out - tea, coffee, water and fruit juice all available - and comfy chairs and tables.  We were looked after by the staff, and it was a pleasant occasion.

The funeral was well attended.  Of course - it was for Maggie, a much loved sister.

Jean and I managed to get out on the work on Saturday morning, and we had a productive time (I hope) including a fruitful error in which my driving Jean to the wrong road (one of my special skills) caused her to find the door of a lady she had been meaning to call back on, but had forgotten which house. 

There was an exquisite tiny moth on our balcony doors the morning of the funeral.  The light shining through its wings showed all the stained-glass detail. And in that exquisite artistry and engineering lies our hope - because we see the qualities of our Grand Creator, Jehovah, and the tender love he has for his creation.

And Maggie was the work of his hands.   He longs for the time when he can see her again.  But he will not wake her until the whole earth is under the loving rule of the Kingdom of God.

Yet Another Flare-up

in my hand again - so this will be an uncapitalised and very short blog - left hand - starting monday in thumb - but has spread to whole hand - tuesday v v painful - no sleep to speak of that night -

I recovered enough to go to the meeting Thursday (and to type a bit better!), and today its Maggie\s funeral.  Col will be chauffering us - me, Jean and Jennifer. 

The hand is still a bit swollen though, so my typing has to be minimal. But I must do a small letter to put with the card I have for Maggie's family today.

So many funerals...   so I was extra glad for the comfort of the meeting last night.

Woods Mill in the Rain

Woods Mill

Friday was a medical day.  Off to the Dermatologist in the morning. Very nice lady, and I met the boss who was called in to help. She is honest about the fact that I may have to live with this - and that is one advantage of being in your seventies (it will be years not decades - assuming, gulp, that I even have years) - but they are trying what they can. I have to spend the next two weeks on a very powerful med and a special new skin cream.  However, we haven't yet been able to find a supplier. We are in hopes of finding it on our expedition this afternoon.

After the hospital, we went to Woods Mill, where we ate our sandwich lunch on a bench under a sheltering tree and watched the rain falling on the lilypond lake.  It was so lovely - and there was that feeling of summer toppling into Autumn everywhere.  I hope I thanked Jehovah for creating such a beautiful world.  If not, I am doing so now.

But what a tragic mess we are making of it... the news at the moment, as we see the foretold "increase in lawlessness" worldwide, it seems as if every day someone is stabbed to death on the streets of London!  And surely its impossible now not to see that the system is corrupt from top to bottom. What horrors are being unveiled, reaching right up to the top and done in plain sight of the great and "the good".

Why should anyone doubt one word of the Biblical warnings about "the world", the current world system we live in. And please please note the urgent necessity of being no part of it - of taking no part in its devious divisive politics, its cruel wars, and its corrupt moral standards.

In the meantime in spite of everything it is possible to see everywhere glimpses of the paradise that the earth is meant to be, and will be.  As we saw at Woods Mill.. As I see every time I look out over the beautiful English Channel  (or French Channel to those across the water).

After Woods Mill we shopped - delivered Jackie's shopping to her - and then we got a call from Jean, who needed a lift to the doctors.  We both went, Captain B chauffering, as he dropped us off at the Surgery and went off to begin his Quest for my new medicine.

So it was, as I said, a medical day.  And I was glad that we had a quiet night in, watching a classic Midsomer Murders.   We also had a quiet night in on Saturday, as Jackie cancelled, not feeling well enough to come over and eat a meal.   But Jean and I did get out on the work in the morning - we continued our Bible study, and also tried to find the lady who wants the Bible.  But once again she wasn't at home. And you can't push it through the letter box!

Sunday - meeting in the morning - housework in the afternoon - and a supper of cold chicken (Jackie's portion from yesterday) for Himself and lentil crips, Alpen and fruit for me.

 I am still eating more fruit than  I should, but not nearly as much as  I did.  Anyway, I will get more info from the diabetes nurse next month.  Yet more medical stuff - yet I must be very grateful that all this help is still available.  Having been around for the birth of the NHS,  I hope I am not not going to be witnessing its demise.

How much we  need God's Kingdom to come.  And it is so close now.

A strange Arthritis Flare-up

This is a very plodding blog, but I want to record my flare-up as I need to tell the doc next time I see him (next year).  I have been having such an odd arthritis flare-up. It began in the thumb of my right hand - agonising pain - sleepless nights - and paralysed the hand. I missed the meeting Sunday week - listened in. Then it eased off, and started up again in the next finger.  Not so bad this time. Then it stopped and started up again in the next finger. Very bad this time.  However it gave me the Saturday in between and I managed to get out with Jean.. We had a very good morning, picking up on some of her long time calls, and even starting a Bible study with one gentleman!

All seems OK now - with residual soreness, and still a loss of some function, which I hope will return. But the trouble is that every attack can do some permanent damage.  I feel as if I have been through a long illness - something like a bad bout of flu. So I am hoping that means that it is not going to travel to the two remaining fingers. 

It has made for an odd and disjointed (ha!) couple of weeks.  Anyway, I hope that is it for the moment.   Jean and I went out Tuesday afternoon (I could do nothing Sunday and Monday) but found nobody at home - except our last call, which turned out to be a really really good one. I hadn't seen this gentleman for a long time, but he was genuinely pleased to see us, and was eager to read the magazine.   We hope to go back with our Bibles and the Good News Brochure.   It was a hot and sunny day.

Wednesday was rainy - grey and green and beautiful.   The work of our Grand Creatr, who has made everything lovely in its time.  So it was a housebound day.  I got some studying done, plus some much overdue housework, and the meals cooked (or heated up at any rate). 

Yesterday I had to wait in for my medicine to be delivered. It arrived on time, delivered by a very charming lad from somewhere in Eastern Europe.    It has to be signed for and refrigated.  And I got to the meeting, doing my usual chauffering, and it was excellent. Though I was very tired.

Today is a hospital day - my appointment with the Dermatologist - and then on to Woods Mill for a walk, and a sandwich lunch, and Captain B has to pick up a couple of banners for an Event.  We must also fit the shopping for us and Jacks somewhere into today.

One Perfect Rose

There was a special meeting just for us sisters at the Kingdom Hall last Saturday week.   We had no idea what it was about but we came along after the Field Service, and I am so glad we did.

What it was was a little talk from our congregation brothers to tell us how much we are appreciated. And then we were each given a lovely long-stemmed rose, (plus a cup of tea and cake).

As I had just had a week of pain (arthritis flare-up right hand) and felt about as much use as a chocolate teapot, this could not have been better timing.  It was so comforting and encouraging.

The flare-up continues to this day, travelling at intervals, which is why I could not make it to the meeting on Sunday - which was a day of much pain - and why I am not taking Jean out this morning.  We did have a wonderful Saturday - this Saturday- on the service - the flare-up eased off for a day - and we started a Bible study with a long term call of Jean's in the Good News brochure.

Here is a clever and cynical poem by Dorothy Parker, called "One Perfect Rose":

 A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet -
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;
'My fragile leaves,' it said, 'his heart enclose.'
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose. 



I take the point Dorothy, but after Rose Saturday, I feel the need to respond.  But can I manage it?  It is years since  I wrote a poem.   Anyway, here it is, after some thought and much business with my quill pen.   It doesn't reach the Dorothy Parker standard, but its from the heart.


One perfect limo
would that be the thing?
Or perhaps one perfect diamond ring?
No, better by far than jewels, Limos,
Reliant Robins,  BMWs
is one perfect rose from loving brothers!

(By the way, what defines a "limousine"?  And can a Reliant Robin be one?)

Maggie

Macolm phoned me yesterday to say that the valiant Maggie had died in the night.   And I can only be glad that it is over for her. When I saw her on Sunday, there was no spark, nothing. It was as if she had already gone.

 I did not stay long.  Talked to her a little bit, prayed quietly for Jehovah to help her, and sang her a Kingdom Song.   And I was thinking about her this morning, and remembering how amazed she looked when I sang "Its a Long Way to Tipperary" in Latin for her last year.  (Its the only bit of my convent schoolgirl Latin I can remember). Her mouth went round with astonishment.    ("As well it might" said Captain Butterfly, who is no fan of my singing.)

She has been so brave and so cheerful through all of it.  And she had such a busy and productive life.  A long and happy marriage - her husband Don was a great guy - they had four children - I don't know how many grandchildren and great grandchildren - a career in nursing  - and she was a witness of Jehovah, doing the Kingdom preaching work.

And she was so hospitable.   We were always welcome to call in to her house for coffee and cake after the Field Service.  She drove four of us to Brighton for the Convention every year - and then had to suffer being driven there by me when she could no longer drive.  She also used to drive me to Haysbridge for the one day Assemblies, and I used to enjoy the day out with her.

She now has life in the restored earthly paradise ahead of her, when the time comes for the resurrection of the dead.

Until then, she sleeps safe in "the everlasting arms", held in God's memory, every hair of her head numbered. And Jehovah will not wake her until the whole earth is under the loving rule of the Kingdom of God, the heavenly government for whose coming Jesus taught us to pray.

It will be such a wonderful awakening when it comes.

Here is a lovely reassuring promise from Isaiah 26:19:

“Your dead will live...

    Awake and shout joyfully,

    You residents in the dust!

    For your dew is as the dew of the morning,

    And the earth will let those powerless in death come to life."

The Missing Micro-Moth

Scrubland Pigmy, Stigmella  plagicolella  on prunus leaf

Or I could have called this blog:  A Hospital, a Blood Test, and a Visit to a Nursing Home.  There ought to be a poem in that, or maybe an on-trend movie, set in wherever the Notting Hill set are spending their twilight years.   But for the moment it will just have to be a blog title.

I visited Maggie in her new home on Sunday after the meeting. And, after 3 appointments, I managed to get my diabetes blood test done.   I now await the results, assuming it doesn't travel through the system again leaving no record.   On Monday Captain Butterfly and I took Jean to the hospital for her appointment.  A long one - but at least its done and dusted.  And Tuesday Jean and I managed to get out - despite her medical adventures - and do some much needed return visiting.    One lady said to me that it was a long time since she saw me.   It is. And I was touched that she remembered me and noticed. She is very very interested in the Bible.

The Man With the New Fridge Freezer comes today - and takes away our old ones.  And I plan to be out on the field service with one of the young pioneers this afternoon.  Oh, and as the Captain will be supervising fridge arrangements, I will be walking up to the Museum to get his ring back from our lovely Finds Officer.  He hasn't gone and proposed to her or anything, it is the ring he detected-up ages ago and had to hand in as Treasure Trove - and that is now being returned to him. The landowner generously waived his right to his share of its value by asking the Col to make a donation to a Hospice he supports. Which Col has done. A worthy cause.

And Col's current micro-moth went missing, somewhere in our kitchen, before he could photograph it again!  He wanted a better photo than the one he got in the field.  Quite a traumatic evening - kitchen door remaining sternly closed - open it at my peril - moth the size of a fruit fly - not too hopeful it is going to re-appear - and frankly no chance of my seeing it if it did. Not these days.

An August Thorn

August Thorn, Ennomos quercinaria

It's been a week of pain and being fairly housebound, apart from medical appointments, and guilt because of all the return visits that are piling up, and because of how urgently people need to hear Jehovah's warning.

Jesus likened these days - the time of his presence - to the days of Noah.

"Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.   For just as  the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be.  For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.:
Matthew 24:36-39

Then there was a medical panic when, having had my Diabetes blood test (routine) on Thursday, I got a call from the Clinic the next morning to say please could I come in and see the paramedic straight away, that very afternoon, as they had just got the results of my blood test.

Now, call this a woman's intuition if you will, but I did guess that it probably wasn't to tell me that they had the results and they were excellent and there was nothing to worry about. You usually have to wait a few weeks for that.

So...  anyway, when we got there the paramedic, a very nice young lad, told me that the blood test showed I had a serious infection. He began taking my pulse, temperature, etc, asking me questions about how I felt and looking rather puzzled.  I was puzzled too as I had assumed they were going to tell me that my blood sugar was all over the place.  Then it dawned on me.  "I am going through a bad arthritis flare up this week ."    "Ah!" he said "That will account for it."

There it was in my blood - the markers that indicated that my body was going through a struggle.

However, the point was that this was not supposed to be a blood test for inflammation but for blood sugar.  The Thursday nurse did tell me that the computer system was causing problems, and it seems to have switched tests on me.  And I now have to try again next week to get the diabetes one done.

On a doubleplusgood note, this wonderful moth, an August Thorn, appeared on our balcony, trapped in a spider web and was rescued by the gallant Captain Butterfly.

A wonderful little character.

So August has got off to a thorny start - mothwise for him and healthwise for me.