Consequences

Captain and Mrs Butterfly

met

Two little girls

at

The seaside

Captain Butterfly said

Come and see all the moths on the balcony

The little girls said:

Can we have a chocolate biscuit please?

Mrs Captain Butterfly said

 "Yes". and when she was

at

The Fridge (where the choccie biccies are kept)

Two little girls said

Can we have two chocolate biscuits each please?

Mrs Captain B said (feebly)

Yes, OK.

And the consequence was:

She proved she would have been the "anything for peace" kind of of parent (and we got through rather a lot of chocolate biscuits).

We introduced two of the youngest of my parents great-grandchildren to the joys of the paper and pencil game Consequences.  It was a great success.  (I think they were already well aware of the joys of chocolate biscuits.)

The ants are back, and the weather has been hot and thunderstormy.  Today, it rained heavily all morning, and I attended the Brighton Convention - Saturday morning session - online - so I am ready for the afternoon session which we will have on Sunday.

It will include the first part of the Daniel drama, which I am looking forward to.  Daniel is an amazing book, and contains the 70 weeks prophecy which not only told the Jews the exact year the Messiah would appear, but warned them what would happen afterwards - Daniel 9:24-27

Here is a trailer:  https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/conventions/feature-bible-drama-trailer-daniel/

And you can find all the Convention Sessions on this link: https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/categories/2021Convention

The family visitors left on Wednesday and Thursday respectively and are all safely home, thank Goodness.  It was so lovely to see them.  We also discovered a very good Indian takeaway while they were here.

Sad news about Doris the rescue dog though.  We know she is not young, but don't know how old she is.  And now she does not have long.  Nute is going to spoil her with lots of treats and won't go away again until its over.

My Recording - Disraeli Hall

My reading of the first chapter of Disraeli Hall is done and dusted and with my young publisher, through the wonders of technology - and it has been pronounced OK.

Lesson learnt?  If I write another novel, I will make the first chapter very short.

The Press Release is almost written, with all 3 of us struggling over it - but it still needs some work.  Its surprisingly difficult.  So far it suggests suspense and scare, which I hope it has. But D.Hall is also quite funny. I am hoping it will make my readers laugh as well.  And I haven't yet found a way to convey that.  Or is it better not conveyed?  Perhaps it could (hopefully) be a nice surprise?

Well, more work today.  Plus the Waitrose Order to do.

It is still very close - very humid - and there were thunderstorms and flooding in the South last night.  Apparently parts of the London Underground flooded!  We seem to have had our rain yesterday, minus the thunder and lightning.

The weather is strange the world over, and as for the "increasing of lawlessness" worldwide, I hardly know where to start.  A young girl was raped in broad daylight while she was in the sea here on the South Coast, while both sea and beach were crowded.  I have never heard of nor imagined such a thing happening before. The attacker has not been caught.  And a South African fb friend has been posting about the troubles there, the rioting and looting, and is desperate to get to a more peaceful country.

The thing is though that the current wicked system of things on the earth is going to be destroyed as completely as the wicked society of Noah's day was.  And Jesus himself compared the days we are living in now to the days of Noah, which too was a time the earth became filled with violence. 

• "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 24:37-39

• 
  

•  Jehovah acted then.  He will act now. And this time it will be a lasting deliverance.  Please please take note.

Baking Banana Bread at Disraeli Hall (or A Shameless Plug)

That hastily baked banana bread came in very useful over the last two days of family visits - and is nearly all gone.  I see another baking session coming up.  The Captain left this morning on his treasure hunt, early, having left me my breakfast coffee and oats all prepared and havlng left the kitchen spotless!  He is a gem.  Oh, and plus he spent time on both beach and playground  yesterday with two of the youngest of the granddaughters, along with another uncle. They were thrilled with both uncle and great uncle.

The eldest of the grandchildren - our great niece - has just graduated from Newcastle Uni. Congratulations Sam!   And how it takes me back to the young me and Captain B who were students there too - once - in the dim and distant past - a past that sometimes seems like only yesterday and sometimes like another life.

There was a violent thunderstorm last night, rolling round and round. We got the edges of the downpour, which everything needed.  Hopefully there has been no flooding but some is forecast.

And I got such an encouraging letter today from a sister in the congregation saying how much she loved "Waiting for Gordo" - and that she is lending her copy to family and friends.   She says, in part: 

"I thought your book was great Sue.  Very readable and really had me wondering right to the end."

What writer could ask for more.   I have only one reader so far for Disraeli Hall as its not published until August. But I got an early large print copy for Jean as her eyes are so bad now. She says she loved it and it also impelled her to research Benjamin Disraeli himself. She now knows more about him than I do.  

And my sister also encouraged me by reminding me that when we look at the increasing disasters in the world - the strange weather for example - we can remember Jehovah's promise, that he will "bring to ruin those ruining the earth".  This was written down in the Book of Revelation, so two thousand years ago. And back then would anyone have believed we could ruin a whole planet, let alone the only one we have to live on?   But nowadays... ?

TEETH - The Return!!!!

Or rather the teeth are not returning - not in a hurry anyway - which is where the horror lies - not until September, my dentist informs me.  He does not want to disturb the implants by fitting any more temporaries.   So I will be able to go on terrorising people with my smile for some weeks yet.   Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  It is a HOT HOT day (Monday, as I started this blog.)  And its still hot on Tuesday though today there is a welcome breeze, the balcony curtains are billowing even as I type.  We had our sibling get-together on Zoom.

And it is HOT again on Wednesday as I type this.

I was interested to note this on Julie Burchill's fb site: 

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins echoes this assessment, noting the “machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like.” In a recent tweet, he confessed to being knocked “sideways with wonder at the miniaturized intricacy of the data-processing machinery in the living cell.” 

The presence of information in even the simplest living cells suggests that intelligent design played a role in life’s origin. After all, we know computer programs come from programmers and information generally — in a book or newspaper, for example — always arises from an intelligent source. 

 https://nypost.com/2021/07/17/why-god-is-still-the-best-scientific-theory-for-our-existence/?fbclid=IwAR2ZXKfeK5gbgvc58MoSLTSrdgZcT7MWrYC3HhF5joY8bPmMeu9mCQJC604intricac

Yes.  We see the creation all round us - and to look up into a clear sky at night is to be dizzied by its unimaginable immensity. But we are also learning more and more about the complexity of even the "simplest" of organisms.  Isn't it telling us of its Grand Creator, Jehovah, the God of Abraham?

Here is an article from our website that I hope you will find interesting:

 https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/g201508/dna-in-your-cells/

You should see the other guy!

On Friday, my second temporary tooth fell out, so I now have no front teeth...  like an ageing prize fighter. I have an emergency appointment at the Dentist today - but what will happen I don't know.  I am due, hopefully, for the permanents, the implants, mid-August.  I did not appear on video at the field service meeting on Saturday. I was represented by a lovely blue butterfly on a yellow flower.  The photo was taken, of course, by Captain Butterfly.

I am hoping the dentist can at least fit me up with a simalcrum before the family starts to arrive, or I will be a very silent host.

And talking of the Captain, he was at home all day Saturday - not out metal-detecting.  He had spent Friday, which was a very hot day, marshalling a school walk - earning money for SUSSAR, as they have to finance themselves.   https://www.sussar.org.uk/   He was back to his treasure hunting routine yesterday though.   And it was so HOT - a very hot and sunny weekend.  People were flocking to Beach and Green.

I managed my  balcony time, but otherwise stayed out of the sun.

It is apparently FREEDOM DAY today, and the lockdown sort of comes to an end.  I am not sure exactly what this means, but I suspect the dentist will still require masks in the Waiting Room. And also, given that Covid cases are rising again, it probably means that the vulnerable, like myself, need to continue to be careful.

On Saturday, we went through our notes from the Friday sessions of the Powerful By Faith Convention we had watched on the previous Sundays, and talked about what we had learned.  Well, mumbled about what we had learned, in my case.

For me the item in the Friday afternoon Symposium about the stars - the reminder of the vastness of the universe, and how, even so, Jehovah knows every star by name - helped to strengthen our faith in the resurrection.  We can be sure that Jehovah can keep the dead safe in his memory, every hair of their heads numbered, as Jesus said.  So I shall end my blog with these lovely words from Isaiah - and please note the expression "vast dynamic energy".  Think of the energy needed to create and sustain the universe. Isn't it beyond our comprehension?  And doesn't science now tell us that matter comes from energy?

 “Lift up your eyes to heaven and see.

Who has created these things?+

It is the One who brings out their army by number;

He calls them all by name.+

Because of his vast dynamic energy and his awe-inspiring power,+

Not one of them is missing."

Isaiah 40:26

A Publication Date for DISRAELI HALL

There is an article in today's online Mail about The Men Who Will Never Live with Women Again - apparently in answer to a previous article, called (at a guess) The Women Who Will Never Live with Men Again.

Various men tell us how lovely it is to be free - divorced, or unmarried - extolling the joy of single life and of not being bossed about. But who is this mysterious Captain B of West Sussex telling us that chance would be a fine thing?

Apparently there are more people living happily as singletons than ever before...  which is perhaps not too surprising when the Inspired Scriptures tell us that we are in a continuing fall from a perfect state, and that the original harmony between the man the woman, the perfect partnership, was lost too.

But if we listen to our Creator, Jehovah, now, we can start learning how to live in harmony again.  And, by the end of the Thousand Years, the whole earth will be a paradise of perfect peace.  Then our real lives will begin.   And I doubt we can imagine just how much joy is in store.

I can't think of what we have been doing.  It is very hot today after some rainy days and we have loads of moths flying about everywhere. There has been serious flooding in places, including in Germany. 

The balcony nemesias continue to flourish along with the geraniums  I hope they will stay at their scented best for our family visitors, who are, in theory, coming down next week.

I have heard from my publisher and my new book DISRAELI HALL will be published on the 28th of August - by Fantastic Books of Hull.  But i now have to do a recorded reading of my first chapter, which should be interesting as I lisp my way through it with my front tooth still missing...  

My Dream

We slept in on Friday and I only just made it to the 10.00 meeting.  I am usually awake and up early but these anti-depressants are making me sleep and sleep and sleep.  They are a sort of last ditch attempt (apparently) to suppress the arthritis related eczema.  I am not depressed in the clinical sense.

What they are doing to my poor elderly brain I don't know, but I guess I have to accept that as I am well over my threescore years and ten it is all borrowed time from now on.  How short our lives are now.  Anyway, I am certainly having some strange dreams and... wait a minute I am just going to lock the blog door so no on-one can escape as I intend to drone on about one of them.

I was at some kind of party and it turned out to be a birthday, so I felt I must leave. which meant I would be leaving my lift behind - whoever that was.  I went to a local train station and asked the nice chap at the ticket office how I could get home from here.  Not unreasonably he asked me where I was trying to get to, and I realised I had no idea.  After some thought I said Hampton Hill, where we lived as young marrieds many many years ago.  He said my ticket would cost £250.  Oh no, I thought, Col will be furious.  But he made out the ticket, but then, rummage as I might through my capacious handbag, I could not find either credit cards or money.  I knew I had just had them (my mind was i think returning to the recent doctor's visit and my Driving License and Bus Pass), but they were nowhere to be found. The Ticket guy then got very cross as he had made this ticket out and it was going to be a real hassle for him to undo it.  The next thing I had left the station and was walking aimlessly down a long country road, with worryingly blank green vegetation on either side, as if my mind wasn't up to the details, but suddenly in the distance a charming country town appeared.  I thought maybe I could find the local Police Station and they could help me. (That shows it was a dream by the way, the idea that I would find one.)  But suddenly Col appeared in front of me!  And i realised we were lying in bed together.  I had suddenly woken up. It was such a relief.  

Why do I do this to myself - all that load of worry?  Can I blame the tablets. or not?

And talking of dreams last night's Footie was apparently a nightmare as England lost to Italy - in an especially cruel way, by penalty shootout.  I feel so sorry for all the young lads who have to take that kick at goal, and at the goalies who have to prevent them scoring.  Stress to the max.  I tell myself, well, they are paid an awful lot these days which hopefully helps.  But what an ordeal.

On Sunday we had the Friday afternoon session of the POWERFUL BY FAITH Convention.  

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/2021Convention/pub-co-r21_3_VIDEO

I do recommend the Symposium "Use Creation to Build your Faith".   Because the creation itself tells us of its Grand Creator.

48 Years!

On Wednesday, the 7th of July we celebrated our 48th Wedding Anniversary - by spending the morning at the doctors...  Col had his Annual Review and I had to register in person, with documentation, for their new computer system.

I had to display my driving licence and - oh dear - my bus pass, both with two hideous photos that would lower anyone's morale and immune system.  Why has no medic taken that into consideration?   

As it was our anniversary, we thought we might have a glass of wine before our supper - which was pizza followed by a fresh berry fruit salad.  But we forgot and ended up having our usual cup of tea afterwards.  So it was probably an appropriately age-related "do" for a 48th.

What can  I say about marriage?  If you can find the right person it is thoroughly to be recommended.  And, wonderfully, you can both be the right person if you follow the guidelines set out by the Creator of marriage - Jehovah, the God of Abraham: 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/happy-family/god-happy-marriage/

 Jehovah will help you every step of the way if you let him.

When I look back to think how young and how selfish I was when we did marry, I feel awful. And can only wish I had listened to the Jehovah's Witnesses who called a long time before I did...  Oh, and here is a surprising thing about marriage that i never thought about back then: the shared jokes get funnier and funnier as the years go by. They take on a life of their own.

I hope that one day we will be celebrating our 48 Hundred Year anniversary, right here on the earth.  Because that is the Biblical promises - that the meek - those meek towards their Creator, who are prepared to acknowledge Him, listen to Him, and obey Him -will "inherit the earth", and live forever upon it.

Friday Morning Convention

We had the Friday morning session on Sunday, after the shortened Watchtower Study.  I was able to pace myself, lying down between each talk, and my ankle is much less swollen today. 

And what a comfort even that first half day session was.  I wish everyone in the world would join us.  The link is here, and you are so welcome:

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/conventions/

Friday’s program is based on Luke 17:5​ - “Give us more faith.” And the first Speaker started out by defining faith, using this Scripture at Hebrews 11:1, which says:   "Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities that are not seen."

How can be sure that there is a Creator, that he is love, and that all the wonderful promises in the Bible will come true?   Please drop into our Convention, watch it, session by session, in your own time, and see what you think.

Yesterday I am not now sure what I did, beyond doing some studying and getting lunch and supper ready.   This morning it was Zoom and Team Meetings - the congregation family first and then my siblings.  And Captain B was busy on his computer giving a Zoom talk on The Maldives, illustrated with many of his beautiful photos from our expat years.

When we were able to do those in person - PL (pre Lockdown) - we usually managed to sell a copy or two of my dive thriller "Waiting for Gordo", which I wrote during our many trips there.

i got the fridge cleaned out - ready for the supermarket delivery tomorrow, and am making the rest of the veggies into a spicy soup.  Did I just hear a dalek sort of voice saying: A-soup-machine's-work-is-never-done?  If so, I had better point out that the soup machine is busy making the soup - I am simply the acolyte who cleaned and chopped the veggies and entrusted them to its mysterious workings.

Not only is Wimbledon on at the moment, but also the Footie - possibly The World Cup, as the Captain is glued to various football matches, going purple in the face while screaming "Get your specs on Ref!!" and other such things. Oh and its not the World Cup, but the European Cup apparently.   With that important correction I will close my Tuesday blog.

A Crisis at the Omelette Station!!

I woke with a start and the words "There is a crisis at the omelette station!" ringing in my head.  My right foot is still so painful and swollen that I have been trying to rest it as much as possible, and after attending the Field Service Meeting this morning, getting a couple of new roads to work, changing the bed, doing the washing, and having lunch, I decided to spend the afternoon lying on the sofa, with my feet up, trying to get the swelling down. I have taken all the meds I can, and the new painkillers are not helping as their side effects just add to the problem, without any discernible painkilling effect.  So I have given up on them.

Anyway, it turns out I had fallen asleep in front of a programme about a super-luxury cruise ship called, I believe. The Seven Seas Explorer.  It is apparently super luxury and they were showing us something called Sea Day, in which a buffet even more lavish and palatial than all the other buffets served aboard was about to begin. It included what looked like trillions of dishes, dispensed on many glamorous tables, in a series of fancy rooms. It contained food of all kinds, from many cuisines.  But not omelettes - as apparently the omelette station was unmanned.  And the guests were going to start arriving any minute.  The horror of it!

"Look chaps, no-one is going to starve for lack of an omelette" I wanted to say. "Let the poor omelette guy have a day off."   But I realised that was not entering into the decadent spirit of the thing.

And decadent it was - the contrast between such luxury and such excess in a world full of such extreme poverty that many live their lives from cradle to grave not knowing for one moment what its like not to be hungry.   How much we need the Kingdom of God.  Under its loving rule, no-one will hungry.

And we begin our Convention Sessions tomorrow, the Friday morning session.  This is the programme, which is on-line:

• 9:20 Music-Video Presentation

• 9:30 Song No. 5 and Prayer

• 9:40 CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS: How Powerful Is Faith? (Matthew 17:19, 20; Hebrews 11:1)

• 10:10 SYMPOSIUM: Why We Have Faith in . . .

  • • God’s Existence (Ephesians 2:1, 12; Hebrews 11:3)

  • • God’s Word (Isaiah 46:10)

  • • God’s Moral Standards (Isaiah 48:17)

  • • God’s Love (John 6:44)

• 11:05 Song No. 37 and Announcements

• 11:15 DRAMATIC BIBLE READING: Noah​—Faith Moved Him to Obey (Genesis 6:1–8:22; 9:8-16)

• 11:45 “Have Faith and Do Not Doubt” (Matthew 21:21, 22)

• 12:15 Song No. 118 and Intermission

• https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2021-Convention-Program/FRIDAY-2021-Convention-Program%E2%80%8B-Powerful-by-Faith/

 I am re-reading Margaret Forster's wonderful memoir "Hidden Lives".  Overall, of course, it is sad.  Do all lives look sad when seen in retrospect?   And yet if Genesis is right how can they not?  How can we be free of sadness cut off as we from our Creator?  

There is everything to hope for though - more than we can now imagine.  And I hope that the Convention will help to convince you of it.