Visiting Finds

Woke up this morning - very early - pain - need to take stomach buffer, then pain killers - to find the English Channel is not yet back from wherever it goes at night.

That  - or it may be  that a sea fret is hiding it. I am looking across the Green into a wonderful misty whiteness, no separation of sky and sea.

We went to Tangmere to see the display of artefacts from the archeological site on Wednesday afternoon - visiting some of Col's finds.  The pic is of one of them.  He can't keep it of course, it stays with the Archies.

Col chauffered me to the study in the morning, picked us both up afterwards and dropped my partner off at the Clinic where she had an appointment.  She is close enough to walk to the Flower lady.

Talking of appointments, it was my annual eye check on Friday morning, and a double zoom session with a friend on Friday afternoon.

No meetings at the Kingdom Hall this week, as it is the Assembly at Haysbridge on Sunday.  But I will not be there, as I don't think I can now cope with a full day out.  This morning I am back on my trusty Zimmer, slowly and painfully trying to get round the flat.  I am hoping to get a video link and join in via Zoom.

We had a cousin reunion planned for Sunday - meeting in a nice country pub for lunch, sort of halfway for all of us.  But it had to be cancelled as one of us is not well. We will re-arrange though as soon as she is recovered from a small procedure she had to have.

When the mothers (the identical twins) were alive, we used to see the cousins a lot, but we all have to make an effort these days. It does not just happen any more.

The air got another pummelling Friday morning as the Captain pumped his fists in yet another victory dance having beaten me at the Ordles - again.

The Friday test went OK, in that my eyes have not really deteriorated, but the cataracts, which I knew were developing, have now reached the stage where I need to have them fixed.  I should hear from a local hospital within the next three months.  I can't say I am looking forward to it, but I knew it was coming.

The young Optometrist showed me the scan they had done of my eyes. We both noted the amazing engineering.  But then they were made by the Grand Creator himself, Jehovah. And originally they were made to last forever.  I feel bad I didn't say that, though I did draw attention to how wonderfully the eye is made - beating any camera we have developed so far.

I say "we", but it ought to be "they" as I can take no credit for it whatsoever.  I don't have an inventive mind, nor any of the necessary maths skills.

And talking of inventive minds, I couldn't sleep the other night - pain - and got up and watched some telly.  I saw Implosion, the Titanic Sub Disaster.  It was very sad, and I can only hope that all who died in that strange far from safe machine will be woken from the dreamless sleep of death when the time comes, and sing with joy to be alive again, in the paradise earth.

And I hope the same for those who died on The Titanic of course.

The Jungle Husband versus The Desert Husband

The Jungle Husband

by Stevie Smith

Dearest Evelyn, I often think of you
Out with the guns in the jungle stew
Yesterday I hittapotamus
I put the measurements down for you but they got lost in the fuss
It's not a good thing to drink out here
You know, I've practically given it up dear.
Tomorrow I am going alone a long way
Into the jungle. It is all grey
But green on top
Only sometimes when a tree has fallen
The sun comes down plop, it is quite appalling.
You never want to go in a jungle pool
In the hot sun, it would be the act of a fool
Because it's always full of anacondas, Evelyn, not looking ill-fed
I'll say. So no more now, from your loving husband Wilfred.

I do like this. But then I have always been a Stevie fan.  Many many years ago, Col and I saw the play - Stevie(?) - in Richmond, with Glenda Jackson playing Stevie and Mona Washbourne playing the "lion aunt".

It is a great memory.  The play was so good, so much of the script in Stevie's own words.  Give actors a good script and it is amazing what they can do with it.  I also remember seeing Rebecca at the same playhouse, at much the same time. But the less said about it the better - the actors, Paul Daneman and Hayley Mills among them, did  their best with the script they were given.

So how often it comes back to the words, the power of language.

This poem also reminds me of old times, Col's first years in Saudi before he had married status (we were married, but he was not allowed to have me living there in the first years) and we communicated via letter and a weekly phone call.  No internet then, and phoning wasn't always easy. He was the desert husband. And I am happy to say that he only shot the local fauna with his camera. I must find a suitable photo from those days to head this blog.

And here is a poem I wrote back then just after I was allowed to live out there for half the year (called "Bachelor status", but you had to be married to have that status - no, I can't explain it either), about one of Col's many photos of moray eels.  They look very fierce, but really aren't.  I see those were the days when I worked and wrote on a typewriter too.  Almost pre-history...

AN ODE TO ONE OF THE SHEIK’S PRINTS

by me

A distracting hand in front of the typewriter

Is stroking a moray eel

Large mouth and teeth

Look at me

It’s as if the hand is urging

“There she is.  Go get her, boy!

 A hundred codfish for your fee.”

Is it your pale hand,

O Sheik of Araby?

I can't find the actual photo that inspired the poem. A print of it used to hang on our wall when we lived at Abqaiq Court. We had a dark room there, and I used to be able to make prints! It seems like technology from the dark ages now... yet another bit of pre-history. And the photo from which the print was made was taken, well, gulp, possibly almost 50 years ago, back when it was more acceptable to stroke a moray eel.

And I guess, even back then, if they hadn't liked it they could have simply taken your finger off.

Homework (or My Part in the Ministry School).

This was the brief for my part on Thursday:

Encourage your student to read the Bible daily, and show him how to reach his goal.  It was a 5 minute part:

Sue: So we are coming to the end of our review of Section 1 (This review is in the book: Enjoy Life Forever, which you can find on the website JW.org). This is question 8. Why is it good to read the Bible regularly? What is your daily Bible-reading program?

Student: (hesitates). Well, I guess if this is God’s word, his message to us, we do need to read it.

Sue: Yes. Exactly right. And If you remember we discussed what you felt would be a good time for you to sit down and read the Bible every day. I remember you said that the afternoon would be best.

Student: Yes. But really I am busy and I find that when I do sit down, I want to read something light, or watch something on the TV. I know for you the Bible is very interesting, but I find it quite difficult, though I do like our study

Sue. Actually I did not find it easy to get down to regular Bible study. I did learn to follow along with our regular meeting schedule for the Bible reading, but it wasn’t until comparatively recently that I managed to start my own personal Bible reading, and stick to it. I got some very good advice from two young elders who called on me. As they advised, I find it helps to concentrate on just one chapter a day, and really think about it. And I also find it’s true that the more you study the Bible the more interesting it becomes. So as you continue this regular study, you may find that Bible reading will become more and more interesting.

Student: I do want to continue. But as for actually reading the whole Bible all the way through, I am not so sure I could ever do that.

Sue: As I have admitted, it has taken me a long time to begin a personal Bible reading schedule. But you know you don’t have to read the Bible from beginning to end, starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation. You could start, for instance, with the gospels, the four accounts of Jesus’ life. They might well motivate you to want to read on through the Book of Acts to see what happened after his death, or to start to read some of the Hebrew Prophets to see how exactly Jesus’ life fulfilled the prophecy they were inspired to write down hundreds of years before.

Student: That is an idea. I hadn’t thought of that.

Sue. Actually, I have got a little project for you, Bible-reading wise, for us both really, if you think it’s a good idea. Only we have a very powerful chapter in our study coming up next week, the chapter entitled How False Religion Misrepresents God. And as I was looking through it, it reminded me of your saying last week that you could hardly bear to watch the News any more.

Student: True. It’s so upsetting. There is something very wrong with the world.

Sue: You are not wrong there, alas! So I wonder if for the next week you would find a moment to sit down with just one chapter of Proverbs a day. And could you think as you read the concentrated wisdom it contains, of how different things would be if everyone was reading and applying it. With that in mind would you read Proverbs 3:13-17 for me.

Student: (reads Proverbs 3:13-17)
Happy is the man who finds wisdom

And the man who acquires discernment;
To gain it is better than gaining silver,
And having it as profit is better than having gold.
It is more precious than corals;
Nothing you desire can compare to it.
Long life is in its right hand;
Riches and glory are in its left hand.
Its ways are pleasant,
And all its paths are peaceful.

Sue: So if we find, and apply, godly wisdom, what is the outcome, according to the last verse you read.

Student: Pleasantness and peacefulness.

Sue: And then there is this. Would you agree that the world’s great religions have had immense power and influence down the centuries?

Student: Yes, certainly.

Sue: And do we live in a world full of pleasantness and peacefulness? I think we have already answered that. We don't. So maybe the question is why, what have they been teaching people? Have people been learning Godly wisdom? Maybe we could both keep that thought in mind as we do our daily chapter of Proverbs over the week. I think it’s going to add a real depth to our next study session.

Student: Ok. Well that seems easy enough. And quite interesting. I look forward to doing that chapter and hope we will both have done our homework!

*********


My "student" came over for lunch on Wednesday - lentil veggie soup and apple crumble (what else?) - and we practised, and she did a brilliant job. And, of course, I prayed to Jehovah, and it is he who gives us the confidence and the teaching.

And Penny listened in via Zoom.

Talking of homework, the photo is of me at school, back in the early 1950s. I am end middle row, left as you look at the picture. I can say, confidently, that my convent schooldays were NOT the best days of my life.

Making Bricks without...

 

...very much straw.  My life, on the face of it, is without much incident or excitement now, apart from the medical and unwelcome kind, so how to structure my blogs?  And I so much do not want any incidents or excitements - not before Armageddon and the new system that is.  All the incidents and excitements then will be wonderful and welcome.

And its not that I am bored. Far from it.  The older I get, the more interesting I find life is, but how to convey that by blog? A current interest is that Moth Season on our balcony has got off to a good start, and that Col saw another jewelled wasp on his Sunday outing - SUSSAR marshalling followed by lunch at the Wetland Trust.  You can see the little treasure in the photo above.

And here is the excitement for Tuesday  One of the elders rang me to remind me that I have a part in the School on Thursday night.  I had no idea!  Either I forgot, or I never got the message - the little slip of paper - as I am not at every meeting in person these days.  Thank God my assigned partner happens to be coming over for lunch today so we can practise it.

And, to pile on the heady excitement, the Clinic rang to cancel my blood test on Wednesday and move it to June. It was a relief really as I needed to concentrate on writing my script for the School, once my Bible study had been done in the morning.

So that was my day taken care of.  Foodwise, the soup was already made for lunch, and it is always pizza on Wednesday night - we share one from our Waitrose order - and I also had rhubarb crumble and custard in for Himself.

I have only just got the part for tonight written, so I must now concentrate on tidying the house and getting lunch.  Oh for some energy, from somewhere.

FIVA by Gordon Stainforth

I have just been re-reading FIVA by Gordon Stainforth.  this is from the Amazon page blurb:

Fiva: An Adventure That Went Wrong; is the epic true account from Gordon Stainforth of a near-death experience on a mountain in Norway in 1969. In the summer of 1969, as Apollo 11 was blasting off to the moon, two teenage twin, with only three years' mountaineering experience, set off to climb one of the highest rock faces in Europe. With just two bars of chocolate, some sandwiches, a four-sentence route description and an old sketch map, they left their tent early one morning with the full expectation of being back in time for tea. Within a few hours things had gone badly wrong, they were looking death in the face, and the English Home Counties seemed very far away... Short listed for the 2012 Boardman Tasker Award.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiva-Adventure-That-Went00-Wrong/dp/09570543

Even on a second read, I could not put it down.  Years later, when the author came to write it, the experience is so fresh and so powerful in his mind that he writes in the present tense.  He takes you up that mountain with his twin.  Then - spoiler alert - when, after the horror of the climb, at last they reach the "safety" of the top, with just a walk home...

I look forward to reading it again in a year or so, if I have not fallen off the mountain of old age by then.

I searched the Captain's photo gallery and found this photo of a mountain wall in Norway from our trip in 1985. Appropriately, it is in black and white.

My gallant chauffeur escorted me to the Kingdom Hall on Thursday night, and took me for my hearing check on Friday afternoon.  All is well, in that my hearing has not deteriorated over the year, it was just that my Artificial Ears needed a clean.  Apparently I will need to do some very tricky work with replacing some tiny little discs in them every three months until my next annual check.

Aaarrrgghhh - I was clumsy enough before the days of old age and arthritis and poor eyesight overtook me. 

Anyway, all and any good health news is very welcome these days.

And its odd how many people still accept the theory of evolution when it is so obvious that for all the amazing technology and design that goes into these hearing aids - and for which I am very very grateful - the design of the original ear is far superior.  It is, after all, the work of the Grand Creator, Jehovah.

TULIPS

A Tulip Garden

Guarded within the old red wall's embrace,
Marshalled like soldiers in gay company,
The tulips stand arrayed. Here infantry
Wheels out into the sunlight. What bold grace
Sets off their tunics, white with crimson lace!
Here are platoons of gold-frocked cavalry,
With scarlet sabres tossing in the eye
Of purple batteries, every gun in place.
Forward they come, with flaunting colours spread,
With torches burning, stepping out in time
To some quick, unheard march. Our ears are dead,
We cannot catch the tune. In pantomime
Parades that army. With our utmost powers
We hear the wind stream through a bed of flowers.

by Andrew Marvell

https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poems/tulip

Could I write a tulip poem myself? Not one that would compare to Andrew Marvell's obviously...   What is it I love about them?  Their beauty, their form, their colour, their abundance in Spring - their elegance.  Up they come, emerging from their bulb, each one a miracle of artistry and engineering.  The poet Dylan Thomas wrote of "the force that through the green fuse drives the flower".

I now have the privilege of knowing what that force is, it is the spirit of the Grand Creator, Jehovah.   But I can't manage a poem to compare to Marvell or Thomas. Wish I could. 

The flowers in the picture are the tulips Captain Butterfly bought me.

Monday was three Zoom sessions - 1 for him and 2 for me.  John and family joined us briefly from the North West coast of Oz, which looked lovely.  He assures me there are no salties (saltwater crocs) up there, and I hope he is right. Tuesday was the dentist... the good news is that he said my teeth and gums were were healthy and he does not need to see me for another six months.  

I got in a bit of a muddle over the flower lady on Wednesday. I went on my own - my usual companion had her first physio that morning, and my two standby sisters were not available.  My chauffeur (Captain B in his peaked cap and smart uniform) delivered me at ten and was to pick me up at 11:30.  Or so I thought.

However, at 10:30 there was a ring at the door, and there was the Captain himself to pick me up.  I was sure I had said 11:30, but he was sure I had said 10:30.  So who knows, given our ages?  I think he is getting a little deaf now, and I am getting more absent-minded by the day.

Anyway, he stopped and had a chat with the flower lady, so they now know each other.  He liked her, and hopefully she liked him.  (I don't know why anyone wouldn't.)

There was a magpie after our Hawkmoth this morning. It, the moth, is presently living on our balcony wall. I quickly opened the door and the magpie flew off. But I do feel guilty. It probably needed it to feed its babies... 

But for sure the moth does not want to be baby food either.

What a horrible situation we, all the earthly creation, are in since the loss of Eden.   In harmony with that thought, I just popped out before posting this, and the moth has gone.  Whether as food, or flown off I do not know. But I wasn't able to stand guard all morning. I had the Abel and Cole delivery to sort out, a bathroom to clean, studying, washing and some witnessing letters to do.

Captain B just rang from The Field and was quite upset to hear that above bit of news.  He said that next time this happens I must pick the moth up and put it in among the geraniums...  but have you see how big a Hawkmoth is!

THE BALCONY IN SPLENDOUR

 

Flowers by Wendy Cope

Some men never think of it.
You did. You’d come along
And say you’d nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts —
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But, look, the flowers you nearly brought
Have lasted all this while.

https://transactionswithbeauty.com/home/10poemsaboutflowers

The wonderful Wendy Cope.

And the flowers in the pictures above are the ones that Col did buy for us. He also bought me some yellow tulips for the house.  Love tulips, don't often get them. A picture of them should appear in one of my next blogs.

It has been sunny, but has gone quite cold again. And I am ashamed to admit that we have been turning the electric blanket on at night.  Must be something to do with our age I guess, we feel the cold more than we did.

Ironically, and rarely, Captain Butterfly was not detecting on Sunday - wait a minute - hold the presses! - HE WAS NOT DETECTING ON SUNDAY!!!!  So he could have helped me get dressed and got me to the Sunday morning meeting at the Kingdom Hall in person.  But there was no meeting, as we had a special live broadcast, which including a very good summary of the Watchtower, on Saturday morning.

What lies ahead this week?  The dentist...  my hearing aid service... and a blood test next week... oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  But on the doubleplus good side, three Zooms with family and friends and hopefully I will see my Bible student on Wednesday.

Ramsons

Col spent Sunday in the Downland, detecting with the lads, and he came across and photographed this woodland full of wild garlic.  Love it.  It reminds me of walks in Froggatt in the years we lived in the North. And also that my granny lived in Ramsbottom - a name that has nothing to do with sheep (or their rear ends), but actually means "the valley of wild garlic", ramsons being the name for wild garlic.

Our C.O. returned on Sunday to give us the talks he was not able to give on his visiting week.  

The first was:  Will You Take Your Stand for Pure Worship?   We were looking at how difficult this has  been since the loss of Eden. And we looked at the Biblical account of the time when King Ahab, a King of the northern kingdom of Israel, married Jezebel, a worshipper of Baal, and how they then promoted Baal worship in Israel until:

E·liʹjah then said to the people: “I am the only prophet of Jehovah left, while the prophets of Baʹal are 450 men. - 1 Kings 18:22

The account in Kings shows how Jehovah showed, conclusively, that he was the true God.  And also that Elijah was not alone, there was still a faithful remnant.

The second talk was about how we must cherish spiritual things, such as the truth we have, the privilege of prayer, the congregation, and above all our relationship with our Creator, Jehovah.  It included a very touching experience, but we first looked at the Biblical examples of Jacob and Esau, and how the first, Jacob, treasured and valued spiritual things, and how the second, sadly, did not.  He did change later and regret his action though, but by then he had given away his birthright.

And the Speaker pointed out that the names Jehovah then gave to these two men reflected their appreciation, or lack of it, for their Grand Creator and his purpose.

So the question the Speaker asked us to consider, is "What name would Jehovah give me?"   Which certainly gives me a lot of pause for thought.  I did conduct a Bible study this week, and have got some not home letters done, to give to the pioneers.  Plus I have some more flats to write to.  But I seem to have spent so much time dozing on the sofa, that I worry if my name might be Couch Potato.

It is interesting that the name Jehovah gave to Jacob, namely Israel means Contender (Perseverer) With God, or, God Contends, because Jacob put up a hard fight for the faith.

And I will say this.  It is not easy to become a Jehovah's Witness - we all have a struggle. And it is not so easy to remain one.  Nothing would be easier than to just drift away, caught up in the currents of our own selfish inclinations and the strong currents of "the world".

So hopefully God will see us all as putting up a fight for the faith. And I can only say from my own experience, how rewarding it is to do so. We were made to draw close to our Creator and let him direct and mould us, so nothing makes us happier - even as things are now.

Gloater's Shoulder

If Captain Butterfly keeps on beating me in our morning Ordling competition (Wordle/Quordle/Octordle) there may well be a new condition hitting the tabloid headlines for us to worry about, namely Gloaters Shoulder (Gloaters Humero, to give it its Latin name).  It will be caused by too much triumphant punching of the air. 

Who is supposed to be the wordsmith in this marriage?!  See the picture of Waiting for Gordo above. 

You will note - by the way - that Gordo is NOT - according to its front cover - a New York Times Bestseller, unlike every other book ever published these days.  True, but what a lovely cover the publisher gave me.

If he - my young publisher - was rich and powerful enough to get it into the Airport bookshops, I think that the cover alone would make it sell like hotcakes.  And then I too would have been a New York Times Bestseller.

However, I am very grateful to be published.  Very grateful.

Col and I also compete at Countdown every afternoon - well, we record it and have it with our supper. But he is rather distracted by the lovely Rachel, so I do have a bit of a head start there.

'Our balcony is flourishing and I must get Col to photograph it for me.  I have one of those photographing phones myself, but it is no use me trying unless anyone wants yet another photograph of me looking especially gormless saying: "How do you do this?!"

Col had his usual Saturday and Sunday metal-detecting. And he took some photos of wild garlic that I have recruited for my next blog.  I attended the Zoom funeral/memorial on Saturday afternoon.  It was a lovely tribute to our sister and included a reminder of the hope of the resurrection, the time when she will be woken from the dreamless sleep of death and see this lovely earth again. And I zoomed to the Kingdom Hall on Sunday.

I am sleeping a bit more now, but not nearly enough, and feel very very tired.  But I am so grateful the pain has subsided enough that I can get at least some sleep.

Getting old is a painful business.  But it was never meant to be like this.  And am I really that old?  I haven't yet had eighty springs - though I am pretty close.  I cannot tell you how quickly it has gone.

MAY

We chose this moth for our May calendar picture.  The moths are returning now, so hopefully Col will get some more great photos.  This lovely creature is a cistus forester.

I have mentioned the strange poem MAY by Karen Volkman in my blog before, but it seems more appropriate as the years go by. It is the contrast between may's "gaud gown", its fresh and shining beauty, and what is happening in the world - and what is happening to me - "a colder thing" indeed. It is a poem in which the language is so alive.  It begins:

In May’s gaud gown and ruby reckoning 

the old saw wind repeats a colder thing...

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55530/may-56d2373a7826d

We, a sister and myself, drove through a lovely spring morning on the last day of April - fresh green leaves and blossom lining the roads, a cloudless blue sky above. We were heading, appropriately really, to the flower lady to conduct her Bible study.  It did go well, and she was also able to show her pretty wedding album to a fresh set of eyes.

She had such a good husband. I only knew him in his latter years, as a very sick man, pretty silent on a chair. He was a call of Jean's in the days when we used to do magazine route calls.  He was a well-read and intelligent man and so he did appreciate the Watchtower and the Awake.  An immense amount of research goes into them.

Captain Butterfly is being well looked after by my congregation sisters at the moment - he got some delicious coffee cake last week baked by one sister - researched by Himself to the last crumb and pronounced delicious - and then a home-baked sourdough loaf from another sister, who came running after us as we left the Kingdom Hall to deliver it, still warm.

We had it with butter and honey (and some seeds too in my case) as soon as we got back  And, WOW!  Yummy. We both had to exercise a lot of self-control to take ourselves to bed without polishing the lot off.  It will reappear as hot buttered toast to have with our lunchtime veggie/lentil soup.

And I did actually manage to get some sleep on Thursday night - woke up in a lot of pain come the early morning, but did get some sleep. And what a difference that makes.

I found an email from an old school friend awaiting me, asking I had some time to talk, via email. I have emailed her back - at least I hope I have - my email is doing some odd things today. I hope I haven't picked up one of those bug thingummies.

Apparently my fb has also been hacked in that someone i have never heard of has just got a friend request from me.  Why do some people put so much energy into destructive things when  there are so many wonderful things to do?

I did get some sleep last night too, but it was full of anxiety dreams - one of them being missing the Zoom funeral I am to attend in Zoom this afternoon. 

Hopefully that dream will not come true.