The Bow in the Cloud

 

Here is the rainbow that shone over the archeologists last Tuesday week - photographed by Col of course.  It is the bow in the cloud that first appeared after the Deluge of Noah's day.

Our ex-Bible student - the lady of the flowers - has asked me to let her know how the eye op goes, so I hope I will be able to ring her in a day or two and tell her it has gone well - gulp.  Maybe we can re-start our Bible study in time.  We so much want to help her. She is a very kind, hospitable lady.

Medical matters continue to occupy time and energy which is almost inevitable at my age.  Monday was spent trying to find out why I have not yet got a date for my next delivery - of the stuff that has to be delivered, signed for, and popped into the fridge.  It took an age, and turns out to be a problem at the hospital end, with Rheumatology.  Can I face trying to call them?  Not yet.

Tuesday morning Captain B chauffered me to the surgery - blood test - and I was able to do some field service via Zoom in the afternoon.  Then in the evening it was the meeting, moved to Tuesday as it is the week of the Circuit Overseer's visit.

Having the meeting day moves always throws me, as I build my life round the rhythm of  the meetings.  Not that it takes a lot to confuse me these days...  well, it probably never did, but at least I now have old age as an excuse.

I restocked the freezer with cake - marmalade muffins this time - so that should see the Captain's packed lunches through my convalescence.

My next cataract operation is today - Wednesday as I am writing this.  I am hoping that Col will be able to post this tomorrow noting that it has gone well... I am just longing for it all to be over.

And our new C.O, gave us a beautiful encouraging talk on Tuesday night.  The title was: Love, a Perfect Bond of Union.  I hope to be able to blog a couple of points from it when and if I get back to blogging.

Operation done, hopefully a success, different from last time, new system, and more post-op pain.  But v v grateful to have it over with.

A Place of Fear and Despair

"The truth is, for people like my friend’s kid and the thousands like her, school is a place of fear and despair."

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/20/absentee-students-should-make-us-ask-what-is-school-for

This quote from the above article stopped me in my tracks.  Yes.  I can still remember that awful moment when the lovely long Summer holidays ended and the first day of a new school year began.  I can remember how I felt every Monday, come to that.  Not a lot better.

And the quote below is from an article about another school bullying death.  The Guardian article says this about the death of young Harvey Willgoose:

The couple (his parents) were threatened with prosecution and fines if they did not get him to All Saints – Harvey was asked if that was what he wanted. They said they had asked for alternative provision, but were told it would not work. “We engaged with the people who we were told to engage with, we were guided by them and we did everything they asked,” says Mark.

Everyone they were in touch with made them feel as if they were the only ones, says his nan. “I really can’t believe that we took it all,” she says. “We feel so guilty.” Since Harvey’s death, Caroline posted on social media, asking if other parents were suffering too. Hundreds of parents got in touch to say they were going through the same thing.

The family want the government to explore more pragmatic, alternate provisions for children like Harvey. “School, as it is, is not for everybody,” says Caroline. “There should be something else in place for the kids that can’t go.” Forcing children, threatening them and their parents simply won’t work, says her husband. “You’ve got to get to the bottom of why.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/08/harvey-willgoose-family-campaign-for-change-knife-crime-school

So his parents sent him to school, as ordered.  And he was murdered by a fellow pupil, stabbed to death.  No wonder he was so scared of going.   

Even without knife crime - back in my day - school was a One Size Fits All arrangement. And you could expect many years of unhappiness if you did not fit.  

Caroline Glyn wrote very well about it in her book Don't Knock the Corners Off.  School taught me that my corners would simply not come off, even though I would have loved them to (back then) so I could fit in - and I learnt to avoid people as much as is possible - not very possible in a school setting of course.  Which did not make becoming a Jehovah's Witness easy.  But I have Jehovah's help with that.  He knows and cares for each one of us, and understands that we are all different - and never asks from us what we cannot do.

He can surprise us when we find out what we can do though!  I remember my mother saying, of me, that she never thought there was anything in the world that would make me stand up and speak in public.

Well, Jehovah did. Without making me, or forcing me, but using his spirit, his congregated people, and his spirit-inspired word to teach me, gently, without nastiness, without criticism.

And I have surprised myself.  He makes us feel useful and worthwhile.  My schooldays made me feel the exact opposite.

I know that no human government can set things right on the earth. Only the heavenly government, the Kingdom of God, can.  But surely we can do better than this, than to force so many children into years of unhappiness - and now,  even into deadly danger?

Because Jehovah knew and loved Harvey, he sleeps safe in "the everlasting arms", safe in God's memory, every hair of his head numbered - and he has such a joyful awakening ahead of him, into an earth ruled by the law of loving kindness.

I so much hope his devastated family, who did everything right, everything they could, know that he is not lost to them and that he will be woken from the dreamless sleep of death when the time comes.

The photo I found for the blog is of a School of Maldivian Blue Stripe Snappers.  It seems a much gentler sort of school, but given that nature is "red in tooth and claw" since the loss of Eden, I can't be sure.

However it leads me on to make the point that when young Harvey next opens his eyes, nature will no longer be red in tooth and claw. The Kingdom of God, the heavenly government, will do what no human government can ever do.  It will have restored the peace the prevailed in Eden earthwide.

It will be such a joyful awakening for Harvey when it comes.  I am hoping very much that I will see my parents again then too.

A Surprise of Orchids

This splendid orchid arrived in the post from Ann-marie!  A wonderful surprise.   And a great addition to our orchid table, which is not much in flower at the moment.

I have been feeling rather stressed recently  - all the medical stuff I guess and lack of sleep, never mind the awful News.  And this was a perfect tonic.

You can see the original perfection of the creation in a flower.  And in a rainbow - I add that as I hope my next blog will start with a recent rainbow photographed by Captain Butterfly.

Captain B rang me from The Field - the Archeological Field - on Tuesday morning to tell me he was sheltering from some monsoon-like downpour.  Even though he was not far down the coast from me, we did not get it. We had a perfect Autumn day, sunshine (gentle), blue skies, white clouds, and a soft breeze.  So it was a variable day on the South Coast.  Which no doubt accounted for the rainbow.

And on Wednesday we, a sister and I, visited our ex Bible student, for coffee and a chat.  What will come of it I don't know. But she needs the truth so much.  There again, don't we all?

Thursday morning I seemed to get a bit of energy back. I made the usual crumble - apple - for himself, finished my studying for the meeting,  and I even revamped my Go Bag, which the Governing Body recommend we all have. It is not a wonderful one - I have so many medications now that in case of emergency I will simply have to grab my medicine box in the kitchen. But, hopefully, it is better than nothing.

More hopefully still, I will never have to use it!

And I had a double Zoom field service session and got a lot of Not Home letters and cards done to take to the Hall last night. Col kindly chauffered me - and helped me get dressed.

They call old age "a second childhood", and they are not wrong.  Its just that you don't have the cuteness and the appeal that you (hopefully) had the first time around.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

 

I just found this by Robert Frost:


Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148652/nothing-gold-can-stay-5c095cc5ab679


The above moth is a Gold-ribbon Argent  It too comes and goes from our balcony in its season.  Photo courtesy of Captain Butterfly as always.

Our first parents probably opened their eyes in an Autumn garden.  And I often wonder how lovely that garden - the garden of Jehovah - must have been, given how lovely autumn gardens can be even now, after generations of imperfection and damage - after, as Robert Frost puts it so beautifully "Eden sank to grief".

Ok, I too will try for an Autumn poem, bearing in mind that I am not Robert Frost, just inspired by him.

Falling

by me

Autumn sweeps

fallen leaves

before it.

red and gold.

I totter ahead, 

into winter

ice in my road.

It won't last, no...

But Autumn will come again.

Season upon season, 

world without end.

Amen.

I feel as if this just needs small changes to make it come out right - or at any rate so much better - but, as I said I am not Robert Frost.  I also wanted it to convey the thought that I too hope to have season upon season, Autumns without number - to "inherit the earth", and live forever upon it, as the Bible promises.

I spent Monday morning in Zoom sessions with firstly a friend, and secondly my scattered siblings.  And in the afternoon I made the Captain's sandwich lunch for tomorrow, also a veggie and lentil soup, and a fruit jelly.

Today was a Zoom session - field service - and along with studying and doing some witnessing (letter/email), I must clean out the fridge.  The Captain is off archeologising today - so if he makes any exciting finds I will only see them in photo form. And if they are really exciting I will try to blog them.

Attercliffe of Bangkok

ATTERCLIFFE OF BANGKOK

by me

Banana palms fruiting

Machinery chugging

Behind corrugated fences

Coconuts lying redundant

On the grass

Helicopters

Bright butterflies

On clear blue skies

A long wait for the Sheik

Who talks and talks

Hours go by

In the grassy dark of palms

a thin white cat

eats duck I bought.

I wrote this on our first trip to Thailand, many, many years ago. It is about waiting for the Captain as he did some business connected with cameras in the unglamorous downtown area. It was all fascinating though, back then. The city was not yet one solid traffic jam. We could walk down the little Soi off Sukhumvit where our friends lived and see blossom and butterflies and snakes. That tells you how long ago it was.

The photo is of Cabbage Palms not Banana Palms, ones that are growing just down the road. The Captain doesn't have the photos from our Thai trips in his gallery. They were so long ago!

And Attercliffe is the industrial area of my Northern hometown - once among the world's foremost producer of steel. Now of course the steel industry has gone elsewhere and Attercliffe has been transformed, is quite glamorous in parts. But in my childhood it was roaring steel mills, blackened stone and constant busyness.

Heavy rain on Wednesday, once again lying in sheets on The Green - and still it rained. I had a double Zoom session with my sisters in the morning which was so encouraging. How would I feel now if I did not know the truth - Christianity being called "the way of the truth"? And Col chauffered me to the Hall on Thursday night. An excellent meeting, of course, with an encouraging little talk from a member of the Governing Body.

They always end by telling us how much they love us. And I can feel that love in the way we are taught and organised so carefully and so gently.

There is a special campaign this month using the Watchtower magazine An End to War HOW?

You will find it featured on the website JW.org. And today is a special day at the Kingdom Hall, with lots of witnessing being done. I hope to join in, in my small way, from home, and via Zoom.

Col left early for The Field where he is now waiting for it to open. It apparently sounds promising and is in good detecting condition, so hopefully he will have a happy and interesting day.

The September Calendar Moth

My favourite month has just arrived, right on time.  So I am seeing another September. They are all a bonus for me now.  To be fair, they always were, but you don't think about that when you are young.  Well, unless you are the poet Philip Larkin. He never forgot that it would all end in his death.

He will be SO happy if and when he is awoken from the dreamless sleep of death, not only to see this lovely earth again, but to know that this time he is not dying, but living.  And living joyfully too.

Anyway I note that we chose a picture of a rather horridly named Blood Vein Moth for our September calendar. The moth is lovely, of course, but the name is not.   Like so many moths with Autumnal colours, it could have been called The Autumn Leaf, or Autumn Gold, or. well - just to pull a name out of a hat at random - The Lovely Susan.

This is making me think of the fascinating task that Jehovah gave Adam of naming all the animals.   And isn't that what all work should be, creative and satisfying, and completely worthwhile?

We live in such a damaged world system now, yet even so it is easy to see how satisfying creative work can be.  In a small way, I enjoy doing this blog.  Trying to find the right poem, the right photo, etc.  Trying to make it interesting for anyone else who wants to read it (even though our lives are so quiet in this latter stage), while making it a useful reference for us.

I slept well on Monday night - thank Goodness - but it was a night of strange and stressful dreams.  I was at a massive Dental Clinic, worried because I had forgotten to bring my head, so how were they going to clean my teeth?  The Dentist was so drunk he could hardly stand up - so he may not have noticed the missing head. And the Clinic was full of ducks, and was set in a kind of Wetland Sanctuary, which included badgers in a pond, diving like otters.

And then I was in a massive train/bus station, trying to find a number for a taxi to get me home. No matter what I did, or who I asked, I could not find that number - and it began vaguely to dawn on me that this might be one of those frustration dreams...  after that I seem to have decided that, in that case, as it was a dream, I would be able to walk home, and I left the baffling Dentist/Station/Bus Terminal situation and set out to walk. There was snow on the ground, I remember, and I had no idea which way to go.

So what does that all mean?  According to Sigmund Freud I guess it would be all about sex, as he seemed to think everything was.  I have always thought that probably said more about him than about anybody else, but then I am not a psychiatrist.

I guess at that point I must have woken up.

We got a phone call from Roger on Tuesday afternoon - a lovely surprise, but also a reminder of how things change.   Roger was a constant guest in our expat years, and one of the regular Ramadam lunchers too.

And we have stayed with him in South Africa - when he took us on a tour of the lovely Cape, driving for days down that amazing coast.  And he has stayed with us here in our retirement by the sea many times. But this time we are not seeing each other.  He is only here for a few days, to help a member of the family through a difficult time, and neither of us is up, to say, meeting halfway for lunch at the moment.

I was able to send love to Anne and to Bruce though.

RAIN - AT LAST

Captain B woke me up on Friday morning to tell me that the rain is lying in sheets on The Green, which made me realise I needed to go and put my hearing aids in.

The ground was so hard and dry that the water was running off - or lying there, hopefully to soak in later. Some roads were probably flooding.

Can I find a photo and a poem to celebrate the rain? Yes (see above) and Yes.

Rain, by Robert Louis Stevenson

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8450523-Rain-by-Robert-Louis-Stevenson

And that has inspired me to write my own rain poem:

Rain by Me

The rain is falling on The Green
If falls on sea and shore
It spreads in shining silver sheets
But still we need some more.

Move over William Shakespeare!


And mid afternoon - hot chocolate time - it poured with rain again - sheets of water lying on The Green before it stopped. So that was great, the first deluge had time to soak in before the second one arrived.

Saturday afternoon the rain started again, just as Captain B returned from his day out with Jim and the Detectorists.  He found nothing, but Jim found what turned out to be a rather rare - and battered - Scottish coin.

Sunday, so far, is dry, but the year has certainly turned and Autumn lies just around the corner.