It's now the last day of September - I remember saying in Spring that it would be Autumn before we knew it - and that was just yesterday it seems. I drew the curtains this morning to find our balcony geraniums blazing away under the outside light - left on all night to welcome all to Hotel du Moth - with a bit of pale sky on the horizon under a dark and ominous cloud.  The Captain took a photo, but I don't know how much it will be able to convey of the moment. And it really needs to be seen from the counterpoint of the glowing balcony.

Now I look at the photo, yes, it does convey what I saw.  And if we are on the earth a million years from now, as I hope we all will be, and we have seen a million splendid sunrises and sunsets in the restored earthly Paradise, we will never have seen one like this.  The creation is miraculous in its diversity.

The days continue to rush past even though I am confined to home.  My siblings and I had our usual Zoom chat yesterday, all seem well, coping and being creative.  And we keep in touch with Jacks, Bea, Jean etc via phone, email, Zoom

As the Covid crisis continues, there are confusing new instructions all the time about whether we can stay in, go out, have a "bubble" of more than 6 etc etc, but as my arthritis has got me locked down at the moment, I don't have to worry too much.  But I notice on the rare occasions I do go out - hobbling to my latest medical thingummy - I am not very Covid-aware, not too good at remembering to keep my distance.  We always wear our masks when required though.

They are saying that a million have died worldwide from this current plague - but I do not know how accurate those figures are.  It is strange and surreal and so far there seems no end to it.  I do remember the Captain said when we were locked down in March that we could still be in lockdown by next year. 

I don't know when the door to door ministry will re-start.  So please let me remind you that you can call at our virtual door at JW.org and find out what it is we are trying and trying to tell you.  

Maybe you would like to think about the question raised below. And if you want to see how wonderfully the Bible answers it please go to the link.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/awake-no2-2020-jul-aug/

To Think About

Does it make sense that the God who created such beauty in the world would consign us to a life of suffering?

Secular-minded people view suffering as a reason to question God’s motives​—or even his existence. They believe that suffering shows that either (1) God is powerless to stop it, (2) God does not care to stop it, or (3) God does not exist.

Are those really the only options?

The Lovely Susan (or The Detectorist with a Black Eye)

The Lovely Susan is a name I have in reserve in case a moth previously unknown to science should turn up on our balcony.  And we get to name it.  They are all exquisitely lovely, miracles of art and engineering, as they are Jehovah's creations. The rest of the name...er...well... look on it as random choice.

I was a tiny bit hopeful as a beautiful banded creature I don't remember seeing before turned up this morning, but when I proposed my name to the Captain, he said, that (a) it already had a name, and (b) (indignantly) it was exquisitely lovely so the name I proposed would not be suitable. And I hope that explains the "black eye" in my blog title.

Anyway he is now happily detecting away, somewhere in the Wiltshire Wilderness, with only my cake and sandwiches (and a million pubs, restaurants and coffee shops) between him and starvation.  Ooops - that is to say only the lunch provided by the Sandwich Fairy.   And I had a lovely congregation Zoom meeting, followed by 10 minutes in the chat rooms after.  A point I do take away from it is how important it is we forgive each other.  Forgiving is not so hard when there is a real apology...  but when there isn't it is much more problematical.  

We - us damaged children of Adam - all need constant forgiveness from our Creator, that is the thing.  And can he forgive us not forgiving others as we should?  The ransom sacrifice is so powerful - we must  not give up. Sometimes all I can achieve is not to retaliate in kind, which is maybe the first step.  But I also know its not enough, as if I could get my heart right, and love my neighbour as myself, there would be no problem.

On Friday, I did have some small practical achievements.  I curried the mushrooms from our supermarket delivery on Wednesday - and also made a bean and veggie chile, plus another batch of cakes for the freezer, for the packed lunches.  I made Mark's favourite, marmalade muffins.  I should not eat cake at all now, but I did share half a warm muffin with the Captain - for quality control purposes.  It is a recipe (Cranks) that has never let me down yet. And it didn't this time.  Anyway, they are safely in the freezer now, so the Sandwich Fairy will be able to continue doing her stuff.

Skyfall (When I fell from the Sky)

Juliane Koepcke could have called her book  SkyFall had James Bond not already taken the title. I think falling two miles without the airplane and surviving warrants it.   I do recommend this book because of the story she has to tell - and also because it is the story of her amazing parents, and all they have done to preserve our  threatened and vanishing rainforest.  Her mother died in the plane crash.  And though her father is a man of very few words, you feel his heartbreak at the loss of his beloved wife.

I already have one friend in the queue to borrow the book.

Juliane was a teenager when this happened - and wounded and severely concussed as she was she managed to get herself out of the jungle, though it took many days.  Had she not done so, I guess nothing would ever have been found, the Amazon having swallowed the plane up so completely.   But it did make me think some more about being old. about not being able to get myself out of trouble. Not that I could have done what Juliane did!  And also, because of her childhood, she knew and understood the forest in ways most of us do not.  But these days I would be hard put to it to escape from a pride of hungry tortoises who had mistaken me for a lettuce leaf. I guess I could make my escape but it would be a close call.  (Maybe - junt in case - I should stop wearing my favourite colour, green?)

Other than that I don't quite know what to put in my blog - the Captain is still at his detecting, I am keeping up with my studies - except perhaps this, our Scriptural thought for Thursday.   Bear in mind we are to hate what is bad, not WHO is bad. That is so important.  And we also need to avoid the fatal mistake our first parents made. They wanted to decide for themselves what is good and what is bad, rather than accept Jehovah's standards.  And in doing so, they set in train the tragedy we, their damaged children, are living in.  So we need to learn what our Creator's standards of good and bad are, and come to love what he loves and hate what he hates.   And this not only involves not hating each other, but loving our neighbour as we love ourselves.

So, as this extract says, we need to make our minds over, by learning and applying the wisdom set out in God's inspired word.  And our meetings are constantly helping us to do this.  And all are welcome at them, although via Zoom at the moment of course.  We also offer free home Bible studies on our excellent website JW.org.

Hate what is bad.​—Amos 5:15.

We may well stay far away from practices that God hates. Yet, there are other activities or aspects of life about which the Scriptures provide no specific command. In such areas, how can we determine what is acceptable and pleasing to God? That is where our Bible-trained conscience comes into play. Jehovah has lovingly given us principles that work in conjunction with our Bible-trained conscience. He himself says: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One guiding you in the way you should walk.” (Isa. 48:17, 18) By using our mind and heart to reason on Bible principles, we correct, direct, and mold our conscience. That, in turn, helps us to make wise decisions. A principle is a fundamental truth or doctrine that is used as a basis of reasoning or action. To understand a principle includes understanding the thinking of the Lawgiver and the reasons why he gave certain laws. w18.06 17 ¶5; 18 ¶8-10

When I Fell from the Sky (and we have our Flu Jabs)

Not, thank God, that I fell from the sky, but the book When I Fell from the Sky (by Juliane Koepcke) which the Captain ordered for me arrived this morning. I am so looking forward to reading Juliane's story.  What an amazing girl she was - the sole survivor of a plane that crashed in the Amazon jungle, and she walked through the forest for 11 days, injured as she was, before she got back to safety.

She fell two miles from the sky, still strapped in her plane seat, separate and apart from the crashing plane.

I may well write a review when I have finished it. And I am going to have to exercise self-control not to spend the rest of the day reading it. I got off to a late start today, as having had a bad night, I finally fell asleep in the early hours and slept in.  Yet I have a lot to do - lunch time already and I have some studying and editorial work ahead of me.

Plus the Captain and I have been called in for our flu jabs.  Which will probably mean a walk up to the surgery - 15 mins there, 15 mins back. It will be interesting to see how it affects me. Hopefully not at all... but...  I am in such a feeble state.

Wonderful to be alive though.  And how amazing that Juliane is still here - and, brave girl, still flying.

Au Revoir Walkies?

I have been trying to get myself back into the outside world and we took a couple of walks over the last week - the first to the River and back - just 30 minutes. And while I was in a lot of pain when I got back, it was OK as it it did not lead to a flare-up. However, two days later - a very short walk, to the Sea and back - 15 minutes - and my right ankle went, and I had 2 days of  being barely able to get myself round the flat.

Depressing.  I used to be a great walker.  But that is what old age is for us damaged children of Adam - a frightening and painful decline.  And at the moment, after months of sleeping well, I am back to the opposite (due to "discomfort) and feel so tired... I can't think what I did yesterday, apart from lie on the sofa dozing in front of TV quiz shows.   I did provide a supper for the Captain, though he had to hot it up himself, as he got back (from Timbuctoo?) just after the meeting started and found me in Zoom Meeting mode.

I changed the bed and washed the bedding, and got a card written out for Janet who has lost one of her beloved cats.    There is so much sadness in the world now.

The Covid crisis continues, but its hard to say what the rules and regs are as they seem to change every day.  But as the "discomfort" is keeping me in lockdown anyway, I don't have to worry.   The next train out of Platform Stress will I guess be Brexit - which is worrying - who knows how it is going to affect things - but presumably there are big changes ahead.

Some will surely be for the worse, but maybe some will be for the better.  I am taking no political sides in saying this; I know that neither staying in the EU nor leaving it will solve our problems - and that whichever way the vote had gone it would have had some good consequences and some bad consequences.

But the division and hatred it has caused has made me appreciate the wisdom of our Creator, Jehovah, even more.  He commands us to be "no part" of the world, as Jesus was.  We are to take no part in its cruel wars and its divisive politics.   The Christian congregation is made up of people from "every tribe and nation and tongue", and we are to be one loving family - united in love for our Creator, and for each other.   How would that be possible if we let "the world" and its politics divide us?  Wouldn't our own little local congregation family here have been divided by the Brexit/Bremain vote. had we taken sides?  Our peace would have gone.

In the meantime, is it really au revoir to much in the way of walking?  Or will I improve?  Remembering what happened to my mother and my grandmother worries me. But the medicines I am on now - thankyou NHS - were not available to them.  So who knows?

But here is the sure hope.  If I am to be in the restored earthly paradise living under the perfect, loving rule of the Kingdom of God, then "At that time the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.  At that time the lame will leap like the deer, And the tongue of the speechless will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert plain." - Isaiah 35:5,6

All so wonderful - and at the moment I am especially thinking of the lame who will "leap like the deer".

A Present From Betelgeuse; and a FLARE UP RIGHT ANKLE

I just signed the contract for the book that will not be called "A Present from Betelgeuse" -  my young publisher is going to publish it!    Hurray...   although now of course I am full of second thoughts and worried and feel its not up to much at all.  But maybe that is normal authorial worry.

Our weekend was the usual meetings and detectorising.  All went well,  but I am not achieveing much at the moment - I am sleeping so badly.  I did cook a roast chicken dinner in the week, which kept the Captain fed for quite a while.  

One of my bros-in-law posted about the danger of rivers which caused me to remember this strange and powerful little poem:

Two Rivers

Says Tweed to Till-
'What gars ye rin sae still?'
Says Till to Tweed-
'Though ye rin with speed
And I rin slaw,
For ae man that ye droon
I droon twa.'

Anonymous

https://internetpoem.com/anonymous/two-rivers-poem/

The Cet Set on the Met

 Or I could have called this blog: Received Pronounciation.  It was inspired by reading a review of Tamsin Calidas' book  I am an Island.

"Calidas’ writing is beautiful and lyrical, making her memoir strangely compelling. Yet it is difficult to see the author as the completely innocent party in this battle of cultures between the apparently old-fashioned islanders and the incomer from Notting Hill. Her own prejudices often slip out. When she first speaks to Cristall – to whom Calidas has offered her services as a gardener – she freely admits that she is thrilled to hear an “educated English accent”. "      https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-i-am-island-tamsin-calidas-2855461  

Only I was just thinking how much  more melodic RP would have been if the UK's capital had been in the Highlands of Scotland, or in Northumberland.   In her book, the writer, is seeming critical of her neighbours because she feels they are prejudiced against incomers like herself, but  seems to have some prejudices of her own.  Yet "the cat sat on the mat" beats the Cet and its Met any day of the week (in my opinion).

But maybe I am demonstrating some of my own prejudice there?   What a struggle it is to try to achieve the impartial standards of our Creator, Jehovah.   We live in such a divided world.  And we on the earth now are as imperfect as Jehovah is ever going to let the human race get. Which is a sobering thought.  The book sounds interesting though.  And she is writing about such a lovely part of the world - the highlands and islands of Scotland.

And here is some loving, wise advice to help us in the struggle to stay on "the narrow road" that is leading us to the glorious freedom of the children of God. It is our Scriptural thought for Friday 11th September:

"Be transformed by making your mind over.​—Rom. 12:2.

When we first came to a knowledge of the truth, we learned the importance of obedience to Jehovah’s basic requirements. But as we continue to grow spiritually, we learn more about Jehovah’s thinking​—his likes, his dislikes, and his way of viewing various matters—​and this influences our actions and personal choices. While learning to think like Jehovah is a delight, it can also be a challenge. At times, our imperfect reasoning might get in the way. For example, we might have difficulty understanding Jehovah’s view of moral cleanness, materialism, the preaching work, the misuse of blood, or something else. What can we do? How can we continue to make progress in making God’s thoughts our own? The answer lies in making our mind over by studying God’s Word with a view to grasping his thoughts, meditating on them, and bringing our thinking into alignment with God’s thinking."

I seem to have achieved a variety of different fonts in this blog - and have not yet found out how to smooth it all out.  I have few achievements for the day, some washing done, a bit of tidying, a bit of witnessing, and getting Col's supper ready for him the moment he returned from his long day out.  But as it was a chicken salad, that wasn't much of a culinary feat.

                                                        

Someone Who Isn't Me

My sister's new book is about to be launched:  Someone who Isn't Me.  by Danuta Kot.  She also writes as Danuta Reah and Carla Banks.  And she is good.  I am not just puffing her because she is my sister. They are dark and scary though - there are some bits I have to skip over quickly. And she really does evoke place - often the places of our shared childhood.  

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Someone-Who-Isnt-Me/Danuta-Kot/9781471175978

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Someone-Who-Isn/dp/1471175979

Above are a couple of links. I can't make them actually link in this tiresome new blog format. It used to be easy - but these days the minute anything is easy to use "they" seem impelled to change it, to make sure life stays stressful I guess.

I have already ordered my copy. This is quite exciting as this will, I think, be the first of her books I will be able to read straight through without having read most if not all of it before in its various draft forms. We had been without a family writing group for a while, until we recently set one up in Zoom.

The poor Sandwich Fairy was thrown a curveball yesterday.  She usually makes sure there is a box of sandwiches and cake in the fridge on a Wednesday for the Captain's Thursday expedition, and two boxes ready on Friday for the weekend -  he has very early starts.  But the Butterfly grapevine was aflutter yesterday with stories of Long-tailed blues being see in the Brighton area - so the Captain flew off with his box of sandwiches and a camera at every corner. And I expect some lovely photos to turn up in The Captain's Log in due course.    But, as he took a packed lunch with him,  this led to a dearth of sandwich box for today in the fridge, and I became aware yesterday afternoon of some mutterings about how you couldn't get the sandwich fairies these days.

I am happy to report that she stepped up to the plate, a packed lunch is ready and waiting, and he will not have to starve out there in the savage wilderness of West Sussex.

The Sandwich Fairy Visits

Beautiful Plume larva 6mm, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 

Captain Butterfly was at his usual Treasure Hunts on Saturday and Sunday - no treasure as such, but fun. Soft September sunshine - not that I have yet been able to make myself leave the flat since Lockdown, so I wasn't out there enjoying it. He takes a packed lunch with him on both days - sandwiches and cake (usually homemade) - and when I went through to the kitchen on Friday, I found two empty sandwich boxes looking reproachful on the table.

The Captain had checked the fridge only to find that the Sandwich Fairy had not yet visited and left him his weekend lunches!  Mercifully, she got the message and two full boxes materialised in the fridge.  (By the way, there is no Sandwich Fairy.  Its me!  But please, don't tell the Captain.)

 We had our supper watching the second half of a James Bond, he had been watching the night before - a Timothy Dalton one - not sure which one - but I noticed once again that it is a waste of bullets to try to shoot James Bond. It doesn't matter if there is an army of you, all with machine guns, and he is well within range. Bullets simply cannot hit him.

We were thrilled to find a caterpillar on our geraniums!  It seems very late in the year, but I hope it knows what its doing.     And the other bit of good news is that it looks like Jackie may finally be going to get her operation - the one that was postponed by Lockdown.  

My sister's new book is coming out. And my next blog must be in its honour. She writes a great thriller. Scary though.

Our congregation meetings on Saturday and Sunday were wonderful - a comfort and a strengthening aid.

A Brighton LOVE NEST!!!!!

Turkeytail, Trametes versicolor

 

Its Autumn again - my favourite season. Adam probably first opened his eyes in an Autumn garden, given that the earliest calendars start in the Fall.   When I think how lovely Autumn can be even now, I think about the beauty of that garden he first saw - and how tragic the loss of it has been.  And still is.

Anyway, the hope, the sure hope, is for a restoration of that beauty and glory and peace earthwide.  That is going to happen. But for us to be there we must must must listen to our Creator, Jehovah, now.

http://jw.org/

In honour of another lovely Autumn, I thought I would add one of the Captain's splendid seasonal fungi photographs.  I scrumped it from one of his 2015 blogs.  As for what I have been doing - for the last couple of days....  I do not know.  Not that it is of general interest (to put it mildly), but this info is for me.  This is my diary.   My medical problems are really getting me down - or am I just being lazy?  I spend a lot of time sleeping - and to be honest lying on the sofa watching the telly, or dozing in front of it.  And I am sleeping well at night too.

We had our short Field Service group with some good experiences Tuesday morning in Zoom, and then I Zoomed off to spend an hour with my scattered siblings.  We are getting creative again, writing-wise.  I guess I must have done something else, but what? Made lunch and supper obviously.  Soup for lunch, and a chill cabinet shepherds pie for himself and some pasta for me - with veggies - for supper.  Its a special pasta made of red lentil flour, so its diabetes compatible. It was nice and I will be getting some more of it if I can find some.  I think it came from Holland and Barrett.

Our Supermarket delivery - Waitrose - arrived yesterday morning. But that is not headline news. If we HAD made the news of course it could have been, though in that case the delivery would not have come to our flat, it would have come to our BRIGHTON LOVE NEST!!!!  (Not that we live in Brighton, but we are near enough for a tabloid headline.)

There is a lot to be said for not being famous - though I would love to have a big hit with one of my books so  I could make some money for my kind young publisher.  

To my horror I find that dermatology have prescribed me strong sedatives of the Valium type. What I thought I was getting was a much stronger anti-histamine. That is what I was hoping for.  I really don't want to go down the Valium route, as I am not depressed in any clinical sense, so I think I will have to try to book a telephone discussion with my GP and talk it over.  It could be within the bounds of possibility that this medicine also functions as an anti-histamine, though I can find no indication it does. And either way, I would still be stuck with tbe alarming side effects.

What a mess we, the damaged children of Adam, are in.  But, truly, we are not abandoned to this.  A rescue is on the way.   And if I didn't, thank God, know that, I might well be gulping down my Valium even now.