The Green and the Grey

Winter is damp and rainy so far down here in the South, and nowhere near as cold as it should be.  I found a moody seaside shot from Col's photo gallery to head the blog. They had snow in the North. Wednesday, as I am starting this blog, it is overcast outside, and the English Channel is calm and grey.  Early morning, 8:34 as I am typing this, the greens and greys look both soft and intense - I wish I cold find the right words to describe it in a poem.

layers of green and grey/through the grey squares of the balcony railings/fronted by the red of the geraniums, subdued by the grey morning/the layers of sea and sky separated by a tiny fuzzy line of blue/no sign of sun/except that morning HAS come.

It ought to be possible to make a poem out of that, and also angle it so that it is also about the last month of the year, and, gulp, the last month of life.  However...

On a more prosaic note, Col is working on my Blue Badge application. I have just pulled my medical file so he can send in a load of documents listing my conditions.  And that, believe me, is a lot of paperwork.

I only hope all the time and money being spent on me is worth it.  I have produced some very readable books (well, so my readers tell me) - but, lets face it, the world has plenty of books already, with loads more in production. And while I am doing the most important work there is, the Kingdom preaching work, that work goes on whether I do it or not.  As Jesus himself, said, if necessary, the stones would cry it out.

It is a privilege, and also one that trains us for the great preaching work to be done during the Thousand Years, as surely most people who have lived and died knew very little, if anything, about their loving Creator and his purposes.

Today, Thursday, it is overcast again, and not nearly as cold as it should be for the time of year.  Col left very early for The Field, and I am busy making a large fruit cake. I use a boil and bake recipe from a Cranks cookbook Col bought me eons ago.

I make the hot mixture - the dried fruit, the butter, the sugar, the orange juice etc in the morning - and once it has cooled down enough, I will add the eggs and  the dry ingredients, which I am off to do right now.

I used to make two, one for the AGM of Butterfly Conservation when I was the Membership Secretary for the local branch.  Like all my cakes it is sturdy, not elegant, but was always popular, went to the last crumb.

But now it takes me all my time to make one which I must now go and do, as I said.