Blowing again

We did have some summer days..enough to get me into summer clothes and now its back to what up here is fast becoming the norm. Anne has been bringing me stuff from my old house and I now have the wind chimes  hanging from the trees. They are ringing! Its half term so we  have Davids son down right now and we are going off today to have lunch out. The planned walk has been shelved so we shall just have to make do with eating and drinking!  

Summer

Summer finally arrived yesterday  but has gone again today!  I went to Veryan for the 11am service and it was glorious. The azaleas were full of vibrant bloom, the church looked beautiful and the people there were warm and welcoming. Anne came with me and they looked after her whilst I got on with the job of sorting out the smaller details of the service....the psalm is now not antiphonal but the pause is by the colon!  Its all heady stuff if vaguely reminiscent of post op periods. The rest is now Ok   but the gospel acclamation played very loudly on the organ still manages to make me jump!  We came home to roast beef and cremated Yorkshires and sat outside drinking Pimms in bright hot sunshine. 

Ascension Day

Working out my priorities over the next few days took  some time this morning.   I have people to visit....a sermon to start to prepare, and I have to get the garden ready for the gardener in the morning.  Our cleaner being away I then have to do some housework. Shopping tomorrow and an old friends memorial service on Saturday. I can fit it all in but only if nothing else crops up to knock me off course. First I have to get to church to start the ball rolling. When I was young we had a day off school for Ascension Day....now it passes with scarcely anyone noticing.  

Shhh the sun is out

Having surveyed the damage yesterday, today the garden is looking once more as though it means to  grow.  I can get out there and get some summer bedding planted out and possibly even sit in it for a while. The chickens next door are laying and clucking and I have enjoyed one of their lovely brown eggs for breakfast this morning.  Living in the country is great! 

Buds

Darling buds of May are being  roughly blown yet again.   This latest onslaught has lasted several days and has caused damage. The little crab apple tree has now no leaves let alone blossom. There is an end in sight according to the weather forecasts  but the sooner I can get a wind break at the end of the garden the better.  Lots of small things have contributed to a general feeling of unease. Maybe the grim reaper has been too apparent lately  and this morning for the first time my dog did not want to get up.  I knew how he felt but for him its ground breaking stuff! 

Another storm

It has been blowing here for several days and today we had the lashing rain to go with it!   Summer again seems a very long way away.....but everything is growing well for all this..

We are now up to 5 deaths in the next village and two here. I did one funeral yesterday which went well and on Monday we are burying an old boy who has sung in the choir for the whole of his life. I have spent a morning on the phone trying to reconvene it. Some are coming who havn't sung much for years but I have found enough for it not to look stupid. He will get a good laugh up there when he hears our bullfrog voices  once more.

Funereal weather

Pouring rain this morning     just the thing for a village funeral. The old lady who died is one of several who have departed this life in the last week. She was 95 . I know the family well and am very happy to be doing the last thing in her life. Its all part of this cycle of life and death  that we are privileged to preside over.  Hope it dries up a bit though. 

Gloomy

It has been a very gloomy few days here and the grim reaper seems to be about. I visited a man this morning who was very poorly. I had looked after his wife on her way out and knew him quite well. At first he didn't recognise me and asked me what I was doing there? I told him I'd done  the midweek communion at church and he scowled at me. After a few very awkward pauses I asked him if he knew who I was. He said he couldn't remember my name and I said "Its Jean" 

"Oh God "he   said "I thought you were that other one....the one whose been nagging me to come to church."  We had a laugh and settled down for a natter. Never let it be said that I ever nagged anyone into coming to church!  But one of us has by all accounts!

Wind

Its still blowing....its becoming an everyday feature up here. We have debris scattered yet again    with any luck the wind will blow it all away. I have a very busy week this week  something in the diary for every day.  After the mid week communion this morning I have a lady coming to talk about her mother's funeral. She used to run her own rugby team so David is very interested to meet her. 

Lovely day

Its a lovely day     so far!  Fingers crossed for the rest of the day.  I am at St Mawes this morning so I will park the car on the sea wall and walk up the hill. Its a good steep hill and every time I walk it I thank God that I am not living at the top of it! When David and I were first married this was the plan.  LIving at Tregear Vean is a much easier proposition. I can park right outside and its flat! Walking up to Church on a Sunday morning in bright sunshine is though a definate plus....a good start to the service which this morning is about love and the start of Christian Aid week. 

Busy

Its always feast or famine in this job.   After several quiet days we have now started a few very busy day. The grim reaper seems to be about in both villages at the moment...I have had to turn a funeral down for next week as I am already doing another one on the same day.   The three in the next village were all in their nineties and I knew them all quite well.  Strange how when its Spring we often have a group of deaths together.  

Dull weather

The weekend sun has now gone and its very dull, a bit windy and cold out there.  I am busy taking up all the huge thistles and nettles that are creeping in again but the garden looks lovely. We enjoyed the quiet Bank holiday. The holiday in Madeira is getting closer and we are really looking forward to it. Its a time share David and I bought together a couple of years ago and we have only been back once so far because last year it clashed with the licensing  of Ken here at St JUst. That means that this year we have two weeks instead of one!  Total luxury awaits  plus sun. Yes I know how lucky I am.

Sunshine

The sun is shining...the field is looking beautiful   now a garden with an orchard at one end.   We are out to lunch at my old house in Portscatho later and some of my things will come home with us, notably the ancient birdbath and the sitting statue of a woman.  Now the field here is a garden I know just where I would like them. Several other things are coming here eventually but they are going to need a van to transport them!   My old teak  table is in an outhouse.....now much grown over...I will need courage to break through the undergrowth  to get that out! The wasps nest we had removed last year was very close by. 

Quiet day

I have been playing backgammon today on Fibs.  First Internet Backgammon Site.  It is great fun and I have several friends I talk to regularly. I am fairly low in the ratings  but hold my own usually when my lucks in!  Today someone asked to play with me then promptly resigned thus giving me 6 points. I asked why. He said he was suicidal and that killing off his ratings was better than killing himself.  It puts a whole new slant on self harm. Self harm by proxy almost. As he is in America there's not much practical help I can give him except just to be grateful for the gift!