Weddings and christenings!

Spent an hour this morning sorting through the weddings for this year.  A new list arrived yesterday containing weddings not on the original list and removing three who were. Best not to ask!
Getting all our weddings in order and indeed legal is quite a task and we share them by and large so no one person has to do them all.
We have always done a lot of weddings here, due to the beauty of the church and its surroundings and of course it brings much needed money into our PCC coffers.
Even though the rules have been relaxed quite a lot we do sometimes have to send people off to the registrar for a special certificate. or a surrogate or even the Archbishop's special license.
Those are the ones we don't have to read Banns for.....all the others, those who live here and those with a qualifying connection we put  in the banns book....
Its often quite hard to explain to young couples  why we have all the legalities to observe but we do  have to tie the knot  properly .
In the old days reading banns in the parish they lived in,  meant that people who knew them could raise an objection if they knew they already had a spouse still living and not divorced . Now its all a bit of a charade.
No one in the congregation ever  knows of any reason in law why they might not marry....and I'm still waiting for the first objection....
Over the years we have had the wedding from hell, the reluctant bridegroom and the bride in the wrong church! Its all good fun and maybe one day it will be the subject of another short booklet....
In the meanwhile I try to make all the weddings full of joy and awe.
The legacy for that is that this summer I have five christenings booked in and more to come, all from couples I married during the last few years!
The paper work builds...but so does the considerable pleasure.....its good to see so many of them in church and looking forward to their big day.

Petrol panic.

I have now been asked several times if I've been out to fill up my car! Why?
My reply was. "We don't do that."
This was greeted by astonished stares. I was then told that I needed to get into my car this morning and drive, across the ferry to Helston where they still had some petrol! .
The person telling me was waving her arms around and clearly excited by the whole thing.
I am not sure what drives people on these occasions but if the nearest full garage is at least 25 miles away then I would be using up precious petrol anyway!
Is it me or is it a nonsense? When I was teaching and travelled from one town to the next every day not having much petrol would have been a worry but I can not imagine queuing for it under any circumstances.
In Essex I rode a bike everywhere. In Cornwall I could reach most places by walking if I set off in time.
People rushing around panic buying cause more stress and shortages I think than we really need right now.
Getting to work, or the shops or getting the children to school are all necessary activities that often need the use of a vehicle but panicking at the thought that you may not manage to do one of them is daft!
I do have deadlines like everyone else but I refuse to use petrol in order to get more petrol...just in case.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Gardeners!

Having spent some time this week working in the garden I am now geared up for my annual tussle with the gardener. I have to save the bluebells, penny wort , lesser celandine etc from being torn out and labelled as weeds.
It's a big garden, there's plenty of room for some wild, native species. I love the wonderful diversity that exists in what was once cow pasture.
At the beginning of the week I ordered some new plants to take the place of anything that didn't make it through the winter. They arrived in record time in beautiful condition and are waiting to go in.
The fruit trees are developing huge buds and I know that once open a great cold wind will arrive to blow them off! this is why I am trying to grow a wind break....with little success so far.
Starting a garden from scratch has been a creative venture in many ways...
I know what I don't want more than what I do want! I don't want a manicured, neat garden...I want a rambling, exotic, exciting garden full of colour with things blooming all the year round!
Some fruit too would be good.....eventually!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Old age grief.

Having had my first walk around the garden with the dog this morning  I can confidently say that life is very good indeed!   It really is warm enough to sit out and my dearest David has already pressure hosed all the garden furniture so its now possible to do just that!
I have put my rocking chair by the front door so I can hear the phone if it rings and also use the wifi!
David is having coffee in the summer house so all is well with our world right now...and that's where the guilt sets in....
We may well be the last generation of affluent pensioners....and the granny tax in last weeks Budget is doing its best to start the rot, but I really do feel very sorry for those who thought they could retire at 65 and now find its 70!
The final salary  pension scheme hit the dust some time ago I know but I fear for all those who are just twenty years  younger than me.
The goal posts that keep moving inwards all the time are going to affect everyone... sooner or latter...
I really do hope and pray that the economic gloom lifts in time for all the other pensioners who have spent a life time working and saving for their old age .
For many its only the thought of being able to afford all the small luxuries they have  done without during their working lives that has kept them going in hard times.....
David and I are very lucky......but I do want that sort of luck for us all....God willing.

Spring sort out.

I started this morning with my New years resolution....   a bit late I know but I have been away for most of the time since January!
I tackled blouses this morning . I had a whole rack of them hanging up so I decided that anything I hadn't worn in the last year had to go.  As I ploughed through I realised that "In the last five years" was more realistic!
I have now discarded everything I brought  with me from my last life.
The blouse situation is complicated by the shirt situation.....my shirts not his but I have now acquired at least ten clerical shirts in various colours, some of which are quite well worn  but can't be thrown out for obvious reasons......
The problem now is what to do with a bag full of blouses.....some silk, some fancy....some ghastly!
I take warm clothing and stout sensible  stuff to the local refuge but I can imagine that this lot might raise a few laughs and then a few tears!
For the moment I have stored them in the barn.....the nearly new shop might get them at some stage...and tomorrow I tackle the jumpers......then the skirts, trousers and jackets.....and this is why I am resolved not to buy any more clothes this year.....all I have to do is pop out to the barn next door!

Wedding stories.

Having had a weekend of talking to wedding couples it has inevitably reminded me of several disasters and triumphs over the years. Shortly after I arrived, newly licensed in this parish, my training incumbents wife rang me one Saturday morning to tell me I had three weddings to do!
Having not met any of them before proved a problem for one of them if not for me. The groom was a Roman Catholic who had thought an Anglican wedding would be OK because the priest was a man....I clearly was not!
As the wedding was going to start in about half an hour I had to ask the young man if he really wanted to ring the bride and call it all off.
After a moments thought we proceeded....but since then, I make sure I know all the couples quite well before we get to any crucial decisions.
They were choosing the hymns this morning.. ...we listened to several on You Tube before making a decision and then I told them about an incident last year.
The hymn was "Dear Lord and Father of mankind". Half way through is the line "Interpreted by love.". The misprint read. "Interrupted by love."
The packed church dissolved into laughter, me included.
I will read the proof copy thoroughly from now on.
We seem to be almost into the wedding season here!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Green versus greed.

Today's readings and  the sermon were all about covenants and how to keep our side of the bargain with God.  Since we have free will then we have the choice of keeping the commandments and of honouring our obligations.
This was the moment  for one of my green sermons....green versus greed in fact....keeping our environment clean and not plundered and not using our resources with investment in renewable energy and leaving a legacy for our children and grandchildren
This was the last paragraph

Imagine being given a wonderful gift which we loved dearly…a silver chalice maybe. First we used it daily  and then misused it and got it banged about….and then we  forgot about it. Years later we find it  but it wont hald anything any longer and its tarnished and ugly.   Do we blame the person who gave it to us for that? If we’d looked after it it would still be both beautiful and useful……Its all up to us, there is still time to keep our part of the covenant….its not too late.

Afterwards the congregation all came to say how great it was.....when I was expecting some dissent...

Perhaps the idea of using solar and wind power is finally at least being thought about! . 

Working off anger.

I am having an angry day. This is most unusual. It makes it worse that though I am very angry indeed I can't actually discuss it with anyone outside the home, though the dog's ear has been bent quite a lot and David has given me several scenarios to work on in order to dissipate the anger.
He and the dog have now taken up their separate positions, one in the summer house and the other in the garden.
I can't say what has made me angry apart from being very let down by someone I trusted. It's not sudden...it's been growing steadily since my return home.
I know I should simply have it out, discuss it, talk around it but I don't trust myself to be reasonable now...I've let it get too far for that.
When the first David died I had tremendous anger, both with him for dying and with God for letting him.
I got rid of that anger by shouting a lot on deserted beaches.
I can't do that anymore. So dear diary I am shouting at you instead....you can take it!
We all have a wobble from time to time....most of mine are momentary but I am having difficulty shaking this one off.
Arghhhhh!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Weddings

Spent a happy morning ringing round all my wedding couples. We have a wedding preparation day tomorrow and I am trying to make sure that they don't all turn up here at the same time!
Getting to know your couples is essential. I have turned up to fill in for sick colleagues on the day but it is much better if you know them and more importantly they know you.
Over the years I've now married hundreds of couples...only once did I find myself committed to a worrying one. It had been booked by the priest in charge before he retired and I felt that I had to go through with it but it was not good for either them or me.
All weddings are at the discretion of the priest and we all have the option of passing them over to someone else to deal with.
When I was asked recently how I felt about same sex weddings I replied briefly that if after meeting and talking to them I was happy that marriage was for them the right thing then of course I would do it.
The questioner jumped on me in fury.
" It's a pity you don't do that with all your couples " she said.
I do do just that. In the old days we had to ask all sorts of personal questions that now seem just plain silly. I've only married one couple who came from different addresses. It would be a nonsense to attempt to give any advice on family planning or any other related subject!
People are people. I couldn't care less what their gender is. If two people want to commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives...that's great...and that's all I really need to be sure of.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Budget talk

The conversation after Communion this morning was mostly about the budget. Well, mostly about the fact that they failed to understand what impact if any it would make on their lives.
We were all over seventy and not in the poverty trap but they were puzzled by most of it.
My contribution was about taxation. It was the only bit that did actually affect me and it was the removal of the enhanced personal allowance when you get to 75. As I will have reached this wonderful age later this year it did stay in my brain.
Honestly I didn't really know I would get it anyway so I can't be shocked at losing it.
My view on taxation is fairly well known. It is the price we pay for a civilized society where the frail, sick and disabled are looked after by the rest of us.
I have never jibbed at paying my tax but I am only human and now I know that I am going to lose out I am not awfully pleased.
If your already getting this benefit you will not have it taken away, it's only those of us approaching the deadline .
I just wonder how many more of these little "savings" are being made which will only be realized later!
Judging by the complete failure of any sort of comprehension in what was a bright bunch of people who are usually quite savvy it looks as if the budget was a definate success.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Avoid clothes shops!

We have to get into Truro this week and this is the only day when its possible. That it clashes with Budget day is being treated as a major problem which we are sorting out by going in early....fingers crossed..
As most of what I have to to do is at banks which don't open till 10am there is a major problem looming! I might have to look at the shops!
I have decided that I have too many clothes and that I must not buy anything new for at least two years or until fashions change so radically that my hand is forced..
Life was much simpler on the cruise when weight restrictions meant that I had only two of everything apart from evening clothes of course. Getting dressed in the morning was therefore easy...I just put on what I hadn't worn the day before!
I must therefor avoid clothes shops!  
I have cheques to pay in since before Christmas....and I have a very full diary from now on...so this really may be the last possible day.
At the weekend we have a marriage preparation course running and as its going to be the first time I've met some of them,  the appointments are now taking up most of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday and Monday!  We marry a lot of people here!
During all that time of course it will be a dog collar so thats easy too.....so all I have to do this morning whilst I'm waiting for the banks to open  is find a hardware store so I won't be tempted.

People are good.

I've just come back from a funeral visit and am filled once again with the absolute awareness of the inherent goodness of people....
As I am trying to make them feel better they in their turn are asking me to make this funeral as good as another one I did for their family last year...they are looking after me whilst I am looking after them!
People who have been born in one place and stayed there and been happy there  are rare in these days of social mobility but it works here!  The extended family net works are truly wonderful and the fact that they all look after each other during periods of grief is offset by the laughter they share about the good times....
Memories flood back at a funeral...remembering those who are no longer with us releases so many tales that its hard to know where to start...
The funny memories have their place amongst the sad ones...and three of us this morning have wept and laughed together.
It is a massive privilege to be able to do this for people I respect and love....God is good too.

Fixing snags!

I have spent an afternoon in experimentation! This ebook publishing is very interesting but also full of pitfalls for the unwary. Needless to say I was at the very bottom of the pit several times. When it was first published it was the unformatted version because the professional formatter had sent me a very weird one by mistake.
They published my own version but today it hit snags and could go no further. I had to change the cover because I inadvertently used the sample one! Then it was refused on several different grounds not least because I'd forgotten to copyright it! Not that anyone would want to publish it as theirs!
How ever I did the brave but foolish thing of pressing "unpublish". I was then sure that it had gone forever...however using the correctly formatted version it was quickly reinstated and had passed another hurdle.
The next step is to transform it once again this time into an audio book!
As we are in the middle of Lent and all that that involves plus a funeral it looks unlikely that I'll ever find time for it but it's good to have something to aim for.
Meanwhile it has already had 40 downloads so thank you all...
I really appreciate it.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

School Exclusions.

I read this morning that several schools had illegally excluded pupils from their schools...
A report found several instances of this illegal activity around the country and there was a generally censorious tone to the article .  The writer had not bothered to enquire as to why this should be happening and why the heads have been driven to an act which is against the law as it stands at present.
Unless you have been in a school where teenagers are running riot as I have then you can have no idea of the problem.
Excluding a child from a classroom used to be one way of getting rid of an unruly student....this is now frowned on so the teacher is on his or her own.
One child in any classroom that is bent on causing trouble can spoil it for every other child who is trying to work..
I saw dreadful things during my time as a supply teacher in Essex...real violence done to property and to other children.  There were no sanctions that could be usefully employed to get these pupils in line and not bothering their peers...
If you are their proper teacher a relationship develops within the classroom and most good teachers win the attention of their pupils by being interesting and pleasant but there are some pupils who quite simply don't fit into that pattern...
I am not advocating bring back caning or any physical punishment but some sanctions must be available especially for this who are preventing the others from working.
Its surely time to start the pendulum swinging in the other direction.

Mothering.

This mornings mothering Sunday services were a collaboration with a reader in training! We had chosen readings both prose and Biblical as well as some poems and we did a double act!
It's been a difficult service for me since the death of my daughter and the great danger is to allow the self indulgence of emotion.
For the most part I managed it...
I also told the men in the congregation that women had the best part in this drama because to hold a baby in the womb for nine months is a holy and wonderful experience.
As part of my double act I chose a poem by Judith Wright , an Australian lady with several children who obviously agreed with the previous sentence. Her description of carrying the child is wonderful. Here is the last verse.
'"I wither and you break from me
Yet though you dance in living light
I am the earth, I am the root
I am the stem that fed the fruit
The link that joins you to the night.". Wonderful imagery.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Link for the book

This is the Smashwords link to find the book......I wrote it on the sea, whilst huge waves were battering us...I hope this will help you to find it !
smashwords.com/books/142
Many thanks for those who have helped in the more technical details!

Published!

What can I say? After a day of frustration the book is now published...I have made mistakes but these I have learned from...I have for instance, thanks to a kind man on Twitter managed to change it from Pages to Word.
Shortly after I published it the man who sent me the wrong book apologized and sent me the correct one but by this time I'd done it myself!
Now I know that it's not too difficult I may well do it again!
Anyway it's called "My Journey " by Jean Rolt. It's got a pretty blue flower on the cover and I seem to have sent them the proof copy but the writing is so small I don't suppose anyone will notice!
It's free to download. I have one sitting on my kindle right now and am filled with awe that I am now a published author. A self published author it's true but it does give those of you who wanted to read it the opportunity.
I would welcome feed back....not expecting giant downloads but it's been a challenging and exciting adventure and there are lots things I still have to do to make it really cosher.
As its mostly working out what ISB and other imponderables are it could take some time but hey. It's published!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ebook embarrassment!

This could only happen to me! Read no further if you have delicate sensibilities. I am not making this up!
My journey into the world of ebook publishing has just got silly! When I started the whole process off they advised me to get the formatting done professionally, especially as it was not written using Word.
I sent the MS off ten days ago and got it back this morning. Off I went!
I filled in the form, uploaded the new format and then got knocked back!
They did not accept it in this format!
I looked at the stuff that came through and realized that the name was wrong. I then decided to check the contents!
Well, please remember that I'm only reporting what I saw. Far from being a journey in faith it turned out to be a book extolling the virtue of a man with a very large penis! Complete with illustrations!
Thank goodness they sent it back. It could have been the most embarrassing book launch yet!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Losing a loved one.

A friends husband has just rung to say his wife is going to be late this morning. They had just come back from having their dog put down.
Let no one who has not experienced this be in any doubt. It hurts....it is a bereavement no less than losing a person.  I have now had to have two much loved dogs put down and I know the time span of my my 13 year old golden is coming to an end. We always at this stage   hope that the beloved dog will one day go to sleep and never wake up! Somehow it never seems to happen like that!
Our cats and dogs, our guinea pigs and rabbits are part of our family....
We know when we take them on that their life span is shorter than ours and we say that when the time comes we can cope with it....but it is still very painful!
When its sudden and unexpected its even worse.....we had to have our ten year old Springer put down after he'd developed a brain tumour...it all happened in the one day and the same night I went into clinical shock.
After I'd stopped  shaking I had to ring and apologise to people I was going to see because I really thought it unwise to drive the car!
They said....."Its only a dog you've lost isn't?"   It was but still precious and much loved....and although the bereavement process is shorter there is still an essential ingredient missing from the family circle.  And the other pets feel it too.
Crispin mourned the loss of our old dog for months.....he kept running up to other goldens wagging his tail and then retreating sharply when he found it was the wrong one...
Loss is part of the human condition....We can cope with it because its inevitable.... but that doesn't make it any less painful.....
Just as when my husband died I kept imagining his key in the door for months after wards, so with my dogs....their shadows passed in familiar haunts and their muted barks still sounded in the quiet moments....
We love our pets.....in many cases they are more reliable than humans.....let no one be surprised that they are mourned...
And of course the old saying holds good for me.....if dogs don't go to heaven I'm not going either!

Before the NHS.

Many years ago there was a time when money was scarce and men were going into the army to fight for their country. The threat was great and though many had lost brothers and husbands fighting just 25 years earlier conscription was not really needed. Men joined up to fight and left their families to do the best that they could in the hard times after a serious economic depression.
The women and old people left at home manned the factories, worked the land and kept the flag flying. Food was scarce. The shops were empty, even for those with enough money to go shopping for fun.
Doctors were expensive. Some small insurance schemes existed to enable poor people to get medical help but many struggled to pay doctor's bills and buy medicine even when it was urgently needed.
I was two when war broke out. Mother had war work and my grandparents looked after me.
One day I felt ill. I couldn't go to nursery because I had spots. Granny wanted to get the doctor. Grandad said to wait...childish ailments get better. I did get better. But my friend didn't. She died because the doctor came too late.
When the war was over a new thing happened. Everyone could go to the doctors when they needed to...it brought massive relief to both the old and the poor. I still remember the joy.
I also remember the arguments, the guilt and the shame when someone failed to get the help they needed through lack of money.
That's why we must never lose our NHS. With all it's faults it's still a God send for those with problems.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hatred or hormones?

What drives people to malice? What makes a man fighting for his country go into a village and kill people he doesn't know?
What turns people into persecutors?
Usually we can say they are disturbed people, if its a woman reaching a certain age we can say she's approaching the menopause...hormones can be blamed for many sorts of daft acts ...but there must be something more in the makeup of anyone who hates enough to try to destroy people...or their beliefs..
St Paul admits quite cheerfully that before his conversion he persecuted Christians...nothing wishy washy about St Paul...his beliefs were clear cut and he died in order to propagate them..
I get cross from time to time....I'm certainly no saint.  Sometimes turning the other cheek is very hard  but I try and mostly succeed.
What motivated the soldier into turning his hatred upon the people of Afganistan  even to its children cannot easily be imagined....and it is too easy to just say, "Well he was obviously disturbed"
That's what we say when someone we know behaves out of character and does something that damages themselves more than the object of their spite. 
No one can be sure how we would react in extreme circumstances but most Christians would defend their faith if called upon to do so.
I have now witnessed a small taste of persecution  and  I do wonder what makes a person hate and more, act on that hatred
 Its got to be more than  just rogue hormones....
The need to punish, to make someone else pay for either real or imagined hurts is quite literally a means of self destructing....the only person in the end to get hurt is the persecutor.
The American soldier may well spend the rest of his life regretting his actions..
Anyone else inclined to persecute should realise that its a negative,  self destructive impulse and fight it!
Hormones can't always take the blame!

Feminism.

The excellent article by Linda Grant, following a day of tweeting last week has reminded me very vividly of how times were.....in what seems now like another century. No one born after 1950 can possibly imagine the way things were for women...in thrall to their husbands..
My first big battle was to buy a typewriter. I was teaching, earning my own money but had to get my husbands signature on the HP document.
This taught me one important thing. I needed to be able to pay outright for anything else I wanted.
I started saving whilst I was still teaching.
On the day I stopped teaching  because I was pregnant  I bought our first TV,  My husband was shocked but soon came round to watching it with me!
I had a phone installed after the birth of our baby after I had had to push out the pram in the middle of the night to get to the nearest phone, half a mile away.
I bought a car by cashing in my  pension fund....My husband never ever sat in it with me  until the night we went to see his mother on her deathbed...
Times were different then...and they have changed through the actions of brave women who fought to get a recognition of our worth. I am not sure even today that we are actually equal to our male colleagues....but we are slowly getting there!   DV

Village Monopoly

The fog has laid thick on Cornwall today.....Falmouth has been invisible all day and even the ferry over to it didn't run this morning!  This is unusual and we all waited for the mist to lift!
An added complication to movement were the diggers and hedging machines working along the main road, right outside our house!  Apparently they have a deadline at the end of this month so they have to crack on....they appear to have cleared the ditches, firmed up the roads  edge and got us all looking neat for Easter when the first great influx of the year will appear.
Anyone trying to get around this small village today would have a certain amount of difficulty and it might explain why when I went down to the shops there were many more people around than usual.
After I'd done a bit of shopping David and I decided to have a drink and some lunch at our local...it sits by the harbour wall in St Mawes. There were a few people drinking at tables   and a great knot around one of the bars...but no visitors visible. The topic of conversation was an article in the Times this morning about our quiet little village .
The village was portrayed as a millionaires haven, full of retired people with more money than sense....and what was exercising people was the person who had invented a new game..St Mawes Monopoly!
This it seems is much like the old Monopoly but with the sailing club and the local hotels up for sale instead of the streets of London.  
It seems to have divided the village...those whose property is included resented by those who have not been mentioned....Then there are several people who claimed to have had the idea first!
I am sure that the article which generated a great deal of heat at lunch time did the village no good at all....but equally certain that it would be a great mistake to take any sort of stance on any of it....
I know all the people involved....they are all friends and neighbours.....it will blow over given half a chance...and in the meanwhile as a priest I pray that we can all get on with life, death, marriage and christening and leave the game playing to the papers.....
That's their job after all.

Lost!

Tonight I did Evensong. I had several bits of paper to dole out, readings, hymn numbers, baptism applications etc. I put them all together and on getting to church handed them out. As I had my quiet moments in the vestry I realised I'd lost the sermon. It was not with any of my papers so I rushed around checking all the papers I'd given out earlier . No sign of it. Going back into the vestry I jotted down the points hastily. After we'd got as far as the Magnificat a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. It was found! When I finally got up to preach I was able to tell the congregation two things. First I'd found it. Second the subject was on lost things. Sheep, cold coins etc. I couldn't make it up. Losing a sermon on the subject of lost articles was rich even for me! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Birds on the iPad!

Having done the 8 am Communion and having nothing else till Evensong at 4 I have been having a little play with the iPad. I get frustrated with apple for making me always put in my password every time I buy something so I'm not often tempted but I found a lovely new app this morning. It's called British birds. Over the years my works of reference have included bird books. From our perch high over St Mawes we see a lot of birds both in the air and on the ground. I can't name most of them and I would like to. The ones that sit in the trees and sing are very puzzling because a worded description doesn't do the sound justice. The app though has a picture, as well as an explanation of habits and wonder of wonders a button to press to hear the actual birdsong! No bird is safe now. I shall soon become a real life twitcher providing my iPad is tucked under my arm! - Posted using BlogPress fro my iPhone

Liposuction ? No!

Twitter is good fun but sometimes I do wonder what drives people on there. I suppose it's all too obviously the profit motive but sometimes it can have a dark side. Yesterday I was feeling a bit stiff and my hips hurt. It happens sometimes. It's nothing I worry about but in a tweet I made a flip remark about it. Later I was startled to be tweeted by a young man who suggested that I should look into a way of reducing the fat on my hips. Now I am plump but I am not fat and I put no weight on during my cruise. I clicked on the link to find it was an advert for liposuction! Having surplus fat surgically removed would be the last thing I would even contemplate if I was overweight. Exercise maybe. Surgery. Never! But this morning I asked the young man if he had any qualifications for recommending liposuction. It struck me as being a very dodgy idea for anyone , leave alone an old woman well past her sell by date! So now I am receiving more ads for cosmetic surgery! I have even got a new liposuction follower! I must have inadvertently pressed the wrong button! I know I can block the original young man but the speed with which the idea is generated that some one might be interested is worrying. Spam on this occasion could be dangerous! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lost luggage strap

Somewhere in the world there is a bright orange luggage strap with my name on! It was around my suitcase when we set off for the recent cruise. David had one too. His also had his name on. When we found our cases waiting for us in our room mine was missing. We know it went aboard because we watched the bags being lifted onto the Queen. We made enquiries. We looked at the weird collection of lost property in the pursers office. It was all small and glittery. Nothing orange and large. As the moment of disembarkation arrived we looked further afield. Stewards joined in. I got off the boat without it. David has his. And it was easy to spot at the airport as it wizzed around with the other cases. The problem now is that they were presents, useful ones too. I have to explain to David's son why I no longer have mine! It's of no use to anyone else. Rev Jean Rolt was writ large on the orange in big black letters. It is of no possible use to anyone else. If anyone sees it please let me know because following the recent run of coincidence it's bound to turn up somewhere soon! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Coincidence...a story.

The response to my post about coincidence was amazing...it seems we are all linked in various ways and we all experience this weird mechanism  from time to time!
This is a story of one of these startling   encounters.
Many years ago I got a job in Rochdale teaching English as a second language to the growing numbers of immigrants in the North West.  We were  a staff of around 15 at that time. Some of us were part timers...but we had joint meetings at lunch times and all got to know each other quite well.
We enjoyed our work...it was not just Muslims, there were children from Hong Kong, from Brazil and from Iran as well as India and Pakistan.
One of our teachers was not as happy as the rest of us.....she needed to work but not in that particular school. One day she announced that she was leaving...she had got another job.
We were amazed to find that she'd got a job teaching music....she was going to be a peripatetic  music teacher, teaching the recorder.
I didn't know she was musical I told her.
"I'm not" she said. "I can't even play the recorder but Ive got six weeks holiday to learn it  in."
I was stunned....after she left we didn't meet again....I  was moving to North Wales where one of my friends was a violin teacher.
In the pub one night I told her this story about the peripatetic recorder teacher.
She looked at me in amazement.  "You are describing my sister in law!"
And I was....we met again that Christmas as she came over for a short stay.
Bearing in mind that Rochdale was at least a hundred miles away  I thought it was pretty amazing...and she was still teaching music!     But she could by that time play the recorder.

Blue hibiscus.

We are having fun here today! The astonishing thing about ebook publishing is the speed. Having contacted the designer this morning that bit of it is now bought and paid for! The chap was very good and changed some violently swaying grass to a more muted version. It came through fast and is now waiting for the formatting to be finished. After that I will proof read it and then it's up and running. There are some strange rules attached to ebook publishing. They prefer you to make a minimum charge because some distributors won't handle free books. I don't really want people to have to pay for this so I will try to think things through when we get to the decision stage! Apparently once you've been accepted by Smashwords it goes automatically to Kindle and Apple and then who knows who might pick it up and read it! I am on new territory here and learning more everyday. Look out for the blue hibiscus but steer clear of barely dressed young women staring out to sea! If it all works out no one will be more amazed than me! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Woman on a sea shore

Oh dear. I should have expected something odd in the way of graphics I suppose. Apparently my booklet needs a cover so I asked a firm to mock one up. They asked for the title and what the subject was. In less than twenty four hours two covers arrived by email! The first was a woman standing on a sea shore. She is scantily dressed and holding something that looked like a whip. High above her head is a transparent cross with the figure of Jesus hanging on it! After the first roar of laughter I sobered up enough to think that the designer clearly hadn't met many priests. The second thought was that maybe he had and that was the trouble! Needless to say I didn't chose that one. The second one was a blue hibiscus . Guess which is the first choice! - Posted seusing BlogPress from my iPhone

Catching up!

There are days when it's just safer to stay in bed! Outside it's grey, very wet and cold and inside all the work accumulated over the last seven weeks has finally caught up with me. I'm not really grumbling but I have fixed christenings, weddings, daffodils(mothers day) till I am just a pale shadow etc etc. On top of actual work I have also been sorting out details for my ebook experiment. Being a mac user I write on "Pages". It has all got to be on "Word". Arghhh I have employed a professional formatter. But it will still come back to a Microsoft free zone! I have also given in and employed someone to design my book cover for me! I could have done it myself but it just seemed easier to go with the flow. What is staggering is the speed it all works with. The wonderful digital world makes it possible of course. My book cover will be ready tomorrow. Whether Word will allow the book to be joined to the cover is another thing. I think I need another holiday. Soon - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ebook...?

I am slightly anxious right now.....please forgive this but I have just taken the first,  very tentative steps towards getting an ebook published and am feeling....ambivalent....it felt like sending off a child without proper food or clothing into the big wide world! Some of you may remember that on my trip I wrote a personal account of my journey to the priesthood. Some of you even expressed interest in reading it! Like most of the other important things in my life I need a prompt to get things moving....If I get a nudge then I believe that it was meant to happen so I get on with it. This is not a foolproof method of living....don't do this at home! This morning I read a comment by Stephen Fry about an ebook publishing company. That was my nudge so I investigated...I am now a member of Smashwords. I have sent off the manuscript for formatting, having no skill in the direction myself....They don't seem to be very choosy so it may just happen.... The biggest problem is that it might not be free...and I'm not actually interested in making money....I just want it to be read..a bit like this blog really! Its very early stages yet....it may all fall at the first hurdle....so its a question of trying to appear cool, and waiting...You lot will be the first to know!

Coincidence?

It is a very small world we all live in....
I have spent some time this morning contacting couples I am to marry this year. One of the names rang an immediate bell even though I don't know the family at all.....The groom  is the grandson of one of my husband's oldest friends...I don't know them  because it was during the time David was married to his first wife!
Yesterday after the service a lady came to talk to me and reminded me of the time two years ago when our flight to Majorca had been delayed by several hours.....we had talked to another couple we hadn't met previously or since  waiting for the flight and here she was!
"I knew it was you!" she said immediately......she lives in  Devon and was on holiday here!
On the Queen Elizabeth a man who shared a table with us had been a captain in the merchant navy.  He had known David's brother in law, Len....
Small coincidences happen to me all the time...and it for this reason that I no longer believe in coincidence as such....
Once when I was searching the local library for a particular book,  it fell off a shelf right in front of me....after I'd looked for it for at least an hour.
I prefer to think of coincidence as proof of the theory of syncronicity.....or just maybe sign posts from God...to tell us that we are all linked in some way...and that its a very small world!

First morning back!

Putting on the dog collar this morning felt very weird.....as did putting on tights!  When I left home it was still winter, Epiphany in fact. Today its Spring outside and Lent!  Whilst I was away  there was no hurry, no deadline, time was a movable feast....
There is still some jet lag....I am still waking at around five every morning fully alert and ready for work! There is a very busy week ahead of me so that will right itself soon I'm sure...
I am looking for ward to going to St Just again, cradled in its scaffolding and being redecorated it is almost at the end of this period of refurbishment and will shortly emerge in all its glory to be the place of beauty and awe thats its always been.
The gardens are  spectacular at this time of the year. Situated in a creek where no winds blow its always well ahead of the rest of us . The snowdrops were out before I went away so it will be interesting to see whats come up now!
It will take a great effort of will to get myself back into priestly mode, some of me is still in Samoa enjoying the singing!
Providing my car starts......I will get there early to see the progress and to answer questions!
Once more into the breach....etc..

Back in the swing!

Well I am home, with all its complexities and problems!  When the car was started for me yesterday I was told to leave it running for an hour......so after we'd gone to bed early my husband jokingly said,
"You have switched the engine off haven't you?"
I rushed down stairs and found that I had actually  turned it off so all was well!  It started again this morning  and I've given it another hour.....I do not want to hitch hike to church again in the morning!
Usually I start writing the sermon in my head during the week so that  by Saturday it would all be there, just needing to be written down......Midweek this week was taken up by other anxieties so this morning I've done what I've never done before.....I found an old sermon for year B Lent 2 and reprinted it.....later I will add and subtract and make it more topical but I needed the safety blanket of know that if all else failed there was something I could pick up in the morning as I was flying through the door.....
I have started the process of marrying people too, in fact I've been a positive hive of activity so far! I've walked the dog, waited in for the Tesco shop, got a load into the washing machine and I have still not put anything actually away.....the spare bed is piled high with ball gowns, swimming costumes etc.....heaven knows when I'll get round to them!
But all through the activity is a quiet glow of joy, of having seen and done things I never thought I would do, everything else pales into insignificance by the side of the huge , amazing story of what we've done and getting myself back into parish priest mode is part of that joy.....Alleluia!

Home. Deep sigh!

We left Cornwall in winter and returned in the Spring! It's warm and everything in the garden really is lovely! There are already lots of flowers out on the shrubs and green shoots are coming up everywhere. Only one blot on the horizon is my non starting car. Unfortunately the poor man at the local garage has been in hospital so it may be next week before it starts again. David's car will do for us both till then! My dog is very well but without my car I couldn't pick him up earlier and David was using his at the time! I am told though that he chased a bunny this morning...Crispin that is, not David! We will go and get him when his foster parents get back from town! For the moment I have been food shopping and a great load comes tomorrow. I am also enjoying untrammeled access to the Internet again. You take it so much for granted at home that it's a shock to find out how much it all costs when your a long way from home. I have dived in and out whilst we've been away which means I've missed things at times so I do apologies to anyone I've ignored by accident. When I've finally got the unpacking done and things get back to normal I would appreciate advice on how to get my 6000 word booklet published. I only mean on the Internet. I'm not trying to make money out of it! God is good. I have so much to be grateful for already, there is nothing else in life I could ask for! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Jet lag

We arrived in London in good spirits this morning. The car which was supposed to pick us up was no where to be seen. After half an hour of searching we had retreated to a coffee shop to make alternative arrangements. Then my phone rang. He had got the time wrong! He was on his way! Relief! Trying to find a London cabbie to get us all the way to Cornwall would not have been easy. We had travelled first to Hong Kong, then to Heathrow and the next leg was to get us home! The first bit of the journey was epic but there were another five hours left yet! We talked most of the way home, called in at an M and S for food, came home and ate and then collapsed in a heap! It's going to take a while before we get back to normal! Just getting the time clocks in our bodies right will take at least a couple of days but now we are left with this amazing feeling that we have seen and done wonderful things. The house and garden look neat and clean, we have yet to go for Crispin....any attempt at driving would be foolish...but so far we have sorted out the two boxes of mail, listened to a great many messages on the phone many of which were cut in half and got some clothes in the machine to be washed... All the mundane details of life are waiting to be tackled but all in good time....sleep comes first and then more sleep! The sound of snoring is coming from Cornwall! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad