In the beauty of the lilies

I can't post any of my pictures of the School Production, because they've all got the children on them. But it was fabulous- extremely professionally done and a really enjoyable evening. However, here is a picture of the beautiful bouquet of flowers which I received at the end of the evening, in recognition of my efforts with the costumes. They smell wonderful, and the perfume of the lilies is filling the whole house. I have really enjoyed making the costumes, and the children have been so appreciative. The flowers were a lovely gesture.

I took Jess the Puppet in with me this morning, and had two of the Year One classes for story time. We did the Crossing of the Red Sea - but I began with a quick revision of "what can you tell me about Moses?" They were amazingly good at remembering the plagues - but one child said "The Cubes". "The Cubes?" "Yes, the ice cubes, that fell out of the sky" I suppose I must have said they were VERY BIG hailstones when I told them the story the other week!

Great excitement tonight, as Bob and I decided to harvest the first fig. We were not 100% sure it was ripe, but it felt soft, and we decided to try one.

I sliced it in half, and then quarters. Bob is not that keen on figs, but I took a bite.

WOW! It was tremendous! Lovely, honeyed flavour, great texture, utterly mouthwatering. Persuaded Bob to try a quarter. He agreed it was good - but I ate the remaining half, then rang Liz in excitement.

I have actually managed to grow some fruit and harvest it, and it's perfectly edible.

This is really exciting for someone who cannot normally grow cress on a flannel.

There are at least two more fruits coming to ripeness. I shall restrain myself so that Steph can try one when she gets home on Saturday.

By the way, does anyone know what that line about 'the beauty of the lilies' means, in the Battle Hymn of the Republic? - I have never worked it out, but sing it nonetheless, for the last line of the verse [as He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free]

On the subject of the USA, I am utterly fascinated that there is a group of people over there who knit, sew, quilt and patch, who belong to a group of Crafters for Obama!

I just cannot imagine such a crowd in the UK.

Crochet for Cameron, Scrapbooking for Gordon, Hilary Benn's Trapunto Circle, John Prescott's Patchwork Partnership...the mind boggles!