Charlie came to us from the RSPCA Rescue Centre on April 10th, 1997. He went to sleep for the final time at 8.45 this morning.
He was a faithful companion and always knew when you were sad - he would come and rest his head on your knee and wait quietly beside you. His favourite place to rest was curled up at Bob's feet in the study whilst the sermons were being prepared!
We will miss him so much - he brought much joy into our lives.
A Scottish teacher is in trouble for 'twittering' 38 times a day whilst at work. Fair enough.
But the bit that got me was the paragraph on the BBC News Website today saying "Argyll and Bute Council policy states that teachers may access professional blogs which have educational value but are not allowed to have their own blog."
Remind me never to move to Argyll and Bute then!
I had been given some cardmaking supplies by friend Sera and niece Lucy, so last night I sat quietly, with Charlie laying at my feet, and made a whole batch of greetings cards.
Bob was quite late home from the Anglican mission thingy, and there was a forest of cards on the mantelpiece when he got in.
Today was Debbie's birthday and she had invited ten of us to The Royal Oak in the village to celebrate over lunch.
Hope you have enjoyed your day Debbie - it was a splendid meal - I feel as if I won't need any more food for days!
Debbie has just started building a collection of Old musicals on DVD. Here she is opening our gift of "Singing in The Rain" [appropriate for today's weather!]
Anyway, whilst the committee ate and talked, I worked in the Church Office preparing my Sunday school lesson.
Bob had prepared a Powerpoint about Street 
After it was all over, I cleared up the Hall.
I came back to church later on for Sewing Club - the girls are working hard to finish their pjs, and now are sewing a set of new tablecloths for the Church. Ann had brought her wonderfully expensive machine down to show them - they liked using 
We are doing eight cloths in four different colours of fabric, which should look good when we've banquets to cater for.
It is good practice for them to sew long straight hems!
Some people wanted to be photographed for the blog, but couldn't resist mucking about -Here are three girls- one of whom has her pj shorts on her head.
Susan maintained her cool and continued instructing Kate about apron frills.
After it was all over, we cleared up the Hall for the Church Meeting.[which was short and sweet!]
Then we cleared up the Hall for the Drop-In
Today was Gillian's last day as Administrator. We took a surprise cake to the Coffee Drop In, and Stella presented her with a gorgeous plant. Lots of people including our Beat Bobbies turned up.
We are all very grateful to Gillian for her hard work in our Church Office.
So many different things happen on church premises - eating, sewing, meeting, praying, singing, laughing...
After that, Bob and I went and took a communion service at a local care home, then I came home and finished off my Sunday School stuff. Quick plug here for a brilliant book/CD set called
ClickArt Christian Graphics
And then as a complete change, I altered a pair of maternity trousers for a friend. She found they were too big at the waist so I put a casing along the back, with a length of elastic with buttonholes. She can now adjust the elastic to fit, and let the waistband out as she expands!
A very satisfactory alteration job there!
Bob's got another meeting tonight, so I plan to spend the evening making birthday cards. I am keeping very busy at the minute, but I think this is probably what is known as a "coping mechanism". Charlie our dog is not well at all, and I am feeling very sad about visiting the Vets this coming weekend.
It was an episode I had seen before, and just coming to the end of the programme.
There was a great quote, which I really must use in a sermon sometime. Pellew says to him
"When we put on this uniform, Mr Hornblower, we accept a life of adventure and adversity - but above all duty. Duty to our King and to our men."
A fairly good summary of Christian service, really. In act, I think there is probably room for a whole sermon series on Adventure and Adversity!
There is a lot of material in each study - and I admit we haven't always done the 'activity' [too many of us in the group involved in childcare/education and already spending our daytimes cutting and pasting and stuff, so we aren't keen to do it in the evening as well!] and Bob has been producing a helpful A4 sheet with extra relevant Bible passages and questions.
Perhaps we should get ourselves some tee shirts from this site.
Thanks Julie for the link!
I ke
Sure enough, she had books 1,2 3, 4 [and has just got 5 & 6 I think!] so she lent me 1&2 last Sunday.
I'm not 100% sure what I thought of them. The blurb on the website says
"What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student, and a married mother of two have in common?Nothing, or so Jodi Baxter thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a group as mismatched as that the closest of friends? “I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference—after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my ‘comfort zone.’ But I would be rooming with my boss, Avis, and I hoped that maybe I might make a friend or two. We... were assigned to a prayer group of twelve women at the conference - there was Flo, an outspoken ex-drug addict; Ruth, a Messianic Jew who could smother-mother you to death; and Yo-Yo, an ex-con who wasn’t even a Christian! Not to mention women from Jamaica, Honduras, South Africa—practically a mini-United nations. We certainly didn’t have much in common. But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together. So ‘the Yada Yada Prayer Group’ decided to keep praying for each other via e-mail. That worked for a while, but our personal struggles and requests soon got too intense for cyberspace, so we decided to meet together every other Sunday night."
However, in many ways the book does give a good picture of the life of a women's prayer group - and challenges the reader's perceptions about acceptance and inclusivity.
I belong to a cyberspace prayer group and it is great - we are all very different women from all over the world, facing many of the issues addressed in the books - and the friendship/prayer support is important to us. But these are not the only friends I have.
I think 'church' in the States is different from over here - I was concerned that Jodi appeared to have spent her entire life surrounded by Christians and had belonged to various churches - but never really seemed to form a close relationship with anybody until she got into the Y-Y thing, and she was suddenly able to drop everything else and support these women through life-and-death scenarios. What happened to the friends she'd had before?
But hey, these books are selling in their millions, so somebody out there must be getting a blessing from them [and I don't just mean the author's royalties] - and I believe passionately in the value of prayer, and if more women are praying because of reading these books, then Hallelujah!
I didn't get on with Harry Potter or Catherine Cookson either - but they fill the shelves of the Public Libraries. If Kathryn lends me the other Y-Y maybe I will start to appreciate them more!
In the past couple of weeks, a number of people have said how nice the Rural Centre at Wistow is. So after a morning in school, and some lunch, Bob and I decided to spend what remained of his Day Off by driving over there.
It was exceedingly damp! There are a collection of shops - but unfortunately many of them seemed to be closed today. Behind the lovely garden centre, which had some beautiful plants, was the Model Village.We braved the deluge to have a look at it - and thought it wonderful
We were amused by Jack Hall the Undertakers - whose sign read
"The Good Lord may call 'em straight out the hearse - but they need to be gift-wrapped, so I want 'em first!"
The School was looking rather the worse for wear though.
It is free to look at but opportunity is given to support local charities.
The rain was getting heavier so we dived into the Tea Rooms for tea and scones.
The Farm Shop was open, with a wheelbarrow of Lincolnshire Caulis outside
So I bought one and made some cauliflower cheese for Bob's tea
Cold wet days cry out for warming comfort food!
He will be widely missed in the Baptist Family - and my prayers are with Liz, his sons, and the rest of the family today.
Been busy making costumes today. Last night I went into the loft and found I had two pieces of IKEA fabric in the same print but different colourways and also some toning felt. So I measured and cut.
And then I sewed, and sewed, and sewed...
Two tabards, which will probably be cinched at the waist with belts.
Two sets of cuffs,
And two hats.
I'm especially pleased with the hats, I modified a tutorial I found on the Internet here.
You can't see them very clearly, but the three points have jingle bells attached. [Paperchase Sale, January 2008. £1.75 for 75 bells. I knew I would find a use for them eventually]
I know jesters are supposed to be red and yellow - but I had the pink and blue in The Great Stash, and I see no point in spending money just for the sake of verisimilitude [oh I love that word!]
...pull the other one, it's got bells on!
We met early at church this morning with people from other local churches in our 'Cluster' for a Prayer Breakfast. Beforehand, I was very organised, and took pictures of our wonderful Catering Crew, headed up by Gwen, who were preparing the food.
Gwen and Simon at the stove
Here is Ken organising the coffee.
People started to arrive very promptly, and were soon sitting down expectantly, hoping for breakfast.
Cereal, juices, fruit and bread plus toasters were all laid out ready [please notice Lynda's wonderful Sheep Toaster]
The cooked breakfast was lovely, and the bacon and sausages especially fine! Thanks Gwen and team.
At this point in the proceedings, I started chatting to people I hadn't seen in ages, and enjoying a wonderful cooked breakfast - and forgot to take any more pictures!! But it was really to good to hear all the news from different fellowships - we rejoiced with the church whose youth work has grown so much that they are about to appoint a Full-Time Youth Worker - and commiserated with the church whose building project has been held up, because there may be Civil War relics buried in the plot, and they must therefore have an expensive archaeological dig before new buildings go up. Oliver Cromwell has a lot to answer for!
The little shop at the other end of the road from our chapel closed last year- it has been a shop for years and is fondly called "The Mace" by some villagers, although it hasn't been connected with that brand for quite a while. Now it is being turned back into a residential property.
I wondered, when I drove past today, if they will paint over the advert on the wall
Whatever one's opinion of the product, I do like these old painted advertisements - and I think it is a shame when they disappear!
I spent the morning in school - first teaching Year 1/2, then measuring up the Sheriff of Nottingham and the Jesters for their play costumes. They are such lovely children and it is a real pleasure to get involved with the Year 5 production like this. Got home for lunch and found a surprise parcel waiting for me.
Seraphim, my young blogfriend from Gloucester had sent me an unexpected jiffy-bag of goodies. This is particularly thoughtful of her, because she gets married in July, and I am sure she has got far more important things on her mind right now [like a bridegroom, a bathroom and builders!]
Here's what was in the bag
a very pretty handmade card
ribbons, fabric and beads
Some lovely card-making embellishments with a 'bath-time' theme [two of each of these - I love the little soap and the towel rail]
One glorious pink hat
A cross-stitched bookmark - on incredibly fine Aida.
Isn't the stitching beautiful?
And some soap and handcream. Yes, I did think it was a small block of cheddar at first - but closer inspection, and the lovely perfume, proved otherwise!
A very timely gift as I have a number of special birthdays coming up in the next few weeks. I'd better get crafting. So thanks, Sera!
Tina at Cinnamon Whirls has a lovely post today about Blogland Friendships.
The graphic she uses is all female [I suspect it is a Brownie/Guide image] so I apologise to the blokes who are reading this.
I'm grateful to God for all my friends - male, female, in Blogland or wherever. Have a good weekend whoever, wherever you are!
