A Wonderful sight

I must share with you today a wonderful sight I came across this afternoon. It really lifted my spirits to come across such a marvellous thing purely by chance. I was out for a drive, trying out my new "toy", and the sun was just beginning to go down. As I drove down a country lane I stopped to admire the setting sun, and then in the distance I saw this.


At first they were just dots in the distance, but as they got closer, it became a real spectacle.


There were hundreds and hundreds of birds - geese I think - and the sound of them was tremendous, all honking away as they flew. Skein after skein of them filled the sky, pattern after pattern they formed above me as they flew onwards to the setting sun.


And the sky turned more and more orange as the sun set.



It was totally awe inspiring.


(If you click on the pictures, you`ll see the birds a bit clearer)

New Word

I`ve found a new word to describe myself!.....

I`m a digitabulist.

What do I do?....

I`ll tell you more later!

Enjoy the sight of these young ducks which were round our feet as we were feeding them yesterday, and hear their little squeaking cries, not yet able to properly quack. As you can see they still had a lot of their soft downy feathers and their "proper" feathers were beginning to form. They were so cute.

Birthday images

Thought I`d share with you today a view of the 18 cards I received yesterday and some of the presents I received. I`ve still got my Mum`s present of a Tom tom to come, as the shop had run out of the one she wanted to get me.

And, below, a picture of my birthday cake. I had to make it myself this year, which is in a way sad, to think that my mum can no longer stand for long enough to make a cake. I didn`t decorate it, as I couldn`t very well write "Happy Birthday to Me" on it, could I?



If anyone`s interested, it`s an Orange Chocolate Chip Cake, and is what we`ve traditionally made for birthdays over many, many years. [I can oblige with the recipe if anyone wants it.]

On this day......

What happened on this day in 1953?.... I was born. I`ve been looking on the net to see what other exciting things happened on that day, but it seems to have been a day lacking in events or births of famous people. So nothing noteworthy at all there.

Late!

I`m all behind. No, I don`t mean the shape of me - well, I hope not!
I overslept this morning, I didn`t have to go to work, so hadn`t set my alarm clock. I was awaken by a parent shouting "Are you awake?" - "No", I replied.
Thinking about it, that wasn`t true, because if I wasn`t awake I wouldn`t have answered her would I? I don`t think I talk in my sleep.

I wasn`t actually very late, it was about 8 minutes past the time that I normally go in to see if she`s up and about. But, somehow that put me all out. Jobs that would usually have taken me a minute or two to do, suddenly seemed to take three times as long, nothing went right first time. I felt rushed, edgy, hustled and irritable.

Then, managing to make it on time, although a few jobs were left undone, I went to a Service. What a difference that made. Just stopping to be quiet and calm for half an hour. Everything fell back into perspective. And, more importantly, I think I learned a lesson from that, that however rushed I feel, I should stop and make time to be with God, if only for a few minutes.

Holiday treat!

I`ve just spent at least 5 hours today looking at someone`s holiday photos!... I enjoy seeing holiday photos, but this was too excess even for me. They`d been on three holidays during the last months and had taken what seemed like hundreds of photo`s. One set of rocks and mountains from Peru got to look much like another to me by the end of it.

So, for your treat today you can see a few more of my photos

"What do you want...."

It`s my birthday in twelve days time, and my parent is now asking "What do you want for your birthday?"
My answer: "I don`t know". And, I really don`t know, there`s nothing I`m really wanting. I`m expected to come up with a list for her tonight, but what to put on it...???....
So what do I ask for? .... I quite fancy getting a new car, or upgrading my laptop computer, but I can`t ask for them!

A Box of Crayons

I came across this the other day, so thought I`d share it.....


We could learn a lot from a box of crayons.....
some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colours
but they all have to live in the same box.

Global Warming??

Everything that affects the weather and our lifestyle now-a-days all seem to be blamed on Global Warming. We keep being told to consider our carbon footprint..... but several things puzzle me on this.

Take today for instance, because of wind direction, and the seasonal excessive high tides places along the East coast were warned of danger of flooding. Fortunately this didn`t turn out as bad for most places as was expected. On the news on tv they were reporting the fact that it hadn`t been as bad as the floods of 1953. So, how come that floods 50 years ago, when there was no thought of global warming, were worse than today when there is global warming?

And the thing that annoys me most about the Carbon Footprint issue, is..... how is it that countries are allowed to send rockets up into space, through the atmosphere, no doubt polluting it, as well as puncturing the atmosphere around the earth..... surely this must be a lot to blame for what is supposedly happening to the earth now-a-days? And what good are they doing?... What a lot of money they are wasting that could be put to much better use down here on earth for the starving peoples and research into diseases. It makes me mad!

I`d better get off my soapbox now I`ve had my say on it!

Autumn Sunset

I`d just spent a pleasant couple of hours on my own in peace and quiet, sitting in my car with a good book - Bill Bryson`s Notes from a Small Island, this afternoon, at this picturesque place when I looked up and saw this wonderful sunset reflected in the water.
I love the beauty of sunsets, so couldn`t resist taking a picture of it.

Remembering

Today would have been my Dad`s birthday.
He would have been 85 today.
As I knelt at his grave earlier this afternoon putting flowers into the vase I found myself wondering what he would have been like now if he`d still been alive. Would his hair have receded, or gone white? would he still walk as briskly? would he.......???
He never seemed to look any older all my life, but what would another fifteen years have done to him if he had lived till today.
He never looked old,
he never seemed old,
he wasn`t old.
He was the world to me.

All Saint`s Day he was born on. So how appropriate it is to me especially that our church holds a service on that day to remember all our loved ones who have died. It is such a poignant one to attend and made more so for me because it`s Dad`s birthday. But it also is so good to have the time and space and quietness in which to remember and to give thanks for having had such a good Dad.

I treasure the memories I have of him, and I still miss him dreadfully.