Category Archives: Uncategorized

Yesterday was damp, cold and grey. The sea was grey. The sky was grey. I felt grey. Musing on my accordion… given to me by my mother nearly 60 years ago. I felt like my accordion – elderly, leaky bellows… pushing the wrong buttons, playing the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order…Continue reading “David, George, Hamza, Patrick…”

Christmas is coming. Last Sunday the Advent candles were out at church; some folks have their Christmas lights up; last night a group of us practiced carols for our first carol service next week. For me that means getting my accordion out. Most years it only comes out at Christmas. I play it at aContinue reading “Accordions & Teachers – in the Cupboard”

Sometimes the news seems like stories about different people in different places that don’t affect me. Yesterday’s news seemed very close to home… Lady Susan Hussey, one of the late Queen’s closest aides, Prince William’s godmother, resigned. Her comments to a prominent black domestic abuse campaigner appeared to show deep misunderstanding and racism… The news:Continue reading “Songbird”

The ancient Greek myth tells of Pandora who was given a box that she must never open. She did open it. All of the evils of the world were released – war, greed, hunger, pain, hatred, anger, lying, disease, poverty, death… filling the world. When Pandora looked in the box all that remained was hope…Continue reading “The Warrior Peacemaker”

Yesterday daughter Jo posted this on Facebook: ‘Changing Seasons. Today I drove to Cambridge for a 10 minute meeting! But it was an important meeting. I have been accepted by the URC Church to train to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament.’ Many friends wrote their words of support and encouragement. For me asContinue reading “Jo – Mist, Doors, & Buckets”

For many years I’ve attended our local Baptist church. Yesterday morning, the first Sunday in Advent, was a baptism service. Karen and Elise were baptised. Their friends and families came. Before their baptisms they told their stories of life and their experiences of faith. Elise is young; Karen is older. Both spoke with sincerity, courageContinue reading “Speaking Well”

We plough the fields and scatterThe good seed on the land,But it is fed and wateredBy God’s almighty hand.He sends the snow in winterThe warmth to swell the grainThe breezes and the sunshineAnd soft refreshing rain. Matthias Claudius (1740-1815) was a German newspaper man, the son of a Lutheran pastor. His faith diminished as heContinue reading “All Good Gifts Around Us”

This morning I read Galatians… St Paul describes our ‘sinful nature’, making a list of its characteristics: ‘…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…’ I watch the news and see injustice, aggression, selfishness and suffering. It seemsContinue reading “Kindness, Lepers and Purple”

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in America… Some of the Pilgrim Fathers came from this corner of England over 400 years ago… Whether they were heroes seeking their religious freedom, or grumpy Christians who couldn’t get on with anybody else is another matter… Musing… I know both heroic freedom-fighting Christians, and grumpy I-don’t-get-on-with-anybody Christians today!! We sawContinue reading “Giving Thanks”

Alice has fallen down a rabbit hole, seen a talking rabbit, shrunk to 10 inches. Now she’s growing to nine feet… ‘Curiouser and curiouser’! Her completely bonkers Wonderland adventures are only just beginning… Curious Signs… Last weekend we watched Lowestoft Town. This sign was beside the pitch. If everybody must ‘Keep off the Grass’ howContinue reading “Curiouser and Curiouser“