Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last week Alice sent me an email: “I was scheduled for surgery at 1.00 pm…  Mr Menon called me into his room to check the eye before the procedure.  As I sat down in front of the machine I said to him, “Well I’ve surgery in this theatre 6 times and this will be theContinue reading “Eye Surgery”

So send I you to labour unrewarded,To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing-So send I you to toil for Me alone. I sung this hymn as a student. It’s based on Jesus words to his disciples, ‘As my Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ His mission isContinue reading “So Send I You”

Two months ago was our 48th wedding anniversary; two weeks ago we congratulated Josh and Becca on their engagement. This week was Jo and Allan’s (daughter and son-in law) 20th Wedding Anniversary. Allan wrote of their relationship: ”A life together full of adventures and adversities; beginnings and blessings; transitions and travels; hardships and holidays; changesContinue reading “3 Rs – Relationships”

Responsibilities close to home: On Wednesday I mused on responsibilities in education. With September 1st approaching the historical (sometimes hysterical) part of my brain thinks about the start of a new school year and responsibilities to staff, children, local families…. This responsibility of care we see in the staff of hospitals, care homes, the socialContinue reading “3 Rs – Responsibilities”

Human rights in the news: Yesterday’s musing on the rights of children/students, parents and teachers in education. Black Lives Matters demonstrations leading to the current unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Refugees, homeless and asylum seekers –  across the world and more parochial challenges; Work, redundancies, unemployment, businesses closing and recession Jesus on human rights: The poor,Continue reading “3 Rs – Rights”

Education has been in the news constantly for the last six months. It started with home schooling – lessons on line, parents rising to the challenge (or not), a new role for teachers, provision for the children of ‘key workers’… Parents worked from home at the same time and in the same space as homeContinue reading “The 3 Rs”

I have said, ‘My memory is not what it was’. I found that others shared my belief: getting older leads to deteriorating memory. Christine Webber, in yesterday’s Eastern Daily Press, challenges this, saying that we should not associate forgetfulness with ageing. Children forgetting their homework are not taking responsibility; young people forgetting to get upContinue reading “Order, disorder, reorder…”

Squirrels are often a source of entertainment in our garden. At this time of year young squirrels learning how to steal seeds from the bird feeders sometimes fall off! This morning they were on a hazel tree, precariously picking off their hazel-nut breakfast from the end of thin branches. We have a hazel tree becauseContinue reading “Squirrels, Wine and Comfy Chairs”

Maybe I didn’t love you quite as often as I could have,And maybe I didn’t treat you quite as good as I should have.If I made you feel second best, I’m sorry I was blind. You were always on my mind; you were always on my mind. An Elvis song as my ‘Sunday Hymn’? SometimesContinue reading “Always on my Mind”

How do we see God and in our suffering Coronavirus-world? Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, in ‘Breathing Underwater’, helps me. God allows suffering Rohr discusses a loving, omnipotent God who allows suffering: ‘The evidence is overwhelming that God fully allows and does not stop genocides, the abuse of children, brutal wars, unspeakable human and animal suffering,Continue reading “‘Lessons must be learnt’ (6) – Suffering and God”