Moving House

Today I said Goodbye to my Dolls House. It has all moved.

The holiday I never had

Looking on uTube to find the video of King Creosote , Jon Hopkins,  'Bubble'  should have been the work of a moment. I thought it would be a great post for Bank Holiday Monday . My forays into uTube invariably take hours as I browse and enjoy the  offerings. 

Today I found not only Bubble, but a random Holiday Movie  which I post here. I have a house full of younger people staying. I am enjoying being chief cook and  using  Dishwasher. Yesterday the Spinach and Rice Pie with homemade tomato sauce  went down really well. Today I am about to put the Beef in the oven for a Sunday Roast. For a treat this morning I listened to The Archers Omnibus and then Private Passions. We do not do the full on Sunday entertaining every week now. Usually I am at 10am Service with C, and we come home and read the papers, or garden, watch a DVD   and the Antiques Road Show and speak on the phone to the Elderlies. 

I have been remembering how it was. Oh dear! I am reminiscing. I have never done housework or shopping on Sundays, except when necessary. For years  and years I served Sunday lunch to The world , their wives, our old aunts and my children and husband. It takes me so long now. I wake up in the middle of the night and think irrationally I'll do the vegetables, make the Yorkshire Pudding Mix. Iv'e wised up since retiring. Sunday lunch may be Mince and Yorkshire Pudding  or a Casserole in the Slow Cooker. I dont have to make a pudding now, I can buy one. 

So Today I have been thinking . Not more so when I found this video of a couple on Holiday in the Highlands.  My family comes as my Elder and McKinnon Cousins who follow this blog , Nancy, Miguel and Mary, will know, from the Isle of Skye. I have never been there. I have never even been further than Iona.
I was a walker once, in my YHA days before marriage to  C who  loves City Breaks , no Cows In fields, and thinks the Yorkshire Wolds are the Middle of nowhere. (This is not a grumble on my part).

So this is video is my fantasy Holiday. Thank you -you unknown rough campers. 

Insomnia Blog again

Old and New PC label

This time I have a reason. My mosquito bites from last night are so painful and swollen  that I just cannot get cool enough to sleep. 

I have been getting up on the hour every hour since I went to bed first. Now , I have remembered ,using desperate reason, that a warm milky drink does infact help. So I am downstairs with a mug of milky decaf  instant coffee. I say that rather gloomily, as I only take real coffee usually, and maybe only one a day. I have given up my strong black coffee habit now, after years of caffeine abuse,as I try to keep my BP down. Milky instant is in another realm, one of 1950's coffee pot Camp the coffee brewed or rather assembled ,by my now aged parent. So it is a comfort food almost, and it does seem to get me back to sleep if decaf. I used to love the Camp Coffee bottle, the old one that is, with the sikh Servant holding a tray on which was a bottle of Camp, on which you could see the label of the Camp bottle, with a label  etc etc. I know I have blogged on this before!

I have done some light Insomnia reading. I definitely want to go on a course  offered by the East Riding College in their new prospectus  leading to a Diploma in either Trowel or Wood occupations, or machine Competancy. All the work on the Crown Construction Site next to my home has fired me with enthusiasm for new skills of the building site sort. When I am older and grayer and not full of sleep I want to be pushed to a building site and left there to watch for the odd hour.

If I did not still share a double bed I would watch TV in it at this moment. 

I have just remembered it is already Saturday and my beloved Wallender has given way to my equally enjoyable Montalbano, which I will  watch in bed with subtitles at 9pm. Only 18hours to go.

Mark and Iona Birchall and the Old Geezer

Mary Fuchs, Maisie Holding and Dorothy Thiajaraj and Ray Smith, Mark Wigglesworth; my list could go on. These people all had or have something in COMMON.

Barnabas people

Filey Beach 1937 Where Ray Smith became a Christian

Small girl MargaretViola Holding, my mother, at Criccieth Beach Mission (Hudson Pope)1926

Since Ray Smith came to St Oswalds Filey on Sunday last and told us how he became a Christian in Filey 74 years ago on August 15th -he even remembers the date, I have not been able to get it out of my mind. We think that it must have been marvellous that 200 people attended each CSSM beach Mission Meeting in 1937. My aged parent became a Christian in 1928  at a CSSM beach Mission in Criccieth North Wales after hearing Bryan Green give a talk.

Not everyone has a story (testimony in church speak) of the day they became a Christian, but everyone has a story of their faith Journey and the people they met along the way.

When  my own faith came ALIVE FOR ME after going to church for 20 years, Dorothy Thiajaraj  told me that she and Iona Birchall had been praying for me for 3 years! All I did was say to God 'if there is more of you I WANT IT', and I was filled with the Holy Spirit in a new way on a March 25th (Lady Day and my aged parents birthday1978ish )

My spouse has a similar tale to tell. He walked to the station at Wandsworth Town  every day in his City Gent days . Often Mark Birchall would catch him up  and talk. Colin said he had a job keeping up with Marks fast pace and strides (M was very tall). Mark encouraged Colin to go to the  lunchtime Service at St Helens Bishopsgate. The church was full to busting with solicitors clerks, stockbrokers and Gnomes of Zurich  Threadneedle Street. This became the grounding , the teaching and the sowing of seeds that would bear fruit 20yrs later when Colin amazed me by saying  that he had in fact that day PRAYED THE PRAYER. He had been going to church for 40 yrs  , he would say now that like me HIS faith had come 'alive'.  Mark Birchall died in 2004. I know hundreds of people will tell of his part in their pilgrimages.

Beach Missions and Youth Camps like the one here Filey , Criccieth and my own Sutton on Sea (my Childhood holiday place) still go on. Mark Wigglesworth , one of our Filey Parish church family , is as I write,  at Criccieth  helping to lead a Christian camp . He sent an email from his iphone in his tent -sending us all in Filey some  encouragement. 

I have said often how much I appreciate  the sheer audacity and encouragement to all Christian Bloggers given by the Old Geezer. His story may be read here  as he is one of the  Christian Bloggers that  has a link to his testimony.  He too is a Barnabas, an encourager. I felt so good when he became a follower of this blog. I had been blogging for 3 years without even realising I could have followers.

We all , if we are on a Christian Faith Journey have Barnabas friends.

  Thank God for them.

Therapy

I have had a really busy , busy week or so. I am not complaining, it is a blessing to have Family staying.

Therapy 1-Rudston field

 I have not had time to do the gentle usual things of the day, the crossword, The Archers, Google reader etc. I have not looked at Tweetdeck for a week. I have woken early as usual and remembered people . I have looked at the red dot on my bathroom mirror which reminds me to pray for cyberfriends (and you know who you are) as I put in my contact lenses. I can hear you thinking I'm a bit wacky. My children would agree. I tried to get them interested in the view of my favourite field track  near Rudston yesterday, they were trying very hard to agree that it was beautiful. 

The same with my favourite Potato field, perhaps I am on a nerd spectrum somewhere , as I just love  seeing it change every week. I havent actually been to aged parent via the potato fields and Roman villa site for 3 weeks now . 

Spouse has not been able to watch Neighbours for weeks, and I havent listened to my Bible on CD with breakfast as I usually do. I am up to David cutting off a corner of  Sauls robe as he (S) pees in the cave  a good part. We have managed our EDWJ in the greenhouse, and to pray for the day. Our routine will recommence next week.

Therapy 2 -Rudston Field

 BUT  I am rather weary , and have washed the same mugs up 10 times every day and got through 4litres of milk a day. I have seen BFG the video twice, Snow White, Cinderella, Prince Caspian and Lazytown .The house is full of Bakugan, Moshi Monsters and Sylvanians. 

I have also posted on the Filey Parish blog something intended for this one, and as we have a not to remove policy it will just have to stay there .

Shoo Flower

If you look closely you can see black spots on the cotyledon and  early leaves of the Shoo Flower plant. Thats how I always know what it is , even when only a cm high. My beloved Echium seedlings however have spots on their first but not cotyledon leaves and hairy leaves, very Jacob and Esau.

  I have had a Shoo Flower plant in my various gardens since 1981 when I was given the first one to keep in the greenhouse because it kept white fly at bay , hence its silly name.  The seed capsules (like Cape gooseberries) are very easy to store and filled with hundreds of seeds, like other members of the Potato family. So back-end I just fling the seeds all over the garden and wait for the spring excitement of seeing where they come up.

Whether it does repel white flies I don't really know ,as I always seem to get white fly eventually , especially here in the Frozen North as ventilation of the greenhouse is a delicate business. It might be 29 degrees in Brighton but it will be 21degrees in Filey. When the sun is out and the greenhouse reaches 29 degrees I am probably in Beverley and even forgot to open the door and have to do rescues when I get home.

I love this plant. Mine are all about 4'high now so I only have a few. 

AsideWe have a tiny garden and I have half a dozen 'Only the lonely ' Tobacco Plants, already each is 2'across. I have dozens of Echium pininana x wildpretii  plants all growing inches over night it seems , tall and sturdy . I want to get them through the winter, well at least one of them so that I can brag about it on my Facebook Site. I have 6 different varieties of Echium at the moment, . Only one is  hardy, my E. lusitanicum spp polycaulon. 

Back to my Nicandra , My best Shoo Plant. If I am very careful and manage to dry it properly it will be tall enough and branched enough and interesting enough  and light enough to be the Christmas Tree substitute in the downstairs sitting room .