Love to you all

from this house full .

Insomnia 4

Echiums  Burton Agnes

These Echiums look how I feel, able to see out  and feel the cold but wanting to be in Madeira .

Saatchi  March 2009

Yeo Valley- More Simple Pleasures

Sing a long Lyrics  


Better than a Carry On Film

Simple Pleasures

It was a joy to walk back from Tescos  this evening. I say evening , it was dark before 4 so 5.30 seemed like evening. I'm not a lover of Shopping. I like looking at the shelves groaning with plenty and thinking 'I don't need any of that!' as I pass 20 varieties of ham and 15 different Washing Powders all claiming to do the same thing. Actually OPTION EXCESS as it is known , must seem obscene to those who have spent any time in the 3rd World  where 1 variety of soap is a luxury and just meat occasionally  a real treat.  

I'm not going to go on about   being blessed with Plenty  and Choice, it brings with it other sorts of stress, unknown in the 3rd world.  Neither am I appalled that seeing Magnums at 2 packs for £3 , and then buying 4 packs was a moment of weakness. The weakness will pay dividends when I find a quick and luxurious  dessert for  12  on Boxing Day. What's more they can remain in the freezer and not waste if not wanted until New Years Day. Last year my raspberry (from our own garden)and Sherry Trifle (no Jelly)  was not wanted for several days after Boxing Day, and had to be eaten before the Custard disintegrated.

This post is not about anything related to SHOPPING really. Its about the sheer joy of walking around an almost empty supermarket , with no ghastly musak , where I got just what I wanted for Birthday Dinner tomorrow, and a walk home loving the full moon lighting up the buildings in the night. 

Filey Methodist Church

Home 

Facebook -we all knew it really..

In our Parish there are people who would never have any thing to do with Facebook. Their children have been bullied, and facts misrepresented, and trouble caused as friends of friends of friends of friends post inappropriate lies and libels on the pages of their children.  In my family there are people who have deleted their Facebook accounts . I have been unfriended by my two of my godchildren. (For warning them about Facebook Tarot Cards and Horoscopes ) .Another friend asks on his status 'Do I let my father be my Facebook friend ? A teacher friend is alarmed because her pupils have tagged pictures of her taken at a School Prom.

So I watched with interest the programme on BBC2 last night about the uber uber  and ultra rich Mark Zuckerberg. Consequently I have been giving thought to all I gleaned that was new and implied from this measured insight into the Facebook phenomenon.

Anyone of my generation who has read books on the End Times for 40 years , did Brave New World for O level and has seen Soylent Green may keep an open and/or  suspicious mind about the Social Media anyway. My approach has been one of don't talk about something you know nothing about. 

Unpacking that ;

• I am on Facebook and My Space and Friends Reunited (since its beginning  )and Genes Reunited and have had accounts since they were available
• I have 120 friends on Facebook, I have met all but 2 
• The 2 Facebook friends I have not met share my interest in the growing of ECHIUMS
• I take Privacy Issues very seriously and check and untick boxes frequently making sure as far as possible that only Friends can see most Photos of people, and not Friends of Friends, that I customise all Photos of Family  so that only they can see them. That I dont  play Facebook Games , and that I use as few apps as possible
• I have many acquaintances as' Friends ' who I am happy to keep in touch with

Anyone with a bit of a brain will have realised that the altruism of the Facebook Site has changed. Over the years I have noticed that the adverts pertain to me. How do I know this? Simply because I have seen the pages of Family members and friends, which  contain adverts pertinent to them. In other words, it has always been obvious that  adverts for Beauty Products and Anti -ageing creams are targetted by age to the over 30s, 40, and 50s.  How  would Facebook know this ? Every detail put in Profile dialogue boxes  acts as a database to be accessed and used by those in marketing . Similarly , just by clicking the 'I am a Christian' I am nailing my Philosophy to the mast of the the World Ship and this I realise could be used against /for me if the End Times are nearer than we Hope/Fear.

So , what did I learn watching the rather dull and nerdish (and that is why he is taken so seriously) Mark Zuckerman  being interviewed by the clued up Emily?

Just this -be Careful and make sure YOUNG PEOPLE have lessons in unticking boxes. Who can help them? Well the Silver Surferse still have their uses, so use their expertise ! Isaiah 5:21 

Things to do, places to go..

The Security light outside the back door, below our window ,has been going on and off relentlessly in the gale  and so I have been up for hours. We have never really worked out what triggers it, frogs , rats, branches or lurkers. I am however enjoying watching the dawn and having a catch up. I have already wiped round the kitchen (sort of) and put a load in the washing machine and looked thro all the Tweets to the Parish Twitter, @FileyParish and my own @margaretkiaora.

I have not been on the PC much  since getting my new toy. Since #cnmac I have just about assimilated the stuff I learned. I have therefore put the Parish on Facebook following the advice from famous blogging Bishop. Consequently I spend time looking at Facebook and Twitter on my new Smartphone, which it certainly is, all sync-ed and clever, I keep the Parish Website as up to date as I can, and have really neglected my first love .  The honeymoon with the new toy is over now, as I heard Parish Secretary say of hers -They're quite addictive aren't they?

I am back to being me with words now, the touchpad keyboard is fantastic on my toy, but it is not solid and homely like this one, I am not able to sit and drink tea next to me , putting it up and down on my Echium Mat from the Chelsea Physic Garden , or leave the words and come back to them when I've fed the cat , answered the phone or powdered my nose. This feels right. I can say more . 

So the news is this-daughter is buying our house when  she sells hers , and we are moving to our cottage  round the corner, hopefully by April. Spouse has promised to carry on being a Fileygardener here, as the cottage has only a yard. I am getting rid of EVERYTHING to good homes. 

For the last few weeks I have been making almost daily trips to the great Charity Shops of Filey with all my clutter,and hundreds of novels. All the paperbacks have gone. Not the well loved favourites of course, and out of print Arthur Upfields. Anne Tyler has gone, Carol Shields has gone, Agatha Christie has gone along with Georgette Heyer and PD James. My first Editions are going round the family. Leo Walmsley went first. Donna Leon is about to move from Venice, via Filey  to Sutton on Hull.  My First Day Covers have gone to the Christian Bookshop , who sells them, and my Victorian Doll to the Salvation Army Shop. 

Furniture anybody? Will find placements for all I am sure.  It is so FREEING. So If anyone wants my grandmothers Edwardian  Dressing Table it will be free to a good home in the Spring. I must have somewhere to keep the national collection of Bridget Jones' p's till then .