BRIGHT LIGHT

Hello everyone!  Yesterday evening we watched the X Factor as we recorded it for my daughter Cathy, but it was worse than ever; the only really decent act which was Danyl was slammed in a round about way by Danni, Cheryl and Louis, so he might be leaving this week.  Even Simon was not as discerning as he can be as a judge, so it was a stressful experience for us.  The talent is one of the poorest at performance, after so much initial promise, so I am not wasting any more time on it. 

This morning our service was led by the minister Nick Witham from Starbeck, who captured the children’s attention, when he did the children’s address.  He brought a rucksack which fascinated the children, as he asked them what they considered their most valuable possession, which they would save from a fire; a member of the congregation said family photos, another said his wife, and a child decided on her teddy!  He showed us what he would have saved as a priority, namely his war games comics of which he has 300 and then football brochures from his favourite team and even old newspapers from the 1950’s and 1930’s from a clearout of his grandparents house!!  None of these would be of such value to me, I must admit, but I would want to make sure that my beloved was safely out.  Nick then reminded the children and indeed all of us of how valuable we are to God.

For his sermon he again reminded us that we were special and valuable to God, but that has brought some responsibility with it.  He described a shopping expedition with his wife, when he waited ages outside changing rooms whilst she tried on a new outfit for him to tell her how she looked in it.  From this story he reminded us that we are the people of God, as it says in Colossians 3 v 12; ‘You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own.  So then you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.’  We are to ‘clothe’ ourselves with the qualities which Jesus showed us.  As we are loved and accepted by God, he wants us to share that with others, and only as we ‘clothe’ ourselves with compassion, kindness and other such qualities can we draw others to experience God’s unconditional love and realise how valuable they are in his sight.  Although the gifts we are to cultivate may not be considered important to most people they are true signs of those who follow the Lord. 

Lunch today was a miracle, especially compared to the last time my beloved prepared diced pork for a meal.  Today the meat melted in the mouth and ample flavour permeated the meal after my beloved used his culinary skills to prepare it.  First he used a rolling pin to flatten and break the toughness of the meat, then he chopped it into smaller pieces, and finally cooked it for longer; the result was delicious tender meat served in a spicy curry sauce with brown saffron rice!  My beloved’s many culinary skills paid off and we had a really tasty lunch; I am so fortunate to have such a talented hubby!  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  I had a busy week at work, but from next week things will improve as our new secretary starts on December 1^st and she will be working each day, so I shall be able to concentrate on my own work.  Also one of our doctor’s who has been off ill for a few months returns next week, so it will mean that we will be back as a full strength team from next week!  It will be amazing too that I can get help with coding and summarising too from the new secretary, as that will mean that it will not be such a daunting task for me to keep up with summarising and coding.  On Friday we all went out for a meal to wish our former colleagues well in their new places.  Our present secretary does not leave till the end of this month, when she will concentrate on looking after her grandson when her daughter, who is a senior houseman in paediatrics, and her husband is a registrar in elderly medicine, are working; of course days change and sometimes she is on nights, so our friend has to be flexible.  The other colleague, who was a receptionist and administration worker, left to be an assistant practice manager at the end of October, so it was good to see her.  We enjoyed a meal at the Bon Appetit in Wetherby; I had garlic mushrooms followed by chicken breast stuffed with goat’s cheese and completed with sticky toffee pudding with ice cream, which was lovely. 

Yesterday morning I delivered letters and newspapers for the Liberal Democrats on a gloomy drizzly day and in the afternoon we went to the Liberal Democrat Christmas Fayre, where I supported the cause, but I agreed with my beloved that it was not very Christmassy occasion.  Unfortunately the weather discouraged many visitors and as it was off the beaten track it did not do as well as it might have in a more prominent position.  When I had nearly finished delivering the letters and newspapers one of my dear neighbours John called me in for an extremely welcome drink, when I had a lovely chat with his delightful wife Betty, who remains a positive person, despite her health problems.  Both she and John are very special people who I truly value, as they have been and are both great encouragers.  Friends like them is what makes life special!

Hello everyone!  This morning I gave 2 people a lift to chapel; one being May who usually comes if she well enough and Molly who just needed a lift to church this morning.  It was a thoughtful and well presented service led by Rev. Christine Gillespie with well chosen hymns.  I was pleased that she came down to talk to the children, as that makes the children’s address so much more accessible for the children.  She asked the children and us for names of Bible people, Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus, Paul and Mary and Joseph were amongst names suggested.  She then went on to say how children’s stories usually had a perfect hero or heroine who was always vindicated in the end and then everyone lived happily ever after.  In the Bible we learnt about the people like Paul who persecuted Christians with a zeal that only ended when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Peter was an impulsive character who ended up denying he knew Jesus, but Jesus did not give up on him and he became the leader of the church.  Christine showed how God used people who made mistakes but gave them a second chance, in fact he does not stop loving us if we do things wrong and he forgives us and wants us to forgive ourselves.

The hymn chosen for us to sing was about Moses no 450 in Methodist Hymns and Psalms and this verse spoke to me about how God is with us in our faith journey:

‘No matter what you may do,’

The Lord said,

‘I shall be faithful and true,’

The Lord said.

My love will strengthen you as you go along,

For you’re my travelling, wandering race,

You’re the People of God.’

So every day,

We’re on our way,

For we’re a travelling, wandering race,

We’re the people of God.

I find it helpful to know that the Lord keeps company with us on our faith journeys, especially as he does not give up on us, even if we make mistakes.

In the sermon Christine talked about whether we had ever had nicknames, which had stuck or been painful for us.  I used to hate my middle name as a child as it was an unusual old fashioned name, Gertrude, which apparently sounded lovely when spoken by my Grandpa to his wife, so my mother told me!  I was called ‘Dirty Gerty!’ at school so that did not help me get attached to my second name!  My brother Selwyn used to sometimes call me ‘Nellgen Tootiteka’ although I am not sure how it should be spelt, which I always found affectionate and lovely, but did not become a nickname which stuck.  A family friend, Alice, who was at university with my mother, used to call me ‘Scallywag’ and my younger sister Fran ‘Poppet’, both I felt were endearing names. 

Anyway I have got a bit sidetracked; back to Christine’s sermon.  She talked about a person in the Bible who was known not by his real name, Joseph, but by a nickname, namely Barnabus, which meant that he was an encourager, and the name stuck.  He was the disciple who introduced Saul to the apostles after he had become a Christian and thought he would be the right person to bring to Antioch to lead the church there.  Later they went together on missionary journeys, he and Paul.  Barnabus was happy to take second place when Paul became a more prominent leader in the church.  Barnabus was not perfect either as he and Paul had a strong disagreement about John Mark.  On the previous missionary journey John Mark had left and gone home early in the journey, so he had let them down.  Paul was not prepared to let him come with them on another missionary journey but Barnabus, the encourager, was prepared to give him a second chance.  So Barnabus split from Paul and set off with John Mark, whereas Paul set off with Silas.  The good news is that God still used the two groups to spread the faith, although they had had a quarrel and later we find that Paul found John Mark a reliable companion on his missionary journeys.  Barnabus’ faith in John Mark was vindicated, but he did not share Paul’s limelight and worked as an encourager in the background of the church’s mission, which was a vital part of the mission.  We all have an important role we can have in the church and with all we meet if we like Barnabus can be encouragers of others.  Let us all be encouragers and in that way strengthen all we come in contact with.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  We have enjoyed a fantastic tasty chicken lunch served with my beloved’s special potatoes followed by tapioca pudding, which I fancied as I had not had it for a long time and it was lovely.  The chicken casserole was full of flavour and the meat melted in my mouth; it was especially good after the disappointing pork last week, which remained chewy no matter how my beloved treated it!  Today I had the usual tasty lunch for which I am very grateful to my beloved for his expertise as a chef!!  The milk pudding took me back to my mother’s cooking and my father’s love of puddings; I am not sure the pudding came up to mother’s standard but we enjoyed it nonetheless. 

It is lovely today with a blue sky and plenty of sunshine, after the rain and wind, although we were fortunate not to get such storms or excessive winds as down south.  It is lovely to relax with my beloved on a Sunday.

Hello everyone!  I had a good week at work mostly doing letters, as the secretary was on holiday or at least looking after her grandson all week!  I enjoyed relaxing at home with my beloved each evening this week.  On Wednesday evening Julie from Pieroth came to give us a wine tasting session, so we were able to order our favourites.  Last night we shared a bottle of champagne from Waitrose, which was lovely. 

This evening we are watching the X Factor, as we record it for Cathy. Jamie gave a great performance of Radio Ga Ga by Queen to open the show, we enjoyed it despite Danni’s less than enthusiastic comments, Louis’s downbeat comments about him being only an OK singer, and Cheryl endorsing his act with a proviso concerning his hair, only Simon gave him a proper comment and the audience just loved his performance; the audience’s reaction was the most important for him. 

Lloyd as usual did not do justice to his song, ‘A crazy little thing called love’, Danni thought it was his best performance, Louis thought it was better than last week, Simon thought it was too big for him but commented that Lloyd seemed to be enjoying his performance more this week, and Cheryl thought he had come into his own; I suppose it was better than last week’s performance but still weak in our view.  Ollie gave a good performance of ‘Don’t stop me now’ but his voice was swallowed up in the music, so my beloved thought, but he always does put everything into his performance, despite his broken finger! 

My beloved thought Joe would be good in musical theatre but, he's not really a pop artist; he did well but not as well as last week in Simon’s opinion, but he did a quite good performance, but not fulfilling his potential.  The twins rapped and tried to sing ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen, incorporating a Vanilla Ice rap, but it was terrible as usual as far as I am concerned; Simon’s comment was that to comment on John and Edward, he has to enter into the ‘Jedward’ world and judge them within it!!  Simon does respect them for not whining about the attitudes of people. 

Stacey has a lovely natural personality and tonight she showed that she has, possibly, the best voice in the competition; it was certainly her best vocal.  I did not really like the song, ‘Who wants to live forever?’, but it did show off her vocal talent better.  I thought Danyl’s performance was very good, although we have heard better performances; my beloved wondered where Danyl the performer had gone, the show seeming to celebrate blandness in those who are not totally hopeless performers; he is just so afraid of being seen as too cocky, so does not perform as well as he initially did.  I have to watch it to edit and record it for Cathy, so she keeps up with it! 

This is the day that the Lord has made and, X-Factor notwithstanding, I rejoice and am glad in it.

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too.

I passed around a corner

And someone saw me grin

When he smiled I realized

I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about the smile

And then realized its worth

A single smile like mine

Could travel round the Earth.

If you feel a smile begin

Don’t leave it undetected

Let’s start an epidemic quick

And get the World infected.

I hope you liked this poem as much as I do.  I love smiling when I meet people, especially as I enjoy walking, and I do often get a responsive smile.  It also makes me feel like smiling more and therefore I feel happy!  Let us all pass on smiles to all we meet, as that is the sort of epidemic worth starting!!

Hello everyone!  This morning I walked down to church, as May was unwell, but I ended up arriving at the last minute as the procession for Remembrance Sunday was filling the whole square near the Cenotaph, where quite a crowd of people were applauding the soldiers arriving; I had to turn round and then go behind the banks to be able to get to church!  As always our service was begun with the prayer for peace.  A retired minister Gordon Lister led the start of our service until our deacon was able to join us from the Cenotaph Service; our opening hymn was ‘O God our help in ages past’, which is often chosen today.  I was struck by Gordon’s opening prayers, which drew attention not only to service men who suffer and die but also to those innocent civilians caught up in the horror of war.  These verses from the next hymn written by Fred Kaan are pertinent I feel;

We turn to you, that we may be forgiven

For crucifying Christ on earth again;

We know that we have never wholly striven,

Forgetting self, to love the other man.

Free every heart from pride and self-reliance;

Our ways of thought inspire with simple grace;

Break down among us barriers of defiance;

Speak to the soul of all the human race.

Teach us, good Lord, to serve the need of others;

Help us to give and not to count the cost;

Unite us all, for we are born as brothers;

Defeat our Babel with your Pentecost.

The Bible reading from Micah reminded us of the hope that swords could be made into ploughshares. In the reading from Romans Paul assured his readers when he said, ‘For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love; neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above or the world below – there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord’ – Romans 8v38-39 In life there would be struggles and suffering but God was in the suffering with them.

The words of the last verse of the next hymn by F. Pratt Green could help us build a better world if we took note:

He (God) reminds us every sunrise that the world is ours on lease:

For the sake of life tomorrow may our love for it increase;

May all races live together, share its riches, be at peace:

May the living God be praised!

Gordon announced the hymn in the hope that our deacon would make it in time to deliver the sermon, planned to follow it!  Sure enough he walked up to the pulpit during that hymn and gave a thoughtful sermon, reflecting on what he had learnt from his parents and grandparents about the reality of war.  He then went on to say that we could only give a proper tribute to those who fell in war, both in the armed forces and in civilian populations, if we work for peace and justice and love another; that task should start here and right now.  Maybe we could dream that the world has made an end to war, so that no more money is spent on the military or weapons but instead the hungry are fed and the poor have a good quality of life.  Let there, as David Hunt our deacon said in the words of the song, be peace on earth and let it begin with me.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  Last night we watched the X Factor, as we were recording for my daughter, even though my beloved finds it annoying.  The first performer Stacey sang a favourite of mine, the Son of the Preacher man, sung so well by Dusty Springfield; she sang it quite well but without much emotion and she did not seem sexy even in her sexy outfit.  Ollie gave a good performance and sang  his song competently.  Lloyd, as usual, did not perform well ; he was completely out of his depth.  Jamie’s performance received great praise from the judges, although we did not enjoy it as much as some of his other performances.  Our favourite performance was definitely Danyl’s, he is so obviously the most talented performer with the strongest voice; it was excellent and I am sure he will have a career even if he does not win.  Lucy sang well and seemed to enjoy herself but, she seemed to have an American twang to her voice, and does not have star quality.  ‘Jedward’, the annoying twins, could not kill ‘Ghostbusters’ as they did not need to be able to sing, so it was their most genuine performance, but I still wish they were not in the competition.  They don’t seem to realise that they are being laughed at by the Media or, they are very thick skinned.  Joe’s performance was better than last week, always able to sing, but more in a musical like the Lion King, which the song choice proved.  I am sure the wrong one will be leaving the show, not Lloyd or Jedward! 

Hello everyone!  I have been busy at work, even being encouraged to go home one evening, as I had been there all day!  I just get absorbed in what I do and time flies, then I think I will just finish this before I leave and so time passes!  I was pleased to catch up with some more patient summaries until my colleague brought another set of new patient notes!  Never mind I am never short of work to do and I do like to be busy.  I did a few letters yesterday as my colleague is taking next week off as she has her grandson all week!  Rather her than me!  I do look forward eventually to being a granny, when my daughter gets around to getting married and having children.  These things take longer nowadays, but for the time being I enjoy indulging my beloved’s great niece, as he only has the one nephew and the one great niece, whereas I have a large number of great nieces and nephews, at least 2 great nephews, and 9 great nieces ranging from about 2 months, Annabel Joy being the latest addition to the family as my niece Marie’s first child to teenagers of up to 16 in my other nieces and nephew’s families.

Today I helped at the Acorn Centre and found myself quite busy helping the students with little time to try and improve some of my skills or be an encouragement to any who were struggling with health issues.  The heavens opened as I set off for home, so I arrived as a drowned rat, and it took me a couple of hours to dry off and warm up from being chilled.  Now after a delicious meal of smoked haddock in cheese sauce served with broccoli, leek, beans and sautéed potatoes I felt much warmer.  Now I am relaxing with my beloved for the evening nice and warm and cosy by our fire; can life get any better?  I think not!  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  It is so lovely to be relaxing now with my beloved snuggled under my Snuggle Blanket with the horrid day shut outside!  I set off to church this morning in torrential rain in my wellington boots, clutching my umbrella with both hands, as I carefully dodged the splashes from passing cars!  My trousers were wet on my right hand side as the umbrella could not protect all of me from the driving rain.  I was relieved to see that a number of other people had also managed to make it to church as I had wondered if the weather would have put them off.  I could have driven of course, but I don’t like to drive to church if I have no one who needs a lift there, so I walked.  I was relieved to get home although I did enjoy the exercise. 

My beloved produced delicious chicken curry, based on Jalfrezi, but as always it has my beloved’s extras which make it really special, especially with his saffron rice.  I had some of the blackberry and apple sponge I had made with our own apples and blackberries yesterday and cheese and biscuits for my special Sunday lunch treat! 

I have felt a bit flat today after the X Factor yesterday evening, as the comments of the judges were over critical, in my opinion, about two of the acts with talent, namely Jamie Archer and Danyl Johnson; perhaps the 2 female judges fear their talent and that is why they are so nasty at times. Simon is the only judge who is consistently fair in his criticisms and comments; he is the only one I respect.  I shall now just be recording it for Cathy but not watching it anymore.  I prefer to enjoy time with my beloved.

Our service this morning focussed on All Hallows when we remember all who have died and been hallowed by Jesus and sanctified.  We are all saints with those who have gone before not through our own efforts but through Jesus who accepts us as we are, warts and all.  The service on Radio 4 this morning reminded us of how God had used so many flawed people like David who could not control his eyes, Moses who could not control his temper and felt he could not do what he was asked to do by God or Samson who was so easily led astray by the women in his life.  God uses us and accepts us as we are; we need to say we can do what he asks us, as He will give us the strength to do it.  Let us remember we are all special to God and he loves us all and accepts us as we are; we will never be able to deserve it but it is God who hallows us.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  I have had a good week at work and I had Friday off this week, as the computer course was not on, as it is half term.  It was lovely to relax longer in bed before going shopping yesterday.  Having been informed by the Council that our bush was overhanging the footway, as they called it, I had to chop it back; it was still just over our boundary, so my beloved managed to chop a thick branch from the bush to curtail future growth over the pavement!  What annoyed us a little was that the letter posted to us was addressed to the owner/occupier; we are council tax payers on the electoral role yet they did not address it to us!! 

I also had a walk into town to pick up a prescription yesterday and the weather was lovely during the day, so I enjoyed the walk.  It was lovely to relax and enjoy the evening with my beloved last night. 

This morning I woke up early for some reason but enjoyed relaxing and reading in bed.  I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before I did some more tidying up in the garden and it was good that my beloved was awake earlier than usual, so he joined me in the garden, where he feels most at home.  I treated myself to a massage today, which was lovely and relaxing this afternoon.

We are now having our not so relaxing time together, as we watch the X Factor this evening.  In the first act Joe was not a rock singer, but he sang it sweetly, a cute lad, who will be voted for each week.  I loved Danyl who was slated by the Cheryl and Danni this week, but it has really upset my beloved so he has left me to watch it now.  I hate him feeling this way, but I record it for Cathy; I do understand why he is so fed up, so I will not watch it next week, but just record it.  It is too annoying and I value time with my beloved more than watching it.  Tomorrow I will be able to just record it without watching it.  Lucy did better than last week and Stacey looked more relaxed than last week, but I still love Danyl better than the others.  Jamie is also got at by the other judges, but I do hope this time they don’t put him down; I like his performance, much better than the other acts; on a par with Danyl, in my opinion.  Jamie gave a great performance and I don’t care what the judges say.  I am not enjoying it on my own; I miss my beloved.  I will soon switch it off and just record it without watching it, so I can be with my beloved.

Hello everyone!  The changeable weather continues with pouring rain with the sunshine streaming through it, as the wind blows.  Now I am cosily inside it is good to watch as it changes; a wild autumn day!

I thought I would update you on my views on last night’s X Factor, as we have to watch it to record it for Cathy.  My beloved gets more and more depressed each time he watches it, but yet he feels he must make an effort, as he loves some of the performances, but is often annoyed by the comments of judges, with the exception of Simon, whose comments are usually absolutely right.  We liked Olly’s performance after a slow start; Miss Frank gave definitely their best performance last night and looked great; Jamie gave a very good performance and obviously enjoyed singing with the big band more than he had thought he would; my beloved is one of his friends in his My Space – Jamie Afro site and complemented him on his performance; Danyl was the star of the show last night when he gave an excellent performance in our opinion; Rachel performed brilliantly last night, really showing off her lovely voice and her skill as a performer; she just seemed to react a little over the top to the universal praise of the judges, but maybe she was relieved to have got it right.  I agree with Simon that her hair looked a lot better in that style, much less severe.

Lloyd found the big band experience a little overwhelming and did not rise to the occasion, but he will do fine as he is so cute!  Joe also did not do as well in the big band performance, especially with the dancing!  Stacey looked overdressed and not herself when she sang her song; it was not her best performance, perhaps because after she admitted that though she felt like a princess, she could not breathe or move easily!!  I loved the way her little boy clapped his hands and said ‘Mummy’ when she was on the television.  I love her and her naturalness; she always makes me smile; she is such a ‘sweety’ I feel!  Lucy looked beautiful and sang quite well, but she was obviously not totally in her comfort zone in this week’s big band show, but she did sing quite well.  John and Edward or ‘Jedward’ as coined by the guardian live blog gave a bizarre performance to disguise their inability to sing; I suppose someone will keep them in for yet another week tonight!  I just do not see their appeal, as I just find them annoying and over the top.  It will be interesting and/or frustrating when we see and record the results show for Cathy tonight.

Hello everyone!  It is a wet and windy day with glimpses of sunshine surprising us with brightness.  My passenger was unable to come with me this morning, as she had broken her dentures!  She has had a number of problems over the last few weeks, which have meant that she couldn’t come with me.  I felt so sorry as she cannot bite properly, so I took her a small blackberry and apple sponge for her lunch, some chocolate she likes and the papers I pass on to her to cheer her up on my way to church.  She looked pleased to see me and pleased with the gifts. 

I led the service at Woodlands Chapel this morning.  I was pleased that the healing of blind Bartimaeus was a set reading from the lectionary as it took me right back to when the girls were small.  They loved the ‘Jesus help me’ story as they called it, as they both loved to shout even louder, ‘JESUS HELP ME!!’ I was glad to see that there were a good number of children with some who were eager to volunteer to help tell the story.  One girl had a scarf over her eyes as she played Bartimaeus, and entered beautifully into the part, especially when she shouted even louder.  Other children played Jesus and his disciples walking on their way to Jerusalem past where Bartimaeus was sitting begging.  The congregation joined in to tell Bartimaeus to be quiet!  Jesus needed some help to speak, but she enjoyed her role and the disciples led Bartimaeus happily to her. They enjoyed it when Bartimaeus was leaping along the road with Jesus.  I thanked them for their help and told them of 2 things we could learn from the story; that Bartimaeus did not give up but persisted until he was heard by Jesus and Jesus healed him, as he knew what he needed.  We too must not give up but keep on calling to him for help and ask for what we need, as Jesus will make us whole, as he knows what our needs our.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and glad in it.

Hello everyone! I have had a busy week at work; I even did some overtime on my day off and managed to sort the remaining patient notes into order. Joy helped me do the finishing touches on Thursday. I did not have time to summarise notes but I did some letters and coding. I enjoyed my work, but I was glad to relax with my beloved when I was home. I went to Bible Study on Monday night, but it was decided only to meet in future for social events as it was getting too much for one lady to come out at night. It seemed to have come to a natural end, although we felt sad; I found the housegroup such a help to get to know people when I joined the church about 3 years ago. Unfortunately there is no suitable group to join at present, but something might come up. I do prefer spending evenings with my beloved than to go out, especially after a long day at work.

Yesterday I spent some time preparing a sermon for next Sunday and have begun to choose hymns. I did not want to leave it till the last minute. I am especially glad that it is well under way, as I will be seeing my best friend Hilary next Wednesday and my sister Janet has invited us to supper next Thursday, which are both events to look forward to. It is always good to see my sister and my best friend, but it just means that I will not have so much time at home.

Yesterday we watched the X Factor, although my beloved is really not keen, especially as there was so much acrimony last week. This week the judges were not quite as judgmental, although Jamie came in for more stick again this week. My beloved and I loved Danyl, Jamie and Ollie's performances. The other acts were rather out of their depth or comfort zone in their performances. Cheryl was very upset about one of her young acts and hoped she had not ruined Lloyd's chances. I am sure he will be fine, as he is as Simon put it, 'so cute'; the girls will certainly keep him in. I am not so sure about Miss Frank, the group or Rachel as they did not perform well this week. Even our lovely Stacey looked very uncomfortable when she performed; we love her as she is so bubbly and natural as she chats about her feelings. Lucy did not do as well as last week either, but it was not the right song for her. I thought Rikki performed better this week, even though Simon was not complimentary. Simon's comments are always the most apt and fair even if some of the finalists thought they were personal comments; he is what makes it worthwhile watching it as far as I am concerned. The worst part is the results show, when the ones we would rather left the show seem to survive, whereas finalists we like leave the show. I am sure that once again John and Edward will survive, although I do not think they deserve to. Young girls will vote for them again I suppose.

I am going into the garden to see if there are anything to tidy up as the garden bin is being emptied tomorrow. It is lovely to relax with my beloved. I have just had a lovely chat with Cathy via Skype for over 40 minutes; Skype is great. This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone! I am now going to share my thoughts on the X Factor Show last night. I made the notes last night, but I am only just posting them today. The first group of girls called, 'Kandy Rain' gave a good performance, although I did not think the outfits were suitable. I did not mean that they drew attention to their past as strippers, but that they did not need to dress in that way to make themselves sexy. I was shocked by the attitude of Cheryl towards them; there was no need for her to be so personal!

Rachel gave an excellent performance, although her lovely voice was not shown off to its best advantage; she is certainly very talented.

Oli gave a good performance and made the song his own. I was struck by the fact Robbie felt he had found a friend in Oli; it confirmed that he was as nice as he seemed to be.

Rikki had the wrong song to sing and the outfit did nothing for him at all. He looked uncomfortable most of the time.

We both love Stacey. She is such a lovely person and such a talented singer. She always makes us feel happy so we have to smile in response. In fact I just smile when I think of her. Her comments when she met Robbie Williams were just so natural and enthusiastic. She would be a pleasure to know.

The group 'Miss Frank' gave a very good performance; it was really impressive. The other two singers sang as well as the one who is always a good performer.

Jamie gave a star performance as we expected. We love him too. I was annoyed that Louis was attacking his performance unfairly. There was no need unless he felt that he posed a threat to his acts.

Lloyd Daniel gave an awful performance, not even being in tune at the start, but I expect he will stay in the competition as he is a good looking young man.

I thought that Lucie Jones sang well but it would have been wiser not to try a Leona Lewis song, as she will always be compared with her. Simon's comments were pertinent in all cases I felt. I really respect his opinions as he is usually very fair.

John and Edward do not appeal at all to us and thought their performance was terrible as expected, though the best I had ever seen them do; they have no charisma or talent at singing. I just cannot understand how they got this far.

Joe is another one we love. He too has a gorgeous smile and a great stage presence; he is a real pop star!

Danyl was brilliant and gave a superb performance; Simon said that he gave an outstanding performance. What saddened me was the nasty comment that Danni Minogue made about him being bisexual! She made no comment about his great performance; I felt it was totally uncalled for.

The talent this year apart from John and Edward is greater than last year, but the judges' comments are spoiling it this year! Making constructive comments such as Robbie Williams did and Simon does is what the competition needs.

Hello everyone! I have had a busy time at work this last week, with a staff meeting on Tuesday and a staff training afternoon on Thursday, which meant I did not have so much time to do my work. I got myself into quite a state on Thursday, when I completed a module and promptly lost it, so I had to do it from the beginning again; I am afraid I got upset, as I thought I would never finish it, and I had so much work to do. The practice nurse was so helpful and encouraging. I am fortunate to work with such lovely people. I will complete it later, when I don't feel so pressurised.

I was rather tired on Thursday evening, so it was a relief to relax with my beloved and watch TV and collapse early into bed. I did my shopping early on Friday, before going to help at the Acorn Centre. On my return home my beloved and I went to our favourite cafe culture for a drink and one of their delicious cheese scones. We had an enjoyable evening together.

This morning I was upset to see that one of my credit cards had not been paid online on September 17^th as we had set up, so I had been charged interest. I went into town to the Halifax bank to sort it out; the young man apologised when he saw it had been paid fine the previous month, but just told me to pay on the machine, which I did. I will not know until Monday that it has been paid, as it will not be paid before then; I hope this time it will be successful. I shall not risk paying on line again. I enjoyed the walk into town and back as it has been a lovely day. I also managed to pop into a local coffee morning which was to raise money for one of the recent natural disasters and took some home baking and a raffle donation. I bought scones for Cathy and her partner, some cream buns for my beloved and some raffle tickets.

I took my beloved for his flu jab, when he was also given his pneuococcal vaccination but decided against the swine flu jab, when it is available. We had a good afternoon with me preparing areas ready for bulbs for my beloved was also planting three varieties of honeysuckle. Now we have been watching the X Factor and relaxing together. This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone! It is a lovely sunny day. I enjoyed a walk to church this morning, smiling and feeling how lucky I am to live in such a lovely place. Today we were considering how we can reduce our wastefulness of this world's resources and reduce our carbon imprint to protect those who are the poorest and live in the most vulnerable surroundings. That has come home to us at the moment with the tsumani, which affects those who live on islands or on low lying land near the coast. Because of our abuse of the earth's resources the poor countries bear the brunt of droughts, floods and extreme weather conditions. We have a duty to care for creation and put aside our selfish interests. Our minister Shaun showed us a couple of excerpts from the film Creation, which describes the family life and work of Darwyn; most interesting about the conflicts with those of faith including his devoted wife. I look forward to seeing the film when it is released on DVD.

Shaun urged us to pray for God's will to be done in Copenhagen in December with the COP 15 talks. This Sunday is St Francis' Day, so it is a good day to rejoice in creation and recognise our responsibility for looking after it.

The 5 R's of Creation Care

1. Reflect – Do I need this?

2. Re-Use – When possible.

3. Refuse – Excess packaging.

4. Recycle – Where you can.

5. Repent – I need to change.

We can only buy what we need not what we want and re-use whenever possible; both my beloved and I are hoarders in case something might come in handy and things often do find another use! We do take our own bags to do shopping and I try to buy loose vegetables in recyclable bags rather than in packets, if we can. We are fortunate to have a recycling box provided which we fill with glass, tins and newspapers and a garden bin, which is full now. These are collected every 2 weeks. I also take cardboard and plastics to the tip for recycling when I shop at our local supermarket. I realise I need to change and conserve what I can, to help the climate. We are so fortunate to have so much and we need to do the best to help those most affected by climate change.

Rt Rev Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London expressed this powerful thought:

'Prayer is powerful in dispelling the illusion that we are gods; an illusion which has wreaked such havoc on the earth.'

The words of this hymn are also very pertinent to today's theme; the hymn is written by Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith with a suggested tune; Kingsfold.

I find verses 2-3 most challenging to me:

A world of order and delight

God gave for us to tend,

To hold as precious in his sight,

To nurture and defend;

But yet on ocean, earth and air

The marks of sin are seen,

With all that God created fair

Polluted and unclean.

O God, by whose redeeming grace

The lost may be restored,

Who stooped to save our fallen race

In Christ, creation's Lord,

Through him whose cross is life and peace

To cleanse a heart defiled

May human greed and conflict cease

And all be reconciled.

Renew the wastes of earth again,

Redeem, restore, repair;

With us, your children, still maintain

Your covenant of care.

May we, who move from dust to dust

And on your grace depend,

No longer, Lord, betray our trust

But prove creation's friend.

This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  I have had a good week at work, although I have had to contend with itching from the eczema brought on by the eucalyptus oil used in a treatment I had.  Today it has felt more comfortable at last.  My eyelids settled first, but my neck kept being rubbed by my clothing so remained itchy longer.  I do sound like a wimp I know, so I will not go on about it any more.  A colleague at work suffers much more from eczema, on one occasion her whole body was covered with it, so I am ashamed of my moaning!!  Also my beloved puts up with aches and pains most of the time with little complaint and I moan over a bit of itching!! 

Work was busy as usual with some sadness for me as some valued colleagues are leaving for various reasons, and I shall miss them.  I was so relieved to be told of a reprieve from another considering moving to pastures new, as she rang my beloved to convey the good news that she was staying; I am so fortunate with all the colleagues I work with.  I can’t believe I have been there for well over 3 years now; time passes so quickly when you are having fun.  I am so fortunate to be doing a job I love.

Today at the Acorn Centre I enjoyed helping the students and in between times playing spider solitaire.  I find that relaxing as I don’t play games at home and it unwinds me, as I try to help any students with problems.  It is always a relief that Kath the tutor is there, when I am stumped!!  It is good to be a volunteer helper without having the overall responsibility for courses; I can use the gifts I have of teaching without having to do all the paperwork and measure outcomes.  Oh the joy of volunteering! 

It has been lovely this week not to have to go to any evening meetings so I can enjoy being with my beloved.  It is much more fun watching programs with him, listening to the radio and sharing ideas with him and learning so much from him.  I am so fortunate to share my life with my beloved and have so much to enjoy; I love my beloved’s enthusiasm for our garden birds.  I am so glad he is enjoying making videos of our birds; today a goldfinch feasted on peanuts, whilst six fed on our Niger seed feeder; the grapevine has spread the message of our garden being a good food source to other local goldfinches.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  We had our harvest family service this morning, when the children brought gifts and we could donate to the Methodist World Relief Fund, which I did, to help those in need in developing countries, to get started to be able to support themselves ultimately.  I also brought a couple of apple fruit cakes for the members of the congregation to share, as the apples are from my garden and represent my harvest offering!

Letters of the alphabet were hidden around the church for the children to collect to make words on the theme of harvest.  The children with some adult help held up the letters and words were formed with our help; the words were ‘GOD PROVIDES HARVEST’.  David our deacon then asked for suggestions for the letters of the words, provides – produce, rain, oranges and some other suggestion, vehicles to transport, irrigation, drill holes for planting seeds, earth, seeds; harvest – hoeing, all involved, reaping, value of food, everyone needs it, sharing and thanksgiving to God who has provided our needs, but expects us to share our harvest with a needy world. 

The children sang a song about fruit and vegetables which they had sung at school, holding up the appropriate fruits when they were mentioned; it was called the cauliflower song.  They sang well but quietly, some more accurate at holding up the fruit with the older children prompting the younger ones to take their part.  It was funny as one of the youngest children struggled to hold up a huge marrow at the appropriate time!!  It was lovely to see them enjoying their part in our service.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  I had a good week at work, although I have not felt 100% since I had my cold.  I feel tired and I just a little run down, but I am relaxing now with my beloved.  I made a couple of apple cakes to take to our harvest service tomorrow for guests for Back to Church Sunday.  After all they are made from apples in our garden, our harvest.  I helped at the Acorn Centre yesterday which was good.  I have sore eyes at the moment, which have not responded to opticrom eye drops, which help me if it is an allergic reaction.  The chemist has given me some optrex to treat them, but suggested I see the doctor, if I still have a problem.  I hope this will clear the problem.

My beloved and I walked together to Waitrose, which was lovely, much more fun to walk together hand in hand.  We seemed to go at a good pace, which was great.  We just needed to buy some gluten free bread for tea tomorrow, as it is Beth’s birthday, and she has to have gluten free products.  I have already got a couple of cakes which will be suitable for her.  It will be good to see her to celebrate.  This last year has gone so fast, I can hardly believe it is almost the end of September.  Time seems to go so much faster nowadays and I feel no different from when I was younger, except perhaps more tired and with less stamina.   

I have just been and collected our latest harvest of blackberries, so I shall make some small blackberry sponges either for the harvest or to freeze.  We are so fortunate to have such abundant produce in our garden.  The apples look more or less ready to harvest now and today is a beautiful warm, sunny and bright September day.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  It has been a lovely weekend with quite a bit of sunshine, as well as being pleasantly warm.  I was busy on Friday at the Acorn Centre, as term has started again.  I was able to write most of my sermon for today, and complete it and my service on Saturday morning.  Then I went to town for candle wax treatment to my ears, which has helped clear my sinusitis; it even confirmed that my sinuses were blocked on the right side.  Today I complete my course of antibiotics and am well on the mend.  It is a relief to be able to breathe more easily, and I no longer have to sleep on such a high pillow.  I could even make some attempt at singing this morning when I led worship at Pannal chapel.  I found the prayers for peace suggested for this Sunday were really excellent at summing up the main issues facing us in our world day.  I often find that prayers written by others express issues better than I can.  It was good to have a good number of children there and the whole congregation, not just the children joined in with ‘Simon says’; they were much more skilled than me!  I then went on to say how easy it was to say what we believe and how we love others, as Jesus did, but do we show it by the way we live.  We can only do begin to care as Jesus did with his help.  If we considered others before ourselves, there would be no disputes or war.  If we draw near to God, he will draw near to us, and He will help us to serve others as Jesus did.

This afternoon Cathy brought her Canadian friend Michelle, ‘Ellie’, to meet us and she was lovely, so pretty and such a lovely natured young woman.  She enjoyed seeing photos of Cathy as a toddler, and videos of Cathy’s first cousins once removed.  It was good to see Cathy even for just a short time.  It is lovely now to relax with my beloved. This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  I was able to get to work on Monday despite my cold not clearing, although I was sent home early on Monday, as my practice manager thought I looked awful!  I must admit it was good to rest at home, although my beloved was astonished to see me so early!!  My beloved was really excited as he had managed to capture a juvenile goldfinch on his video camera, as well as getting some good photos.  The video and photos are wonderful and a tribute to my beloved’s patience and the way he chatters to the birds as he potters in the garden.  It was a thrill to see them.

Yesterday I felt a little better, although I always feel totally blocked up when I wake up, even though I have been sleeping more propped up to ease the breathing.  I managed to catch up with the backlog at work, accumulated from my holiday, but did not stay as late as normal, even though there is plenty of work to do, as I was feeling tired.  I also had a meeting last night, which I had to chair, at church; I asked if we could complete the work by 9pm, as I needed to leave then and everyone worked hard to do that, so I was not too late home.  However as I still felt so blocked up this morning, with tender sinuses, I realised I had better go to the doctor.  I have now got some antibiotics to help me clear the infection. 

My beloved treated me to lunch at our local pub today, which was lovely, as my cold has not affected my appetite.  I had a delicious starter of French onion soup, followed by goat’s cheese crêpe served with salad and chips; a more than satisfying meal!  My beloved had a mushroom and blue cheese starter, followed by smoked salmon crêpe, served with chips and salad; it almost proved too much for him, as the meals are very generously proportioned!!  I enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, whilst my beloved had a pint of Hobgoblin, which he really enjoyed too.  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.

Hello everyone!  This morning our service was led by our deacon David Hunt with the assistance of Peter Grubb, who is one of the organisers for fund raising for Nigeria Health Care Projects, which our Wesley Guild supports all the year.  The organiser was able to hand over a cheque for £1200, which was more than twice what was raised last year.  They organised 3 coffee mornings over the year with the latest one, being yesterday, which raised £180 towards the magnificent total.  Peter explained about the situation in Nigeria, which had led to the setting up of one of the health projects, Edawu, which was to provide resources and treatment for those who were mentally ill.  In Nigeria prior to this, families either hid their mentally ill members, locked away in rooms or even chained up outside.  They were ashamed of having members of their families who were mentally ill and did not know how to help them. 

This centre was the brain child in particular of a late Methodist bishop of Nigeria and he it was who persuaded the local chief to provide the land needed.  Peter was there as the bishop paced out the amount of land needed and the chief realised it was for the treatment of those with mental health problems.  Peter commented about how different it was in Leeds recently when people refused to allow a hospital for mentally ill people to situated where they lived!!  Yet the chief had the vision to provide the land on which three buildings were set up which treat 16 mentally ill people at a time, as well as the hospital having a ministry to homes and villages around the area.  They often have to find and persuade the people and their families that it is treatable, providing residential care for those who are in a more run down condition; many are found close to starvation, as their illness has prevented them from even begging for food, as they lived on the streets; unfortunately others died before they could be helped.  Many who have been helped to manage their illnesses, both Muslim and Christian people are helped; their only criteria is that they are ill and in need of treatment.  Psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses in Leicester have a partnership with the Edawu centre and go out from time to time to offer their expertise and training to local people, also explaining about the illness to families, who have tended to fear mental illnesses.  Some who have been successfully treated then work for the project. 

A church built at the project is a circuit church, where all from the locality and of course the patients are welcome to worship.  It has become an active church in the community.  Edawu has also sunk a well, which is available for all the surrounding villages; children come carrying the buckets of water back on their heads, able to walk upright with ease!  We are so fortunate in this country where there is so much help for people who are mentally ill, although stigma attached to mental illness is probably as prevalent in this country as there!!  This is the day that the Lord has made and I rejoice and am glad in it.