General Chat

Good morning :-)

Every time I hear about people being separated from their loved ones due to the restrictions, I really feel for them. Pictures of the dementia patients who have no idea of what is going on, breaks my heart. Pictures of families meeting up again are so poignant. But....we will come through this - if they could beat the Black Death in the middle ages, surely we can beat this? Much love to all who are missing their loved ones.

The farmer ploughs through fields of green
And the blade of the plough is sharp and keen,
But the seed must be sown to bring forth grain,
For nothing is born without suffering and pain–
And God never ploughs in the soul of man
Without intention and purpose and plan,
So whenever you feel the plough’s sharp blade
Let not your heart be sorely afraid
For, like a farmer, God chooses a field
From which He expects an excellent yield–
So rejoice though your heart is broken in two,
God seeks to bring forth a rich harvest in you.

- Helen Steiner Rice


Cx :-)

Yes, that vicar was quite something!!

It is looking less and less likely that we will be able to take our now-annual trip to spend Christmas with our daughter and family in Nova Scotia.

Ontario and Quebec have both got tremendously high covid cases, and are instituting lock down protocols once again. NS has never lifted the requirement for 14 day quarantine for all visitors (nor has BC). I'm expecting that the sleeper trains will be cancelled soon. At least we will get our money back!

Nor is it looking likely that daughter and grandson will be able to come our way during their spring break, especially if the 14 days quarantine are still in existence in BC and NS ...... that would a total of a month off school and work for a 5 day visit :-(

It is beginning to look as if the earliest that we might be able to get there would be next summer ............... IF the quarantine regulations have been taken down.

That means that we have no hope of seeing them for more than 18 months since last Christmas, and possibly much longer.

Hello all

David, I'm sending positive vibes your way and hope that tomorrow's operation goes well and that you will be back home with Ellen before too long.
I pray that the staff at the RVI will take good care of you. Please keep in touch when you feel stronger.

I love seeing michaelmas dasies in the garden but had no idea that today was Michaelmas Day.
Thanks Cynthia, I've learned something new today.

Vera I'm like you and miss being with the family too.
It's 9 months since I was able to travel and visit them. I'm thinking that perhaps Christmas will be apart this year, but I really do hope that I am wrong

An interesting post Sylvia. Like Cynthia, I have also known clergy in the past whose passion for hobbies have taken them away from their parish duties.

Infection rates are increasing. Keep safe everyone.

Good morning :-)

Lovely to come on and see some interesting topics to chat about :-D First of all though, I think about David and his operation this week. Take heart David and stay strong - we will be thinking about you and praying that all goes well. <3

Oh Vera, you must miss your son so much and I'm sure we can all understand how downhearted it makes you feel at times. Thank goodness for modern technology which makes keeping in touch so convenient and easy. Hopefully, it will not be too long before you can meet up again. <3

No, I don't recognise the name of that clergyman Sylvia so I must do some googling methinks. He certainly sounds as though botany took over his life in many ways, possibly to the detriment of his parish! I knew one who had a similar thing about racing cars :-D :-D

Today is known as Michaelmas Day - as in daisies – The Feast day of St. Michael and All Angels, typically regarded as the greatest of the archangels and a mighty defender of the church against Satan. St. Michael is the patron saint of the sea and maritime lands, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. He was the Angel who hurled Lucifer (the devil) down from Heaven for his treachery.

During the Middle Ages, Michaelmas was a great religious feast and many popular traditions grew up around the day, which coincided with the harvest in much of western Europe. In England it was the custom to eat goose on Michaelmas, which was supposed to protect against financial need for the next year. In Ireland, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.

Michaelmas Day is traditionally the last day of the harvest season which is why churches hold Harvest Services around this time.


Everlasting God,
you have ordained and constituted
the ministries of angels and mortals in a wonderful order:
grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven,
so, at your command,
they may help and defend us on earth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Cx :-)

David, it’s natural to feel nervous about any surgical procedure but I am sure the staff will take good care of you and you will feel better when it’s done. I wish you well and will be thinking of you on Wednesday.

I have a lovely picture in my mind of the Reverend Hawker and his menagerie. It sounds as though you found the Rev. Shaw’s interest in you a bit of a mixed blessing Sylvia ;-). When I started doing family history many moons ago I was surprised to find a number of reverend gentlemen amongst my ancestors and some of them were perhaps not quite as good as they should have been.

i have been feeling a little down as I have been unable to see my son and family since last October. We can’t visit as that would make too many people in their house and now, living in West Yorkshire, they have been put under tighter restrictions anyway. Never mind, I must just count my blessings. We have all kept well, they phone and text and occasionally we FaceTime so I have a lot to be thankful for. Thoughts tonight for those who don’t have a loving family or who are sadly estranged from their children or siblings.

Eccentric vicars ...............

Cyn ...... did you ever come across a Rev Charles Shaw?

He was vicar of the church where we lived in Oldham. He was Vicar from 1957-1994 ........ so very long lasting!

He was, I think, one of the last, if not the last, of the "scientific" vicars.

His main interest were geology and plants, not a good vicar even though he lasted so long. He never married, but he seemed to love educating children in those sciences, would take them out on long field trips exploring the geology and plants of the area.

He discovered in early 1959 that I was doing Botany to A level, we didn't go to that church because we didn't like his style, it was very cold. But he took to dropping by our house with sheets of herbarium specimens (dried plants), usually arriving about 8 or 9 pm.

That was usually when I was still studying, and my poor Mum had got undressed and put on a dressing gown to be "comfortable". She spent a lot of time sitting in the kitchen so he wouldn't see her in "such a state".

This is from Wikipedia .........

"The Rev. Charles E. Shaw was a botanist (renowned for finding plants on rubbish dumps) and also a Church of England clergyman. After serving in various other parishes he became vicar of Waterhead in 1957; he remained vicar until 1994 and is commemorated by a memorial window in the church. A song about him called "The' Parson o' Waterhead" was written about him by Harvey Kershaw of Rochdale."

He always made me think of those huntin', shootin' fishin' vicars of the 18th qnd 19th centuries!

He did have one great success ................. I met Roy Lancaster in the mid-1980s, who you may have heard of as a TV plantsman. worked for Hillier's and wrote many books.

It turned out that the Rev Shaw had been vicar or curate in Bolton where Roy grew up and was one of the people who Roy credited with getting him interested in plants and thus led him into his well--known career with Hillier's.

Quite the reverse for me ....... he almost drove me away from botany!!

Hello all

Hopefully we will have a Harvest Festival service (of sorts) in church next Sunday. Donations this year will be passed over to the local food bank... sadly much needed and a reflection of these hard times.

David, it's only natural for you be to anxious about your operation on Wednesday. I have only ever heard excellent words about all RVI staff. I'm sure that you will be in good hands and well looked after.

A productive time today planting bulbs to give lots of colour here in Spring after the Winter passes.

Rising infection rates of corona virus! Take care all.

Good afternoon, leg joints in a lot of pain despite my limited motion. I confess to being scared of the prospect of RVI on Wednesday.

Good morning :-)

The Harvest season is upon us but it's very different this year.

I read where the British tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Victorian hymns such as "We plough the fields and scatter", "Come ye thankful people, come" and "All things bright and beautiful" helped popularise his idea of harvest festival and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the Harvest Festival service.


Apparently, Revd. Hawker was quite a character! Married, with 8 children, whenever he entered a church to take a service, he was always accompanied by his nine cats. He also rode a mule bareback around the parish, followed by a pet black pig called Gyp. I have known some eccentric clergy in my time but………………


We bless you, God of Seed and Harvest,
And we bless each other,
That the beauty of this world,
And the love that created it,
Might be expressed though our lives
And be a blessing to others,
Now and always
Amen.

Cx :-)

Hello all

Our curate was ordained as priest behind closed doors on Saturday and lead our H C service in church today which was a very special time for all.

David, not long before your operation in RVI. I do hope that all goes well and that you will feel better.

Tabitha ........... It was so nice to hear how well things have turned out for you in having to work from home!

Happy belated birthday to you both xxx


David ....... good luck for your hospital visits next week. Hope all goes well for you.


It is now definitely Fall here ................. one storm after another rolling in from the Pacific. We might make up the whole normal rainfall for September in just these last few days since last Thursday, which was of course Fall Solstice :-D


OH hasn't been to church for 2 Sundays now, and the Baptist church across the street is still closed.

Good morning :-)


David, I wish you well with your surgery and please keep in touch <3


You sound like one happy bunny Tabitha! It's good to know that it is not all doom and gloom in this world and that you are so happy with your new role and surroundings.

I found John Bunyan to be an interesting character as I researched him. We have a modern version of Pilgrim's Progress somewhere - I need to find it and read it I think.

The Collect (special prayer) for today:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Cx :-)

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes its very kind of you all - Our joint birthday was Thursday 24th. All in i have had a good few days off sorting out my husbands study and getting rid of all his work info. Now he has retired he wanted to get rid of it all. We have so much recycling and enough shredding to last us till Christmas.

Now my old bedroom when i was younger is going to be my working from home office, until they decide we should go back to the office. It was his study for 24 years and my office since March. We have been told we will be working from home till at least June 2021 in theory.

Personally i would love to stay working from home. I gain 2 hours a day by not travelling to and from the office, no waiting for busses and hoping they don't go by as too full in the evening. No waiting in the cold and rain at the bus stop with no shelter, no walking to and from the stops in the dark mornings or evenings. I save myself a lot of money in fares as well.

I can eat a decent lunch at lunch time and snack in the evenings and have a better evening as no digestive problems. I get to breath fresh air as i can have the window open - we cant in the office. No catching other peoples germs in the winter as a lot of the office have children at school, so we always got all the bugs.

Peace and quiet and the radio on if i and doing quality checking and proofreading. No office politics to get involved in.

As i work in the travel department and there is very little work, several of us have been loaned out to other departments who are extra busy, like complaints and legal teams. I love his whole new area and new team who are so friendly and made us feel part of the furniture. Its so refreshing no arguments or hysterics.

Move quality time with my husband and our cat who sits with me in the study.
I have a lot to thank the virus and lockdown for.

Good luck with the surgery David I hop it all works out well for you and you get a better quality of life.

I love the stories Cynthia, reminds me of my A level days when i had to pick 5 men and 5 women who made a difference to our world and say why I chose them and what they meant to me. I still remember the hours i sat debating who to chose, getting books and researching at the library and the hours writing them up by hand then. No internet or computers.

Take are all Have a lovely weekend.

;-) <3 <3 <3 ;-) ;-)

ON MON AM IVE TO GO TO FREEMAN HOOSPITAL FOR YET ANOTHER CORVID 1CORVID TEST AND MORE MORE BLOOD SAMPLES THEN ON SEPT 30THE THIRTIETH IVE TO GO TO THE RVIFOR SURGERY ON MY INJURED .WISH ME WELL.
<3

Hello all

It's cold and windy here but dry for now. I have just swept fallen leaves from the long drive.

I have just read all the John Bunyan postings. Very interesting, as always. Thank you Cynthia.

It is always hard to see the purpose in wilderness wanderings until after they are over - John Bunyan.

Good morning..... :-)

My word, it's a bit chilly this morning............ :-)


Concluding the story of John Bunyan........

On 31 August 1688 John Bunyan died in London. He had been on a mission of mercy to Reading, to effect reconciliation between a young neighbour of his and the father with whom he had quarrelled. The mission successfully accomplished, Bunyan continued his journey on horseback to London.

On the way he was overtaken by a great storm of wind and rain, and he arrived at the house of his friend, John Strudwick, on Snow Hill, drenched to the skin and feeling unwell.

In spite of his evident weakness and sickness, he insisted on fulfilling an engagement to preach on the following Sunday, at the Meeting House of one John Gammons in Petticoat Lane. He then returned to John Strudwick's house, where he grew weaker, and a few days later died. Bunyan was buried in the Strudwick family vault in the burial ground of Bunhill Fields, City Road, London.


In all your prayers forget not to thank the Lord for his mercies - John Bunyan


Cx :-)

It’s been good to be reminded of John Bunyan’s story. Thank you Cynthia.

Happy birthday Tabitha for whenever it is or was. I wish you a good year ahead.

Hello all

Happy birthday Tabitha.

It is cool and windy here this morning.

Friday blessings to all who are struggling today.

Keep well and stay safe everyone.

Good morning :-)

Whenever your birthday is Tabitha, I hope you have a lovely day. <3


Continuing the story of John Bunyan.....


This period in prison was used for writing. In 1663 came Christian Behaviour followed in 1665 by The Holy City and in 1666 by Grace Abounding, his spiritual autobiography. It is thought that the impetus for the latter might have been the knowledge of the 40 people who died of the plague on the north side of the river where John Bunyan was imprisoned. It was during the years 1667-72 that Bunyan probably wrote much of the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress.

In 1672 King Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence, and Bunyan, like other church offenders, was released from prison. He was immediately appointed pastor of the Independent church in Bedford, which later bought a barn and orchard in Mill Street as their place of meeting.

In 1673 the King was forced to withdraw his Declaration, and early in 1677 Bunyan returned to prison. On 18 February 1678 Bunyan published the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress. During the last ten years of his life he published The Holy War (1682) and The Pilgrim's Progress - Second Part (1685).

'The more he gave away, the more he had' - John Bunyan.


Cx :-)

Hello all, I would say good afternoon but its absolutely throwing it down. I hope everyone is well, or on the road to recovery. So sorry to hear about David and his trials. I do hope he will be feeling better soon.

Loving the stories Cynthia - i only get to pop in on occasions and always managed to raise my spirits. Thank you all I know i have friends i can come to cheer me and give me time for reflection.

Have taken a couple of days off for our birthday's and trying to do some sorting out and family history, at present don't seem to have managed a lot of either. Its probably the wettest birthday I have had in years.

Keep smiling things can only get better. Take care <3 <3 <3 :-)