Think it’s a moth

Spotted a lovely pink “what I thought was a butterfly” earlier – but I reckon its a cinnabar moth – lovely pinky colour – here it is – has anyone seen one too?

What in earth am I? – see June 3rd for exciting update!!

Here a picture of a splendid tall plant that has grown to c 7 ‘ and is sporting a huge number of little white flowers that are sweetly scented. Any ideas what it is?

My favourite plant of the day – tree lupin- given to me by our Lay Reader, Barbara Evans, who moved to the south coast this Easter.

The yellow shade is perfect

Pentecost highs and lows

A near full church at Diddington for Benefice Sunday Songs of Praise, a baptism at Great Paxton church in the afternoon and a visit to a recently bereaved widower – a full day but a good day.

I was given a quick lesson in how to use a digital camera by son before he left to go back to London – and here are the results of my endeavours thus far:

Me and Michael in the vicarage garden

Michael and Lottie in the same place

Great Paxton Church looking east – the place of the bats!

Val See ( church warden)and Joyce Geeves( organist) advertising the Living Water  Festival outside GP church.

Gorgeous rose in Great Paxton churchyard.

Must put these on http://www.greatpaxtonchurchonline.wordpress.com….

Feeling a wee bit down – often do after having had a busy day full of contrasts and hearing one persons story of the early days of bereavement. That is one of the priviledges and challenges of ministry – exposure to a wide variety of emotions and events.

Out in the garden is a huge plant that i thought was a cardoon – but having looked at pictures of it on the internet, it is clearly something else. So, I shall take a picture and give it its own blog to see if anyone can name it…

Hope readers have enjoyed the glorious weather – there is more to come…

Out and about in Cambridge

Saw it all in the space of an hour – the sublime to the rediculous – to use a turn of phrase.

I went with son Michael into Cambridge, courtesy of Park and Ride, and having met up with his girlfriend and having had a nice plate of sarnies at a little cafe overlooking The Round Church, they went off  one way and I went off another way. When it comes to cities, for me it’s  a bit like dipping my toe into the water of a swiming pool. I find any city so busy and hot and noisy compared to a  village, that I take time to adjust to where I am.

Down Bridge Steet I went, found the river, thought it was too busy to go any further down that street and walked back – soon finding a group of people snapping away at a phenomenon – a man inside a big council waste bin playing the guitar and singing with only the end of the fret board and one hand showing. It looked so surreal – but he could certainly sing. Its given me ideas for fund raising though – an all night refuse bin sing-a-long??

Off I went in another direction and was blessed to stumble across Michaelhouse – at last! Id always wanted to see it…

Heres a bit of info about this wonderful adaptation of an ancient building…

“St Michael’s Church is a Ministry of the Parish of St Mary the Great with St Michael, Cambridge. The Michaelhouse Centre, situated in St Michael’s Church, opened in 2002 as a unique Community resource in the City Centre.  It is a place of beauty and tranquillity offering affordable meeting space for groups in an accessible venue.  It comprises a modern and well-equipped café, meeting rooms for hire, display/exhibition space, performance space and the medieval Hervey de Stanton Chapel, set aside for meditation and prayer.”

It’s perfect to my thinking – a conversion of a church building to truly serve the surrounding community and offer also precious peace in the chancel. So glad I found it – and the loos are great!

Next stop was Great St Mary’s – a Norwegian choir were practising for Evensong tomorrow  certainly their singing had a lovely tonal quality. There were also sensory displays about the Holy Spirit and if Id had more time I would have sat down and made a wind mill or a dove.

There was a guy in the street playing the violin on a tightrope, some Iraqi men in suits stopping the public with some sort of questionaiire, a demonsration with a Chinese theme and just such a cosmopolitan ambience – ist easy to forget living in a village how broad and diverse the world is. Two ice creams and a journey home – and i have to admit now to waiting for the final results of Britains Got Talent. I think the guy playing the guitar in the dust bin shouldhave entered!

Bought myself a digital camera now so that I can take piccies for blog…. first I have to discern how it works.

Changing faces

Good morning blog readers – looks like being a glorious summers day in PE19 – hope the sun is shining where you are. Need to engage with tomorrows Benefice Songs of Praise at Diddington in a moment, but have just been having a play with the different ” themes” that a wordpress blogger can use. Basically, there is a large choice of blog layouts available – it took me a while to discover that- s0 a blogger can change the look  of their site every day if they wish. I think I might stick with this one for longer and its not obvious with all of them where things are like the comment link is.

What would it feel like to change our appearnace very day? Now, theres a thought! Are you happy with how you look?  Some people go to great lengths to alter aspects of their looks – others are quite content with how they are.

A good hair cut and a nice wash and scrub up do me – but I know there have been times when Ive been worried about what I look like. Maybe getting older takes away some of the angst – although for some it may increase it.

To what extent do we judge people by what they look like and how do we react to someone who has facial injuries? I know when I had a swelling on my face due to an allergy some summers ago, I wouldnt leave the house.  Appearance is only skin deep, its what underneath it that matters….

Mr Grandmother Minnie Morgan aged c 16 years in her Salvation Army uniform in Highbury, London c 1912.

Pews

This really is how it was…..

“Pews only appeared at the end of the medieval period. Often pews had carved bench-ends and were carved with animal or foliage design

From the 1600s through the mid 1800s, Churchgoers of most denominations were seated in their houses of worship according to social rank, whether by assignment or purchase. This expressed a nearly universal Christian perception of social rank as part of a divinely ordered hierarchy of creation. The highest ranking pews were close to the pulpit, the lowest furthest from the pulpit. Private pews gave rise to the practice of numbering pews for easy record keeping”   from: info@churchantiques.com

At Diddington Church tonight a lot of rotten old floor boarding, joists and bits of pews full of wordworm lie on the ground under the eaves of the south wall of the chancel. Thank goodness the DAC in its wisdom agreed to the north aisle being cleared for a meeting area. So much, unseen, has been found to be rotten and wood worm has no place in  a church building. Yes, it looks pretty dishevelled for Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit has this habit of turning things upside down……

Before….looking okay -but  underneath the floor was rotten.

Keep watching for the new space and possibilities being created…

plastic bags

If I didnt know better, I would think they breed on the mat inside the door – those bags which seem to come through the door very frequently asking for unwanted clothes. Three have come this morning : Sye Ryder Care, Help The Aged and Barnados – all very reputable charities unlike some of the bags which seem a bit more dubious. Why this sudden explosion of collecting for clothes?

It might be because charities are suffering from the recession and are needing to find other sources of income – Ive noticed all the charity shops in town are asking with big notices in their shop fronts for unwanted goods. Trouble is, there is a limit to how many clothes you can give away – but then again some of them also ask for CD’s, household items and  ornaments – anything really apart from electrical stuff. Im all for recycling – think its  essential – but I feel sorry for the unwanted item war that seems to be on now between charities. I guess that less people now are giving things away or perhaps now try to sell them for cash at car boots/e-bay  etc rather than giving  them away. Hard times for a lot of people – not least the charities…

Off to Great Paxton to find some action….

Taking care in the blogsphere

As with many aspects of life, we need to take care and Ive realised thats the case with this blog. Over night some unpleasant web-site had found its way into the blog through searching for articles on the Japanese Festival I reported on earlier in the week and picking up a word which means ” no clothes on” they found this site and put inappropriate comments on. Fortunately, there is a system on wordpress that blocks such comments from becomming live so I was able to delete them and all is well. It reminds me that in a beautiful world, there is so much that is around looking to spoil. I will be extra careful in future not to include any words which might lead to being picked up in search engines by  inappropriate individuals/groups. I often reflect how clever and creative the internet is – as with all good things there can be a down side and I for one need to be vigilant with a site like this that is public.

Apart from that in my little world, the sun is shining, the garden is outragiously beautiful, Im waiting for an important e-mail from one of our buidling contractors  and a bit later I will go with Mike to set up my mums new little digital TV in her nursing home room – fingers crossed it will work.

At some point I will blog about old age and care homes…..my old mum often feels that she has ” had enough” – but on she goes towards her 86th birthday.

Blog has gone mad tonight!

And there was me thinking everyone would be watching BGT – have to say son Mike went outof the room  for some of the more rediculously saucy acts – a model of sobriety and moral correctness!

Had over 70 views today – maybe it was the Radio Cambridge interview…

Here is a prayer to close the day with – I love it:

Dear Lord

For all the times in our lives when things DO seem right

when we have that moment of clarity

when we feel there is hope, when the sun shines down upon us

and warns our face and reminds us that life IS a gift….

we thank you Lord.

I want to remember in prayer the many very elderly people in our care homes who are frail, lonely and maybe suffering from dementia and the people that look after them during the very long hours of the night.

Endangered species

In April I open my bill
In May I sing night and day
In June I change my tune
In July far far I fly
In August away I must

So  says the cuckoo- Ive heard the sound of the cuckoo a fair bit these last few days. But according to a report out to today they have been put on the red list of endangered species. The number of cuckoos making it tothis country from Southern Africa  has declinded rapidly.

Dr Mark Avery ( good name for a birdman!) head of conservation at the RSPB says ” the increasing numbers of birds at risk was “scandalous”.

“An increasing number of charismatic, widespread and familiar birds are joining the list of those species most in need of help — this is scandalou”.

The reason? Conservationists blame the situation on loss of habitat caused by intensive farming techniques, climate change and development. Nothing new there – but is it too late to reverse these trends?

Had a good chat  with my son this afternoon as we sat in traffic in St Neots High Street. Not a cuckoo in sight there.

It seemed to me that he may not be the only young person who is pretty disillusioned by politicians and the political scene. Morally upright politicians  seem to be an endangered species as well – can we spot any who we feel we would vote for? I think is a serious issue – the public need to be able trust the men and women who represent us – Im not sure trust is a word that expresses how  people feel right now aboout politicians. How is that trust is going to be rebuilt I dont know- is it too late to reverse the trend of cynicism and mistrust?

Cheer up, Vicar, you dont usually get into political stuff!  True, but this expenses  business has  got to me.  Obviously time to watch ” Britian’s got talent” – another semi-final