Had friends come round for a meal last night and we discussed everything under the sun – all the things you're not supposed to talk about – like religion, politics, eternity and the Royal Family.
We all agreed that it was because two of us had been to the same good university.
St Andrews of course.
The latest gardening accessory for the discerning gardener is a pair of knee pads.
Well Monty Don wears them…….
The cat had obviously been paying more attention to the weather forecast than I had. He slept on my bed and refused to budge. In fact, the temperature went down to minus 1.6.
The new series on BBC2 on how five men fare when they enter into the monastic life for six weeks is well worth a view, as is the Worth Abbey website page at http://www.worthabbey.net/bbc/index.html which aims to help viewers make their own spiritual journey. A friend of mine from university days is a Benedictine and I am always full of admiration for the gritty determination which keeps him going in the life.
The best part for me is watching the silence and the way there always seems to be the time of eternity to contemplate important stuff, like who is God? and why am I here? and so forth.
Collected the new car yesterday. It is in the only colour I've never had before – black. Rather smart too. A Fiat Punto with a driver's seat that goes up and down.
As you can see from the above I have got my priorities right. Brake horse power, nought to sixty in how many seconds…….. ABS….. ?
A basketball net is sufficiently like a netball goal for the sons to be impressed at the mother's prowess. Yes – I was fit enough to indulge in a bit of net practice over the weekend. (Perhaps I should mention I was in the First Netball Team at school.) The photoshoot was one of the highlights of the gathering…… just like the bit at the end of Four Weddings and a Funeral….. The older generation were convinced that one of the patriarch ancestors had come back to life! In other words, Son No 1 was diving about all over the place, having kept everyone on tenderhooks whilst he worked out the menu for delayed exposure on his digital camera. Other special memories include 15 round a double table for celebration meal, cousins meeting up and getting on famously and the sheer joy of seeing everyone together after such a long time. It takes a special effort in travel time for the visitors and a superhuman effort by the host family to cope with us all.
This is an unashamed thank you to them all. And of course I am proud of them all – they're great.
My Jesuit friends taught me something of the art of attending to God by reviewing the past day to try and discern when God's presence was known. It is a useful habit to develop and can produce some surprising truths.
Listen, you say, Listen.
I try to be still – to direct my thoughts to you,
to the things of the past day.
But it is hard.
My mind wanders down pathways of its own…
Dancing with the dog catching petals in the breeze,
running on a sunbeam with the children,
standing straight and wide with unfurling leaves.
Listen?
There is no need to make it hard, no need to try.
You are as close as each breath.
Delighting in me, living and loving.
Listen.
I am.
People have been asking me what it is like to be retired. I seem to have stopped working in a parish and started doing all sorts of other things. At the moment I am a bookseller, political activist, writer……oh yes, and grandmother!
Success takes many forms; in Stirling consituency where I have been helping along with a team of about sixty campaigners, the LibDems achieved a 9% swing and almost beat the Tories into second place. So it is not a win for our LibDem candidate in terms of a seat at Westminster, but we all feel as if something good has been achieved.
Away from politics now and onto a family party. The first time we have all been together for 10 years, and that means the first time ever for four of the five grandchildren.
Election Day. Campaigning is taking many different forms this week. There has been domestic service, delivering, advertising and being general dogsbodies. Polling has now started and the rosettes are being ironed ready to adorn those on duty at polling stations. The media do not seem to be able to make up their mind what is likely to happen. Just as well. This is democracy in action, and I find myself to be proud to be part of a nation where we take it for granted.
