Is anyone still here?

If you're reading this, thank you! It's been one of those things... the longer I left it, the more important the topic of the new post needed to be, and it kinda escalated!

But, I have some time, so here are a few of the things that have happened recently!

In the past 6 or so weeks, I have attended the 10th, 11th and 12th weddings that I have attended since July 2005. A largely arbitrary starting point, but that was when I graduated and seems as good a start point as any!

#10: Fish & Helen



A wonderful afternoon. A beautiful wedding, very eco-friendly (just like the couple). There was a bring-&-share element to the (vegan) buffet. A great folk dance for the reception. Great fun!
Fish sang as part of his speech (really!).
And everyone was given a little ox-eye daisy in a pot to take home. Ours are growing happily in my garden and have flowered.

#11: The following weekend was Martin & Sarah's wedding blessing. (They were married in Sarah's church in the US last November, but because of visa issues, the blessing for UK friends & family was in May). Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the couple.

#12: And finally, Duncan (my cousin) and Sarah's wedding.

Again, a lovely day with lots of family and lots of catching up. A beautiful service and a fun afternoon (including a hog roast! - a first over the whole 12!)

I think that will do for now. I will try to post soon about yesterday, but now I have elsewhere to be. God bless!

Because I'm bored...

And the oh-so-interesting Jenni and the indomitable Kristin and the lovely Heather did it. And I am a sheep like that.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (depends what you mean)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris (hoping to in a couple of months!)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (learned to cross-stitch by myself)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (see #12)
20. Slept on an overnight train (planned to, but it didn’t work out. Maybe soon) [correction - I did, for 2 nights, on a train from Jasper to Foleyet in Canada].
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (well, 96% - it was close!)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (how far back!?)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (started to learn Japanese, but didn’t get far)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (see #6)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (only on an indoor wall)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (The gallery was closed the day I was there for a staff strike!)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant (well, bought a homeless guy takeaway anyway!)
44. Visited Africa
45 Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (again, see #12)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (we made a spoof of Scream at school, does that count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (no, although I’ve sat & watched a fair few)
59. Visited Russia
60 Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a cheque (by mistake, of course – it was postdated and I forgot to transfer the money from my savings account in time).
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (had the option – couldn’t bring myself to do it!)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (I was a very bad Chaplaincy cleaner!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (probably, although I don’t actually remember for certain!)
77. Broken a bone (in my foot)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (does Archbishop John Sentamu count?)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

*Phew*

A few of giggles

Here a few pictures of things that have made me giggle recently:

A picture from Palma, Mallorca:


My housemate gave me some European sweets for St.Nicholas' Day (Dec 6th). This was one of the things in the pack:


And finally, an excerpt from our local council magazine. (You'll know why it's included here, once you've spotted it!)



[click each image for a larger version]

Yes, I'm very immature.

Not so stationary...

This weekend I renewed my Young Person's Railcard. Not so remarkable in itself, until I realised that this would be the 8th such railcard I have held... and that of the previous 7, they just so happen to have been renewed at 5 different stations!
2001/02: St.Albans
2002/03-2004/05: Reading
2005/06: Newport, Gwent (Wales)
2006/07: Scarborough
2007/08: York

So, this weekend, since we were in Macclesfield to visit Michael's parents, I decided to renew my railcard a day early and thus at yet another different station.

I couldn't begin to guess how many thousands of miles that short list of railcards covers! I wonder if, in those 7 years, I have travelled the equivalent of circumnavigating the Earth by rail (~24,000 miles). I may well have done!

Excusez-moi, monsieur?

I don't know what we're doing wrong.

Sometimes, Michael and I go out for dinner. That, I believe, is not unusual.
We arrive. We are shown to a table and are given menus to peruse. Usually, then someone comes to ask us if we're ready, to which the answer is usually 'Can we please have a few more minutes?'. We subsequently order and receive appropriate courses in a timely fashion.
Then... and here's where the problem arises... nothing happens. We have clearly finished. Empty dessert dishes and coffee cups are cleared. And then the 'how do we get the bill' dance begins. There follows several minutes of trying to catch the eye of a waiter, putting a wallet/purse on the table, etc... and still no bill. Other tables receive their bills, pay and are off into the night. Not us. Eventually we end up practically grabbing the sleeve of a passing waiter to request the bill, at which point they seem totally surprised to see us still there and go to get it. It seems that eating a nice meal renders the pair of us utterly invisible.

I don't know what we're doing wrong. Any ideas?

Yellow ribbons

On walking back from the station on Sunday night, I walked past a tree outside the Catholic church in the town centre. It was Remembrance Sunday and looking up, I saw what appeared to be a hundred or more yellow ribbons tied to the tree. It seemed an appropriate and beautiful thing to do on such a day.
Except, they weren't yellow ribbons. They were simply yellow leaves. Not one orange one, green one, red one, brown one. All bright yellow.
Walking beneath them, they almost seemed to be nature's way of mourning those who are gone, but not forgotten.

[I once again apologise for the gap in posts. I will try to catch up a little, but I make no promises!]

Ah, that's better...

As of Monday evening, I now have internet access which works reliably (and for which I am paying!). It's nice to be back online. As someone recently said "How.did.I.ever.live.without.Google?!". My to-do list is seriously long, as there were so many things which I couldn't easily do without the internet - book train tickets, get pictures for kids activities, browse/research purchases, get new recipes, etc, etc. But now I am back and some of those things have got done.

In other news, Michael is away at the moment, has been for about 1½weeks, will be back in 1½weeks. Boohoo! *pout* Last week he was helping out at a church holiday club in his parents' parish, this week he's co-running the kids activities at a Christian family holiday thing (not exactly sure what that is *blush*), next week he's on a cathedral singing course in Ely.
And the week after that is the holiday club at St.Luke's. I seem to be somewhat managing the 3-5yo group, of whom there may be about 30. There are 4 or 5 other adults in that team, so it should be ok. I have so much prep still to do though!
Last weekend, I did get some of it done though. I need to make 4 large cutout figures of Bible characters (similar to the ones you get advertising DVD's sometimes). Well, adult size would be too big, so I asked if I could borrow 'Little Miss J' - my friend Susannah's little girl, who's 4yo. This was agreed and last Sunday at church, Susannah asked if I would like to come over for lunch and get the drawing done. I readily agreed, and to cut a long story short, the afternoon turned into a barbecue in their back garden with another couple of families and I didn't get home until just before 10pm! It was fantastic afternoon, sitting in the sunshine, watching Little Misses J & S and Babies S & E (Baby S is Little Miss J's little brother - E & S are both a little over 1yo), drinking Pimms and chatting. Very, very nice!

Oh, I got a new job! From next week, I will no longer be working in the X-ray office. I will be working in MRI. This time, it's a permanent position (as opposed to agency temping, which is what I've been doing for the past 10 months), with somewhat better pay (not hard!) and better holidays (even easier!). I'll be booking in patients, answering phone calls, making appointments, etc. I think I'm looking forward to it, although it's a little daunting.

Apart from that, I'm glad the weather has cooled off a little, and I'm looking forward to 'Greenbelt '08 - Rising Sun', where we're working in the Children's Festival (can you spot a theme yet?!)

I think that's all for now. I'll be back when I think of something else.

Internet Outtage

I have now been without the internet at home for nearly 2 weeks, but I should be reconnected on Monday. My housemate moved out and took the connection, which was in her name, as she is fully entitled to do. So, I have spent a goodly amount of time this past fortnight getting a new BT line and a new broadband connection. Should be up on Monday.

At the moment, I'm piggy-backing on a neighbour's unsecured WiFi (don't know who). The signal is bad though and I have to sit very still or it kicks me off.

That's all for now, methinks. More interesting (maybe) update will follow.

The Prince and the Paw-Paw

Tonight's Dinner:
Main course
Steak and chilli bean wrap with chunky guacamole and sour cream

Dessert

and

Both delicious. One less than a tenth of the price of the other!

Results

The blood test came back "entirely normal and so no further action is needed". I think that's good!

I do however need a new inhaler to get my asthma back under control. Stupid rain/pollen!