With Beboy's mum to Cissbury Ring

A new Kingdom Hall

We had a presentation at the Kingdom Hall Saturday about the plans for a new Hall.  Members of the Regional Building Committee had come down to talk to us about it and to show us the plans.   Not only is our building now quite old, but its too small. We are bursting at the seams.  Especially for the yearly Memorial of Jesus' death when the congregation seems to double.  So it seems we will go ahead.  But we now have to raise the money.

With Beboy's mum to Cissbury Ring

We went on a very muddy walk to the top of Cissbury Ring today.  Beboy's young mum came with us. She is over from the Phillipines on a visit  The rest of the family - Beboy included - have not come with her.


We saw the lovely view of the Downland from the top, and found a ladybird which is starring in today's Captain's Log.


We were talking about Ubai's homeland and it made me think about our trips to the Far East, so I thought I would add a poem.


ATTERCLIFFE OF BANGKOK

by me (many years ago)

Banana palms fruiting

Machinery chugging

Behind corrugated fences

Coconuts lying redundant 

On the grass

Helicopters 

Bright butterflies

On clear blue skies

A long wait for the Sheik

Who talks and talks

Hours go by

In the grassy dark of palms

the thin white cat

Eats duck I bought

Read More

Chris Packham Watch

What have I been doing for the last few days?   Think think...  a noise as of two brain cells whirring round a large empty space...    Not feeling well - as usual.  The arthritis is not being treated at the moment, owing to the lung problems the medication caused, so I am feeling very very tired, and in pain.  Whine, whinge.

We went to hear Chris Packham at Horsham on Thursday night - and it was a dark and misty drive back for the valiant Captain.

Chris was an excellent speaker - even better than I had hoped.   He had us laughing, enthused us, and showed us some great photographs, and some funny clips from Spring/Autumn Watch outtakes.

But yet again, what we are doing to the animal creation is so sad.   And if I did not have Jehovah's promise to cling on to, I would be in despair.  He has promised us that He will 'bring to ruin those ruining the earth'.  And none of His promises has ever failed, or ever will.

I went out with Louise in the afternoon and we did nearly an hour and a half of return visits.  We finally found the baking lady at home, and she said she would like me to drop the magazines in every month.

Captain Butterfly is off butterflying again - he is helping to clear woodland rides today, in spite of all my clucking and fluttering (I worry about his back).  And I am off to the Kingdom Hall. We need a bigger Hall now, we are very crowded, and today there is a presentation about that new Hall, and, probably, a time table for the building.

We then hope to get out on the door to door work for an hour or so.  Although in my case that will depend on how well my leg is going to work.

Read More

Half Term at Wisley

Captain and Mrs. Butterfly went to Wisley yesterday - but we had failed in our intelligence gathering and not realised it was half term!   The place was packed with caterpillars and - but no, I don't think I can sustain this butterfly metaphor - so there were lots and lots of children in various larval stages with their heroic parents all on a day out to see the Tropical butterflies in the hot house.    We had to queue for nearly 40 minutes just to get in, which pretty much used up my pathetic reserves of energy for the day.

However, the first thing we did was to rescue a butterfly!   I spotted it down a little cul de sac in the hothouse and thought it was dead, but Captain B rushed in and gave it the kiss of life (or something) and we left it looking reasonably happy on a flower, a little out of the general melee.

And I got a chance to talk to a very nice lady who I met when we were both slumped on a bench waiting for our companions to finish their photography.  I was saying how impossible it is to believe that butterflies just evolved.  What, after all,  is caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly but a miracle?

She agreed with me.  And we had a bit of a chat.  And I was able to tell her of Jehovah's promise, recorded in the Book of Revelation, that He will "bring to ruin those ruining the earth".

Apparently the butterfly herds in the UK used to be so large that a naturalist could reach up and bring a whole netful down for his killing bottles.  And I hope once again to see the earth so full of butterflies - although without the killing bottles of course.

I shall ask Captain B to put up his picture with a glimpse of me through a waterfall.  He might caption it:  "More Lovely than Any Butterfly".  Or he might decide to be truthful ("Old Bat in Greenhouse").

Bea moved yesterday, and we hope it went well and did not rain.  It rained a bit here in the afternoon.  We haven't managed to get her on the phone yet.

We woke up this morning to hear news of a massive earthquake in New Zealand.  It happened in the middle of the day and hit the middle of Christchurch.  Casualties are as yet unknown as many are still buried in the rubble.

We managed to get Dorothy on the phone - and she is OK, though shaken.  She has had some damage to her house, and her drive home which usually takes 15 minutes took 2 hours and 15 minutes!

They were shaken by an aftershock while she was talking to us.

There is something peculiarly horrifying about the ground under your feet no longer being stable.

Mick took the group this morning - and he started by reading from Matthew.

"You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.  “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.  All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress." - Matthew 24:6-8

We didn't get a chance to talk to anybody though, as no-one was in, except for one of my return visits who said she didn't want us calling any more  (I have only called on her once - and she was quite friendly that time).  But we delivered some of Audrey's magazines for March.

Read More

Sue times two

T he team of Sue and Sue were out on the door to door preaching work this morning.  It was pouring with rain so we did return visits   Even that made us very soggy, but it was good driving practise for me.  Living in the Middle East for so long, I have had little practise with rain driving.  I was able to deliver the last of my February magazines to lovely Dave, who said we had only just caught him as he was off to bed after a night shift.  He said he was sorry to have missed us the last two times.

Talked to Bea, who is in the throes of her move.

There is an apple crumble in the oven awaiting the wandering Captain's return this evening.

It is so sad to see the troubles in the Middle East, and that they are now extending to the lovely little island state of Bahrain.   We have  many happy memories of Bahrain.  I am  thinking about sitting out there on the terrace of one of the lovely hotels, looking out over the palm trees and the blue water, and sometimes pink flamingos.  And thinking - all this, in February!

The Captain went pearl diving there one time, and bought me back a tiny pearl.

People need to hear what we have to tell them so much.

Read More

On the doors with Maggie

Maggie and I did an hour and half this morning.  It was a beautiful sunny morning - another John Clare February day - but with a cold wind.  Captain B was off on Detector business.

His finds will appear on The Captain's Log in time.  SPOILER ALERT!!  Among them is a squashed thimble.

We had a coffee at Maggie's place when we had finished the work.

We saw Barbara Dickson in Horsham last night.  She was as good as ever - with great musicians - and a good selection of songs - finishing, in a second encore, with Caravans.

Busy April coming up in the congregations.  Its the Memorial of Jesus' death on Sunday the 17th, after sundown.   There will be special field service arrangements all month, so we will all be trying to put in more time on the door to door preaching work.  And we have a one day Assembly in Surrey.

Read More

Living with Vikings

A week or so ago I saw mussel farming mentioned on a cookery programme.  Mussel Farming!

It upsets me deeply to think of Maurice the Mussel (or any creature) confined in a battery cage, along with row upon row of disconsolate mussels. Rounded by up by mussel-dogs, corralled, caged, and fed on goodness knows what...

Captain Butterfly, busy testing his new metal detector part across our carpet, was unmoved.  "Did that farmer have a wife?"   Well, yes, he did.  "And was she young?"   Well, no, probably in the prime of life like myself.
"Well, don't worry about the little brute then, he'll have his feet under the table in no time. Lounge lizard isn't in it!"  Click click click click.

His detector began to sound like a geiger counter.  We may be living above Vikings, as it seemed to be telling us that the flat below is stuffed full of hoards.

We - the team of Sue and Jean under the headship of Captain Ronald - cleaned the Hall yesterday.
He is a lovely young brother - and even said something nice and positive about my driving which made my day.

There are waves on the Channel this morning and its raining - and I am just about to go off to the Kingdom Hall Field Service group, and Audrey and I hope to get out on the door to door preaching work despite the weather.  I will take her shopping first.

Captain B has agreed to a fish and chip lunch.

Read More

Bad Blood

Spent quite a bit of today re-reading Lorna Sage's wonderful memoir/autobiography "Bad Blood".

It is a powerful, painful, funny re-creation of a Fifties childhood - and reminds me of how much our lives (my siblings et moi) were lived outside, roaming around with other gangs of children during those baby boom years.

She talks about starting school and says:  "I think that we all forget the pain of being a child at school for the first time, the sheer ineptitude, as though you'll never learn to mark your own space.  Its doubly shaming - shaming to remember as well, to feel so sorry for your scabby little self back there in small people's purgatory."

And she speaks of her mother going food shopping to get - "in leftover language" - the rations.

Yes - absolutely.  Food was rationed for a long time both during and after the war.  I can remember going to get the rations with my mother. And we did indeed say we were going for the rations for quite some time after rationing stopped.

She is wonderful on the dynamics of Lorna Doone as well.  She was named after Lorna.

Felt a bit better today - got to the Meeting at the Hall and heard the teaching I need to hear - and even managed to get the washing and ironing done and make a vegetable soup/stew for the hungry hunter when he returned from his rally. He had been well fed on bacon burgers during the day.

Talked to Bea via email.  She says she likes yesterday's poem!

Read More