Sacred
Darkness holy
The night enveloping
Us still in the mystery of love
Shining
Month: December 2025
THE CALLING OF MY NAME
I heard tonight the calling of my name
Upon the wind when tears did sting my eyes
In soft and gentle tones caressing all my pain
I listened hard and there it was again
Blowing through the trees a whispered sigh
I heard tonight the calling of my name
Here in this place You made Your purpose plain
I answered You not even asking why
In soft and gentle tones caressing all my pain
I’d waited long to hear Love’s sweet refrain
My grief so strong I thought that I would die
I heard tonight the calling of my name
Sweet peace embraced my soul and I did gain
Love’s rich reward eternity came nigh
I heard tonight the calling of my name
In soft and gentle tones caressing all my pain
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU
Well, the old year is almost gone and the New Year will soon be here. May I wish everyone a very very Happy New Year.
Hoping that for those of you who want only to say goodbye to the old one because it has been bad, that the New Year brings much better things. Xx
RONOVAN WRITES POETRY CHALLENGE
Fresh air
Falls on my face
While seagulls screech above
Eyes water tears run down my face
Wind drops
LOOKING BACK OVER 2025
I suppose we all tend to look back over the old year as the new one is about to begin. I think for everyone the year that has passed has been filled with both good things and bad things. I think a lot of people, however, are glad to be saying Goodbye to 2025.both personally and in the world in general, things have been too good. We are all hoping for a much better 2026.
As I look back over my own year, it is hard not to feel sad in so many ways. For me, it has been a year of loss and grief. The trend that had already begun continued and sadly nothing got any better. My health deteriorated even more, until not too many weeks agao when another illness reared its ugly head, to add onto all the other problems which I have. I have been feeling wretched for much of the time, but still fighting and trying to carry on despite everything.
Just as before, we have found it hard to find simple things like cleaners. We gave up long ago on finding any other kind of help as it was wearing us out trying to find it. Constant rejections are so tiring. It is possible to end up becoming very depressed, and at this moment we do not really know where we are with cleaners. Our present one informed us yesterday that she has been asked to work five days a week by the onwer of a cleaning company for which she works. She had worked for us for a time, given to us by this cleaning company, but then she went off work, sick with depression. When she got better she said that she wanted to take on people as private clients. However, she also worked for the cleaning company at the same time. We are one of her private clients and so we are now in danger of losing her.
There have been many other losses over the past year and to be honest it has been a terrible year for us.
We can only hope that 2026 brings something better for us. Maybe as I continue to take my tablets things will improve for me, though I have been warned that this will not happen for many months. So I just keep my fingers crossed that this New Year will not follow in the same path as the old one. We hope for something brighter and more refreshing.
The good news is that throughout it all, I have managed to keep my blog going when I thought I was going to lise it through ill health. And so I think those of you who have stayed with me whatever happened. You are wonderful.
I look back with gratitude on the last year for all my friends in here.
I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year xx
FOWC flotsam
With thanks to Fandango
He was part of the flotsam and jetsam of society, in everyone’s eyes. A kind of almost invisible person who spent his days wandering around the town. Some said his name was Cedric though no one was sure. Often he could be found sitting on the garden wall of a house, and often he would be talking to kids. Even if the adults didn’t rate him at all, the kids did. They were fascinated by him.
Covid came and went, and then there was no Cedric. He was nowhere to be found. No one ever knew what happened to Cedric.
ONE LINER WEDNESDAY
One-Liner Wednesday – Happy 2026!
With thanks to Linda.
Look up to the stars but don’t forget the potholes on the ground
#3TC
With thanks to Di
Beth felt weird as she walked down the sandy track at the edge of the forest. She had walked down here so many times before, but usually she had had her two dogs with her. Today was different. She had not feeling herself for a long time, and now it was the last day of the year. She wanted to be alone. She needed time to think by herself. Joe and the two dogs were in the car. She had told Joe that she needed to be alone. As she walked, the sun began to set. It was a beautiful sunset, but it spoke to her of things to come. She felt that her life was nearing its end. The New Year was not going to bring health and happiness and good things. It was going to be the year in which she died. She reached the end of the track, and in front of her was a large expanse of what seemed like a wilderness. Just tall grass and no more trees. Everything was quiet as if the very life had gone out of everything, even the birds. She watched the setting sun and in the silence of her own heart she said Goodbye to everything.
As she returned to the car, she was beginning to feel weaker. In fact walking was becoming more and more difficult for her now. She had no idea what was wrong with her, but she knew that something was. She fell back into the front passenger seat and closed her eyes. She didn’t communicate with Joe her feelings. This was for her only to know.
Time passed, and it was Spring. Outside it was a beautiful sunny day. The gardens were alive with colour and the trees were in the most wonderful blossom. Here, in the room where she was, it was dim. The blinds had been pulled down to shield her body from the sun. She was laid on a bed, and she heard the Consultant saying to her,
“You have cancer.”
“Will it kill me?” she inquired. It was as if she hearing these words through a mist.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s in the lap of the gods.”
As she heard these words she remembered her walk at the edge of the forest that night, and felt a sense of foreboding. Despite the beauty and colour outside, she felt dark within. In the blink of an eye everything had changed.
“We get people better in here,” the nurse said as she was wheeling Beth along the corridor. Suddenly, bursting into the most violent of tears, she began to feel some sense of hope. Maybe her feelings at the beginning of the year were wrong. It was time to fight now.
AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR GLORY
The leaves now have fallen
At the height of their glory
Carpetting the ground
I REMEMBER AUTUMN DAYS
I remember those autumn days
The mist hiding the mountains
The air cutting my cheeks
Running through the fallen leaves
By the fast flowing river
Smoke rising into the air
The darkness of night soon falling
We run to keep warm
Amidst the sound of heavy boots
Down from their mountain adventures
We think of our warm cottage waiting
Shiver
And smile
THE FLEA WHO THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD
A flea who thought he was dead
Woke up in the garden shed
He said Oh my God
This really is odd
I think I have lost my head
3TC
With thanks to Di for giving us these three words
It was approaching New Year, and Jodie was thinking back to what had happened to her a few years back. It was a miracle that she was still alive. In fact when her cancer was discovered, she was approximately three weeks from death, as she learned later. The road had been tough, and she had been ill for a whole year before the cancer was diagnosed, which had allowed it to spread all over her body. She had been visiting the doctor from the time when the terrible itch first appeared, and in the end he had to visit her n her home as she was too ill to go to the surgery. He refused to do all the various tests that he should have been doing, saying that her illness was only stress. She had lost five stones in weight and had a deep retching cough plus various other things, but he still said it was only stress.
Jodie was becoming more and more distressed, until one day when things were really bad, and her husband rang up the doctors to ask for someone please to come and see her. It seemed like a miracle when another doctor arrived as the old one was away on holiday. Imediately she saw the Jodie was seriously ill, and referred her to the hospital. She had to mediate with the first doctor when he returned after his holiday. It was not long after that that Jodie was diagnosed with the cancer. Everything was down there on her medical notes, and even then, the first doctor downplayed it. All that Jodie could do was thank her lucky stars that he had gone on holiday, allowing another doctor to see what was before her eyes. She had this doctor to thank that she was still alive.
WOTD Streamers
Thankyou Alice for this word today
Gavin had been out of work for a very long time, and things were beginning to get really tough. It had got to the point where he thought he would never get another job again. He wasn’t getting any younger and he was beginning to lose hope.
There was one place that he and his wife Linda had said they would never move to for work. That was London. Linda loved the countryside and Gavin hated cities, and they simply could not envisage living in a place like London. However, things got so bad that Gavin found himself applying for a job in London. To his surprise he got an interview. He set off on the train for the interview and Linda remained at home on tenterhooks all day. She didn’t expect him back until late in the evening.
She had just made herself some dinner when she received a phone call. It was the place where Gavin had gone for an interview ringing to tell her that he had got the job. They were very friendly and said they knew he would be on the train coming home and wanted her to tell him as soon as he got home that he had got the job.
Linda could hardly beleive it. Despite how she felt about going to live in London, she entered into the spirit of the thing and decorated the bungalow with all kinds of things like baloons and paper chains and streamers. The hall was full of them so that Gavin would see them as soon as he entered. Then she made up a kind of poster that said in huge letters,
“Congratulations.”
She waited for Gavin to appear. It was a time for celebration. Maybe London wouldn’t be so bad after all.
FOWC Gloomy
With thanks to Fandango
It was meant to be the best camping holiday that they had ever had. Normally they could only manage to go for one week in the summer to their favourite place, the English Lake District. This year though, they had decided to make it a long break and camp for three weeks. Judy had spent weeks planning what they would do, which mountains they would climb and which fells they would walk on. They set off with great excitement. It was going to be good.
The day was gloomy when they set off, but they beleived that things would get better. The sun would shine and they would have a really good time. As they erected their tent, it began to drizzle. Never mind. It would be a better day tomorrow. When they awoke the next day it was tipping it down with rain. There wsn’t much that they could do that day except drive around looking at the fells that were hidden by the rain. Well, looking at the place where the fells should be. Never mind. It would be better the next day. Upon awaking the next day it was still tipping it down. Once again they just drove around, spending a lot of time in coffee shops. When they returned to the tent that night, everything was soaked. They themselves were soaked as was their clothing. They went to sleep in a damp tent.
Gradually as the week wore on, the tent became wetter and wetter inside. The condensation made little pools of water on the ground sheet and their clothes and bedding were all sodden.
For almost three weeks this went on but they kept hope alive that each day would bring something better. They were determined not to give up and go home. It was almost the end of the holiday. Every single day it rained. And on the last day, the sun finally shone.
NOTE Once again this is a true story of one of our camping holidays.
A GARDEN OF LOVE
A garden of love
Waits in silent awe for light
To shine once again
WAS IT ME OR WAS IT YOU
Was it me or was it you
Who shivered in a corner too
Who really knows just what is what
The truth is what you think it not
The rose will bloom again one day
And not so very far away
Just a season cold this is
The warmth will come just as will bliss
RDP MONDAY Unruffled
With thanks to Sgeoli for todays word
N.B. This is a true story as it happened to me and my husband but I am writing it in the third person
Doug and Lucy loved to go camping, and somehow or other, managed to pack all their gear onto a motor bike. Lucy was always amazed by how much they managed to pack onto the rear of the bike. It was Spring and the beginning of the camping season, and they decided to go to the coast for a few days. They had done the journey many times before and knew the road. They never particularly liked the unmanned level crossing that they had go go over in a small town on the way to their destination. There had been a lot in the news about the unmanned crossings and there had been a lot of accidents on them.
Doug and Lucy approached the level crossing trusting that they would get across it safely. The barrier was open when they got to the crossing and they began making their way across. Suddenly, when they got to the middle, they had to come to a halt. There was a line of cars in front of them and they could go no further. Everything had stopped. To their horror they heard the sound of a train coming. Lucy did not exactly remain unruffled, though Doug seemed to keep his cool. Lucy was filled with terror and she jumped of the bike and ran to the side of the railway track. She expected Doug to follow her smehow. He didn’t. She began scraming. The train was coming. At the very last minute, the line of traffic started moving, and Doug was able to drive off the track. A minute later the train was there, and Lucy and Doug had had a lucky escape. Lucy vowed that they would never go over that crossing again.
HOPE SAYS…..I had to have my new boots taken off on my walk
Woof woof woof
Well, I took Magda out for a walk yesterday in my new boots but I had to have them taken off in the end. My feet were getting too tired in them and I had to keep sitting down. So now they’re on the kitchen floor in a corner. Mum was worried when she heard that and she told Dad that I would eat them but Dad said that I wouldn’t eat my new boots. I eat most things you see, or try to.
Dad found out that they’d sent four left feet boots for me. He said he didn’t know why, but all my paws are the same. Dad only puts the boots on my back legs anyway. I’ve been having a good look at my paws and they all look the same to me. Anyway I haven’t got them on now. I don’t know if I’m going to have them on again. I’ve got some rugs down on the kitchen floor so that I don’t slip but I keep picking them up in my mouth and carrying them round with me. They’re good fun. I think Magda’s coming again today but Dad doesn’t really want me to take her out for a welk because she stops in the street and gets phone calls from her aunt and I’m left sitting on the cold pavement. Dad was realy worried yesterday because we were such a long time coming back.
I think it’s something called Mew Year soon. I wonder where you buy New Years from. Dad says it’s not like that thing called Christmas and Charlie the budgie won’t have to look for Father Christmas coming down the chimney. But ther’ll be fireworks Dad says. That made me real happy because I love barking at fireworks and jumping up to see if I can catch them. Dad says he hopes the New Year will be better than the old one. I’m glad I’m still here to see it because I was nearly a gonner just before Christmas. I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here with Mum and Dad. I luvs them and they luvs me. And Charlie luvs me too and I luv him. I havn’t told Charlie yet that I had to have my boots taken off. I expect he’ll shout and pull his seed dish off it’s place and his seed will be all over his house. Maybe he’s fed up with seed and thinks he ought to have had a Christmas dinner. Mum and Dad didn’t have a Christmas dinner. They had a quarter pounder burger. That’s cos Mum has to get some iron into her and it’s red meat. I don’t really know what iron is cos I thought iron railings were what it is. But Mum couldn’t eat iron railings.
There’s been men on ladders again this morning and I wouldn’t stop barking. I still say men shouldn’t be up in the air. Charlie says it’s alright though. He likes being up in the air but he can only do it in his house. Anyway men don’t have wings. They only have feet and they sometimes have boots on them, only the’re not boots like mine. They’re big leather things with laces. Well I call them snakes and if anyone comes in here with laces on I pull the ends of them. I do that to Magda cos she has laces on sometimes. Then her shoes fall off her feet. I like snakes.
Magda says she’s got a hedgehog in her garden somewhere. It kept on coming and stealing her cats’ dinners. But it’s gone to sleep for the winter now and won’t wake up until the Spring. I’m pleased I don’t have to go to sleep all winter. I’d miss the snow and Father Christmas. I’ve never seen a hedgehog but I think they’re all prickles. That’s what Dad said anyway. I’d better watch out because I don’t want anything coming and eating my dinner. I don’t like prickles either. I get pricked when I go to the vets and I don’t like it.
I’d better go and watch out for this thing called Mew Year coming. I wonder if it will be delivered by DDP like my food is. I’ll watch out for it anyway. Dad might put it n the hall when it comes. I’ll let you know if I wear my new boots any more. They got a bit wet yesterday so they’ve got to dry out a bit.
Bye for now
Woof woof woof
FOWC Sensitivity
With thanks to Fandango
Fred had about as much sensitivity as a bull elephant. Sandra had gone to a great deal of trouble to make herself look nice. Nice in her terms that was. She had no dress sense whatsoever. Mutton dressed up as lamb seemed to be about the mark for her. Today she had put on a shocking pink dress that was far too short and some bright yellow high heels. They were about to go out to the works dinner.
“You can’t go in that,”he bellowed at Sandra. In anger she threw something at him and it hit the corner of his eye, making it water.
“You little so and so,” he yelled back at her.
Sandra rushed out of the room in tears. Fred folowed her upstairs and found her on the bed crying her eyes out.
“I only tried to look nice for you,” she sobbed.
Fred’s heart began to melt. It wasn’t her fault really. She’d only been doing her best.
“I’ts alright love,” he said. “Let’s find you something else to wear.
He started rifling through her wardrobe and found a bright purple dress which he teemed with a bright orange scarf. Sandra looked at it and said,
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? I wouldn’t. Wear that for anything at all.”
“Why, what’s wrong with it?” inquired Fred.
“Well you’d need sunglasses to look at me in it,” she said.
Fred looked again and had to agree that it was rather outlandish.
“Anyway what do you think you’re doing wearing that stupid suit and a bright pink tie?” she asked. “Do we really have to go to this dinner?”
“I suppose not,” said Fred. “We’ll have a quiet night in on our own.”
“I’ve got something nice in the freezer,” said Sandra.
“I hope it’s not as outlandish as your clothes,” said Fred.
“Just wait and see,” said Sandra.
Fred wondered what to expect. Later, he was sitting at the table looking at his plate upon which was some kind of a big fish, its eyes staring up at him.
“I wish we’d gone to the works dinner,” he said.
WHILE THE WATERS DANCE
While the waters dance
In the refreshing fountain
A New Year will dawn
LAST DAY
Last day
Of the old year
Time now to say Goodbye
A new door opens gracefully
Into
A place
Where opportunities may come
Midnight will strike again
New time begin
Bells ring
3TC
With thanks to Di for these words today
Gerry had always given service to the public as a Father Christmas at the local community centre. However, he was not getting any younger, and it was becoming somewhat taxing to say the least. Over the years he had seen many things change. The kids at Christmas wanted bigger and better things. More expensive thngs too. Many of them thought it was their due. In fact the kids had become rather cheeky. It wasn’t that he didn’t like kids. He did. He loved them. But this new breed really did his head in.
Thus he decided to withdraw and remove his name from the list of potential Father Christmases. He began to relax as Christmas approached. It was going to be very different this year. He could think about himself a bit more. Have a drink or two maybe instead of having to think about being on duty. Then one day he saw a little boy in the street crying his eyes out.
“What’s the matter young ‘un,” he asked.
“I’ve just found out that there’s no Father Christmas,” sobbed the little boy.”
“Oh dear me,” said Gerry. “Well let’s see what we can do about that then. Come with me.”
He took him to the local ToyzRUs and walked him round the store.
“You can choose anythng you like,” he said.
The little boy looked at him wide eyed.
“Do you mean anything? Asked the little boy. Gerry nodded and smiled.
The little boy spent a long time looking round the store and he chose his ppresent.
“That’s a good choice,” said Gerry. Then he took the little boy to the till and paid for it.
They walked back to where Gerry had found the little boy, who was now full of smiles.
“Would you like me to write on it for you?” Gerry asked. The little boy nodded excitedly. Gerry took his pen out of his pocket and signed the outside wrapper of the present. The little boy looked at it, and it said,
“Happy Christmas. F. Christmas
SADJE’S SUNDAY POSER
Thankyou Sadje for asking the question as to how we raise our moods etc
This question has made me think. In the position in which I find myself, it is difficult to find things to do that will raise my mood etc. there is very little that I can do physically although taking a sniff of some really nice smelling soap is like heaven to me.
Apart from that, I can get very low at times, and at thse times I talk to myself. I try to cut out all frightening and negative thoughts and just focus on the present moment. It would be easy to think too far ahead even to the next day, and to become overwhelmed. I tend to live not even hour by hour or minute by minute but sometimes second by second, chasing away scary and dark thoughts.
Another thing that I do is to write. That always helps a lot. I love to write humorous things as I manage to make myself laugh too. My father was like that. He could make up jokes and tell them to himself and make himself laugh. I do that a lot. Especially last thng at night. Also, last thing at night, I sing. Sometimes I sing raucously to get stuff out of my system. I have a laugh at the same time.
I must admit that this is often all really hard to do, but if I don’t do it I sink. Into the total blackness. I am gradually having to learn how to do these things.
HOPE SAYS….I’ve got new boots on
Woof woof woof
I’ve got new boots on. Dad got them for me so I don’t slip on the kitchen floor any more and to stop Mr. Arthur and his games. They’re real good and I’m all excited because Magda put them on me. I just let her put them on and then I just stood there looking all around me. I like them. They’re real comfortable. I can run round the kitchen and I don’t slip at all and my back legs feel ever so much better.
Anyway, Magda gave me my tablet then wrapped in some cheese. I’d rather have the cheese without the tablet but I’ve got to have the tablet as well. Mind you, I kept on asking for just cheese once I’d got the tablet down, but they’re not letting me have any. I’ve got to be on a diet. I hate diets. But I did get some salmon last night. Mum left some and Dad gave it to me. I like Mum because she often leaves some of her food for me.
I’ve got to go outside in these boots too. Well at least my feet won’t get cold. I bet I’ll be able to run even faster now. I shall puff Magda out. She hasn’t got any boots on so I thnk Dad ought to buy her some as well. Mine go up to my ankles so Magda’s would have to too.
Oh I forgot to say that my boots are black with some red on them and they have a white bit on them the kind of shnes so that people can see me coming in the dark. I don’t think I’ll be out in the dark very much though.
I’m going to sneak in to see Charlie the budgie soon to tell him about my boots. I don’t think budgies can wear boots. He doesn’t need them anyway. I don’t think Mr. Arthur gets to budgies. He’s too busy going for doggies and people. I wish he’d go away.
I think Charlie is still watchng out for him coming down the chimney. If he does come Charlie will deafen him with his cheeps.
I think I’d better go now because I have to try to get past Dad and sneak in to see Charlie. Bye for now
Woof woof woof
RDP SUNDAY Incipient
With thanks to Drkottoway
Chrissy had always been just the girl next door. Joe had been brought up with her. They had played together, started school together, and gone to each other’s birthday parties. Sometimes they squabbled, as kids do. Then Chrissy want away to College and Joe to university. Both of them made new relationships, and they drifted apart. Until New Year’s Eve that was. There was a Dance at the local Baths Hall. In the summer it was a swimming pool, but in the winter it was boarded over and became a dance floor. Joe was sitting down with a drink looking idly at the dance floor. Suddenly he found himself mesmerised by a girl in a red dress. He watched her moving as she danced and saw her long dark hair swinging as she danced. Suddenly as she turned towards him he realised who it was. It was Chrissy. He was so surprised that he almost cried out. She was utterly beautiful. He was looking at her with new eyes. He walked over to her and asked her to dance with him. Her eyes sparkled as she said yes.
They danced and they danced and at the end of the evening they were in each other’s arms, kissing passionately. An incipient loving relationship was now beginning.
Years later Joe and Chrissy sat looking at each other across the table. It was almost New Year’s Eve again.
“Shall I put some music on?” he asked Chrissy. “Shall we dance?
“Try and stop me,” replied Chrissy.
When the music ended and the dancing stopped they held onto each other tightly. They kissed for a while and then Chrissy disappeared into the kitchen and got her chemo drugs out of the fridge.
“I wonder how long we’ve got,” she said quietly.
“However long it is it won’t be long enough,” replied Joe. Then, slowly, they made their way upstairs to bed.
FOWC Remains
With thanks to Fandango
Molly looked at the remains of the meal on the table. She had gone to a lot of trouble to prepare it, and it was true to say that everyone had enjoyed it. She sighed. That would be it for another year. They had all fled the nest many years ago, and Geoff had gone too.
“Nothing to hole us together now,” he had said.
It was true. They had grown apart. The kids was all that had really held them together. Geoff had been a good Dad, taking them to all their events and various things. Football on a Sunday morning, orchestra practice on a Saturday morning, cricket in the summer, and everything else in between. Molly had been a good Mum, always having meals ready on the table, and always there for a cuddle when needed. She wondered where they had gone wrong as sht stared sadly at the remains. Was this all there was to show for it? It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for them. They had all done well for themselves and were flourishing. Not just flourishing but flourishing well.
She began to clear up the pots and take them into the kitchen to wash. It was three o’clock in the afternoon now. She wouldn’t see anyone or talk to anyone for another week or so now. As she walked into the kitchen with the pots, tears fell.
PIERCED
Past memories creep
Into minds cracked wide open
Pierced by many swords
NEWNESS OF LIFE
New Year
Newness of life
But it is only time
Eternity is calling us
Our time
Is marked
Let us listen now to the voice
Of the Eternal One
Remembering
The callI
SAMMI COX’S WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT
Weekend Writing Prompt #448 – Notion
With thanks to Sammi
He had a notion that his Father Christmas suit would not fit this year because he had eaten too many plum puddings and mince pies and he had grown fat. So he had to wait for the January Sales to find another.
42 words
5
SOCS SATURDAY – Plot
With thanks to Linda G. Hill
Our word for today is Plot.
There is nothing that I like better than to write a good murder mystery. I love to make up the plot and develop the characters. These are often based loosely on people whom I have known in the ppast and are set in places where I have lived in the past. I enjoy doing this so much and often it seems to write itself. Often I don’t even know myself who is going to be murdered or who the murderer is. It kind of evolves. I try to cast suspicion on lots of people so that no one can guess who did the murder. Sometimes I cast suspicion heavily on one character but people can usually tell that this will not actually be the murderer but it will always be an interesting character.
I have never sent any of my murder mysteries anwhere for publication but I have thought of self publishing some of them. I do have a problem sometimes where I forget what I have said about somebody in the story. And occasionally I have got names mixed up so if I published any of them I would have to go through them looking for mistakes.
It is strange how it takes me out of myself writing these. It is quite exhilarating. I have often wondered why I like wirting about murder but I do, and to be honest I feel that there can be so much going on inside people that murder is a possibility. I do try not to be gruesome because I hate anything too gruesome.
I do also like reading murder mysteries but once again, if they are too gruesome I don’t like them. Often though, they are so involved that I can’t keep up with who is who. I do love a well written one though and I have some in my Kindle library still to read. I have no idea yet when I will get to read them.
RDP SATURDAY Rap
Thankyou to Punam for this prompt
Shelley heard a rap at the door. She wondered who on earth it could be. She wasn’t expecting anyone. It was a cold windy night and she had to admit that she felt a bit nervous of opening the door. She took a look out of one of the windows to see if she could see who was standing there. All she could see was a flash of red. Another rap came at the door. She would have to answer it. Slowly she walked to the front door and opened it just a little bit. Red. All she could make out was red.
Suddenly she heard a man’s voice.
“Could you let me in please. I’m feeling a bit tired. I’ve had a busy time and I think I left somethng here when I called the other night.”
Shelley opened the door wider and there he stood in all his glory although by now it all looked a bit jaded.
“I don’t know what to do with this outfit,” he said. It’ll need a bit of a wash ready for next year.”
“Oh my goodness,” said Shelley. “What did you leave here?”
“I lost my glasses,”he said. “I can’t see a thing withut them.”
“Come on in,” said Shelley. “We’ll have a look for them.
A rather woe begone Father Christmas entered the house. It wasn’t long before they found his glasses, and Shelley sat him down and gave him some sustenance.
“Thankyou,” said Father Christmas. “I’ll remember you next year.”
“Thankyou,” said Shelley. “And I’ll remember to leave you plenty to eat when you come.”
TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN MY MUM’S BIRTHDAY
I am thinking about my Mum a lot today. It would have been her birthday. I know that she was a very abusive mother, but there were good things about her too, and she didn’t have a very good start to life. She lost her father when she was only just over a year old. He died of a brain tumour. He and my Mum’s Mum lived in a tiny cottage n a little village called Laughton which isn’t very far from where I live now. It is on the edge of Laughto Forest, a large forest. My Mum’s real father worked as a farm labourer but he was saving up for his own market garden. When my Mum ws born it was deep snow in the little village and so he didn’t get to register her birth until well into the New Year as he had to walk to the nearest town which was about eight miles away.
After her father died, my grandmother and my Mum went to live with her father’s parents in a village called Blyton, where I was eventually born. A man from the big farm outside the village used to come down to the little shop that was behind the house where Mum and my grandmother were living. He began talking to them and then asked my grandmother if she would go and housekeep for him. In that way, both my granmother and my Mum would have a permanent safe home. After she went to housekeep for him. The man who eventually became known as Pop, asked my grandmother to marry him but it was not for love. It was a business arrangement and he wanted her to give him a son and heir to the farm. She agreed and had three more children.
It is a very sad tale really because my mother became ill at the farm which was way. Out of the village and the doctor told my grandmother that she was pining and needed to be with other children.
I think my Mum had a lot of pain in her life as a child and it made her as she was. I hope she is at peace now.
SITTING BY THE BRIDGE
Sitting by the bridge I think
Of the days that have gone since I found you
Seasons in the light and dark
As now the days grow longer
Days have gone since I found you
Many just an endurance test
But now the days grow longer
My heart begins to smile
Days that are just an endurance test
Have formed me as who I am
My heart begins to smile
As I wait for summer to come
Days have formed me as what I am
In fortitude I plant my feet
As I wait for the summer to come
I know there is hope again
In fortitude I plant my feet
No one can take me from my path
I know there is hope again
Whatever trials may come
No one can take me from my path
For I know I walk in the truth
Whatever trials may come
I stand firm on my chosen path
I know I walk in the truth
Discovered through many years
I stand firm on my chosen path
Unwavering and solid
Discovered through many years
Of suffering and pain
Unwavering and solid
It will hold me to the end
Of suffering and pain
I have known so very much
Sitting by the bridge I think
Of the days that have gone since I found you
GAMBLE
We gamble with lives
Throwing our dice on the ground
Which way do we go
DAILY WRITING PROMPT
https://blindwilderness.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&answer_prompt=2164
We are asked what is our all time favourite car.
I can answer that one easily. I don’t have a taste for expensive posh cars. In fact I once owned a small Vauxhall Corsa in Aruba Blue and I had it from new. I was so proud of that car, for it was the first new on that I ever had. It was so easy to drive, very responsive and I just loved it. I loved driving and drove miles in it. I did own one or two used Corsas but the brand new one was the best. I did own a VW Polo in black after that and although it was a much stronger and well built car, it could not match the Corsa in my mind. I must admit that after owning the Corsa I heard that many had been recalled due to a risk of setting on fire suddenly. I have no idea what caused that but I was glad that I didn’t own one at that time.
If you were to ask me what car I loved apart from ones that I owned I loved the Triumph Stag. I’m not sure I would have liked driving it but I loved it anyhow. I’d have liked my husband to have one and for him to drive it.
Actually IN like any car really, as I never thought we would ever have a car due to lack of money, let alone my having one of my own. I didn’t pass my driving test until I was in my forties and so it felt wonderful whenI did and then got my own car.
Sadly I cannot drive now, due to going blind. I miss my cars like mad. They were my territory and they felt like my friends. So now all I have are my memories.
SIMPLY SIX MINUTES
I always liked cats but this one had been nothing but trouble. Beautiful as it was, it was always into something. This time it was the Christmas tree. It had already tried to run off with the turkey and we just managed to rescue it in time. Wrapping up the Christmas presents was a nightmare. The cat insisted on “helping.” It particularly liked the shiny string stuff that you tie them up with and it also ended up with a few sticky labels on it. I supposed I should say “he” and not “it.” His name is Jasper and a right tyke he is. The other day he brought a moust in for me and laid it at my feet. It was dead of course. I don’t like mice at all but he loves them. Jasper I mean. I don’t know what the mouse was called but he certainly wasn’t any more. I looked at the mouse and knew that somehow or other I had to pick it up and put it somewhere in the garden. Lay it to rest kind of thing. Was I supposed to say a prayer for it or what? Oh well, anyway, the Christmas tree was laid on the floor. I don’t know how we’re going to get it back up again. Shame because it was a lovely tree. We don’t usually have one but we thought that this year we would. I mean, we’ve got no kids so what was the point? Anyway, we thought it might cheer up the room a bit. Make it look less dowdy. The cat thought differently. The cat thought the little parcels on the end of the branches were for pulling at and having fun with. I expect he got quite a surprise when the tree fell. They say cats have nine lves but I think this one has already had about twenty. It’ a wonder he’s still here. It’s strange though. He only has to look at us with those eyes and we melt inside. I don’t expect he knows much about Christmas, but he certainly knows how to get into everything. Maybe I’ll put a bit of turkey into his dinner tonight. That’s if he doesn’t steal the turkey again.
I think I ought to take a photograph of this for posterity. Perhaps next year I should make personalised Christmas cards with that picture on them.
WOTD Return Policy
With thanks for this prompt
The Return policy of most of the shops and stores round here is that you can return clothes in particular withn a few days as long as you haven’t worn them. It’s a wonder they didn’t cancel their Return Policies with my Mum around. She’s dead now, but when she was alive she was in the town every single day and was always buying something. She would get it home and decide she didn’t like it so the next day she would return it and get her money back.
Not only that, but she was prone to ordering cars and then cancelling the order the next day and asking for her deposit back. In the end they banned her from the Ford forecourt in town. Can you imagine? A 70 year old woman being banned from the forecourt of a garage lol
FOWC Photocopy
With thanks to Fandango
Have you ever had your mind blank over something really simple?
This is a true story of what happened to me when I was about 18 years old.
I had gone to work in the offices of our steelworks in the town where I live. I have to say that I was green. Things in those days were not what they are now. On my first morning there, I was asked to take a huge pile of papers from one office to another. They consisted of not one photocopy but many. I was asked to alter them so that the bottom one became the top one and so forth right the way through the pile. To this day I have never understood why, but I couldn’t figure it out. I panicked. I walked towards the office where I was meant to be going and turned chicken halfway there and walked back to the office I had come from. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Once back in the office, I placed the pile of papers on the very top of a huge metal cabinet that was against one of the walls. Suddenly, the whole pile slid down the gap between the cabinet and the wall. My hand flew to my mouth. How on earth was I going to get them back? There was no way of reaching down behind the cabinet with my hand to retrieve the papers. There was no one to whom I could tell what had happened. There was no one around.
It was now the end of the day and all that I could do was go home and leave the problem until the next day.
That evening I told the man who lived across the road from us what had happened. He happened to be a bit of a joker who got himself out of situations by joking. He disappeared into hie garage and came back with a very strange looking instrument that he had just put together.
“This is a snobtrundler,” he said. “Put it behind the cabinet tomorrow and retrieve the papers with it.”
I could hardly beleive it but had to laugh at the name he had given to the implement.
“And what do I say if anyone asks me what I am doing?” I asked.
“Tell them it’s a snobtrundler,” he said.
I went home my mind in a whirl. I had no doubt the he would have been able to carry it off, but not me.
I can’t remember how the whole thng ended, but I thnk I decided office work was not for me and I wrote to them telling them where the sheaf of papers was.
A bit cowardly maybe, but I was only 18 years old and very naive. Strange to say, much later in life I did work in an office for a short time, again. This time nothing really went wrong.
FIBBING FRIDAY
Thanks to Di for these questions
1. Why is there a fairy on top of the Christmas tree?
Because it got fed up and didn’t want to go to the bottom
2. Why is the 26th December known as Boxing Day in some countries?
Because everyone is boxing up the Christmas presents that they don’t like ready to give to someone next year
3. What would be the gifts from the three wise men today?
An I.D card, a sim card for his first iPhone, his very first Costa card
4. What is hogmany?
Lots of hogs at a football match
5. How much is a monkey?
Four feathers and a tin of treacle
6. Do crows crow?
No they sing Catch me if you can
7. Why do milking stools have three legs?
They should have four but someone cast a spell on them and they only have three now
8. What is meant by perfect pitch?
One that doesn’t have any mole hills on it
9. Where will you find a palm tree?
On a huge bottle of shampoo
10. What is rolling stock?
Chicken stock that falls on the floor when you knock the pan off the stove
SING OUT
While mortals sing out
The birds continue their flight
Making their own cries
IF HEARTS CHANGE
What is this moment
Where everything is transformed
Only if hearts change
DAILY WRITING PROMPT
We are asked how are we creative.
I have been very creative in many different ways since being a small child. I taught myself to play the recorder even before I started school and used to make up tunes of my own. That continued into adulthood and even to today. I have a lot of Native American Indian flutes and I record myself playing a tune on them that often sounds like animals or birds, then I have another iPad and I record the other iPad playing what I have recorded only this time I will add a drum in. Then in the same way I will take two iPads to the bathroom and run the tap and record that over the top of the other two things. It then sounds like music being played by a mountain stream with the call of the birds and the wild animals put in for good measure.
I have always composed my own music.
Also I write lots of poetry only not so much now as I used to. I have done that since being a child as well. I also write books.
I love to be creative in all sorts of different ways. I used to love being creative with a room in our house and a tin of paint or two. I liked to play around with effects.
Emboridery was another favourite of mine but beling blind now I can’t do it any more.
Often I create dances of my own as I seem to be unable to keep still when music is playing. I love rhythm.
I think I am a chilld of nature and that too makes me creative, but now that I am blind and bedridden I cannot get out into nature which grieves me greatly. I live in my imagination now instead.
TESS 1
Tess sat on her bed looking at the darkness. She was blind now, and, unlike most other blind people, she had absolutely no vision at all. It was Christmas Day, and she had no one to ring and no one to ring her. All the emphasis at this time of the year was on family. Everyone seemed to be ensconced in families and no one really had a thought for those who were alone. Tess’s family had rejected her after her mother had died. No one wanted to know a blind, disabled person, not even her family.
As she sat on her bed, for she was now bedridden, Tess longed to talk to somebody. Just something to break the day up. For her, it was a case of just getting through each minute. At certain points during the day, she began to feel that she was going insane. Hysteria began to rise in her. She was cut off from all human contact. Oh, she had her husband, but he culdn’t speak any more, although he tried to. She could never tell what he was saying, and often she would cry because there was little communication between them. They couldn’t even write wordss down to each other because he could no longer write because of the state of his hands, and she couldn’t write because of her blindness.
It was only noon, and the hours stretched in front of her like a black shroud. The shroud seemed to enfold her in its cruel grasp, and there was no way out. Indeed, the day felt like death to her. Every day felt like that in fact, but this one was worse. What could she do with each hour as it passed? The deep pain of loneliness set in, and she felt desperate. Even death seemed more attractive to her than this. Temptation hit her. However, she had no way of giving in to the temptation to just end it all. That made it even worse. She was trapped. There was no way out and no relief in sight. Often, her body was wracked with pain. Often, she was awake all night long, almost screaming out with the pain.
It was twelve years since she had got the cancer. She had never been so shocked in her life as when the doctor said to her,
“Mrs. Hall, you have cancer.”
“Will it kill me?” She had asked.
“I don’t know,” he had replied. “It’s in the lap of the gods.”
Well the gods had not been very good to her. She had survived the cancer, going through an aggressive chemotherapy treatment, but her body had been nigh on destroyed by the drugs. They called them drugs, but actually they were poison.
“We get you better in here,” the nurse had said when she was being wheeled into the chemo ward. But she wasn’t better, and never would be.
3TC
With thanks to Di for this Challenge
We were never a family that did much celebrating of Christmas when I was a child. However, I always did receive a stocking with various presents inside it. Nothing much but just a little something. We did always have an artificial Chirstmas tree but it would be a very small one. No decorations in the house, and certainly no baubles. In fact Christmas was a dumbed down affair.
However, I was told about Father Christmas, and up until I was seven years old I beleived in him. My mother would put out two mince pies on a plate in the kitchen and a glass of milk for Father Christmas when he came then in the morning I would see the plate with the crumbs on it from the mince pies and the empty milk glass. I guess that my Dad ate the mince pies and drank the milk.
Then for some reason, when I was seven years old it suddenly dawned on me that there might not be a Father Christmas at all. I mean, how did he get into the house? We had gas fires so he didn’t come down the chimney, and all the doors were locked at night. So, I said to my mother,
“There isn’t any Father Christmas is there.” I was hoping that she would say that there was one, but she didn’t. She confirmed that indeed there was no Father Christmas. I was disappointed, but realised that it was not Father Christmas bringing the few presents that I got, but my parents bought them themselves. I said thankyou to them that Christmas instead of just accepting that Father Christmas brought them.
I suppose I should have twigged sooner because there were Father Christmases everywhere all at the same time in the shops and so how could there really be a Fther Christmas?
Thanks for the three words today Di. And may you have a very happy day.
The words for today are presents, tree and baubles
BEING REAL
Everyone is in Christmas spirit at the moment, and no one wants to read anything other than the nice things of Christmas. So much about all the trappings of Christmas. Mention of families too. I want to write the real truth about our Christmas and of how I am truly struggling today. I cannot post on here what I am truly feeling but it is bad.
I find it so hard to accept and to understand why, when I was younger, I never let anyone be alone at Christmas. I made a special effort to either have them for dinner or to at least contact them in some way. I felt for people in their loneliness.
Now that I am older and no one is there for us, or for me in my struggles with a husband who is incapable of looking after me properly and who cannot speak, I just am crying and crying and crying today because I am so very very alone and long hours stretch in front of me without a word. Blind so that all I see is darkness. I am not one of those who has slight vision. I have none. I am also very sick and feeling poorly. But what do I do? I try to post in the spirit of the day. No one wants to read isery on Christmas Day and yet and I am almost screaming out. Please someone be there for me. Please someone talk to me. We will hardly eat at all today because my husband cannot do food, never mind have a Christmas dinner.
At this moment I have no idea how I am going to get through the day and in fact may not do so.
If only. If only.
I have tried to ring what family I have left. My brother and sister. They don’t want to know me. But that has been the case for a long time. They were taught to hate me by my mother who is now dead.
Everything is not hunkey dorey for some people at Christmas. Everything can be hell for some.
If you know anyone who is alone this Christmas please speak to them
RDP THURSDAY Gift
With thanks to Bushboy for the word today
I guess we havve all had at least one gift at Christmas that was absolutely awful but yet we always said thankyou anyway. Oftentimes these gifts are given with such love that we don’t actually care what the gift was but recognise the love behind it.
Me and my husabnd can no longer shop for gifts and in fact we have no one to give a gift to. We have no family and no friends either and we are alone in life and so that rushing around trying to find the perfect gift doesn’t happen now. When we were buying gifts in the past it was always the situation that we could never afford very much and we always felt bad about that because in my family there was a bit of bad feeling if you didn’t spend a lot of money on a gift.
I think that the best gift that anyone can ever give is love. That might sound corny but it is true. It is love that reaches over barriers and it is love that goes right to the heart of us and warmss us inside.
I am rambling. Maybe it is just the pressure of the day even though we are alone. My head is all over today lol. Anyway this is my offering.
FOWC Wreath
With thanks to ‘Fandango
Prudence had been planning it for a while. She almost took more pleasure in planning it than actually doing it. Humphrey was the most boring man that she had ever met, and she wondered why she had married him at all. What on earth had she seen in him? Everything always had to be just so for him. The table had to be set in a particular way. All his things had to be just so. Prudence was fed up with it. He was never any fun. Even his moustache had to be pruned in a special way.
She had been thinking for a long time how she might do it, and gradually the plot hatched. It didn’t seem right to do it on any ordinary day. It had to be done on Christmas Day. He was always an old bore on Christmas Day anyway. It would make a good present for him.
As he sat there at the table waiting for his Christmas dinner, she handed him something, saying,
“I thought we’d start with this,” and she handed him a bowl of mushroom soup.
Humphrey looked at the bowl of soup as Prudence sat down with hers and waited. It didn’t take long. Soon, Humphrey was choking and recthing and grabbing at his throat. She looked at the wreath which formed the centrepiece of the table and smiled. It simply said,
“Happy Christmas.”
HOPE SAYS….Happy Christmas
Woof woof woof
Happy Christmas to all doggies and their people.
I’m still here even though someone tried hard for me not to be. I’m allive and wagging. I went in to see Charlie the budgie yesterday and he said he hadn’t seen Father Christmas come down the chimney yet. He’s keeping an eye on the situation though. He says he’s glad I’m still here and he gave me a kiss.
I had a good time last night barking at all the fireworks. There were loads of them. I got all excited. Dad kept telling me to shut up because I was making such a racket. I don’t think he minded really though. He’s just glad I’m still here.
I don’t know what I’m having for dinner today cos Mum and Dad aren’t having anythng special. They just tell me that I’n special. I think Magda might come later to wish me Happy Christmas and to give me a walk and a love. Magda really really really loves me.
Anyway all you doggies and people out there. Have a woofing brilliant day. Woof woof woof
MERRY CHRISTMAS
A vey Merry Christmas to one and all. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, have a very happy day.
Please come and visit me. All are welcome here especially if you are alone or even lonely within your own family or sphere, or just if you dislike Christmas. I’d love to talk to you.
FANDANGO’S STORY STARTER
It was just for one night. At a certain time of the year, the forest came alive. All sorts of nymphs and faeries could be seen, but you had to have the special glasses in order to be able to see them.
Bill and Tracey really wanted to see the nymphs and faeries but they couldn’t find anywhere that sold the special glasses. They wandered round the town all day long and not one shop sold the special glasses. They were becoming quite disconsolate. If they didn’t see them this year, they would have to wait another whole year before they could see them. The shops all closed and it began to get dark.
“Come on Trace, lets just go to the forest anyway. Who kows. We might be able to see them without the special glasses.”
“Okay,” said Tracey.
They found a bus that took them to the road that led to the forest. Alighting from the bus, they started to walk. It was enchanting. The moon was out and it felt as if they were in another world. They held hands and stopped every now and then to kiss.
“We’re not going to see anything,” said Tracey.
“I think you’re right,” said Bill. They came to a lovely soft grassy patch, and decided to stay there for the night, sleeping under the moon. When they awoke in the morning they watched the rabbits playing and heard the birds singing. They felt so lighthearted.
Eventually they made their way back to where they could catch the bus back to town. When they got to the town, all the shops were full of posters saying,
“Get your special glasses here. They’re for one night only.” The shops were absolutely stuffed with the glasses. Bill and Tracey looked at each other. They’d got the wrong night.
Disaster husband spilled hot soup onto a large area of my bare skin
We have had a disaster. This is EXACTLY why I have dreaded Christmas. He has neuropathy in his hands and he can’t feel much with them and the wobble and lot and he was bringing hot soup to me. He has done ot often before, but today was a bad day, what with all that has happened with Hope. We have been so so upset. The soup burned me and we called Magda to come and she put cold wet towels all over me. Fortunately I didn’t need the hospital.
I just feel defeated. This is why we have kept on and on and on trying to get help but always we are unsuccessful.
We both feel like just lying down and crying, but we can’t. We just have to get on with it.
Thank goodness Magda was able to help. She changed the bed as well as it had gone all over the bed too.
I don’t know what we are going to do. Over and over again we have asked Social Services for help in doing meals but all they way is that they don’t do that.
I really hate Christmas. Everyone is ensconced in families and it is so frightening to us. And so far we haven’t really got into Christmas Eve. I dread the next day or two.
Hope is fine. Magda took her for a walk while she was here. She leapt up on her and she really enjoyed her walk. So that is a bit of good news.
HOPE SAYS…..I was nearly a gonner
Woof woof woof
Well I’m still here.
It was an awful day yesterday and I’m never going to speak to that Sally again. I don’t think she’s coming any more anyway. I thought she was nice but she wasn’t. She was gonna make me a gonner. I heard it all.
Well this is how it happened. She took me to the vets for my injection to make Mar. Arthur go away. The vet was real nice. And I got some new pain killers too. I thought everything was alright and I was ever so happy to see Sally
Anyway, when she got me home she talked to Dad and told him a great big lie. She said I couldn’t stand on my back legs and that I had to be put to sleep. Well I sleep at nights and wake up in the morning and snuggle up to
Dad when he comes down to get Mum’s tablet. I’m always pleased to see him in a morning but I’m usually really sleepy.
So I didn’t know what Sally was talking about.
Then suddenly they were talking about putting me down. I didn’t know what that meant either. I’m usually up, not down. I leap around a lot and run like the wind. Then I realised what they were talking about because Sally was talking about a vet coming to kill me. Oh my God.
Sally was telling Dad that I am suffering and that he neded to kill me. I couldn’t beleive my doggy ears. I couldn’t protest because I can only speak in doggy. Anyway, then Sally told Dad about this friend of hers who is a vet and that she euthanases doggies. I wanted to howl but I couldn’t. I want to stay with Mum and Dad and Magda. Sally started saying that this vet friend would come in the morning and do me in. Oh my God. The death sentence and I wasn’t even norty.
Then Sally said that Dad would have to move his car so that the vet could put her car in our drive and that she would help her friend to carry my body into the car.
Oh crap.
I nearly did that too.
Then Sally said that this vet woman would either cremate me or bury me in a pet cemetery.
Well I’d had enough by then but there was nothing that I could do. Then Sally was shouting to Mum upstairs in bed and telling her that I was going to be done in. Mum cried her eyes out but I couldn’t get to her. And then Magda was crying her eyes out too.
They protested that when I got out for a walk with Magda, I pull her real strongly and I run too. But Silly Sally wasn’t listening.
It was awful.
Anyway then Sally told Dad to ring her in the morning to make the arrangements.
I LOVE MY VET BECAUSE SHE SAVED THE DAY AND SHE SAVED ME.
Dad rang our vet when Silly Sally had gone and the vet said that they could keep my going with my injection against Mr. Arthur and that I was nowhere near having to be killed.
I don’t like that Sally any more. Magda came and loved me and loved me and loved me.
Then Dad came and loved me and loved me and loved me.
If that Sally ever comes near me again I’ll crap on her.
She was trying to get business for her friend who is a freelance vet who only kills doggies. She’s not a proper vet who makes doggies better.
All this time I loved Sally and then she planned to kill me. She deserves to be crapped on.
Anyway it’s real nice now because Dad loves me ever so much. And I’ve got to run into the living room later on and tell Charlie all about it. He’ll be real mad cos he loves me too. And he’s going to go on watching out for that Mr. Arthur coming down the chimney. I hate that Mr. Arthur. He started all this off.
Fancy wanting to kill me for Christmas Day.
So this isn’t a very nice Hope Says.
Don’t worry. You’ll go on hearing from me. I am alive and kicking.
I love you all. Xx. Woof woof woof
CAN’T STOP CRYING OVER WHAT SALLY DID TO US YESTERDAY
If you have read my previous posts you will see what happened to us yesterday regarding Hope. I can hardly believe that someone would do that to us and especially right on Christmas. All that time we trusted Sally but she turned out not to be what we thought she was.
To have this done to us has nearly broken us as already we were struggling with my own illness and Christmas on top of it.
If any of you are up to it I would really welcome you on my blog on Christmas Day. And if you lonely yourselves too please come. Not everyone likes Christmas.
I think Hope might like to speak to you later today. She is very very glad to be still alive and she has snunggled up to my husband already this morning and she is also standing up on her back legs and Sally told us a lie. Hope is fine apart from having some arthritis but she can still run like the wind and jump.
Hope is alive and well.
WAITING
Waiting
With bated breath
Do I hear the sleigh bells
Wait what was that streak in the sky
Stars shine
BELLS CHIME ACROSS TIME
Bells chime across time
But time will never hold them
They are eternal
THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT WHAT SALLY WHO TOOK HOPE TO THE VETS DID TO US
I am in shock. I posted that Hope had to be put to sleep either on Christmas Eve or on the day after Christmas Day. Sally who is our pet taxi and who always went into the vets with Hope for us and who siad she loved Hope, told us when she came back from the vets today, that Hope had gone off her legs and that as she now couldn’t get up at all, she would have to be put to sleep. Sally is knowledgeable about dogs as she has her own and is also a dog walker. We beleived her as Hope does have arthritis in her back legs. However, when Magda comes and when she takes her for a walk, she absolutely runs and leaps up in excitement. We couldn’t understand it. Hope is on injections for the arthritis and pain killer too.
We were very confused as Sally had it all arranged for someone whe knows who used to be her vet but who now works in solo putting dogs to sleep, to come and put Hope to sleep tomorrow, meaning Christmas Eve. She even said that this vet would dispose of Hope’s body either by cremation or burying her in the beautiful pets cemetery.
We were in absolute shock.
So my husband rang our vet and asked what had gone one and if HOpe needed to be put to sleep. The vet said that no she didn’t have to be put to sleep and that today’s injection would have an effect and also they hav got her some new pain killers.
We couldn’t beleive it all.
So we texted Sally and told her we were not having Hope put to sleep and Sally texted back and said that she was no longer prepared to take her to the vets for us as it had upset her too badly today seeing Hope go off her legs.
Now, we have no one to take Hope to the vets and we feel we have been blackmailed by sally.
All this when already I am suffering so much with my illness and Sally didn’t know that but she knows I am mostly in bed.
We just feel gutted.
VET SAYS HOPE MAY NOT HAVE TO BE PUT TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW
What happened with Hope was that Sally took her to the vets for her injection for her arthritis and Hope went off her legs. It is her back legs. Also the vet gives her pain killers.
Sally was telling us that we had to put her to sleep because she is suffering. She ws very stron on it.
However, we have not talked to the vet and the vet says that it might be too soon. Her injection might work during the next few days and also they have sent for some different pain killers for her. Sally never told us that.
The vet is saying that in time it will come, but she might go on for another couple of months before it is necesaary. If it is, the vet will come to our home to do it even though they do not normally do that. That was very good of them.
Sally we think was being over dramatic. But we don’t know why. She gets paid well for taking Hope to the vets and the groomers. And Sally was actually crying as well. So we don’t know what was going on. We can only go by what the actual vet says.
I am crying myself now. It has all been such a shock. She will not be put to sleep tomorrow now and not even on the day after Christmas unless something drastic happens. We love you very very much Hope
HOPE OUR DOG HAS TO BE PUT TO SLEEP EITHER TOMORROW OR THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
Hope has had arthritis in her back legs for a while now and today she went off her legs and is finding walking difficult. She is only nine years old and we had not idea that it had got so bad. She has been to the vets today and it might be that the vet has to come to our home tomorrow to put her to sleep. It is up to us but she is suffering apparently. If not tomorrow it will be the day after Christmas.
Such terrible news.
RDP TUESDAY Present
With thanks for today’s word
I don’t know what the strangest Christmas present you ever had was, but every year I would receive either a scarf or some socks knitted by my great aunt, bless her soul. She couldn’t knit for toffee and she dropped more stitches than she knitted, resulting a rather holey scarf or sock. In fact they were virtually useless. But the love with which she knitted them was worth it all. She was a lady with no real family left, as she had never married, and she had worked as head chef in an hotel in London. She loved little children and she called my sister “little dolly.” She has been dead for a long time now, but we will never forget those scarves and socks.
FOWC Heir
With thanks to Fandango
Henry always expected to be the heir to rather a lot of money. He perceived his father to be very rich, and he thought that he would never want for anything, even as an adult. Father would provide for him.
Father did have a good managerial job in a prominent firm, and had worked his way up from almost nothing. The family now enjoyed the good things of life and Henry had become used to it. They had things in their bathroom that nobody had ever seen before, and they were proud of it.
Eventually Henry’s father died, and he expected to be very rich now. He had never really visited his father during his last illness but he still expected things to be as he had imagined they would be.
It came to the reading of the will. Each of his brothers and sisters received a large amount of money, but when he heard his name read out, he got the shock of his life. He had been left only two pot cats that had been on the mantlepiece in the family home. He could hardly beleive his ears. Could this really be true?
His brother Frank appeared after the reading of the will, telling him that he should not be shocked. He had never visited his father or bothered much about his mother or the family in general. Henry’s eyes began to blaze and the next thing that Frank knew was that he was getting a punch on the nose. Having got his fury out, Henry walked away, never to see any member of his family ever again.
WE SAT BY THE FIRE
It is the anniversary of my grandmother’s death today. She died in 1997. It is a night that I will never forget. I have so many wonderful memories of her. She was very different to my mother, and without her I don’t think I would have survived. She was a most playful character, full of fun in a kind of a dignified way. She was a very humble lady who didn’t like to be seen. Yet she did so much good in her lifetime. She often had kids from the village up at the farm and gave them a much needed neal. She was always taking baking and food to people in the village. She was so generous.
On an autumn or winter’s night we would often sit by the fire together. My grandfather would be sitting in a corner sucking on his pipe. He was a very taciturn man but good hearted.
My relationship with my grandmother was so special. When me and my parents lived a long way away from her, we would write to each other and I still have some of her letters. I can no longer read them because I am blind now.
I still grieve for my grandmother, for she was the one who taught me what love was.
THE FLEA WHO DRANK GINGER BEER
A flea who drank ginger beer
Started to feel a bit queer
He jumped on a cat
And said Well that’s that
I’ll be here until the New Year
INCOMPREHENSION
Oh dark
Mystery, praise
The Holy One who dwells
In incomprehension, lead
Me to
The heights
Where sight does not see nor ears hear,
All senses gone, the heart
Intact to see
My Love
WATERS
Within
My heart that craves
The loving that I had
When body was blithe and young
Still flow
Waters
Of sweet loving in a parched land
Bathe me in your fountain
To sweet music
Of love
HOPE SAYS…….I’m in a quandary
Woof woof
I’m in a quandary. Magda is coming on Tuesday afternoon and Sally is coming to take me to the vets. I love Magda and I love sally and I can only see one of them. What am I going to do?
Sally puts me in her car and I travel beside her because I refuse to go on the back seat. Sally tickles me behind the ears at the vets and she makes a real fuss of me. Magda takes me out for walks and I lick her ears and nudge her bum.
What am I going to do?
It’s not fair. They should both come on different days.
Anyway there were men up in the air again this morning. Men on ladders. That’s not right. Only fireworks should be up in the air. Men havn’t got wings like Charlie so they shouldn’t be up there.
I’ve got to sneak in to see Charlie to tell him all about this.
Bye for now
Woof woof woof
FORGET ME NOT
Forget me not where
The forget me nots grow you
And I kissed the sky
SADJE’S SUNDAY POSER
Thankyou Sadje for this poser.
I totally agree with you about ambitions and plans. Ambitions may or may not be realised. Hopefully plans will be, all things being equal.
For myself, I am not able to make plans for the next year due to circumstances beyone my control. A lot is going on and the future is uncertain regarding my health.
However, I can state what my ambition is. It is simply to go downstairs and sit in a chair normally, rather than being in bed all the time. It doesn’t sound like much, but for me it is.
At one time it would have been my ambition to get my book published and indeed I had made plans for it and paid a self publishing company for the publication of my book. However, illness intervened and although they were waiting for it, they never rceived it. They are still waiting, but I am permitted to send it at any time at no further cost to myself.
I think that my ambition for the next year if it is at all possible is to get better.
WOTD Glory
Thankyou Alice for this word today
When I first read this word, I thought immediately of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, with its words “Glory glory hallelujah.” I can hear it playing in my mind right now.
However, I am going to home in on this word as describing the wonder and splendour of the hills and fells in the English Lake District. I have written much about them before, but these memories are always there in my mind, and they can often revive me. Not that I will ever climb them again, but in my mind I might. The first time we ever visited that Lake District, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew there would of course be lakes, but I never thought of hills and fells. At least not ones that could be walked on. Or climbed. In time, however, the sheer beauty and glory of them was to be revealed. If you had told me as a child that one day I would be walking the hills I would not have beleived it. I hated walking. However, that was because I always walked up big hills with my mother or my grandmother and it was often on hot days, and I almost used to faint with the effort and the heat. So I was not exactly a candidate for hill walking.
There is something wondrous about things that are hidden behind something and that are mysterious. That is how I often think of the hills and fells and even mountains. It seems to make them even more attractive and alluring. They have a glory as yet to be revealed. We cannot even imagine it untul we see it.
I think my mind has wandered a bit with this word, but what a glorious wander.
STRUGGLING SO HARD TO KEEP GOING
Some of you know the background to what has happened to me, and I will spare you too much detail. Since I got my diagnosis of almost dangerously low feratine levels, which means that I am very very short of iron in my blood, I have been getting poorlier and poorlier. Despite religiously taking the very strong iron tablets twice a day, I am feeling very ill now. This morning I felt as if I wasn’t really here, and found all sorts of strange things happening in my brain. I was laid on my bed and I didn’t want to fall asleep as I always get terrible nightmares if I do, and I just began to cry with fear of what is happening to me. I know that in those moments I have to try and pull myself up and out of it. But I am fighting a losing battle. Today, in the end, I did what I always do. I tried to make a blog post. Just the action of thinking and typing brings me out of it for short space of time. I am finding all of this very frightening. I feel as if I am nlt really here and I am living in a rarefied atmosphere alone. Even though my husband is with me, I feel alone in my world. I am alone in the suffering that I am going through.
I intend to keep on posting in my blog, and on some days I might post a lot to try and keep myself going. So if a lot of posts appear one day, and none the next, it is just how it is.
I am dreading Christmas because everyone is ensconced in families and it is as if the world is closed to us. As most of you know, we have no family, and friends have turned out to be fair weather friends. People who used to be kind of friends now no longer answer the phone to us. It is not that we were bothering them or anything, but they just didn’t want anyone who is poorly around them. It is a bit like when someone dies and friends walk by on the other side of the road.
Christmas has always been a terrible time for me in particular because of memories and various other things. I actually feel ill when I see or hear the word. But you can’t ignore it. It is there. And it is here.
For us it will be an ordinary day, with me trying to cope with my illness. A phlebotomist is coming next week to take my bloods to see if there is any improvement. I am dreading the results because I feel as though my body is not absorbing the iron that I am taking.
Eathing is just almost impossible for me as I retch with each mouthful, but it is necessary to eat in order to get better.
I don’t in fact know if I will get better. It can take years to right this thing. The itch is driving me insane just as it was.
Not a very good update I am afraid. Thankyou for reading this and thankyou for stilll walking with me. Xx
FOWC Marriage
With thanks to Fandango
It was a marriage of convenience. Ellen had married her first love in the early 1920s, having become pregnant to him. She came from a very strict Primitive Methodist family. Her father was strict and could often be seen sitting in his chair with his Bible in his hands. Togther with his wife, they had had thirteen children altogether, but some had died as babies. They farmed a farm and George came to work for them as a labourer. No one ever knew quite how it happened that Ellen managed to get together with him and become pregnant, but it happened. She had her baby, and together they lived in a tiny village and had plans to make some kind of a market garden. Ellen could neveer have imagined what was to happen. George suddenly developed a brain tumour and died, leaving her with her little gilr, Hannah. In this terrible position where it was almost impossible for a woman on her own with a child to survive, Ellan went to live with George’s parents in a different village. They had a grocery shop attached to their house, and she helped out there.
One day a man appeared to buy some groceries from a big farm just out of the village. He was a bachelor and began talking to Ellan and her little daughter. A friendship was formed and in time, Frank asked Ellen to marry him. However, this was to be a business arrangement. He wanted her to have more children so that there was a son to inherit his farm. There was no love in the relationship. He was, however, a kind man. Ellen went to housekeep for him but soon she was pregnant by him. They were not yet married. Hastily they got married and Ellen had four children by him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t have a good life. She did. She wanted for nothing, but it was very hard work looking after Frank and the farm and four children.
It makes one think because nowadays it is nothing to have a baby out of wedlock and many choose that path freely.
NOTE This is the true story of my grandmother. My mother was the little girl who lost her Daddy when so young.
CREAKS
Creaks
Breaking
The silence
Of the dark night
Are they on the stairs
I listen and shiver
Dare PI shout and ask who is there
I freeze and try to open my mouth
Suddenly I scream and the creaks are gone
KINGFISHER
I sit one day looking at the fields,
A flash of colour takes my eye,
It darts so fast across the water,
I am mesmerised by such deep, rich colour,
It lands quite suddenly on a branch,
A beautiful tiny kingfisher.
For the very first time I see the kingfisher,
In a dyke surrounding the fields,
So close it sits on the swaying branch,
I see it clearly in my eye,
I am entranced by its wonderful colour,
Gently flows the water.
It sits looking at the moving water,
Containing fish for the kingfisher,
How amazing is its colour,
Matching the green of the fields,
Showing up on the grey-brown branch,
I can hardly move my eye.
I see it fluttering in my eye,
It starts to dart across the water,
Flying off the swaying branch,
This beautiful little kingfisher,
The wind blows gently on the fields,
The grass a shimmering green in colour.
I become aware of deeper colour,
Wherever I cast my eye,
Whether it be on the sky or on the water,
On the wild flowers in the fields,
Or on the little kingfisher,
That fluttered off the grey-brown branch.
Inside I thank God for that grey-brown branch,
My life now is full of deeper colour,
Brought into being by the kingfisher,
On which I feasted my eye,
As I look at the colours in the field,
I thank God for the moving water.
The sun shines on the water enhancing dancing colour ,
Even the brown-grey branch, that draws my eye,
Catching the shimmering green of the Field, reflected in the kingfisher’s wing
u
CAN YOU TELL A STORY IN…
Can You Tell A Story In…
One Christmas I went windsurfing in my pyjamas when suddenly lightning struck. I felt as if I needed my armour on and inside I was all of a fidget. I remembered my past and being in the Nativity play as a child and playing a tambourine in the school band. I was never good at spelling and I would gloss over my defects. My first baking experiement involved a rock bun but we’ll not say too much about that. It was as if the whole of my life flashed before my eyes. Was I going to die? My heart stopped.
RDP SATURDAY Party
Thanks for this word today.
I am not sure if it is the best party that I ever went to or nnot, but I didn’t get to go to many parties as a child. However, this one sticks in my memory. It was almost Christmas time, and I think I was about ten years old. Our class at school was to have a party one afternoon. It involved turnin two desks around so that they formed a kind of table. Then four children could sit at this table and a tablecloth was put on each one. Each of the four children at any given table would bring things to the party table. What each one would bring was arranged beforehand. A colour was chosen for a theme and hey presto, we had our Christmas party. I ended up on a table with a gilr who brought in some revolting bright orange coloured cakes that she had made. In fact the whole table looked rather odd. But it is something I will always remember.
WOTD Goodwill
Thankyou Alice for this word
Christmas is meant to be the season of goodwill. I think that it used to be that, but over the years society has become more insular and it is a bit like every man for himself. Or so that saying goes. I am sure it includes women as well. I am not sure if this has been precipitated more by covid when we did all have to look after ourselves. At the beginning of covid there was a community spirit in our town and I think in general in the world as well. But then it morphed into this very self centred mode. I do not feel much community spirit around these days. Not even now, at Christmas. I suppose it has always been the case that there were people left alone at Christmas but it seems that there are many more now. My husband and myself are being left completely alone and we are feeling it and wondering how we will manage. In the old days this would not have happened.
Goodwill at Chrstmas. That is what the Christmas story is all about, for it is actually a religious Festival but nowadays it is just commercialised. The story seems to have been lost. Many don’t even know about the story. It is just a time to have a jolly good time eating and drinking and partying. The religious angle seems to have been lost. Whether we believed in the story or not, it is certainly true to say that it was presentd as a story of goodwill. Perhaps often a sentimentalised one, but nevertheless with a lovely message behind it.
I think now of all the places in the world where there is fighting and where people are suffering terribly from the effects of terrible wars. What goodwill is there going on there? No one seems able to bring about peace and we hear some appalling stories coming from these places. The world leaders seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
We certainly could do with a bit more goodwill around. But one place where I DO find goodwill is here on WordPress. Amongst the blogging community. I have often been moved so much by what I see going on around me and much goodwill is exerted towards me. Thankyou everyone.
DAILY WRITING PROMPT
https://blindwilderness.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&answer_prompt=2158
We are asked what was the last thing that we did for fun
I don’t really remember what the last thing was that I did for fun as I don’t do many things like that any more. However, I do remember what I did some time ago that was real fun.
I have a native American Indian flute. In fact I have about five of them. I also have a drum. It is only a small drum but it can make a lot of noise. I decided that I wanted to make and record music, and so first of all I played my drum for a while onto the record part of my iPad. After that I played my flute and added it over the drum. This involved two iPads as I had to play the drum beat and record that onto my other iPad whilst playing the flute. From there, I took the iPads into the bathroom and ran some water into the bath to make the sound of a mountain stream. Once all three were together it was amazing.
It was quite hard work doing all that, but I loved it.
The thing that I guess I could say I do for fun now is simply listen to the song of my budgie, Charlie. He is a bright yellow one and he sings exquisitely. I love to hear him and if I am feeling down or afraid, as I often do in the position that I am in, he cheers me up. Often, when I am in the middle of a panic attack quite suddenly his chirping will pierce through the blackness that I feel inside, and it feels good again. Thankyou Charlie for your beautiful song.
FOWC Bomber
With thanks to Fandango
My father was in the Royal Air Force during the war. He had not yet met my mother, and he was stationed at Bridlington, which is a seaside town in the U.K.
This air base was where the bombers that had been over Germany during the night came back to and many of them were in a terrible state. My father would have to race to the bomber and help get injured men out. After the war, he suffered terribly from his experiences. My mother always said that it had changed him for ever. He could never settle down againn, but he did marry her and then they had me.
One thing that he did do at the Air Base was learn morse code. I am not sure exactly how it was used but I know that he learned it.
One day my husband and myself were looking at the internet and we found a photograph of the men from the air base, all in their uniforms and we recognised my father on it. Such a weird feeling. He is dead now so it was truly weird.
SOCS SATURDAY
The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Dec. 20, 2025
With thanks to Linda G. Hill
It was bitter cold. Just the day for eating a toasted teacake lathered in butter. As I bit into it, I began to feel miuch better. It was Saturday, and I began to dream of fish and chips, the fish fried in lovely golden batter. All day long I dreamed of the fish and chips and imagined eating them. The day was just so cold, and I kept going by eating little snacks, and drinking lots of hot chocolate. When I went outside I could see my breath and I rubbed my hands together to keep warm. Surely it was cold enough for snow. It wasn’t in the weather forecast but surely surely it was coming. Each time I opened the back kitchen door to let the dog out, I was hit by an icy blast. The dog wouldn’t stay out for long as she too didn’t like the cold. It was lovely and warm in the kitchen and in there the bitter cold couldn’t get to us. I listened to the weather forecast and still no mention of snow, but the weather forecast often got it wrong. I looked out of the window and there they were. Flakes of snow. When the dog went out she came back in all white. It was so cold that I decided against going to the fish and chip shop and took something out of the freezer and ate that. It was a battered fish cake with some potatoes and peas. I would have the fish and chips another night. Once I had eaten the fish cake and potatoes I felt much better but I still dreamed of the fish and chips from the fish and chip shop. That would be for another day. Something to look forwards to, once the snow had gone and the weather had got better.
SAMMI COX’S WRITING PROMPT – Teaspoon
Sadie was given a silver teaspoon by her great aunt when she was born. Over the years her mother kept it and when Sadie married, the teaspoon passed onto her as a memento of her great aunt. It was special. She and her husband moved around regularly. The teaspoon was lost. Sadie grieved, then one day she found it, to her great joy and relief.
65 words
THIRSTING FOR COOL STREAMS
Thirsting for cool streams
In the heat of my passion
I crave their waters
HOPE SAYS….I got out
Woof woof woof
It was ever such an exciting day yesterday. I got out. I escaped. Magda left the front door open and I was out like lightning. I ran into the drive and hid behind the car and Magda was looking for me but I kept disappearing from her. She was shouting me but I wouldn’t go to her. In the end I did though, because I thought she might take me for a walk.
When I got in, I went and told Charlie about it and he told me that got out once. He escaped from his house and Mum and Dad had to get Sally to come and gt him back. He had a great time flying around the living room. We had a real good chat about escaping. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to escape though because you don’t get any food. It’s fun at the time but you always have to go back in the end. Anyway if I escaped for ever I wouldn’t see Charlie any more. Unless we both escaped together that is. But I think it’s a bit too cold for Charlie out there at the moment. In fact it’s too cold for me sometimes and I’ve got a thick coat on.
I think Mum would like to escape sometimes because she’s stuck in bed all the time and she gets fed upp with it.
I think Kate’s coming this afternoon and I don’t think she’ll let me escape. I’ll be put behind the wheelchair in the dining room and I’ll be able to peep at what’s going on. She isn’t like Magda, and I don’t think she’s too sure of doggies. Maybe on day I’ll be able to lick her ears and bring her round. She did laugh at me last time she came so I might be winning.
Yesterday everyone came at once again. The Tesco man brought loads of stuff in and I think there were lots of sizzlers for me because it’s that thing called Christmas. I can’t run out of sizzlers because they’re the only things I’ll come in to when I’m outside. They’re much better than meaty chews.
Dad’s fed up with me because I have two bowls of water because I always tip one over and it goes all over the kitchen floor. And I’ve got one empty dish where Dad puts my food but I keep on clanging that on the floor. I do it all the time that Dad is doing their dinner. I keep standing in front of him but he tries to ignore me. No one ignores me. I’ll make sure they don’t.
Anyway it’s time to bark now. I have to keep people in order. And frighten off that Mr. Arthur.
Byes for now
Woof woof woof
FOWC Integration
Withh thanks to Fandango
Joe and Sally knew that integration into thier new village might be difficult. They had moved to a place that was closed in on itself and didn’t like newcomers. It was a beautiful area dsurrounded by hills and lakes, but the people who had lived and worked there for years hated anyone new coming in and they tended to cold shouder them. Joe and Sally wondered what they could do. Their acccent was different to that of the people in the village. They seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. The place was steeped in tales from the past of all kinds of strange a ghostly happenings, and it certainly did feel a spooky place to be. However, Joe and Sally were determined to breack the ice in some way. Suddenly Joe had an idea. He would start an ice cream selling business. He could go round the village with his ice cream van and the kids would love it. He could carry many different flavours of ice cream.
Soon, everyone got to know about Joe’s ice cream. The kids watched out for him, and became very excited when they saw his van. Soon adults too were wanting to eat is ice cream. Eventually conversations began to take place, and the ice was gradually breaking. Joe began to purchase more ice cream vans and employ people to take them round all the surrounding villages. He became famous and soon the village where he and Sally lived became proud of Joe’s ice cream business.
“I think we’ve done it,”n said Joe to Sally one day. “We’ve beaten the integration problem. Even that old battleaxe \
Freda down the road comes to buy my ice cream now, and I even get a smile out of her sometimes.”
It was the anniversary of Joe and Sally moving to the village and they sat down to a wonderful anniversary dinne. And the sweet was……ice cream of course.
RDP FRIDAY Mountain
Sometimes you can look at a mole hill and see it as a mountain, and sometimes you can look at a mountain and see it as a mile hill. When I first looked at the path up the highest mountain in the Laked District I’m not sure what I saw it as, but I was determined to climb it. If I had thought about it too long and too hard I might never have climbed it. However, taking it in bit sized chunks did the trick. It took me eight hours to get to the summit and back, but what an amazing climb. Such amazing views and such varied terrain, including the huge boulderfield as I was approaching the summit cairn. Almost there, but that huge boulderfield presented a real challenge. The boulders rocked as I put my feet on them and it was quite scary. But nevertheless I was almost there and wasn’t going to chicken out at that stage.
It was one of the best days of my life when I climbed that mountain.
CHARLIE THE BUDGIE’S DIARY…..I’ve been busy
Cheep cheep cheep
I’ve had to do a lot of watching of people. A man came into my room but it wasn’t Father Christmas coming down the chimney. It was a man about Dad’s wheelchair that is broken. Dad is having to buy a new one and he’d come to get some signatures off Dad. I hope that Dad didn’t sign me away. I don’t think he would because he and Mum like me singing and cheeping. Anyway there’d be no one to watch out for Father Christmas coming down the chimney if they didn’t have me and also that man called Mr. Arthur Itis migh sneak in and Hope wouldn’t like that. If he tries to come in I’ll deafen him and then he won’t want to come in.
There’s a lot of queer stuff been going on with wheelchairs and fridges. Dad got too many fridges deleivered and now the house is full of fridges. Hope has seen boxes walking into the kitchen on their own and she told me she’s watching out for more.
Hope got out yesterday. Magda left the front door open and she got out. It was a real adventure and she came and told me about it when she got back. Magda had to chase her.
I think we’re about to have a thing called New Year. I don’t understand it. I just wake up in a morning and cheep. Anyway whatever a New Year is, I’m going to enter the Budgie Olympics. I’ve been practising ever so hard. I can do all sorts of things now like hanging upside down from the roof of my house. And I can fly real fast now. I think I might be the fastest budgie in the world. Hope thinks she’s the fastest dog in the world but Mr. Arthur is slowing her down a bit. Mum and Dad have bought her lots of nice soft rugs to lie on but she carries them all round the kitchen with her. She’s been sneaking into the back room too, and then she peeps at everybody from in there. Especially Magda and Kate.
I think Kate is coming today and she always gives me a new carpet.
I’d better go now and fill my face with seed. I shout at Dad to give me some more even when my dish is still half full. I see it as half empty.
Bye for now
Cheep cheep cheep
THE FLEA THAT TRIED TO COOK EGGS
A flea who tried to cook eggs
Got all mixed up with his legs
The eggs were scrambled
And the flea just rambled
About eggs that did in his head
SITTING BY THE FIELD
Sitting by the field she saw
Sights of yesteryear galore
Here in this the wildest place
Touched in evening by sun’s grace
Reaching to her very core
Seeping into every pore
Memories oh so very raw
As the breeze caressed her face
Sitting by the field
Waiting on a golden shore
Wonders from her mind’s great store
Soon in death she would embrace
Those wondrous things that left a trace
Of all things that had gone before
Sitting by the field
MOON FROST
Moon frost
Falls to the earth,
Tickles the trees with cold,
Patterns of beauty adorn them,
Tonight
White holds
Nature in statuesque splendour,
Dresses me lightly, holds
Me with intent
And joy.
SECRET FLAME
Inside
A secret flame
Burns strong even when dark
It lights my path, illuminates,
I was
In light
Not brilliant but just enough
To keep me holding on
PARADISE
In sacredness live
The life you always wanted
Paradise is here
FOWC Courtship
With thanks to Fandango
It was one of the strangest meetings and a very strange courtship. Martin met her in an airport lounge. She was from Australia and he was from England. In those few moments they fell in love. When he returned to England he couldn’t forget her, and they conducted their courtship at a distance, only coming together on the day that they married in Australia.
Martin settled in Australia and the two of them had two children. Martin couldn’t have wished for anything better as he had always hated the English climate and his life was surfing. Often, they thought of their strange meeting in that airport lounge.
NOTE This is a true story as it is the story of my cousin Martin.
THE STORY BEHIND MY LAST TWO POEMS
You may notice that my last two poems are very similar and on the same theme. In both of them there is the river. The scene is at Whitton which is a small village about eight or ten miles from where I live. The river is the River Humber. Some time ago I visited this village and at that time my brother was still in my life. I wanted to see inside the church there because it was quite unique. So was the graveyard. It contains the bodies of many souls who perished in the river below. The church stands on a hill overlooking the river and is the highest point in the village. In the past many came to grief in that river. Boats capsizing and sinking and various things happening because of the strong current. It felt quite spooky when my brother and I went inside the church because as I was looking around, suddenly a bell started tolling and it was coing from somewhere across the river. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon. The strange thing was that one of the two bells in that church came from another church across the rivr. It is a replica of the one that is now over the river. It is interesting because insciribed upon it are the words, “my name is Mary.” I think it was often the practice in the past for bells to have a name and of course this refers to Mary the other of Jesus. I found all of this absolutely fascinating. The stories of the people who perished in the river and the asociation of the bell. I can often still feel as if I am there looking down on the river from the hill where the church is and I can still hear the bell tolling.
GRAVES
Graves stand
In the churchyard
Taken from the river
On a freezing cold winter’s day
Tears fall
THE BELL
Over the river
I hear a church bell tolling
I shiver with cold
HELP, DAIRY FREE FOODS AND MEALS
So, my doctor has been in contact with me today and the news is good. Well, at least, he doesn’t think I have any internal bleeding so no cancer causing the loss of iron. However, my iron is so very very low that I now have to have no dairy at all in my food including main meals. This is because dairy prevents the absorbtion of iron into your blood from your food.
We have been wracking our brains to think of meals and just snacks and light lunches that have no dairy in them. It’s real hard. It is hidden in all sorts of foods.
We have looked at ready chilled meals but they are all so fancy and with loads of werid stuff in that I couldn’t eat.
Does anyone else have to eat none dairy foods and even if you don’t, can you think of foods without dairy in?
I don’t have to go for ain infusion or iron if my blood test next week shows that things are now going the right way. I don’t know if we’ll have the results back before Cyhristmas.
I can eat red meat but my husband has a job cooking it. I feel a bit flummoxed right now. They do make dairy free mayonnaise which will help but I have no idea what it tastes like. Also thye doctor recommended almond milk. Does anyone else drink this?
I guess this is a good Christmas present with him saying he sees no signs of cancer in my blood test results. It is such a releif.
So now down to business. Finding foods. I think I will be eating lentil soup until the cows come home. On no, I can’t say that. Cows are a no no lol.
HOPE SAYS…..It’s not Fair
Woof woof woof
It’s not fair. Dad tried to keep me away from Magda today. He put me in the back room with the bins blocking my way through the door. I could still see Magda but I coldn’t get to her. It just wasn’t fair. I did keep peeping at what was going on and there was a lot going on and that’s why I should have been there.
Then Dad wouldn’t let Maagda take me for a walk. He said it was because of the Mar. Arthur. He said my back legs splay and they’re weak now and he said I had to rest them in the warm it was dead cold out today.
In the end Dad let me near Magda and she gave me my tablet cos of Mr. Arthur and she gave me it in some cheese. I knew what it was but I still ate it.
I’m going again now but jiust had to tell you how unfair Dad is.
Woof woof woof
ALL THINGS PASS AWAY
All things pass away
I too am passing away
Like the autumn leaves
SWEET HONEYED WORDS
Sweet honeyed words
Lurking seductively
Quietly waiting for the moment
Of low resistance
Insidiously
Working their way
Into a tired brain
Into an aching heart
Be on your guard
Against honeyed words
SOUL
Soul
My friend
Walk with me
In light and dark
In desert places
With nothing but hard rocks
Where the sun scorches by day
And the dark earth freezes at night
Hold my hand as we walk together
To that bright place beyond the horizon
I HOLD TODAY
I hold
Today in hands
Weak and fragile shaking
With the effort of existence
I write
Stories
Tinged with gold from much better times
Try to catch their glory
Now once again
Sighing
SOIL OF THE EARTH TAKE ME
Soil of the earth take
My body unto yourself
For I am just dust
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