Mon Beau Sapin...

Hi everyone! Last time I showed you the little choir people I made for our church's first Christmas tree festival. Thought you'd like to see them in place, along with some of the other trees. Local schools, churches, businesses and societies were invited to decorate a tree - 27 in all. I haven't got pictures of them all, but here's a selection....

Church choir tree.

Closer up.

Tree by a local Primary school.

Submitted by local Catholic Primary school; the tear drops have prayers on them for the healing of the world.

From a nearby church. They copied pages from a music hymn book and shrunk them - why didn't I think of that?!

Angels from the realms of glory....

A simple but effective idea from the church run playgroup - artificial flowers dipped in glitter.

Our church Prayer Shawl group meet weekly to knit, crochet, weave and sew items, praying as they are made, to bring comfort to those in need. 

Angels and stained glass biscuits from our Footsteps (Sunday School) and Messy Church groups.

Angelic close-up.

A hole was cut in the centre of the shortbread biscuits, crushed boiled sweets filled the hole and these then melted during the cooking.

The scouts made their own tree, as well as the decorations.

The body of this life sized angel (Or, rather, human sized - surely angels can be whatever size they want?) is made from lots and lots of paper bun cases. 

Another Primary school's tree. Brought back many happy memories of past Christmases in schools in which I have taught. Who can forget those happy, excited children whose faces and hands had more glitter and sequins than the things they were making...

The east end of our church. These two trees will stay up till Epiphany; the rest were taken down after the festival.

The bellringers' tree. 

And, finally, visitors were invited to write a prayer request on a star and tie it to this tree.

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Had a lovely drive out the other week (14th November) in the country lanes around the Norfolk villages of Shernborne and Anmer, and thought I'd share some pictures with you. It was a really still day, not a breath of wind. Just beautiful!

My eye was drawn to a flash of bright pink in the otherwise bare hedgerow - a Mallow!

Beautiful Autumnal tree - Beech or Oak I would guess.

So peaceful.....

Deserted road....

...which was just as well, since it was too narrow for two cars to pass each other!

Gateway to a field. There were hares in this field, but too far off for my little camera to pick up.

All of a sudden there was a great cacophony of noise overhead, as hundreds of geese flew in.

They landed in a field and, after a little chat to each other, settled down to eat. I wish I'd had my binoculars so I could tell you what sort of geese they were.

And finally, to finish the post, a few random photos....

Goodness, my doormat is awfully bumpy!

Ah, it's Bramble, waiting to pounce on his sister when she comes down the stairs!

Our church is having a Christmas Tree Festival. I made these for our Church Choir tree, in the colours we wear. Everyone drew their own faces. (A few were missing at this stage, including our conductor and organist.)

This is me! Do you think it's a good likeness?

Advent blessings to you all!!!!   x x x

Busy day!

Hi everyone!
A very busy and productive day today. After breakfast I walked to do the Tesco shop, dragging my tartan granny shopping trolley with me. Daughter refuses to be seen with me when I use this trolley, and Mum says she'll get one one day when she's old enough! As I'm not at work till September (hooray!) I'm trying not to use my car for distances that I could easily walk - unless there's too much to carry. So that was a total of 1 and a half miles walked, with added drag factor on the way back.
When I got back I prepared the main meal of the day, putting it in the slow cooker. I used the meat left on yesterday's roast chicken together with red pepper, onion, celery, mushrooms and carrots to make a delicious thick stew.
Next, with help from an agile 17 year old, I achieved my aim of putting two boxes of old, but still precious, toys into the loft. However I also ended up with loads of bags of old letters, bank statements etc (belonging to a certain hoarding Male) being brought out of the loft to be disposed of. So the dining room is now all cluttered up with those! There is too much to shred at home, and it takes ages to burn in the metal dustbin-like incinerator, so I think I'll actually pay to have these shredded.
After eating the delicious stew with rice and a bread roll, it was off to choir practice next. That was another 1 and a half miles walk all told. Needed two big, heavy music hymn books today so used my other trolley to carry them. This one is a beautiful wicker basket on wheels with a walking cane handle. I got it from Ebay and I love, love, love it! It's only disadvantage is that it only holds half as much as my tartan one, but it's perfect for little jobs like this. Had a great sing-song, practising hymns for Sunday's main morning service and special 'choir's choice' Songs of Praise in the evening. It was very hard trying to pick just one hymn - there are so many beautiful words, tunes and memories to choose from. Eventually I picked "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation". I sing Alto in choir but requested that we sing the last verse in unison so I could let my voice soar for "Let the Amen sound from His people again, Gladly for ay we adore Him." Yessssss!!!!
Finally I'm now on my computer telling you all about it! A good day - praise God!

Me in my choir robes - taken about a year ago.