Just want to say what brilliant treatment we had from our surgery today. My lovely Mr S was not fit to go to see a Dr so the surgery arranged for a paramedic to come to check him out. S spent 30 mins with us and made sure all was well and left a prescription with us. Hoping now that a corner will be turned.
Today is the 90th birthday of my very good friend and singing mentor whom I met in 2008 when I first joined The Ingleheart Singers. She took me under her wing then and has kept me there ever since! Her Family arranged a secret party this afternoon and asked for the choir to turn up as a surprise and to sing for her ,so of course we did! It was a delightful afternoon.
Jean’s beautiful cake, wish I could credit the maker.
Another friend from choir spotted a knitted crib earlier this week and sent me the next photo, knowing how much I would like it. I love the smile on Mary’s face and have to wonder why one of the shepherds is up on the roof!
A simple meal was called for this evening, Macaroni Cheese, comfort food at its best.
I’ve made myself a beautiful scarf and matching fingerless gloves for singing at outdoor gigs over the winter months.
Fingerless so I can still turn pages if I need to.
I can’t remember where I found this poem but saved it to share sometime so here is is now. I especially love the last three lines. 
Our very talented, local knitter has been busy again and made a wonderful topper for today.
We wear white poppies in remembrance of all victims of war – the wars happening now, the civilians and the refugees and as a commitment to peace. The white poppy is also worn to challenge militarism and any attempt to glorify or celebrate war. I was pleased to see a white poppy included in the topper.
I found a poem about Peace for today and first found this one attributed to Mary Oliver. Here it says that was wrong, it is a poem by Judyth Hill. Thank you for this.
Wage Peace
By Judyth Hill*
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.* Sometimes mistakenly attributed to Mary Oliver
I was given more quince yesterday. Having already made quince jelly and membrillo, these I am going to roast following a recipe given to me yesterday by one of the volunteers.
Thanks W for the honey roasted quince recipe
There’s a new postbox topper to celebrate Hallowe’en and I love it!
Coming home from taking the photo, I just caught some sunset. It looks like a raging fire in the sky.
It’s been a stay home day today as the wind howled, the rain fell and the temperature dropped so it was lovely to receive photos from my dear SIL of pumpkins in the Botanical Gardens of Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you V. perfect timing!
Pumpkins
More Pumpkins
It was very special too, to receive a gift in the post today of a beautifully knitted pumpkin which will take pride of place on our table through this Hallowe’eny time of year.
Thank you so much, Judith. I love how the knitted pumpkin is such a perfect replica of the ones in the photo above.
We had a few bananas in the freezer that needed using up so I made a Banana, Pecan and Raisin Cake for tomorrow.
As Nancy suggested, I decided to make a scarf with the lovely sprkly yarn I showed you a while ago..I think it will take me some time!
I found this piece the other day . It’s a good philosophy to live by!
One of my favourite shops in town has started to stock wool and I went in today to see the new shelves – lots of gorgeous colours!
I couldn’t resist buying some very pretty multi-coloured wool and am now thinking of what to make with it!
I like to bake a big dishful of whatever, have some for tea and freeze away several potions so that we have ‘ready meals’ always available for when we don’t feel like cooking. Tonight it was a big dish of Moussaka. .
There’s a new postbox topper on our street, four frogs fishing. 
The evening sunlight lit up our lovely boat sculpture and threw a pleasing shadow. 
I came across this poem, Rhapsody by William Stanley Braithwaite, today and wondered why I had never read it before. It’s in the book, A Poet for Every Day of the Year edited by Allie Esiri.
By William Stanley Braithwaite 1878 – 1962
We had the most delicious soup for lunch today, Red Pepper soup, brought to us by dear friends.
Red Pepper Soup. Thanks M x
Exercise for Mr S now includes a short walk along our road to the post box where there was a delightful new topper of ice creams and ice lollies.
I’ve been talking with a fellow blogger about the lack of butterflies this summer but we do have some pollinators.
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