I’ve been sent another photo of an Angel in her new home.
For those of you who missed our concert, here’s the YouTube link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2U8Wgrok5g
We said a special Christmas thank you to our lovely choir leader today.
Category Archives: Postaday 2023
Another Angel, The Concert and A Thank you
A Poem, An Angel and Peace
What Would You Take? by Serhiy Zhadan
Read by Olha Lemesheva in Truro Cathedral 19 December 2023
People, like snails, wait for the evening
Sleeping so soundly, so deeply in stations
Women who left clean bedsheets back home
Children who cling to their mother’s hand.What will you take, little snail, from your burning home?
First of all, faith that you will return.
Remember the way the furniture stood;
Hide the keys in your pocket like a dried flower.This is your road – walked by the voiceless.
Overnight stays between silence and rain.
Be brave, snails, know your worth on this journey.
You’re denied a home – never a heart.
The work of ShelterBox was highlighted throughout the concert and a comment made that we had all experienced, for a short time, how things can change in a moment. Yes, we went out into the cold – but we could return to the Cathedral after the fire alarm and then to our own homes.
I’ve been sent a photo of one of my recently sold Angels. It’s always good to see them in their new homes. 
The need for peace is in all our hearts. 
Concert, Firemen and Street Lights
Well, that was quite an evening! We were just into Hark the Herald Angels’ when the fire alarm went off and we all, 100s of us, had to leave the Cathedral and move into the cobbled square in front. But – we had a great time in the cold outside! Claire, our choir leader, took the crowd in her hands and we sang for them and with them while the firemen went in and did their thing! We loved that bit better than the whole!
The blue lights are the fire engine while we were singing with the crowd
Tree in the Cathedral
Walking home through a very quiet Truro.
Lights in Boscawen Street, Truro
More tomorrow, it’s very late. 🙂
Christmas – A Concert, A Poem and Our Tree
Tomorrow evening, both my choirs are singing in the ShelterBox Christmas concert and although, Dear Readers, you are all over the world, you can still join the festivities from the comfort of your own home by watching live at shelterbox.org/ChristmasConcert. I hope you’ll be able to join us. If you do, please add a like or a comment tomorrow evening. We’d love to know where in the world the concert was watched. 
The lovely poet, Brian Bilston, has very kindly said I can share another of his poems with you all. For me, it sums things up very well indeed – if only we still had a cat. We have tickets for his gig in Falmouth next May!
Our tree is covered in angels. They have been bought over many years and all around the world where we have visited. (Still need to go to Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia!) There are angels from Warsaw, Volcano in Hawaii, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Denver and Seattle, from Munich, Salzburg, Sheffield and Truro, from Mapoch in South Africa, Nepal and more! The fluffy ones were my Mum’s.
Memories, An Owl and Being Kind
Today marks the day my lovely Dad died in 2004. He spent his last seventeen days in the hospice and I spent every day with him. I find the beginning of December quite tricky and this year more than most, not sure why.
I’m remembering the long days full of such mixed feelings, the sadness and the reminiscing, the wonderful staff at the hospice, the way I was so well looked after as well as the amazing care for my Dad. We put up a favourite painting in his room, we took in his (now my) ‘Des Amis Silencieux” bookcase, filled with all his published books which gave every visitor a talking point.
Those who know me, know I wear vanilla perfume every day. One day, late in his stay as I bent over to kiss him good morning, he said how like ice-cream I smelt and he loved it as he loved a good Cornish ice-cream.
I’ve started decorating the tree this afternoon and love the Owl that was on the tree at home when I was growing up. 
Saw this today and loved it.
Angels and A Gift
I have made the last angels for this season and here they are waiting together for their final wash in bicarb and liquid soap. I’ve made one for each LiveWire this year as well as the ones to sell. It’s actually quite hard to let them go as I love each one I create.
Judith may notice the beautiful piece of blue sea-glass that I wired up for one of the angels.
A young friend brought us a gift yesterday of homemade truffles in a beautiful homemade box – all made by her lovely daughters. Aren’t we lucky? 
Fire and A Feast
It was the Christmas get-together at the allotment this evening with a wonderful fire (which will result in biochar for us all to use as a soil enricher ) and a delightful selection of mince pies and mulled wine – a lovely warm evening in every way.
My contribution, Galette Jalousie filled with mincemeat
Knitting, Thatch and A Poem
I knitted lots of little hats for newborns some time ago but didn’t deliver them to the hub at our local wool shop as the hospital stopped wanting them. However, now they are needed in Ukraine as are larger ones for bigger children. The next truck will be leaving Cornwall with various supplies in the new year.
We drove past the thatch again and it is looking splendid. What craftsmen those thatchers are.
I have shared several of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poems before but this one I had missed. It was written in 1952 but is so sadly relevant still.
Trelissick, Singing and Decorations
The Suitcase Singers sang our hearts out in Trelissick Gardens this afternoon with an enthusiastic audience up for joining in and having fun.
Afterwards we went into Trelissick House to see the gorgeous decorations, delightful Christmas trees, one at least in every room, and some quirky dancers. Click on any photo in the gallery for more detail.
Tree in the Orangery, look carefully for seagulls and Cornish Choughs
Seagull on the top of the tree in the Orangery
One of the trees
Dancers on the piano
Another tree
Cornish bush – see the next photo for the history
Cornish bush information and history
