A couple of weeks ago whilst we were visiting my son and daughter-in-law, my husband took the opportunity to get his camera out and take some photos of the new family. Bill, who had been quietly wandering around, was not happy and started barking at the camera, trying to chase it away. (Apparently the hoover…

My husband has gone to have his hearing checked, as I write this piece. He is concerned that he does not pick up everything said to him. I wonder sometimes if he perhaps has “selective deafness”?!? My nephew was born with complete hearing loss on his left side. Unless he could see their face, he…

Two weeks ago today I was sitting anxiously at home awaiting news of the birth of our 1st grandchild in London. The day dragged on and the evening came. There had been various messages about progress, and by 11.30pm I was exhausted! Our other son lives in Australia so he took over the “sideline encouragement”…

This month would have been my father’s 101st birthday and earlier in the summer I was reminded of his role during WW2. He joined up in 1942, before he was called up officially – he was afraid he would be assigned to the Royal Navy and he couldn’t swim. He was in the Duke of…

We have a small vegetable patch, about 1square metre at the back of Elmsett Methodist Church, which has produced tomatoes, courgettes and sweetcorn. We even have our own compost heap(s), as well as dead hedging and wildlife patches to attract a whole variety of insects. How many of us have grown courgettes? Every year I…

My son and his wife are expecting their first baby any day now, (my first grandchild). You might have heard of the nesting instinct. Does that include the garden? Perhaps it’s a male version of the nesting phenomenon. Their lawn has always been very poor with dead grass and humps and bumps, so about 2…

A few weeks ago I had a short break in Herefordshire. On our first day we decided to walk from Ledbury to Much Marcle, a distance of around 7 miles. We used a recommended route, with notes about interesting places along the way. After leaving Ledbury by a rather overgrown and neglected footpath running alongside…

Do you ever ask yourself what opportunities do I have to witness my faith? Here in Elmsett we have a friendly and caring village community. We often, as a community, ask what the needs of that community are. Perhaps we are complacent and comfortable enough to think we do not share the needs that become…

Friday morning is my regular group cycling event. It’s a very informal group, usually between 2 and 10 of us. We usually contact each other sometime on Thursday evening to see  who is available to go out. Of course, the decision to go out for a bike ride is very weather dependent. We don’t like…

Some of you may know that we have a vine in our greenhouse. Last year we were in competition with our resident blackbird, who appeared to “steal” all the grapes. (We knew it was him because he has a distinctive white fleck on his side). This year I have been more vigilant, or lucky, and…