CONNIKA

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Well...I got SUCH a fright I screamed out loud.  Poor Miss Molly got such a fright with me screaming that she nearly choked on her dinner.  "There, there Molly", I said.  "Good girl!" and she went back to eating. 

I ran out the front door where Papa was busy mowing the grass.  I took off my apron and while I was running, I waved and waved it to get his attention.  FINALLY he saw it and I frantically signalled for him to come quickly.  He started off quite slowly so I started shouting at him.  "Come quick!" 

"What's wrong?" he said. 

"A SNAKE!"  I shouted as I was running back to the house.

"Where is it?" Papa asked.

"You can see it front the kitchen window.  Quick!  Quick!"

And so we ran in.  It was still there, but moving very, very slowly. 

"Wow!" said Papa.  "Go and get the camera Connie!" he said

Very shakily I brought the camera through to the kitchen and took the photograph.   "You have to catch it David and take it away." I said.  "I do too much gardening and sooner or later I'm going to meet this snake in the undergrowth."  

"Mmmm." said Papa. He was quite quiet for a few moments.  "Perhaps Mr Green would like this snake." he said.  Mr Green down the road has taken a snake from us before.  He says they get rid of the mice around his place.  So Papa telephoned Mr Green.  Thankfully he was in.  I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't been in because Papa looked a teeny bit worried about how he was going to catch this snake.  But I knew he would do it because he would do anything for me.

Papa telephoned Mr Green.  "Roger", said Papa.  "I've got a snake here and Connie wants a new home for it.  Would you like another snake?"  And do you know what Mr Green said?  He said he DIDN'T want another snake!  "Oh!" said Papa.  "It's just that Connie wants me to get rid of it.  It makes her frightened."  And so kind Mr Green came down Yonder Lane to help Papa with the snake.  Papa went down to the barn and he brought up a bin with a lid and a strap to tie round the lid.  When Mr Green arrived, he said "Wow!  That's a big one."

At this point Miss Molly and Dougal were desparate for their walks as they had finished their dinners by this time.  So off I went and left Mr Green and Papa to catch the snake.  When I arrived back with Miss Molly and Dougal, Papa and Mr Green were sitting at the table outside chatting away and Mr Snake was well and truly in the bin.  Mr Green said he knew where there was a good home for the snake;  an avocado farm nearby.  So off went Mr Green and Papa with the bin.

When Papa arrived back home he made me a nice gin and tonic and a wee whisky for himself and we sat down at the table on the front verandah and talked about our exciting day.

 

IN THE GARDEN YESTERDAY

Just fed the dogs and started to do some washing up.  I'll leave you to imagine the rest...

COSMIC HOPE

 

“Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of all who fall asleep.”

~ 1 Corinthians 15:20

St. Paul seldom leaves the message at the level of “believe this fact about Jesus.” He always moves it to “this is what it says about you!” or “this is what it says about history!” Until we are ourselves pulled into the equation, we find it hard to invest ourselves in a distant religious belief.

Paul normally speaks of “Christ”—which includes us and all of creation—for he never knew Jesus “in the flesh” but only as the eternal Body of Christ. Christ Crucified is all of the hidden, private, tragic pain of history made public and given over to God. Christ Resurrected is all suffering received, loved, and transformed by an All-Caring God. How else could we have any kind of cosmic hope? How else would we not die of sadness for what humanity has done to itself and to one another?

The cross is the standing statement of what we do to one another and to ourselves. The resurrection is the standing statement of what God does to us in return. Today really is our big feast day!

~ Richard Rohr, Easter 2012

(Photo taken here at Summerfield)

TO BE A CHRISTIAN...

To be a Christian means to necessarily be an optimist because we  remember what happened on the third day! We know the final stage of death, Jesus' leap of faith, was not in vain. He was not put to shame, and "God raised him up" (which is the correct way to say it, and not that he rose himself). Most of human life is Holy Saturday, a few days of life are Good Friday, but there only needs to be one single Easter Sunday for us to know the final and eternal pattern. We now live inside of such cosmic hope. 

Jesus trusted enough to outstare the darkness, to outstare the void, to hold out for the resurrection of the forever-awaited "third day,” and not to try to manufacture His own. That is how God stretches and expands the soul, and makes it big enough to include God.

You see, to love fully is to die! (When you fully unite with the other, the separate self is gone.) What is handed over to God is always returned to us transformed into Christ Consciousness. Easter is the eternal third day that we forever await, but today we are content to live in the belly of the whale, in liminal space, in the "in between" that is most of human life. God is creating a Big Space inside of you. Just wait!

Adapted from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p. 145

Prayer:
"Faith is a journey into darkness, into not-knowing."   ~ Richard Rohr

(Photo taken here at Summerfield)

 

LILIANE IN THE GARDEN

School holidays!

IN THE GARDEN

Another photograph taken by Anton.  This is just beautiful and really catches a summer's day here in Summerfield.  Although, looking out of my office window at the moment, it isn't quite the bright, sunny day of this photograph.  Woke up this morning to David telling me we had a lot of rain last night.  "You sure?" I asked.  Looking outside, the brick patio was all dry.  But sure enough, when I checked the rain-gauge, we had had 24 mls (almost an inch in the old scale).  Wonderful.  The tank will be filling and filling...  It is so green and lush and before the storm this afternoon, it was very hot and muggy.

Tomorrow it's quilting with my dear quilting group.  The CHAIR quilt top was basted last week at Robyn's so perhaps I'll start some quilting which I haven't done for quite some time.  It's the favourite part of quilting for me.  The movement and tilt of the needle and the alpha, or is it beta thoughts that float in and out of my mind - bit like gardening.  Very relaxing.

Shall get myself organized and put a photograph of my chair quilt up.  David made the chair and Emma drew it for me. 

Watch this space.  Well maybe not THIS space... 

ESPECIALLY FOR GREER

It's rose time here at Summerfield and as Mr Cundall would say, "They're bloomin' gorgeous."  These are some of the Pierre de Ronsard roses on the verandah.  We have these roses scattered around the place and they flower forever. 

When the Crepiscule begins to flower in Spring you know the Melbourne Cup isn't far off.  This is one of the main flowering roses at Flemington.

Down at the fence the Sparieshoop is in flower always reminding me of dear Llois who introduced me to this beautiful rose.

This beautiful climbing rose is the Lamarque.  Its flowers are of medium size which form in small bouquets.  The petals have a touch of yellow at the base.  I took the first bloom to David when he was in hospital.  The fragrance is just wonderful.

 

And this wee beauty is the Climbing Cecile Brunner rose which grows near the water feature in the vegetable garden and also grows on the fence beyond the main garden.  Shall head back to my photographs and see if I can find a closer shot...

...And you know what I'm going to say now don't you?  Yes you're right, "That's yer bloomin' lot for the day."
 

A STRANGE ONE

 

This wee fella came into the garden the other day.  We assume he is a young pale-headed rosella although his head doesn't seem to be the colour it should be!  David searched his bird book and there was nothing to suggest this particular orange head existed in the current bird population.  But, isn't he beautiful?

And...a definite pale-headed rosella.

THE HEDGE IS GONE

 
Following the floods in January, our lovely hedge became so waterlogged, it died.  Shall we plant another we mused?  Shall we plant climbing roses we asked ourselves?  Eventually we decided on a rustic fence and off David went, back into the forest.  Isn't it lovely?  And the white wisteria has already started decorating it.  Because of the hedge, the upper lawn to the right of the photograph was an enclosed garden.  With the new fence we now have a longer view from the house which has worked well with the size of the property.  We have also noticed  that the grandchildren are playing further afield too.

 

IN THE GARDEN YESTERDAY

 

Can you see the lovely trellis David weaved for the beans?  We saw something similar in the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh earlier in the year.  So...off he went into the forest and came back with some branches and twigs.

 
 Another one for the snow peas.

And the last of the lemons.  Tree is now blossoming.  Is there anything nicer than lemon blossom?

 
A close tie would be the mandarin blossom

 
And we can't leave out the apple tree.