Pink Saturday - I'm OK :)

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Karmen loves it when I make the bed as she ducks in and out and up and over the sheets and duvet cover. As I didn't get home until late last night it was about 11pm before I was able to remake the bed and what fun Karmen and I had!!!!

My bedding is pink - being a young lady I do believe it is the pinkness of the sheets and pillowslips that Karmen appreciates :) Well, I had just put the pillowslips on the pillows turned around to pick up the top sheet and there she was ..as snug as a bug in a rug.. inbetween two of pillows. Thankfully I had my mobile phone by the side of bed and took these photos.

for my photo hunt entry click here

Today's post

Today's post is at http://www.judithcommunitychaplain.blogspot.com/

plus a photo of my mum, dad and two brothers visiting my grandparents grave in North Walsham - I asked for a group photo and this is what I got!!! Not one I can really put out on the sideboard :)

Karmen this morning

Karmen adores climbing the apple tree in the garden and now that it is covered in leaves it is also a good hiding place :)

Hi folk - I'm off to Spring Harvest, Minehead tomorrow until Sunday with 30 other folk from The Salvation Army, Barking. If you click here you will be transported to the Spring Harvest site.

Take care, Judith

Pink Saturday - church

please visit Beverly by clicking here and visit other other delightful Pink Saturday contributions.

My contribution today is a gift a received a few years ago by a friend who stayed with us and it is a cute wooden pink church with an enclosed pink slip of paper with a Bible verse Psalm 20:4-5

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Psalm 20:4-5 (NIV)

Thames View Lodge - The Old Rugged Cross

my post today can be located http://www.judithcommunitychaplain.blogspot.com/

When all else fails!! pray and garden

Yesterday my father went into hospital for surgery to remove a growth from behind his prostate gland. The surgery went extremely well and by the evening Dad was back on his ward recovering. I know that his recovery was aided by all the prayers being uttered and expressed on his behalf from family, friends and even by my 'twitter' friends.

Karl with my Mum and Dad - taken Christmas 2008

But even so when it came to 2.30pm, the time for his surgery, I really didn't know what to do with myself so decided to partake in my father's favourite past time - gardening. So off into the garden I went - digging, weeding and re-planting some of my plants.

a blurred ladybird

a white Dicentra Spectabilis - Alba

a red Dicentra Spectabilis -Bleeding Heart ready to be planted in one of the beds.

Before I knew it an hour or so had past by and when I phoned my mother she informed me that all was well and that they were waiting to transfer Dad back to his ward.

Thank you, Lord.

And, oh yes, Karmen was a great comfort to me!!! she slept the whole day :)

I know it's nature BUT

One of my favourite birds is the Sparrow - I love watching them bathe in the soil that I have just turned over in the garden - watching them chase each other and then feed from the bird feeder on the apple tree. My neighbour, William, has all sorts of goodies in his garden to attract them plus a variety of nesting boxes which they do use. However, over the last few years we have sadly noticed their demise as less and less sparrows visit and nest in our gardens.

a pair of china sparrows Nigel & I received as a wedding present 28 years ago.

I know one of the reasons why and it's because we must have nesting sparrowhawks in the area - last year they visited my garden a few times to capture sparrows and this morning my theory was proved right when I heard twittering in the garden and rush to the patio door only to see a sparrowhawk swoop down into the hedges and swoop out with a little sparrow in its clutches (the sparrow was still alive) then the sparrowhawk landed on the path in my garden with the intention of killing its prey. I thought (foolishly) if I banged on the window it would drop the sparrow and fly off but no it just flew off with the sparrow and the sparrows family and friends twittering in the background.

Sparrowhawk - picture taken from the internet.

Now I know that it's all part of nature BUT it still churned my stomach to witness the catch.

Pink Saturday

Pink Saturday fun - click here to visit Beverly and other Pink Saturday participants.

This week my Pink Saturday post is a photo I took Thursday evening of two of my delightful ladies who attend the Thursday evening service at Thames View Lodge. I took their photo on my mobile and, unfortunately, the quality is not at all brilliant and does not depict their beautiful pink blouses at all.

Eve (left) is coming up to 91 and Daisy (right) is her late 70's both ladies were singers and dancers performing in shows. Both ladies are absolute gems and Thursday evenings wouldn't be the same without them.

I explained to them the reason why I wanted to take their photo - neither had heard of blogging but knew of the Internet. So I explained that they would be seen by people all over the world and they were quite happy with that thought :))

Two photos and an award :)

A photo Ali took of me with a delightful gentleman advertizing the Internet as I clutch my Ireland mug that Ali gave me as a present.

The photo is rather dark but just to prove that we did meet - Ali and I in Garfunkel's resturant.



Then many thanks to Valerie from Simply 4 God for presenting me with this award. Valerie is truly an inspirational lady and I enjoy reading her posts which always come straight from the heart. Thanks Valerie.

History of the Uber Award:
Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who; inspire you, make you smile and laugh, gives amazing information, a great read, have an amazing design and any other reasons you can think of that makes them UBER amazing!

Here are the rules:

•Copy the badge and put the logo on your blog sidebar or post.

• Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!

• Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.

•Share the love and link to this this post and to the person you received your award from.

•Come back and comment here so that your link could be added to the master list of awardees.

The Uber Award goes to:

Deb - Ladybug from Texas

John - John Ager's Home on the Web

Ali - The Diary of a Reformed Workaholic

Elaine - A Scattering

Janet - Greetings from Gauteng

Sandi - Rose Chintz Cottage & Inspirations

the wheels on the bus go round and round

Until my new car arrives I have been travelling on public transport and particularly on the 387 bus and have lost 7lbs in weight in the process!!

Us Londoners seem to have the reputation of being very insular and not at all chatty when it comes to travelling on the public transport - well, today I would like to correct that perception. Yes, OK I admit the whole bus is not buzzing with people talking and chatting to each other - a lot of the time it would appear that they are actually talking to themselves (on their mobile phones) or listening to their iPods or gazing dreamily out of the window. However, I can honestly say that every bus ride I have taken, so far, I have managed to strike up a conversation with someone who has only been too happy to tell me about their day, their lives and where they are going next!!

Today I had a chat with a lovely lady who told me how for the last five years she has been a cook within a primary school in Barking. How she was looking forward to the Easter Holidays because she was feeling tired but she does so love her job even though it's only for four hours a day.

So next time you are on a bus or any other form of public transport - don't assume that people do not want to talk. I still strongly believe that folk are just waiting for someone to listen to their story and to dialogue. Some of my pensioners travel on the bus just so that they see a face, have the opportunity to exchange greetings with someone even if it's only the bus driver - it gets them out of their flat or house. You know it's good to talk and even better to listen.