And a Happy New Year!

I was half-listening to a radio review of the main news items of 2008. It was very entertaining and reminded me how much more we forget  transient news stories than actually remember! I suddenly felt my age (for only 2 more days can I sing "When I'm sixty-four" because I shall have got there!) But what will you remember of 08?  McCain putting his chips on the table and choosing a pitbull with lipstick as his running mate; Obama barracking us about how it will all change with this election(and who was his running mate who will in 4 weeks time be the vice president of the US?)

But what will your memories be? Shannon Matthews? Catastrophe in Zimbabwe? The wonderful Olympics in Beijing? The Bitish tally of medals there? The wash-out summer? a particular holiday or event in your life? The death of a loved one? What are the memories that shape us? Are they personal moments, national or international events?  I suspect that for most of us it is the events that revolve around the family and close friends who make up the daily routine and ritual of our lives. I suppose external events only impact upon us when it actually affect our lives: the credit crunch and the way the value of our property and shares are quickly devalued. Or when a bank goes bust and we lose a substantial portion of savings; or the war in Afghanistan brings about the death of a loved one. That came home to me in April when I was asked to dedicate a memorial rose garden at the Anglian Regimental Chapel at Warley in Essex. At that point 10 soldiers were being commemorated who had died in the last year or two. War suddenly impacts on real people that I met on that occasion, wives, girl friends, parents, who were proud of the sacrifice and bravery that these soldiers had displayed.

So what will 2009 hold: what predictions could be made? The credit crunch deepening? Yet more businesses going under? How we we be changed: illness, bereavement, redundancy, or the challenge to let this coming year be more fun, less tense, more relaxed because we have made a resolution NOT to let things get us down? That is my resolution and I hope to keep it until at least 12th night!!

Anyway May 2009 be for you

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Eve

Just wanted to wish my reader a very Happy Christmas and bring this blog up to date.

This morning I received an email from a correspondent who last Thurs  saw 5 Little Egrets sitting in a line in a field at Langleys, some Redwings (also in field) and several Goldcrests (a bird  we'd

never actually seen before although heard) unusually very low down in a
hedgerow.  There's me crowing (and there are plenty of crows around here) about the odd one or two we see hereabouts and dear old Bill gets to see a whole plague of them! C'est la vie! So Scamp took me for a walk this afternoon - nearly did my gammy ankle in - we walked miles and did we see anything? Just  crows, magpies and pigeons of which there is a veritable plague - there have been hundreds (I mean hundreds) roosting in the trees here feeding of the fields - hence the recent multiplication of scarecrows and bird scarers.

Do hope Santa brings you want you want: by the way- we discovered that he does not live in Lappland but is alive and well in Turkey - here is his picture.

He is based on the life of St Nicholas who was born at Myra in Southern Turkey and which has a shrine and a wonderful statue. It is a pilgrimage site for many Russians - the day we were there it was packed out with them!

You can read more about it elsehere in my blog where I gave  an illustrated account of the journey.

Any way Happy Christmas and a

BRILLIANTLY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

The Shortest Day of the Year

Today the sun decides it has gone south for too long and makes it's long journey back towards the Northern Hempisphere.

I began the day with a walk with the dog. The weather was mild (thermometer recorded 10C.) with a strong breeze from the south west. Above there were a few clouds scudding across the brilliant blue sky as the sun was rising through the trees. There were clouds on the horizon, which as the morning wore on gradually thickened up.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk, and for once, rarely, met not another person. Scamp was off lead and furgling in the undergrowth: he threw up a pheasant which squawked off in an ungainly flight over the hedge into the next field! It was so quiet and it was a day to listen to birdsong:all the usual blue tits, a pair of blackbirds, and I think I heard a chaffinch. But it was good just to stop and listen and look around, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the countryside, and feel at peace with oneself, the world and God.

Two birds took off from the middle of the field, and my first though was that the were larks as I have often heard skylarks here in the summer. They were too far away to get any kind of colour or shape identification, but as they flew they sang a very pretty song, but it was not like a song I have heard before, although it was melodic and carried a great distance. Perhaps they were woodlarks, - it had the undulating flight that my bird guide describes, but the territory does not quite fit. Anyway their song made my day and so we turned homeward for breakfast and then church! Have a nice day!