Time, Life and the Garden

It is a while since I wrote anything here. I have found things very tough in the last two weeks or so and, in spite of the idea that I would keep a record through such times; I have not, and in honesty did not even try. Surviving through each day and fulfilling my responsibilities were as much as I could do. I remember a Christian man I much admired saying that he had prayed every day all his life until an acute illness. I think it surprised and humbled him that he was unable even to pray during the worst part of the illness. Perhaps I should not be too tough on myself.

It is quite surprising, how we cope with some of the most difficult situations, but then something quite silly ‘knocks us for six’, as they say. I was going to try and tell you about it, but it is sometimes better to draw a line under unpleasant periods, let them go and move on. That is what I am going to do now. I am going to tell you about the four cordyline plants I bought.

During the spring of last year, we radically restructured our garden. Although I did loads of planning, the restructuring seemed to take on a life of its own and sort of evolved. We had planned an informal garden party on the Sunday afternoon following our middle daughter’s wedding. The event was nearly on us as we finished a crazy paving semi-circular patio area. This was bounded by a narrow curved flower bed and a path. In record time, we planted the flower bed with some bedding plants we bought and others we already had in pots. It was a bit of a hotchpotch, but it seemed to work. We were blessed with two glorious summer days for the wedding and the garden party.

As the summer progressed, we had a wonderful show from achillea, which grew higher than I had planned for the bed. In the autumn, we cut them back and planted some winter bedding plants, but the lack of height made the bed uninteresting. That is where the cordyline come in. One of the plants in pots, that we planted in the bed before the wedding was a sad looking cordyline. In the summer, it was lost amongst the yarrow, but over the winter months, it has been quite spectacular. We decided that we would buy some more, to add winter height. Of course, December and January are the wrong time of year to find such in our local shops, but this week Wilkinsons has got their new stock of plants in and I was able to buy four green ones. We wanted green. Our soil is quite dark and we have some bark areas, both of which result in the red ones being somewhat invisible. So yesterday, we planted them out. At the end, of the garden we have some ornamental yellow grasses, which have grown very well. Dave suggested that we split them and introduced this yellowed green to the bed as well.

It is now May; Dave thought the above piece of writing needed an ending. It did but there was no ending, so I avoided writing anything for weeks and weeks and weeks! Silly isn’t it. The spring bulbs I planted far too late have grown up, out-shone the cordyline and are now past their best. Even the achillea is growing up and getting ready to flower.

I make no apologies for my humanity. What I am I am, but I am finishing this. We watched for every bulb and flower. A single daffodil began to open on St David’s Day. This was followed by a succession of other narcissi planted at the edge of the lawn by the path. Of all the experiments with the bulbs, this was the most successful and is something to develop further next year. After the encouragement of the first daffodil, we were a bit disappointed because we seemed to have a poor response considering the number of bulbs we had planted. We had planted a number of different varieties. These came up and flowered at different times. We had to be patient It was not going to happen all at once. May be that is something I need to learn in my life.

I began this piece, by commenting on why I had not written for some time and even before it is finished, I allow myself to be hindered. Perhaps I need to be patient with myself.

And the cordylines? They are doing just fine

Gill

Diary Extracts

I'm conscious that over the past few weeks there has been little contribution to this blog, so I'm including some extracts from my personal journal to bring things up to date.

Dave

17/04/06

Easter Monday

19:53 - In the Premier Travel Inn, Ipswich. This is the second trip planned for our Easter Break. We are down to see Gill's parents, both of whom seem frailer every time we see them. It is sad to say but we don't think GillÂ’s father has much time left, so bringing Callum down with us is important for both of them.

Conversation with Gill's sister, Elaine, has lead to thinking through what to do about funeral arrangements. Both want to be buried at a green site some distance from the house. There are no facilities there for any kind of service, and there is need of somewhere for that to happen. There is the possibility of Chelmondiston Church, but there is no minister, whether I could conduct the service in another diocese I'm not sure. I will need to speak to our Bishop ASAP. How well Elaine could cope with organising things is also doubtful, she is far from well herself and lacks the stamina needed, she is also the one nearest to Eric and Zita and, as such, is likely to be the one most affected.

Although there is a little sadness in this visit, I hope that we can also find some pleasant moments that we can enjoy. Tomorrow afternoon we hope to get to Felixstowe with Callum.

18/04/06

After breakfast we left the hotel to make our way to the Crow's Nest for around 10am. The previous day, as Gill's mother had wanted us to start the initial planning process for their funeral, we had discussed with Elaine the need for some sort of service at Chelmondiston; we stopped at the church to jot down contact details. We were fortunate in meeting one of the wardens and were able to discuss with her our needs. When we finished at the church Gill drove the car round to the house while I walked with Callum across the fields.

We had decided that as both of Gill's parents get very tired, we would take Callum over to Felixstowe in the afternoon. Life at Pin Mill is getting quite difficult. Gill's dad is obviously failing, he now hardly moves out of his chair in the lounge, and is waited on by Gill's mum and Elaine. To make matters worse, Gill's mother is in constant pain and seems to have lost a lot of weight. She is moving both slower and with much more difficulty than when we were last down. However, they do appreciate the visits, and in particular seeing their great grandson.

After lunch we made our way to Felixstowe. Callum got himself thoroughly wet playing in the water. After a change of clothes he decided he wanted to go on the boats. This was followed by a round of Crazy Golf.

Leaving Felixstowe we made a nostalgic trip past where Gill's parents owned a beach hut. It lingers in my memory as a place I went with Gill on our first summer holiday back in 1970. If that was not enough we drove past their old house in Bucklesham Road, another place where we had holidays when Sarah and Amy were small.

19/04/06

The first part of the day was taken up with visiting the undertaker, again part of the pre-planning we have been asked to carry out. Not exactly a pleasant task when one is having a break. Because of the nature of this visit, and the problems we have had with the dog's health, I'm glad that I booked those few days away at Ironbridge when we were able to suspended everyday problems for a short while.

21/04/06

Things are very lazy here and not much is getting done. Part of me wants to laze around but another part of me knows that we will pay for it next week when round of work and meetings gets going with a vengeance. I have an AGM, Communion Service and the Franciscans on top of a normal week as far as clients are concerned, plus we have to prepare for the weekend away at Eastnor. My problem is I would like life to be one long holiday. The only problem is the bank account keeps on emptying!

22/04/06

Feeling quite 'down' this morning. Whether it is the usual 'end of holiday' feeling or a reaction to the events at Ipswich is hard to say. I'm in that cycle where I don't want to do anything, and then worrying because things are not getting done.

I realised this morning that the main problem I have with my spiritual life is that I have tied it in my mind with having to either do or prepare something. I appear unable to differentiate between 'private' spirituality and public ministry. However, that differentiation is something that is going to be very important in the months ahead and even more so if I should be ordained. I think this may be similar to the feelings of Francis, when he had to choose between a life of quiet contemplation and preaching among the people. I guess Jesus must have felt it too.

This morning we took the dog out for a walk at Allerton Towers. It was very pleasant. Toyah is still not fully recovered, but she does have more confidence. I guess it will take a while for her to get back most of her mobility, the good news is that the longer she goes the better the prognosis.

Later on we took a trip out to the National Wildflower Centre. We wanted some thyme, but there was none. However, we did buy some other plants while we were there. On the way back we called in at a paving supply firm in Huyton to look at possible paving slabs to finish the work we started before the wedding last year. We have some ideas that will mean we will be able to walk around the garden in the winter.

23/04/06

St George - not that one would notice. Just a few English flags on cars, but no official celebrations as for St Patrick's Day. I remember when we were in Catalonia for this day and the celebrations there. Women were given roses and men were given books, there were bands on the street and everyone was in a festive mood. I would put our lack of celebration down to English reserve if it were not for the fact that we are good at celebrating other things. Perhaps we only obtain any sort of national identity when either our football or cricket teams are playing?

Today was our first Sunday at the church without a vicar. David Prescot presided at the Eucharist. David used to be a member of our choir before going forward to ordination. He has been left for three years now. Some say that he has expressed a desire to come back as our incumbent, time will tell if that is the case. Anyhow, everything seemed to go well and the turnout was not too bad for the Sunday after Easter.

25/04/06

Well, I have now goat myself back into things after the two weeks holiday. This is only a short half term of five weeks and includes not being in next Monday as it is a bank holiday. I have no doubts that before long I will be sitting wondering were the last school year went. Indeed, I have just been thinking that, if I was still in full-time teaching, I would be coming up for retirement in just eighteen months time. But should I be thinking such things? Better to enjoy what I have now. All the deaths of recent have reminded me that life is short, and none of us know how much time we have left. I'm getting there, but I still think too much of either the past or the future.

26/04/06

18:09 - Elaine rang about an hour ago to say that Gill's father has been taken into hospital. In some ways that is a good thing as they intend not only to deal with his pneumonia but examine the reason behind his long term eating disorder. Gill's mother will also get some respite. However, I don't think he, or the family, would want him to pass on away from home. Lord, he remains in our prayers.

In a few moments, I will be leaving to conduct the Wednesday evening Eucharist. I confess to being a bit nervous, which is not at all like me. I see this as a great honour. I also feel unworthy.

27/04/06

This has not started as being the best of days. Once again I have one of my raging headaches; the kind that makes me feel quite sick. We have a Franciscan meeting here this evening, so the downstairs will need to be tidied. Most of that task will fall to Gill before she goes to work as, every time I put my head down or move quickly, I feel quite sick. She has asked me to pray for her and so I bring here before you Lord. It is not easy for her with her father in hospital, having to look after Callum, tidy the lounge, tutor and go to work all in one day. I often complain of the things she does not do, but the truth is she does quite a lot for which I never seem grateful.

13:49 - Only now is my headache starting to go, although I think it could return quite easily. We shall see what the doctor has to say about it when we go for the x-ray results next week.

I was reminded last night that I need to write something for the front of the St. David Messenger. (Around 500 words) so Lord some ideas would be nice. At the moment I am thinking of talking about Journal Writing or Blogging, but that may be too much for people. The other thing was to talk about the month of June and how important it is in terms of the year. All of these are ideas with nothing concrete behind them, so I am open to suggestions.

02/05/06

Back home after a long Bank Holiday Weekend at Eastnor Castle. I was so good to meet up with old friends from the re-enactment world. When I say 'old friends,' that is becoming true for many of us in a very real sense! One of the things that was different about this event is that Amy came with us. It was her first re-enactment in twelve years, but it was like she had never been away, particularly as she took charge of the dancing.

When meeting old friends like this, it is easy to become nostalgic. What I need to be isgratefull for all the wonderful times and wonderful people we have met over the years. How many people get to camp in castles and beautiful places around this country and abroad? How many get to use things that people used in the past and, what is more, share that knowledge with other people.

10/05/06

Just been sitting our in the garden trying to make the best of the warm weather we are having. There is a whole host of things that need doing but it seems a shame to waste the sunshine. Just now the garden is looking quite lovely. The work we put into it for the wedding last year has paid off. Many of the plants have matured, and the seeds we prepared in the earlier part of the year are coming into flower. I have to be thankful for our garden, not only is it nice to look at but also it is somewhere one can sit and unwind after teaching.

12/05/06

2:30pm The good weather of the past few days is about to break. After a couple of hours of rolling thunder the first drops of rain are starting to fall. Theforecastt for the weekend is not too good, but I am thankful for the days we have had. I am also particularly thankful that I managed to get the grass cut this morning!

As I write Gill is making her way down to her parents in Ipswich. Her father remains in hospital and this is putting a great strain on her mother and sister, neither of whom are in good health. We are a little unsure what she will meet when she gets there and this weekend is as much about assessing the situation as it is about visiting. In the case of her father we are expecting the worse.

Dave's Good Friday Sermon

Introduction

Today is a day set aside for reflection. The whole of our liturgy is solemn. The altar is bare. There are no flowers. We are quiet. Today we are invited to enter into the tomb and stay there. It is not a nice place to be. Because we know that Christ rose from the dead, we are looking forward to Sunday, for Easter. - However, to reach Sunday we need to also experience Good Friday. And what we do here today is, in many ways, reflected in our own lives.

What does it mean to enter into the tomb?

Suffering in all its forms is part and parcel of our existence. Many of us are still grieving at the death of friends, relatives and members of our congregation. We have only to turn on our television to hear the cries and the anguish of parents as the children they love turn to drugs and violence. Some of us will have walked with others as they experienced breakdowns in their marriage relationships or as they have faced serious sickness. We have witnessed the cruel effects of war and the disquiet that uncertainty brings on all of us, particularly with the possibility of terrorist acts. Over the above all this is the fear of our own death. This is all part of entering into the tomb. No wonder we do not want to even think about such issues. It is not pleasant. We would rather bury them away in the background . The very thought of them can make us fearful and afraid. The famous Russian writer Solzhenitsyn often repeated these words. "The man who has no fear is no hero. The person who faces and overcomes fear is the hero." In Christ we are able to overcome those fears.

The great news is that Good Friday affirms that we are not alone in the tomb. Jesus is there. In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author says, "We have not a God that is incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are." (Heb 4:14-16) For us who believe, the Crucified Christ is not a sign of shame, of defeat, or hopelessness, but "is the wisdom and the power of God" (1Cor 2:24).

The Apostle Paul understood this quite well. One of his famous phases is "when I am weak, then I am strong". This is one of the great paradoxes of Christianity. It seems to me that there is a bit of a contradiction here. You cannot be weak and strong at the same time. You can either be weak or strong. Paul would reply, that during his times of anxiety and fear, he would feel weak and he would have been ready to give up. However, he always remembered that in the midst of his difficulties, Jesus is always present. Relying on Him rather than on what was going within him or around him, Paul would rally forward with renewed strength and commitment.

God has no favourites and the same thing happens to us. When we face and walk in the midst of our difficulties with Jesus Christ on our side, then we also become strong. Suffering enables us to become more discerning and we tend to seek values that are life-giving rather than follow the most recent opinion polls. Suffering can make us more sensitive and open to other people's hurts and needs. We tend to become more appreciative of what we have and who we are. We become more appreciative of our life. We take less for granted those who are dear to us. In short we take stock of who we are and move on with greater wisdom, maturity, understanding and openness.

Moreover, we become strong because we come to an understanding that ultimately we depend totally on God. As humans, we are limited. We are not perfect. We do not know everything. We do not have the answer for every question. Certainly confronted with suffering we understand how poor in spirit we really are. This is the time when we throw ourselves in the arms of this God who is there with us in the tomb.

Good Friday is the day when Jesus is reminding us that he is constantly putting his arms around us when we are physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually in pain, and saying, "I know you are hurting, I know you are puzzled. I know that you feel like panicking. Courage, you are not alone. Do not give up. You will grow through this. Come on let us keep going. I am with you and I will not leave you".

Conclusion

So, on this Good Friday we are reminded of the tomb. We are reminded of the suffering of our Saviour. We think too of our own suffering and the suffering of the world.

But on this Good Friday we know that there will be an Easter Sunday, that the suffering of the tomb will turn to resurrection and triumph. We are partakers of the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that Easter Morn.

Read Romans 8:11-17

Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

Recently we had a short break in Shropshire. We had been promising ourselves for some time that we would visit Ironbride where, it is claimed, the Industrial Revolution Began. Perhaps thinking of the Industrial Revolution is not politically correct, what with all the issues surounding global warming, and it is true to say that people were exploited, but it has determined how we live today. For that reason alone it is worthwhile examining our roots.

The following are some of the notes I made at the time, to which I have added a few comments.

10/04/06

Away on the first day of a short break to Telford, Shropshire.

We traveled down this morning, stopping at Stafford Services for coffee before taking the A Roads into Telford and the Iron bridge Gorge.

Our first stop was the Gorge Museum, where we purchased a years pass to all the museums for 14. We toured the museum which gave us a brief history of the area, and then walked alongside the Severn to the Iron bridge itself. A marvel of its day, it was the first structural use of cast iron.

After a sandwich, which we eat overlooking the bridge, we made our was to the open air Victorian Town. A bit like Beamish, it tries to portray life and work in 1900. It was quite good, if not 100% accurate. However, there were many interesting things to see and do. Children would enjoy changing their modern coins for Victorian pennies, half-pennies and farthings to spend in the shops, which are obviously quite different from the ones they know today.

At closing time we made our way to the hotel in Telford and, after booking in, had our meal in the adjoining pub.

11/04/06

The second day of our short break. We were not promised good weather but in the end things were not too bad. There was light rain in the morning but it cleared up after lunch and the afternoon was very pleasant.

We spent most of the day visiting more of museums on the pass we had bought. First, was the Museum of Iron, were we saw more of the history and plenty of exhibits showing the range of items produced over the years. Obviously, I was interested in the items to do with early steam engines, but many of the items made for the Great Exhibition were also fascinating.

Next we visited the "hands on" museum called Enginuity. The focus here was on children with lots of interactive displays. It's the sort of place our grandson Callum would like. However, I think it would be a good idea to get there early as it seems to be very popular.

On the same sight one can find the protected remains of Abraham Darby's blast furnace where the iron for the bridge was first cast into ingots. The importance of this sight is immense, here was the real beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the start of the modern world. Whatever people may think about this change ( and it had many bad points, including bringing about global warming ) Despite that, I could not help feeling a just a little emotional - the furnace stands a ruin, as does Britain's industrial past and the way of life it represented.

Moving on from the furnace we took a short walk up the hill to visit the two houses built by the Darby family. Although grand for their time, they were modest compared with the later houses of the mill owners. Whether this was due to the Darbys being Quakers is hard to say.

Next stop on our tour saw us at a different site looking at a different industry - tile making. The Jackfield Tile Museum has a fabulous collection of decorative tile spanning the centuries. I must admit there were some I would have liked at home. All the tiles we saw would have put the kind bought from places like B&Q to shame. One time there were tiles everywhere, shops, offices, factories, railway stations etc. Yet another thing that has gone, perhaps for good.

The last visit of the day was to the National Trust property at Benthall Hall, a 16th century house. We were particularly pleased that the sun was shining, which made walking in the Hall gardens a pleasant end to the day. We had been out for seven hours and it was tine to return to our hotel in Telford for a short rest before our evening meal.

12/04/06

The last day of our short break, and we decided that we would fans off with the museums we had not yet visited, before returning via Bridgenorth and the Severn Valley Railway.

Our first stop was the Tar Tunnel. This was a tunnel that was dug into the hillside to carry a canal. However, during the construction streams of bitumen were found and, being profitable, the tunnel was never finished for its original purpose. At its height over 1000 gallons of bitumen per week was extracted. The bitumen still seeps out of the walls. There was no way one could ever get Gill in such at tunnel, so I went down on my own whilst she sat and read in the car. I found it quite fascinating as I had never seen a natural pool of tar in my life.

Our last visit in the gorge was to the Coalport Museum. Here, over the centuries, exquisite pottery was made. Most of it is now quite collectible and very valuable. The collection in the museum must be worth millions of pounds. Like all the museums, there are things for the children which are both entertaining and educational. I'm sure Callum would like it down here, as there is so much for him to see and do.

As mentioned earlier, we made our way home via the Severn Valley Railway. We had lunch there and watched one of the trains depart, before heading home via Shrewsbury. The only incident on the way back was a hold-up getting onto the Runcorn Bridge because of an overturned lorry.

What I would like to do now is spent some quiet time reflecting on what I have seen and learned, as I feel that hidden in all the history is a message for today. Whether that is the attitude of the Quaker families like the Darbys, or something else, time will tell.