Matthew 5 in photos and stitching

My mum came to visit yesterday and we went to Rochester Cathedral. The artwork in the picture is about Matthew 5. You can’t really see it on the photo, but each of the panels has a verse from Matthew, chapter 5 from The Message version of the Bible, stitched into it. It took me a while to work this out because The Message wording is so different from other, more familiar, versions of the Bible. Also, the panels don’t follow the order of the verses in Matthew 5, as they start with salt and light, then go on the the Beatitudes in a different order from the way they are in the Bible. Maybe someone just put the panels up in the wrong order! Anyway, I liked the art and the translation/interpretation of the words, so I wanted to share them. The artwork was made by Jacqui Frost and Ruth Field.

Here are the words in the order they are on the panels:

• You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth.
• You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.
• You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of how to compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family.
• You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you deeper into God’s kingdom.
• You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full’, you find yourselves cared for.
• You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
• You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
• You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
• You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
• You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

If you want to compare these words with the more traditional ones in, for example, the New International Version, here they are (in the same order as above) :

• You are the salt of the earth. (Matt 5:13)
• You are the light of the world. (Matt 5:14)
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (Matt 5:9)
• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:10)
• Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matt 5:7)
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matt 5:8)
• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matt 5:5)
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matt 5:6)
• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3)
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matt 5:4)

Date for pacemaker implantation…

…is the 6th of August. I was reading about the procedure again today. I’m not sure I will be able to cope with it being done while I’m awake, so I hope I can be made as unaware as possible of what is going on, although I am still scared of having a general anaesthetic after my last experience of it – but maybe this time it will not be as scary, if that’s what they decide to do.  I’m quite worried that it won’t work – either that they won’t be able to implant the pacemaker at all (apparantly this happens in a few cases) or that it won’t make any difference or make me feel worse. I know that both of these scenarios are unlikely, but I”m a natural worrier, I’m afraid. You’re probably well aware of that by now if you read this blog regularly!

Flowers

The other morning I took some photos of the wild flowers growing on a bit of ground on campus. I don’t know whether they are truly wild or whether someone once planted the seeds there, but anyway, they are very lovely things to look at on my way to or from the Temporary Library of Not Sure What:

Nothing to say?

Despite the fact that things are happening in my life (obviously, but you know what I mean) I find that I have little or nothing to say about them, so I will just make a brief annotated list to keep you informed:

• I’m going to start a ‘new’ job on 1st July. I will still have the same job title apart from one word and I suspect it’s going to be very like my current job (i.e. nasty and stressful) but with more responsibilities and more money. The extra money is obviously a good thing, but I really severely dislike my job and feel that I’m incapable of doing what I’m currently required to do, never mind a job with extra responsibilities. This make me feel inadequate and stupid and angry. I don’t think I will ever be able to do my current/future job unless I have a personality transplant, which is a bit unfortunate. Yes, I know. I am grateful to have a job and I am looking for a new one.
• The Library of Doom is no more, but I’m leaving  writing about that to someone else.
• We (the choir) performed ‘Carmen’ last weekend, with the help of some real singers and a virtual orchestra. It was good.  I don’t know why I don’t have anything much to say about it. I’ve tried writing a blog post about it, but I can’t make it sound interesting or exciting, even though it was both of these things and I enjoyed it a lot.
• I was going to have to have an MRI scan before having the pacemaker, but now I’m not. I’m having an ultrasound instead, so that’s a big relief. I still don’t know how far up the waiting list for the pacemaker I am, but I’m finding getting from A to B on foot increasingly tiring and difficult and frustrating. I think the situation with my heart  is colouring the way I’m viewing the rest of my life at the moment and this is not good. I feel a bit like I’m under a big grey cloud a lot of the time.
• We are thinking of getting some hens. Our friends have just bought an Eglu and of course two hens to go in it. They are very cool and produce lots of eggs! I went to feed them today. They are quite friendly and sociable and seem to enjoy being stroked, which is nice.
• The garden is coming on. The beans are growing and the carrots have recovered. We have already had a few strawberries to eat. Yum.
• I’ve started to play my flute in church again on a regular basis, which is also a positive and good thing.
• Other good things include (in no particular order) getting my chartership portfolio handed in,  socialising with friends, our new Sunday afternoon church gathering (which I will try to write more about some other time), going to see Hot Mikado and of course the lovely Mr C.

The garden in May

This post is really just for me to record what’s happening in the garden at the moment. Lots of things are growing and flowering, some other things are still struggling. I’ve been given a few tomato plants by our neighbour and I gave him some peppers in return. Anyway, here are some pictures of the garden in May:

Peppers and tomatoes

Poor radishes. I think the rest of these have been eating by evil slugs.

Sage

Lavender

A plant I rescued from Marks and Spencers. They were neglecting it.

A nice flower. Can’t remember what it’s called…

Lots of pots!

Strawberry

Snapdragons (AKA Antirrhinums)

Poor solitary carrot

Not sure what these are, but they’re nice and bright.

Rosemary and rocket

Bee on the snapdragons

Digging

I’m digging the garden and playing on the computer at the same time. Well, not literally. I’m digging with breaks. I thought that was probably the most sensible thing to do, in the circumstances. The ground is not easy to dig, as it’s on a slope and full of rocks! I think the garden is mainly rubble. I’m trying to dig it so I can plant some flower seeds, which means getting rid of the weeds first. I don’t know what the plant is, but it comes up every year. It spreads like a strawberry plant (which I also have, but don’t want to get rid of) and has quite deep roots. It takes up all available ground and is rather annoying. I shouldn’t have let it spread so much.

I’ve planted out the tomatoes and chilli peppers. The tomatoes are not looking very happy, but hopefully they will cheer up once they get a bit bigger and stronger. I’m keeping the peppers inside most of the time as they are one of the slug’s favourite foods! One geranium is doing well but the other is still weeny. The hanging basket geranium has a flower on it, so that’s good. The fuschia is also looking well and the strawberry in the same pot has flowered.

I’ve inherited a bonsai tree, which is now on the kitchen windowsill, as well as a Phalaenopsis, which is looking a bit sad, but I think that’s just how they look when they’re not in flower.

Snapdragons have sprung up all over the place – in the soil and between slabs. They are very hardy and tenacious! I’ve left them in the slabs as they look nice, but I will probably regret it later. Oh dear, I’ve just realised I left some Easter eggs in the sun.

Spring Harvest inadequately summarised

I went to Spring Harvest (which I keep rather vaguely describing to people as “a big Christian thing”) over the Easter weekend. I would write more about it, but I’m still processing the stuff I learned and experienced, so writing about it in public will have to wait, if indeed this ever happens. In summary, it was absorbing, exciting, fascinating, gripping, inspirational, interesting, intriguing, inviting, provocative, refreshing, stirring. (Guess who looked up ‘thought-provoking’ in a thesaurus?)  It was also a lot of fun and great to spend time with and get to know people from our church, plus some people we’d never met before.

Apart from this, we saw some interesting wildlife:

Who would have thought a weekend at Butlin’s could be so exciting?

Pacing

I went to see the pacing doctor today. He was quite friendly and helpful and realistic in an almost discouraging way. He was trying to make sure that I didn’t think that having a pacemaker fitted would make me suddenly have lots more energy. Unfortunately, this is what I was hoping would happen!

He also explained the long-term, cumulative, risks of having the pacemaker fitted. Apparently, the biggest potential problem with me having a pacemaker in the near future is my age – as in being young, not old, which is an odd thought, really. Usually, the younger you are the better, as far as having medical procedures goes, I would have thought. Not in this case, it seems. Because I’m relatively young (compared to the people who generally have pacemakers fitted) the pacemaker battery will run out and have to be replaced more often during my life-span (due to it being hopefully quite long!) – about once every ten years, and the pacemaker wires will also need replacing once every 15-20 years, apparently. Each time this is done the risk of things going wrong it greater, I suppose.

Despite these risks, he advised that I should have a pacemaker fitted sooner rather than later, as I am feeling the effects of the heart block and I will have to have a pacemaker at some point, so I may as well do it now (or as near to now as the waiting list allows). I just hope that it does make a difference and I feel some benefit. The doctor was saying that although the pacemaker will correct the rhythm of the heart my overall energy levels may not be massively improved. But surely if the heart is beating ‘normally’ I should have more energy and be able to walk distances without getting out of breath and (on occasion) grinding to a halt? I hope so! Anyway, I’m willing to try it, as this is the only way I’m going to find out if it will help.

So, I’m now on the waiting list. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask how long the waiting list is, so I’ll just have to keep looking out for the letter.

If there is anyone out there who has a pacemaker I would be interested to hear about your experiences.

Three days of rain…and other things

I don’t feel that I really have much to say at the moment, hence the recent dirth of blog posts. However, today I thought I would just write an updating sort of post.

Last week, I went to the garden centre, which was lovely. I tried not to get carried away. The aim was to buy flowers, rather than fruit or veg plants, and I bought some geraniums, busy lizzies and other things I can’t remember the names of for the pots and hanging basket, plus some plants to go in the ground – pansies and three varieties of saxifrage. I’m hoping the saxifrages will spread and cover some of the  bare earth which still makes up quite a lot of the soily part of the garden (as opposed to the paved part). I planted them all straightaway and then had no time to get get changed to go out for dinner with some friends. I ended up going out changed into a skirt but with the top I’d been wearing to garden in! Never mind.

The plants are all still alive and most of the seeds I planted the other week have now started to grow, although I’m a bit worried that some of them seem to be being dug up by something. I think some  of the digging is being done by birds and some by the fox. Hopefully the plants will continue to survive. I’ve been bringing them in at night, partly because it’s still quite cold and partly to protect them from slug attacks.

On Friday I went to the Library and Information History Group annual conference. It was a day of people presenting papers on various aspects of library and information history. Various topics were presented and discussed, from the destruction of French libraries during World War Two to the development of the electric telegraph. It was all very interesting and made me remember what the world of librarianship can be like (i.e. positive, engaging and stimulating), which was good, because I’ve been forgetting that recently.

The pacing doctor’s secretary phoned and left a message to say that she’s going to make me an appointment with him for about three week’s time.

Yesterday, I went with some friends/colleagues to see Three Days of Rain at the Apollo Theatre in London. I had no idea what it was about until I got there, I’d gone on a whim really, because I thought/think I should get out more and because Mr C is away for the weekend. I know it’s extravagant to go to the theatre on a whim, but I don’t do such things very often. I enjoyed the production very much. It was very cleverly done and was a lot more humorous (despite the plot being rather serious), than I expected it to be. Apart from the production itself, I also enjoyed the experience of going to the theatre and being in London  (for the second time in two days).

When I got home I watched WALL-E. I’d wanted to watch it for a long time and it finally came through as one of my DVDs-by-post-thing choices.  It was very sweet and funny and thought-provoking. I liked it a lot. Sorry, I know I’m no good at writing reviews.

Today, I have been to church and then, mainly, done lots of ironing interspersed with some washing and a bit of cleaning. I have also discovered that Baileys in tea works rather well.

I think that’s all I have to say for now.

Planting time

I planted lots of things this morning:

• Tomatoes
• Radishes
• Spring onions
• Sunflowers
• Cayenne peppers
• “Patio sizzle” peppers
• Carrots
• Chives

They are all planted in pots outside or trays on the windowsill. I just hope the outdoor ones survive slug and squirrel attacks. Something has been digging up the anenome bulbs I planted the year before last, just as their beginning to grow, which is rather annoying.  I think it must be a squirrel, as the hole is too small and not messy enough for it to have been a fox.

We seem to be being visited regularly by a robin now, which is nice. I’ve started to put crumbs and bits of my very hard home-made bread out in a bowl and he seems to like these.  Mr C ate the rest of the bread by soaking it in soup, otherwise it was inedible to humans!

The back fence has blown down. We had some very strong winds here the other day, so I think it must have blown down then, although I only noticed it today. Mind you, we don’t really look at the garden at anytime when it’s light enough to see the fence during the week, as we’re at work  or travelling to and from work during almost all daylight hours. It is getting a lot lighter in the early mornings and evenings now, though. Hooray! I’ve let the landlord know about the fence and he’s going to come round and have a look at it  tomorrow. He is a nice, helpful, landlord, thank goodness.