Sunday Morning This and That . . .

What a lovely time I had yesterday afternoon.  A group of ladies from church were getting together to celebrate our good friend Margaret's getting the all clear after her battle this past year with Throat Cancer.  In all truth I did not know most of the ladies there because they are from another Ward/Congregation, but I did know a few and remembered some from when Todd and I were on our Mission and had visited that Ward.  Some have been friends of mine for 17 years now, since I first moved over here.  It was Margaret's husband who married Todd and myself, and Lesley (the hostess of the party) met her husband James on the same LDS chat page that Todd and I met on.  She reckoned since I got very lucky there, she might too, and she did! 

The best part though was the reason that we had all gathered, and that was, Margaret having won her battle.  What a great blessing! 

 

Jay, Jimmy and Merrill

Watch a British game show called "Pointless Celebrities" last night for the first time.  Jay was appearing on it with his brother Merrill.  We had never watched the show before but thought it was quite good. Jay and Merrill were the second couple of celebs booted out of the game.  Pointless is a celebrity version of the general knowledge quiz in which contestants try to come up with the answers that nobody else could think of. The pair with the lowest number of points at the end of the show wins.  What hampered Jay and Merrill was their lack of knowledge on coffee.  They were doing alright until the question came up which countries grow the most coffee in the world.  Of course they know not a lot about the subject (Most Mormons don't!).  If you get a wrong answer, you automatically get 100 points.  Nevermind, it looked as if they were having a great time and they were really good sports I thought.  It was so funny, Merrill said, Greece.  I don't think any coffee is grown in Greece.  haha, it was rather funny!

Jay and his wife have settled well into our church Ward.  I have to say what nice,  nice people they are.  But I would expect nothing else.

This week I received a comission to do a piece of art for someone's mother for Christmas. Of all the grandchildren.  There will be 10 characters in the piece and only two are girls.  This will be a great challenge for me, as you know  . . .  I have not been doing any art at all this year.  It is nice to have a purpose for getting back with my brushes however and I am deffo up to the challenge.  Already ideas are going through my mind.  Finding time to do it will be the greatest challenge.  I don't know what has been happening to my days, but they seem to be evaporating into the ether. 

I am doing wooden ornaments for the Grandchildren this year for Christmas.  I ordered some wooden shapes from a company called ArtCuts.  These are not the shapes I got.   I got Christmas Puddings, Christmas Robins, Snowmen, Scottie Dogs and Christmas Trees.  I am going to decoupage them.  This company also has beautiful Japanese Papers.  I am quite looking forward to this.  I hope that they turn out alright.  They will be unique for sure! 

  

 

My recipe for Lamb Tacos is amongst fourteen being considered for a prize for the best recipe for National Curry Week on Lamb, Tasty, Lamb. I guess it goes according to how many people add it to their favourites.  There are a lot of tasty recipes in the running.  I think fourteen altogether.  It was fun just being asked to participate.  and I thought the Tacos came out beautifully.  We really enjoyed them at any rate.   

 

Its Munch & Mingle after church today.  We usually never stay to it as I like to get home to call my mom with time to spare.  She has certain programs she likes to watch on Sunday mornings and I need to time my call around them. I know she would be okay with me calling any time, but I don't like to disrupt her day very much. We are all creatures of routine and she is used to me calling at a certain time.  If I am late I know she frets and sometimes even tries to call me to see if everything is okay.  I am not bothered about missing Munch & Mingle really. I have never been a mingler.  I know I come across as being very outgoing on here and I guess I am to a degree, but I really am essentially quite shy.  I've never been a huge fan of buffet types of meals either, even if they are just snacks.  I like knowing who brought what.  Yes, I am a germaphobe and having had food poisoning twice in my life I am not really keen on ever having it again! 

 

We are supposed to be getting some really nasty weather hitting us from tomorrow morning.  Hurricane Ophelia is going to be paying us a visit and they are predicting winds in access of 80mph. Ophelia has become the sixth major hurricane of the 2017 season after it was upgraded to a Category 3 storm. Storms of this strength are extremely rare and Ophelia's current location is the farthest east a major Atlantic hurricane has ever been seen. If the storm were to hit Britain at its current strength, it would be among the most powerful weather systems ever to hit the UK mainland. While Ophelia is expected to slow down by the time it hits the UK, the Met Office has issued severe weather alerts and warned there could be potential power cuts, disruption to road and rail networks, and damage to buildings. Western England, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland will be most affected by the storm winds, with coastal areas expected to face the brunt of the weather conditions.   I expect here in the North West, and being not too far from the coast as we are, our conditions will be pretty bad.  We are expecting lots of wind and rain. Hopefully it will not be worse than that!

 

 

I am thinking about getting a smaller Tabletop tree for Christmas this year.  Since we switched around all our furniture down here and we have the fish tank  and computer desk in the area we have usually had the tree, I am thinking we don't have a place to put the big tree.  Todd says it can go in front of the front window, but I think it will be then blocking the television for anyone sitting in the arm chair. It is a bit of a dilema.  I am sure I will have made up my mind before too long. We will see.  Tatiana is supposed to be coming for Christmas again this year.  I don't think she will find it quite as exciting as the last time as we are no longer on our Mission and we don't have the youngsters around us quite as much. In fact it has been a couple of months since any were even to the house. To be honest I have slowed down a lot with feeding them. I used to try to have all three sets over at least once during a month, but this past couple of months we have only had the sisters, and only once, for lunch.  I find that come supper time, I am pooped.  Todd says I get up too early  I don't think it is that.  I think I am just getting older and with all the problems I have had with my knee, etc. it is wearing me down.  That's my story anyways, and I'm sticking to it!

And with that I will leave you with a thought for the day . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.°F.E.A.R. has two meanings.

Forget everthing and run, or

Face everything and rise.

The choice is yours.

~unknown    •。★★ 。* 。 

 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 

 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Oaty Apple Crumble 4 One.  Todd really enjoyed this!

Have a blessed Sunday!  Don't forget!

 

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And I do too!