Christmas Eve 1968

17th Dec 2018

One Christmas long ago when we sisters walked to Midnight Mass.
We were happy to be out in the snow, in the dark.
Every year we would pray that it would snow for Christmas . It very rarely did.
So this was special and It felt quite magical.


Christmas Eve - 1968

Three sisters – 

exhilarated, excited, eager,

giggling, gabbling, gibbering,  

clad in cozy, coats,
warm,  winter, woolly  hats 

, 

 furry,  frost - free mittens  

and  wellies, in khaki  green-

step out from over-heated   house

Three sisters –

 leave behind,

 and don’t mind,

the atmosphere,

they leave it there

They are out, in the

 cold, crisp night.

 Christmas Eve.

 Snow stars sparkle 

underfoot

 crystals, luminescent in rays of moon.

Soft flakes flutter down,

 like dancing angels

 melt, on upturned faces.

They trudge on slowly,

Perfect white beneath, 

crunching, crackling

leaving foot-shaped indents

heads held high ,

 they are free,

 for now.

In the distance -

 lights of the church,

 draw them onward

the singing of carols 

brings some joy 

to sisters,  sad,  souls

they forget, 

for a while 

what’s left at home, 

at that house.

they find their seats.

they are here for

 Midnight Mass

Scattered

17th May 2018

My daughter and grandaughter are in Rome today.

Scattered

In our scattered lives, 
with innumerable calls on our resources, 
with so many  scattered thoughts 
in our weary minds, 
with even the people we love being
more scattered than we'd like, 
there is God,
who just is  
who changes us,  
and stays, with us
in a restful presence.


Rome                                                              

Today's date, is always  a reminder to me of this day in 1992  when my husband and I went to Rome for a few days for the Beatification of,  the now, St Josemaria.

With a baby of three weeks in tow and after having had a cesarean section, it never occurred to me to question whether I should go or not. But, he was baby number eight and I had learnt what items are vitally important  how little was needed to travel with a tiny baby. However, I hadn't factored in my needs after the surgery, so we didn't run around Rome like we might otherwise have done. Now, after all these years, I am still waiting to make it back as a tourist rather than a pilgrim.

On the day of the celebration St Peter's Square was sweltering and to cool us down and stop people getting sun stroke they had organised water sprinklers, which cooled us down but almost instantly the sun  dried us.
A good job I brought a wide brimmed hat, I thought, as I snuggled the baby to feed under it's shade. He was amazingly content  the whole time, making things much easier for his parents than they might have been. We were with friends too who were happy to take him for a walk in his buggy for short periods, which again was much appreciated.

+

The huge crowd of people that assembled were just a small number of the many who had been touched by the life of this one man. He is the founder of the Opus Dei Prelature which has members and friends all over the world since it's beginnings in 1928.  So those that were there were representing a whole multitude of others who would have liked to be there but couldn't. We felt privileged that we were able to make it.
There was a special family atmosphere in the square that day. It was a day of many blessings that are still being lived out in the lives of those who were there.

China

Today I am also thinking of the trip to China that I went on with my mum and my two sisters. Can that really be more than ten years ago in 2007. I wouldn't have said it was that long ago, but thankfully I have proof in a little notebook I wrote at the time.
There are so many things that happened . I can see my mother now climbing walking along the Great Wall. She was in her mid seventies but nothing was going to stop her. Always up for  an adventure.

I think I'll come back to this again . Would you like to hear more?

Bye for now

China 1

 I am going to try and blog about our ( my two sister's and my Mother's) journey to China.
I did write about it at the time but unfortunately a lot of the interesting personal stuff is lost. But here, I'll give it a go. This is for you guys, Mum, Kay and Di , oh and you Dad too, of course - as I promised:

 Part 1

19th March 2007.

Everything packed , much more than I need in fact and I arrive at Mum's at 9.30.p.m. on the Sunday evening, relieved to be there safely the night before flying off to China.  Di, Mum, Dad and myself ponder the great adventure in front of us. As it's a Sunday Elaine is also there drinking tea and enjoying the chat.  I am looking forward excitedly to this special holiday with my two sisters and mum.

Looking at our luggage, huge suitcases bursting at the seams you'd be forgiven for thinking that we were going for three months or more, but no, it's just a couple of weeks.

So the next evening we arrive at the airport, get confused about where we are supposed to be and wait around chattering on about the mighty sights we will see. What fun we will have. We giggle like school girls, mum being the biggest culprit.

The flight is long and I sleep for a good while but about  12.40 a.m. (English Time) I am wide awake and discover we're only a few hours away from Beijing. It's 8.30 in the morning  ( big time difference) and the sun is shining.

We are so excited and when we look out of the window we see that we are flying over the most glorious mountains.  We all go to the toilet .

Morning has come too early and they bring breakfast. We're not ready for breakfast. after all, to us it's the middle of the night (1.0 a.m !!!! for goodness sake and dinner was only 6.30.p.m.)
Di and Kay, still sleepy after travelling through time zones, but where food is concerned we are not known to say no. We make a good effort at eating breakfast - you never know when the next meal might be and it looks as if we'll be out of routine with dinner etc etc .
We haven't long finished breakfast when we start the descent into Beijing.





Just a very small section of the enormous city of Beijing







The view from above is amazing - a concrete planet of high rise buildings. Beijing City, we discover is at least the size of  the county of Kent and  makes London ( Greater London, that is ) seem so teeny.
The population of London being 8 million, Beijing has 11.5 million. Not all of areas of Beijing are as crowded as London but the centre seems much  more dense with people .

And when we travel long hours to the hotel on that first day we  wonder how big it is with it's many roads of six lanes of traffic and huge skyscrapers wherever you look.

We are given a tour guide, who, for the sake of us English folk calls himself Mike. His accent  is tinted with a collection of other languages but mainly American. He is helpful and enthusiastic and tells us a bit about the History of Beijing.   It is one of the four ancient cities of China along with Xian, Luoyang and Nanjing.. It is known as the cradle of humanity with Peking man living here 700,000 years ago.  

The Vauxhall Victor

Squashed together in the back of the
Vauxhall Victor Estate - green -
Three sisters cocooned in sleeping bags.

Surrounded by pillows and other
Camping paraphernalia,
They fidget and bicker,
Moan and cry.
They are:
Too hot, too close, too hungry
Too uncomfortable.

Parents try to distract,

Send back sweets
Even though
The sun has yet to come up.

Five thirty at Dover docks
Morning light  from the East,
Glitters on sea,
Reveals White cliffs.

As they drive onto the ferry.
Their nostrils delight
In the salty, fishy hope
Of holiday.

This is the first
Of many excursions
They will make to the continent.