SUNDAY LUNCH
Yesterday we made some use of our large dining table and had a couple of families around for a meal. On the menu was salmon, boiled potatoes, brocolli and mashed carrot/sweet potato -and very tasty it was too!
It's amazing how much deeper a conversation you can have with people around a meal table than if you just meet them casually for a few minutes. I guess it's something to do with making a greater investment of time and the same level of conversation can probably be achieved by going for a long walk together.
After our guests had gone home we said to each other - we should do that more often - so I guess that was a sign that we had enjoyed our afternoon and the company.
Our afternoon also involved taking our guests up to the top of Castlemahon mountain (just next door to us) so I will attempt to include a photo looking back towards our cottages. Last time I tried this the second photo went to the top of my posting - but lets hope I gan get it in the right position this time around.




SUCCESS!!!

At church a couple of Sundays ago we were challenged to be more intentional about doing good and were given some specific ideas about what that might mean in practice. Examples were - buy a chocolate bar and give it to the girl on the checkout at the supermarket; give your newsagent a good book to read; donate blood; offer to babysit without being asked and - the one which I found most challenging of all - engage in a conversation with the person who calls from the Indian call centre. I forgot about that one next time I got one of those dreaded calls but resolved to do better next time. When the next opportunity presented itself (as they do almost daily) I tried very hard, however, the gentleman on the other end did not appear to be very much interested in dialogue - he had a speil to get across to me and was not going to be diverted to the right or the left! After about 2 minutes of telling him that I didn't want to change my phone provider I'm afraid I gave up again. I still do believe that we need to be more intentional about doing good and was impressed with one of the pastors quotes "more people have been converted by an act of kindness than by zeal, eloquence and learning put together".
Sorry, I havn't taken any photos this week!

Further evidence for climate change! I got up this morning (10th October) looked out the window and decided that it was a 'shorts day'. And so it proved to be, the sun shone all day out of a relatively cloudless sky and was accompanied by a gentle southerly breeze which got all of the washing dry!
I spent most of my day starting to lay up a store of firewood for the winter. My very kind brother-in-law had sawn up a tree some time ago which he didn't need so he offered it to me. After collecting it this morning I put the log splitter on the tractor - for the first time in about 3 years - and started splitting. That machine certainly beats using an axe!
While I was doing that Mo got another booking for the Blackthorn Cottage AND got her first day of supply teaching for the year (tomorrow) -I'm still waiting for mine! I must say that, with the cottages being so busy right through September, we haven't gone looking for teaching but the income would be quite welcome now.
Mo says that I need to use the spell checker before I publish - I wonder why! Apologies for the earlier mistakes - if I can work out how to do it I'll go back and correct them.
Had things worked out a little differently we would be busy packing this week and heading for NZ on Monday where my niece is getting married on the 21st. Alas it wasn't to be but NI will be more than adequately represented by my two sisters and my cousin Jim. One of my sisters had a dream last night that we were at the wedding - by this time next week we will know if it was prophetic or not.

Blog comment No 2 has got to feature Mo especially as she is about to become a TV personality!
A few months ago we decided that we would offer painting workshops as a means of attracting additional custom to our 3 self catering cottages in the off season. We advertised same with the tourist board and it was picked up by a company who make a holiday programme for the BBC. They provided two pretend holiday makers and came and filmed them at their workshop. the filming took a Friday evening and all day Saturday but will be condensed to about 5 minutes in the programme. It may also feature yours truely making soda bread on a griddle over an open fire in Rose Cottage!
We don't have an exact date when it will go to air but it should be within the next 6 weeks - watch this space for an update.
The photo above shows Mo and the two holiday makers in her studio (they spent the afternoon painting a landscape outside in the field -also shown above). Alas she is about to lose her cosy little studio as we convert the building in which it is situated into a fourth cottage (opening Easter 2007). She is getting a more spacious replacement - part of the building where the accident occured 4 weeks ago - so painting workshops will continue!
Must go and pick the said lady up from the airport so thats all for now folks.

Seems like if you want to communicate with people these days you have to have a blog spot - so here goes! I'm still not sure how to do the fancy stuff like posting photos and even videos (as I saw on 'Me, Dot com' today) but no doubt that will come. I'm sitting here listening to Radio Ulster's Rythem and Soul programme through the computer while I develop this blog spot and thinking, at my advanced years I'm not finished yet!!
It doesn't seem very long since I bought a second hand 386 laptop from Cash Converters and introduced the family to email so that we could keep in touch while I was in Ireland. (incidently I still have that laptop - I should take it along to the Antiques Road Show next time they are around!) Well it wasn't long before I got left way behind - and if it wasn't for Matthew, Nicky and Jeff giving me good IT advice I think I would be totally lost by now.

In my first blog entry I should also acknowledge how blessed I feel to still have the use of my fingers to operate this keyboard. As some of my readers will know I had an accident 4 weeks ago where I fell 3m from a ladder. I later heard of someone else only 10kms away who had a similar accident at about the same time and who is now a quadraplegic. I still have some pain but that news brought home to me just how real it is to have an angel watching over me! Thanks for your prayers!
My better half is away visiting the kids in Leeds this weekend - so I've had a very quiet time (and no one chasing me off the computer!) and the opportunity to catch up on some correspondance (of which this is a part). I'm looking forward to her return tomorrow - maybe she'll get involved in blogging soon too.
Must go and see if I can get some other details entered on this site.