Respect to the Milkman!

When I first got married we used to have a milkman who delivered all the milk we used. Supermarket milk hadn't yet hit the shelves properly and I thought that,with a young family, it would be easier than trying to find the odd pint at the local shops. It was okay but I often was out when he came for payment, so the bill got quite large.
Then one very snowy day, with two very small toddlers at home, he didn't bother to come. The excuse was that there was too much snow. Never mind that all the other milkmen had braved the icy wastes oF surburban Sidcup to serve their customers! That was it! Milkman sacked!
After that I managed to find enough milk from the larger supermarkets that were beginning to open nearby and that was that. Until we moved North.
Now living in a very rural location, and after a visit from the local Dairy I decided to try again. Not all of my milk but a token to support local trade-(it's very expensive to buy milk from the dairy!)
What a hero our Milkman is. Jim never fails to deliver, often in shorts and Tshirt (maybe a light jacket in Winter!). No matter what the weather the Pinta is on the doorstep long before I get out of bed. Always cheery and smiling, he is a milkman of the "old school" type. Happy to chat and talk footie with my hubbie he is a joy. And whilst the rest of the country grinds to a halt in this "Snow Fest", Jim, still in his shorts, gives service with a smile. Respect Jim!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

I'm guessing that you could probably write a whole Blog about Christmas just using lines from popular seasonal songs! I don't really have the time to do that at the moment but I might try and slip a few in as I write.
So this is Christmas! Last Christmas (that's two already!) was a real family affair. The house was busy and there was no room at the Inn, so to speak. The only person missing was Lizzie, who had only just started dating Phil, and had already booked a trip back to the States to be with her family. Mind you her presence was almost tangible as Phil pined for the girl who had so quickly stolen his heart!
This year will be completely different and we have reached the time in life when, as parents, we have to gently unfurl our hands and let our offspring free to do their own thing. It will be strange and has caused me to reflect the many happy family Christmases we have enjoyed over the years.
The first Christmas Gordon and I were married was very exciting. I had just found out that I was expecting our first child and we were both over the moon. No one else knew and we revelled in our own special Christmas present to each other. Each Christmas since then our house has echoed to the sound of over excited children, various noisy presents kindly given by over enthusiastic Grandparents (one day it will be my turn. Be afraid, be very afraid!), later equally keen teenagers wanting mobiles, designer T shirts, Computer games etc., and now adults who enjoy just being together.
The times they are a changing! (Dylan, but not festive!). This year our brood will not be gathering at our nest. Instead they will be spending time with their other families and enjoying the type of Christmas that their spouses have come to cherish as part of their heritage.
Am I sad? Yes a little, but I am glad that they feel they are free to make choices that are for themselves. I would hate to be the type of Mother that won't let go.
In the near future they will start families of their own and will begin to develop their own Christmas traditions. The baton has been handed over to the next generation and that is only right and proper.
The upside is that we get to have a weekend in January with all of the family together. And what a time that will be!
"So here it is Merry Christmas every body's having fun!" It's more than just "Mistletoe and Wine" and "Deck the Halls". "Santa Clause is coming to town" and we shall all have great fun.
We shall miss them all but I'm guessing we might be back to a full house next year (and Gordon and I are already taking bets on who might have their own little secret Christmas present then!)

Time rolls by!

Autumn is a time of year that makes me feel a little confused. The evenings have grown longer and darker and there is a distinct chill in the air. Memories of summer are quickly fading and the worst of winter has yet to hit us. And yet there is a serenity and beauty about the changing season that cannot be appreciated at other times of the year.

The leaves on the trees are now far and few between and the colours of "Fall" are spread out on the ground like a luscious carpet of the deepest hues. As I drive down the country lanes near my house I find myself distracted by the beauty of the merging colours of the surrounding woodland, the magnificence of which cannot be overstated.

The fields are almost all empty of their crops now, and the ground has been tilled in readiness for next years harvest. Bare, dark patches of earth worked through all weathers by hardworking farmers.

Today the tree surgeon/gardener arrived to prune back the diseased Cherry tree and the vast hedges that surround our front garden. It needed doing and it is the right time of year to do the job. Arnott (yes that's right!) and his team went for it big time assuring me that it would look incredibly harsh but that the garden would benefit from the radical procedure. He wasn't wrong! The lushness has gone and the garden looks a bit sorry for itself at the moment. Roll on next Spring says I!

It made me think about how our lives sometimes need pruning right back to get rid of the deadwood, and encourage healthy growth. These processes are a bit painful and can leave you feeling a bit exposed. But it also brings a clarity and a light that is often blocked out by the thick, overgrown branches of life. Like my garden the new growth will be better, stronger and more attractive. Worth the initial pain of The Gardener's secateurs I think!

Wedded Bliss!

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What a wonderful weekend my family and I have just had.Together again for the first time in nine months, we gathered to witness my son's marriage to his beautiful wife.

It was a glorious day full of fun, laughter, solemnity and sincerity. How proud was I of my fantastic offspring! Three handsome sons and a beautiful daughter now joined by the most amazing daughter-in-laws that any family could wish for.

The whole day was so delightful. From the outstanding October sunshine to the picturesque setting of the reception hall. From the historic and beautiful church to the togetherness of all who gathered to witness this amazing event.

The organisation hasn't been without it's ups and downs, or stresses and strains but they have only served to strengthen the resolve of the couple committing their lives to one another.

Here's to a long, happy, fulfilling marriage that will bring hope and joy to all those who have the privilege to share their lives with Phil and Lizzie!

"Be careful what you wish for..."

At the end of this week we shall have a new addition to our family. No I am not about to produce a tiny bundle of joy to keep me busy in my old age! Rather than go to all that trouble I have managed to get myself another daughter in law! I can't express how excited I am at the impending nuptials and at welcoming another beautiful woman into the family.

As I was contemplating the changing family dynamics yesterday and chatting about it to a friend of mine I was reminded about the days when my life was full of babies, toddlers, dirty nappies and sleepless nights. Being a mother to three boisterous, but incredibly gorgeous young boys and a beautiful daughter with special needs, I was always very busy and often exhausted but I always made sure that I spent time praying for them and their futures.You see it was always very clear to me that these children were not mine to keep! They had been given to me for a time and one day they would have lives of their own to live. My role was to prepare them for that day.

One of the things that I often prayed for was their future wives. I have enjoyed a fantastic, loving marriage that has brought me more joy than I could possibly have dreamt of. I have always wanted the same for my children.

Whilst they were growing up, so were the girls that would one day be my daughters in law. So I prayed for them. That they would have good relationships with their parents, that they would come to know Jesus as their Saviour, that they would be filled with fun and laughter, that they would be everything that my boys would need in the future. At the same time I prayed that my sons would be great husbands and together their Dad and I sought to teach them Godly ways of conducting their lives and treating other people.

So next Saturday my second son will promise to love and cherish his new wife- "for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and health, till death do they part" and I know that he will mean every word of it. And we will welcome Lizzie into our family with open arms knowing that she is the one we have been praying for since Phil was tiny.

"Don't fence me in..."

My attention has recently been drawn to a blog (now made into a book) of a young wife and mother of three, whose husband wanted to move the family to the wide open spaces of rural Northumberland. It goes by the title: " Wife in the North" and tells of the enormous upheaval relocating from the bustling bright lights of London to the remoteness of a small Northumbrian backwater.It is a very amusing and insightful blog and mirrors many of my experiences on doing the same thing some four years ago.Whilst my motives for moving North were somewhat different, and having had three of my four children already left home, I can nonetheless relate to the emotions and bewilderment of being so far removed from the comfort derived from familiarity.

It was four years ago this week that my husband, daughter and I uprooted ourselves from the hustle and bustle of "the smoke". Everything that I knew and loved was gone in the three hundred mile drive up the A1/M. Family, friends, streets and local amenities that I had grown up with faded from the rear view mirror as we sped our way to a new life.

Yes, it was hard to adapt to the quietness and remoteness of a more rural setting, and yes I did find myself longing to just pop on one of the frequent trains to Charing Cross to visit a familiar tourist attraction (not that I did this much when I lived there!) But time has taught me to appreciate the amazing place in which I now find myself living.

Northumberland is the Uk's best kept secret! Golden, sandy beaches that stretch for miles, deserted but for the occasional dog and it's owner.Magnificent castles that suddenly surprise you as you come around a corner. Wide, vast skies that go on forever and the darkness of night,black and solid, devoid of the orange glow of street lights and illuminated office blocks.

Yesterday I had to deliver a wedding cake to a country house hotel and then drive on to the Market town of Alnwick to take part in a food fair promoting local produce. As I motored along the country roads I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to have all this on my doorstep. I drove for miles without seeing more than a handful of other cars. The undulating hills and fields, sheep and cows grazing peacefully, farmers harvesting their crops. What a pleasure to live in such a wonderful place.

Water, water everywhere...

This last week has been very strange. Eight days ago we experienced rain on a scale that I've never witnessed before. Torrential, all night long and throughout the day.

I awoke on the Saturday morning to a dull brownish light that seemed very different to a normal morning light, even for a rainy day. The rain was lashing down, just as it had been when I went to bed the night before.

The nearby Market town of Morpeth has the Wansbeck running through it, an old town that has developed around the snaking bends of a usually calm and genteel river. It occassionally overflows a little, but after a catastrophic flood in 1963 the flood defences have done their job successfully.

I had to go down to the town that day to return some library books with my daughter. It wasn't pleasant as the roads were already becoming water logged, running off the fields and down the hills into the town. Having parked the car next to the river I was shocked to see that the Wansbeck was already steadily rising. At 10 o'clock it had reached almost to the top of the bridge arches and was a raging torrent.

I jokingly commented to the Librarian that she would need a boat to get home in later that day. She laughed it off saying that they would be okay! Having sorted out the books Hayley and I walked up to the main street to do some banking and a bit of shopping. There was water everywhere and the roads were beginning to resemble small rivers. We hurried about our business and got back to the car both soaked through to the skin.

Once home we both had to change all our clothes but soon settled down to the normal Saturday routine. After about an hour a dear friend of mine, whose house is right next to the river, rang to ask if she and her family could take refuge at our house that night as the river was rising at the rate of a foot an hour and they were taking as much of their furniture as they could upstairs in preparation for the inevitable flooding.

Suddenly the urgency of the situation began to hit home and I began to prepare the house for the impending visit of six wet, homeless refugees.

What happened over the next few hours was reported on the national news. The flooding of Morpeth, along with a number of other places in Northumberland, headed the main bulletins. Footage of the area and the emergency rescue operation beamed into houses across the nation. It's strange seeing familiar places completely under water: shops, sports centres, parks, streets. Peoples lives broken open by a deluge of water that swept through the town.

There isn't a person in Morpeth that wasn't affected, or knew someone who was. For my friend it was a double whammy of house and business washed away. It will be many months before people can get back into the homes they love. Many had no insurance and are trying to survive in houses that are damp, smelly and without gas and electricity. Those that had insurance are slowly moving into rented accomodation until their houses are returned to normal.

What happened last week has changed peoples lives. Many have lost almost everything but no one was injured and there was no loss of live. Despite the sadness and sense of bereavement, it has brought out a spirit of togetherness and a desire to give whatever help is needed.

It has made me sad to witness such an event but it has also made me begin to appreciate what others all over the world experience to a much greater degree than the dear folks of Northumberland! For us it was an extaordinary event that is only usually witnessed once or twice in a lifetime. Somewhere in this world, right now, people are having to deal with situations that are far worse than we could ever imagine. The cameras will not always be there, and the aid may not reach them in time. If nothing else, what has happened in my "backyard" has helped me to think a bit harder about others hardship and appreciate what I have.