BUTTERNUT SQUASHES

Mr. HCB is very proud of his butternut squashes – you may remember that last year, we had the very small buds, but no squashes.  We are hoping that they ripen off well and it will be exciting to weigh them.
 
The vital statistics of the front one are:
 
From tip to toe                                      10 inches               25.50 cm
Round the top                                       12 inches               30.75 cm
Waist measurement                            13 inches               33.00 cm
Hips                                                        18 inches               46.00 cm
 
If I’m honest, except for the colour, it reminded me a little of my shape – well not quite, perhaps, as I do go in a little more at the waist!
 
Interspersed with these, and there are a couple more, are the “trombone” courgettes – which are also doing well, so we are hoping we don’t get any frosts during October.
 
Off to church soon and it’s our Harvest service today – we are focusing on The Lost Families of Syria – a BMS World Mission (former the Baptist Missionary Society) appeal and instead of the usual service with harvest produce, we are encouraged to give a donation to this worthy cause.
 
I include a paragraph from the BMS website:
 
The situation for the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon is still dire where the majority of families are living in extreme poverty. According to news reports, forced prostitution, child slavery and early marriage are huge risks for Syria’s vulnerable women and children. For the 70% of Syrian refugee children unable to access school in Lebanon, life consists of the endless monotony of hanging around their families’ one-room tents or working illegally to earn a few dollars a day for food for their parents, brothers and sisters. There is a very real risk that they will fall prey to traffickers or extremists, or that the girls will be married off to older men – just so that they and their family can survive. For some of them, this has been life for more than four years.
 
When many of us have such a comfortable existence, how can we NOT help them?
 
“You have not lived today
     until you have done something
          for someone
               who can never repay you.” 
   
John Bunyan – 1628-1688