ALMOST THERE!

I was so pleased that when I woke up this morning I felt so much better - thank you for all your good wishes yesterday, via the Silly Saturday Gang.  I must say that whatever hit me, definitely “hit me for six” to coin a cricketing term.  I didn’t get dressed all day, slept on and off - and didn’t even cook a meal last night.  As Mr. HCB said, but not in a malicious way, “If you don’t want to eat, then you must be feeling poorly!”  Thankfully, Mr. HCB is very easy to please as regards food - and would rather have something simple than cook a meal, so I never have any worries on that score - but I guess he knew that as soon as I was feeling better, I would be cooking.  Even as I type, there is a lovely chicken casserole in the slow cooker - but having just tasted the gravy, I added extra garlic to the pot before I  realised that the chopped tomatoes had garlic and chilli - so it should be good!  

I was grateful we had an extra hour in bed this morning, but was up with the lark to get the casserole started before going to Church.  We had a great service at Church and I was glad in a way I wasn’t due to sing, as my voice was quite croaky, but I still “belted out” a couple of the songs.  For those of you who know the Graham Kendrick version of “Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven” you will know it is VERY high in the chorus, but I managed to hit the top notes!

The speaker, Kate, was from the Harnhill Centre of Christian Healing and her excellent message centred around the 23rd Psalm - and especially about God being a restorative and healing God - so of course, we sang that song - the one with the modern twist - and I enjoyed singing the descant in the chorus.  It is so good to be part of a Church where people enjoy singing so much - I had listened to the Radio 4 Service earlier, and the music was very different to the songs we sing, but realise that all music has the power to affect and touch us deeply and in very different ways.

The top left photograph shows the Harnhill Centre, which is situated at Harnhill, a small village, not far from Cirencester - a beautiful place where I have experienced peace and healing in the past.

I was glad to see that my friend, Louise, was wearing a bright pink long jacket, so of course, she had to be in my shot, as it is still Breast Cancer Awareness Month for a few more days!  She didn’t want her face in the shot this week, so turned her back on me!

The beautiful roses were in the vestibule and as Becky said to me “Chosen just for you - plenty of pink there!”  Of course, I had to agree - and then she showed me our new machine, where we can make payments by card to different organisations within the Church, so I had to have a go on that too - to see how it works.  We have been asked to buy “little extras” in the run-up to Christmas to go into the Bags of Hope that go out every week, but I thought giving money like this would mean I don’t have to feel guilty if I forget to buy them - so thank you Becky! As she said to me when I had done it “Well, if you can do it, then anyone can!”  I think it was meant as a compliment! 

The bottom right shot is Antonia’s cow - called simply “Cow” but there is pink and quite appropriate for today as the children, who give their offerings into “Bob the Cow” are now collecting so that two children in Costa Rica can have a new school uniform and all that they need for their school work.  The money collected in Bob has already bought goats and supplied toilets in two other areas - and the children are able to see what happens to the money that they give week by week.

The middle shot shows some beautiful Violas that I saw when we got home.  Mr. HCB planted up several containers that I can see from the kitchen window, and these are just the right colour for BCAM.

So all in all a great morning and it will be even better if you could all please CONTINUE CLICKING on this LINK to help those who cannot afford to pay for a mammogram and for other costs involved in coping with breast cancer.  YOU ARE A GREAT BUNCH and I am very grateful for all the clicking that has been done in the past few weeks.

I hope you have a great week - Mr. HCB thinks it is supposed to be fairly dry, so no doubt many of you will be out in your gardens clearing up etc - that’s where Mr. HCB will be anyway!  M xx