'Scottish Episcopalian' ...... ?

So wot’s this then ? Is it dangerous ?
Sometimes – tho maybe not often if you live in UK.

I’d been Christened ‘Anglican’ as a babe in arms, went to Baptist Sunday School (‘cos it was just around the corner), graduated to essentially non-denominational ‘Crusaders’, enjoyed the pride that goes with carrying first a Brownie Pennant, then Girl Guide Colours at Church parades. Then in teenage years I spent most of my Sundays with schoolfriends at the local Free/Evangelical/Non-denominational/Non-conformist church, encountering an intense spiritual crossroads of memorable and life-changing significance which turned all the switches of my deep inner life to ’On’. My Christian Life seemed well mapped out - until a No-Nonsense Nudge From The Almighty resulted in a Mighty Move into my local English parish church. Hello, High Anglicanism. Wow – now That was a surprise ! Evangelical Folk Singer to Traditional Sacred Choral Church Music in 6 months. Mmmmn.

When I first came to this city, far-ish north of UK, I was living across the road from a big church. So I eventually called in one Sunday morning – and the eucharistic setting was ‘Merbecke’ – HEAVEN ON EARTH ! - HOME ! And I met folks who became closer than my far-flung relatives, and I got kinda stuck onto the superglue of the place………

And that’s how I became a Scottish Pisky…………..

Chooks Update

Well……. we heard today that our ‘Omlet Cube’ henhouse will be delivered on Friday 4th July…….. so, yet another month to wait again from here…….. My brother in Devon would no doubt say we should settle for a much cheaper and more accessible alternative. But we have a lot of foxes around here, and ‘Omlet’ seem confident that their design is very effective against foxes. User Reports on their website seem to support this claim. So I guess we just have to wait. And yes – we fully understand that 4 hens would live quite happily in the ‘Omlet Eglu’ – but I for one do not fancy getting down on my hands and knees on our muddy lawn to clean the ….. er….. poo tray. And we want to provide best care so’s to keep happy and healthy hens. The height of the ‘Cube’ appears much superior re user-friendliness and back care. ( See www.omlet.co.uk ) And as TH and his back are frequently at odds, I am keen to optimise the chances of him actually doing his share of the chook management tasks !

So I guess we’ll just have to be content and continue with the ChickPea Family as we are just now.

Patience ! Calm ! It is only another month, after all........

WHERE are the chooks ?

On Monday night TH found a superb documentary from the BBC by a lady about her mother who has dementia. TH caught the end of the programme, then being a CWK, tracked it down on the ‘watch and listen again’ facility. So we saw it all after all. Entertaining, Harrowing and Inspiring. A most courageous undertaking to share so boldly.

DJ’s wife had Altzheimer’s Dementia. It ‘s a most cruelly demanding situation for TH, coping with a second parent with dementia.

We found this programme astonishingly supportive, admitting the emotional and practical difficulties encountered. Although every presentation of dementia is specific to that individual, so much is shared by many. And it changes. Sometimes daily – or hourly – so far as ‘details’ are concerned. But if you step back, you can see the more profound overall changes. Some of these are because you have found more effective coping or ‘dealing with’ strategies. Some of the changes are the deterioration.

One of the bells that rang for us from the programme was the difficulty of ‘pant pads’…… I’m sure these must be amongst the most uncomfortable things ever devised for wearing. And not easy to cope with on several levels. So it’s not at all surprising that the user with dementia takes them out and hides them. Dealing with the end results of that are not at all easy. But – enough !

An unsettled night for DJ, with the old GI tract playing merry mayhem at 5am. (giving thanks for 'pant pads' !) Not conducive to DJ feeling great. And it's raining again. So I’m letting him sleep on this morning, in hopes it will help him get through the day. T from the ‘Crossroads’ Support Organization is due to visit him this afternoon. They usually play dominoes.

DJ and I played for about 2 hours yesterday pm – it made the afternoon more acceptable than the morning had been. At the end of it we were both seeing spots...

HOWEVER - what I really really want to know is this. “WHERE are the chooks ?” This blog says it includes chickens………..

Well…. we’re still awaiting delivery of the henhouse. Current purchaser demands apparently far outstrip the production team’s ability to supply. We thought we’d have them by now, but though we were told ‘the beginning of June at the latest’, we’re still awaiting a delivery date.... We contacted a poultry supplier last week, and will probably have to wait weeks more for the hens to get here....

The therapeutic effects of handling hens sound considerable from internet trawlings, so I’m very hopeful that DJ will get some positive benefits from these new additions to the family. But at this rate we may never know……