Tealby

 I don't often go to Tealby.  Or rather I don't often go to Tealby Church.  The King's Head at Tealby is one of my favourite eateries.  

The King's Head

On Sunday I lead a Holy Communion service there for the first time since January 2020.  It was great fun, especially as we were visited by a scatty cocker spaniel which ran several laps around the church before deciding to settle down in a pew and have a snooze.  The congregation was greatly amused, as was I.  (It had come to check on its humans.)

Tealby Church is rather nice.  It's got associations with the Tennyson family whose vault is under the chancel.  

And the congregation is rather nice too.  As well as welcoming a cocker spaniel they welcomed this stray vicar too and fed her coffee and chocolate bikkies.  I don't know what the spaniel got but I suspect she was happy too.

And so to September

 

I suppose it's autumn now but maybe we can enjoy summer  a little longer.    I've got plans for September.

Swimming is planned for several Mondays.  I don't want to go when there are fewer than three mermaids so we don't often know before Sunday whether we'll be having a splash.  Today the dip is on!

I've got a fiftieth birthday party to go to.  I'm rather looking forward to this one as there will be three of my cousins plus lots of other relatives so a lot of talking will get done.

I'm booked to lead worship on a couple of Sundays.  

I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards made.  I can't remember when I left that job so late in the year.  I've also been collecting the ingredients for puddings.  The list for those gets longer every year.

I'm hoping to do a few craft classes with the WI on line.  (The picture above was from a course last September.)

And that leaves quite a bit of time for deciding to do something on the spur of the moment.  

A Favourite Poem

If you can start the day without caffeine

~~If you can get going without pep pills...

~~If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains...

~~If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles...

~~If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it...

~~If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time...

~~If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong...

~~If you can take criticism and blame without resentment...

~~If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct them...

~~If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend...

~~If you can face the world without lies and deceit...

~~If you can conquer tension without medical help...

~~If you can relax without liquor...

~~If you can sleep without the aid of drugs...

~~If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, colour, religion or politics...

then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog

That was August that was

It's been a gentle month.  Some of the time it was too hot to do anything and sometimes I wasn't too bothered about doing anything so I didn't.  These are a few of the things I did.

Worst first.  Annie-The-Home-Enhancer went away on her holidays so she wasn't here for four weeks.  I welcomed her back with very open arms!

I went swimming three times. Early in the month I couldn't walk much but I've improved as the month has gone on.

I studied some Shakespeare on-line with the WI.

I'm taking a service tomorrow but that's the only Sunday worship I will have led.  I took a Home Communion to a housebound lady and arranged for others to join us which she greatly appreciated.  I also conducted a funeral for which I was requested.  Funerals like that are always an honour.  

I had a couple of lunches out with friends.  And I went to the Bomber Command Memorial with a women's group.  

I did nine nights dog sitting.

I went to two birthday parties: one was a barbecue and the other afternoon tea.