If only it was that easy!

Phew, that's alright then! (Results of the latest daft quiz I've done)

You Are Going to Heaven

You're so saintly you're practically an angel, and there's no other place for you than heaven. You are always concerned with doing the right thing. You consider being a good person a joy... not a burden. You're not perfect, and you don't expect anyone else to be. You are ethical without being sanctimonious about it. You are happy with yourself and the decisions you've made. And that's what's important.

Are You Going to Heaven or Hell?

I think maybe I'd better go along to our Reconciliation Service tonight anyway, just in case!

Contrasts . . .

I'm really pleased that I managed to get to Rosary and Benediction this afternoon. It was a lovely prayerful time in a solemn looking church as all the statues and the large crucifix are now veiled in purple cloth. I'm so glad we still practice this in our parish. It makes Passiontide so much more 'real' somehow.

What a contrast to yesterday. There was a wedding in the parish and the church was overflowing with beautiful flowers; in the sanctuary, at the foot of every statue and on the pew ends. Quite right too, of course. The florists did an amazing job having just a small 'window' in which to transform our Lenten church into a splendidly joyful one and back again in just a few hours. It did make the contrast all the more obvious.

I must say I was a little bit anxious at Mass this morning when one of our young altar servers placed his candle a little too near one of the veiled statues for my liking. I'm sure it was perfectly safe but I could just imagine Our Lady suddenly being veiled with a fire blanket rather than the purple cloth!

Earth Hour ...

I was just checking my Facebook updates whilst waiting for the supper to cook (the way you do) when I noticed my niece in Australia had referred to the imminent approach of 'Earth Hour.'

Maybe I've had my head in the sand (quite likely) but I couldn't think what on earth (sorry, unintentional pun) she was talking about. Must be some 'yoof' activity I thought, no wonder I don't know what it is.

Naturally I can hear you all saying, 'don't you remember, that was started in Sydney two years ago by green campaigners keen to cut energy use?'

Of course 'Auntie' came to the rescue. Here's a video that explains all:

I don't think we'd notice in our little backwater. There aren't a great many illuminated landmarks visible from our house.

If you happen to be in sight of any of these buildings, however, you might like to be reassured that they haven't all suffered from a sudden power-cut - it's intentional: Edinburgh Castle, St Peter's Basilica, the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids or New York's Empire State Building.

Good luck to them anyway. I think it's a good idea to make us realise what life would be like if we had to restrict the use of electricity.

The Saints - great video ...

I couldn't resist posting this video after seeing it on Pastor in Valle's blog this morning. Thank you Father. They do some great things over at SQPN. Pop over and have a look when you have time. I particularly like, That Catholic Show.

Stations of the Cross

For those of you who have never visited St Mary's, Manchester (the Hidden Gem), I thought I'd post a photo of the modern Stations of the Cross mentioned in the comments on the previous post.

Even in this small picture, I think you can get the general idea.

I've posted a picture below of the beautiful Pieta in the side chapel. I know which of the two I find more helpful as an aid to prayer.
As they used to say in the old exam papers (maybe, they still do?) 'Compare and contrast!'

Manchester and back ...

We had a great weekend in Manchester. The journey up was one of the best we've ever had - no traffic problems at all and lovely sunny weather most of the way.

We had a bit of trouble finding St Mary's (the Hidden Gem) for Mass on Saturday evening and missed the opening prayer (I hate being late for Mass!).

Even though we've been there several times now, we don't know the city well enough to find the church easily from wherever we manage to find a space to park. You wouldn't believe how many people we asked and nobody had a clue (and they weren't ALL strangers either - I was thinking, 'look for middle-aged women to ask - they're the most likely to know!').

I used to think Manchester was a stronghold of Catholicism! In the end a young couple (Eastern European judging by their accents) who had seen us approaching several people and getting further and further away from the church incidentally, took pity on us and said if we were going to Mass at the church so were they and so we followed them.

I must say it is very well named - the HIDDEN Gem!

After a lovely Mass we met up with number 2 son and went to the Curry Mile for a fantastic curry and a lovely relaxed evening together chatting and catching up with one another's news.

On Sunday we went for a good long walk at Chorlton Water Park - so many energetic people - I think half of Manchester was out running on Sunday morning. We didn't want to go too far out of town as we were going for lunch in the city centre at Malmaison - another success.

Sad to say farewell but hopefully it won't be too long before it's our son's turn to make the journey home down South for a weekend.

The journey back was a bit busier (everyone returning from visiting their mothers on Mother's Day perhaps?) but we still managed it in about 4 hours driving time which is quite good.

Back to normal today and catching up with washing and ironing etc. It's amazing how being away for just two days can make you so behind with the chores, isn't it?

Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday?

Mother's Day and Mothering Sunday have become confused so that many people think they are the same thing -and I suppose that they have become the same thing but when I was small ( a looooooooooong time ago!) we always celebrated Mothering Sunday on the 4th Sunday of Lent and my own mother was very disparaging of 'that American idea' of Mother's Day. We always had to make sure we made or bought a card that said 'Happy Mothering Sunday' not Happy Mother's Day' or it wouldn't be very well received.

The American 'Mother's Day' is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May and is a day when people show their appreciation to their mothers but I don't know if it has any more than that to it's origins. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

Originally in England, Mothering Sunday was a day when girls in service were given a day to visit their Mothers and there are many customs associated with it. One of these is the baking of a simnel cake which the girls used to take to their mothers as a gift on this day. Again it seems that this has now become an 'Easter cake' and you'll find these fruit cakes, sandwiched together with marzipan and decorated with 11 balls of marzipan on top, in the shops at Easter time along with the chocolate eggs. The 11 balls of marzipan are said to represent the 11 Disciples (Judas is omitted).

Where was I? Oh, yes, when I was small we always made a fuss of all mother's in our local church on Mothering Sunday and each mother would be presented with a little posy of violets or primroses.

We still do something similar in our parish but nowadays the violets have been replaced with daffodils.

I'm sorry I won't be with both our sons this Mothering Sunday but I'm really looking forward to seeing number 2 son on Sunday when we go to Manchester. He tells me he's booked somewhere for lunch . . . I'll report back later.

We've already reschedule our 'posh nosh' date for a couple of weeks' time and number 1 son will be joining us for that so this year I'll be having two Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day celebrations. Who's a lucky girl, then?

Lady of the Camellias ... well, woman really, of just one beautiful camellia!

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I had to post this beautiful picture taken just after 9am this morning. I nearly made myself late for Mass prancing round the garden snapping away with my camera.

More on St Patrick's Day

Here's an interesting video on the 'do's and 'don't's of how to celebrate St Patrick's Day.

Irish for the day ...

I saw this badge when I was looking for a good picture to illustrate this post on St Patrick's Day. It just summed up how I felt today. I don't mean that in a negative way.

Being a Catholic in England, it's very difficult not to be aware of St Patrick's Day. I usually feel slightly envious of all the Irish Catholics on this day. They have this great attitude to the Feast of their Patron Saint. Celebrate with Mass and have a party! What more could you ask for really.

Being English, I think we miss out on this. We don't have the same attitude to St George and not being 'exiles in a foreign land' means we don't have the same nostalgia for the land we left behind.

I was listening to all the lovely old Irish folk tunes today and I can't think of any English songs that evoke the same feelings of nostalgia. Yes, they are sentimental but that is their attraction. Mixed in with these old ballads we often hear the lively Irish jigs. Again, who can keep still when they hear the old fiddler playing these tunes?

What do we have to celebrate England in terms of music? It may be just me but all that comes to mind are fairly militaristic tunes - Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia, Jerusalem etc.

Whilst all being good 'stirring' songs, they are just not in the same category as the Irish songs like Danny Boy, The Spinning Wheel, When Irish Eyes are Smiling etc.

Anyway, as my Irish friends are colleagues are very happy to include me in their celebrations I was happy to be 'Irish for the day' today and joined in all the celebrations with gusto.

Grumpy old woman ...

I have a dreadful feeling that I'm turning into a real-life 'Grumpy Old Woman.'

The Mass that we go to on a Sunday is usually a lively one as we have a choir with quite a number of young members and a lot of young families in the congregation. This has always been one of the reasons we enjoy this Mass but I've noticed that the noise levels before and after Mass seem to be increasing. I wonder if today's Gospel reading will have any effect. (The Cleansing of the Temple). It certainly sounded a bit like a market place before Mass in our church today!

By contrast, in the afternoon, we had a beautiful, prayerful half an hour with the Holy Rosary followed by Benediction.

Thank goodness, the Grumpy Old Woman didn't hang around too long!

A landmark!

Well, when I started this blog nearly a year ago, I certainly didn't think it would reach much more than 'double figures' in terms of the number of 'hits'.

I must say I'm quietly 'chuffed' to see that I've made the 1,000 mark just before the blog's first anniversary. I know it's mainly family and a few friends who drop by regularly but that's fine because that always was my 'target audience'. Sorry, so many inverted commas!

It's interesting to look back over the various posts and see how the blog has evolved. I certainly enjoying blogging as much, if not more than when I began.

Next landmark will be the blog's first anniversary in April. Shall I save the champagne for then I wonder or have a glass now?

Hands off our chocolate!

Have you heard the news? When I heard that there had been discussions amongst GPs in Scotland about taxing chocolate in a bid to reduce the number of people suffering from obesity, I was seriously worried!

I can tell you, I was all ready to 'march on Westminster' if this heinous suggestion had actually been taken up. If this dreadful act could be perpetrated North of the Border, there's no telling where it might stop.

But never fear, Chocolate-lovers, it appears that chocolate is safe for the time being. Surely in times of crisis, such as we face today, we need our chocolate even more!

Anyone for a deep-fried Mars bar? :)

Are you a Martha or a Muriel?

My sister-in-law sent me this (thanks Lil). I hope it makes you laugh as much as it did me.

*Martha's Way*

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

*Muriel's Way *

Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!

To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
Buy SMASH potato mix, keep it in the pantry for up to a year.

When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
Go to the bakery! They'll even decorate it for you.

If you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant 'fix-me-up.'
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad - you did your bit.

Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
Celery? Never heard of it!

Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink!

If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
Go ask that gorgeous neighbour if he can open it for you! Its a fantastic way to break the ice before getting to know him better!

Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
Leftover wine??????????? HELLOooooooooooooo!!!

As usual, if you don't forward this to 1 of your friends within the next 5 minutes, your belly button will fall off. Really... it's true! Have I ever lied to you?

Sorry everyone, it's that time of year again when I start boring you all with pictures of a suburban back garden! I feel my wellies coming out of hibernation!

By the way, I hope you've noticed that I've added another blog to my list of blogs to visit. I've recently started following Mother's Pride and really enjoy her blog. Do pop over and have a look. I think you'll like what you see.

Busy-ness ...

I've spent the last few weeks trying to book our annual retreat for our Team in Teams of Our Lady. Shouldn't be that difficult, you'd think to find a weekend date that would suit all five couples.

Ha ha - 'you're 'avin' a larf ain't ya?'

It started off so well ... the retreat centre could even offer us a couple of weekend before Easter - fantastic.

OK, just check with the Team that we could all make it ... I'll give everyone a few dates to consider .... easy, peasy!

Right then ... so we can't manage that then ... OK, no problem, I'll just get back to the centre and ask for a few more possible dates.

Hey, everybody, I've managed to find several weekends between Easter and October that they can fit us in.

Fine, .... so we're looking at November now, then - uh ha.

Oh, you don't have any free weekends at the centre in November? You could offer us the 2nd week in December?

Thank you. I'll get back to you .....

We'll get a retreat organised eventually. I'm not giving up that easily!

No 'posh nosh' for this Mum after all ...

Well, that was short lived! I was looking forward to trying out the smart Italian restaurant near us on Mother's Day with the paterfamilias but we've had a change of plans . . .

Number 2 son has now informed us that although he can't come home to the bosom of his family that weekend (sob ...), he would quite like it if we could travel up to Manchester and see him.

Actually this will fit in quite well as it's also his birthday at the end of the month and we wouldn't be able to see him anywhere near the date otherwise so it's all worked out in the end. Shame that number one son won't be able to join us as he'll be away elsewhere that weekend but he'll be enjoying himself on his holiday so not to worry.

Mind, you I'm not letting you-know-who forget about the meal at you-know-where at some other time. Especially with food like this on the menu!

Fasting ...

Thanks to Fr Leo again for the pictures for this slide show.

I don't want to be picky but I wish they'd used a crucifix rather than a plain cross so I've added my own slide at the end. Also that means I've got rid of, 'Smile, Jesus loves you.' I know He does but the only time I ever use that expression my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek!

Otherwise 10/10 for the rest!

2nd Sign of Spring ...

You may remember I mentioned seeing some Spring-like activity in our local area a few days ago ... well today I saw another sign of Spring - and this time a more universally acknowledged one (I sound like Jane Austen!)

They're not brilliant pictures but I saw this bruiser of a bumblebee in our church porch this morning and just had to snap him as proof. The first photo is a funny shot - it almost looks as if he's looking out of the window - maybe wondering, ' Shall I go back to sleep again?'

A Simple Equation ...

Hooray!

Now I need one of these:

The Angelus ...

I was looking for something related to the Angelus when I came across this beautiful video on the fisheaters website. I hope you like it. This is especially for Mary.

A day off ...

Today was my day off, and as usual I have a mental list of all the things that I'd like to do. I think I may have mentioned this before, sorry. If I manage a couple of things from my list I think I've done quite well. Here are some of the items that make it to my list most weeks:

Have a little lie-in, i.e. get up at least half an hour later than usual.

Go to Mass.

Go for a walk.

Do several loads of washing.

Tackle the ironing. (Why do we always 'tackle' the ironing, I wonder?)

Do a bit of shopping.

Have a bit of a tidy up at home and sort out some of the piles of domestic paperwork.

Do a bit of gardening if the weather's not bad.

Have some time for myself doing something purely for me.

etc. etc. . . .

Today didn't start that well as I overslept and missed Mass. A good thing happened on my walk though. As I was nearly home, I heard the Angelus Bell (midday) ring out from our local church so I was able to walk the last few hundred metres praying the Angelus as I walked along in the sunshine. A little thing but it really pleased me and although it didn't compensate for missing Mass, I feel at least I didn't have a completely God-less day!

As to the other things on my list, I managed some ironing but the basket still looks fairly full as new stuff gets added all the time. Does anyone else feel a bit like Sisyphus pushing that old boulder up the hill when they think about ironing, or housework in general?

I also had a lovely wander around the shops looking at all the new season's clothes that are now appearing everywhere. (That was purely for me!)

A Conundrum ...

Here's a conundrum for you ...

Having slipped up on Valentine's Day (don't ask!), the paterfamilias is obviously trying to make amends (!) and has booked a table for lunch on Mother's Day at a very smart local restaurant ( Okay, I admit it, I have been dropping a few hints lately but it's the only way!)

Now the problem is that number one son has booked a short break holiday that weekend as he has leave to use up before the end of the year. Number two son is in Manchester and is really busy at the moment trying to get some serious work done as hopefully this will be his final year of his thesis. I know he's busy enjoying himself too but I don't begrudge him that. Anyway, it means that neither of the offspring will actually be here to celebrate Mother's Day on the day itself and be able to join us for lunch. (By the way the numbers merely denote which is the older of the two boys!).

I would love to have lunch at this restaurant and also quite like the idea of having lunch with just the two of us, for a change, but do I want to do that surrounded by women celebrating in the bosom of their families?

Lenten Devotions

After a few light-hearted posts - nothing wrong with smiling (!) I thought it was about time I wrote something a bit more serious.

We are fortunate in our parish that during Lent we have the opportunity to go to both Rosary and Benediction and Stations of the Cross every week; Rosary and Benediction on Sunday afternoons and Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings.

I've noticed that as the weeks go on the numbers tend to increase at both devotions, as word gets around maybe.

I find both of these are very important in my Lenten preparation. They provide a much-needed oasis of calm in a fairly busy life and help me to focus on what is really important.

Unfortunately we had to miss the first Stations of the Cross on Friday as we had a minor crisis to deal with at home (all sorted out now, DG!) I did manage to make Rosary and Benediction on Sunday though which was as prayerful as ever. Our PP had to manage without any altar servers as those who would normally attend were busy at the Cathedral. We have a few faithful servers who come along to Benediction most Sunday afternoons.

The 'Mosquito' ... So, I'm not a teenager, after all!

Created by Train Horns

Well, what did I expect?

Thanks to my brother (also, no longer a teenager!) for the link. I'd be interested to hear if any young people out there can actually hear this.

I love Jesus but I drink a little ...

Thanks to Mary over at 'the eyes in which I see the world' for this really funny video.

I hope it makes you laugh out loud like I did. Hang in there, the funny part comes about a quarter of the way in.