Rain stopped play . . . well, it hasn't actually started yet!

Oh dear, I think it's not just the ground that's waterlogged - looks like these cricketers have forgotten which size and shape ball they should be practising with! Never mind, we won't put them straight just yet - they are the opposition, after all!

Funny!

Did you ever wonder why you never see dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica ?

Ever wonder where they go? Wonder no more.

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguins have a very strong community bond. They are very committed to their family and will mate for life.

They also maintain a form of compassionate contact with their offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the freshly dug grave and sing . . .

"Freeze a jolly good fellow"

Thanks to Sr Anastasia for emailing me this.

School's out . . .

I know it's not a new phenomenon but I was really struck today by the number of grandparents in our local shopping centre who were obviously looking after grandchildren now that the school holidays have begun.

I realise how fortunate I was that I was able to be at home with our children both before they started school, and out of school hours too right up until they were into their teens. But I wasn't alone in this. When I used to drop the boys off at primary school and pick them up afterwards, the mums at the school gates were just that, 'mums' and not grandparents, childminders or au pairs. I know I'm showing my age!

I suppose it's a sign of the times, that people need two incomes just to be able to pay the mortgage but I feel sad that the mums today miss out on that precious time with their children when they're small, especially when they're under five years old.

On the other hand, people say that the children learn to socialise a lot earlier and are better at mixing with others and it makes the transition from home to school much less of a wrench for them. There are pros and cons to everything, I suppose.

Happy summer holidays to everyone anyway whatever you're doing this summer.

Retirement . . .

Once upon a time, we had a dining room . . . then my husband retired . . . or did he just re-locate his office? !

Well, he has until Christmas to sort it out (luckily we have a nice big kitchen we usually eat in) - I'll keep you posted!

I didn't know that . . .

I don't usually blog about the family as they are very keen not to have their privacy invaded, and I respect that (shame though it is, as I could blog forever about silly little family incidents :-)).

Today, however, the Paterfamilias has a special birthday and I had intended to say it was the day that he qualifies for his bus pass.

I thought I'd have a look on the council web site and see if he could apply online. It was then I discovered that from April of last year both men and women qualified for free bus transport from the age of 60 (equality of the sexes and all that).

Oops, I don't know how I'm going to break it to him that he could have been swanning off all over the place absolutely gratis for over a year!

Missed it again . . .

As I got into the car to drive home, I switched the radio on to see how we were doing in the cricket as the 'near certainty' talked about yesterday morning seemed to be less certain by close of play yesterday.

I couldn't understand why it wasn't on Radio 4 or Five Live but realisation slowly dawned that it must be all over. Fearing the worst, I switched on the PC when I got home and got the good news - Oh, how could I have doubted!

I've been enjoying reading Mac's blog recently on the subject of her education into the Laws of Cricket. Sounds like she's had some expert teachers!

Not for the faint-hearted . . .

Health warning - viewing this site may seriously damage your health! :-)

I've seen some religious art/statues/cruficixes etc. in churches from time to time that is not exactly to my taste as I'm sure most people have but this collection here is quite mind-boggling. Thanks to Fr Roderick of SQPN for the link via Twitter to the posting on The Crescat.

Oh, the youth of today . . .

I was a bit late back today as I'd arranged to have a coffee and catch up session with my amazing Goddaughter. I feel I've been very negligent in my 'Godmotherly' role and as she was home for a rare brief visit was really pleased to be able to see her. It also gave me a good excuse to visit the new Costa coffee shop locally (do we really need an excuse ?)

I don't know many 21 year olds who can talk for an hour about God's plan for them. Very inspiring to see the enthusiasm which just bubbles out of her and I'm sure she'll achieve great things with the youth ministry team she's involved with in Liverpool.

There's something about the more 'Evangelical' Churches (Anglican in her case) of any denomination that seems to appeal to young people and they seem to have no problem, not only in attracting young people to their churches, but also to hanging on to them. I wonder what the secret is?

Being a bit late home I missed catching the end of today's play at Lord's, and Strauss's century - never mind, there's always a chance of another century tomorrow :-)

Mysterious disappearances . . .

A few of the blogs that I like to follow have either not been updated for months or seem to have disappeared from the blogosphere altogether.

I know (I hope!) it's just coincidence but it's happened in a few cases where I've just discovered a blog I really enjoy, usually I've come across it quite by accident by 'following a trail' from another blog - and then suddenly the posts 'dry up' or the blog is taken down altogether.

I actually tried running two blogs myself and found it didn't work (for me, anyway) so I decided to stop posting on one of them but I did write a few lines explaining this. Often people leave you 'hanging' not knowing quite what's going on.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, I discovered the owner of one such blog had just as mysteriously suddenly decided to start blogging again.

When I first came across his blog, I was rather intrigued by Catholic Student, a young man discerning his vocation and sharing his thoughts and experiences via his blog, so I was very pleased to see that's he hasn't given up his blog after all. Do pop on over and give him some encouragement.

It really is quite simple . . .

I've just been looking at Mulier Fortis and her post on having someone explain the laws of cricket to her, reminded me of the famous joke, 'Cricket as explained to a foreign visitor.' Here it is again for those who need reminding:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in

and the next man goes in until he's out.

When they are all out, the side that's out comes in

and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out,

and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time

and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When both sides have been in and all the men have out,

and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in,

including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

You see, it's quite simple really!

Home again . . .

Back home again after a really good weekend retreat.

We had all the essential ingredients for a successful retreat as far as our Team is concerned:

A very comfortable retreat centre run by excellent staff who couldn't do enough for us;

Delicious food and plenty of it -

important so that we can concentrate on the 'higher things of life' :-) ;

Some spiritual 'input' from a chaplain;

Plenty of time for personal prayer and reflection plus time together as a couple;

Mass each day and Prayer of the Church as a group;

The opportunity for Confession;

Some time to socialise as a group;

Time for a walk and reasonable weather plus good walks nearby;

This year's retreat was at a very relaxed pace which was good for everyone as we all needed time to wind down, some of us more than others.

As Saturday was the Feast of St Benedict we decided to take this as our theme for the retreat and Fr Richard Lear, chaplain at The Emmaus Centre, gave us a very interesting talk on Benedictine Spirituality including recommending some further reading. We had also all taken along a copy of Abbot Christopher Jamison's latest book, Finding Happiness' for our own personal reading and group discussion.

The centre has a well-stocked library and also some books for sale so there was no shortage of reading matter.

We were lucky with the weather too and most of us managed to have a good walk on Saturday morning after Mass.

Home again after lunch today to pick up the threads of life at home, with work and families, but definitely refreshed to tackle everything with new vigour . . . and we have already begun thinking about next year's retreat.

Our Team's Retreat . . .

Just a couple of days to go till our Team's Retreat. I mentioned before that it had been quite a task to actually find a weekend when all 5 couples in our Team (Teams of Our Lady) were all available at the same time to make our annual retreat. Nevertheless, it's such an important part of our Team life that we all feel it's worth persevering and we managed to fix a date in the end - we're off on Friday evening to the Emmaus Centre in West Wickham.

We'll all make our own way there and meet before supper. Most of us won't be able to get there much before that due to work/school commitments but despite the hectic rush to get there, I know from past experience that once we arrive, all that pressure will fall away as we enter the building. It's quite amazing how getting away from the busy-ness of our daily lives just for a couple of nights makes such a difference to all of us.

We've been in Teams for more than 20 years and we've managed an annual retreat together for most of them. When we began, most of us had fairly young children and they came too, parents took it in turns to attend sessions.

As the children grew up they looked after themselves more and more and just joined us for meals, being happy to amuse themselves in their rooms together or in the grounds of wherever we were making our retreat. I think this year is the first year that we won't have any children with us as even the youngest is now old enough to be left with a friend.

Twice we've managed a Team retreat in France at the Benedictine Convent and Abbey at Bec Hellouin. Those retreats were extra special, I think we'd all agree. Interesting that in French the Convent which is where we stay is referred to as 'Le Monastère'.

Obviously, being on retreat, I won't be blogging but will let you know how we got on when we get back next week.

D'you fancy a coffee?

They've done it again! I posted a while ago about some scientists' recent claims that chocolate was good for you (hooray) and a glass of red wine too (double hooray!)

Now scientists in the US are saying, 'drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease.' If you're a tea drinker, apparently you'd need to drink about 14 cups a day to get the equivalent amount of caffeine.

Read all about it here.

Great news . . . I don't know which to do first - tuck into some Greene and Black's, pour a nice glass of red or have a cappuccino! Oh, life is hard, sometimes.

Growing old (dis)gracefully . . .

I have to thank Sr Anastasia once again for this, just received by email. Just what I needed to make me smile as I was feeling a bit fed up for no good reason.

THIS IS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN OUR COUNTRY!

We Must Stop This Immediately!

Have you noticed that stairs are getting steeper? Groceries are heavier. And, everything is further away. Yesterday I walked to the corner and I was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had become!

And, you know, people are less considerate now, especially the young ones. They speak in whispers all the time! If you ask them to speak up they just keep repeating themselves, endlessly mouthing the same silent message until they're red in the face! What do they think I am? A lip reader?

I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn't even recognise me.

I got to thinking about the poor dear while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so, I glanced at my own reflection. Well, REALLY NOW - even mirrors are not made the way they used to be!

Another thing, everyone drives so fast these days! You're risking life and limb if you happen to pull onto the motorway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast, the way I see them screech and swerve in my rear view mirror.

Clothing manufacturers are less civilised these days. Why else would they suddenly start labelling a size 10 or 12 dress as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices? The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank. Do they think I actually 'believe' the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! Just who do these people think they're fooling?

I'd like to call up someone in authority to report what's going on . . . but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they're printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number there!

All I can do is pass along this warning:

WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!

Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon everyone will have to suffer these awful indignities.

P.S. I'm typing this in a larger font size, because something has happened to my computer's fonts - they are smaller than they once were.

Oops! . . . Nearly got more than I bargained for . . .

Being Saturday afternoon and having a few minutes to spare after the exertions of watching the Ladies' Singles final, I thought I'd catch up with some of the blogs that I look at from time to time.

On trying to open 'Catholic and Loving it!' from my Favourites list, I got an error message from Google directing to me to try a search for www.lovingit.co.uk.

This happens occasionally with blogs and I don't know whether it means that the blog authors are currently updating the blog, or what.

Anyway, having followed the Google link I was giving a list of possible sites as usual.

The search engine is obviously working well as James and Ella Preece's blog was right there at the top of the list . . . but look what was at number three on the list?

Just as well I hadn't mistyped lovingit.co.uk or I could have ended up with a little more than I'd bargained for. It just shows you how easily one can be led astray!

South of France?

As usual on my day off, I went for a little walk in the morning; today it was to meet a friend at a local coffee shop. As I walked along the footpath at the side of the road in the blazing sunshine, I couldn't believe the sound of the crickets in the grass verge. It really felt like I was in the south of France. I tried to record the sound on a video so that I could post it here but they must have known what I was up to as every time I pressed the record button there was a deafening silence!

Later in the day I went to the garden centre and passed another sign that maybe I'd been teleported to a village in Provence. Coming up to a mini roundabout you pass a beautiful lavender field which today was magnificent - just a sea of purple. On the return journey you get a better view as you are looking down on it slightly as it lies in a dip. There's an amusing sign on the roadside warning motorists of 'purple hazard ahead'. True, it can be quite a shock if you're not expecting it. I couldn't take my own photos as I was driving but found this one on the web.

So, not South of France after all but South of England. We're certainly enjoying Mediterranean weather at the moment though. I'm not looking forward to the thunderstorms when they eventually arrive as they inevitably will after this prolonged spell of hot weather.