You are not alone

Ever feel like "Just where is life going?"
That's what I felt on Saturday morning 12 November as I dragged myself out of bed.
But by the end of the day I had done so much I thought "I'll make a record of it - at least there will be lots of links"

A RANDOM DAY - BUT ONE - WITH LOTS OF LINKS

1. I check my emails etc (sad isn't it when the first thing you do after waking up is to go straight to the computor..) A girl called Claire  has written to CEL Facebook group about the Youth -Climate Justice Caravan to UNFCCC COP17 Climate Negotiations! Nairobi to Durban  ..

Lucky her, travelling across Africa!

and  what a vital project - raising awareness about climate change amongst the youth of Africa - Yes the ordinary people really since more than half the people are less than 19 years old!!

2. I make some porridge - Sainsbury's. Raspberry flavoured. One sachet plus semi-skimmed milk  contains 1/10th one's daily requirement of fibre and almost 1/5th one's requirement of sugar. So I would have to eat 10 sachets to get enough fibre!! and by then I would have had twice as much sugar  as I should do.  - then would I be running the risk of diabetes? I  Oh well, I do not have milk with it, only water. And it contains soya. (Soya as in "They are chopping down the rainforest for soya)

2. Events email. Having been told what an excellent play/musical "1611" is last night by Ken and Angela, I spend most of the morning writing an "Events email" to send to the people on my Settle and Area contacts list. "1611" is a musical about events at the time the King James Bible was written. This takes all morning.

Mycena pura

3. Christmas Day lunch posters.  I am going to run a "Settle Community Christmas Day Lunch and Tea" on 25 December - yes I am -  similar to the one we held last year. - So I have to make some posters and get them up, to give people time to see it and decide to come.
         Last years Christmas cards -cut up - enliven the posters.

Hypnum sp? or Homalothecium lutescens?

4. I go down town to put up the posters.  I put one on the board in the church hall schoolroom. I put one in Age UK. I put one in the Tourist Office. I put one in the Coop. I stick one through the door of the doctor's surgery. I fail to put one in Townhead because I cannot find a letterbox. I fume. Well just a little.

Ctenidium molluscum

5. It is a sunny late afternoon - It is a shame to go home. I drive up to Winskill Stones, Plantlife Reserve.




I aim for the high pavement close to the road. I admire the mosses.
And Cladonia.



And Mycena pura. Here is a link to my favorite fungus site - Champimaginatis - this site describes in French but gives the description in English.




I wander back towards the car as the sun is setting - to the south south west over the forest of Bowland - It is only 5 weeks to the shortest day now.


I remember my mother who died just nine weeks ago, and mourn.. even though I know she wouldn't want me to.

Back at home I have two hours before the musical.

The latest issue of "Green Christian" Magazine fell through the letter box this morning, so I read that.
"Great!" -  it has given a mention to the 100churches project:- " CEL is seeking 100 churches to raise £100 each for habitat conservation projects" - So far we have three - (1) Us at St John's (2) Churches Together in Settle and (3) Clun.  How can we get more?

Nearly everything else in the magazine is about climate change or sustainability - plus two articles that look a bit detailed so I'll try them another time. I wish we had more on the importance saving species and habitats. I wish we still had a green songs page.

I spend half an hour making five new greeting cards and putting several already made ones in cellophane envelopes which makes them look really classy.  Last night at the hymn evening four were sold. It all helps.

I had been reading "Liberating the gospels" by John Shelby Spong - Who shows that much of the New Testament is midrashic. Today I looked at three more of Mum's books. Will write more on these if I get any further with them.

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"Get there early to get a good place" I had said to people in my email about the 1611 play. So I set off very early, stopping off to buy reduced price food at the petrol station. Finding bargain food gives the same sort of satisfaction as discovering wild brambles or edible mushrooms.  I discover a family sized trifle well reduced.

Sitting in the front seat at Giggleswick church is Maureen Ellis. "I read your email and came" she said!  Then next to me came Ruth and Dan B and then Mr Leaky. Ken and Angela are in the similar front seats on the left. Behind are Sally and Keith and their friends. Being at the front I can easily take photos albeit from a low angle.

These pictures are pictures of the cast - the audience of 72 was behind me

In the interval we have coffee and biscuits - I am delighted to see they still have the booklet about Giggleswick churchyard mosses on display - and also a poster for Speakers Club

&
See the ampersand on the flag above the "boat" - The word "and" was used over 4000 times in the New testament/bible  (I forget the statistic)  and the & was used instead of and to save effort and space.   King James wanted & to be used as the 27 letter of the alphabet

There is a song saying that 188 women are mentioned in the bible by name.

The two lead characters are King James and William Shakespeare.  Shakespeare wrote 7 plays during the time 1604 from when James commissioned the bible to 1611 when it was printed.  Then the plays he wrote afterwards included quotes from the King James Bible.

There are masses of fascinating facts - I wish I had a printed copy. They deal with Hudson who sailed to try and discover the NW passage to China.. and gave his name to many landmarks en route until the waters froze. Next spring when the sea melted his men mutinied and returned to England, leaving him in a small boat.

They mention that James had wanted a bible without comments in the margin (as had had the Geneva bible). But they do not explain why he did not want comments.

Songs include:- Old Yorkshire songs, a Leonard Cohen  song, Negro Spirituals,  By the rivers of Babylon, While Shepherds Watched to On Ilkley Moor, Zadok the priest, ...

What an insight into "1611" life and into a host of music styles afterwards.

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I come home. I pop in to see Nellie my neighbour. She was watching the Remembrance Day service at the Albert Hall on TV. The members of the forces were marching in - It reminded me of watching it when I was young - with my father.

I have eaten the whole trifle - so much for fibre!!. Checked my emails; put a link to the Africa Climate Change Caravan site.  Time for bed. Tomorrow  I need to go through this and put in lots of similes and metaphors.
And do the jobs I really should have done today.
Why the title? - You are not alone - well because I saw it on a web site - but I think it is appropriate. Thanks for reading.