The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

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DD and I found the most amazingly warm and peaceful church in Aachen in Germany, we were on a visit for the Christmas Market and wandered round the town too and came across a very modern church with the most beautiful stained glass windows where we went in and sat for a while and ended up staying just warm, loved, completely peaceful and filled with the love of the place for a couple of hours, it was a very special gift and somewhere I'll never forget. I've been in many churches and many great Cathedrals and very few of them have ever felt alive but this one did and sharing its warmth was balm to the soul.

Popperwell

Hi All,
In a mixed up place at present but I hope I'll see a light at the end of the tunnel. Feel the need to be outdoors even if its tramping around supermarkets. Just to be in company of sorts. Too many thoughts swirling around in my head.


Been looking at Mobility scooters today and thinking of what I can do to bring this place up to standards.


That will keep me occupied for some weeks/months. Cathedrals? Visited Durham Cathedral on Monday night and listen to an address by the ex B of Newcastle, said prayers, contemplated and sang hymns unaccompanied. We sat in the choir stalls and approx. 40-50 of us were present.


Today I called into our church hall where they were showing the new Paddington Bear on a screen for as little as £1. I could've waited until it comes on mainstream TV or even gone to a local T Hall next week where it is showing but the ticket is £5 but I forgot my worries for a couple of hours and escaped into a childhood frame of mind. Everyone was well behaved and I think we had around 50 people in the hall. They played some Tom & Jerry cartoons before the film.


I've a beef stew in the slow cooker for supper. And am quite cosy(or will be as I head for bed and listen to the radio for awhile)Hope everyone is well. X

candlelight_2013

Pops it is good to see you, and please remember you have many friends here.

I hope you will feel better soon

Much love

Candlelightx

Jazee

monnagran wrote: »

Now I probably won't be on here tomorrow so Happy Easter to you all. And don't overdo the chocolate.

Too late, I've already overdone it eating chocolate while catching up on here.

Had a lovely day out today with DD and her BF. Good things:

My hair stayed put
My makeup stayed put
The day out was perfect
OldDog moved at a slightly quicker pace this evening
Chocolate
DH (for the flowers and chocolate)

And for the first time ever I have eaten mussels. Anyone else done anything for the first time ever recently?

burtha

Jazee ,lots of first's at the minute ,life has been a bit hectic of late dh has taken over the running of our local working men's club ,let's just say changes needed to happen before it closed its doors permanently ..and although we are busy people sometimes someone just needs to make a stand ,so yes speaking to agents,arranging acts ,changing beers,supporting staff,all new to dh and me .so far so good ,4th week in charge now and takings are up each week and the place feels so much better ,whole place needed bringing into the 21st century ..so have spent the night making paper chains for decoration for kids easter party on Monday ,free entry ,free food ,raffle,eggs for all the kids ( yes i may have to be the easter bunny lol )and fingers crossed it will go all right . the club should be bouncing there is nothing around us for at least 1 1/2 miles ,but the last guy in charge was 82 ,and ran it for his friends ,made lots of enemies ,so to step up and take charge was like taking a poisoned chalice ,now things are changing ...thankfully there is also a new committee who have new ideas and are backing up dh ...
Anyway paper chains look good ,just need to make a pom pom tail for the bunnys tail .....all our eggs /food have come from local shops /people who know what we are trying to do ,it has amazed us how much support we have had .even though we are a business we are trying to keep it going for our village ..
OK will stop now ,..just thought I would let you all know why my life has just got a little bit madd ....
Other than that our life is just the same work ,kids,work,granchild,work,dogs,cats,chickens, os when possible,.... Love it
X:T

Softstuff

Well, Easter hasn't gone entirely to plan here. Friday was just lovely, a friend of ours came to visit all the way from Melbourne. He has a new girlfriend and she's lovely, I'm harbouring hopes she's a keeper. He's always had nutters, but she's nuts in the best kind of way

Saturday morning we went and prepared for the open for inspection. Just before the agent arrived though we got a call and had to head to the hospital. FIL had come off his road bike at ridiculous speed. He's home now and recovering with a broken collarbone, stitches etc.

Apparently the open for inspection went well, with a few interested parties so we'll see what pans out.

So, no usual family Easter doings here and frankly having assumed we'd be doing that I had a lot less food in the house. I was also a bit in the dog house for having spent money we didn't have buying some tables second hand from a friend... in my defence, we have no furniture and you don't often see solid cherry side tables for 30 quid a piece.

Next week will be beans on toast. Though at this stage I have neither beans nor toast :rotfl:

nursemaggie

Oh Softstuff hugs.

Jazee

Hugs Softstuff. At least FIL is still with you and you have lovely new tables and I'm sure you'll get some beans and bread soon. So all will be good.

Burtha, well done you and DH. Sounds like you've really come out of your comfort zone and done a brilliant job so you must be feeling great about it. I hope the party tomorrow goes well for you.

Just going to potter here today. Will probably pop by later to catch up with all the fencers.

Have a great day everyone.

Nargleblast

Forecast sunshine for this afternoon so might haul myself off the garden fence and potter around tidying up a bit, get a dose of natural Vitamin D producer while I am at it. In between yaffling chocolate of course.

moneyistooshorttomention

Burtha,

Your husband is brave indeed taking on dealing with that club. As you say, sometimes things need "bringing into the 21st century". I've had enough experience of quite a few organisations by now that I can envisage exactly what you mean.

One thing I am realising recently is how many people who get up to a pretty advanced age (eg their 80s) haven't really looked at/thought about any new ideas or tried to make any new friends etc for some years. Their minds get "set in stone".

Not everyone I hasten to add - as one of my new friends here still likes to keep very much "in touch" with new things/new people/etc. However, it does seem to be pretty common.

One thing that some will be aware of and others will be sublimely unaware of is the need for ANY organisation to "bring on the next generation". Its down to never thinking any one person is irreplaceable/any one way of doing things is "set in stone" and that for an organisation to survive it needs to keep an eye on whether adaptation is needed.

Another thing I've always been conscious of personally is that "ideas come through you, not of you" - ie just because I'm the one who has had the Idea doesn't mean its my "property" and I should get whatever-it-is up and running BUT its also very important to build in protective mechanisms (and that includes it not being reliant on any one person/small group of people to keep going - even if that one person is me iyswim). Mr Oldie-in-Charge in that club should have been aware that he was elderly and more prone to illness and actively trying to attract younger people to take part.

For instance, I had a couple of Ideas and put them in place decades ago and everyone seems to have forgotten they were MY idea in the first place. It would be nice if they had remembered - but the whole thing was I set things up to continue without me and decades later they're still up and running and doing just fine and that was how I intended it to be at the outset.

That's how things are supposed to be, isn't it?

So - pat on back for your hubbie.:T