A poem for Wednesday

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Well, amazingly we had beautiful weather during our stay in Keswick, in the English Lake District, it was a wonderful week.  We actually climbed a little mountain, and went to a stone circle that is 1000 years older than Stonehenge.

We have taken lots of pics, and if I receive some comments I will publish them - the more comments, the more pics!

Here is a poem I recently came across in a book called 10 Poems to Change Your Life.  Hope you like this one as much as I do.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

 at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of

fallen branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and their was a new voice

which you slowly

  recognised as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.

~~ Mary Oliver ~~

Isn't that lovely?  I've posted this for all mothers, grandmothers and stepmothers, for people trying to help others at their own expense, and for a wonderful blogger way up in Scotland, who is not receiving comments right now, so the above is my comment to you in turbulent times. Go well.

Help! Rain!

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We are planning to go to Keswick in a few days' time, and the weather forecast is not looking at all good at the moment.

Any ideas for rainy day activities will be gratefully received!

Meanwhile I am baking cakes and cooking up some casseroles which I will freeze and take along with us, so we can have something nice and hot when we get there.

I made some lemon drizzle cakes for the holiday yesterday, using a different recipe to my usual one.  They sunk dramatically, but hopefully they will taste just as good as ever!

We had dramatic rain in the Midlands last Thursday, which was so bad that even Tesco's had to close due to flooding.  We thought we had got off lightly, until days later when I went into the garage and saw a big lake in there!  Mr LFH had to bail it all out, the ground has almost dried out now.  A bit of sunshine would be very welcome any time now!

Welcoming the torch

I am not really a sporty person at all, but as the Olympic flame was coming to Stratford upon Avon this afternoon, and as this is one of my favourite places, we thought we would go and cheer it on its way through the Midlands.  It was such a fun day, there was also a River Festival happening, so more pics of that to follow when I have loaded them.  There were lots of canal boats on the Avon, decked out in bunting, and there was a wonderful atmosphere.  


We went into the Shakespeare Theatre, and I bought a copy of the script of a play the RSC performed last year called Written on the Heart, written by David Edgar.  It is about the making of the King James Bible.  I look forward to reading this in my own time and savouring the text, as sometimes you miss things during a performance.