No visit

The "state" visit is cancelled as my Aunt Elizabeth isn't well and needs minding, so our expected visitor has headed over to Essex.  Unfortunately that means that the cleaning job Ian and Brian were going to do in advance of her arrival is kinda unlikely to happen.  Of course they'll need to do it to be ready for Carolan and Andy visiting next weekend....
I've just been watching that long tennis match between Isner and Mahut.  I don't understand how they can keep going for so long.  I get exhausted just watching them!  I think that what should happen is that the people in the next round should stand down in their favour so that they both get through.  It seems it has so far been the longest ever tennis match in a major tournament.
The Queen is going to visit our President, it appears.  How exciting!

The story of my life at this time of year

It's elderflower time of year.  Ian and I picked loads of elderflowers so I have cordial and champagne in the making.  It smells good!  Here is my champagne recipe, courtesy of "selfsufficientish"

8 litres (2 gallons) water
1.25 kg (2.5 lbs/5 cups) sugar
8 large elderflower heads
4 Lemons
4 tablespoons mild white wine vinegar

Boil the water and pour over the sugar to dissolve it. Cool and add the elderflowers, juice of the two lemons, slices of the other two and the vinegar. Cover with a cloth and leave for a day. Strain with a fine sieve or muslin cloth, squeezing the flowers as you do to release more flavour. Store in screw top bottles.

It will be ready in about 10 days to a fortnight and should be drunk within a month. <-----This is the part I'm at.  Do you think it will be ready in time for Carolan to taste?

Also, in the garden I have mange-tout, lots of types of salad leaves, garlic, scallions and various herbs.   Coming along nicely are beetroot, red onions, peas, broad beans, sweet corn and raspberries.  For some reason my runner beans are struggling with the running bit and aren't getting far off the ground.

Leavy goes head on

Ian was throwing a ball for Leavy and Pippa over at the Castle Oaks field, and the little friendly dog from the nearby houses was joining in the play.  Leavy has this habit of racing straight at people and dogs and stopping just before she reaches them.  However, maybe his little friend also does this.  Suffice it to say, they met head on.  The little dog raced off home.  Leavy looked stunned.  Next thing, though, she was gone too.
Ian hadn't seen her race so didn't even know where to start to look for her, so he decided to head home to leave Pippa there before going off on a search.

The story has a good ending.  Lo and behold, when he arrived home there was Leavy sitting waiting for him, looking very bemused.  Is there any chance that she'll get sense as a result of the incident?  The mind boggles at what would have happened if a car had happened to be passing when she raced across the road, as Leavy doesn't understand cars.

My aunt is wending her way down here the weekend after next.  She is attending a wedding in Glin that is likely to be the talk of the town, so we are the staging point.  She'll be here for 2 nights, and most of 3 days.....  She has only been to our house once before.  I don't think she is too fussy about housekeeping, but I'd better do a decent tidy before Carolan and Andy visit the following week.  I know they're bound to notice everything!

I was afraid that my mange-tout plants were turning out to be sweet peas, but they now seem to be developing the correct shapes, with the bonus that there are flowers at the top of the plants so that the garden has a small bit of prettiness in it.  At the moment the fare on offer from the garden includes loads of different kinds of salad leaves, and some spinach is ready for eating.  Red onions are coming on well, and garlic will be ready for Carolan's visit.  It is very pleasant and mild at the moment, taken with a salad.  Tomatoes are beginning to show themselves in the greenhouse, but the plants are mainly growing like triffids.  I have to breathe in when I walk into the greenhouse so that I don't knock something down.

Oh - and I planted some bedding plants in the shower base, locating it in front of the shed near my car.  The colours on the flowers aren't very nice but at least it makes the shower base look as it if is meant to be there.

It's elderflower time, so the next few weeks will be spent making cordial.  Unfortunately the local places I used for cutting the flowers last time have all been pruned back in the last year, and even the tree near the Meeting House has been cut, so I'll have to go further afield.  The blossoms are coming along nicely, though are later than last year.

Off to the boat now, heading for Rossmore.

In shame

Carolan is putting me to shame with her artistic and creative blogs.  I'm making progress, though, with my tapestry of a canal boat that she gave me for my birthday.  Appropriately enough, I've been doing most of it while on our boat.  I'll bring it on our holiday next week.  It's great therapy.

Leavy is looking out the window with suspicion.  She doesn't trust anyone any more.  You should see how fuzzy her hair is from the wash she had earlier today.  Leavy and hair-driers don't match so she ended up staying wet.  Pippa was also washed and is sleeping off the exhaustion of it all.

Gerry Ryan

I'm watching the Late Late Show.  They've put on a show that is a tribute to Gerry Ryan, who died suddenly earlier today.  It's amazing to discover who was really friendly with him.  Pat Kenny seems to have been particularly close to him, which is a bit surprising.

Ian did it!

This time last week Ian was sure he wouldn't make a deadline for handing in his dissertation for this coming Thursday.  Today he handed it in, two days ahead of schedule.  Brilliant!

I intended to stick to my schedule of cycling to work twice a week, having started up again only last week.  It was zero degrees this morning, though, so I'm afraid I'm not going to make my twice this week as I need the car tomorrow and Thursday.  I chickened out on Monday as I was too tired from my trip to Dublin in the early hours of Sunday morning to catch a ferry.

The poor seeds in the garden and greenhouse are likely to suffer from the cold nights.  If the volcanic ash falls on us maybe it will be warm enough to heat them up again.  Or, maybe not.....

My thought for the day

Here is what I ended up saying to Yearly Meeting (well, approximately):

I was asked to speak at the first of an open series of evening discussions that we held in Limerick, and spoke under the title “Quakerism – development of thought and action”.  I found I needed to prepare carefully, reminding myself of the Quaker history I have been steeped in all my life.

This reading, and the discussion series, led me to further reading on the people and history of Quakerism.   I realised that early Friends came up with some amazing ideas and practices that have stood the test of time.  Listen to the peace testimony as presented to Charles II in 1660……..

We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world.  The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again to move unto it; and we certainly know, and testify to the world, that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, not for the kingdoms of the world.

Would we come up with something like that now?  The words may be old but the spirit shines through.

Over the years our Quaker brethren have come up with all sorts of innovative thought and action that was ahead of their time – in my profession of human resources management I particularly feel we owe thanks to the Quaker businessmen of the 19^th C who thought of the welfare of their workers and introduced pensions, healthcare and the concept of holidays, items we now take for granted. 

That brought me to wondering whether we are set up to support new and creative thinking that challenges our current ways of living.  We seem to spend a lot of time doing business.  Does that sap our energy?  Do we step lightly to business meetings knowing that we will change the world?  I suspect not.

Having said that, I have always loved our business practices – the way we carefully consider items such that we can move on together.  I wonder, though, whether we need to re-think how we carry out our business, and harness our spiritual energies, in our new age of electronic communications.  How should we harness the benefits of technology in communications?

·         Imagine being able to have a meeting without moving location. 

·         Imagine doing this and retaining our Quaker discernment and sense of the meeting in decisions.  European Young Friends hold their committee meetings on Skype.

·         Imagine holding Meeting on the web.  Some isolated European Friends already do this.

·         Imagine being inclusive of all those younger members who find business meetings difficult, or don’t find them practical to attend.

·         Imagine putting our annual epistle into 140 characters on a Tweet and sending it around the world. Would it be read more than our current epistle, and what message would it hold?

·         Do any of you enjoy the Quaker discussion groups on the web?  Or, visit our web site that has so much care and attention given to it? Or, use the Quaker resources on line to find something, or for inspiration?

·         Imagine having a query that dealt with electronic communication?  What would it say?

      Do we think carefully before sending an e-mail, considering the impact on those who will receive it?

      Are we inclusive in our communications, arranging within our Meetings for those who do not have access to e-mails to receive the communication?

      Is everything we send necessary for the receiver?

      Is this the best way to communicate, or should we speak first?

Many meetings send minutes around to everyone by e-mail.  At a recent meeting in London they were looking for e-mail buddies to ensure those without e-mail don’t miss out on communications. 

Some may say that use of new technologies will exclude older Friends, but I believe that we currently exclude younger Friends by not using them.  

Of course it doesn’t make sense to do everything electronically.  We need to meet.  We need the camaraderie and the sharing that happens person to person.  Our whole being centres on the presence in our Meetings.  Something stirs when one or two are sitting in the presence of God.

Maybe, though, our occasions for meeting could be freed up a bit more from business if we used electronic processes more for the routine. 

What would we do instead when we meet?

Our meetings may then be free to consider matters of overall policy and thought, and new ideas.  I particularly enjoyed a recent session in MQM where Cork Friends arranged for us to talk to each other in groups.  I’ve been attending MQM for years and still hadn’t had a chance to have discussions with Friends from other Meetings, always going to QM to attend to business or listen to someone talking to us. 

I thought it would be worth considering what the “Tweet” would be for what I’ve just said – so no more than 140 characters:

Early Friends were inspirational.  Would new technologies free us up to let the spirit shine through?  Are we ready to meet this challenge?