THE RIGHT TO DIE BUT NOT TO KILL
THE FRONT page story in The Times today tells of the acquittal on an attempted murder charge of the mother who helped her sick daughter to die. (more…)
LOVING THE RITUALS . . .
“Loving the rituals that keep men close, Nature created means for friends apart:
pen, paper, ink, the alphabet; signs for the distant and disconsolate heart.”
IN AN AGE of blogging, texting and tweeting, that quote from Palladus (4th C – don’t ask what else I know about him) translated by Tony Harrison seems an especially ironic introduction to a collection of writing – poetry and prose – which I’ve gathered over the years and am now posting from time to time on my site. (more…)
A GOOD READ
BOOK CLUB today. Can’t photograph the members so here’s a picture of the book, Calum’s Road by Roger Hutchinson. It sat on my bedside table for a month, unloved and neglected (more…)
HELPING HANDS
THE COFFEE morning on Saturday for the victims of the Haiti earthquake raised £750. A small contribution in the great scheme of things but nevertheless a fantastic result for a relatively small community. (more…)
A SENSE OF PROPORTION
ELIZABETH phones to say the church coffee morning tomorrow (10.00am, Saturday) won’t after all be for, or even in, the church. They’ve decided the money will go instead to Christian Aid for the people of Haiti whose homes and lives have been devastated by the earthquake. The change of venue to the village hall – next door to the chapel – is because the heating isn’t working in the church. (more…)
THE ANGEL OF ASKRIGG
Beth's angel - Christmas night at the Market Cross
A BIT fanciful, I know, but I can’t think how else to describe this extraordinary image. . . (more…)
SAFE IN THE WYVILL’S ARMS
A WARM welcome – and a perfect poached egg – awaited us when we took refuge from the blizzard in a roadside inn. (more…)
SNOWBOUND IN ASKRIGG
The garden pond. Will the fish survive this?
WE KEEP hearing the weatherman issuing severe weather warnings for the south and south east, the midlands and north east. But no mention of us, says Ian. Why should that be? (more…)
SCRAMBLED, POACHED OR FRIED?
THE BURNING question persists into 2010. And we know what the answer will be. (more…)
GOD, DOUBT, LOVE AND SEXUALITY: ALL THIS AND MERYL STREEP
Meryl Streep as the unforgiving Sister Aloysius
“DOUBT can be as powerful and sustaining as certainty” are the closing words of a Catholic priest’s brief yet hard-hitting sermon in Doubt, my latest lovefilm.com rental DVD, and set to become one of my favourite films of all time. Father Flynn, a progressive and intelligent older priest, faces a formidable and potentially destructive opponent in Sister Aloysius, played with steely force by Meryl Streep. (more…)