Monday, September 23, 2024

The last full week in September

Where did this month go? It seemed to be spent trying to get things done and the Charting book has come along for the Siderfin family but not a lot else got done. I did get the cleaning done every week as well so a few successes but October must be better. I need to get things more organized and out the door. But on the whole the summer was very successful with a number of prime things completed on our list. 

A return to fall weather starts today perhaps with a light rain. That means no outside work and I have not really been into the back yard since the fence was completed. It does look good but no hands on here by me. I will clean up the mess in the garden beds on nice days and hopefully plant some bulbs for the spring but other than that there is just the lawn to cut and put the lawn mower away for the winter. One more hose to drain and put away and the tap to turn off and will do that likely this week coming. I can always turn it on again if I need to do that. 

My day out was such fun and it is a while since I had a day out. Mostly I am here working away on the books and must catch up on the newsletters this week. Two are owed Kipp and Pincombe and the third one is due on the 1st of October - Blake. Getting used to my new glasses and they are working out really well with the car as I can read the speedometer now with my new bifocals. I do not need the glasses for just everyday walking about, the correction is considerably smaller in the strong eye and more for the weaker eye. I think that August was a time of getting used to the glasses and I am glad that I did put that time into it. 

Church yesterday was in Reading, Oxfordshire. The service was in BSL and very interesting. I do not believe I have ever been at a meeting/service that was entirely in Sign Language. It was a celebration of St Matthew and a Eucharist which I also have not attended for a very long time. Thank you to the Church of England for making these services available on YouTube. One pronounces Reading like past tense for Read. Interesting actually when I learned that as I was calling it Reading like the present but I do remember now that my father and grandfather said it like the past tense. Spoken English around the world has local pronunciations although overall the English language is fairly uniform I think as we can all understand each other. Britain has given Westminster system of governance and the English language to the world amongst many other great contributions in Science and Medicine - Dr Jenner always comes to mind with vaccination. 

Read the article written on the Danish Prime Minister and I have to agree with her. War can not be defined by the aggressor.  The aggressor just has to be stopped and whatever means work must be utilized. Aggressors are a threat to the entire world and that includes both Russia in Ukraine and Iran through their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis attacking Israel. We must stay strong which reminds me of myself as a little brownie in the Guiding Movement marching in the Remembrance Day Parades in London, Ontario past the centotaph behind our soldiers. Each generation must pick up the challenge of defending home and turf unfortunately and my generation lived under the cloud of past war for many years (most of our childhood for many of us). So many deaths and that was what hung over my generation in childhood like a cloud; the memory of all those young lives lost and we must make that sacrifice continue to be our bulwark against aggression. World Wars mean that everyone suffers; the recovery is always slow and no one gains anything really. It reaches into every nook and cranny of the world destroying as it works it way back to normalcy. But some people get rich and we need them to help end this war that destroys not fill their pockets. You can still get rich but you must do it in a way that doesn't destroy our world and the young lives in it. But what is rich; everyone wants it and some will do anything to steal it. Personally I think one just needs what one needs to survive and live a pleasant life (I guess some people define pleasant in a different way than me! I am a natural scrooge and penny pincher and non waster in as much as possible) without wars. We still need defense (and lots of it) as we do not know what is out there in the universe but we, as a world, would be better off on the same side! That was why the United Nations was created amongst other reasons - World War II being a prime one.

Today a cleaning day and it will be the top floor. I believe I will switch back to three days a week and that way just the mornings will be cleaning and the afternoons will be available for working. At 79 my energy levels are perhaps not quite what they were. A year from now I hope to be in a new place with less stuff and closer to family. 

Soon breakfast and then Latin and then on to cleaning.

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