Variety is the spice of life

‘Variety,’ they say, ‘is the spice of life.’ I have to agree. Today has had rich seams of goodness flowing through it today – all very different, but all very enjoyable.

Martin Luther is quoted as saying, ‘I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’ I didn’t quite spend three hours at it but, being a Sunday, I took time out for prayer first thing this morning, before I did anything else. I even composed a prayer for others to reflect on and sent it to the members of my prayer group. That is a first for me. I have always thought I didn’t really know how to pray – and certainly couldn’t write a prayer – but it’s amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it, isn’t it?

Soon enough, it was time to get out of bed. Having marvelled at the snow on the ground and sent a picture of it to the family – as excited as a five year-old – I thought I’d better get on with the final bit of wallpaper hanging and do grown-up stuff. So that saw the morning off.

John was up and about too, doing his medical stuff, which takes a great deal of time in the morning, but once he’d treated himself to breathing aids, eyesight aids and hearing aids, he was up and running. No stopping him today. He cleared the kitchen, which is like the Forth Bridge – no sooner cleared and tidy than it’s exploded again. Then he re-hung the lamp on the wall where we’d been papering. He did a little bit of work on the computer and put his thinking cap on for what to do about the Lotus.

Unexpectedly, we took delivery of a newspaper this morning for the first time in months. And it came about because we have such very thoughtful friends. Bryan and Linda were passing our house and wondered if we’d like a paper, or anything else, from the shops as they were going? Well, yes, please. How very kind of you to think of us. Such a treat – thank you very much.

Later on this afternoon I took time out from my decorating to ‘Zoom-in’ to do a writing course for a couple of hours. Fascinating to hear others talk about their writing and to crystallise some ideas. The course was a ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ course and in this session we focused on journalling. And now I know the difference between writing a blog, keeping a diary and keeping a journal. Also learnt some tips on how to discipline yourself to sit and write.

Meanwhile, John took himself into the garage to do some more inspection and measuring of the underside of the car. Hmm…. some problems were quite evident, and he puzzled over which bit, where, was actually causing the problem. Helpful suggestions have been forthcoming from a forum he’s posted questions on, and dear Chris, a fellow Lotus enthusiast, phoned him up to chat through some ideas yesterday, which was so thoughtful of him. Problem not yet solved though.

I put the final piece of wall paper on the wall before we had our tea and did a hop, skip and a jump in celebration. I offer you the view into the library area – wallpaper featuring the lotus flower, a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. We could do with a bit of that, thank you very much! Although I think we might have to get used to it…..

After we’d eaten, it was time to get ready to Skype Graham and Gail. I was very excited. It is quite a long time since we had seen them. We’d chatted on the phone at Christmas and just after, but hadn’t sat down and really nattered on camera. It was lovely. They both looked well – Gail is recovering very well after her operation – and it was a delight to see them. And, in fact, we couldn’t tear ourselves away. After a couple of hours, I thought John might be feeling tired, but no, “Let’s carry on a bit longer,” he said.

We normally Skype in the computer room, but we decided to sit in the lounge and chat from there, so that we could feed the picture from John’s laptop to the large TV screen, and lounge about on the sofa. This was very good from our end, but Graham noted that, because we were looking at the TV screen, we weren’t actually looking at them. Not only that, but they were distracted by the view of the soles of my feet as I sat with my feet up. Ah…. very disrespectful, apparently. Right. In the echoes of my mind, I think Pete and Dawn might have said something similar….. hmm…. must remember to change positions for future Skype-ins.

In between times and throughout the day, my phone would ‘ping’ every so often with a photo of the children playing in the snow. Oh…. how very jealous I was not to be with them!! Freddie on his sledge, hurtling down the hill on Abbey Fields, filled my heart to see such fun; and William, chasing round and round the garden with his Uncles James’ puppy in tow, then lying in the snow to make a snow angel. Even Thomas had a go at doing that! The photos were all so beautiful and happy.

Then another heart-filling moment as Liz, my darling god-daughter, sent through a photo of her and her ‘bump’ – 9 weeks to go….. she looked so well, happy and pretty proud of herself. Can’t wait for another addition to the kidzone.

All in all, a good day. So many different things going on today that my soul was uplifted and, this afternoon, when asked to write down how I feel right now, I couldn’t help but write, ‘I feel good. Content.’ There you have it. The power of having spent time in prayer this morning?

On the virus front, things continue in the right direction, although it is the weekend, so maybe the figures will surge tomorrow. Hope not.

• 30,004 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• 610 people died in the community
• 328 people died in hospitals on 22 & 23 January

Day 19 of Lockdown 3 and Day 312 since the March kick-off for isolation hasn’t been too bad after all, even though we’ve been confined in our own home. Nearly a year in, do you think we might get the hang of this lockdown lark?

Take care everyone. God bless.