Peace on a Sunday

A hectic time this morning, as mornings often are, but we made it to church by 9.30am and were in our seats with tea and muffins before the preacher stood up to start! She was very intuitive, realising that once we were quiet, she could begin - good that it is a very informal church....we get a different preacher each week, and they are not all so switched-on! It was lovely to be told that we had been missed last week when I wasn't feeling well so we had stayed at home.

Relatives came over for lunch and this was a good example of conjuring something out of nothing! I had planned to serve a roast dinner, but on going to the freezer last night, I discovered that there was nothing in there to roast - whoops! That meant a change of plan - so we ended up enjoying smoked salmon on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, followed by sausage plait with potatoes, carrots, beans and courgettes, then apple crumble and custard to finish. And it all came out of the garden, the freezer or the storecupboard, without me having to make a special trip to the shops for anything. That is not forward planning (as that had failed on this occasion), but just keeping a good pantry! Everyone went home replete. It was a lovely afternoon to sit and chat in the garden as we had none of the heavy rain and thunderstorms that we had thought we might get here. I even baked a couple of lemon cakes this afternoon so we had one cut for afternoon tea time and my uncle took the other one home with him in exchange for the plums, beans, beetroot and apples he brought for us - I think we got the better deal so I should plan to make him something else before too long.

We have been thinking about the people of the Gulf Coast area of America and hoping that Hurricane Gustav does not affect them as badly as Katrine did in the past. The images of the complete devastation that Katrine left behind as she passed over will always be remembered, and I am sure that having that in their past has galvanised the people into action this time - I heard that they are aiming for 100% evacuation this time - I hope that they achieve it and that no lives are lost. We are praying for all the families that it is affecting.

Greenhouse update - the work is done as far as it can be at the moment as some pieces of glass are actually missing, and a couple were broken when the packages were unwrapped so we have a little hole to be finished off when we can get some more glass. It is looking good, though!

I am off to tackle a heap of ironing now and watch some TV at the same time.