Witley Church

Found this video of Witley Church. Take a 'wee peak' to quote, if your computer is up to it.

Treasures

We had an outing, our first since coming back from holiday.
We visited this church which I remember from childhood.

It has a Baroque interior, flamboyant in gold and colourful pictures. The whole interior once belonged to a palace in London, but many years ago was brought here to Great Witley.

We chanced to be there at the same time as a tour guide who pointed out things we would have missed otherwise, such as one of the cherubs is a Downs child, the only such portrayal in England, maybe the world.

It was very beautiful, architecturally if not spiritually. I am studying 'treasures' in the Bible. 'To the Hebrews', says my commentary, 'stores and provisions'. Yesterday I felt I was given some treasures, personally designed. I was brought a memory stick with images of local church registers ready for transcription; I had a letter from a young cousin interested in my booklet about my grandmother; the books I had ordered arrived at the village library; we had friends for coffee. And all for free.

Spring!

Spring has come, in one fell swoop it seems.
We came back from Switzerland thinking we wouldn't be needing a fire anymore, but Sunday was so gloomy and cold that we lit the sitting room fire to be cosy.
Now this afternoon, temperatures have been up to 17 degrees, and I'm outside gardening in a T-shirt. So nice to think I can potter on with the gardening at a steady pace and not just have to cram it into weekends.
A blackbird couple have made a nest over the kitchen window and a robin followed me round the garden. He thinks I do the digging just for him.

Home again

Home now after a fornight's travelling, which was fun, but also surprisingly tiring.
Here are some mementoes of the inital reason for our trip.

Rebecca Junia and family






Now I am sewing and sowing. Curtains and seeds. The cold weather means I am not too far behind with the latter. Weather forecasts suggest warmer breezes next week, so I'll be out in the garden then.

Swiss idiosyncracies

Hoovering the leaves with blower thingies! Not too sure why. Maybe so the cattle can get to the grass?



What's the focal point in your church? Not an altar here, but enormous organ pipes. Maybe not so different from a modern church. Is the focus in yours on the music or the worship? Or a person?

Ben wasn't at all surprised by this one. He's obviously used to Switzerland now. See the two diagonal pieces of wood? Well they lead up to a cat flap in the upstairs window.

Switzerland 2

Getting to know Rebecca, big sister Kalia and little friend who plays with Kalia in English.
Rebecca smiles sometimes even though she's only four weeks old.

Our first day near Interlaken, and snow a-plenty. Beautiful.

Switzerland 1

Pop and Kalia dancing. Had cuddles with baby Rebecca who has a sore tummy. Pop says her insides are 'running in'. Enjoying being part of Swiss daily life.

Vue typique. The town just discernible this side of the lake. Snowy mountains, mist hovering over the lake. We've had three days of good weather so made the most of the views. Forecast not good. Our B&B is just above B&L's church, so we could walk there this morning. Question: if you couldn't understand a word of the lingo, should you still be able to discern the Spirit in a meeting?

En vacances

We are on our travels. Here we are at our first stop at Mons-en-Laonnais, thanks to Alastair Sawday's website. It is a B&B in a private house that must have once been the stables of a chateau and vineyard. The chateau was destroyed in the war, by the occupying forces. B&B in France is a doddle compared to England. Here, when they ask,'what would you like for breakfast?' they mean 'tea or coffee'. They don't mean how would you like your eggs and bacon. So even Monsieur can be left in charge.

The Head of Finance has prepared a Budget for the trip which we overruled the first night by going to the recommended hotel restaurant in Laon for dinner. Surprisingly refreshing to be served a meal without background music. The food, including rabbit pate and eggs en cocotte, was very good too. Only let down by the tinned peas!

Curtains

We are searching for curtains, an easy task you might think. We have had Friend Val staying to help in the quest, we have been to and fro to various shops, but to no avail. We did make one purchase, some ready-made curtains. But when we got them hung and sat in our armchairs to admire them, lo and behold, they weren't level and neither did the patterns line up. So back to the shop again where the assistant said blithely, 'not many people realise that ready-mades don't match'. Oh, blah and double blah. Why do they sell them then?
Staying with Miss P for two nights and still looking. But from tomorrow are sights are on a different venture, as we're off on holiday, driving to visit Swiss Baby Two. First stop, a B&B near Laon......