Supermarket Dash

We are now into the season of children's holiday clubs, with a choice of various workshops. A couple of days ago I was asked to run a 'Little Scientists' workshop for next week's camp, so with the weekend drawing closer and closer I had to go on a supermarket dash. When I got to the till I wondered what was going through the cashier's mind. After a packet of balloons, napkins, wrapping paper, straws and plastic cups she probably thought that I was organising a birthday party - but then confusion was written over her face as she scanned vinegar, cooking oil, food colouring, rope, glycerin, pipettes and Alka-Seltzer (to make a home made lava-lamp, together with the cooking oil and food colouring). P

Razor Teeth

One night last week as Jane made a nocturnal visit to the fridge (just for a cold drink!) a slight rustling was heard in pile of recycling materials; it was all neatly folded and she assumed that it was a crunchy poly bag; she returned to her night time rest.
Five minutes later she hears a yell in the darkness of the night. Peter shrieked in fear and trembling. Awakened from his deep slumber he felt sharp claws and something large and fluffy on his arm. His shrieks frightened the poor beast and as he rushed to the assitance of the electic light; the illuminated room, revealed a rather large rat. Ratty is rather terrified and runs up a plastic window roller blind. Quick thinking Peter slams down the blind forming a sealed unit of glass and plastic blind.
The rat stressed from his misdemenour falls asleep and the worried humans have an animated discussion about how to deal with their new 'friend'. The next day as they asrise from a disturbed night the decision has already been made; King rat has climbed over the security mesh and then chewed his way right though the wire insect screen escaping to certain freedom. J

IKEA

The IKEA angels recently bought us a Poang chair. For those who haven't been tempted into an IKEA corner-shop the Poang chair a simple but very comfortable chair, especially when combined with a Poang footstool (we had two in the UK). We are grateful for all the furniture that we have in our appartment, but we have been waiting for a comfy chair for a while. The chair and footstool boxes also resolved our shoe storage problem. P
PS The absence of blogs in June were partly caused by Mr Lloyd Mastercard not sending our monthly direct debit to Mr Israel Orange, and thus causing our internet to be disconnected for a couple of weeks.

Condolences

One of the problems of being away from home is not being able to share in grieving for those who have died. Over the last few weeks Peter has lost an uncle and Jane a person who had a great influence in her life.
Uncle Derrick was Peter's father's youngest brother and like most of his father's family he lived in Devon all his life - why would anyone choose to live anywhere else?
Joan had a zest and enthusiasm for life which was infectious. She always had time for everyone and was a real people's person.
Bereavement is quite different over here. The funeral is the day after the death (Uncle Derrick's funeral was 2 weeks after he died). This is followed by 3 days of condolences when a hall is hired as a place where people can visit the family of the deceased to express their sadness.

Mint

It has taken a year to start adding a few luxuries to our lives. We now have mint growing on our kitchen window sill - apart from Arabic coffee, black tea with mint is the favourite hot drink. The weather is set fine (no rain is expected until October) so we now have our own bar-b-que, which will get regular use, and we are planning to buy a micro-wave, which will transform our cooking.

Jane's parents are half way through their holiday with us and are currently enjoying 100+F temperatures at Masada, so look out for some shrivelled 'Burgoynes' when they return to the UK in a couple of weeks. P

All in a days work

We have a variety of roles, which means that no two days are alike. Yesterday it was teaching English in the school and a barbecue with stranded Brits who couldn't fly home to the UK; today it was helping to lead a prayer meeting and general maintenance in and around the chapel, which was later the venue for a funeral. The deceased was Nijme (Arabic for star), a lady who was adopted by the hospital 79 years ago after being abandoned by her parents aged 8. She was 'adopted' by various doctors and nurses, and later worked in the hospital as the head chef. She had no family, but the chapel was full of her hospital family. She was an Anglican and was buried in the church cemetery, which is in the hospital grounds, hence the Reader outfit. P

Home

Over the last two and a half years home has been wherever we open our suitcase, but since we have settled in Nazareth it is where my pillow is. We had a nice Easter at home in the UK with our families, but I have been looking forward to my pillow and bed in Nazareth.
We have recovered from our overnight flight and today we will be linking up with a group from CMS who are staying in Nazareth for a few days.
It is hard to choose between spring in the UK or here - the perfect mix would be the weather of Israel with the flowers and blossoms of the UK. In the UK we had rain on most days, but we had some sunshine when we visited St Mawes in Cornwall - the perfect setting to try out my new camera on some lovely spring daffodils. P