Twinky

No Tv. No live music. No piped music. No video games. No "fruit machine" / poker machine / slot machine, call it what you will. Just a tiny little pub with a nice garden to sit out in in the summer, and a huge open fire in the winter. And always, a friendly welcome. And excellent beer, cider, and meals. No carpets on the floor, just stone flags. The walls are 18" thick. There are wooden shutters at the windows. There are thick oak beams holding up the ceilings. The doors into the two drinking rooms are heavy, thick oak, and probably less than 6 foot in height. Sounds twee but it's all authentic. It's just what a very old Cotswold pub is like. Ex10 has gone back to the US today and I miss her already. The house seems very empty without her company.

Well, we just got home. A pint of cider in the garden, and another pint inside under the thick oak beams. Ex10 enjoyed it very much. So did I. To get to the pub is a short stroll of about 1/2 mile. I go through fields - there is another way via roads. Then we wandered back by starlight through some different fields. All very nice. I will leave Ex10 to tell you about her thoughts. But it#'s a nice "local" pub in a country village. It's not a town pub and it definitely isn't a "bar" in the US sense of a drinking establishment. (edited for spelling which after a couple of pints leaves a little to be desired. Well it's not so much the spelling as the typing.)

Very sad they have to go today... :(

Am quite pleased with how things are progressing. Cats especially Tuxedo love to be outside. And return quite readily when called. However, I was away overnight recently and Crypto slunk outside when I hadn't noticed. She ended up spending a whole night outside fending for herself. Gosh, she was pleased to see me when I got home. She didn't rush down the garden path when called, but appeared soon after. And if she goes out now, she doesn't stray far from the door. If I've closed the door, she looks anxiously at it (and at me, in the kitchen or wherever) in case she gets locked out again. She so dislikes being outside on her own! Tuxy has taken to yelling at me, in order to persuade me to open the back door and let her roam about outside.

If you want friends, Jeff, be a friend. It's an ancient axiom of life. You know you have friends here. You may not know their (real) names, but they are friends nonetheless. What is it that you are expecting, love and hugs and cuddles? You will get supportive help, compassionate answers, understanding, and space to express yourself and to grow, without condemnation. I'd say that was friendship. What else were you expecting? I see you as a friend. It's obviously not reciprocal. If you want a personal relationship, start one. This Cafe isn't some sort of dating arrangement, marriage club or whatever, though some couples have met via GSC and married.

So glad to have ex10 and other guests present. We are having a good time with Brit hospitality. We have also made the acquaintance of ... quite a few bottles of wine... hic! We have not got to my local 16th century pub yet (that had been scheduled for tonight, but we got distracted by the roast pork and wine at home) but that's a visit on the agenda for Saturday evening. (hic)

Well, the girlies are really settling well, with going out. Tuxy loves to be outside but she stays nicely in the garden, and more or less comes when called. If she want to go out she has taken to yelling at me and looking meaningfully at the door. Crypto is as often to be found inside as out. She goes out for a while then comes back in and stays in. But today she had an adventure. She must have slipped out without my realising. I was pottering about the house for some time (hours) - went downstairs, and there was this miaow, quite loud, from outside. I looked out and there was Crypto, with an anxious look on her face. When I let her in, she ran all around, and is skulking behind furniture. Perhaps she thinks she is in bad books. They seem to be behaving a little better towards each other. Crypto's temporary aggression seems to have settled down. They both come to me much more for a little fondle. That's quite satisfying. They (Tuxy in particulary) like to be near me when I work in the garden. They like eating my lawn. I am wondering if I can train them - like sheep. Grazing cats, LOL! I am not sure if they have discovered the joys of soil (real soil) for excretory purposes. I don't see any little piles of earth in the garden. Plenty in the litter tray (!). I'm almost getting the cats I want...if only they would consent to sit on my lap!

Hi Purple One. How're you doing? Happy birthday! Start of a good year for you, perhaps....perhaps as a model, or is that you already in GSG's photo (LOL)? Have a wonderful day! Twinx

I looooove working in the garden. Gardens have always been a part of my family life. My father worked shifts and sometimes came home and dug a few rows in the garden, if he got home at dawn. As well as our very large garden, he also had an allotment. Most of our family veges were home-grown. I've nearly always had a bit of a garden, and if not, then a selection of growbags or pots on windowsills. I used to have a high-stress job (the stress came mostly from the manipulative boss) and I would go home and garden - by the light of the local street lamp! It was so relaxing, after dealing with that b***'s games all day. Now I have a long garden and love playing in it. I can lose myself for hours, tending this and that. It can be hard work. But it is so rewarding to see your little plants thriving. Even better when you get to eat from them. It's a time I get to talk things over with God and he teaches me stuff. Once I put in 35 sacks of horse manure. As I loaded it on and forked it in, what I realised is that sh1t happens in our lives too, but God can turn all that badness and difficulty into something that makes our lives abundantly fruitful and he sort of de-natures the evil and makes it productive. When removing weeds - well, we all have those in our lives. We need to uproot them before they get too big. For me, gardening's a way of sort of "giving" without reward. The plants cannot say thank you for protecting them, watering them, guarding with slug pellets... They may reward with fruit (veges) at a later stage. Then you get the blessing of having a glut of (whatever) and being able to give away what you can't use or preserve. Not that I'm spiritualising everything, you understand... LOL.

Well I finally got busy in my garden. I have sown runner beans, radishes, lollo rosso, mixed salad leaves and beetroot. It has been horribly bakingly hot for weeks, and the garden has been a dust bowl. I had to water my garden before I could plant, last weekend, but thought I couldn't leave it much longer before getting seeds in. Last night it finally rained just a very little and today has drizzled all day. The ground was parched. But maybe something will start shooting up with the now damp soil. About 4 weeks ago I sprinkled my lawn with weed & feed, to kill the moss (mostly) and the dandelions. Then about 2 weeks ago I had to rake all the deadened moss (all black) out. This is very hard and tiring work. (Good for working on the suntan though, out in shorts and skinny shirt and not much else.) I have been sore ever since. Lately my wrist has been very tender. Turns out that I have given myself tendonitis (tenosynovitis) and so now I have a wrist brace which I have to wear for a week or so until my wrist stops hurting. Just shows. Gardening can be bad for your health. Lawn is looking nice, though. Well, it will be if the new grass seed (in the ex-mossy patches) ever gets going. Which it just might, with the dampness today. I have 8 fine courgette plants grown from seed. Too many, two is enough. Will have to find some swaps.

Would he be a bit of a hothead then?

I think I went Lightbearers in Cleveland. Nobody told me about this wonderful river of fire. Musta missed a treat. What's wrong with Detroit anyway?

Brainfixed, your reaction sounds entirely normal! You may find your opinions changing around quite a lot, as you begin to THINK and actually form your own opinion. Who knows what will spark off something else in your mind, or in someone else's? It's your mind, you just sweep out the rubbish in it. Nobody here minds unless you are malicious. We're all busy doing the same!

It occurs to me that since we are all faulty human beings, everything we do will be faulty to some degree. Isn't that why we are urged to be forgiving of one another?? But to do our best, in any situation, or with what we can do...that's another matter. Doing our best is sometimes, often, time-limited. Or facilities-limited. Or limited by what we have to work with - is it worth doing an immaculate repair and paint job on a car that spends its time travelling on dirt roads? Does the job meet the need, achieve the purpose? Does it do this without causing danger, irritation or confusion? Well, then, it's done. Something about the 80/20 rule...80% of the work is done in 20% of the time. Which means that if you spend 80% of the time doing the other 20% of the work - the frills, the perfectionist bits - it's hardly "redeeming the time, for the days are evil," is it? We were told, God did a perfect work in us when He redeemed us. Therefore we should imitate that perfection. Last time I checked..I wasn't God. That job's already taken.

Getting a really weird mind picture here....

Leafy, you have not got your husband well trained enough. You need to tell him that with his extra special spiritual awareness, he needs to demonstrate how to wash, clean, polish, etc. Particularly in his office. Every day until he knows that you understand. Stand there gawkily while he demonstrates. Enquire carefully about the tiny fragment of dust that he left in the corner, and its spiritual significance. You really do need to learn all this stuff, don't you? And what better teacher than your wonderful husband? (L L) You really haven't got him well trained enough if he thinks YOU are the one responsible for all the cleaning. He lives there too. If it's okay then it's okay. If he wants more, HE can do it. As well as whatever he does for a living. Hasn't it been reported at the Cafe that they have eased up on the super-hyper-excellent cleanliness at HQ? Let it slip to "normal" levels? Seriously - it can be hard to shrug off the "hyper" standard. I had no trouble reverting to my natural messiness (and, WG, I've never made my bed as soon as I got out of it, not even in rez) but I sometimes see stuff at my church that's not immaculately tidy and start to twitch a bit. But then I think, the church is for the people, not the people for the church. And God doesn't mind if the seats or notice papers or something else, aren't in EXACTLY straight lines. WG, you are not worthless, shameful or anything of the sort. But your neighbor has problems. So, unfortunately, do her kids.

Heh heh, what's this, the myth of the 6 million?

So it worked for him anyway!!! Moral: Be inexcusibly offensive to the court, and get excused.

I do have training in Banana Prep 101. This means cutting off the top (the bit where it fixed to the plant) very neatly, close to the edible part of the fruit, but not so close that the edible part was exposed. This looked neater, and made it easier to open the banana, should one insist on opening the banana at that end. (Yeah, right.) Considerable time on Kitchen Crew was spent sawing the tops off bananas. Redeeming the time, doncha know. Of course, we were also instructed (as a Corps) that bananas were best opened from the other end.

Looks like I missed out on a real treat here. :unsure:

A "lively evening" at the Webinar? It's a pretty lively evening at the Cafe, discussing this! It's certainly attracting a lot of attention and a lot of heated posts. How delightful that we can actually TALK about this. Have an opinion. Make up our own minds. Not be under compulsion. Not be coerced into any decision. Can attend and enjoy. Can not attend, and not suffer because of that. Perhaps some reading this are lurkers, still innies. Maybe it would help you if you were to participate in the Webinar. Give you courage to make the break. Maybe you already made the break internally, just by being at the Cafe. Maybe you already made the break physically, but internally you are still in bondage. Just do what it takes to get a sound mind. :)

The kitties have been out several times now. They just stay in the lower part of the garden and explore. Crypto loves to roll on the concrete and lie in the sun. Tuxy is more exploratory. Crypto has, however, ventured as far as my car and sniffed at the wheels - car is on hardstanding just at the edge of my property. Mostly I have had them out in broad daylight, lunchtime or early afternoon, but a couple of times recently I've allowed them out in the evening. They are much more active then. Tame-ish blackbirds come to feed on my lawn and they landed yesterday - Tuxy was all a-stealth and stalking them (I'd never have let her come close). I have got quite confident and left the back door open one afternoon - let them roam at will for half an hour or perhaps an hour while I was in another room with no sight of the garden. But they came in of their own volition, in their own time. I have a worry, though. Since I've been letting them out - this might be coincidental - but Crypto has been getting quite aggressive towards Tuxy. The other evening she hid under a bench - being completely black, she can't be seen - and when Tuxy walked past, she ran out and attacked her. She wasn't playing, this seemed quite serious. Crypto often growls or hisses at Tuxy and has taken to baling her up on a chair under the table, or in a corner. Tuxy is developing quite a wary look in her eye. This behavior takes place both outside the house and inside - it's not confined to excursions into the garden. Tuxy is fundamentally a needy cat, likes company, enjoys a fondle on her terms, and is non-aggressive. She is bigger and much more boisterous than Crypto and can push her about easily. She comes, more or less, when called, and a firm "Tuxy, no!" will have her ceasing immediately any undesired behavior. Crypto is a more self-contained cat, responds if she feels like it to her name and to instructions, is still basically unhandled though she now allows a scratch of the neck and a stroke along the body. She is very timid and hides at unusual or strange things, or at visitors, or if I move too quickly. But this hissing, attacking Tuxy, growling at her and the malevolent look in the eye - all this is new and disconcerting. If I call to her, I might get a flick of the tail by way of response, but she won't come back. I wonder if, now that they are allowed out, she is trying to drive Tuxy away? Or is she just developing her own personality, now that she feels she has more space? Or is this is her real personality coming out? She's like a completely different animal.

Oh wow, just looked in on this thread. It seems to be closing. I like the idea of trying to stretch our hymn-knowledge, or rather, dig it out of the dust. Some of the hymns I've never heard of. But I knew the Christmas carols. Years in school, Sunday school, carol concerts, no doubt. There are some really awesome old hymns but a lot of the more modern ones are a bit ... off the Word (dare I say that?). I have some older hymn books with music, and I read/review the words occasionally of the songs. I can see why they would have been unacceptable to TWI. Wording like, "Holy, holy, holy / ... / God in three persons / Blessed trinity." But apart from that chorus, the words are nice.

They gave money to the Red Cross?? ("cross"???) I think they supported some believers in Zaire, a desperately poor country, but don't have any facts so don't know how many believers, or how often funds might have been sent. Maybe they just paid (a salary?) to the Corps grad there. It was a very long time ago, late 80s probably. Funny, isn't it, that we should have to guess. I know what my church spends money on, what organisations it supports, etc. One or is it two orphanages in Romania; Send A Cow (started by a church member); mission outreach in Albania; as well as an impoverished area of the city, homeless charities in the city, and so on; also supporting individuals at times of need by, for example, provision of meals or other support (family illness, mother giving birth, people moving home - they gave me 2 x 4-person frozen meals, very kind and completely unexpected - and other unexpected events). What's this about Harve?

Hey, I liked mowing the grass too. Except when I got that ditch bit, sorry drain, whatever. But then I only did it in the extra evening sessions we all "volunteered" for, to get ready for RoA. I liked chopping wood, too, for our exercise sessions on days when we didn't run. I still enjoy chopping wood.