Random blog

 Earlier this year I had the chance to spend a few hours in a forest in England with a forester who is a dear friend of mine.  It was the first time Id seen him in his place of work and as he gave a guided tour of 'his wood' I was amazed at his knowledge.  Every tree, every plant and insect and birdsong had a story.  He just rattled off the information as we wandered around.  The best I could do was identify three or four common trees.  He was able to identify a woodpecker from its song, spot where it was nesting and discern the species from the briefest of glimpses of the adult bird as it came back to its nest to feed its chick.  As we toured the woods he started talking about Ash dieback.  Its a disease similar in its effect to Dutch Elm disease.  It is tearing though British woodland killing off Ash trees at a rate of knots and there is no way to stop it. He was pointing out trees which had it.  They looked perfectly healthy to me....

I don't remember much about my school days - or about anything really , I have never been able to remember stuff - but one memory I do have is being in sixth form when some guy came to talk to the whole yeargroup about Handel. Specifically about The Messiah.   I have no idea why he came and I vaguely recall that most people were singularly uninterested.  But as he played us bits of the oratorio and told us about the life of the composer I was fascinated.  Id probably not long become a Christian so the words from Isaiah sang out to me.  The fact that the whole massive work had only taken 24 days to write amazed me. All those parts and harmonies and instrumentations.  I loved the fact that the debut concert was a charitable event raising money for two hospitals and a debt relief charity.  As a result of the first ever performance of The Messiah 142 indebted prisoners were set free.  How amazing is that?? It was probably as a result of that talk at s...

 Listening to the radio a while back I heard an interview with Candi Staton - not someone with whom I was particularly familiar.  She's an american singer and one of the songs for which she is most well known is ' Young hearts run free' . The song was written by David Crawford who apparently fasted for 40 days before writing it, saying that he was going to write Candi a song which would ' last forever.'  I was fascinated by this story.  Presumably Crawford was a man of faith ( Candi Staton is certainly a Christian) but he was employed as a record producer not a songwriter.  What level of faith and dedication causes someone to fast for 40 days and determine to write a best selling hit song?  The song has gone on to be a massive hit which does indeed look as if it will last forever.  But its a song about escaping an abusive relationship so its not exactly your standard pop material.  Candi listened to it a couple of times then sang it, and the very ...

 Earlier this year a non Christian, married, male friend of mine told me he found me attractive. Which was unexpected! And which actually threw me a bit. How to respond?  More to the point, what to do with such a statement in my head.  Of course the initial response was to feel rather pleased and flattered. It's nice to think of oneself as attractive to someone else, especially when you are 57, menopausal and haven't actually felt attractive in a long time.  But then of course there's the 'agenda' question. Why is he saying this? What does it mean when one married person finds another attractive?  And says it out loud?  I confess to getting into a bit of a flap about it. Eventually (doh!) I talked to Jesus. Who, as ever, had something simple and helpful to say.  'What he sees in you that he finds attractive Caz, IS ME!' Of course! Jesus is the most attractive person who ever lived. He is kind and warm and funny. He is compassionate and understanding an...