Traveler's Rest

Last evening Gail and I attended our friend David Terry's exhibition of new work. Entitled "Traveler's Rest" it consisted of twenty-five new works.

David is a very talented artist. Traveler's Rest was exhibited on the tenth anniversary of his first show at the Craven Allen Gallery. During that ten years he has had many shows and his work has sold in many countries. He has, I venture to add, an even bigger talent than his art. It is the ability to embrace people into his life and more importantly, his heart.

Thank you David for being who you are. Our lives are enriched by being called "your English friends".

SADD boy

I haven't posted during the past couple of weeks as I was afraid of being seen (as our Australian cousins would say) as a "whinging Pom". I refer, yet again, to the "English weather" we have experienced here in North Carolina for the past month.

As my very sensible daughter-in-law is in pains to point out to me, "We need the rain, we need the balance". Indeed we do and I suspect that we will be very thankful for the above average rainfall come September. I'm also reminded, that one of my criticisms of our life in southern Spain was the lack of seasons. As I mentioned before, in NC, it seems that sometimes we can experience four season in the same week!

It's not the rain I complain about. I love the rain and appreciate that rain is accompanied by gray days. What I don't like, and this was a contributory fact to us leaving England, are the gray, miserable (to me) days when it doesn't rain. To be fair there are not many of them, but it seems we have had more than our normal share this month. End of subject, I promise.

My Lenten fast of desserts and candy is progressing better than I expected. There have been many temptations, believe me, but I don't think I would have got through these four weeks if not for the feast days. I've surprised many people by explaining that Sundays are feast days (Lent is forty days, not forty-six), but even on a Sunday I usually only indulge minimally.

However, I have to report that I got caught out at, of all places, our weekly Lenten supper at church on Friday. Fred, my dear friend(!), who has been role playing as Satan during my fast (together with our beloved choir director), brought what I thought was a sweet potato casserole. Oh, I'll have some of that I thought - love sweet potatoes, only to find after a couple of mouthfuls, it was actually a dessert. Doh!

. . . . and Fred is a still a dear friend.

More funny old weather

We were hoodwinked into thinking that spring, ney, summer had arrived at the beginning of this week. Three days with temperatures in the eighties. Gail, with her usual Yorkshire wisdom commented, "We will pay for this". I hate to admit it, but as usual, she was right. Friday brought a dramatic drop in temperature and rain. The 80s were 20 degrees above the normal temps for this time of year. Come Friday, it was 20 below normal.

I was so looking forward to the seasons first soccer game at Cary this evening, but as it will continue raining and temperatures are not set to get over 40, I'm not freezing my butt on aluminum bleaches shivering with a cold beer in my hand (okay, the cold beer is not obligatory I know) - my days of doing that whilst Secretary of Great Yarmouth Town FC are long gone. Call me a fair weather supporter, I don't care.

My daughter-in-law recently commented on her wonderful blog, Through Ellie's Eyes, about the state of local roads. I reported four of these craters (they are long past the definition of a pot-hole), to our city council several weeks back. Two of the four were repaired, eventually, but with such shoddy workmanship that the repairs are now crumbling yet again. What a waste of taxpayers' money. Whatever happened to "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well"?

Driving through the persistent rainfall yesterday we noted that at least 20% of drivers were (a) either ignorant of State Law (if you use your wipers, you must use headlights); (b) knew of the law but were deliberately flouting it; or (c) are ignorant, period. We were even overtaken by a police cruiser without lights. I wish I had had the nerve to mention it to the officer concerned, politely of course. What makes drivers think that their car is so highly visible in pouring rain and gloomy conditions that they don't need to use their lights?

And to wind up this miscellany I have to report that my dessert-free Lent record is still unblemished. Tough going admittedly, especially when tempted by friends who take a delight in making the point that they have not made this promise. Even last Sunday, not a fast day, I only scoffed two chocolate-chip muffins. Watch this space!

Funny old weather

"Dew yer know, thas funny old weather". For those who must be wondering what on earth Mick is rambling about, I will explain. It's what a Norfolk (England) native speaker (very rare nowadays) would say about the current weather we are enjoying here in North Carolina.

Translation: "Do you know, it's strange weather". I'm using this bit of squit (Norfolk speak for "trivial information" or "nonsense"), to report on the amazing changes in weather this past week. Exactly a week ago we were having winter storm warnings. Indeed on Monday we woke up to between three and four inches of snow. Schools closed, many workers took "snow days" and kids had a great time playing their own versions of the winter Olympics. With a wind chill factor it was barely 12-14F (minus 10C). Today temperatures are in the mid eighties - 85F (30C) as I write this at 5.45pm and shorts and tees are the order of the day.

I'm convinced that wonderful North Carolina is the only place on God's earth where you can experience all four seasons in one week. The bonus for today is that we have an extra hour of daylight to enjoy it. Daylight saving came into effect at 2am this morning - a few weeks ahead of the change in Europe.

My weekly report on the success(?) of my Lent fasting is: "so far, so good". Being a dessertaholic, it's extremely hard for me (that's the point after all). Today is not a fast day, so I allowed myself just a couple of Annie's tasty muffins at Fellowship this morning. Then no more, so I'm relying on dear Maria to come up with the goods next Sunday to satisfy me for another week.

Another recommended blog

Biased I definitely am, but this is a blog worth following.

http://streetandaltar.blogspot.com/

It gives us all something to think about.

In like a lion?

Just a couple of postings back I was rejoicing that Spring looked on it's way. I spoke too soon (as usual). Friday saw a daytime high of 69F. Today, Monday, we woke up to a couple of inches of snow!

One similarity (about the only one) of winters in North Carolina and England, is that authorities of neither seem ready for a snowfall, or for that matter, cope with it well. To be fair, for the frequency and amount that normally falls in both places, the cost of providing enough clearing equipment just to be used for half-a-dozen days a year, if that, would soon have the taxpayers baying for blood. In more northern states of the US they do cope much better as heavy falls are regular.

Still with today's carpet of the white stuff, there are still daffodils, crocuses and the like making a brave effort to bring some cheer. It's the second day of March for goodness sake, so it must be all downhill from here and I'm confident that in a few months time when we are "enjoying" temperatures in the high eighties and nineties, together with high humidity, I will be wishing for a snowfall to cool things down a bit! The old saying regarding March weather of "In like a lion, out like a lamb" bodes well for a joyous spring to look forward to.