R's rue

A second foray into our secret cupboard and another random photo wallet extracted. This time I will scan four selected photos and write about them. All were snapped and printed before I acquired my very first digital camera which was twenty years ago so these prints are now very much historical.  Long ago I wrote on the "Quality Prints" wallet "Britanny June 91 & 92 + Loire and Normandy 87" so I am expecting a bit of a mixture when I dip inside Above - pictures taken in the north of France but because I never wrote on the back of my prints I cannot tell you in which little town I spotted the old black Citroen car. And maybe it was the same day but there's our Ian at the age of eight or nine with an interesting lace curtain behind him. It depicts two children walking in rain. I guess I will have said to him - "Just sit down there son!" before clicking the camera button. Below, that's me - half a lifetime ago with my little darling daughte...

 God is working. Yesterday I received some snail mail. Two friends spoke life into me at the right time  I’m not going to share exactly what was said, but my soul smiled. Truly smiled. As if they got me. They may never walk in my shoes, but they had true empathy. As I was rereading their words like a true balm, a salve, I heard a song I’d never heard, and I started to grasp life.  In 12 to 13 years here, I’m starting to process some thoughts. I may never be renowned, known, famous or rich. I’ve not gotten the fairy tale yet, because some lessons don’t come easy. Billy Graham once said mountaintops are for views, but fruit is grown in the valley. I’m hoping fruit can be grown in me, so I can bear it.  Maybe my dreams are still that, is that my job right now is to be in uncomfortable places. Growth happens outside of comfort zones. My life was never going to be easy, but a hard slog. When being strong is the only way, you learn to adapt. Silver spoons were never my l...