R's rue

 God grant  Me the serenity To love  Others I can’t stand Give me Hope  Love  Joy And protection from R's rue https://ift.tt/N40FCIO

  What is it with nails? All over Great Britain, nail bars have sprung up in our towns and cities in the past decade. Along the main road that runs through our neighbourhood then on to the city centre there are now ten nail bars. The newest one has just opened five minutes walk away and it is called "Phoebe Nail". Naturally, I had to take our Phoebe down there at the weekend - not to have her nails done but to get her picture taken outside the new business. The owner - probably from South East Asia  - came out to talk to us.  Naturally, Phoebe kept shtum as small children will frequently do with strangers. The owner seemed very nice, telling me that this was the second shop she had opened. I wished her well with her new venture even though I will not myself be paying for "French tips" (£45) or even an "Eyebrow wax and tint" (£15). What the hell are "French tips" anyway? Are they like "French letters"? Just before Halloween, I processed ...

 Another round of things about me I love a coffee table book. So much beauty. I could look at it over and over again I love a cute magnet I love a banana nut muffin I try to be creative even if it’s not my strong suit I’m trying to get in the holiday spirit from R's rue https://ift.tt/J0PZAbE

Are you there Washington D.C.? Come in please! This is England calling! Today, at Southwark Crown Court in London, the rapist and sexual predator Russell Brand was put away for ten and a half years having been found guilty of his crimes. It didn't matter that he was a rich media star, famous "comedian" and "writer". It didn't matter that he had settled down in recent years with a  loving wife and their three young children. It didn't matter that he had turned to God or that he wore a crucifix. Past crimes came back to haunt him and the women he had abused earlier this century at long last achieved some kind of justice. There are at least two other cases against Brand still pending. He may yet have more years added to his sentence. I began this blogpost in the way I did because I had Jeffrey Epstein and his associates in mind. Numerous other men - mostly wealthy and powerful - were involved in his predation and not one of them has been suitably punished. ...

 When I’m on vacation, one stop I must make is to a church, and NYC was no different. I told my best friend, if I did anything, I knew where I had to go. St.Patrick’s Cathedral didn’t disappoint. For all its outward beauty, it’s what I found inside that captured my attention. I got peace in the middle of chaos. Quiet surrounded by noise. My soul desired it. Craved it, as if I were a kid begging for candy. For all my travels, the churches and cathedrals hold my heart. Assisi, Montreal, and New York City are in good company. Spiritual quiet and holy silence. My body from head to toe demands it. And it got it.  The church provides me physical rest and spiritual refreshment. As I look up in awe once again, I’m reminded how He is the only balm to my weariness. Jesus, you give me what I can’t give myself. And that is a blessing and a miracle. I wonder how He continues to sustain me even when I doubt His ability to do it.  I’m grateful that You give me, and continue to do so the...

Visitors who only read blogs will not have seen the following background alert that has recently been appearing on the dashboards of blog creators:- Updates to the Blogger Content Policy We are making some changes to our policies, effective December 16, 2026. To see how these changes may affect you, please find more information in the  Blogger Content Policy . I thought that it was about time that I investigated what this is all about. What changes are coming and how will they impact on everyday blogging? As far as I can make it out, it's all about tightening the system up and ensuring that Blogger is not used maliciously or for unsavoury purposes. It appears that Blogger has seventeen key guidelines that bloggers are meant to follow. Now it seems that these principles will be given more weight and there will be better enforcement. I copied and pasted the guidelines for your interest:- Absolute zero-tolerance policy; results in immediate removal, account termination, and reportin...

On Friday, I walked into the city centre to be at the lunchtime screening of "Wild Horse Nine" in The Showroom - my favourite  local cinema. Starring John Malcovitch and Sam Rockwell and directed by Martin McDonagh,  it is a dark comedy with a political edge set in Chile in 1973.  Many people do not realise that the most westerly part of Chile is Easter Island - 2330 miles across the eastern Pacific Ocean. Malcovitch plays the part of Chris and Rockwell plays the part of Lee. They are CIA agents involved in the pending overthrow of Salvador Allende's democratically elected left wing government. They have been planted in Chile for many months. For some reason - it is never explained why - their boss sends them to Easter Island . It was this factor that drew me to the film because I spent a happy week on Easter Island seventeen years ago - an experience that meant the world to me. Surely the film's use of Easter Island as a backdrop would bring back some special memorie...

 Happies Christmas card season Delicious sweet treat Bing Crosby My Christmas tree You from R's rue https://ift.tt/sRFcXbZ

Every leaf that falls in autumn is a little different from its neighbour. They each have their own story to tell - like the lines revealed on an open palm. Over the last week, the tree friendly southern suburbs of Sheffield have been carpeted with leaves and sometimes you walk ankle deep along the pavements, listening to the leaves' crinkly soundtrack. The air has been still but yet there are nooks and crannies, corners and gateways where the autumn dead have drifted. Yesterday, I raked and swept up a great pile of leaves in our garden then I decanted them into an old dustbin where they can gradually rot down for a year or so ready to enrich the soil. A virtuous circle perhaps. "Leaves" is a word used more than its synonym - "departs" and on Thursday our decorators left after a two week stint of meticulous work - preparing, sanding, undercoating, coating and recoating. They have done a great job of our hallway, staircase and landing. Although five different youn...

 When anxiety  Rises up  In me May a quiet Faith roar In response That says I’m here To guide And lead You into A hope That can’t Be dispelled  from R's rue https://ift.tt/VvlSM7C

T his is the second in a series of blogposts that explain the origins of the unusual names of several stations on the London Underground railway system. The first in the series was published a mere fourteen years ago when the author of this blog considered Shepherd's Bush . Today, we are thinking about Canary Wharf. Who knows - it might be another fourteen years till we reach the third selected station. I bet you can't wait. Just to warn you - the author will then be eighty seven years old and may be even more doolally. B efore people got used to money, there was something called bartering. You didn’t need money. You could just exchange things with your neighbour. You might have admired your neighbour’s bantam chicken so you’d say “I’d like to have that little chicken” and your neighbour might say, “Okay you can have that bantam for a sack of turnips.” Then you might say “No way Jose! Half a sack of turnips and it’s a deal but not a full sack. Turnips are hard to grow.” And the...

 An early morning greeted me as I stepped out on the porch today, and it couldn’t be more timely. The cool rain is reminding me it’s okay to rest. My body needs it. My mind needs it. My soul needs to crave it. It’s okay not to have perfect or pretty words to describe everything. Sometimes the truth just likes to sneak up and smack you in the face. Grief and gratitude can intertwine, and I can welcome both as long as I don’t stay there too long. The human experience doesn’t guarantee ease. I’m also have to disconnect from the need to be connected online constantly. The addiction is real sometimes. I’m having to reconcile my need for perfection daily.  My best friend told me to care but not carry. Such a simple statement. So much truth, yet so hard to do. I can do hard things. So today, I awake to nature providing new perspective and some peace. I truly wish the same for you.  Joy Is simply  Putting down What is Now to Heavy to bear from R's rue https://ift.tt/5u27BH...

Applause is due to the ordinary working people of America who turned up in their millions yesterday to change the political tide. They passed judgement on Trump and his gang and the divisiveness they have wrought - including starting an unnecessary war that threatens peace and economic stability around the world. Of course, the increasingly senile president accepts no responsibility for this electoral battering. He has even claimed that if his name had been on the ballot papers instead of the nominees he endorsed, the defeat would not have happened. But deception and dodging responsibility is part of his DNA. The other night I tuned in to a video that examined his academic career at Fordham University in New York (1964-1966) and The Wharton Business School at The University of Pennsylvania (1966-1968). Although Trump has often boasted of his academic prowess and high achievement, it seems more than likely that he made it all up or at least exaggerated everything. He left virtually no ...

 Lord Thank you For showing me You can still Move a mountain I couldn’t see past Thank you  For restoring hope To a tired soul That was wondering If faith was even Still visible To the  Naked eye God  You’ve always Held in It Your Hands I just started To doubt Whether Your silence Was rejection Or repudiation from R's rue https://ift.tt/ugczPUp

  I guess most foreigners who are visiting this blog will not have heard of Karl Bushby. He is fifty seven years old and has just come home after twenty eight years away and guess what? He is a Hull City supporter - just like me. But where has Karl been? It was back in 1998 that he set off from Punta Arenas in Chile, planning to walk back to Hull without using any trains, planes, motor vehicles or ships. He wanted to walk the whole way and guessed it would take a long time but perhaps not twenty eight years! Karl Bushby with The Beast His marriage had broken up and he was no longer cocooned by army life. He had some mental health issues too. The walk would be a kind of therapy. Along the way, he temporarily settled in both Colombia and China after falling for two women. And he had various visa problems that held him up for many months - mostly connected with his travels through both Russia and China. All of his worldly belongings were in the trolley that he pushed. He called it "T...

 On this day Remind me We are all human All loved by You And pray throughout This blessed day If I love not My faith  Doesn’t work And that’s  No longer An acceptable response When one sees me Do they see You That’s the question An answer Of this day And every day Love thy neighbor  As I have loved thee Lord, help me Do just this No matter  How deep My fear  Or defiance Reach Is my heart clean My motives pure And most days I can’t say With confidence  That it is The Word Must inhabit And infiltrate My entire being Be blessed And be a blessing To a world That is lost And needing  A giant hug from R's rue https://ift.tt/WAH4i7G

What do you know about Adelaide, South Australia? Until deciding to create this blogpost, I knew almost nothing apart from the fact that the blogger Elsie "River" lives there. I also knew that the city had been named after Queen Adelaide who married King William IV in 1818. She had previously been a German princess, born Adelheid of Saxe-Meiningen in 1792. Okay let me give you some key facts about Adelaide - just the low hanging fruit of my googling. First of all, the city should be called Tarndanya which was a name that indigenous peoples had used for millennia to describe the location. It means "male red kangaroo rock" after a particular stone outcrop that disappeared forever as the first European settlement grew. St Peter's Anglican Cathedral Adelaide is Australia's fifth largest city. Its metropolitan area has a population of 1,469,163 so if you removed Elsie River it would be 1,469,162. Adelaide is known for its food and wine industries, its coastline a...

 Thank you for your love and extraordinary kindness that leaves me speechless and crying happy tears. I never thought all those years ago when I started that this would be the result. A community who loves me so much, who displays the love of Jesus so well, and willingly gives me their time. Every time my doubt rises to the surface, you come to quash it. You remind me how much He loves me, while reminding me of how much you truly care for me. It’s not lip service. It’s genuine. I feel it in every bone. What you give me makes me rich. A rich, rich girl who doesn’t know how I got so blessed to have my own cheering squad.  I hope I never take your goodness for granted.  Thank you so much. I can’t say it enough for being the hands of feet of Jesus whether you believe or not.  God bless you all.  from R's rue https://ift.tt/5IxmLwc

On Friday, I walked through nearby Brincliffe Edge Woods and took several pictures. I was again hoping to capture something of the essence of  autumn in this northerly corner of England. The image shown above is the best of the bunch. I think it is rather like a painting but I wish that along that canopied track a figure had been approaching wearing a bright red jacket like the solitary woman who passed me by just a few minutes earlier. That would have really "made" the composition. It's only ten days since I shared an image of Brincliffe Edge Road, and here we are again as autumn strides a little further towards wintertime. I love that road and though you cannot see this, the woods tumble down to the right. There are several tracks there and even a concealed encampment where three homeless people live. I would never snitch on them. It's not a bad location to choose and we all need somewhere to live - even those without money, hope or good fortune. Looping round throu...

 Sunday things Happy November. October was beautiful in parts. Very hard in others. One day a time. One minute at a time. I’m learning again and again how God works in His time, not my own. It frustrates me yet leaves with tears of thankfulness at the same time. It’s confounding at times, but that’s okay. For a perfectionist, I’m having to let go daily even if I’m not good at doing it. Disability leaves me angry yet amazed in the same breath. It’s in the way He forces me to go on daily even if I think of giving up more than I should. I won’t give up, but I can’t say my mind doesn’t go there. I see the unfairness in the world, yet also its beauty. I’m a bundle of contradictions lately it seems. I won’t apologize for being human. I’ve done it so often, it’s a hard habit to break. I still wonder after all these years, if what I do matters or makes a difference. Then, I remember, it’s not my job to wonder about things above my pay grade.  If He is pleased Then faithfully Continuin...