Dennis Mukwege - a real live angel!

Dear friends!!
In these times of hatred and disaster, we can be only too happy that something turnes out right.
Yesterday, as Mozul is slowly being liberated, the churchbells where ringing for the first time in two years in one of the closest villages, now liberated from the IS hatred.
I can honestly say that I cried when I heard those bells and understood that the yazidians now can worship as they have been longing for. To be set free in your right to pray and worship is such an important way for people to mend and see hope.

There is also this blessed, blessed man, Dennis Mukwege in Kongo Kinshasa, that has sacrificed everything to help the women, some very young, to heal and mend after being raped and badly scared by the soldiers . I have mentioned him before, he is now on a visit to Sweden, and several of us have wished for years that he would get one of the Nobel prizes, the peaceprize or that of medicine. Imagine what that million could do for the Panzihospital and perhaps more.

I claim doctor Mukweges right to earn that reward. He is a true angel of God, in the shape of an ordinary doctor. He has been threatened and scared and several deathsentences has been called upon his head. He said today that there have been many occassions where he have been tempted to give up, but after praying and seing those womans joy and strenght,  he has straitened up and got back to work. 
These are two signs of joy. Otherwise, there is not much to give praise for. Today I heard about Trump and the church he belongs to. The pastor there believes in success and preaches a God that holds his hand over those who are victorious and successful. The Trumps have been members of this particular church for a long time, it seems.
I can't help but thinking about the reformed church that made apartheid possible in South Africa and the churches and theologicans that lay the platform to the nazi politics in the 1930ties.  You can obviously pick out anything you need from your own distorted point of view, in the holy scriptures. Be it the Bible or the Koran. Apparently. I suppose that is nothing new, we saw the same tendensies during the ages of the crusades.
But the word of God can't be compromised that way, he is always the same.  We are the ones to turn with the wind and use whatever is fortunate for our own course or purpose. 
I believe in the churchbells, people where crying and praising by the sound of those bells, no heart could be more alive than those of the people that heard that sound. Standing in the ruins of what used to be home, they now dare to face the future.

The woman healed in the  Panziclinic and otherwise, have taken different kinds of action, not all of them have given a peaceful answer to the liberation, some are taken to arms.
But the joy and relief and above all, the sacrificing and absolutely unselfish love and courage that this doctor and his friends have achieved, is heaven sent. Fi foe the black Queen and the demons of darkness, may they creep back into the dungeons where they belong!!  The light of the world can't be conquered, it won't yield!!! 
Yesterday I celebrated a dear dear actress that has made such an impact on my life.

Today I celebrate the patterns and traces of a Kingdom in motion , growing by the second, glowing through people who carries the light within them, fearless and loving!!!

Carrie Frances Fisher - the brightest shining 60 year old!!! Happy birthday!!

Goodevening!

                                   Oh, how she hated those cinnamonbuns by the ears!

Well, we don't just do memorials here, we also celebrate birthdays.
This evening we spent a couple of hours with the sweet and enchanting film Willow starring Warwick Davis, a most talented and stunninglooking actor. As we discussed the talent of short actors, we mentioned the name Kenny Baker, an actor that regrettably left us this summer, and of course slided over to his unforgettable character R2D2 that in a wink of an eye made us think about Carrie Fisher and ....oh dear if it isn't her birthday!!  She was born 21 of october 1956, daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.   Yes, I know, I didn't finish the post in time!!

There are many great actresses in this world, great for many reasons, I might add.
An actor can get us spellbound , lead us into new worlds or confront us with emotions we never knew we had. Carrie is not that brilliant glorious shining star that can take on any character and make it her own. Not yet. But she is very real, very downtoearth, very earnest. Very easy to be fond of. I have never seen a more beautiful princess in such an ugly hairdo. Her perfect timing and hilarious sense of humour gave that Leia a strenght we could admire. Not just one of those blond ,giggling , longlegged woman that covered the screen in the 70-ties, leaving the action to the tough boys. She was a hero to count on.

Here she is, selling Star Warstickets with one other great woman, Ellen Degeneres.

Now, Carrie was very pretty when she was young although she hated some of the clothes she had to wear in Star Wars. She is still a very beautiful woman, but life has been rough for her. I expect it's not always a shining highway being the child of famous parents.
In her book " Wishful drinking" she is very earnest on these matters, very personal and that is what really gets to you. She did a stage show based on the book, among other things, it was one of the best I've seen. We laughed, cried and felt ever so close to this woman. In these moments, she could have been anyones sister and we would gladly chat over a cup of coffee.  
One of the more strange characters is the one of Jake Blues's girlfriend in Blues Brothers. This is also one of those moments that you realize that actresses can be so much more than mindless bimbos, if ever you had that thought! Blues Brothers is a must, not just because of Carrie, it's the full monty. This film reminds us of two things, don't stop believing and never ever deceive a beautiful woman.

So happy birthday to you, Carrie! Brave, funny, talented, generous and smart. And as for the timing, well, look at this:

May you always be true to yourself and may we appreciate the blessings you have been given. Thank you for sharing so much!
And may you never loose that sharp mind and warm heart. May your road rise to meet you and your new year be blessed.

If you can spare ten minutes, view this clip from the stage event Wishful Drinking. And this is not only for middleaged women, my husband loved this show!
On Youtube, you'll find, as I did, hours of great material!!

Stooormy weather in the world!!!

The world seems to be in a turmoil right now.
Adding gasoline to the fire, an army of clowns are raging and rampaging through , mostly internet, but also streets and shrubbery. Every time the world is on fire these things have a tendency of appearing, pranks turning into harassment, childplay turning into streetwar.
I can understand that people loose control and get bewildered and confused, taking the strangest actions, but we have to put a stop to this evilbetweenneighbours- events.
Now this sunday the subject was Responsibility and the appeal was to care for those unfortunate that live next to us. Sackaios in his Sycamoretree was taught a very important lesson, his life turned completely after this meeting.  We are right now surrounded by unfortunate people, that is, they are unfortunate due to causes beyond their means of stopping it. We can't stop the wars and the ungoing bloodshed, but we can make life a bit brighter and easier for our next of kin.  Once they where independent, welleducated people, with houses, cats, children, gardens , cars and boats, income and outcome, parties and schoolmeetings. 
They didn't ask for this.
But as it is, they have to cope on a strange arena, with no means of their own. Strange language, strange customs, strange culture. No space, no place, no work, no money, no identity, robbed of safety, memories, normal life, family and daily work.  Our job is to keep them safe, seen, heard, valid and worthy. We have no olives to save, no grapes in the vineyard, but we have everything they haven't.  What are borders and religion when you have a fellow human being in front of you, just asking to be seen and respected??  What will happend to our afghani boys when they send them back?  They have been promised safety, but fear drafting. Many of them can hardly read. My appeal to the EU is to drop the petty issues of trade and regulations and concentrate on solving the refugee situation.  I know, I'm ignorant as a magpie when it comes to politics, but they are millions!!! People, humans, men and women, children, sisters and brothers, grandmothers, siblings, carpenters , teachers and gardeners, yes, they are a figure in the statistics but can't be treated like you treat the tradefares. 

In my rather gloomy world autumn is raging for sure. A few roses and buds still to go, most apples have fallen, right now rain is falling and we've had stormy weather for some days, making the daily walk a rather challenging event.

One single rose....

S.t Nicholas church behind autumn leaves

Some angels flew out after St Michaels day, and decided to stay close to us!!

Lovely bunch, aren't they?? This is a very special maple, splendid in its grandeur!!

Nature sometimes takes a loopingtour for us to be enchanted by.

Low water, low flight, waves are rolling high but yesterday much higher

No more bathing and no more lying down catching smallfish and shellfish. Watch, however, the gulls in a row!!

Hanging there as a greeting from summer gone and summer to come!!

And what in heavens name is this?? Some kind of mushroom?? Covering the entire treetrunk.

Bob Dylan ?!

The Nobelprice is a price filled with prestige.
Economy. Medicine. And Litterature. Every year they announce someone that I never heard of!! Almost always. But the cultural elite get all wind up and celebrate with champagne and speak knowledgeable of that particular writer and how they have been looking forward to this moment!! Well, good for them. Sometimes I have actually heard the name before.
On some very rare occassion I have even read one of their books!!!
But, Bob Dylan??!!  Why? To me, he is a great singer and great poet in his lyrics, but Dylan is music!! His lyrics and songs have been a part of my teenage years and well up in my thirties. 
I don't listen so much now, but I still enjoy it when I hear one of his songs, old or new.
But Nobelprice? Hm.

One thing is for certain, I will never get it. I can, however, invite you to read my clumsy attempts on writing novels. I just completed one, half fiction, half true, about life on a retreat.
I added a dog, because of Boomer in Colorado.  I kind of promised him!
You can read my masterpieces on Novels and true stories, please do, I never have any visitors on that blog.
I wish you all a good nights sleep, here in our little village by the sea its calm but somewhat worried as well. They are closing the refugee camp and more than 240 people have to move.
Some will be sent back, but not all.  Many have become close friends with the villagers. Children are going to school.  But times they are a' changing! May there be mercy!

Button up your overcoat!! It's autumn in the world!

Monday!!
Dear friends out there, now it really is autumn. Everywhere. A friend of mine said yesterday that in his life he had felt that autumn came in May.  It gives a certain touch to the image of autumn - sad, cold, dying, dark and hopeless.  I for one like autumn, but it really appeared somewhat surprising.  Two weeks ago we could walk the streets in our bare sleeves, not so long ago we still had 27 degrees celcius and could easily sit in the garden with our afternoon cupper or even supper.  Today we had around 7-9 degrees and I can assure you we had no wish to run around in t-shirt. All the rain we longed for in august and september has finally emerged, all at once.  Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgivingday in church, complete with churchchoir, apples, eggs, carrots, chestnuts, leaves, flowers and potatoes as well as one little girl to be baptized and some 20 teenagers receiving their bibles, lightgreen this year!!  Outside the storm was raging along with the fallen leaves.  Still, thinking about that wretched Mitchell and the absolute menace a storm can be, I can't complain.  These poor haitian, everything is wiped out, more than 900 hundred dead and over 21000 houses gone totally and just as many badly damaged.

In Syria, peace is far away, in other parts of the world nations are sharpening knifes to take part of the golden market of power. Borders being drawn in wrong places, watersupplies being injustly determined, oil being worth a fortune, poverty and hopelessness forcing young men to take desperate and illchosen action to make a difference, create some reputation for themselves and become somebody.  In Sweden we are powering up to throw the afghany boys out. Lonely, lost and scared boys, some of them have but 1-5 years in school, they know that drafting awaits them if they are sent back. Many of them actually come from Iran, where the refugees are counted in millions, just as in Lebanon and Jordania. Shame on us in Europe, if there is no room for the thousand that seeks shelter, something must be very wrong with the way our societies and countries are built up. If the burden is shared, the weakest can walk upright.


Still, this weekend was a delight, we must be able to give thanks for what we actually have and share it as much as we can. Four people I baptized, one turned 19 last week, one turns 4 next month, two were just babies.  I finished the photobook I started on and tonight I finished some
jars of pickled gingerpears. 
AND - it seems my shoulder might not be frozen after all!! 100 percent certain we can't be until next week but it would seem I just have a severe inflammation hurting bad. 
Saying that, I hope you all are well. I read your posts but can't comment on most of them, I wish wish wish this will soon pass and Gurgle will let me back in to harass people with my comments. That is half the fun!! You have such nice posts, I love them!!

Here are some sunsetting pictures taken the other evening, soon the trees will be all bare!!
But for a long time I couldn't add any pictures, Blogger said they couldn't be found....I knew it, I am being erased,  I know, there are issues more important and problems a lot more devastating than these, both in my life and in the world, but...why???  Could we perhaps join forces, I know some of you have experienced problems recently with your blogger account.
Just as I wrote that, the pictures popped out of the grey mist. There they are!!

Mean while, we have several elections and decisions to be taken by the high and mighty in the worlds leading offices and fists being raised and voices being silenced . God help us to make the right choices, take the best paths, clear our minds and hearts so we won't be deceived.
On the news right now they are debating the outcome of this nights Trump-Clinton meeting.
I'm sorry they both carry ghosts in the machinery, some americans are very confused.
And whatever the outcome, this election WILL have an impact on all of us.
And now Andzrej Wajda is dead, wonderful man telling important truths to us.

On my other blog, I try to turn my random thoughts into novels. I write about situations I have experienced but also fiction that mirrors parts of my life. They are no Pulitzerstuff but I would like to know what you think.

A few minutes of glorious sunlight from the setting sun on our belltower!!

The trees are changing rapidly, soon there will be only the silhouette

The sky is on fire, every night with a clear view, I get stuck with my face turned up

Close to the churchyard the magnificent trees are burning

And so the flaming ball of light sets behind the barn and night falls quickly

Thebadshoulderperspective!!

Goodevening, or rather; Goodnight! (its past midnight...)

I am still alive, my new glasses are not ready yet so I see everything through fringes...thank you all for your concern for my eyes!!!!
Having the day off I had the enormous privilege of everything that a weekday off can give....
that is, laundry, dishes, vaccuuming, and.......watching the news without interruptions,
settling in the sofa with a large cup of tea to watch my favourite show - the antique Roadshow,
AR!! Today from Herefordshire.  Such a treat, isn't it, Tom?? 
I love watching those enthusiasts and real nerds, knowing every spot and initial. And all these people going; "Oh God, I could never believe it was worth that much. Not that I will ever sell it...!"   We have the show in Sweden as well, they payed our town a visit some years ago.  

Watching the news is not at all that inspiring.  Hungarians voted No to 1500 refugees, Colombia voted No to the peacetreaty, USA is raged with Russia for bombing hospitals in Syriah and
the americans are very ambivalent now that the actual election is closing up. So much that many plans to vote for the one candidate in order to at least slow the other one down, but still believing in none of them!!   And the UK is speeding up the startingpoint of Brexit.. And the hurricane Michael is raging along the jamaican coast and is now turning it's devastating breath towards the poor Haitians, they haven't finished repairing after that large earthquake some years ago!! We pray for courage, open minds, common sense and resources to help!

This sunday we celebrated St Michaels day, the Archangel taking up the fight with Satan himself. Oddly enough, we often turn to the children this sunday, filling up with cute little angels, childrenchoirs singing sweet songs with wings on their backs ( the children, not the songs) and everything being pink, fluffy and cozy.. No, I don't mind really, but I do have an urge to bring forth the strenght and glory of Gods angels. No fluff. They are powerful, fearless, beaming and comforting. 

Here is Gustave Dorés illustration of Jakob and the wrestling with the angel.

This is not a plant from heaven, even if it is of great beauty, especially now, its a Rhus typhina,  rowan sumac, or as we call it " Monkeytree". It is actually more like a weed, because the roots shoots away beneath the ground, pops up in all the wrong places and becomes a tree before you know what hit you. Roots are thicker than hawsers and last autumn it invaded our small greenhouse. To get rid of it, we have to lift the frame and glass up and dig it out!

We dont have a fireplace, but those who does are filling up for the dark months!

Soon they will have a good, long winters rest, but we are in the middle of the great Pike-
festival, so hold your horses. As long as the weather holds, these boats go out for some odd herring, codfish or perhaps flounder.

Later this sunday, this merry jazzband came to visit and gave a concert with mostly New Orleans jazz and plenty of spirituals, in the local chapel. I was called in to do some vocals and hold a sermon. In an inperceptible way, I seem to have become the jazzpriest!!
I ventured an angel sermon with no fluff.

What with the bad shoulder?? Well, when its starting , the decay, it really is doing a great job.
Last wednesday my shoulder started to ache, more and more. In the evening,  I kept moaning all the time. Calling the doctor, I was told it had to wait a few days to see if it passed with painkillers and rest. It didn't. That concert was a very stiff performance!
Today I saw my housedoctor and after squeezing and jolting, pulling and banging, avoiding my attempts to knock him down, he produced two large syringes with cortisone....
If they won't do the trick, he was afraid I might have something called Frozen shoulder...
Frozen yoghurt I've heard of...even eaten ,but this!! Well, it will keep me from shrugging ,  forcing me to answer clearly to all questions.
By the way, I still can't comment your posts, the rain and wind has reached us and temperature is below 15 degrees celcius. IT IS AUTUMN!!!