Moving stairs of Life

Ever felt that your life is just a moving staircase. I have never liked moving stairs. Over the last few days I have cleaned the bathrooms about 3 times my annoying thing is hair on the floor and in this house there is a lot. I have baked cookies, iced cakes, made dog biscuits and felt like I was running up a mile long staircase that had no end. Oh no it is true the moving stairs that I hate at the underground in London are invading my life.

But perhaps life is not suppose to be like this a continual staircase never ending. I think God wants us to do our best, but I think He wants us to space ourselves out. Taking moments to enjoy life. I loved it the other day just running and dancing in the rain.

When I come back to England one day, I am so going to sit on the shore and just take in those rolling waves. Just take a moment to just be at peace.

Perhaps peace in this world you might say is impossible, but perhaps it is in just taking a moment to be you. My blog has meant everything to me. It is where I can be me and where I can be transported home. How about you? Take time to bless others and you in turn may find at least a little peace on the moving stairs of life.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

What apple are you?

When I was a child we lived next to a farm we had many apple trees it was really cool. The apple trees had seats underneath them. They were like large wooden boxes and I remember sitting on them and then standing on them to get the wonderful apples down. Some of the apples, however, were not wonderful and full of worms, some were bitter and some not ripe, but some of them were wonderful and delicious. A friend yesterday gave me a broach it was a little apple she said I was "Apples of Gold." It is from the Bible. It made me cry. I do not view myself as anything great. But as I think back to the farm and the apple trees we are at times like all of them sometimes we allow life to destroy us like the rotten apple, sometimes we are bitter sweet with deceiving words like the bitter apples, and sometimes we are just golden when we allow our lives to be touched and changed by life, others and God.

I wonder what apples we will show to the world.

I hope when all is said and done, my basket for the most part will be one of Hope and wonderful apples.

Please have a cup of tea with me toady.

Wonderful Lake District in Autumn.

I loved visiting the Lake District in 1996 with my then young daughter. I loved even more the fact that Beatrix Potter had lived there. Here she spent a lot of her money preserving much of the beauty that we see today. In those wonderful rolling hills. We can easily imagine how this amazing artist had such a love for nature. Those wonderful hills and wonderful colors almost shear artistry themselves.

So I am sharing with you today scenes from the Lake District in Autumn. This may well be spread over several days. But surely it is a beauty that any artist would enjoy.

So sit back and be transported along those winding roads and rolling hills.

Wishing you lots of Tasty English Delights

There's always room for one more.

Being five at any age.

Ever just ran out in the rain and just laughed a little.

Well today it started raining and so we all just ran out in the rain.

Wouldn't it be nice in life if every now and again if we just took a time out in our lives and just swung on a swing, ate ice cream from the bottom of the cone, put a piece of lemon in our mouths and smiled, or just got some bubbles and ran in the garden laughing at life.

Unfortunately our five year old moments are quickly forgotten and life traps us like a venus flytrap we suckered in and we can't get out.

I often feel like that, the weight of how my life is, but every now and again we go wild. We stop the car in my drive way, run around as fast as can and get back in, we turn the music up really loud and yes I have been known to eat tones of ice cream. Once we even jumped on the couch and sung with wooden spoons. Do you know what it was alright we did not need any counseling we did not need any therapy we ended up with no medical bill but a great memory.

Try it you might like it.

Please have a cup of tea with me today

It's alright to be you.

I thought I would write a poem tonight.

It's alright to cry,

As long as you don't let the tears over take you.

Tears are away of us letting lose in away words cannot express.

It's alright to be quiet sometimes

It does not mean that you are untouchable it just means you are processing things

Sometimes it just means you have nothing to say

It is alright to laugh when the rain is coming down

It simply means that rain makes you smile

It is alright to run in the sprinklers

Chase butterflies in the summer

Jump in leaves in the fall

Catch snowflakes with your tongue in the winter

Overall it is alright for you to know it is alright for you to be you.

Flaws in all.

We are all a work in progress so give yourself a pat on the back you are making it.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

1930's car of Hope.

My dad and brother use to sell parts to vintage cars. As I drove out today I started to think of my brother then out of nowhere appeared this old vintage car. It followed me for a little while then it followed at a distance. I chuckled inside as I thought wow how amazing thank you God for sending me a ray of hope. It was like God was showing me that my brother is watching me from a distance and then I went down a different road and the car was gone. I felt like it was as though my brother was saying I will follow at a distance, sometimes you may go down a different road and you may not see me, but trust me I am always in the distance. I chuckled and laughed.

As a child I use to get fade up with old cars and their pieces.

Today I felt encouraged to be honest I felt a sense that my brother was near.

Silly hey.

In truth God follows us at a distance and at times we cannot see Him but He is always there.

Thanks little old car and thank you God for never leaving me alone.

And so it is for you, God never leaves you alone.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Reconnecting with school friends.

Well I have lots to do today. But I just had to talk to all of you. I have already posted on my other blog englishdelights so how unfair not to post on Cornfielddreams.

I thought a lot last night about my dear friend Clara-Jane, she has truly touched me. When you are going along a long road you often find it very tiresome and so I surely have. She emails me and makes me feel so belonged, so loved and I am so blessed for that, I am so homesick and so she just is such a blessing. It reminds me as I sit here and type of Beatrix Potter and her walking down the amazing roads of the Lake District. Her love for the countryside was amazing. Perhaps just as amazing is people we find who love us for us. They see our hard times, they cry our tears and yet they see beyond that. Sutherland House was an amazing school, it bought girls together from all sorts of places, Meg Matthews who became quite famous was in my class, Andrea Russell an amazing mum and wonderful woman, Hillary Scott a girl that loved hockey and would make you smile even though it was raining outside, Allie Swaine oh my she kind of scared me, but in truth I loved how she always was so brave she took no rubbish. Many others I could quote. We all learnt at times and laughed, playing hockey in freezing weather, running up cliffs and playing basket ball. Least we forget sneaking down to get food as borders at the school.

All of us some how glued together in time.

In life there are many friendships they come and go, but it is very touching to me the ones that you reconnect with from school. Those girls remember you from years gone by. Me the girl with the long double barrelled surname oh how I hated it. But I loved school and I love reconnecting with them all.
I am more than blessed to look back with fond memories.

I am so thankful that God brought many of them back into my life.

May God bless you with many Clara-Jane's. We all need one or two to keep us going.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Suthie Girls and one amazing friend.

Well I love posting and although I am exhausted, I am still going to type. I have so much to do this weekend I am not sure where to start. But like me I will run through it and be exhausted at the end. I wanted to talk to you about an amazing friend I have in my life Clara- Jane is an amazing woman who I went to school with. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever meet. She encourages me, wants the best for me, see's beyond what I can see and above all she remembers school days which many people who I have known for years cannot relate to. Girls from Sutherland House in Cromer our one of a kind us Suthie girls as we often call ourselves are like a sisterhood.

It is like we would travel the world to stand by each other hockey sticks and all. I loved school but I never thought that reconnecting with friends from school could mean so much. Clara-Jane is so talented with her amazing drawings and her love for photography. She makes me feel great but let me tell you that Suthie girl is amazing.

I don't know where you went to school, but even if you don't have Suthie girls like I do. Draw on the memories of those amazing friends you had at your first job or any time in life.

You maybe surprised what gems you find.

Thanks Clara-Jane.

Thanks all my Suthie Girls.

Please have a cup of Tea with me today.

You will survive your heights.

I don't like heights at all. I don't remember ever liking them much as a child. I do remember clearly running up the cliffs of Cromer on cross country runs and when I was older hating the under ground escalators. Today my life was pushed on a bit of a cliff. I have applied for jobs upon jobs since being a single mum. I so wanted this job at American Airlines I mean flights home how good was that, but someone had gone into my account and removed my application, I mean the last time they hired was two years ago. I was not happy. The similarities between heights and running up the cliffs of Cromer beach are this. I did make it to the top of running up the cliff. I made it down the many high places I have been the Millenium Bridge in London and Cadillac mountain in Maine. Sometimes it is just us taking a little longer to get over our mountains that brings us to see that we will survive.

Today was a tough day for me. But with a lot of prayer and faith I will one day look down from the height I have over come and you will too.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Looking at the glass half full.

Wow what a difference a smile can make. My youngest daughter had her braces removed yesterday. Her smile amazing. I was so taken back. My teeth as I said yesterday are quiet crooked, it proved my point she beamed with confidence. Although last night was a little rough with the new retainer you can truly appreciate that having straight teeth does make a difference.

What lesson can we learn sometimes putting of things in life means that things become worse, sometimes in all that you lose confidence, energy and the will to push forward. This is not always easy sometimes the waiting game is taken out of our hands, but one thing we can do is keep on pressing forward, with a little help and sometimes a lot from friends and God. If I look back at somethings in my life I end up crying sometimes. Looking back with a glass half fall is not good. You have to focus really hard on the good and then the glass is truly full. My daughter pressed forward looking at the good and at times the bad but pressing forward resulted in an amazing smile.

So it is with life in pressing forward one day, minute or even moment at a time holding and grasping at the good. God will shine his light through.

Look at Joseph in the Bible and look at Churchill lets remember they won.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Braces of life

Braces "oh the joys of braces on your teeth." I have never ever had them. Although if you looked closely at my teeth today. I would say cosmetically it is something I would do in a heart beat if I had the money. I am continually conscience of my crooked teeth when I smile. My younger daughter has had to wear braces, she did not have a front tooth and so they had to pull her front tooth down, long story short, she had to wear them for over a year. Today the braces came off and a retainer went on. Her smile is amazing.

But lets back track she had surgery, then braces, and now a retainer a lot of time and a lot of care and patience went into getting that one tooth down. So it is with life, our lives can be compared to braces often pulling at all directions to make us go on the right path. The journey often hurting but the result amazing if we keep pressing on.

My road has not been easy, but my sincere hope is that the end result, like my daughters teeth will be amazing.

Hang onto some amazing friends, and find hope that the race set before us many have traveled and have made it. I do believe we can do this too.

If my daughter can do it, well suck it mummy you can too.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

People standing by us in a tsunami

A tsunami can hit an island, a country without much warning. The devastation vast, lives are shaken, a disbelief, shock, fear and an almost frozen in time feeling I am sure comes over people. My brother and his wife were in the Seychelles in 2004 when a tsunami hit the Indian oceans and many of the country's around it. I remember calling the salvation army, posting on CNN wall to see if my brother was alright. But how many of us have taken a moment since that event to think about that Tsunami of 2004. So it is with life, often one thing comes after another like a tsunami. From job loss, divorce, death, sickness, becoming a widow, single mum or dad, or whatever else maybe going on, our lives are often like a tsunami. A tsunami often comes and then like in Japan and the Indian Ocean of 2004 an earth quake. Often people are there at the beginning it is fresh in people's minds but then the weeks go by and people either forget or they have other things to deal with.

The problem is like a tsunami, the clean up in our lives often takes a while.

There is no quick fix when a person is looking for a job or lost a loved one.

No quick fix for the mother who lost a child or a friend who lost there best friend to cancer.

If one thing I have learnt on this road, it is to be humble to ask for help. God is much bigger than me and often help comes from people and places you least think.

So life is a tsunami and we need to run the distance as friends, as humans and as an example to what the world should be about.

You may have a tsunami in your life.

It is finding hope, in a verse, in a song and a friend that makes the after mouth of the tsunami just a little bit easier to make it through.

I know we can all make it. It is believing in ourselves and God.

The tsunami will end and we will make it. I just know it.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Not all about ME.

Ever meet those people that just arrive at a funeral, wedding and Baptism? I know some that even have a funeral outfit. Yes it is like they clock in. I did my duty. Some go a little bit further show up at the hospital while you are sick, smile and as soon as the I.V is been pulled out they smile and leave. They show up at your house with flowers in one hand and then come in and talk about themselves. Quoting how easy it is to find a job in a hard economy. If you dare say that you are ill, they always are worse. The reality is that in life people should not clock in, they should listen to the wonderful phrase out of the Bible, "Do unto others as you would have done to you."

I read an article about Ellen DeGeneres the article went on how she believed exactly what I just typed. I was pleasantly surprised in a world where so many people boast about themselves.

I don't believe one should arrive at a funeral to make themself feel better, it is about the love you had for that person not you and what you wore that day. Nor in any situation.

I once left a box full of diapers/nappies for a friend no name of who it was from on a table at church. I wanted to bless them, it was not about me, it was about what I could do for another.

Just take moment and think what is your life about. Do you do anything for others?

Life is more about us giving openly without any credit.

Lets make the world a better place and try this.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

The computer bugs of life.

As a mum I like to think I am trying my best to look out for my children. Yesterday this thing was put on Face book about getting a free computer. I thought cool my children can have one. Not so sent our computers into outer space.

How many times do we unexpectedly get caught into these traps. From low financing of a car to clicking on a free, not so computer.

It is very sad that these people have so much time that they mess with innocent people.

Reality is that as human beings we need to safe guard ourselves against the computer bug or innocent bug. Have you ever touched a wonderful plant and then ended up with a rash or like I did about thirteen years ago pull a bin to the curb and underneath that rim was a bee that stung me.

I try to warn others when I come across these infections so to speak.

How many times though are we quiet and forget to warn others. A car may sound a little rough but you say nothing and then you find out that your friend broke down.

Being a friend means good and bad, means waiting for the right moment, means listening and most of all it means loving when no one else will.

So if you see any computer bugs or life bugs help out a friend and warn them.

You will be surprised at how much you may bless them.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

A life well lived.

It's amazing how some people live their lives. Some always complaining, some always pulling people down with sarcasm or those little cutting words, however there are those who live for others. A dear friend of mine lost his step dad yesterday. I loved what he wrote about his step dad. This is what he wrote about his dad and is paraphrased, " he lived a life of utter selflessness, never putting another person down, or complaining about the valleys that life brought, thought of others and was there for them, in his last hours he was talking about his love for Christ."

I find in a world where people mostly think of themselves that this is very humbling. Add to that my friends wife rang to see how my family was as we went to the emergency room last night. She added "we're family that is what we do". So rare that is not what many families always do, however they should.

In all of this my heart is touched. It is in people like this and statements like my friend wrote that we need to see what life is about. It is not all about me and me and me. It is all about seeing through eyes of giving.

May God Bless my dear friends at their loss and I rejoice in the fact that my friend's step dad has gone home.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

What can your smile do.

How many of us have gone into a store or been on a phone and just are plain rude to the person at the end of it? Look I have had many annoying people at the end of a phone, and some I was plain rude to. I also have rung up and apologized whatever the other person has done does not give me the right to be rude. If you take the time to be polite to someone, it totally changes everything. So many of us forget to be humans, talking on our phones, watching people bag for us or just been very rude to others, have we forgot to mind our manners? We often question a child's behavior, but as an adult we forget that we often need to mind our own manners as we are been watched by our children. Listen reality is we all have bad days, but taking the time to just smile even when you don't want to can change the world. You see I have worked in a factory, as a cashier, as a nanny and as a mum and in all those times it is not always easy to have a good day. However just take a few minutes to make light shine even when you feel like a dark cloud is over you, it will lift you up and lift up others. Hope is contagious so let your hope and shine. It is amazing what your smile can do. A smile is like a beacon of Hope.

It brightens a day.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Life ten years on from 9/11

It's amazing what can happen in ten years isn't it. I mean as we all reflect on 9/11 I have to look back at my own life. I now have two wonderful children. I have two dogs, I am now a single mum, I work part time. My daughter got her permit. My blog is now up and running. My sister in law and my brother died, my land lady did too. My nephew was born and life as I knew it has changed 360 degrees. I always presumed I would be a stay at home mum, always presumed I would be married, always presumed I would be able to fly home and always thought that my brother would be here. But life changes us good or bad and so it has me.

In the past ten years I have learnt to not worry so much about the small things, laugh a bit more in the rain, appreciate others from others countries and learnt hopefully to have compassion.

In all the 9/11 after days and years what did you learn, how has your life changed?

Did you look back and pull a page out of the book and try and re- write it, in some way to make life better?

I sure hope I did.

To all those who have lost in some way something in the past ten years, my hope is that you have learnt to give something out of your pain and learnt to laugh a bit in the rain.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Victory Reigns after 9/11

Ten years ago, I wrote this poem shortly after 9/11. I thought I would share it today.

Victory Reigns

Five thousand pieces of paper.
Floating in the sky.
From way up high,it was like a paper parade.
But reality is another thing.
Each piece of paper represented a life.
Each a hero although they never knew it.
September 11th,was once a normal day.
Until this year.
Hero's have been found in all of us.
Whether sharing a tear or hugging a friend.
None of us can change what happened.
But hopefully all of us have changed.
To understand how much freedom really means.
It is nations, hearts,souls pulling as one.
Each life counts,if we stand as one.
Freedom reigns to those who choose to go on.
Then not just five thousand papers fly,
But all our lives,
Reaching out for freedom to reign the skies.
We surely stand as ONE.

Least we forget at what price freedom comes.

Please have a cup of tea with me today.

Least we complain Really after 9/11

As 9/11 approaches and we see so much in the news about this date and it's now tenth anniversary. I am reminded of where I was that day. Tim was in Ohio and I was pregnant, Em and I received this call to switch on the telly and there and then our lives and the worlds were never the same. My nephew made cards at his school in England for the ire fighters in New York and we saw airports closed and for some of us life changed. Some of us cherished our freedom more, respected that freedom came at a price. Others flew flags and some places got picky at a flag been flown in their neighborhood, I mean least we ruin a image. Really.

Where are all those children and families today some changed forever. Some are bitter some learned and gave more and gave to see others lives healed.

As I cleaned my ex husbands apartment today I was reminded of the sacrifices Tim had made for us all as a family from working long hours to driving home when 9/11 happened. Our lives clouded so much by life and silliness and here we stood now divorced.

We should not take life for granted, appreciate what we have and those around us. Silly things will come and go, but compassion and love can heal a heart, then a nation and who knows maybe a world.

See in my lesson of helping Tim I saw him in a different light.

Maybe just for a moment it was alright just to give and want nothing in return.

What can you give without wanting anything back, maybe it is a smile, maybe it is a hug, maybe more. Let us not forget those that often sacrifice it all and we sit here complaining. Really !!!!

Please have a cup of tea with me today.