At Vale Road in Stratton on the northern edge of the Cotswold town of Cirencester, residents (and one in particular) put a lot of effort each year into decorating their homes and gardens with all sorts of coloured and illuminated decorations. And they invite the people who come to look to make a contribution to Macmillan Cancer Support.
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.
Click images to enlarge
People love Christmas lights and decorations, and people hate illness particularly if there’s no cure. So can Christmas lights help people with incurable illness? Yes they can! But…how?
Well, one way is to use the Christmas decorations to raise money for charity, and that’s what one street in Cirencester has been doing every year for some time now.
There’s more inside – a model village!
At Vale Road in Stratton on the northern edge of the Cotswold town of Cirencester, residents (and one in particular) put a lot of effort each year into decorating their homes and gardens with all sorts of coloured and illuminated decorations. And they invite the people who come to look to make a contribution to Macmillan Cancer Support. This charity provides care, help, nursing and support for cancer patients and their families right at the time when they need help most. They will help families care for a mum, a dad, or a grandparent at home.
The heart of the action
If you live in Cirencester or the local area, why not drive out to Vale Road and park in a nearby street like Vaisey Road, Tinglesfield or Park View? (But please don’t block any driveways or park near junctions.) Then walk the short distance to Vale Road. You can pay for a tour of the best of the lights, delight your children (or grandchildren), and help support a great cause all at the same time. What could be better than that?
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We enjoyed every aspect of the house … and we plan to return in the summer to view the garden as well.
We visited Chastleton House recently, it’s a Jacobean country house in the Cotswolds, between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton. Amongst other features it has the wonderful Long Gallery with a curved, plasterwork ceiling and panelled walls. Amazing!
The Long Gallery on the top floor
The house is in the care of the National Trust and was open to the public for the period leading up to Christmas. They’d decked it out with Christmas decorations as they might have been in the 1960’s – wrapped gifts, paper chain decorations, Christmas tree lights of the period, everything.
1960s decorations
But the real gem, and what I especially wanted to see, was the Long Gallery. It was certainly not a disappointment!
We enjoyed every aspect of the house, of course, and we plan to return in the summer to view the garden as well. Living, as we do, in Cirencester it’s not a long journey so we can also visit in spring and autumn too if we wish.
I can recommend a visit to Chastleton. It’s a gem of a place.
Look at the world around you and you will see pain, loss, discouragement, guilt, and hard struggles for survival. But look at the world from just the right angle and you will see altogether better things.
I have something a little different for you this year. The photo shows a reflected image of Cirencester Parish Church in a puddle of water in Gosditch Street. What can this photo say to us?
What’s in a puddle?
More and more, the UK is a rich mix of people from many cultural backgrounds. That’s why the title is not ‘Christmas Greetings’. Please accept the greetings and replace the word ‘Season’ with whatever you like. If you’re Hindu you could choose Diwali as a reminder of your celebrations in November, or Jewish friends might go with Hannukah in December, if you’re Muslim you might look forward to Lailat al Miraj in February; Buddhists might consider Bodhi Day, and there are more groups of people I haven’t mentioned specifically. But whatever you celebrate, please take my greetings as a blessing for the whole of next year – spring, summer, autumn and winter.
I’d also like to bless you with a few thoughts about the picture. What, indeed, is in a puddle?
Look at the same puddle from any other angle and you would see dirty water; perhaps some litter; bits of road grit; a rather grubby, yellow ‘no parking’ line; and the general detritus of everyday life. But look at it from just the right angle and you see a reflected image, in this case an image of beautiful mediaeval architecture, detailed fine carving in stone, and the leaves of a living tree.
Look at the world around you and you will see pain, loss, discouragement, guilt, and hard struggles for survival. But look at the world from just the right angle and you will see altogether better things. Love for family, friends, and neighbours, beauty in nature and in people’s hearts and actions, joy, discovery, encouragement, peace, and thriving life. As a follower of Jesus (Yahshua, Isa), when I look at him in the right way I see a reflection of the Creator, the Source and Power behind this amazing universe.
Reflections in puddles also have another effect – they turn everything upside down. Jesus did that too: he confronted people with truth, he pointed out false motives, uncaring behaviour by the wealthy, blame-shifting, and striving for power or approval. People don’t like that, truth is often inconvenient.
Who should we think of this winter? Who can we help in some practical way? It might be someone in the road where we live, or the place where we work. In the world at large let’s remember the people in Ukraine, Gaza, and other places where there are struggles and loss of life (it’s not hard to think of more).
So my message this winter is that we should all help those around us. Talk with lonely people, provide some dried or canned food to your local food bank, donate warm clothes you no longer need, perhaps to a charity shop. If you can afford a gift of money, choose a charity that will use your donation wisely and effectively. And reach out more widely too, perhaps on the internet; send a message of encouragement or a gift to someone.
So whoever you are, whatever faith you have (or none), I hope 2024 will be a year to look forward to. As this year closes and the new one arrives, my hope, wish, and prayer for you is that grace and blessing will fill your life in ways hoped for and ways unexpected.
Let’s all be grateful for what we have, and display compassion and love towards those who need it. In that way, blessing will have a chance to touch you, and through you, touch others as well.
PS – If you like the puddle photo, click it for the full size version. Print it out, put it in a frame and hang it on the wall. Give a copy to friends if you think they’d like it; or send them a link to this message.
I hope 2023 will be a year to look forward to. As this year closes and the new one arrives, my hope, wish, and prayer for you is that grace and blessing will fill your life.
Wow, it’s that time of year again, somehow it feels like a few months since I last chose a photo to share for this occasion. This year’s image shows winter catkins covered by crystals of hoar frost. What can this photo say to us?
Crystals of hoar frost on catkins – (Download the original photo)
More and more, the UK is a rich mix of people from many cultural backgrounds. That’s why the title is not ‘Christmas Greetings’. Please accept the greetings and replace the word ‘Season’ with whatever you like. If you’re Hindu you could choose ‘Divali’ as a reminder of your celebrations in October, or Jewish friends might go with ‘Hannukah’ in December. If you’re Muslim there’s no particular celebration for winter 2022; perhaps you could take my greetings as a blessing for the whole of next year – spring, summer, autumn and winter again. Buddhists have two festivals in January. And there are more groups of people I haven’t mentioned specifically. An exhaustive list would be – exhausting!
But whoever you are and whatever you celebrate, I want to bless you with a few words and with the picture of hoar frost. What can that picture say to us?
It should remind us that life is full of seasons, and wintertime in the UK can be cold, especially January and February. This year will be especially hard for some because of rising prices, rarely matched by rising incomes. Heating this winter will be costly and there will be too many who simply won’t be able to keep their home cosy. And then there are those with no home at all.
And what about Ukraine and other war-torn places? In Ukraine the winters can be harsh with the coldest days often reaching -5°C, and sometimes -10°C or -20°C. Now imagine (if you can) living at those temperatures in an unheated house with broken windows, no electrical power, no internet, and no water supply. Although national and local government and company teams reconnect all these services as quickly and widely as possible, repairs are often taken down again by the next Russian air strike.
So my message this winter is that we should all help those around us. Talk with lonely people, provide some dried or canned food to your local food bank, donate warm clothes you no longer need, perhaps to a charity shop. If you can afford a gift of money, choose a charity that will use your donation wisely and effectively.
The picture also reminds us that even cold weather can be beautiful. Those frost crystals look like jewellery! And as the days start to lengthen again, the temperature will rise, plants will start to bud and flower, birds will build their nests, and the promise of summer weather will be just around the corner. Of course, for those of you in the southern hemisphere all this will be back-to-front. For you, spring is already turning into summer and you can look forward to autumn colours in March and April. For all of us, now will become yesterday, a week ago, a month ago; and tomorrow will become today.
So whoever you are, whatever faith you have (or none), I hope 2023 will be a year to look forward to. As this year closes and the new one arrives, my hope, wish, and prayer for you is that grace and blessing will fill your life in ways hoped for and ways unexpected.
Let’s all be grateful for what we have, and display compassion and love towards those who don’t. In that way, blessing will have a chance to touch you, and through you, touch others as well.
This is a family song, it’s about gathering round and spending time with the people we love most. Enjoy it!
A still from Sarah’s YouTube video
While we’re on the Christmas theme I thought I’d post another song from Sarah Reynolds. It’s quite delightful and, in a lovely way, rather old fashioned. Scroll down, have a listen, and see what you think.
This song is quite different from Sarah’s other material, I suspect it was far more spontaneous. It’s a thoughtful song. She doesn’t accompany the words with one of her usual, excellent, multi-track compositions but with a pretty melody on the piano, and there’s a gentle, relaxed rhythm throughout. The video doesn’t provide the lyrics, but Sarah’s voice is clear enough and written words are not neccesary. The graphic is suggestive of a Christmas card from past decades, well-matched to the music and the choice of piano. The whole thing breathes close family enjoying the season together, burning logs in the grate, home made mince pies, warmth indoors with cold weather outside the house.
This is a family song, it’s about gathering round and spending time with the people we love most. Enjoy it, give it a like on YouTube, Spotify, and Facebook. Go on… you know you want to!
And wherever you may be, gather with your family and friends if you can, and enjoy Christmas and New Year together.
Journeys of Heart and Mind 