Newsletter 2nd August 2015
Lazy summer days so not much to report this week. I hope that you are enjoying the holiday now and period.
The choirs are having a break at the moment. There will be a said Latin Mass on Sunday at 11am.
The new trampoline is proving to be very popular – many thanks to Alan and Anna for providing it. We want to keep everybody safe so that the rules are not more than three children at a time – and only one adult. Try not to spend too long so that everybody can have a turn.
The pool is also very popular – but quite a lot of work running the filter, adding the chemicals and removing the grass and the leaves. I use a special small vacuum cleaner to take out the silt and this seems to work well.
Thank you for the First Holy Communion class forms which have started to come back. Please let me have them as soon as possible as I need to order the books for the children.
Lots of feasts at this time of year. Thursday is the feast of the Transfiguration and Saturday is the feast of St. Dominic.
Plenty of work in the garden at present, keeping the plants watered. The cherry tree seems to be making good progress. I had to put some bricks round the base as the foxes wanted to dig it up. The pot of basil is doing well with thick leaves. So far the snails have not discovered it. The oregano did not really take and so I have started on a second pot of basil. The chives are doing well and the dill continues to grow.
Several weddings at the moment, which explains the splendid flowers week by week. One the nieces is to be married next on Saturday. I have to attend to duties here – including a wedding but hope to get down to Sussex in the evening for part of the celebration. I am sure that the great nephew will be in good form and will want to make a speech. He is reading now and his mother says that he will be starting work on his doctorate fairly soon.
And now a prayer:
Save Lord, your servants who put their trust in you. Send us help from your holy place and strengthen us from Sion: be to us a tower of strength and defend us from all adversity; show us Lord your ways and teach us your paths.
(This is the first part of the “Itinerarium” – a prayer said by monastics before setting off on a journey)
Another recipe from Spain: Cook some pieces of ham, a chopped onion and some crushed garlic in some butter over a low heat, stirring often until the onion softens. Add some broad beans and some white wine, turning up the heat until the liquid is reduced. Add some chicken stock and lower the heat and cook slowly until the beans are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Serve hot or as a side dish.)
Have you herd of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop Sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.
(This is by Eugene Field – 1850-1895)
The railway news is that trains should be operating on the tracks on the bridge over Borough High Street by Christmas. The bridge span was constructed in 2011 and the viaduct has been extended since then. The new tracks will take trains for Charing Cross. Eventually the tracks which are in use at present will be used for the Thameslink trains when they are re-introduced in 2018 – a long time to wait. Up to the end of the 1960s Charing Cross and Cannon Street trains used to arrive at London Bridge on the two sides of the same platform. Some complex operations, but it seemed to work and allowed passengers to change easily from one train to the other.
CD RA
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon