
Shelter
Shelter DM 2nd August 2025 You can find the story on youtube and meet the central characters – Theodore Malgorne the lighthouse-keeper and Jean Guichard
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse.” Well, that’s not your typical night before Christmas for anyone I know, especially people with kids. Like my brother-in-law who tried to assemble a trampoline on Christmas eve, in the dark, only to find that he had installed the mat upside down. I can only imagine that many interesting words disturbed the quiet of that Christmas eve.
So in Bethlehem, on the night before the first Christmas, I doubt that it was a silent night. The town was abuzz with visitors for the Census, and not a room was to be found for any late-comers. The shops must have been noisy with feeding people and animals. And in a house, a man and his wife were doing their best to settle into their rough accommodation. And that was only on earth.
Heaven had nine months to prepare for the big day, ever since Gabriel delivered the big news to Mary. On the night before Christmas the choirs of angels would have been doing their final dress rehearsal over Bethlehem’s fields. While others were running their final test on a special star. And still others were heading east to prompt wise men to look west. And so in heaven and on earth, everything was alive with noise; except in latter days for one poor house in England, the house of Clement Clarke Moore, where even the poor mice were quietly snoring.
Shelter DM 2nd August 2025 You can find the story on youtube and meet the central characters – Theodore Malgorne the lighthouse-keeper and Jean Guichard
Botany 101 DM 26th July 2025 I walked past the sandstone memorial today to mark the life of Joseph Banks, the first European botanist to
The Father’s Estate DM 12th July 2025 My son is getting married soon, and one of his friends, who owns a winery, has generously offered
The bargain DM 5th July 2025 There’s a smile that never fails to amuse me. It regularly appears on Antiques Roadshow every time someone, who
Oranges and lemons DM 28th June 2025 Whoever composed the rhyme, “Oranges and lemons, the bells of St Clements” was a cheat! Lemons and Clements
Vasovagal DM 21st June 2025 What a sook! Fancy fainting getting a simple blood test. It wasn’t the sight of blood. I never look. It
Names, names DM 14th June 2025 The pressure’s on. Our Sunday School area at church is being renovated, and a new name is required. The
Happy shiny people DM 7th June 2025 My new shiny rubbish bins are now sitting proudly on the footpath. The council replaced them all across
The Calvary Memorial DM 31st May 2025 A hundred years ago, Edwin Markham wrote a poem to celebrate the life of Abraham Lincoln, which was