Dark lane, but not Dark Lane

Tuesday is a roller coaster sort of day. Work, quick lunch, and the first funeral of the week.  I was a contemporary of my mother, a quiet gentle soul, who knew her own mind.  Her eldest child was a month younger than me, but far, far cleverer!

Funerals are strange things. The person who is the main focus is not really there. All we have is the shell they once inhabited, encased in wood and strewn with beautiful flowers. I was a very private person and wouldn't have wanted a fuss, so I do wonder how she would have felt about having her life laid open for all present.

Funeral addresses usually include a brief resume of the person's life and often reveal some facet that you never knew. I was very aware that for many years I worked with her late husband and assumed that this was to ensure the smooth running of the business. I never realised that she too was a qualified dispensing chemist. In my defence, their shop was the other side of town, so I never saw her in her working environment. They used to cycle to work, sneaking through a gap in the hedge and onto the highway at a point that was convenient for them and made their ride shorter.  

Pretty pot

Home for a coffee before it was time to head off for the afterschool club -  Jonah week three. No tent this time, we have moved on from the fish/whale. Unfortunately, we were three team members down. Fortunately, A stepped in to lend a hand. The children remembered the story well including the small detail, like how the sailors felt when they had to throw Jonah overboard. The children love to act out the story and all want a part. This week 'Jonah' went around telling everyone to repent, and getting really cheesed off when they did.  The person acting out Jonah did a really good sulk, and two others had a great time acting out the vine growing and shielding 'Jonah'. We talked about how we cope when life is difficult and even if things do not happen the way we expect, God still cares.

Then came the fun part. Decorating flower pots and planting bulbs.  Fortunately, I had some clean ones left over from one of the Old Testament stories in Open the Book a while back. More amazingly, I managed to find them!
(I look forward to a day when the study is tidy, and so does everyone else!)

Fifteen children + craft activity = mess! I am always reminded of the feeding of the 5,000 when clearing up afterwards. You fill 12 baskets full of debris, and you seem to have the same amount of useable craft supplies at the end.  No idea how this works. It just does!

Not Dark Lane

In the evening we dropped the KHT off and headed over to Feckenham for ringing. Whatsap advises me that Dark Lane is closed, but I am completely in the dark as to where Dark Lane is.  Sure enough, no sooner have we left Astwood Bank than the road ahead is closed. We set the satnav for our destination, it re routes us down narrow lanes parallel to the route we would have taken.  Apparently, there was an accident with a motorcyclist and a car.  We pray that the motorcyclist makes a full and speedy recovery :(

We collect the KHT, who has been taking part in sporting activities this evening.  She enjoyed it, but found it a bit much when they were all throwing the soft balls around.
"Next time Girls' Brigade have games, I am going to need a suit of armour" she informs me.
After today's reminders of the fragility of life, who can argue with such a statement?