Category Archives: England

One of My Favorite Card Artists ~ Gordon Fraser

Here’s some more fun for Saturday, scroll down below this post for a quiz…

 I want to share one of my favorite cards and card illustrator Gordon Fraser. This card was printed in England. Whenever I’m in Canada I search the stores for any of his cards. I love the little hedgehogs, mice and other animals on these cards.

 

 

The card reads To Wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To all Bloggy Friends that celebrate Christmas my wishes for you are the same with added blessings too!  I hope my card makes you smile.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Faithful One ~ Brian Doerksen

Faithful One 

Faithful One, so unchanging

Ageless One Your’re my rock of peace

Lord of All I depend on You

I call out to You again and again, I call out to you again and again

You are my Rock in times of trouble

You lift me up when I fall down

All through the storm

Your love is the anchor

My hope is in You alone

written by Brian Doerksen, copyright 1989 Vineyard Songs, Vineyard Music USA

Psalm 92: 1-8, 12-15: (ESV)

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; but you, O Lord are on high forever.

…The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

Thursday Thirteen #7 ~ Sites in Great Britain

Thirteen Places you should visit in Great Britain…

 

1. London    2. Oxford    3. Cambridge 

4. Cotswolds    5. Bath    6. York

7. The Lake District   8. Oban  9. Isle of Iona

10. Edinburgh  11. Castle Doune 12. Conwy, Wales

Our favorites in blue are places we’d go back to again. Castle Doune (N.W. of Edinburgh) is of Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame. They even give you coconut shells to clip clop as you tour the castle. Fun times…

13. And last but not least are Bed and Breakfasts. We’ve enjoyed most all that we’ve stayed in.

For more Thursday Thirteens click here.

How Good It Is to Thank the Lord ~ Hymn

 

 How Good It Is to Thank The Lord

How good it is to thank the Lord,
And praise to Thee, Most High, accord,
To show Thy love with morning light,
And tell Thy faithfulness each night;
Yea, good it is Thy praise to sing,
And all our sweetest music bring.

O Lord, with joy my heart expands,
Before the wonders of Thy hands;
Great works, Jehovah, Thou hast wrought,
Exceeding deep Thine every thought;
A foolish man knows not their worth,
Nor he whose mind is of the earth.

When as the grass the wicked grow,
When sinners flourish here below,
Then is there endless ruin nigh,
But Thou, O Lord, art throned on high;
Thy foes shall fall before Thy might,
The wicked shall be put to flight.

Thou, Lord, hast high exalted me
With royal strength and dignity;
With Thine anointing I am blest,
Thy grace and favor on me rest;
I thus exult o’er all my foes,
O’er all that would my cause oppose.

The righteous man shall flourish well,
And in the house of God shall dwell;
He shall be like a goodly tree,
And all his life shall fruitful be;
For righteous is the Lord and just,
He is my Rock, in Him I trust.

Words: The Psalter 1912, Music: St. Petersburg ~ Dimitri S. Bortniansky

The Dean’s Watch ~ Elizabeth Goudge

 Woman to Woman is hosting a Book Review Theme today.

 

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I just finished the last page of this book and I’m so sad that the story has come to an end. Elizabeth Goudge is fast becoming my new favorite author. She has a great descriptive style. The same appreciation I have for George MacDonald and how he weaves a true loving relationship with God contrasted against a cold religious relationship is growing as deep for Goudge’s fiction. I love MacDonald’s Scottish Countryside settings and I love Goudge’s English countryside settings.

This story is built around the Dean of a Cathedral in an English City. Goudge develops the stories behind several characters within the city whose lives are touched and changed by the growing love of the Dean for his city and for them. I highly recommend this book to you. It can be hard to come by these books but start by checking your local library. I found this one at my library.

I published a quote from this book that you can read here.

To see more book reviews go to Seeds in My Garden and My Many Colored Days.

Show and Tell Friday ~ Pewter

When Dear and I were engaged we were really attracted to pewter items. We collected some pieces while we were in England in 1973 and l974 and then registered for pewter items for wedding gifts.

 

This Pewter Hurricane Lamp was a wedding gift along with this Platter and Bowl. So we’ve been using these gifts for over 32 years.

 

To see more Show and Tell head over to Kelli’s at There’s No Place Like Home.

Photobucket is holding hundreds of my photos hostage and that’s why you don’t see the original photos on this post.

O Christ, Who Hast Prepared A Place ~ Jean B. de Santeuil

 John 14: 1-6 ~ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

O Christ, Who Hast Prepared A Place

O Christ, who hast prepared a place
For us around Thy throne of grace,
We pray Thee, lift our hearts above,
And draw them with the cords of love.

Source of all good, Thou, gracious Lord,
Art our exceeding great reward;
How transient is our present pain,
How boundless our eternal gain!

With open face and joyful heart,
We then shall see Thee as Thou art:
Our love shall never cease to glow,
Our praise shall never cease to flow.

Thy never-failing grace to prove,
A surety of Thine endless love,
Send down Thy Holy Ghost, to be
The raiser of our souls to Thee.

Words: Jean B. de San­teüil, in the Par­is Bre­vi­a­ry, 1686, p. 503 (No­bis, Olym­po red­di­tus); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John Chandler, Hymns of the Prim­i­tive Church, 1837, p. 86.

ht: cyberhymnal

Places to Visit for the First Time or Again ~

I’m Yearning to Travel Someplace Far Away

England ~ Scotland ~ Wales ~ Ireland ~ New England ~Montreal ~ New Zealand ~ The Shire ~ Russia

I’m such a comfort traveler, not the really high adventure type. Even though I’m Russian, Russia would be my last choice because of the comfort issues of traveling there. Where would you want to go?

Ht: Bridget for the collage she made for me a while back…