Random thoughts and photos of my journey through life…
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.
David Attenborough
8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 14th 2024
It is ten years since my previous visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. The Memorial Arboretum is still as peaceful and moving as I remembered. There are now over 400 memorials so it is impossible to see them all during one visit.
This year this the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings so the Arboretum is exploring the events of WWII and people that were affected by them.
We chose this as the theme for our visit whereas our previous visit in 2014 followed a First World War Centenary trail centred on WWI memorials.
When we arrived, we had lunch before visiting ‘The Year Was 1944’ exhibition. This culminates in a moving film by sand artist Kseniya Simonova. She manipulates sand to trace the journey of one man and his family from the outbreak of war through the beaches of Normandy and on to the present day.
By the end of the film, I felt quite emotional.
We then walked around the Arboretum taking in highlighted memorials relevant to the events of 1944. The route also introduced me to memorials that I hadn’t seen on my previous visit.
There is still another area that I haven’t yet explored in the outer meadow and woodland area of the Arboretum…
2 Comments CherryPie on Jul 13th 2024
Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool the Cathedral Church of the Risen Christ, Liverpool.[1] It is the largest cathedral and religious building in Britain,[2] and the eighth largest church in the world.
The cathedral is based on a design by Giles Gilbert Scott and was constructed between 1904 and 1978. It is the longest cathedral in the world;[3] the total external length of the building, including the Lady Chapel (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin), is 207 yards (189 m), its internal length is 160 yards (150 m). In terms of overall volume, Liverpool Cathedral ranks as the fifth-largest cathedral in the world[4] and contests with the incomplete Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City for the title of largest Anglican church building.[5] With a height of 331 feet (101 m) it is also one of the world’s tallest non-spired church buildings and the fourth-tallest structure in the city of Liverpool. The cathedral is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[6]
8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 10th 2024
After my stint of volunteering in the visitor reception area in Attingham Park I was able to explore some of the newly installed features, ready and waiting for the school holidays.
I resisted walking the labyrinth until Mr C can join me. He always enjoys exploring a labyrinth of maze.
6 Comments CherryPie on Jul 9th 2024
Mountains inspire awe in any human person who has soul. They remind us of our frailty, our unimportance, of the briefness of our span upon this earth. They touch the heaven and sail serenely at an altitude beyond even the imaginings of a mere mortal.
Elizabeth Aston
11 Comments CherryPie on Jul 7th 2024
Synopsis from the book cover:
Born a girl to parents who expected a boy, Jihad grows up treated like the eldest son, wearing boys’ clothing and sharing the finanacial burden of head of the household with her father.
Now middle-aged, Jihad tells her daughter a story from her life each night. As Maleka prepares to leave home to attend university abroad, her mother revisits the past of their Palestinian family, tenderly describing their life in exile in Kuwait and her own experiences of love and loss as she grows up.
Huzama Habayeb weaves a richly observed and affectionate potrait of a family displaced from their homeland, and of the women at its heart: women with too much to do, too many mouths to feed, and too many thwarted dreams. Told with humour and poise, this is a story of the love and betrayal that pursues Jihad and her family from Kuwait to Jordan to Dubai.
Thoughts on the book:
The female protagonist in this novel is a second generation refugee who was raised in Kuwait. The book explores a series of memories that build to give an overall view of Jihad’s life. I enjoyed that the chapters were themes rather than in chronological order. We know that Jihad and her daughter are safe and we are slowly learning the trials and tribulations that led to them being in that eventual place of safety and security. Despite the serious story of a displaced refugee there is a lot of humour in the book.
I would recommend this book. It is a difficult subject matter but I found it easy to read. However many others in the ShelterBox Book Club struggled to read the book and some of the group were unable to finish reading it.
4 Comments CherryPie on Jul 6th 2024
