Our Pet Parade

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Holy, Happy, Healthy & Safe Christmas &New Year

Thought For The Day

....There Is A God

I would rather live my life as if there is a God,

And die to find out there isn't,

Than live my life as if there isn't,

And die to find out there is.

"Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart,

and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends,

in Jesus' precious name I ask this. Amen."

The Christmas Carol That Always Baffled Me

I received this in an email this morning and thought I would share it with you because to tell you the truth I have always wondered what the meaning of this Carol was and here is a plausible explanation:

“There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle-doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight Beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful Disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history lesson for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone.”

Still Here - Literally Smelling My Roses!

The lily has a smooth stalk

Will never hurt your hand,

But the rose upon her briar

Is the lady of the land.

-Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

This is the view from my kitchen window.

O Rose, thou flower of flowers, thou fragrant wonder,

Who shall describe thee in they ruddy prime,

Thy perfect fullness in the summertime,

When the pale leaves blushingly part asunder

And show the warm red heart lies glowing under?

Thou shouldst bloom surely in some sunny clime,

Untouched by blights and chilly winter’s rime,

Where lightnings never flash nor peals the thunder,

And yet in happier spheres they cannot need thee

So much as we do with our weight of woe;

Perhaps they would not tend, perhaps not heed thee,

And thou wouldst lonely and neglected grow;

And He who is all wise, He hath decreed thee

To gladden earth and cheer all hearts below.

- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Spring In My Garden

God's Garden

The Lord God planted a garden

In the first white days of the world,

And He set there an angel warden

In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,

That the hawk might nest with the wren,

For there in the cool of the even

God walked with the first of men.

And I dream that these garden-closes

With their shade and their sun-flecked sod

And their lilies and bowers of roses,

Were laid by the hand of God.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth --

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

For He broke it for us in a garden

Under the olive-trees

Where the angel of strength was the warden

And the soul of the world found ease.

By Dorothy Frances Gurney

Can you spot my grandson?

12 WEEKS (LESS 3 DAYS) UNTIL CHRISTMAS

I just happened to have a really good look at the calendar today and YIKES! - it's only 12 weeks until Christmas, can anyone tell me where the year has gone??

My eldest daughter told me that in the supermarket the other day they have already got a huge amount of space full of Christmas items.

Does anyone recall what it used to be like, we usually saw Christmas goodies appear in the shops perhaps 4 weeks prior to Christmas?

Anyway I just thought I would get us all in the mood for the festive season.......

Hugs To All This Wonderfully Wet Sabbath

IT'S SATURDAY & I'M POOPED!!!

Another week has come and gone..........where, when, how............ I do not know!!!

We have been kept busy this week with Elijah "things", like playing soccer at the soccer ground and in the backyard (on the days it didn't rain), taking him to visit with his father, train spotting and especially watching him carefully and taking him to the doctor when he developed a ferocious cold with a horrible cough.

As per usual when he gets like this his asthma flares up so it has been three hourly doses of "calling all robots" (what Mum Lisa calls it when she has to give him his Ventolin through the spacer). The visit to the doctor revealed that he has an ear infection (and judging by the cough a chest infection, though he wouldn't stay still, or stop crying long enough for the doctor to get a good listen), so he now has antibiotics to take and a special syrup for the asthma for the next few days.

The rain this week has been absolutely magnificent and I am looking forward to more of the same this coming week. I love grey, grey rainy days, they remind me of the Melbourne from the 50's to the 70's that I loved so much. I hate the thought that with global warming we are going to lose all that and so much more!

SOME OF THE MORTIMORE SIDE OF OUR FAMILY

William Henry Mortimore b.1833-d.1910 & Sarah Mortimore (nee Shaw) b.1825-d.1903

Martin Mortimore b.1867-d.1942

Ada Christina Mortimore (nee Hansen) b.1876-d.1946

Back Row: Samuel (Snowy), Margaret (Maggie), Alice, Louise (Lou),

Elizabeth (Betty). Front Row: Amy, Harold (Harry)(sitting on Alice's

knee), John (Jack). Photo taken about September 1914.

Harold Ernest Mortimore b.1914-d.2005

Marjorie Frances Mortimore (nee Stringer) b.1919-d.1981