Port-au-Prince before and after

A massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean island of Haiti just ten miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday 12 January. Local officials are reporting a catastrophe of major proportions. The extent of the devastation is still unclear, but the early signs are not good with communications down across the country.

You can help: please donate now
£10 will buy a hygiene kit for one family.
£25 will buy ten 14-litre buckets.
£50 will buy a two basic latrines that will serve forty people.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

Rather late than never ...

I’ve just received these pictures from a friend to wish me happy new year. It has probably been circulating on the Web for a while but I couldn’t resist this sweetness. Aren’t they absolutely irresistible???




Throughout the Year 2010...
May you always make the right moves.

May your cup runneth over with love.

May you always find shelter from any storm.



May you remain good looking and looking good!

May you find the perfect diet for your soul. (If this face doesn't make you want to stop eating sausage, nothing will.)

May you find perfect balance in the company you keep.

May you have as much fun as you can before someone makes you stop.

May the worst thing that happens to you come in slobberry pink and furry tan.

May you manage to MAKE time for siesta.

May all the new folks you meet be interesting and kind.

May your accessories always harmonize with your natural beauty!

Should your mouth ever be bigger than your stomach, may you have a chewing good time!

May you always know when to walk away and know when to run.

And may your friends always bring you joy!

MAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR FILLED WITH LOVE, HAPPINESS, AND HOPE.

A ray of sunshine - Update on Rachel

A ray of sunshine through the cold snow

Fantastic news!!! Rachel has been doing so well that she been moved out of intensive care into a ward. She responds well to medication and she keeps on fighting very hard. Although she is still intubated and cannot talk yet she is reacting to the world around her and she's been listening to JLS's music. Rachel is a big fan of JLS' and her school mates have managed to get a signed sweater for her with a lovely letter. We are all very impressed by her fighting attitude, her positive spirit and and cheerful smile. Thank you very much to all of you for keeping her in your prayers and thoughts. I firmly believe that's helping a lot. Special thanks to Jane's youngest son who's been praying for Rachel every day! Bless you too!

Frozen Britain

This striking image taken by Nasa's Terra satellite on 7 January shows the UK deep in the clutches of the current cold snap. I have lived in the UK over 15 years and I've never seen a winter ike this before!

A prayer for Rachel

Please please please, whichever is your religion, whatever is your belief, spare a prayer, a kind thought, a bit of hope for young Rachel. She is one of my daughter’s lovely friends, not yet 12 and loved by everybody in the village. She was taken to hospital a few days ago apparently after a serious sinusitis. Rachel is beautiful, lively, kind and generous and now she’s fighting for her life after two brain operations. We are all devastated. I believe in the power of prayers, the power of thoughts and hope. Please please please, think of Rachel and her family.

UPDATE (6/01/10):

Thank you very much for your very warm response. Your prayers

and thoughts are very much appreciated. You may be please to

hear that Rachel seems to respond to her treatment and she has even

given a "thumbs-up" to her parents. Please still keep her

in your thoughts!

Yorkshire Wonderland

It’s been snowing on and off since New Year’s Eve and the result is a beautiful snowy landscape that makes everything look better. Unfortunately the conditions of the roads are not very good and we can only hope that it gets better by Monday when work will start seriously and everybody is going to go back to his/her duties. In our small estate nobody comes to grit or plough the snow away, we don't even have one of those yellow sand/grid container on the corner of the roads. Writing the 100th letter to the responsible council won't help either as they simply don't have enough funds to buy grit for every road here around. Sad reality! For the moment let's indulge in the beautiful Winter Wonderland from the window sipping a hot cup of cocoa and watching DVDs! And let's postpone to Monday our fight with slippery roads and frozen pavements…

January 1st

PRIMO GENNAIO

Ancora stordita da tanto frastuono

la notte sbadiglia perchè è già domani.

Avrà il volto nuovo quest'alba

che spunta neonata speranza d'un anno sereno?

Laggiù all'orizzonte io vedo una luce

più intensa e più chiara,

sarà forse inganno?

Soltanto chimera?

Oppure aria pura è questo l'augurio per tutti quaggiù

Vogliamoci bene, la vita è una sola, teniamola cara

vivendo in amore.

Con tutte le razze da veri fratelli

sarà un'utopia?

Può darsi, chissà!

(Luciano Somma)

JANUARY 1st

Still dazed from so much racket the night yawns

as it's already tomorrow.
Will it have a new face this sunrise that awakens

newborn hope for a peaceful year?
There on the horizon I see a light powerful and radiant

Will it be a fraud?
Only illusion? If not, this greetingis a pure manifestation

for everyone on earth
to love each other.

Life is unique we hold it dear living in love
with all races from true brothers,

will it be utopia?
It's possible, I wonder!

(Translation)