51. A Reading Specialist who will come to your house, play "reading games" with your child, and pronounce him to be at a perfectly acceptable level.52. A husband who nonetheless knows how absolutely essential it is that he be by your side for the parent-teacher interviews on Thursday.53. A little house in the Mournes for a stormy Hallowe'en weekend with no homeworks to be done.54. A whole week of no homeworks to be done, no uniforms to be washed, and no morning panic other than deciding what to put on the tray for breakfeast in bed!55. A truly fabulous pumpkin party last night, with truly fabulous friends.56. The privilege of having been designed and formed to be Mags and men, Psalm 16:5-6.57. An October that, in being only hard, was better than the month before.58. A Youth Co-ordinator who will listen to your cry, and set you back on the path.59. My mother, and her little bags.60. The knowledge of the saints who cheer.

Why did the saint cross the road?

We have had much pagan celebration of the season about here lately, so it's time to join with the celebration of those saints who encourage us and those who cheer us on from beyond. You could only think of the Beatties really. Nigel the greatest encouragement I've ever met in one person, and Carole now cheering loudly from the stands.

And I'd have to add one of my sunly saints. After a whole mealtime worth of , "Why did the x cross the road?" jokes, all culminating in increasingly random and surreal responses, Mattman wondered, "Why did Jesus cross the road?" Nervous response from parents, "We don't know. Why did Jesus cross the road?"

"To talk to all the people."

That would be Prince Charming's worship introductions sorted for this morning then!

October 2009...

... is ending so much more pleasantly than September 2009 and Multitude Monday this week will not be hard to compile. So for now, the winner of tonight's Fancy Dress had to be...

...Saint K! Seen here celebrating her success with Husband of Saint K:

Unfortunately someone splashed her with water; sorry, K!

Bean Craftin'? No, Bean Half-term...

Dressing-up is not just for childen! May I present the four Beans, from left: Jelly Bean, Baked Bean, Green Bean and (behind camera) French Bean! Cunningly disguised as Goth, Cat, Casper and Professor McGonagle! We even have our own group on Ravelry! Happy Hallowe'en to us all!

Terrifying

This was my weekend read in the stormy mountains and oh my goodness a more harrowing read you could not have this week. No scary monsters, ghosts or giant flying bats needed here. This is the grisly tale of "what man can do to man", or rather what woman can do to woman, or what power can do to the individual.

Fabulous. Thanks to Crafting Catherine for lending it to me- it's coming back soon!

Pure, clean lines of language; landscapes horrific in their descriptions and imagery- the heron haunted me from that opening paragraph; and a harrowing, harrowing narrative. It reminded me of nothing more than the original Wicker Man movie. That light-handed, wistful humour nonetheless survives in a very succinct story leaves me most impressed.

And for those of you who would still require a ghoul this season there is the irrepressible "rapper" of a poltergeist...

Danse macabre

It's a shame that the title of this so so so wonderful music should be quite so dark! We listened to it all weekend (and Prince Charming lamented Jonathan Creek for pretty much the same period of time), and no better sound-track for a weekend in the stormy, stormy mountains.

Still haven't sorted out a Flickr account for my Bench Monday efforts!

Suns with sound priorities found a nice, flat, table stone for snack- have a break, have a ...

This is the point in Tollymore where the Spinkwee and the Shimna rivers meet. Another two great forces of nature came together there as well!

But we're back home now, and..

it's time for the real business of the week...

The soup kitchen

Home from the mountains, and time to cook! Mushroom soup, pumpkin soup, and three big portions of stew.

Only one real possibility for a bedtime story...