Can we replace the snow with rain....as in pouring rain!

This looks very like little 3-4 week old Tommi who cried at my doors, several of them, for about four days.  I tried to catch him.  My neighbour came in to tell me he was crying at a shut door.
My cleaning lady heard him at the back door!

I opened that.....not as easy task as there is debri in my laundry that can block that door.
I came back and Moggie and Tommi were nose to nose at the wire door.

Tommi run off and cried.  I tried to find him...with no success.
Then around 4pm on Friday I heard him crying at the sliding glass door.  I went out and he slid under the gate...something I am unable to manage.

So went out the front door and I managed to catch him squashed in behind an old bookshelf holding plants...beside the car.

Scratched for my pains I got him.

Once cuddled on my chest he breathed a million sighs of relief and not a murmur more out of him.

I stood and thought.  Now what do I do?
What will Mogs do if I bring him (not that I knew then it was him) inside?
I got him into her cane carry case and put it on the table.  She came to look and was fine but the little brat hissed at her.  I fed him a tiny tray of pellets soaked in water.  Well all his birthdays had now arrived.

So I rang the Vet and they said I could bring him down.

I found out it was Tommi!

I cannot have two indoor cats....I am too old for that caper.  But he was adorable
So sadly I left him in a cage having another good feed.
He seemed to have been out in all weathers and without food.

It poured as I came out of the Vets and has done several days since...I am so glad he was not out in it!

Of course I did not have the brains to take a photo....but he looked like the little munch-kin above

Andrae Crouch has left the stage of this life aged 72 and now knows the truth of his song "Soon and very soon"

Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King.
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
We are going to see the King.

Verse 2
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King,
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King.
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
We are going to see the King.

Verse 3
No more dying there,
We are going to see the King,
No more dying there,
We are going to see the King.
No more dying there,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
We are going to see the King.

Interlude
Hallelujah.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ah.

Bridge
Should there be any rivers we must cross,
Should there be any mountains we must climb,
God will supply all the strength that we need,
Give us grace ’til we reach the other side.
We have come from every nation,
God knows each of us by name.
Jesus took His blood and He washed our sins,
And He washed them all away.
Yes, there are some of us,
Who have laid down our lives,
But we all shall live again,
On the other side.

Ending
Hallelujah.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ah.
Hallelujah.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ah.
Hallelujah.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
Hallelu...
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ah.


Copyright © 1976 Bud John Songs, Inc.
Crouch Music/ASCAP (adm. by EMI CMG Publishing).
All rights reserved. Used by permission. 

I saw Andrae in concert on two occasions, I believe over two years, probably '75 & '76 at Festival Hall in Melbourne.  I travelled down 300 miles from Lakes Entrance and do not think I will ever forget seeing Andrae live in concert and seeing him play the piano.

To say it was a concert is to totally underestimate the experience.  

Nothing else has remained in my memory in the manner which those two concerts have.  I collected all his records...and still have them, but have recently repurchased them on iTunes.

I sang his songs in the '70's and '80's and believe that the last song I sang was his wonderful standard...My Tribute  

uardian  fROM THE GUARDIANFROM THE GUARDIAN 



From USA today

Andraé Crouch, a gospel musician who bridged the worlds of church and mainstream music for more than 50 years, died Thursday afternoon. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and choir director had been hospitalized since Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area after suffering a heart attack.

Crouch, sometimes called "the father of modern gospel music," led the choirs that sang on such hits as Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and Madonna's Like a Prayer. As a songwriter, he wrote several gospel favorites, most notably The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and Soon and Very Soon, a song sung at Jackson's public memorial service.

A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards.

He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural "Jesus movement" and also bringing him attention beyond the church.

Read his story on CBM NEWS

Andrae Crouch - My Tribute Lyrics

Artist: Andrae Crouch

Album: Finally

[Verse:]
How can I say thanks
for the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved,
yet You gave to prove Your love for me;
the voices of a million angels
could not express my gratitude.
All that I am and ever hope to be,
I owe it all to Thee.

[Chorus 1:]
To God be the glory,
to God be the glory,
to God be the glory
for the things He has done.

[Chorus 2:]
With His blood He has saved me,
with His power He has raised me;
to God be the glory
for the things He has done.

[Bridge:]
Just let me live my life,
let it pleasing, Lord to Thee,
and if I gain any praise,
let it go to Calvary.

[Chorus 2]

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/andrae-crouch/my-tribute-lyrics/#lQYcY3RJPrlcoVZE.99

I am very grateful to my Uncle John who got us the tickets and with whom we stayed.  
I count seeing Andrae Crouch in concert as the most special musical event in my life.
Google the name and listen to the music on UTube.

Is mine really the untidiest desk?

I am so tempted to begin a photo competition....but then I might have to show my own mess!

Why, oh why, when you can keep most rooms in your house tidy are there a couple who escape you?

This one defeats me most of the time.

I am so proud when I clean up!  
and then???

So once again I move papers so I can type.

Well it is a fraction less cluttered but we are into maths here and that is a no go area for moi!

Then I found this wee piece of encouragement!

Music for the soul

Have just heard this song for the first time.  Light Digital..  Vic Australia.

Something caught my heart as it often does the first time you hear a song.  At other times you seem to have to become accustomed to the tune or a catchy part of the lyrics.
And some times when a new song is introduced, you sing along and long for something either more meaningful or more familiar.

I sat in Church a couple of weeks ago and we sang two perfectly good new songs, new to me that is, as we often introduce songs in the evening Youth service and then into the morning service.  I felt as if I had been absent for a long time.  But I am sure they will become familiar before they also vanish into the mists of time

I love the old hymns or songs that we sang often enough for the words to sink into the memory, to become part of the fabric of our lives.  While I enjoy most contemporary songs I do not enjoy their fleeting fame.

I may be getting old!!

It is a horribly hot summer day here that bears testament to the song,, I love a sunburnt country.  Fires are doing their horrid summer danger, animals and the land is suffering to say nothing of those who are losing their homes or large parts of their livelihood.

My lawns are getting that unpleasant summer sunburnt look and the longing for Autumn and Winter is strong....yet we know the hottest days are probably ahead of us.

Looking back I wonder how I ever rode a bike or walked to the bus, or travelled in crowded trains and trams in this weather.  How we only had one fan as I was growing up and we would swim in our large dam at midnight to cool down before we tried to sleep.  We are so blessed to have air conditioning.

I hated, well most of us hated the real heat when I was teaching.  I remember doing a "chook raffle"manner of raising funds for an air-conditioner in the staff room.  At least there was a little relief unless you were on yard duty.  And that was a nightmare as your returned to a stuffy hot room.

Well back to cooking the last ham of the season.  Not the day I would have chosen but oh grateful I am that we have power.