316 Easily distracted ...

 I was up early this morning ... now, usually I'm up early but today was unusual ... at 4.30 am sleep was no longer going to be possible so I got up.  What else would you do?  Eliot wasn't at all impressed and simply went to the sofa where he continued to look for his beauty sleep!
Meanwhile I thought that it was time to begin to sort out some "stuff" in the study.  Well .. it began okay.  A stack of books was moved from one place to another ... some pages were stuffed into the recycling bag ... and then I came upon a pile of photographs that have been waiting for an album!  The 365Project photograph of the day is the last one on this page ... but first ... a few of them up close.
The five year old with long golden plaits sits a trifle uncomfortably on her Uncle Harry's bike.  Uncomfortable because the wall is a sharp pebbledash!

 A few months later and the plaits have gone!  The ankle socks of summer have become the knee socks of winter and that visit to Santa produced a colouring book!

 

 Seven years later I have two lovely wee sisters and this outing was to the local harbour in Kilkeel with the fishing trawlers in the background.  It looks like winter with our warm pixies and woolly coats.

It was fun looking through the photographs and then picking just a few to scatter casually for the final picture.  I'm not at all sure what I was playing at for my twenty first birthday - that's the strange looking image on the right with straightened hair and black frames!  I don't think that the look lasted for very long - it is hard with naturally curly hair to maintain that level of sleekness without a great deal of effort.  By far my preferred length was "Mother's Cut" as in the school picture.  Short, no nonsense and good for playing hockey.
The study never did make any further progress!  Much of the morning was spent answering the phone with half a dozen calls looking, not for me, but for "Toys R Us"!  There's just one digit different in our phone numbers and from October until February a good nine tenths of my calls are mistakes.  It's fun to hear how folk react when you announce Saint Nicholas' ... maybe they think that "Toys R Us" have begun to revert to that name for Santa?  Only once did someone ask if I were sure it was the church rectory!  Huh?  Yes, I am sure and redirected them to the number they wanted.  Another caller left her details on the answering machine and "told" me to call her right back ... she was very confused when the rector of a Belfast parish phoned ... it took a few minutes to sort out that one!
This has been a bit of a ramble ... need to focus and get back to some sensible thinking .... soon!

Lord of creation, giver of gladness,
in celebration we come today;
loved ones around us, hope shining strongly,
your love completing our deepest joy.

Church Hymnal number 542

David Mowbray (b. 1938)