Fun ...

 Trying to get shots of Eliot is one kind of "fun"!  For some reason he seems quite happy to pose at the kennels to be photographed ... but it is quite a different story at home.  Early this morning I caught him at the bottom of the stairs before he realised that I had the camera ... he sits here whenever I go upstairs and just waits and waits until I reappear.  Odd dog!
If I'd moved that box of five thousand candles the background would have been better ... but where else would you see that many tea lights?  They'll be used over the next year or two at the Carols by Candlelight service.  Being two hour lights they mean that there's very little waste and most of them have extinguished themselves by the end of the service.

 An evening photo-shoot fared no better.  But it was fun to try to sneak up on him ...

I do wish that he'd "pose" for me ... but for the present it seems that I have to snap the moments that I can manage and delete the dozens of pictures where there's just a streak of black and white hair, unrecognisable as a dog!
There was more fun today with a parishioner.  She'd looked out an advert that she remembered from one of her old parish magazines.  She was brought up in Saint Aiden's and this is the ad she'd kept to give me a laugh!

 There was a market for old false teeth!  Payment by tooth and varied depending on the metal base.  How amazing.  This was 1917 ... the same company advertised ten years later and prices had rocketed.  You'd feel sorry for the poor person who left his or her teeth in a glass overnight ... they were worth a small fortune!

 I suppose that magazine was quite expensive at one old penny ... I've no idea what else could be bought for a penny during the first World War ... there's bound to be that kind of information available somewhere ... maybe after Easter I'll have a look.
Finally, I spotted this tiny orchid in the front room.  I've not been in there for a few days and missed it coming into flower.  The plant is a very old one and has been with me in three different clergy houses. The flower is about an inch across and is the smallest of all my orchids.  This was taken in artificial light so I'll have another attempt at getting it in natural light ... maybe when a few more heads are open.  These have got to be among my favourite flowers and they require so little attention, so that makes them very popular with me!

The markings, the shape and the colours all work together to created something very beautiful.

I thank God for most this
amazing day; 
for the leaping greenly
spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything
which is natural, which is
infinite, which is yes.

e. e. cummings