Aboutbooks - The National Gallery - Illustrated Catalogue

This is not only a complete illustrated catalogue but also an expanded edition! Pure heaven for someone like me who gets excited about looking at paintings and finding all about them. As I cannot go to The National Gallery on a regular basis then this book is the next best thing. I bought it the last time I visited the gallery shop and on that day I was able to buy it - half price! I soon forget the time when I sit turning this books' pages. It has more than 800 pages of good quality paper and it is very easy to follow. I totally love it. I wish I had studied History of Art but you never know ...

Aboutbooks - Elvi Rhodes - A Blessing In Disguise

What a story!

Elvi Rhodes gets it just right!

A Blessing in Disguise is a must - read

Why? I enjoyed the unusual setting, a single parent vicar!

Awkward people, men with attitude, women with even more attitude!!

Oh Yes! I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't wait to see what happened, will she or won't she? Mmmm...

Aboutbooks - Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austin

Do you love me? Good question! I have been married for nearly 28 years so I should be well equipped to answer this question yet I don't know what to say. I love my husband very, very much, but if I start making a list it of all the things I like about him, that obviously attract me to him - is that the same as saying why I love him? I hope you are still with me!

I have actually never been able to answer this question except by saying that I don't know why I love him, I just know that I do!

When I think about it, if I said I loved him because of his DIY skills, his good looks or his money, then I might be in love with those things rather than him - and you know what people do when any of these things go, they might suddenly feel they are out of love! Perhaps like in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, when Lucy (who had been secretly engaged to Edward for five years) suddenly switches her affections to his brother Robert who will now inherit the money! Had she actually been in love with Edward? Was she now in love with Robert?

Yesterday, today and tomorrow... Do you love me? This is a question that is always going to affect us and our families in some way or another. If you would like to think more about this subject why not watch my favourite film Sense and Sensibility, and see what you make of it.

Funnily enough, I have the same problem when trying to answer why I love God. I am a Christian who loves God passionately, but don't know why. I just know that I do. I could soon list all the reasons why I like him, why I like his company, and why I like to listen to him...

Aboutbooks - Mountains and Molehills - Evening Primrose Oil and Starflower Oil...Why the blend?

The doctor gave me a choice. I either take low dose aspirin or evening primrose oil. I decided on the evening primrose oil as it is a natural remedy which is believed to be very good for women. Good for hair, nails, skin, and conditions affecting womens health - and now they are saying it is good for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure.

If you research starflower oil you will find that it is considered an even better oil. But what grabbed my attention at the health store was when the assistant told me that the combination of the two oils made the evening primrose more effective than when taken on its own.

I am talking about this because I can see a similarity with my relationship with God that's worth sharing. On my own I am OK, I get by, I manage - but combined with God I know I am something else, let's say much improved!

If you would like to read more about the difference that God can make in your life - read Mountains and Molehills by Molly Dow (the Bishop of Carlisle's wife). It's a good book for £3.99 and lots of questions are answered.

Aboutbooks - Day and Hour Unknown!

While searching for something else, I stumbled upon the titles of two books by Ronald Weinland entitled The Prophesied End-Time and 2008 - God's Final Witness. The first book intrigued me when it said that 'it had been written so that people might have some advance warning of what is coming ... not written to cause panic or frighten anyone, but as a warning so that you can be better prepared to face these things when the happen'.

These books are free and I can see why. Who would want to buy them? I laughed a lot, but you could easily cry at the rubbish this man writes. He basically ends his book by saying that unless you observe the Passover you will never make it. What could have been interesting reading quickly disintegrated into the writings of a man with a chip on his shoulder, a man on a mission to bring his own church back into observing the Sabbath, etc, etc. He rubbishes Christmas, Easter, the Trinity, and lots more. He is right on one thing though, as he prophesied at the beginning of both books - I did not like them one bit!

It's much better to read Mark 13 where Jesus puts the end times into perpective, and tells us how to live now:
Jesus said to them: Watch out that no-one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. Mark 13:5-6 NIV