If you would like to know what the words were, for 'The Hillwalker's Benediction' last Sunday, then I'll copy them here:-

The heather soft beneath my tread,
The bothy where I rest my head;
If I my maker's touch would feel,
Scenes such as these my sorrows heal.
For Scotland's grandeur,
In sunshine or in rain,
Is a symphony in nature
To restore my soul again.
If I'm made to know such beauty,
If it's truly made for me,
Such a harmony of purpose
Must affirm God's deity.

Copyright Karen E McAulay, 2004.

While I rehearsed the choir this evening, a disaster was unfolding at home. Our youngest son had just gone to bed, when he came back downstairs in a complete panic. He told our babysitter that he had just swallowed a small metal ball from a construction game. What induced him to do something so stupid, when he was meant to be going to sleep, I can't imagine! The babysitter dialled 999, and apparently we had the ambulance with sirens blaring, lights flashing, paramedics with an oxygen tank - except that he was actually okay. He wasn't choking - he had literally swallowed it.

I went to Yorkhill with him, where they waved a metal-detector over his tummy and agreed that yes, something was in there, but it would pass through with no further bother. He thought it was all a very exciting adventure. We have to go back for another metal-detector scan in a fortnight – at 10 am on Thursday 9th December, just for a check-up.

Earlier in the afternoon, the poor wee soul got a bump on his head when he tripped over on the way home from school. You could say it hasn’t been his day!

And at 00.58, I am shattered. Good night!