I have grown up in an environment that has allowed me to believe in, and hope for the best from my life. I was educated to a standard that taught me to make the best of my opportunities and that dreams and ambitions are as acceptable in a woman as they are in a man.... Continue Reading →
It’s time to come clean with you all – or maybe, it’s more about being honest with myself – I am a singer of only moderate talent. Also, whilst in the general run of things I’m fairly intelligent - when I speak, I regularly make more noise than sense. And my ability to work hard... Continue Reading →
Rose was an ageing friend of the family who I never got to meet. Up until I was about ten years old, there would be presents from Rose, every Christmas, for my two sisters, my brother and myself. Nothing big, but dutifully chosen every year, reliable as rainfall. Until she died... I never saw a... Continue Reading →
Here we are in the middle of January, and I’ve had a couple of weeks to look back on some of the things that came out of 2015. There was some really exciting stuff that happened, and it looks as though there is going to be some even more exciting stuff in 2016. But sometime... Continue Reading →
The older I get, the more of a shock is the arrival of Christmas. It seems that just as I manage to get the ‘thank you‘ letters finished after last year’s onslaught, I am swept up in the throes of the festivities for the oncoming year. This year, Christmas cards have been started just hours... Continue Reading →
In January this year, I wrote about Marcus, our extremely characterful Maine Coon cat. He has given plenty of warning that his time was coming to an end, and at sixteen years old, we didn't feel that his life was being cut unreasonably short. But, when he started to lose weight, I took him for... Continue Reading →
It’s interesting to consider the number of strangers we encounter each day. On the tube or bus, in the street, at work, shopping, out and about. Fleeting glimpses, passing faces. And for each one, there is a life; highs and lows, events, crises, exam results, broken relationships. We can have no idea of what they are all living through, what personal tragedies are being endured.
A very wise friend once told me that children can put up with a huge amount of suffering as long as they are loved. I'm a mum. I get all kinds of things wrong, as lots of parents do; I shrink favourite T shirts, I inflict all kinds of vegetables which have to be... Continue Reading →
We’ve walked past the bookstand, past the cafe with its smell of hot chocolate and sticky buns, and are heading for ’T’shirts, when my arm is grabbed. Arrested in my progress, I swing round to find that I’m being embraced with greater affection than normal by my eleven year old son. I’m quite familiar... Continue Reading →
Kevin and I spend a lot of time visiting churches to sing and play our music. We rarely get to visit the big thriving churches you hear about. . The churches that God has sent us out to speak to, are the ones that probably don’t feel they can afford for musicians to travel and spend time with them. they’re tired, often dispirited, and wondering where their congregations have gone. They sometimes have no incumbent minister, because they can't afford it; so someone coming in to do three songs and three stories in the sermon slot, or to sing after the service is over, can provide welcome refreshment and encouragement.
The Blog of Penny Lyon 