Reflection, Annie Lennox and blessings galore

Hi you amazing people

Much love for 2011. May you all be blessed with love, joy, peace, wow moments,

new opportunities and much which lifts the heart. Here I am in a furniture shop as a friend was looking for a sofa and of course I had to get a photo with the purple and green one. I

even saw purple and green canoes on the lake where the Olympics is going to be! God bless the person who was with me for her amazing grace!!

We even saw purple and green guitars in the Burmese outback and Ye Ye bought one and guess what his guitar case had on it? GRACE!! Of course he needed that to go around with me in Burma. So purple and green is still in the forefront BUT my Purple and Green Society seems to have disappeared off the web. Must resurrect it!!

You will never guess what this sad person was doing on New Year's Eve? I always like to reflect on the past year and pray for the coming year on NYE and obviously have a glass of NZ SB. I know it seems sad but I love it. This time I was sawing a piece of wood as the slat on my bed had broken and I dyed a jacket for the 7 time as the style is me to a tee but not the colour. I can hear the violins out!!! It makes me laugh even though my sister and niece thought "how embarrassing"! Sister you have THE MOST amazing way of transforming a room and you and G's hospitality was brilliant. Thanks so much. You both have a real gift for it and maybe I will the first of many

Last Sunday a friend and I went to Hillsong in London at the Dominican Theatre and as her train was late I thought there must be a reason for that and at that moment a well dressed lady in her 70's fell into step with me and I commented on her wow outfit of red berry, scarf and earings. I asked her if coffee appealed, as I was just going myself, and we had a wonderful conversation in TCRoad before I went off to church with the friend followed by a glass of Wither Hills in Marylebone High Street at a very reasonable price. It has been a joy to get to know this person over the last year and I have been challenged big time by her life in so many ways.

Life is full of these divine appointments and I pray 2011 will be the same as it thrills

the heart so much. I have also written to 3 famous people in the public eye to see if lunch or a glass of wine appeals and received a brilliant letter from the wonderful John Humphrys as I had written to him about his fantastic book "In God we doubt" and said how great it was as well as how much I valued his heart for people The abundance of divine appointments leads me onto one of the most extraordinary meetings in ten years for me....

On Thursday I had lunch with the author Liz A. whose book Under Running Laughter:the hidden heart of Burma is wonderful. For those of you following the blog you will remember I wrote to her as she had published a book about her father who worked on a Burmese translation of the Bible. You may remember how I met her from another posting! It was only the 2nd time we had met but it definitively had the wow factor again and for me it was a perfect day started by listening to Buxtehude as the train pulled into the station where she lives. In case you want to know what it was go to Buxtehude 15 played on CD Review by the wonderful Andrew McGregor. The 3rd movement (the Amen's) is awesome. I also had the immense privilege of meeting her husband and daughter so that was great too. It will definitely be ONE of the wow days of 2011. Hope it was good for her too.

It will be FOUR years in February since I came to the school!! What a journey that has been and yesterday I was looking back at early blogs and saw the posting for me going to visit and the interview which still makes me laugh 4 years later. I cannot believe I have lasted this long and I bet the Head can't either. Mind you there is still time for a sacking! There are some

fabulous staff there who I love to bits but cannot help feeling that some of my favourite ones will be leaving in the next year which will be hard. Time will tell. There has been much to rejoice about and the girls are one of the great gifts of the job without a doubt. This year I have been fortunate enough to have 3 hours off in the middle of a day when I am not technically in school so can get to Harrow on the Hill and quaint tea shop with a friend in that time and back for the last

lesson.

Sorry amazing niece that the wretched maths has eluded you again. You are a brilliant

niece and there are more important things in life but I know you want to teach and you will be great so .... your perseverance, tenacity and refusal to give up are admirable. Lovely to spend time with you over Christmas and well done for showing us BLIND SIDE with the fabulous Sandra Bullock. It is a true story and her feisty attitude is great. I was told she had turned it down 7 times. Thanks also for the presents and the superb Bach's Choral Year which I love.

Talking about culture, just before Christmas a friend and I braved blizzard conditions to attend the Messiah with Harry Christophers at the Barbican. It was one of the best Messiah's I have heard AND THEY played that mesmorizing part "Death where is thy victory?"

which is rarely played. What a remarkable end to a brilliant year.

I have enjoyed GMS on Radio 2 on a Sunday morning as Aled Jones has had some great people on. Today was Michael Meacher and I look forward to checking out his new book on the

Universe which sounds great. At the moment I am reading Lioness Awake by Lisa Bevere about women in God, Margaret Forster " Private Papers" one called the 19TH wife about the Mormons and Brigham Young's 19th one, Desmond Tutu Made for Goodness written with his daughter.It is not easy to find books that keep me reading but the author's two books above definitely did so.....

I STILL cannot believe I went to North Korea and Burma twice last year. If you want to see the photos of the last trip they are on FB. I was really ill for 2-3 days on the last trip and not been so since Calcutta in the 80's. However it was awesome and I think the photos are very good. One memorable day was praying with a pastor high up in the hills in a remote village and leaving my 15 year old hockey shoes with him, still looking amazing and in brilliant condition, but YELLOW!!!I also visited the Defence Museum in Rangoon that I have been trying to get into for 5 years as it is always shut. It was fascinating.

It has been so brilliant to see so many of you this year for lunches, exhibitions, Ritz for drinks, tea and shortbread, Royal Academy, lunches with friends who have known me for 34 years.There are too many events to mention but you know who you are. The Lord is amazing the way He continues to bless me with wonderful people. Long may it last. It has also been amazing to get to know 4 new people this year and 1 other much better, as I had thought at one time it was never going to happen and I would be resigned to been kept at arms length and we just talk about the weather!! I do not like to know people for 10 years and not know them any better at the end of it, but there we are.

Every blessing you amazing people those I know and those I do not. Just ordered Annie Lennox The Collection which is great, after hearing her Christmas one at my sister's. What a voice. How could I have missed what is right in front of my eyes? Felt Him say that in another area too! Felt Him say that He would be giving me keys to situations which I have been praying for for at least 25 years. We will see. Hope He makes it clear as I can be clueless in this.

I feel excited about 2011. I wonder what the Lord has in store for me. Thanks to so many of you for your amazing grace.

Much love as always

Fliss xx

PS On the draft all the paragraphs are fine. On final thing it shifts and I have saved it in different colours and it keeps changing to black. Any wisdom John if you are reading this you computer wiz and gracious guy. Love to you and Judith.