The Murder at the Vicarage - Book Review

I am trying to read through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and write a review on each one.

  

The Murder at the Vicarage. 

1930
  
A Miss Marple Story.


Description

'Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe', declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, 'would be doing the world at large a favour!'

It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later - when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman's study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.

The first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction.

My Thoughts

This is the 13th book by Agatha Christie and the First involving Miss Marple.

Oh how no-one thinks an elderly spinster could be interesting or knowledgeable when it comes to - well almost anything except perhaps her garden.

This book is full of endearing characters and infuriating characters which are probably the norm in an English Village the difference here being that one of those infuriating characters gets murdered.

Plenty of suspects and a complicated timeline of events makes this a difficult case to solve until Miss Marple can see around and through various aspects of this mystery.

A great storyline to introduce this sleuth and one that is definitely suited to her personality and insight.   So read and enjoy (as I did) and watch out for the clock, the garden and all the people that see everything in a village.

 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 113

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 113 

This is a Psalm of Praise from start to finish.



This Psalm falls into three parts:


V. 1
Praise the Lord!


V. 2-4
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!


V. 5-9
Who is like the Lord our God?

Praise the Lord!
Just go on and Praise Him is the feeling blasting out in this verse.
If you serve the Lord then Praise His Name.


Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
Now and forever.
During every part of the day.
Because He is the greatest.

No-one cares like Him.

Who is like the Lord our God?
No-one because no-one does what He does.
No-one cares like He does.

Even though we have just been told by the Psalmist that the 

Lord is seated on high,

we are also told of the needs He meets for His people 

and 

the love He bestows on them.

He does not ignore our hurts and our feelings.

Praise the Lord!

A New Christmas Decoration - A Dose of Encouragement

I really shouldn't have!

We have so many already!

I'm supposed to be decluttering, not bringing more things into the house!

But I just couldn't resist buying that new decoration for the Christmas tree.

I was out buying special Christmas Cards and looking for ideas for gifts in the Faith Mission Book Shop when I noticed it and the temptation grabbed me.

Fred just smiled when I showed it to him and didn't say the obvious

"not another decoration"  

 he can be so nice to me sometimes ( ok I admit it's not just sometimes but most of the time ).


It's not the only one I've bought this year, but ssssshhh that's a secret until closer to Christmas.

I have to admit I really like tree decorations that bring back memories like our 3 sleighs and the fan that get hung up each year.


But there is something special about bible themed tree decorations and the one I got was definitely bible themed with Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus.

Yes I admit is is rather similar to the the one I wrote about in The True Christmas blog post last year.  

But I think perhaps I was drawn to this new one because we have been doing a lot of holding and cuddling of our baby grandson since he was born at the start of last month.

It is amazing how one small child can change the structure of a marriage relationship - it is not just a couple any more it is now a family with another person there forever making a 3 Sided relationship.  This is a life-altering event in any marriage and as was mentioned in a recent post Congratulations;  it can be the best day of the lives of the couple.


Jesus obviously changed the structure of his family not only in the obvious special way as a new life born into that relationship but also because of exactly Who He was - the Son of God.  His birth was not only the best day of the lives of Mary and Joseph but also the best day in the life of the world thus far - God had come down to earth.

Look at the wording on the decoration

Jesus came to be the hope of all the world,

                                                          of everyone,

                                                                           of you ,

                                                                                      of me.

This was definitely a life-altering event for the whole world.

Our new decoration reminds us of the new Hope we have in Jesus when we acknowledge He is Lord and accept His gift of salvation.

Born as a baby but born to be the Saviour of all.

Jesus is all this

and

our true hope, 

regardless of us 

or anything else that is going on in the world.

I am thankful that I have a Saviour and that I have the Hope of all.

If you would like to know more about how you can personally experience this life-altering event please take a few minutes to watch the video 3 2 1 on the sidebar.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 100

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 100 


This is a Psalm for the Thank Offering.

This Psalm falls into three parts:

V. 1-2
What?


V. 3
Who?


V. 4
When & How?


V. 5
Why?

What are we required to do for this thank offering?
Be joyful in our Praise unto the Lord and not just us but all the earth.
Serve the Lord not as a duty but gladly.
Enter His presence with a song on our lips.


Who is this thank offering for?
It is for the Lord and He is God.
He is our creator, we belong to Him and he is our Shepherd who cares for us.

How to give a thank offering to God

When is this thank offering to be given?
It is to be presented to the Lord when we are within the gates of His Holy presence.
Then also when we are even further into His presence. with all Praise and Blessing unto Him.


How is this thank offering to be given?
It is to be presented with all Praise and Blessing unto the Lord our God.


Why should we bring this thank offering?
Because the Lord is good, He loves us continually forever and ever and He is a faithful God.

Where is this thank offering to come from?

From our hearts because of the joy and gladness there.

From the knowledge in our minds of how Good the Lord is to us.

From the honour of being invited into His Holy presence.

From the understanding that there is no-one like our Lord.

A Great Idea for Moving Rooms

It's that time of the year again.

The time
when in Northern Ireland
we get much colder and wetter weather
and
in our house we move

from  relaxing in the Sun Room

to 

living in the Lounge.

I love being in the Sun Room but I also really like my lounge since we got it decorated a year ago and got the new suite.


We try to get as long as we can out of the Sun Room but by now it means the heating on a lot to keep it warm however we did manage to use it from May to middle of November so that's not bad.

There is one thing I got this year that has made the move from the Sun Room to the Lounge with us and that's what this blog post is all about.

I saw a Slim Cabinet Wagon  (which I prefer to call a caddy) on a website I had found in early springtime and I just knew it would be ideal for the lazy person I become once I sit down.
You know - I don't want to have to get up again to get my book or puzzle magazine or crochet or nail file etc.


One of the really enticing features was the fact that it was on castors and I knew straight away that it would be great to take from room to room.

So I treated myself to an early birthday present and ordered the caddy.

I knew I wouldn't need any help in putting it together even though I'm not a great fan of DIY because it would have few pieces and there would be nothing difficult about it and anyway I can read instructions (even when the men in this family don't think that's a necessary task).


It only consisted of two tubular sides, some rods, 2 metal plates, 4 castors, the cover and a smaller thin tubular part  -  no problem!


Yes no problem until I see that the instructions on the back of the box are in Japanese or Chinese or Korean or something but certainly not in English.

However I couldn't go far wrong with the few parts that had to be assembled!


The box came in handy for resting the sides on to join them with the rods to form the frame.

Very simple to do - just slot the rods through the holes and then use a screwdriver.


A bit wobbly to work with with the first few rods

but very steady when all the rods were fitted.

I then put the castors on the base plate ready to attach it to the bottom of the frame.


That was my only mistake.

I had to remove the castors as it was easier to attach the base to the bottom of the frame as each castor was was tightened in.

With the base and four castors attached I was only left with the smaller metal piece to be placed.

It screwed into the base plate and formed a divider for the central bottom part of the caddy.


All that was left was the cover

It fitted down the outside of the caddy but had a centre section into which a thin metal plate was slotted and this would form a shelf about halfway up the caddy.

Then the cover was fitted on securely using velcro strips along the bottom of each side of the frame

and the top of each side.



The finished Caddy

The two sides have slightly different sizes and arrangement of pockets.


The profile view clearly shows the shelf and the divider within the caddy.


There is plenty of room for anything you might want to have at hand when you are sitting watching TV or relaxing reading a book etc.


Because it is a slimline trolley it will fit in nicely beside chairs or a couch.

Just one little idea that makes it that bit simpler & easier for organising our home.

Here it is in the Sun Room beside the chair

What do I keep in it?

• Books
• Bible
• Puzzle books
• Crochet
• Hand cream
• Nail file, scissors etc.
• Hair clip
• Bookmark
• Pens, Pencils
• Glasses
• etc.

Oh yes and all the remote controls


Last year in the lounge I had this basket but it was getting too full.

Now  I can have the caddy instead of the basket and even have more things than I had before

or in a better position for me right beside my usual seat on the couch

It fits there really well and can easily be rolled out when I need to get at the lower  parts.

But below you can see that when it is in it's place it isn't even noticeable as you walk into the room.

Just one little idea that makes it that bit simpler & easier for organising our home. 

Of course this one was more Funwork than Housework because I got to but something, put it together (and that was't difficult)  and put my stuff into it  -  real Organising!

The 3 Sided Kiss - A Dose of Encouragement

All those years ago when we only had one child.

Yes way back then we started a "Black Family" phrase

"The 3 Sided Kiss"

Very simply it was the result of our first child Jonathan trying to kiss both Fred & I at the same time, and it worked!

The three of us would laugh and squeeze in together for that family kiss.


Two years later Jonathan could no longer call for a 3 sided kiss because our family had grown to 4 with his brother Daniel.

But then he simply just called for a "4 sided kiss" and Daniel grew up being squeezed in as we tried (somewhat successfully) to make this new family kiss happen.


It took another 3 years for it to turn into a "5 sided kiss" when our daughter Linda was born.

Now a 5 sided kiss was not easy to try for and really not a success but for many years the 5 of us would just throw our heads together and end up kissing whoever was nearest.

Somehow just the idea of all of us trying to be united in this simple kiss would put a smile on our faces and make us giggle and haven't we been told on numerous occasions that it is good and healthy to laugh together.

It is the little things like this that make each family unique, the silly things that we laugh at, the unusual things we share, the days, weeks, months and years that have bonded us together to make up this special relationship.

No two families will have the same relationship.


Have you ever thought about our relationship with Jesus?

We all have a unique relationship with Jesus

We all have a unique relationship with Him and that is wonderful to know.

We have all had a different length of time shared with Him,

          different words spoken to Him,

                    different tears shed with Him,

                              different joys shared with Him,

                                        different gifts received from Him,

                                                  different requests made of Him,

                                                            different answers accepted from Him.


We may share the same Saviour, yes He is the Saviour sent into the world for everyone, He is the Saviour who loves each one of us, but we do not share the exact same relationship because we have all be created uniquely, we have all had different experiences in life and we all have different thoughts and feelings deep within us.

 It is great to know that He is the only one who knows all those secrets (good and bad) that He loves us and cares about all that matters to us.

 It is great to know that He wants to have this unique relationship with us now and forever.

Now that Daniel and Suzie are married and we have a baby grandson we should be calling for a 7 sided kiss but I think we all know that is just impossible.

When Matthew is a bit older I'm sure we will tell him about the "family kiss" and I think Grandma, Grandpa and Matthew could start the tradition all over again with the new "Black Family 3 sided kiss".