Trust in God and Tie up your Camel

Slaughter at dawn this morning ....

I hear nothing but come out to find blood on the concrete steps and feathers blown all over the garden...and across the swimming pool cover.

When my gardener comes round this afternoon to cut up a young ash tree which has fallen from the bank across the grass ..its roots rotten to the core...suffering from ash die back, I ask him if it could be a fox or a cat.

He says it's more likely to be a sparrow hawk...swooping in on a resting pigeon...leaving neither   beak nor claw behind. He says it's the law of nature ....predator and victim.

He also tells me of recent theft and vandalism in the village this week... 

a chainsaw and another machine tool stolen from inside his van while he was working in someone's garden only metres away in broad daylight.

And two nights ago the local mini van - used by the football club and the school - 

was stolen from outside the community hall,

driven to street nearby and set on fire.

He wants me to know so I will be sure to lock my garages, and the gate to the back of the house even  if I'm working at the bottom of the garden.

I have felt safe here up to now so I'm sad .....I don't want to feel scared in my new home. And I'm not going to expect the worst.

But as that old saying goes,

Trust in God but still tie up your camel, so

tonight I make sure the security lights are on at the back and the front of the house and double check all the locks on the doors and the gates. So if an opportunistic sparrow hawk comes calling I'm not  making it easy to become a victim. 

This evening I make my usual foodie Christmas gifts... medjoul dates, stuffed with almond paste and a roasted walnut half, dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with pistachio nuts.

 I always think  I should be more creative ...make something different.... but this year repeating my Christmas rituals feels the best way to bring something normal into my new and still unfamiliar surroundings.