Blob Thing Gets A Chop, Well Timed In The Woods of Tyne and Wear

Blob Thing was excited.  It's fair to say that he gets excited a lot.  His zest for life and for new experiences is legendary.  His eagerness to jump in with both feet and live to the full is astounding.  Especially when you consider that he has no feet with which to jump in.  He is a pretty amazing soft toy.

Eight weeks ago he was relaxing at home and his person said, "Hey, let's go out to the woods this afternoon.  The weather might improve."  Blob couldn't wait.  He decided that being out among the trees and the plants would be a fantastic thing.  He would love to feel the fresh air on his fur and to soak up the sights and be awestruck by the heights of the trees and by the height of the endless skies above him.  So Blob agreed to accompany his person on her trip.  They would go to Chopwell Woods.  Because it looked nice on a website.  Blob hadn't heard of Chopwell before.  Neither had Blob's person.  This would be an entirely new experience for both of them.

They travelled on the Metro into Newcastle and then Blob's person went on a bus she had never travelled on before.  She hadn't even thought of it until that day.  Blob looked out of the window as they progressed on their route.  They saw thousands and thousands of cars parked outside some shops and many more cars queued up to join the others in the car park.  Blob told his person that he couldn't understand why so many thousands of cars would be there or why so many thousands of the cars' people would be inside those shops.  It was unthinkable when there was a big world to explore full of those awesome things called trees.  Later they saw a river and signs to riverside parks and to footpaths leading in all directions.  Blob's person got very excited at the prospect of exploring this bus route properly.  Blob got excited at the prospect of being able to go and explore too.

Finally Blob arrived at his destination - or at least nearby because buses don't go everywhere.  Blob's person soon decided that she had made an error.  When they had left home it was pouring with rain and it felt very cold.  On arrival it was sunny and warm and she regretted that she was wearing a coat.  But there wasn't anything to be done.  Blob was glad that he wasn't wearing a coat.  He doesn't even own a coat.  He doesn't mind that because he doesn't feel the cold much.  Blob doesn't shiver from the chill of a strong wind.  And he doesn't sweat in the slightest if it's a hot day.

Blob Thing looked around.  Trees.  Lots and lots of trees.  Big trees.  BIG trees.  Massively tall.  They stretched right to the top of their branches.  Blob couldn't wait to touch them and feel the wisdom of their bark.  He couldn't wait to sit on a branch for a picture to be taken.  Just look at that smile.  How can you not smile in such a place?

Blob Thing walked a long way in those woods.  He even spent some time sitting by the river Derwent down in the valley.  Blob's person promised they would return and she saw a sign pointing to a long walk and said they would be able to explore that too.  Seven weeks later Blob is still waiting.  They haven't walked that route.  And they haven't returned to Chopwell Woods.  He waits.  And he waits.  But Blob doesn't mind waiting.  Especially as he has had many adventures in those weeks.  He can't wait to tell you about them all and he's going to write himself a list of them so he doesn't get confused and tell you about one of them four times and fail to tell you about another one.  That wouldn't do at all.  Not for a Blob who likes to be organised.

He had enjoyed the woods immensely.  Blob's person enjoyed them too.  She has already written a post about the trip to Chopwell.  She wrote her post weeks ago, just as Blob was starting to get used to the idea of having his own blog.  Blob's person needs to write a list too, because she's been very busy exploring and adventuring.  And it's been warm enough that she hasn't needed to wear her special adventure coat the Blob's creator found.  If you want to look at Blob's person's words, they're at http://reborn-as-woman.blogspot.com/2016/06/walking-chopwell-wood-derwent-valley.html

At the end of his walk, Blob rested.  He was still amazed that so many trees could be in one area and was blissfully rhapsodic about the countryside they had walked through.  Blob felt a bit sorry for all those thousands of cars stuck in a car park.  And he felt sorry for all those many thousands of people stuck in a shopping mall.  Blob's person assured him that they were probably all reasonably happy doing what they wanted to do.  But Blob decided they were all crazy and wondered how any shop - even the charity shops his friends had been found in - could be a better experience than walking in Chopwell Woods.  Blob thought that, at least on that day, he had experienced the greatest piece of life he could possibly have done.

In Blob's eyes, life is a beautiful thing that happens in a beautiful world.  He wonders how people have so often and so successfully turned it into something else.  His views may be simple, but maybe they have wisdom.  They certainly come from the eyes of a child, full of fascination and wonderment and innocence.  Perhaps, with his eyes, he has entered the kingdom of heaven.

[959 words]

Blob Thing Visits Southport And Makes A Lot of Friends

At the start of May Blob Thing had a wonderful day out in Southport.  He's been looking at the pictures of it and has to laugh because he's had two more wonderful days in Southport since then.  He likes Southport.  So does his person.  And so does his creator.  They enjoy themselves there and like the relaxed pace of their times in the town.

When they sit on the beach they can all look up the coast and see Blackpool Tower.  Blob was briefly in Blackpool a few days ago and is looking forward to telling you an experience he had there.  Something he would have thought was impossible.  But it still happened.  Blackpool is famous.  It has lots of lights and noise and three big piers and is a very popular place.  Southport is quieter.  It doesn't attract such crowds and, if the truth is known, perhaps does not have as much to attract them.

But Blob Thing likes Southport.  He likes the shops.  He likes the promenade.  And he likes sitting by the sea.  Or at least he would if there was a sea to sit by.  He thinks it's funny.  The promenade is a long way from the seaside in Southport.  And even when he had reached the seaside the sea has been miles away in the far distance.  Blob has never experienced the sea at the seaside in Southport.  But he knows that one day he will and it will be marvellous.

On this trip to Southport Blob made some new Kitty friends.  He had stopped off on the way there in a place his person keeps calling Notlob.  Blob isn't sure that this is its real name but he hasn't ever heard her call it anything else so quite possibly it is.  Blob hasn't seen a lot of Notlob but that day they had to change train there and there was a wait for the Southport train so they all left the station for a little walk.

Nearby was a charity shop full of very pretty strings of beads.  Blob's person told him that they were special strings of beads called rosaries.  Some people use them to talk to a version of God that they believe in and to talk to God's mum too.  She said that she had used to do the same and still had lots of these special beads at home.  Blob thought it was a very bizarre concept that God should have a mum.  His person said there was a perfectly good reason for it within that belief system and it wasn't just silliness.  But she wasn't going to spend the day explaining Catholic doctrines and dogmas to Blob when enjoying the seaside was much more important.

The charity shop also sold other things and Blob's creator liberated some new friends for him to talk to that day. On the train Blob was introduced to them all and they spent the entire journey chatting away.  The Kitties were ever so thrilled to have been liberated from the charity shop.  They wondered what adventures they would have now that they had been set free from their imprisonment on the shelves of the shop.  Blob says to anyone reading this:  Be merciful.  Liberate a friend from a charity shop as soon as you can.  Set it free to adventure.

After walking round the town and seeing the sea - and after Blob's person and creator had shared rather more ice cream than is healthy - they all went and sat and drank tea in a cafe.  The day had been stunning.  Blob sat in the sunshine and laughed as his new friends came out to see the cafe too.

They played together and then posed for a beautiful portrait while bubbles were blown.  Everyone just relaxed.  The world went past doing whatever it is the world does.  But Blob and his friends, his person, and his creator just relaxed.

For that moment, nothing mattered.

For that moment, there was just that moment.

Blob decided it was a perfect moment.


[676 words]

Blob Thing: Super Hero at a Geek Retreat

Something has gone wrong.  A plan was made.  A plan was broken.  The plan was made for this blog.  And that plan has plain and simply gone wrong.

The very first post, the one that introduced Blob Thing, says this: The idea is that I will post one photo of Blob Thing each day.  One photo.  Just one.  And the idea was that not a lot would be said about that photo.  Just a photo.  With a little explanation to say what Blob had been doing that day.

This is the twentieth post on the blog and what have we seen?  [edit: This is not the twentieth post. It was the twentieth post until Blob decided it was more important to talk about something else that day.  This is now the twenty-sixth post having been shunted to make way for Blob clearly stating #RefugeesWelcome on day twenty.]

More than one photo has been posted on pretty much every day.

Lots of explanation and stories and even Blob Thing getting philosophical about the nature of existence, the meaning of life and subjects such as freedom.

That wasn't meant to happen but this is Blob's blog and he gets to choose what goes into it and what is said and not said.  It turns out that he has a lot in his little head.  Who would have guessed it from the beginning?

Sometimes Blob doesn't want to worry about the deep things.  He doesn't want to think about the troubles of the world or the craziness of human beings.  He just wants to have some fun and be crazy himself for a while.  A different kind of crazy.  The craziness of a Blob being childlike and running and whooping and laughing with the wind and the rain and the sun and with the beauty of the world.  The craziness of exuberantly celebrating his own existence and his ability to smile each day.

He heard a song a while ago and told his person that it wasn't just girls.  Oh no.  Blobs just wanna have fun too.  So here are a few pictures of Blob, having fun.  They were taken at Geek Retreat in Newcastle.

Here is Blob, being rescued from SPECTRE by Captain America.

Blob gets very confused between the bad guys in different stories.  But he doesn't care.

He watched most of Marvel's Agents of Shield but still can't tell the difference between Hydra, SPECTRE and THRUSH.

Here is Blob Thing pretending to be a comic.  Although maybe he is more highbrow than a comic.  He is more of a graphic novel.

He has been told that if you call a graphic novel a comic then lots of people are liable to get very annoyed.  He can't quite understand by a book made up of comic content isn't a comic book but he's a very kind creature and doesn't want to annoy anyone so he's careful not to call a graphic novel by any other name, even if someone as famous as Alan Moore would call it a comic!

Blob finds these kind of debates very confusing.  He can't see why people would ever argue about such unimportant things when there are so many important things that would be more worthy of their attention.




And then there's this picture.  Blob Thing is very proud of this picture indeed.  When he looks at this picture he can dream and imagine and think about how he could be a super hero too.  [Blob's person likes to remind him that this picture was taken in the cafe toilet, that he is posing in an inauspicious place.  Blob would stick his tongue out at his person.  Except he hasn't got a tongue to stick out.]

Blob's person already things that Blob is a hero.  And that Blob's creator is a hero.  And sometimes she even thinks that she is a hero.  There are many heroes and the best of them don't have super powers or billion dollar fictional technology to help them.  They don't need to have saved the world.  They don't need to be on the front cover of magazines or be known by millions of people.

Blob agrees.

There are heroes all around us and we only have to look out for them.






[710 words]

Blob Thing Walks Tall Above The Wansbeck Valley

It was a couple of months ago and Blob Thing was only just getting used to the idea of getting out and seeing the world.  Blob's person, for her part, was only just starting to get used to the idea of taking Blob out with her.  They were both learning how interesting the world is when it's shared by a small pink blob and a slightly strange woman who is slowly discovering freedom.

On this particular day Blob's person carefully scrutinised the weather forecast.  It predicted rain, but not too much of it so she decided that she would walk and that Blob could come too.  So they got the bus to Morpeth and set off along the Wansbeck valley.  It's a very, very pretty walk as far as Bothal Mill.  Blob's person enjoyed herself greatly.

But she made a mistake.  A big, unhappy mistake.  She forgot about Blob Thing!  Oh no!  Blob could only sit himself in his person's rucksack and feel a little sad as she oohed and aahed at all the prettiness.  She loved the water and the trees.  She loved discovering the ruins of a chapel.  And she loved the way an old viaduct crossed the valley.  But Blob missed all that and could only look at the pictures afterwards.

Blob's person reached Bothal Mill and started to walk up the steep lane away from the river to the next footpath.  She suddenly felt hot.  Walking up a steep hill in the sunshine is a lot warmer than walking through the woods by a river - especially when that walk had involved hailstones.  She opened her rucksack to put her jacket away and Blob shouted to her at the top of his little voice.  "What about me?"

Well, Blob's person was ever so apologetic.  She wished that Blob had been able to experience the river with her and she promised that one day she would take him with her to see other rivers.  At the time of writing this, two months later, Blob has seen quite a few rivers.  He's even been able to cross a couple of them in the most fantastic boats a Blob Thing has ever ridden.

Blob calmed down and the smile returned to his face.  He was going to be able to experience the rest of the walk.  Blob's person said that they were only half way through the day and she hoped that he would be able to enjoy himself for the remainder.  Smiling more happily now, Blob set off along the footpath, passing some llamas, and out into the fields.

This was wonderful.  The sky was beautiful.  The sun shone and Blob breathed deep breaths of the clear air.  It's a great mystery as to how a creature with no nose and a mouth that doesn't open was able to take such deep breaths.  Especially as, at least to the best of anyone's knowledge, he hasn't got any lungs.  Only his creator would know about the insides of Blob, and she hasn't imparted such information to anyone, even Blob.  But he was able to breathe and let out a contented sigh.

As they walked, Blob felt energetic and climbed a tree.  He must have enjoyed it.  He's climbed lots of trees since.

And then he relaxed in the field and thought the shapes of the clouds to be miraculous.  They're not just water in the sky.  That's a miracle enough.  They are stunningly beautiful.  They are powerful.  In the good times they are a picture of kindness and the giving of life.  And sometimes they are capricious and destructive.  Some clouds are enough to bring great fear.

The path then descended back into the woods and Blob sat for a while and rested, wondering what he might find there.  The day had started very badly for him but now was turning into a day worth living.  Blob was exhilarated.

[650 words]

Blob Thing Has A Pulp Fiction Lightbulb Moment

Blob is glad of his life.  He's glad of adventures.  He's happy that he has seen so much in his short life.  Just yesterday he played by the see, made some animal friends and got to find out what it's like to try to wear a giant shoe when you don't even have feet.  It's a busy life for Blob.

Today he wants to share an experience from two months ago.  Exactly two months to the day.  He was still getting used to adventuring and his person was still getting used to having Blob as a travelling companion.

Two months ago she had arranged to meet a friend at a cafe and Blob asked if he could come too.  He promised that he wouldn't order anything too expensive from the menu.  In fact, he would probably be totally satisfied with the free things on offer in the cafe.  He could always share his person's food if he good really hungry.  Blob doesn't have a stomach, so he finds that hunger isn't usually a big problem for him.

The cafe was in a place called Whitley Bay.  Blob had to laugh because his person had been to that place many times but still kept calling it Colwyn Bay, a place she hadn't been to in years.  The cafe was one she had walked past several times and had thought it looked nice.  It was called Pulp Fiction Future Foods.  A long name.

Blob doesn't want to write much about it because - as he is dictating this - he is eager to get out again for another adventure.  In any case, Blob's person has already written about the cafe.  She did it here.  https://reborn-as-woman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/happy-times-in-whitley-bay-pulp-fiction.html  Blob enjoyed himself.  He wondered how his life would progress.  It was only six days since his first trip out and here he was in Whitley Bay.  That felt incredible to Blob.  He felt incredibly fortunate.  And he smiled.  He says that he had no idea that the two months since then would be as exciting as they were.  He has so many things to tell you about and as this is being typed he is spinning and spinning and laughing about it all.  He'd almost certainly be happy flapping if he had limbs to happy flap with.

No writing now.  Instead, here are a few photos of Blob Thing enjoying the cafe.  He saw that his person enjoyed the atmosphere and the food so Blob recommends that other people should visit too.  And everyone should take a little friend to share the experience with.

[428 words]

Blob Thing Treads The Boards At The Manchester Royal Exchange

Nearly a month ago, Blob had a very exciting experience.  He was visiting Manchester.  When this is published he will be visiting again and hopes to be doing some more exciting things.

His person and his creator had taken Blob Thing to the theatre one night to see a production of The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters.  Blob liked the play but there were things he didn't understand and there were a few things that scared him a bit.  All those loud noises as if there were explosions happening.  He's not keen on loud noises.

During the show Blob got asked by his person if he wanted to try his hand at acting and treading the boards.  Would Blob want to be on stage at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre?  Well Blob was so excited he could hardly contain himself and he smiled broadly and turned even more pink than usual.

Blob was a bit wary but he got up on the stage and beamed.  An actor.  It was ever such fun.  Here you can see him playing to the crowd.

Blob was popular.  People smiled at him.  But not everyone was happy.  A man came over and said to Blob's person, "You can't put things on the stage."

She could see that the man was saying something completely untrue.  Of course she could put things on the stage.  She had put Blob Thing there and he was having fun dreaming about being a star.  The man was quite clearly totally wrong.

But the man didn't look happy about things.  So she advised Blob that it might be a good idea to stop acting for the night before the man got too cross.  He obviously didn't want to see Blob on stage and he was wearing an official badge and costume.  Blob agreed and he didn't want to get his person in trouble so he climbed down from the stage.

Blob wasn't distressed by the man.  The man didn't look to Blob as if he smiled very often and Blob felt sorry for him.  People should smile.  There is so much good to find in the world that smiling should be a regular part of most people's days.

Blob sat back down and his creator held him up so another picture could be taken of him in front of the stage he had walked upon.  Yes, that is Blob's creator you can see there.  Blob likes it when he can visit her.  He thinks she is amazing and he had laughed with joy that evening when she had ridden on the rotating stage.  Nobody else had done that.  Just his creator because she knows how to live and how being free can be more important than being stately or respectable.

Blob settled down on his creator's lap, the lights dimmed and he was able to watch the rest of the play.  Afterwards, Blob's person tried to explain the nuances of the play.  But she didn't do a very good job of it or of helping Blob to understand what it all meant.  She confessed that she didn't really know herself, even after reading the book.  To her mind the book was a bunch of people doing some things in and after a war and no matter how well it had been written she didn't quite see the point of it.  Blob's person quite often misses meanings and subtexts.

It had been a good night.  Blob was happy.  He knew that he was going home the next day and would miss being with his creator.  But he knew that he would be back and they would share some more exciting things.  There was lots of excitement in that visit too.  He had been to Southport on the train.  On another day he had an amazing day out with his person on which he walked round not one, and not two, but three reservoirs.  He wants to tell you all about it.  But that will be another day.





[666 words]

Blob Thing Settles Down For His First Public Appearance

It seems so long ago, Blob Thing was alone.

He wasn't really alone.  He had friends.  But he wants to see if anyone would recognise that line from an old song, written many years before Blob was created and even some years before Blob's person was born.

He had been very used to staying at home, sitting near the bed, while his person went out.  She didn't go out as much as Blob would have advised and he wanted to help her live her life more fully.

Blob's person, for her own part, was acting far too sensible.  She had thought it quite a silly idea to take a soft toy friend out for adventures even though at least one friend had done precisely that, on and off, for years.  The friend of someone she knew had even travelled in a parcel all the way to New Zealand and back to have adventures there. But Blob's person wasn't free.  She had become far less trapped than she had been but wasn't free yet.

Blob, a believer in freedom and abundant living, didn't like seeing her this way.  Neither did Blob's creator.  She had said to Blob's person, "Why don't you take a friend with you and they can come adventuring with you?"  Blob's person had managed to do it once and had taken a unicorn to a tea house to show that she could manage to do something.  But then she came round to the idea of taking Blob, the wonderful, unique, hand-made Blob.

On 20th April, just sixty-five days before this post was published, Blob's person took a brave step and carried Blob with her when she went out.

She wasn't feeling good at all but had agreed to meet someone about a business idea that really she knew she wasn't going to be able to be involved with no matter how much she wanted to.  It really was a good idea, and had her mental health been better she could have been right at the centre of it.  But some things are not meant to be, no matter how much we want them.  And we have to let them go, gently, and allow them to take their own course.

Blob's person had agreed to meet this person - who would have been her business mentor and possibly partner and joint trustee - in a cafe in Newcastle.  But the cafe was too loud for her to cope with on that day.  So, the weather being good, they sat outside in the sunshine.

For the first time ever, Blob was taken out in public and sat on the table and looked at the world.  This was extremely exciting and there was such a lot to look at.  All the people and the sky and the tables and the writing on the pavement.  Blob also looked at the cafe, The Settle Down Cafe, and thought it actually looked very nice inside.  Blob's person had to agree that it was.  It was just that today she was having big problems with both sensory processing and anxiety so they had to sit outside, where there was no music playing.

Blob was satisfied.  He sat and smiled.  This was amazing.  He knew he wanted more of this, to accompany his person again and see more of the world.  He wanted to be a faithful companion for her.  And she agreed.  She would take him out again.  She wasn't very good at it to start with.  She would forget to bring him on an adventure.  She would forget that he was with her and he would just remain in her bag and not see a thing.  And even now she can still forget.

Even so, Blob is having fantastic adventures.  He's seen an ancient crypt.  He's been a Quaker.  He's walked in many places.  He's travelled across the county.  He's been locked up in the stocks.  He's met angels, sang angelic music and he's even tried his hand at being a bishop.  He has a lot to tell you about and is looking forward to many more adventures.  His person has lots to tell you about on her blog too.

Blob is proud of his person and the way she has been living in the last couple of months.  Just in that time he thinks she has come a long way.  Two days after Blob's adventure at Settle Down, she was feeling very miserable.  But she was determined and went out.  Her wife ordered her to find one joyful thing that day.  Instead, she found many - even though she received some bad news while she was out.  That day was a turning point for Blob's person.

It was a pity that she hadn't remembered Blob that day.  He would have loved to have shared in that adventure.  But he will share in many more.  After all, The Angel of The North said he would.  So it must be true.




[826 words]

Blob Thing Sings For Compassion And Says He is #WithRefugees

Content note: Blob expresses his strong opinions.

Blob was tired.  He had just walked from Sunderland to North Shields to support, in his own way, Sunderland Refugee Week.  He had a great time and was very pleased to have joined the walk.  He thought it was amazing.  If he and his person had made different choices they would have chosen a different day out and not met those people.  They had so nearly gone back to Chester-le-Street to walk down the river to Sunderland.  And if they had travelled on any other Metro that day they wouldn't have spotted the banner and the walkers just after getting off their train.  Their day had been very fortuitous.  It had been long too.  It's the longest walk Blob has done in his life.  So he was tired.

But the day wasn't over yet.  Blob and his person had plans.  They had heard that there would be a protest that evening.  At the protest there would be lots of singing led by the North East Socialist Singers.  Blob doesn't know if he's a socialist.  He doesn't know what a socialist is.  But the protest was for a cause that he immediately knew he could support.

The protest was by people who said that refugees are welcome here.  They would stand against racism and xenophobia and hatred.  They would stand for welcoming people with love and with warm hearts.  Blob Thing is a great believer in love and in having a warm heart.  Blob would gladly join these people and sing with them.

They sang for a long time, songs like:

Get Up, Stand Up

 Bread and Roses

We Shall Overcome

Solidarity Forever

Blob's person was very surprised to realise that she still knew most of the words to the first verse of Solidarity Forever even though she hadn't sung it in a lot of years.  She wanted to include that version of it because she had never heard it before.

Blob's person carried a placard throughout the event that she had been handed.  Afterwards she put it down with others and Blob asked for a photograph.

Four words:  Compassion, Decency, Humanity, Hope.

Just four words.  But four words that Blob Thing believes in.  Blob is happy to stand behind those four words and with people who are campaigning for those things.  And he too is #WithRefugees. 


Blob wasn't alone of course.  There were lots of people there.  And some of them were children.  Blob felt proud of them all, knowing that each of them had thought lots about issues of social justice and that they wanted to be lightbearers in a world where social justice doesn't always exist.

Inside the building an event hosted by UKIP was taking place.  Mr. Farage was speaking.  His event was called "We Want Our Country Back."  Blob thinks that Mr. Farage is being mean in trying to keep refugees out of Britain.  Blob thinks that Mr. Farage's "Breaking Point" poster was totally despicable and to defend something so closely mirroring Nazi propaganda, as Mr. Farage did, was not an action of someone who Blob would like to see having any position of power.

On the day that this is published Blob knows that people in the United Kingdom are having a vote.  Do they want to be part of the European Union?  Or do they want to leave?

Blob isn't a politician.  He isn't a member of any political group or of any campaigning group.

But he sees that one side of the argument has very often been an argument for xenophobia, an argument against those words on the placard his person had carried.  Blob looks at Mr. Farage and what he sees is campaigning without compassion for those who suffer most in the world.  He sees a complete lack of decency.  And he sees a man whose campaigning stands against the beauty that Blob sees in humanity.  Mr. Farage tries to sell hope.  But Blob sees a false hope arising from selfishness.

Blob thinks that too many of the British people have swallowed the ways of Mr. Farage, mirrored in much of the media.  Blob believes many people have been taught to fear, have been taught to want to exclude and cast out the suffering.

Blob thinks Farage and the other rich people campaigning alongside him, men with names like Johnson and Gove, might win today.  He thinks of

And Blob doesn't want to think about what the future might hold.  Blob is a little scared.  He hopes that the lightbearers can hold back the rise of hatred and exclusion that is happening.  But he sees the possibility that things will get a lot worse.

Stand with Blob Thing.  Be #WithRefugees.  Be #WithCompassion.  Be #WithHumanity.

Blob knows he's spoken strongly in this post and in the previous one.  He knows that some people won't want to know him any more.  But he doesn't care.  His person said to live daring to shock.  His person said to stand up and be himself even if some people don't like it.  And he is a brave little thing.  He's going to do it.

He does promise though that tomorrow his post will be back to normal.  In tomorrow's post, Blob will tell you about going to a cafe.  No politics.  No strong opinions about issues that are dividing the entire country and even the entire world.  Just a cafe and a cup of tea.




[893 words plus song titles]

Blob Thing Becomes An Activist And Says #RefugeesWelcome

On Monday Blob Thing and his person went walking again.  When they set out they didn't know where they would be walking.  They had three plans sorted.  They could walk from Chester-le-Street along the Weardale way to Sunderland.  They could walk from West Boldon along the River Don and then turn right and walk to the sea.  Or they could start Blob's person's walk from the Wear to the Tees.  They just didn't know.

They chatted about this on the Metro and decided that the last option was best for the day.  Blob's person's knee was not feeling good at all - every step had been painful when walking to the Metro - and that walk would never be too far from a bus stop.  So they got off the Metro at St. Peter's station.  That had been the end point of a walk Blob's person had done a while before, from the Tyne to the Wear.  They had been looking at pictures that morning and Blob said he wished he had been taken on that walk instead of being forgotten at home.  Blob's person was very apologetic about it.

Blob and his person set off.  They knew that they wouldn't reach anywhere near Hartlepool that day but they could make a good beginning.  A hundred metres into their walk they reached the Monkwearmouth Bridge which crosses the Wear in Sunderland.  And there their plans for the day changed.

They met some people crossing the bridge from the other direction.  They were carrying a banner.  A very good banner indeed.  A banner saying something that Blob and his person could both see merit in.  These were obviously good people, walking for a good cause.

Blob was planning on being at a rally supporting refugees that evening at an event where the nasty Mr. Farage was speaking.  He had just that day defended his own political party releasing a big poster that perfectly mirrored Nazi propaganda.  Just as the Nazi's were demonising Jews, Mr. Farage's poster was demonising refugees.

Now he and his person saw these people and asked if they could tag along and be part of the walk.  Happily, they could.  All the way from Sunderland to North Shields - the very walk Blob had missed out on but in reverse order.  He was so excited.  Not only was he going to walk the route (which he'll tell you about another time) but he was going to do it for a good cause.

He and his person talked with a lot of good people on the walk.  Some were there simply to support.  Some worked with refugees to help them here.  Some worked to take aid to refugees who otherwise would starve to death in camps abroad.  Some helped to run charities and projects that would aid refugee socially and practically in the local area.  Blob learned that one man there had been arrested six times for peaceful protests for good things like not having big weapons of mass destruction.  Blob thought that all these people were excellent.

Blob enjoys a rest during the walk.
















And he learned that some of those walking were refugees from different countries.  Some of them didn't even know if they would be allowed to remain in this country or if they would be sent away.  He knew that these people had fled from horrific circumstances.  Some had been through all kinds of hell in their own countries and in their journey to some kind of safety here.

Some of them were Muslims.  And some were Christians.  Blob Thing spotted long ago that people like Mr. Farage don't mention that there are Christian refugees.  He is part of the problem that includes people even worse than him demonising all people who follow Islam.  Blob doesn't think people like that are nice. But the refugees he was walking with all seemed friendly and he was glad to be among them.

He was absolutely amazed by the Muslims who were walking.  It was a long walk for everyone but the Muslims, as part of their faith, were celebrating Ramadan.  During Ramadan, among such things as increased giving to charity, Muslims fast from dawn until dusk.  The walk was taking place on the Summer Solstice and that meant for eighteen hours that day they were not permitted to eat or drink anything.  And yet they were walking too.  Blob thought this was wonderful.

At the end of the walk, everyone was greeted in a church in North Shields and they were all treated to a massive spread of food.  The Muslims were able to take away lots of food too so that they could feast on it when the sun went down.  Blob was very pleased that everyone's needs had been considered so carefully.

Blob and his person ate very well after the walk.










Blob had enjoyed a fantastic day with the group from Sunderland Refugee Week.  He's got lots to tell you about later - including posing with a human dragon, riding on a boat and becoming a lifeguard.  But today this is more important.  Much more important.

Today Blob just wants to say that he things refugees are welcome and that he is proud to be living in a city of sanctuary and to have been walking with people from another city of sanctuary.   Blob Thing is proud of each and every person who he met on the walk.  He's proud of the walkers.  And he's proud of the people who helped the walkers by providing food.  There are a lot of good people in this world.

The day was not over.  Blob Thing was tired.  But he still wanted to get to the rally and support good people there, standing up for something worthwhile.  He will tell you about that tomorrow.

The whole of this week is refugee week.  Across the country good things are happening. If you want to get involved with any of it, the main website is http://refugeeweek.org.uk/   Some of the local events are listed on the site and there are contact details for local people who would know more.

He started this blog just to share a photo a day and say where he had been.

But today he has a message.  Tomorrow he will have a message too.

Today Blob says, refugees are welcome here.





[1056 words]

Blob Thing Introduces A Friend. 1: Amethyst

Blob Thing has been wanting to introduce his friends for a while.  And his creator has been asking when she is going to see his friends.  She wants Blob's person to post about the friends too, a big group shot and then information about each one of them.  There are quite a few friends.  This is good but Blob feels a little sorry for the life his person lived for many years.

Blob's person has a few very old friends tucked away from her childhood.  They are tucked away.  They haven't received love in a long time.  Indeed, they're still tucked away and Blob would like them to come out and meet all his friends.  Maybe they will one day.

For years Blob's person slept without a friend.  No soft, furry creature to look after her at night.  Blob doesn't know how she managed that.  His person says that in her society it is quite frowned upon for a grown up to cuddle a soft toy friend at night and that adults are expected to grow out of things.  She said that there are many things which are thought of as childish - and thus beneath and unworthy of the attention of adults.  Having soft toy friends is one of those things.  Others include playing with bubbles, hoops and playing and enjoying play areas.  She said that there are even signs at play areas saying that they are unsuitable for adults.

Blob Thing could hardly believe it.  How could playing on a swing or a slide or a climbing frame be unsuitable for an adult?  Who were the strange, deluded individuals who made such rules?  And why did so many people seem to agree with them, or at least follow them?  Blob shook his head in horrified disbelief.  And since that was firmly attached to his body by virtue of him having no neck, he shook all over.

Blob's person said that she had used to follow those rules too.  She used to follow a lot of rules.  She had been very trapped but was slowly learning the meaning of freedom.  One of the little steps along the road to freedom had been getting a friend, and then lots of friends, including Blob Thing himself.

It was Blob's very own creator - even before he was made - who had started this part of her entering into freedom.  Blob's person had been feeling sad and his creator said that if she had a friend then they could have a hug in a most magical way.  Friends are magic she said.  And if one person hugs a friend and another person hugs their friend, if the intent is there, no matter the distance between them, it can be like hugging each other.  The magic friends act as intermediaries and they remove the distance.  In a magic hug two people can be together even though they are apart.

Blob's person had been understandably very suspicious of this theory.  She said it sounded ludicrous to her.  Nevertheless she had agreed to go out to all the charity shops and to try to find a friend.  One that looked right.  And she found one.  And bought him  For her, that was a big step.  Here's the new friend:

She became called Amethyst and she has been a good, faithful companion for the past nine months.  The night after Amethyst was bought, Blob's person and Blob's creator tried an experiment.  They tried the magic hug.  And it worked.  It really worked.  It worked in a way that Blob's person would never have believed had she not experienced it for herself.  Yes, she explained to Blob, soft friends can perform magic.  Blob shrugged his head because that wasn't news to him.  And, by virtue of having no neck, he shrugged his entire body too.  If you can imagine that sight.  Blob's person could only laugh.

Here is Amethyst again, holding a card that was sent to Blob's person around the same time by Blob's creator.  The day it arrived had been horrible.  Blob's person had totally melted down in the city centre and cried a lot, publicly.  She had managed to find sanctuary in a quiet part of the library and some people, including Blob's creator, had stayed with her via constant messaging until she could manage to get home.  It had truly been awful.

When Blob's person got home she found this card waiting for her, made by Blob's creator.

The card contained such nice words.  And the picture on the front told a truth.  That his creator and his person would keep each other dry in the rain.  They would look after each other and in that joint care they would smile.

Blob's person read the card over and over again and looked at the picture more.  And she cried.  And she cried and did a lot of crying.  But these were tears of happiness.  Blob is happy too.  If not for the deep friendship between his person and his creator, if not for they way they look after each other, if not for the two of them, and maybe if not for magic hugs with Amethyst, he would never have existed at all.

One final picture.  Here's Amethyst and Blob Thing together.  Both friends of Blob's person.  And friends with each other.

In time, Blob will introduce all his other friends.  There are unicorns, an elephant, bears, a Portal, a dog, a wombat, a warthog and a very friendly slow loris too.  Lots of friends.  It's good to have friends and Blob knows how fortunate he is.




[934 words]

Blob Thing Visits Geek Retreat With His Person

Blob Thing has already told you much about Geek Retreat.  He wanted to share a few more photos of the place, including one very special photo, showing you something he hasn't shown you before.  It's something he is very, very proud of.  So here is Blob Thing, sitting on the table at the start of his visit before his person shutdown for a while and he went off to explore on his own.

Posing when he got back.

He recommends Geek Retreat, especially for geeks.








And here is the special photo.  Here is what he is so proud of: His person.  This picture was taken of Blob and his person at the end of their visit to Geek Retreat.  He is happy when there are photos of the two of them together.  He's so proud of her.  She has come a long way in the last few years and because of her brain it is a challenge for her every single day.

Blob especially wants to share that photo because his person shared a different version of it on Facebook while she was still in the cafe.  Here it is:

A shocking sight!


But why? Why did she post that?

Well, she is transgender and some people notice this and some people are worried by it in different ways.  She gets stared at.  A lot.  People don't know how to react to his person.  That morning, shortly before arriving at Geek Retreat she had been walking through the market.  A woman saw her.  Stopped and stared.  Looked her up and down.  And said in a loud, angry voice, "Shocking!"

So there.  Blob's person is a shocking sight.  At least to some people.

Fortunately his person wasn't feeling bad about herself.  She was getting pretty overwhelmed by the city centre.  But she felt good about herself.  So she wasn't going to be affected in any bad way by that woman.  She was quite amused by it and felt sorry for the woman who had been so shocked.

Blob's person shared that photo with the following text:

People are easily shocked!

A woman was just passing me in the market. She stopped. Stared at me. And in a stern, almost angry voice, said "Shocking!"

I suspect that, considered objectively, there may be more shocking things happening in the world than Clare daring to confidently exist.

I hope and pray that the woman will recover from her shock and won't need medical assistance for it.

Personally I think I look marvellous. I look like me. And that is a wonderful revelation.

Blob is very proud of his person.  He loves her a lot.  He loves the way she confidently exists and how she keeps on fighting.  Blob likes to confidently exist too.  People may say he's just a small pink blob but he knows he is so much more inside.  He is himself.  And that's pretty marvellous, just like his person.

Blob thinks everyone should confidently exist.  People should dare to be who they are - as long as they're not harming others, as long as they are growing in love.

Blob and his person like reading what some people post on Facebook.  One of those people is a man named Jim Palmer.  He writes on spiritual matters and on the path away from religion into freedom, the way to live as who you are rather than living by someone else's expectations of how you should live.  This morning, a few hours before writing this post, Blob and his person read a post from Jim Palmer.  It's here, under this link.  If they were clever enough at technical things they would embed the link so you wouldn't have to click on it.  Blob's person has been through a lot to get to where she is now and she knows she has quite a long way to go.  In one part of that writing Jim Palmer writes:

Have compassion on yourself. Choosing to live a self-directed and conscious life isn't always rainbows and ponies. Expect resistance. Change isn't easy. It often disrupts and destabilizes our identity, relationships and the life we once knew. You will get through this. It's not going to happen all at once. There may be lonely and dark days as you go. You are not alone. There are countless people on a similar path, waking up and choosing a new course for their lives. You will find the assistance and direction you need within yourself and from what unfolds and comes to you as you walk your path.

Blob's person is going to do that.  And so is Blob.  He will walk his path.  It's easier for Blob though.  He's been walking his path and living his life ever since he was created.  Blob will enjoy watching the changes ahead in his person's life as she lives her own life, her self-directed, conscious life more and more.

Blob encourages each one of you to follow his example.  His person's example.  Jim's example.  Or the example of anyone who walks such a path.  Follow them until you find you aren't following them at all but following yourself, the Christ wisdom that is already within you.  Blob wishes you well as you walk into that freedom and that overflowing love and life.

Blob confesses that today he only wanted to share a few photos.  He wasn't going to share anything about being shocking or about pride or freedom.  But then he felt he had to.  And he has one last piece of advice for you:

Dare to live in such freedom that people will find you shocking.




[830 words plus quotation]

Blob Thing Becomes A Geeky Player of Games

Blob went to a cafe recently.  He goes to quite a lot of cafes.

His person wanted somewhere quiet to sit because being in the street was becoming more than she could bear.  She was wondering where to go and while making her decision noticed that a cafe shop was just opening for the day.

Blob Thing asked whether that would be a good place to go because, at that time of day, it would be quiet.  It's jam packed full with players of games later but at that time it would be empty.  His person looked through the door and decided it would be okay and that they could sit on a very comfy looking sofa in the side of the cafe.  Blob made a good choice of cafe.

His person has been there before and even eaten hot sweet waffles with ice cream there which is an experience she recommends.  But she hadn't visited in quite a while.  She ordered her drink and sat down and tried to focus on the quiet.  She needed to be alone and kept her noise cancelling headphones on and closed her eyes.  She desperately needed this quiet if she was going to be able to face the noise again and get home.

Blob wanted to help his person but knew if he said too much he would add to her difficulties.  So he went off to explore the cafe.

Blob and the cafe.  Later in the day all those tables would be used by people playing complicated games.  Blob was glad that there is a special place in Newcastle for game playing.  He likes it that people play.

Blob loved all the flashing lights on the pinball machine.  He's not seen much Star Trek, just a few episodes of Deep Space 9.  One day he would quite like to watch that entire series but there's ever such a lot of it.

Blob wonders what it would be like to cosplay as different characters from Star Trek.  If anyone wants to make him a costume, let him know and he'll send you his size.

He wanted to play with the pinball machine too but didn't want to disturb his person for money and didn't think it would be that easy anyway, what with having no hands and only being a few inches tall.

Games!

Blob loves this place.  It has lots of games for customers to play.  And it has lots of comic books available to read too.

This is no ordinary cafe.  This is Geek Retreat, on Grainger Street in Newcastle.  Blob thinks it's completely amazing and he can see why it gets so packed with people.

Blob loves this picture.

He loves it a lot.

He doesn't know anything about Magic The Gathering but he enjoyed being carried by this woman, whoever she was.
























After his trip round the cafe shop Blob returned to his person.  She seemed to be feeling a lot better.  She was sitting on the sofa enjoying her drink and was even managing to read some pages from her book.  Blob was glad.  He loves his person and when she's not feeling good he feels sad and wants her to feel good again.  She is glad to have Blob.  He is a good friend and his smile is always an encouragement.

Blob's person agreed to leave her drink for a few minutes so he could show her the things he had seen.  So she came with him and took photos of him with the things he had enjoyed there.  Yes, it's true.  The above pictures were not selfies taken by Blob.  He can't take selfies.  He finds that it's impossible to press the button on the phone and take pictures while he is far enough from the phone for a good picture.  He finds it almost impossible to press the button at all and leaves all the photography for his person to do.  But she doesn't mind.  She likes taking pictures and having all the memories to look at later.

Blob and his person sat down again on the very comfy sofa and Blob waited patiently for his person to finish her drink.  She read a few more pages took some deep breaths, feeling able to move on.  So they left Geek Retreat for the bus stop, which is only across the road from the cafe.

Blob didn't want his person to feel bad.  He didn't want her to have been so close to meltdown or to shutdown.  He didn't want to see her have another panic attack.  He likes it when his person is calm, as she was calm in the countryside when walking.  On the other hand, Blob was pleased to have visited Geek Retreat.  He liked it there.  And he has more to say about it.



[802 words]

Blob Thing Relaxes With A Jumping Bean in Durham

Wow!  It had been a good day.  Blob had experienced a surprising number of good things.  He was happy.

He arrived in Durham and all of a sudden the quiet and calm lands he had been crossing for so many hours transformed into noise and bustle and crowds.  There were many people going in and out of shops.  And there was a bad busker singing along to a backing track while a man danced along, in a half rhythm that seemed to have no relationship to the song.

Blob wondered whether the people in the shops were having as good a day as his.  Some people did look quite happy but others looked a bit miserable about the whole thing.  He felt sorry for them because his day under the sky had been so good and free and they were caught up in the city and in the quest to shop.

Blob's person told him that this was what some people liked to do.  Not everyone would think that a long walk in the sunshine was a good day out.  Others would prefer to be in the shops.  Some people liked this kind of thing.  Blob thought that was very strange.  But his person reminded him that she likes some shops too and that when they had been in Durham the previous week they went in quite a few shops - mostly charity shops but those are still shops.  She also reminded him that most of his friends had been rescued from such shops.  Blob had to agree that shops can be good.  He wouldn't like to be without his friends.

Blob needed a rest and a drink before heading for home.  So he walked a little way up a side street.  Just a little way.  And it was quiet.  He wanted to go to a cafe he had been to before - and wants to tell you about.  It's called Jumping Bean.  Blob will post about it at a future date.  He likes it there and enjoyed sitting inside it the previous week.  This time he sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and the relative peacefulness only a few metres from a busy, busy street.

And he sat and thought about his day.  He remembered his trip to Mars, his bravery meeting the big swans, the beauty of the route, his interest in the prison, and that fantastic abbey.  The angel had told him that there would be amazing days ahead of him.  Maybe this was one of them.

Blob sat and said to his person, "This is life."

And he smiled.

[433 words]

Blob Thing Decides That Walls Actually Do A Prison Make

Blob Thing was enjoying his day out immensely.  He felt refreshed and renewed after belting out a liturgical chant in the abbey.  He felt free, and as he walked up the lane and left the abbey behind he felt that there couldn't possibly be anything wrong in the world.  How could there be when humans had such amazingly beautiful places to visit and such songs to sing?  How could there be bad things in a world which contained the ice cream he had eaten?  It just didn't seem possible.

Blob was reminded that bad things can happen, even before he reached the end of the quiet lane and reached a road.  Suddenly there was approaching at very high speed - surely far higher than the speed limit - a police car with its lights flashing.  And then there was another one hurtling down the lane to the abbey.  Was something bad going on even there?  Was that oasis of peace being disturbed by bad people?

Blob's person reminded him that the abbey itself was only a ruin because people a long time ago couldn't get on with each other and had massive arguments and even wars about which one of them was right. The objective reality was of course that they were both wrong but believed their versions of events, of God, of church, of rulership and believed them so stubbornly that others had to suffer and die.  The same thing was happening today around the world.  Blob could hardly believe that human beings were so stupid that they would act in such a way towards each other.

He couldn't know what was happening back at the abbey and a later internet search didn't tell him anything.  So Blob continued along his walk, still feeling very free but a little sad about the utter craziness of so many humans.  And then at the end of the lane he saw it.  Something else that showed him the way humans can behave towards each other.

He saw high concrete walls.  He saw fences.  He saw locked gates.  What was this?  Was this some giant play area that had been constructed so the humans could have fun there?  Was this a place where sensible adults could jump and swing and slide and use climbing frames without stupid adults thinking ill of them?  Was it a place filled with bubble machines and kites and people dressed as unicorns and playing with hoops and yo-yos and having a good time with each other?  Was it a place of free dancing and playing in the puddles?  Had the humans constructed a giant fun palace out here?  Could it really be true?  Blob was quite excited.

But it wasn't true.  It wasn't true at all.  Blob's person told him that the walls were of a prison.  It was a place where humans who have done bad things get put as a punishment, as a way of protecting others, and (ideally) to help those humans reach the point where they can live a better life.  Blob learned that the humans were locked up inside those walls for many years.

He could hardly believe it.  Blob found a bench and sat down to think.  He felt sad.  You can tell.  If you look very closely you can see that he isn't smiling quite as much as usual.  You do have to look very closely though.

Blob Thing walked on.  The route took him past the prison and he walked beside the walls rather than on the official path.  He had heard a phrase, "Walls do not a prison make."  Blob decided that was nonsense.  These walls did a prison make.  It was a prison and these were its walls.  The people being held inside couldn't leave.  But Blob, being outside, could go where he wanted to go and could choose.  Walls certainly did this prison made.  It was a silly phrase.

Blob's person tried to explain that there was a deeper meaning to it.  But Blob couldn't see it.  He's not good at metaphor.  His person said that was perfectly acceptable.  She isn't that good at metaphor either but has had many years of practice whereas Blob is still very young.

Blob left the prison behind and soon reached the open countryside again and felt a lot better about life.  He loves life.  How can you not love life when it contains places such as this?:

When Blob got home his person suggested that they look up the phrase about walls and prisons and find out more about it.  Blob learned that it was a line from a poem that was written in 1642 by Richard Lovelace.  He wrote it in prison.  He'd been locked up as part of the long argument that century and the previous one about who should rule a country and which church people should go to.  The same argument that had turned Finchale Priory into a ruin.  A very long argument - that had happened a hundred years earlier.  Blob read the poem carefully.

When Love with unconfinéd wings
Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair
And fettered to her eye,
The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round,
With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free,
Fishes, that tipple in the deep,
Know no such liberty.

When, like committed linnets, I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty,
And glories of my King;
When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Enlargéd winds, that curl the flood,
Know no such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.

Blob didn't quite understand what a tippling fish might be.  He does see that point that there is freedom in love and that our outward circumstances don't remove that freedom unless we let them, even if those outward circumstances are prison walls.  But he's firm on one thing still.  Stone walls DO a prison make.  And he knows.  He has seen them.

Blob's research of the poem led him to some music.  A band called Fairport Convention had made it into a song.  Blob thought that was a funny name.  His person said she had grown up listening to that particular band and still listened to the album she has on her phone.  She had posted songs from them very recently on Facebook because their fiddle player, Dave Swarbrick, had died.  Here's the song, music written by Swarbrick, who plays fiddle and is vocalist on the track too.

[988 words plus poem - I'm sure when we started this, Blob said it would just be him posting a picture every day so the world could, if it chose, share in his exuberant joy.  What happened to that idea?]

Blob Thing Sings The Kyrie And Gets Ruined

Blob Thing was really enjoying his day out.  He's laughing now because his person wrote that and then he remembered a tip for writers that he read last week.  It said to not use the word really.  If something is happening, it is really happening and readers can spot that it's happening without that word.  Blob reminded his person of the tip and told her to start again.

Blob Thing was enjoying his day out a great deal.  He had already been to Mars, talked with swans, seen marvellous views while walking along the river, and now he had arrived at an ancient abbey.  It was very nice but he could see that it had fallen into a state of disrepair.  Blob's person told him that the abbey had not been used for that purpose in a very long time.  All the monks had been thrown out of it nearly five hundred years ago.  Blob could hardly believe it.  That seemed to him to be an unfeasibly long time.  But his owner assured him it was true and that a king called Henry had done it.  Blob has been reading about it since he got home but is still confused by what possible connnection there could be between someone wanting to get divorced and a disused abbey in County Durham.

He loved the abbey but wished it had a roof.  He got slightly worried that all the monks must have got very cold and wet living there.  But his person told him that all the rooms would once have had roofs.  It would still have been cold though because the monks did not have central heating and they had to get up very early even in winter.  Every single day.  Blob wasn't sure that he would have liked to be a monk.

Blob explored Finchale some more and then he went down some steps and got very, very excited to find himself here.  A room with a ceiling.  It was beautiful.

Blob asked his person a question but before she could answer he spotted the room had a rather brilliant echo and he asked if they could sing something together, something suitable for a monastic environment.  And so they sang together Blob and his person.  They sang the Kyrie and they sang it loudly, not caring that someone might enter the room, think them weird, and stare at them.

Kyrie, eleison

Christe, eleison

Kyrie, eleison

Lord, have mercy

Christ, have mercy

Lord, have mercy

Blob enjoyed the singing.  He really enjoyed the singing!  He doesn't even care about ignoring tips for writing because he enjoyed it so much.  The echo was wonderful.  The setting was wonderful.  And the sound of his voice was so beautiful.  His person's voice wasn't quite so pretty.  At least she was in tune.

Blob doesn't believe in that particular Lord that he was singing about but sometimes you just have to sing for the joy of singing.  He had learned that not many days earlier when singing shape note from The Sacred Harp and from Shenandoah Harmony.  That was a fantastic weekend which is why he began his blog by talking about it.

Blob couldn't keep singing forever.  There were still miles to walk and he hadn't finished exploring the abbey.  He was in ruins.  And at that moment it seemed to be the perfect place to be.

Just look at him.  Have you ever seen a happier Blob Thing or one more satisfied with the simplicity of going for a walk.  He is possibly the most amazing blob in the entire world.

Blob had adored being at Finchale Priory.  But it was time to go.  So he and his owner left behind the monastic walls and continued their trip to Durham.  It wasn't long before Blob passed some other walls.  He wants to tell you about them next time.