What the Guys want the Girls to Know

On Saturday I posted What Girls wanted Guys to Know About Them. Here is the list of the things that guys want the girls to know about them. Again, I've taken the list from HeadHandHeart's blog.

Guys can be nervous and shy too (x4).

We have feelings too (x4).

Guys work hard.

We are not as emotional.

Men prefer women to let them know that they have feelings for them. Many men are shy of that aspect.

Just be straightforward and don’t be confusing.

Don’t lead guys on when you really have no interest in them. Guys can have a hard time figuring out whether you are really interested.

Most guys aren’t as tough as they try to look. They try to look the part but really need women.

My sister is very strict.

My phone number (x4).

Most guys won’t wait around for a girl they like, if she just strings them along.

Guys are human too, they need encouragement.

If our friends don’t talk to us for a week, we don’t think that they hate us.

It’s nice when you tell us how you feel instead of giving us the cold shoulder.

Choosing one from so many wonderful young ladies is hard.

We are programmed to lead.

Make me a sandwich.

We wear the pants (trousers for British readers!)

We’re not as emotional as you might want us to be.

Pretty is great but being able to change tires and do other practical things is great too.

I find more modestly dressed women attractive.

Even though I don’t appear nice, I’m more nice to people I get to know better.

We don’t understand girl’s subtleties, like body language, your words, the way you act. Tell us straight!

Guys tend to be very visual, therefore dress and actions can easily promote lust and sinful thoughts.

Sometimes guys are quiet just because they are interested in you! Just because they ignore you, doesn’t mean they don’t like you.

Guys are vulnerable. They way a girl dresses and speaks holds a lot of power on the way a guy thinks.

Girls look just as good without all the makeup.

To a guy who truly loves a girl, looks are just a small part of the attraction, although we do love the physical part – confusing!

Guys aren’t all the same. Each guy thinks very different from the other.

Most guys lust quickly. You dress a little immodestly and our minds hit the gutter (x5).

Guys love easy-going girls. Take it easy on us and let us do our thing.

No guys like shopping for hours!! Except for sports equipment!

Guys don’t need to spend too much time in the mirror in the morning.

Sometimes we don’t fell like talking That doesn’t mean we don’t love you.

We are practical.

We are logical (generally).

We’re not scary to talk to.

Men like good food.

When you make us a sandwich, please also bring us a drink.

Sometimes guys have a hard time starting conversation. So girls should start conversations too.

“Great, now make me a sandwich!”

Again, some of them are light-hearted. Some more serious.


Tomorrow, we'll have a closer took at some of the 'picks' from the first list. We may even try and imagine what it is to be a teenager and decipher what really is being said. That ought to be fun!


For now, which of the ones from the list (above) made you stop and think, or laugh, or shake your head?

What Girls want Guys to Know About Them

One of the workshops at the camp at which DR and Catherine were asked the girls the question:


"What would you want guys to know about girls?". 


I'll put the whole list here, taken from HeadHandHeart - it's rather long but I'll leave it unedited, and next week I'll post the list that the guys gave of "stuff we'd like girls to know about us". 

Sometimes just a hug is better than words.

Girls do not enjoy your jokes about women in the kitchen.

I wish guys would understand that they are marshmallows underneath. It doesn’t matter, because we are too!

Please protect our purity.

When a girl says she is “Fine” take a second to break down that four-letter-word: Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. When girls say they are “Fine,” chances is they aren’t!

Holding doors open and being the gentleman is completely cool.

When you ask me out, be ready to be the man of a relationship, and make me a top priority.

I wish you knew how much it means when you are chivalrous and do small courteous things for us (x4).

Girls like to feel loved and protected (x3).

We don’t always know what we want.

If you take charge, we will let you.

Take charge, be bold, and just ask us out (or ask for my Dad’s number).

Girls are emotional, they need to cry it out sometimes, even if they don’t like to let you see it, and if they don’t always want to talk about it (especially if it has something to do with you).

Girls want guys to respect them and to listen to them; not mock them.

Girls like attention, but not to the point where they feel watched or uncomfortable.

Girls can tell if a guy is constantly watching them. It makes just being around that guy very uncomfortable.

Girls, whether they want to or not, are continually pressured by the media on how they should look, dress, and act. Standards are set that are unrealistic and hard to meet. So guys, remember this esteem struggle girls have and could really use an honest compliment every now and then.

Make your own sandwich.

Girls hate it when guys are two-faced.

Don’t lie to a girl to avoid arguments.

We don’t like it when you try to show-off.

Don’t flirt with other girls (x3).

Girls want guys to take the initiative and take leadership responsibilities (x6).

Please be the first one to introduce yourself, otherwise you don’t look confident which is unattractive (x3).

There’s more to us than you think. We love to laugh. We come in different shapes and sizes.

Girls eat too. We are not supermodels.

We find it quite attractive when you’re holding a baby.

Some girls purposely ignore the guy they like, even though it sounds totally backwards.

If you like a girl, talk to her. If you’re nervous, just pick a casual setting like playing soccer or walking to the campfire and just chat to her. Trust me, girls are good at talking and will fill in the silences.

If you are interested in us, don’t be scared to come and talk to us. We don’t bite! We could be interested in you as well and are just waiting for you to make the first move.

We’d love if guys knew that they should pay attention to us because then we wouldn’t have to tell them everything we feel.

After spending time to get ready a girl loves to be complimented on the time spent.

If you like a girl, be her friend first; don’t rush things – she has to know and trust you.

We like to talk things out.

A positive thing said by a guy to me can make me smile and feel good for a whole day. A negative thing, however, no matter if they meant to say it or not, can turn me down for days and weeks. Sometimes a guy’s opinion is more important for us than a girl’s opinion.

Sometimes we don’t know or understand our own feelings so we have a hard time revealing/expressing our true feelings. That’s why we appear to speak a “different language.”

Girls like to know they are appreciated.

Just ask what is wrong. Ask to talk about it. When you do that, it is like WOW.

Don’t give us your phone number.

We don’t understand your silence. We aren’t all that scary.

I wish guys knew that it doesn’t matter if they aren’t ripped!

Speak to us!

I wish guys knew that we don’t care about if they are good looking, just as long as they are themselves, not arrogant or false – good looks would be great as well 

Apologize. Ask for forgiveness. It means a lot and the majority of girls will forgive and it will clear the air.

Communication is huge. Girls tend to imagine worst-case scenarios.

Doing things like flips off the pier to catch our attention or smoking or drinking is a turn off and not impressive.

I wish guys understood how saddening it is, as a girl, to know that the guy she will marry cannot be entirely loyal in his mind, due to the immodesty and sexual temptation this society is saturated in.

Don’t only tell me you love me, show me you do!

Be fun, humorous, and positive, but know when to be serious and know when not to joke around.

Tell her she is beautiful, treat her like she is the best.

We do not appreciate your jokes about us belonging in the kitchen, and no, I will not make you a sandwich (just kidding).

We have a huge amount of respect for them when they lead in prayer, devotions, etc., even if they are nervous.

Know who you are, know what you believe, and have a vision!

How you treat/respect your mother and sisters tells me a lot about how you will treat your wife.

We girls like to be told we look nice. It’s not awkward, really.

Girls like to be encouraged in trying to dress modestly. It can be hard to go so much against our culture. You can be looked down on sometimes because of it.

 I can cook!

I'd love to discuss some of them over the next couple of days with y'all. Let me know which ones make you think, 'Yes! That is so true'. 


And which ones make you think, 'No, no, no! That is not important at all!'.

Lunch with a very Special Lady

Sometimes, we are blessed to have new friends come into our lives. We can even go through certain stages of our lives, with difficult trials and hardships, and God places a certain person - the exact person you need right then - in your life for that time.

But there are other people who are in your life from your childhood.

My Mum (on the left in the photo below) has been blessed to have her dear friend, Jessie, as her friend since she was a young girl. My Mum never had a sister, but God gave her this one. 

They grew up in the same village; before Mum married, they worked together; and then she was Mum's bridesmaid fifty years ago at Mum and Dad's wedding. And they've been in each other's lives all these years since then.

We grew up with this lady as our 'auntie' - the best of aunties imaginable.

Yesterday was her birthday, so we gave her a surprise lunch at Digby's.

This was my starter: a fishcake on a black pudding with a beautiful mustard sauce.

I would show you my main course but I ate it before I snapped it!

Pudding was a lemon curd and lime cheesecake with toasted coconut on top. 

The meal was lovely, but not half as lovely as this very special lady who is as much part of my family as any blood relative could ever be.

The Answer to the Riddle

Well, a few of you were able to solve the riddle, but for those of you slowly but surely going mad, here is the answer:


It's Jonah's Whale....


Re-read it, and see how the whale that swallowed Jonah fits it all.

God formed the first man out of dust, 

but first made me, in purpose just;

So I was made before the man,

to answer God's most holy plan.

My body He did make complete,

but without arms or legs or feet;

My ways and acts He did control,

but to my body gave no soul.

A living being I became,

and Adam gave to me a name;

I from his presence then withdrew, 

and never more of Adam knew.

I did my Maker's law obey,

not from it ever went astray;

Thousands of miles I go in fear,

but seldom on the earth appear.

For purpose wise which God did see,

He put a living soul in me;

Days few - and nights - passed by, and then

He took from me that soul again.

When I had thus His will obeyed,

I was the same as when first made;

and without arms or legs or soul.

I travel on from Pole to Pole.

I move with easy by day and night,

to fallen man give great delight;

Thousands of people, young and old,

do by my death great light behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive,

the Scriptures I can not believe;

to heaven above, I cannot go,

nor to the grave, or hell below.

Now when these lines you closely read, 

go search the Bible with all speed;

For that my name's recorded there

I honestly to you declare.

And now I'm off to look at more of DR and Catherine's photos from their amazing three week holiday to Canada and the USA. Undoubtedly, I shall hear more stories too. They don't tire of telling them, and I don't tire of listening.


To those who showed them so much kindness, I cannot thank you enough. Truly, I can only thank God for all you did for them. The Moores in Toronto, the Murrays and the Ts in Grand Rapids, and all the wonderful young folk they met at the Youth Conference and at their Soccer Nights ... you all gave them an unforgettable holiday.


Our prayer, of course, is that all that was experienced by all who were there would be blessed to never-dying souls.

Guess the Name

Can you guess who I am?

God formed the first man out of dust, 

but first made me, in purpose just;

So I was made before the man,

to answer God's most holy plan.

My body He did make complete,

but without arms or legs or feet;

My ways and acts He did control,

but to my body gave no soul.

A living being I became,

and Adam gave to me a name;

I from his presence then withdrew, 

and never more of Adam knew.

I did my Maker's law obey,

not from it ever went astray;

Thousands of miles I go in fear,

but seldom on the earth appear.

For purpose wise which God did see,

He put a living soul in me;

Days few - and nights - passed by, and then

He took from me that soul again.

When I had thus His will obeyed,

I was the same as when first made;

and without arms or legs or soul.

I travel on from Pole to Pole.

I move with easy by day and night,

to fallen man give great delight;

Thousands of people, young and old,

do by my death great light behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive,

the Scriptures I can not believe;

to heaven above, I cannot go,

nor to the grave, or hell below.

Now when these lines you closely read, 

go search the Bible with all speed;

For that my name's recorded there

I honestly to you declare.

On Patrice's Porch - It's Been Almost a Year Now

1. What's your favourite room in your home?


Oh, that could be difficult to answer. Wait til I think...


I do love the Family Room. It's cozy and it speaks to me of a day's work done, and a time for the family to relax. It's definitely a feet-up-chillax kinda room.

...this kind of relaxing!

And in summer, when I sit in my corner of the sofa, this is what I see.

2. If you could go anwhere on vacation, all expenses paid, where would it be?


Oh Patrice! I think I'm gonna be really greedy here. 


Here's the plan:


We fly to Maine - it's just across that water I see out of my kitchen window. We'll drive down the East Coast ... all these wonderful places - the coast of Maine, south into New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and all the way south to Virginia. Oh yes, Vir-gin-ia! After spending a wee bit of time there (insert wink), we would drive West. All the way west until we finally hit Oregon and the West Coast.


You think I'm finished..... Oh no! If this is all-expenses-paid, I am doing this Big Style. From Oregon, we drive north into Canada. After touring the wonderful and stunningly beautiful British Columbia, we take the train east, crossing the breathtaking Rockies. Can you imagine? Jasper. Lake Louise. Calgary. Then we could drive right across the prairies, and after stopping off in Ontario - just because I love it there - we would carry on east all the say to the Eastern Seaboard provinces, finishing off in Nova Scotia. 


There we could catch up with some Canadian Gaelic speakers and begin to feel 'almost home', before heading back across the Atlantic to our actual home.


Are y'all exhausted? Excited? Dreaming? 


Well, Patrice, you did ask. And you did say All Expenses Paid!




3. Were you a girl scout, or in any similar programme?


Nope. We didn't really have them here when we were growing up, although there are Brownies, Guides and Scouts here now. 




4. What's your favourite frozen treat?


Oh, I do like when you come to speak of food. 


I love Porrelli's ice-cream. The white ice-cream is wonderful with Sticky Toffee puddings, or with any warm pudding: Apple Pie, hot Chocolate Fudge Cake, Rhubarb Crumble ....


And their Raspberry Ripple ice-cream is simply yummy on its own. 


Now ... how to get to the freezer without being caught .... ?




5. Are you NASCAR or the elderly lady with the pillbox hat when you drive?


I love driving (see question 2!), although the Builder would be doing most of the driving on that Very Realistic Holiday I described, and I'd be enjoying the ride. When I was younger (that would be last week, wouldn't it ;), I loved to drive very fast. Very, very fast. Actually, I still get that same thrill when I speed. 


Sorry, let me re-phrase that: I would get that same thrill, if I ever sped.


Once I had kids, my speed dropped. There's nothing makes you slow down like knowing you have precious passengers in the car with you.


I have been known to embarrass my kids by doing a Sunday Driver imitation - yes, when there are people around. You know what I mean .... driving sitting right up with her nose almost to the steering wheel; lots and lots of revs and finally the clutch comes out with a st-st-stutter and jerk. Then lots of revs while the clutch is in to change into second gear.


You get the picture? 


You see why my kids sometimes wish to disown me? And why they've already booked therapy for when they're older, because all these traumatic experiences are bound to have caused damage....


Such fun!!

Photographs from an Unnamed Photographer

Someone went off with the camera today. You may be able to guess who from the following set of photos.

Fort Alamo

Lightning MacQueen

A London Bus - the photographer's favourite, apparently

Military vehicle -  a tank on wheels, with its gun pointing straight at you.

My favourite. Twins ...

A present from CA, all the way from Canada. Thanks, Mate.

Photos on the wall.

They are my kids as they are etched in my mind. They keep growing and moving on, but this is how they are to me. 

It explains the innumerable number of hugs they have to put up with every day. And they are kind enough to their poor Mama to humour me through it all.

A Sermon for Tomorrow

Our peats are all home, and our vegetable plot is coming on a treat. I feel truly blessed by God's goodness in these temporal provisions.


And now we come to a needed and looked-forward-to day of rest.

I haven't heard this actual sermon - it's called Christ, the Great King Priest - but the retired minister preaching it is who we'll be hearing tomorrow. Our own minister is on holiday.

I hope y'all have a blessed Lord's Day. If you aren't able to get out to church, feel free to have a listen to this sermon ... or another of the thousands on the Sermon Audio site.

G'night all :)

First Veg from the Plot.

Today, I have the first veg from The Plot.

The rows of cauliflower really aren't ready yet, but this one seems to have bolted slightly, and 'panic-grown'. Thankfully, it's absolutely fine, though not as large as it 'ought' to have grown. The florets are quite as tightly packed either, and again, I reckon this is simply a sign that it was dehydrated early on in its growth.

This is what happened to a row of the Calabrese. It bolted - big style! - and is of no use. I've cut all the heads off and I reckon the side shoots will be okay, and give us nice florets.

Here's the difference between a proper broccoli and a bolted Calabrese... The Calabrese would not look identical to the broccoli anyway - the centre heads are smaller, because it's giving a steady supply of side shoots too, but still - the result of bolting is clear.

~      ~      ~

I thought I'd written about this book...

in my Scones post, but apparently not! 

I will do a post on my summer holiday Reading Corner soon, but I'll start with this one I've been reading over the past few days. 

Most of the books we've read so far, written by Douglas Bond, have been historical novels, but this is a biography of the well-known Scottish Reformer, John Knox.

Oh, hang on! Did I just say 'well known'? Well, I'm not so sure about that.

When Catherine, Katie and I went to Edinburgh last year for a couple of days, we took an open-top Bus Tour. We toured Edinburgh, reached the end of our trip, and still hadn't heard such a person even existed. Seriously! How hard does one have to try to give a commentary on the sites of Edinburgh and fail to mention John Knox? Well, apparently it's not that hard. And, of course, when you realise that the bus isn't going to pass a memorial to John Knox, or a grand gravestone, it all makes sense ... 

He is buried under what is now a parking space. Dead. Buried. Hidden in the past. He doesn't fit with the image Scotland wants to portray.

Shortbread. Highland Dancing and kilts. Whiskey. 

They are all fine. But Knox? That firey, woman-hating, Queen-insulting, firebrand of a preacher? Nope. He's not flavour-of-the-month in our modern Scotland. But if that was your impression of John Knox, read on ...

What, I think, I enjoyed most about this book is that I feel I know John Knox in a way I've never known him before. Growing up in our circles, he was a man often spoken of, so it's not that I'd never heard of him, read of him, and known things about him. But The Mighty Weakness of John Knox shows the man behind the history. It made me constantly think of the verse, 

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2Cor 12:9)

He most certainly was not strong in and of himself: indeed, physically, he suffered greatly and was not a strong man. (This was not my image of him previous to reading this book!) Indeed, after his death, Thomas Smeaton said:

"I know not if God ever placed a more godly and great spirit in a body so frail and weak" (Preface, p.xxi)

But Knox served a mighty Lord and that was where his strength lay. He was not 'in it for himself'. He was but one man, who would live for a short time and then pass on. He cared about the Cause of Christ. He cared about the poor. He cared about those who were being lied to; those who were down-trodden. He cared for those who were seeking Christ and longing for assurance of salvation to be found In Christ Alone.

He cared passionately for Scotland. In a quote ascribed to Spurgeon, it is said that, "When John Knox went upstairs to plead with God for Scotland, it was the greatest event in Scottish history."

Mary Guise also commented on his prayers. She admitted that she was "more afraid of Knox's prayers than of an army of 10,000 men."

One of my favourite passages in the book is in the chapter called Power of Prayer.

In one of Knox's treatises on prayer, he said, "Prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God". Know saw that there is no place for elitism in praying. One needs no European PhD to be mighty in prayer. The lowliest saint may become unconquerable in prayer. Knox tenderly urged sinners to pray and to do so constantly with confident expectation of God's willingness and power to hear and to answer:

Where constant prayer is, there the petition is granted. Let no man think himself unworthy to call and pray to God, because he has grievously offended his Majesty in times past; but let him bring to God a sorrowful and repenting heart, saying, with David, "Heal my soul, O Lord, for I have offended, but now let me observe thy commandments" (Psalm 41:4). To mitigate or ease the sorrows of our wounded conscience, our most prudent Physician has provided two plasters to give us encouragement to pray: a precept and a promise. The precept to pray is universal and oft repeated: "Ask and it shall be given unto you" (Matt 7: 7), "Call upon my in the day of trouble" (Psalm 50:15)

(Emphasis my own)

I found this passage, along with many others in the book, so encouraging. 

If you have never heard of John Knox; or if you have and didn't like what you heard; or if you feel like you've known him all your life as a friend ... wherever you are coming from, I reckon this book is worth reading. 

I feel I've found a new friend, one of whom I long to know more. I guess that is the ultimate sign of a good biography, isn't it?

So, my recommendation: Make some scones, or pancakes, or oatcakes - all good Scottish fayre! - grab a cuppa, and sit down with this good book. Enjoy!

Girdle Scones

I thought of making Sconaichean Greideil (Girdle Scones, to the non-Gaelic speakers. And Griddle Scones, to the poor, deprived non-Scots among you) the other day because I had milk that was going off. 


Well, actually, it had gone off, but I don't want to gross you city folks out. And I don't want to food police on my back either.


The 'off' milk reminded me of the older lady who lived next door to us when I was growing up. (I do, of course, us the phrase 'growing up' in the loosest possible sense of the phrase: it simply means adding more months and years to a person's young life.) And the milk didn't, in and of itself, remind me of  my next door neighbour. Rather, it reminded me that every time I walked into her kitchen - or so it seems in my memory - she was making girdle scones and the milk she used was milk that had gone off. Bainne goirt.


Anyway. Scones.


8 oz ( 225g) Self Raising flour
pinch of salt
2 oz (50g) caster sugar
2 oz (50g) butter
1 egg, beaten
3-4 tblsp (45-60ml) milk.


Now, I have made a couple of batches of scones, and used two different recipes, but this is the one I used yesterday.


Before you begin the baking, preheat the griddle. Low and slow is my motto here. Low heat, longer time.

Mix flour and salt. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients, and add the sugar.

Mix (I did the mixing with a fork) the beaten egg and milk into the flour mixture to form a dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface,

and pat into a round shape.

Cut into quarters, 

and cook on the griddle

until browned on both sides.

Then enjoy one with loads of melting butter.

And maybe another with butter and cheddar cheese.

And maybe another with Raspberry jam.

Of course, these are alternative suggestions. I'm not suggesting you try all these three combinations.

Dearie me! Of course I wouldn't suggest that, but if you were to try them all, accompanied by lots of hot tea, I reckon you would love it.

And remember, I'm just sayin'. Not suggesting.... just sayin'.