Just Jotting Along

Simple things

2012-01-16T13:54:00.004Z

It's funny how the very simple things can make you smile (and no, I am not talking about my husband although someone might want to make that comment - you know who you are) When I was a child and into my teens we didn't have a washing machine, and then we had a twin tub which was very heavy and unwieldy and when it went wrong we didn't replace it. So, washing day really was a job for the whole day, just like my nana used to do. She had to boil the copper first. We had to light the fire or put the immersion on, so that wasn't so bad. The sheets were the worst things, and they had to be done in the bath. So, I just love it when I get home from shopping and come into the house and hear the washing machine churning merrily away. That's the sort of multi-tasking I appreciate, doing the washing and the shopping at the same time. You young'uns, hah! don't know what hard work is etc etc mutter mutter.
By the way, if you didn't catch my Christmas/12th night ghost story, in my previous post, please do read it and offer me your sincere criticism

A story for 12th Night

2012-01-05T10:02:00.001Z

It may or may not be Twelfth Night tonight. It seems there is some confusion. The Wikipedia entry is HERE if you want to read more.

I have been enjoying the sensory journey inspired and led by my friend over at Grethic's Grethicia and the deal was that those of us who felt inclined should submit a ghost story to end the party. This is mine

I fell in love with that apartment the moment I saw it. A huge open plan space on the top floor of what had been a flour mill. There were big windows with panoramic views across the river to the city and the previous owners had left several framed photographs of what it had looked like before the development.
I felt safe, being high above the street outside. I didn't want to leave. It was still warm enough some evenings to leave a window open in the bedroom and I could hear the faint sounds of cars and people passing by. Sometimes there would be a river boat with a crowd of revellers, noisier when they came back up river than when they had gone down. But they were far enough away to be a happy sound, not a disturbance.
It was only when the weather had turned colder that I realised that there were sounds inside as well. And smells. Things I had assumed were coming in from outside were still there. The first thing was a smell of coffee, early in the morning. It would wake me and for a moment I would forget that I was alone now. Once I even called out his name and when I realised he was not in the kitchen anymore I felt desolate. Then the lighting started to play up. I didn't really understand how it worked, it was almost as if you just had to think the lights on and off, although I'm sure there must have been a timer that I had set and forgotten about, or some sort of sensor. I seem to have forgotten so much about the details now. I liked to sit in the dark earlier in the evening and watch the lights coming on in the windows of offices and other buildings in the distance and see the headlamps and brake lights on the cars as the traffic built up on the main road. It was fascinating and I promised myself that one day I would get myself a pair of binoculars and see what I could see in some of those windows. Then as the nights drew in, the lights in the hall and dining room would come on before I wanted them too. I would turn them off again and then a few minutes later they would be back on.
I started to feel that I wasn't alone after all. Faint sounds began to encroach, a child laughing and the clinking of glasses, and I was sure that they were not coming from outside. The first real fright came when I went into the bedroom one night and I could hear breathing. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the bed but I couldn't put the light on. I stood very still, trying to filter out the increasingly loud beating of my own heart, my own breathing starting to keep time with what I could hear. Suddenly a bedside lamp glowed and I could see a child, her faced contorted with terror. We screamed together.
After that I began to see her more and more. In the bedroom at night, in the kitchen sometimes, especially when the smell of that coffee was strong. I found that if I could turn away before she looked at me then she disappeared, but if she noticed me then her face would change - although after a few days we stopped screaming at each other.
It all gets a bit vague after that but the thing that I will never forget is the day the priest came. I wasn't feeling very well and I suppose someone must have called him because they were worried about me, although I can't think now who that was. I was standing in the middle of the bedroom, the priest was by the door and the child was standing between me and the bed. The priest said some sort of prayer and then smiled. "Don't worry, my dear, I don't think she will bother you any more" My head started to spin and when I turned round the child was still there. She was smiling at the priest as though I was invisible. I looked at him again and realised that it was her he was smiling at, not me. Then I started to feel faint......

It's been a long time

2011-12-05T15:47:00.003Z

Three months, more than that in fact! I am a failed blogger, my Twitter profile admits it so it must be true! But as I had the temerity to put this blog address on my Christmas letter I thought I'd better write something. Anyone who has been here before will know that I was determined only to write positive things and I am pleased to say that I can now do so, as my mum has been succesfully treated for breast cancer and my husband has come to terms with loosing an eye. Yes, I know, sounds awful doesn't it - but it has been an extraordinary 6 months and a steep learning curve on all sorts of levels and I think we have all emerged stronger for the experiences.
I didn't get round to making all my Christmas cards but I have done some and you can see a selection over at NC&NF (click HERE) if you want to.
At least I am a bit ahead of myself now and getting things done in good time. There are lots of cuttings in the little greeh house and maybe I will manage to keep them alive until Spring. This time last year we had been under a lot of snow for a month so that's something else to be grateful for. All in all life is pretty good. I hope it is for you too.

Perfect Sunday

2011-08-29T09:20:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was such a very particularly lovely day. I took the morning service at a little chapel in Trimley St Martin. The original building was badly damaged in the hurricane that came in the 80s so it is a modern building now, with the most stunning stained glass window. One of my cousins and a friend of his came to the service too and then back for dinner and the timer on my oven worked, so we ate on time (Hurrah!) Then the daughter of one of my other cousins popped in with her husband and two boys and it was hugs all round and a cup of tea. After they went cousin no 1 did some very helpful bits of DIY for us while I took his friend for a walk. It was a day filled with love and fun and friendship and was just perfect from beginning to end

Trip to T&M

2011-08-29T08:00:00.009+01:00

At the end of July I went for a look round the trial grounds of Thompson and Morgan A friend had the opportunity to get tickets for a private view, prior to their open weekend. Another friend came with us. Now I have known these two friends since we were 11, we were all at school together, but they hadn't seen each other since my 21st birthday party, which is a couple of years ago now (!)
It was lovely to see so many flowers all together and we all bought some very reasonably priced plants and we all talked and talked and talked and it was a lovely day. Everone was given a free packet of verbena seeds and a little blue verbascum plant - a new variety and quite expensive in the catalogue so I hope I can keep mine alive! When we got back to mine we all took some cuttings of each others plants too, so far most of mine are surviving! I took a lot of photos and some of them are over on the other blog, just click HERE

Days Out Part 2

2011-07-08T16:40:00.004+01:00

Today was my birthday. By coincidence, it happened to be the day that my friend Heather over at Random Ramblings and I had made an appointment to have our feet nibbled by fishes. It's all the rage at the moment and there are a few places around where we live but I did a bit of ringing round and was impressed by the information I was given by a nice young lady at Beauty Rituals in Melton so that was where we decided to go. I was chauffeured in style by H in her nice new car. Although it is hidden away a bit on the Wilford Bridge Road business estate, the interior of the premises are very well done and we received a warm welcome. We had our feet checked briefly and then climbed onto a high bench - very comfortable though - and gently put our feet into the tank. We probably looked as though we were in great pain but it didn't hurt a bit. It tickled. It really REALLY TICKLED! But after a minute or two that wore off, well for most of the time, and then it was just a very pleasant pins and needly sort of feeling. I must say that I was surprised how nice it was and how nice my feet felt afterwards. Unfortunately H has tastier feet than mine so next time I shall go on my own. They have a salon and do various other things too so have a look at the web site. I think I shall be treating myself again
After that we went into Woodbridge for me to get the rest of my present from my husband. I had bought a skirt and was looking for some tops to go with it and found some - amazingly - so hubby is stumping up the cash, bless him. Then we went to the restaurant at The Riverside and had a lovely lunch. An enormous roasted red onion and goats cheese salad for me and a duck leg confit with noodles for H. We had some pre-prandial nibbles, sweet potato chips and crunchy broad beans with a sour cream and chilli jam dip. The puds looked lovely but we didn't have any room.

Days Out Part 1

2011-07-08T16:11:00.008+01:00

This Monday it was a lovely day, the forecast was good, and so we decided to visit Stonham Barns and, more particularly Suffolk Owl Sanctuary . This is somewhere we used to go quite often but haven't been since we moved nearly 4 years ago. The place is very much the same except that, thankfully, the landlords have tidied up the paths etc a bit, so they are much easier to push the wheelchair across. There were some birds we hadn't seen before, like the first picture below which is a yellow headed caracara. It makes a lot of noise ALL the time.

There were two flying displays. The one at 12.30 was fairly well attended but when we went back for the 2.30 there was only us and three others so we were able to ask lots of questions and see the birds much closer to thyan usual.
The barn owl is called Cobweb. The owls are very focussed so if something distracts them it can be difficult to get them to come back into their display routine. On the other hand, they can be so fixed in the routine that - well, the story he told us was from when some yob broke in and let all the birds out. Most of them were retrieved but an owl was missing for a while, but then came back one night and started doing the routine on its own. The handler had been camping out in the hope it would come back so they did their display at three o'clock in the morning, reinforcing the birds attachement to the handler and, more importantly, the food source!

All the birds are bred in captivity. Some are bred from wild birds that have been injured and cannot survive in the wild but have a good life at the Sanctuary. It's the only bit of Stonham Barns that we really go to see. The shops seem to be much the same and the antique shop is closing down, which is a shame in a way although it did mean I was not tempted to spend any money ! We took a picnic too, that way we know we will be getting something we really like, although in hindsight, maybe chicken sandwiches was a bit tactless.

The picture above is of a very rare bird indeed. The Seldom Spotted Husband is a shy creature that prefers to hide under any available hat. Its mating call sounds like "isthereanycake"

And here's some more of the feathered variety

All change!

2011-05-30T16:49:00.004+01:00

Life has been a bit complicated this last few weeks and I really had to wait until I was feeling more positive before I told you all about it. True to my brief of only posting positive posts I won't go into all the details of how OH managed to hurl himself out of his wheelchair at The Heath and damage his right eye sufficiently to make it unlikely that he will ever get the sight back. For the first couple of weeks I needed a spreadsheet to work out when all the drops and cream and antibiotics had to be down and I had to neglect my mum a bit, in spite of her own mini crisis which we will come to in a minute.

The decision has been made that OH will not drive anymore so I am going to sell my car and drive his instead. We need to use his because of the space in the boot for the wheelchair and the electric hoist but at the moment I still have to use my own car for my own purposes and only drive his when I am taking him somewhere, due to various laws about these things so there's a bit of sorting out to do before that change can take place. It means I shall have to get my personal auto-pilot reset to driving the automatic rather than the manual. At the moment when I drive the automatic I keep saying "don't change gear, don't change gear" and then when I get into mine I forget to change gear for a few minutes! That may make me look a bit of a nit-wit but trying to change gear in the automatic can do real damage.

It's going to mean quite a big change in our lives too as he has effectively wiped out what bit of independence he had and will be totally reliant on me to go out, so I shall have to make sure that appointments for me, mum and him co-ordinate!

Then, the day after it happened we got an offer on mum's flat. Those of you in the UK will know that the process of buying and selling property is more than a little complicated, and as it is what I used to do for part of my living, I know more than most what could go wrong before it is finalised. We have been trying to get her moved closer to us since last August but I am not counting any chickens

I have been quite overwhelmed by the amount of love and prayers coming our way. I have realised in a more meaningful way just how many friends I have gained since we moved here. I have 2 churches looking after me, and such good cousins and almost cousins. And I really have felt God with me and His support and guidance and we are already seeing how things could have been so much worse and so counting our blessings. We will be alright. OH is back to reading the paper at the weekend and doing the dishwasher all wrong just as he did before! There was a moment there when I could have turned my face to the wall but it didn't last.

Spring Clearing

2011-05-07T10:05:00.002+01:00

No, that isn't a typo, the cleaning will come later!
On Thursday I spent most of the day at my mum's flat helping her to start sorting out some "stuff". Well, I say helping. What actually happened was I took all the "stuff" out of her wardrobe and airing cupboard and she watched and we decided what could go to the dump and what could go to the Hospice shop. Anyone reading this who doesn't know, we have a local Hospice named for St Elizabeth and they have charity shops around the area where they sell people's unwanted, or pre-loved items to raise funds. Anyway, I went there with mum's big shopping trolley stuffed to the gunnels and they got very excited about some plates. Then I stuffed the trolley again with things to go in my paper recycling bin and for hubby to take to the local tip.
So enthused was I by this that I decided the time had come for me and him to have a go at our garage on Friday. Quite a lot of rubbish, the discovery of things we forgot we'd got, some more for the shop and, as a reward, fish and chips from the chippy at the Heath for lunch. And I had a pineapple fritter as well. But then I had walked to the Heath and back twice as I'd already been there in the morning to go to the Post Office so I must have burnt a few of those calories off one way and another.
Today (Saturday) I am continuing the good work at home and tomorrow, after I have taken the service at Kirton, I shall be going to mum's and continuing there.
Mum and I are both hoarders so it has quite a liberating feel to be making spaces that are not immediately going to be filled up again!
In other news, we really, really need some rain here. The farmers are worried, the reservoirs are dropping and there have been grassland and heath fires across the UK like I have never seen before. The temperature has been way above the normal for this time of year and although 20 degrees plus is lovely, it's not doing the wild life any good at all. Wondering how my Canadian cousins are faring

A Great Honour!

2011-05-02T17:52:00.003+01:00

I'm sure I'm not the first to comment that "you wait ages for a Bank Holiday then 4 turn up together". By the way, does that joke work in the US?
Anyway, today was May Day Bank Holiday, which is on the first Monday of May and which is a relatively new holiday, having been made an official holiday only in 1978. Of course, we had Good Friday and Easter Monday last week, plus the special holiday for the Royal Wedding this Friday and I guess a lot of people will actually be quite glad to get back to normal. Amazingly the weather, traditionally awful whenever the holidays fall, has been lovely.
Today my friend @easternsparkle came for coffee as I had promised her some plants from my little greenhouse. We had a very pleasant time, her, me and my OH, chatting cheerfully. And then came my great and unexpected (though secretly hoped for) honour. If you look at Her Blog
you will see that she is a quilter and sewer and crocheter, and she has been learning to make useful and beautiful little bags. And she gave me one ! And I love it.

As you can see, she knows I am a purple person and not that flowery so my bag is made from a wonderful abstract purple and black fabric which I have already scanned to make background paper for my hand made cards. Now I have been thinking all afternoon what I want to keep in it and I haven't quite decided yet

Late again!

2011-04-27T12:42:00.006+01:00

As usual I have managed to finish a lovely warm winter crochet project just in time for the hot weather. Hey ho! Anyway, as my friend over at Loves2Crochet expressed an interest and I thought there might be one or two others who would like to see what I have been up to I have at long last taken some photos to show you.
It all started last year when I found a pattern for a thick jacket, made in a sort of rib pattern which is achieved by each row being worked round the post of the stitch in the previous row rather than into the top. Alternately behind and in front, then behind in the ones behind and in front of the ones in front, just ordinary trebles (or doubles if you are in the US)
This is what the jacket looks like. It isn't easy to take a picture of these things without a dummy but my husband refused to co-operate!

Then I looked at my stash of wool and decided to use up a lot of bits and bobs by making a sleeveless jacket in the same rib. I varied it by putting a wide band down each side at the front in the other direction, building the neck up a bit mandarin collar style and fixing with three HUGE buttons which I found in the Fabric8 shop in Felixstowe. More pics follow

Hope you are impressed Ha ha!

That's Life!

2011-04-27T09:56:00.002+01:00

My life really has been just jotting along recently. I'm not complaining, it's all been quite relaxing and serene, although the weather has been unseasonally hot and dry so I have horrendous hay fever. We had a visit from a cousin of mine who I knew when we were children but have had only occasional contact with as adults. It was a bit like finding a long lost brother. I can't really explain in detail as it wouldn't be right to talk about things here which are personal to other people, but it was a really lovely day.
I am now planning on what to do on Friday. Sorry, but although I may just put the tele on to see what Kate's dress looks like I shan't be watching the wedding. I might do some weeding Ha Ha!

The Social Whirl

2011-03-14T10:11:00.002Z

Life has been very busy and lots of fun this last week or so! I seem to have acquired a social life all of a sudden. Well, no, that's not quite true, it has been building up since we moved here, but everything happened at once, or so it appeared at the time.
Last Saturday (the 5th) I took the friend that I now call HeatherA to meet my mum. H wanted to go to a shop in Felixstowe that sells zips in every colour you can think of so that she could make some little quilted bags (more details HERE ) We had talked about her (she?) and mum meeting up so the opportunity was taken. Of course, all those horrid people on Twitter made comments about when to buy a hat, did mum ask her about her prospects etc, but we ignored them. We are just good friends. And our husbands will confirm that. After coffee at mum's and shopping we went to the Spa Pavilion and had a bacon sarnie for lunch and then a walk along the front where we got cold and wet because it rained. The Spa is a bit basic but the bacon is especially good and you can sit in a window and people watch, and see the sea. I still haven't got the necessary to download photos from my phone so HERE is a photo someone else took
On Monday my cousin Christine came to visit. She is the eldest daughter of my mum's sister JOAN
who passed away nearly 18 months ago. We also went to visit mum and did lots and lots of talking. This is us

Then in the evening I rang my friend Marion, who I have known for 45 years (!) and we talked for over an hour
On Tuesday I went for coffee in the morning to the friend I now call HeatherB. I met her at the service I took at the Seaton Road Methodist Church a couple of weeks ago. We have a lot in common and I hope our friendship will grow.
Then in the evening I made pancakes for me and hubby and two friends who both live on their own. They had both commented that it wasn't (in their opinions) worth making them for yourself only so I have invited them both each year to share with us, but this was the first time they were both free to come.
On Wednesday I didn't do much.
What it is to be popular!

Worth asking

2011-03-11T09:56:00.001Z

I am a law abiding citizen. I was a lawyer. Not that the two are necessarily always mutually inclusive (LOL) Now I love to crochet and I find it a lot easier than knitting but I can (sort of ) knit too. So I was delighted with a book that I recently bought (not saying which one yet as am in negotiation with the publisher for a freebie to use as a giveaway) I thought that the patterns, which are for something small and cute, would be great for making and selling locally, but I was aware that there might be a copyright issue. I contacted the publisher and explained my dilemma and, amzingly, they said that, yes, I would have to pay a royalty one each item sold UNLESS I could make a label that credited the book, with a picture of the front cover and the publisher's website, then they would accept that in lieu. I am so glad I asked.

New Friends

2011-02-27T12:59:00.001Z

I have had a really lovely morning.
For various and complicated reasons I haven't been taking services for a couple of years but at the end of last year I was transferred to my local Methodist Circuit and went back "on plan"
This morning I went to Seaton Road Methodist Church for the first time. Now I am one of those weird people who actually relishes going into new situations where I don't know anybody, so I was not nervous about that, but there is always that little bit of doubt about whether the service and sermon have come from the right place. There was a very warm welcome, everything went well and I even managed not to over run the hour (well almost) But I was quite overwhelmed by the reaction that I got afterwards. At least four people said that it had been very relevant to them, one gave me a great big hug and many people seemed genuinely uplifted. It is always so good when that happens because it tells me that God has been getting through - make no mistake, I know that I do not do this on my own, but it is so nice when there is a little bit extra confirmation.
And I made some new friends, Micheala, Liz and Heather, who will have to be known as Heather B, so you (and I) don't get mixed up with Heather A
I think the time has come for me to do a bit more so I am thinking I will offer one service a month from now on and see how it goes.

Ladies (and Gents) who lunch

2011-02-22T17:50:00.003Z

Two posts for the price of one here. I have only just realised that I didn't tell you all about my little trip to Framlingham with Heather. I used to work there some years ago and was sorry to see one or two of my favourite shops are no longer in business, but we had a jolly good wander round and a long chat with the lady in the quilting/wool shop, whose name I have forgotten for the moment. We lunched HERE - The Crown. Heather had a wonderful looking scotch egg with a beautifully bright yellow yolk and I had hummus and flat bread. And then I had cheesecake while H watched and felt virtuous!

Then today me and hubby went HERE - Milsoms/Kesgrave Hall as it was our 19th wedding anniversary. I had done a reccy the day before and it scored pretty high on wheelchair friendliness. You can't book, but it wasn't crowded when we got there. I had Peking duck spring rolls with cucumber noodles and a spinach salad and himself had a hangar steak, which took a bit of chewing. This is no reflection on the chef, I hasten to add, but on his less than perfect dentures. For dessert he had spotted dick and ice cream and I had a dark chocolate fondant with blood orange sorbet. It lived up to expectations - several Twitter friends have been and recommended it. If I have one criticism it is that it was very noisy

It's his 80th birthday next month and we shall go again, if I can save up enough out of the housekeeping!

A lovely day

2011-02-18T20:28:00.003Z

I have had a great time over the last couple of days. One of the very nice people I have met via Twitter and Facebook is Karen and, without boring you with the details, it was arranged for her to come to visit me and have a crochet lesson - which meant we were meeting in person for the very first time. Another friend called Pat who lives near me had also asked about learning to crochet so I asked her too. Then my cousin (actually I think she is first cousin once removed, anyway she is my cousin's daughter) Erica rang to say she had a free day and could she come to visit on that day.

So yesterday OH and I tidied the "public" rooms of our stately home and I cooked a big saucepan of vegetable soup (lots of peeling and chopping) brown rolls, white rolls and OH's white loaf (lots of kneading) stewed apple ( more chopping and peeling) stewed plums ( more chopping and stoning) and 2 cakes ( mixing, stirring, weighing) I slept well

Pat and Karen were here at 10:30 and after tea and cake the crochet lesson commenced They were both good students and we all got to know each other as we crocheted. Pat's husband arrived at 12.45 and I heated up the soup and was just serving up when Erica arrived so we all sat down to our lunch of soup, hand knitted rolls and stewed fruit and cream for afters. Then we discovered that Karen and Erica had both been to the same University only a year apart and probably lived in the same road while there!

Karen had to get away at 2, and almost did.

Pat and her OH left soon after - oh yes, he had brought their cute little dog Toby, another coincidence as one of Erica's sons is called Toby.

Then Erica and I bored my poor OH with family reminiscences and photos. She had brought a memory stick with some photos for me to look at but my PC is upstairs so I asked her to close her eyes as she made her way through the mess caused by me tidying downstairs. More tea, more cake and she left at 6.

PHEW!

So I made one new friend, got to know another newish friend better and caught up with an old friend. It was such fun!

Resolutions #3

2011-01-28T11:51:00.002Z

As we approach the end of January I thought I would consider how well my New Year Resolutions have been going. Er - um- well.......
Following the slight hiatus with my tummy problems I have had to choose my moment when it comes to going out for a walk. My original resolution, linked to the fact that London is hosting the Olympics in 2012, was to walk at least 201.2 minutes a week. The weather hasn't helped. And I walk quite a lot in my day to day routine and I haven't always remembered to time it, so I have given up on that, on the basis that when I did manage to time it I found that I probably do more than that anyway, so I shall just try to keep on with that.
On the being greener front I have made a controversial decision. I shall be glad to know what you think but it probably won't change my mind. Neither myself, my husband nor my mother go on holiday. the last time I was on a plane was in 1985. Mum hasn't flown since 1982 and hubby has never flown. So I am balancing that against the fact that for all three of us, our food is one of the highlights of the day and I am going to look for local alternatives but if I can't get them I am going to buy stuff that has come from abroad. Particularly at this time of year. I am going to grow some things in the summer - that is what I can do in pots. Last year I grew mange tout successfully and I am going to give peppers a go this year. My dodgy back stops me from doing a great deal of gardening but I do my bit for the local wild life that way (That is my excuse for the state of the flower beds and I am sticking to it !)
I am getting quite good at planning the cooking so I use the oven for more than one thing once it has gone on. We have just had a letter to tell us that our gas and electricity charges are going up so that will concentrate my mind even more. Heating has to stay as it is as hubby, being disabled and therefore not able to move around to keep warm, feels the cold quite badly.
I don't always say no to plastic bags because I need them to wrap the rubbish sometimes. Getting free Tesco carriers sometimes means I don't have to buy bin bags so much. There is no way round this that I know of. The recycled rubbish is dry and it is a requirement that things are not wrapped for that bin. The food waste that goes into the brown bin is wrapped in newspaper. The dry other rubbish goes in unwrapped but when it comes to the smelly stuff, like the plastic bag the fish or meat has been in I'm afraid that needs to be wrapped up, especially in the summer. I am thinking about it though so I hope I don't lose too many Brownie points.
The water is another problem I haven't quite solved. I have to run a tap to get the hot water through and that water is not "potable" so the only solution that anyone has come up with is to use it to flush the loo. That however is not easy because the dodgy back means I cannot heave buckets of water out of the sink and up the stairs and hubby is quite unable to do it even for the downstairs loo. In the summer I can probably siphon it outside to water the garden.
Oh dear, I'm not doing very well am I. But I am going to blog more. Watch this space!

Resolutions #2

2011-01-10T14:20:00.004Z

I've not been well! But this is a positive thinking zone so I will just elicit some sympathy by telling you that I got some sort of stomach bug that saw me spending a day in hospital dosed up to the eyeballs with painkillers, including morphine, and having a very uncomfortable time of it.
The reason I mention this is because it has, of course, mucked up all my good intentions for the new year, not least the "walking 201.2 minutes every week" one and the "getting myself organised and into a routine" one
Are we downhearted comrades? No, of course not! This is a challenge. And so in this household, 2011 has been officially postponed for a fortnight and I shall start again on the 14th.
So Happy New New Year

Resolutions

2011-01-02T16:35:00.009Z

Happy New Year!
Now is the time when many of us decide to have a look at our lives and make a few promises about how we are going to change them for the better. For many these promises will involve
a) Food - less of the eating of
b) Exercise - more of the taking of
c) Personal skill - a new one, the developing of.
All of these things are very worthy and I have all of them on my list, but this year I also want to make a promise to the planet and I hope you might join me.
If you look to your right - no, not in your room, on the page, silly, you will see I have acquired a new button. I have adopted Baglady. Underneath you will find a link to her site and the pledge she is asking us to make. It would be great if you could join in. Tell her who you are and that you are willing to offer her a virtual bed for the night and we can see how far she manages to travel over the year. I was introduced to her by Karen at The Rubbish Diet and thoroughly recommend her blog too for more inspiration
If you look back at my post near the beginning of December, "Suggestions please" you will see the problem I have had in coming up with a suitable pledge. Unfortunately my dodgy back precludes serious gardening, or heaving buckets of water out of the sink which knocks some of the suggestions on the head but one thing that was suggested and which I am going to look into and will report on in due course is solar battery chargers.
It seems to me that it can be very difficult sometimes weighing up the extra miles I drive in order to get to a shop that sells unpackaged or more eco-friendly goods. One person suggested freecycle but we did use that when we moved and had some problems with people, plus the fact that what I mean when I say we save things to take to the dump is things like old batteries, and those flippin' low energy light bulbs (and can anyone give me the definitive answer about whether the low energy use really outweighs the poisons used in their manufacture?) By the way, the other problem with the light bulbs is that we found we have to have more burning to give us any decent light in the evening so that's another impossible calculation. So I am going to have to research all that as well. Now I know I am sounding negative and I didn't mean to, but I can't help feeling it isn't all as simple as it seems.
So my rather vague pledges were to start looking properly at where foods come from and to go local or East Anglian first, English second, UK third and Europe fourth and to replace bulbs as and when with low energy (subject to still being able to see my way round the house and read) Read my earlier post HERE More thoughts and suggestions welcome!

Surprise!

2010-12-28T10:48:00.002Z

I had a proper Christmas present this year - from my friend Heather at Random Ramblings.
We, that is my husband, my mother and myself, gave up doing presents a few years ago because they both started to find it difficult to go shopping in the cold weather. So I buy 2 or 3 little things each and then we each have one thing that is from the other two, but I'm the one that doesn't get any surprises. Mum and hubby did, however, ask me if there was anything I really wanted and between them paid for me to get all seven series of Star Trek DS9 on DVD which I shall be watching over the coming months. Oh dear, my terrible secret is now out!
Anyway, it was lovely to open a package when I genuinely did not know what was inside it. It was a large diary with such a very cheerful cover and it has made me think that maybe 2011is going to be the year I get myself organised.

Every morning I shall look at all those pretty flowers and it will make me feel cheerful too, which is always a good way to start the day. I shall make a book mark with my daily jobs written on it and then check them off on each day as I do them - things like doing my exercises, checking to see if there's a birthday card to send, making sure hubby has taken his tablets (you wouldn't believe how many times there is a cry of anguish at bedtime when he realises he's forgotten them all day - AGAIN!) And although some of you may be shocked that I have to be reminded, I do also need to make sure that I have said my morning prayers and read my Bible every day too.
Of course I shall be trying to lose a bit of weight after a small excess of eating over the Christmas holiday so I will be keeping a check on the calorie intake and the exercise out put and my diary will be the perfect place to record that.
I shall try to have a slightly more ordered routine for the week. Mum's shopping will be much easier now that I have started doing an online order for her to have delivered so I want to have one day in the week when I do her cooking for the freezer and one day in the week when I do our cooking for the freezer and one day in the week when I go over to hers and spend some time with her. I see her on Sundays too when I call in on her before and after church. Mostly I can get all the washing done one day a week, probably when I am cooking too. Housework will get done, probably. Maybe three half days? Which should leave me with some time to do the garden (subject to the weather) and sometime to pay proper attention to hubby other than all the usual things and hopefully a bit of time to go out and do my own thing occasionally and make the effort to keep in better touch with friends and relatives. And blog a bit more regularly. And do a bit of painting and crafting. Oh and maybe I'll get a bit of sleep sometime too!
Happy New Year

Happy Christmas

2010-12-25T20:33:00.003Z

A virtual Christmas card for all my readers. Watch this space, I hope to be a better blogger next year X

Suggestions please

2010-12-09T10:17:00.003Z

I am going to accept a challenge - if I can get a few ideas. The challenge is to try to be a little more green and to stop doing something and to start doing something in order to achieve this. My problem is that I am struggling to come up with anything. Now I am not claiming to have a zero carbon footprint so let me explain my dilemma.
We are very fortunate to have a Local Authority who provide us with a recycling bin into which we can put all food waste, both cooked and uncooked, plus cardboard and shredded paper and garden waste and which they then turn into compost which can be bought back at a very reasonable price. We have another bin for the paper waste like magazines thick cardboard, plastic bottles and tins and which they also recycle. I usually buy my fruit and veg from shops where they sell it to you loose in a paper bag. I buy my meat from a proper butcher so the packaging is minimal but necessary. I make my own "ready" meals and freeze them in re-usable plastic containers. I take my glass to the bottle bank.
I walk to the local shops if I can and if I don't have too much to carry back. If I go into Ipswich I use the Park and Ride. Otherwise there is no proper public transport so I have to use my car. I can't turn the heating down because my husband is disabled and feels the cold terribly. In the summer I try to collect the water that I wash veg in, or have to run to get the hot water come through but I don't know what to do with that in the winter. I also think that you need to be careful that you don't forget that the drain needs a good flush of water through it fairly regularly. We don't have a bath in our house (yes, we do have showers!) so we don't get the flush through the drain from that. I wash almost everything at 30 degrees and don't use biological products. If I do a hot wash I make sure I have a full load in the machine. In the summer I hang the washing out but do use the dryer for sheets etc in the winter.
I turn the tap off when I am brushing my teeth. I don't leave things on standby. I am replacing bulbs with low energy as and when I can afford them (although it seems there may be issues about how they are recycled) I have been told that it isn't a good idea to turn them on and off all the time so I am a bit unsure about that. I use the mains rather than batteries where feasible. We even live within a five minute drive of the Municipal Dump and we save things up to take there.
I try to bake in batches so that I use the whole oven, and then freeze some. I foraged blackberries in the autumn and made them into seedless jam. Veg that is getting a bit tired is made into soup.
So, what else could I do, or stop doing, to be that bit greener? As my nana used to say, I am not as green as I am cabbage looking, although that was a different sort of green!

Christmas present and past

2010-12-05T13:19:00.000Z

I went to a lovely big family party yesterday, without leaving the comfort of my own armchair. Through the magic of the internet and the presence of a small built in webcam on my laptop I was able to talk face to face to several of my relatives who I have not seen for years (and in some cases years and years) I stay in touch with some of them by phone, more or less, and there's always the Christmas card, but, due to circumstances beyond my control, I don't manage to get to the December get together and haven't done for quite a long time. I saw about 15 people over about 45 minutes and it was great to see them. I don't know if they realised just how much it meant to me. We seem to have got a bit isolated out here in the wilds of Suffolk over recent years, every body is getting older and has more immediate family commitments.
We used to have such lovely Christmases when I was little, at least that's what I remember. However, I suspect that, in part at least, that is because I wasn't involved in the preparation. All you do as a child is open the presents and eat the chocolates and play the games. You do not have to cook the turkey and time the dinner and do all the washing up.
We , including the grown ups, used to play a lot of games, like charades and any new member, girlfriend, spouse etc was submitted to the test of certain games where only those in the know knew what was going on. Do "Boots Without Spurs" or "Black Magic" or "Passing the Scissors Crossed" mean anything to anyone?
My Aunt's house was full of people, there were Christmases when people slept on any available bit of floor, that happened at our house too sometimes. And I still have my teddy that my mum and dad gave me when I was about 3 and which was almost as big as me then.

Fruity Mellowness

2010-10-04T17:10:00.012+01:00

Now that the summer is officially over and the weather seems to agree with that, I may find a bit more blogging time, in between trying to tidy up the garden and all that other stuff I should have been doing. But I have been blackberrying again and took some photos and did a couple of little montages for your delectation and delight.
It is amazing how much there is along the old farm track that leads from our lane to the new estate and Tesco's I have to admit to feeling rather smug when I see little punnets of blackberries for over £1 for about 4 ozs when I have picked 3 lbs for free
The last lot of bramble jelly didn't last long as it was too lovely with yogurt, or on top of the stewed apple, so this time I will put it in proper jars and hide it until Christmas. One or two favoured people might even get a dollop for a present - now won't that be something to look forward to!
The photos are HERE at Not Cute and Not Funny as they show up better on the wide format.

A Mystery Solved!

2010-09-26T14:03:00.001+01:00

Something slightly spooky happened yesterday.
Do you have clear memories of places or events which you cannot place? I have a few and one of them is walking along a badly lit, very long, corridor in a basement, with lots of wires and pipes running along the length of the ceiling and a room where people were sitting a drinking coffee. It is such a clear picture in my mind but until yesterday I wasn't even sure if it was somewhere I had really been or something I had dreamt. Then I watched a programme about the history of The Battle of Britain. It was on a few nights ago but I had taped it. The commentator was talking about a place where German pilots who had been shot down were taken, prior to being placed in camps. The name of the place was Trent Park which is where my father went to Teacher Training College in the early 1960s. I had been with my father several times, when he had to be at college and I was on half term holiday. I recognised the big staircase and entrance hall. And then, on the screen I saw my corridor, as the presenter of the programme walked along it. It did exist! The room had been a student's common room. It was a very odd feeling.
HERE is a photo of the building

Now if only I could pin down when and where and why I helped someone paint an old merry-go-round horse!

What a bad blogger

2010-09-24T19:47:00.002+01:00

I'm sorry - I know - I haven't been doing very well, have I?
I am afraid I decided I couldn't keep up with the commitment to Alphabe-Thursday for another 26 weeks but I did promise myself I would try and witter on about something every week and I have failed already. Dismally. As for the arty blog, I haven't done anything for ages. Life has been getting in the way, if you know what I mean. But I will. Promise.

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Purple

2010-09-09T14:09:00.004+01:00

It's the last week of Jenny's summer school and the colour is purple. At least I hope it is, I haven't checked, maybe it is mauve, or lilac, or amethyst. Anyway, I decided to spare you my purple prose and send you a couple of purple pictures instead. Oops, it's violet, oh well they still qualify

See what others were inspired to do HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Mood Indigo

2010-09-02T16:45:00.010+01:00

A rather short post from me this week as it has been one of THOSE weeks. I have joined up to Spotify and thought I would have a look to see how many recordings of Mood Indigo there are and there are loads. I can't choose which one to suggest. Sinatra, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Mingus, Day, Lyttleton, I could go on. They all have their merits. So I had a look at YouTube as well and decided on This one

Or this one if you want to know the words

More indigo HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Blue

2010-08-25T15:31:00.008+01:00

Jenny's summer school is more than half way through now. It is beginning to feel like autumn here already, our summer has been too short this year and I hope it is going to give us a second chance before it gives up altogether. This week we have reached the colour blue
I love the blue of the sky in high summer, I love the blue of cobalt glass, I love the blue of cornflowers. But I don't wear blue very often, and here's the reason why

Something like this little chart hung on the wall of the Art Room when I was in the Sixth Form at school. (Sixth Form is the last two years, aged 16/17 and 17/18) When I started there the uniform rules were very strict. White shirt, navy with a thin blue diagonal stripe tie, navy gored skirt which should touch the floor when kneeling, navy blazer etc etc and the most unflattering pale blue cotton dress for summer. I can't even bring myself to talk about the hat. Anyway, the uniform changed when I was about 15 and then the rules eased off even more and we were told that, within reason, we could wear anything blue or white in our last term. This was the term when we would be doing our final school exams so we were no longer prefects at that stage. And of course, girls being girls, we all pushed the limits of what could or could not be described as blue and so the art mistress put a chart up on the wall and if there was any doubt you had to go and get her to match your clothing against the chart and got into trouble if you didn't coincide with the top line (blues that were blue) but had strayed too close to the next two lines (blues that were greeny blue or mauvey blue) The colours haven't quite come out as I intended but you get the idea. So when I left school I avoided blue because I was just too fed up with it and here I am nearly 40 years later and I still don't choose it!

Maybe I will find something to change my mind HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Green

2010-08-19T09:31:00.010+01:00

Jenny's Summer School has reached the colour green. I went out for a walk with the camera and thought and thought of all the things I could say about the colour green. But a picture is worth more than a thousand words. How lucky am I to have this less than 100 yards from my front door!

Now see what other people were inspired to say for the colour green HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Summer Yellow

2010-08-12T13:34:00.004+01:00

I'm sorry. I've been sitting here trying to think of something nice and yellow. I've been looking around my house for something nice and yellow. I looked in my wardrobe, I looked at my ornaments, I looked in the sitting room and the bedroom and the kitchen and tried to find something nice and yellow.

I came to the conclusion that I don't like yellow. Then I had to deal with a wasp that came in the window. He was black and yellow. I went shopping and couldn't park where I wanted to because of the double yellow lines on the road that mean I can't park. I looked in my garden. The only yellow there is the grass that is dying because it has been so dry.

Gosh I am looking forward to next week

In the meantime maybe another post will convince me otherwise. Find them HERE

A-T Rainbow Orange

2010-08-05T15:32:00.004+01:00

Back at Jenny's Rainbow summer school and the colour is orange. Or maybe amber.
Think traffic lights.
Red is Stop - it ain't gonna happen
Green is GO for it
Amber is pray about it, because there's a chance it could happen. I expect you've heard the sermon that says "God always answers your prayers. Sometimes he says No, sometimes he says Yes and sometimes he says Maybe"

Something that means a great deal to me and which has had a red light on it for a few years has just gone amber. I am not saying what because at the moment I don't want people who know me to keep asking about it, especially if it falls through.

And in case you are wondering I am way too old to be pregnant!

But in a week or six I might be able to tell all so watch this space.

Other oranges
HERE

A-T Summer Rainbow RED

2010-07-28T17:39:00.007+01:00

Over at Alphabe-Thursday it is the school holidays but Mrs Matlock, being a hard task-mistress, has given us homework to do so we are now going through the colours of the rainbow. Yes, here in the UK we spell it "colour", I didn't make a mistake Mrs M!

So I thought about the colour red and looked round my house and garden and thought some more and then I remembered that somewhere I had some photos of my old cars.

Let me introduce you to PGT 427E.

I bought this car in 1976 and it was quite old then. It was the first car I owned after passing my driving test. Technically I had owned a Morris Minor before that because I had lent my dad the money to buy it and he drove it and gave me some lessons but it was sold before I was able to drive it on my own.

"Piglet" was a Triumph Herald Estate. It had no heater, no radio, no power assisted anything and rack and pinion steering which was famous for giving it a wheel lock like a London taxi, which meant you could turn it full circle in not much more than its own length. It was therefore a really easy car to park. It had a walnut veneered dashboard though and I loved it. It cost me £80 and I sold it for £25 two years later. Funny how I can't remember the registration of any other old cars but always remember the first

Now I have a little question for my American readers. Is it the case that you do not eat runner beans? Someone told me that you grow scarlet runners like this for the flowers but don't eat the pods and I didn't believe them. Here's one I have grown but the beans aren't setting very well this year, maybe because there don't seem to be many bees about.

HERE is where you can see what "Red" has brought to other minds

Ladies who lunch #2

2010-07-26T17:51:00.008+01:00

I know it will come as a bit of a shock to some of you, to find me blogging on a day that isn't Thursday, but I decided that I really must make an effort and as I know a few of you really like your food I thought I would tell you about my lovely lunch that I had today.
I have a friend called Rosemary who lives in Woodbridge. About 20 years ago I rented a room in the house she had then because circumstances had put me working in Woodbridge when I lived quite a long drive away from home and so the room was my bolt hole for times when the weather was bad or I had to work late. Only I liked it so much I ended up staying over quite a lot more than anticipated and joining in the Bible Study that she used to host and we have remained firm friends ever since. We don't see each other very often but now that we have more time we have promised to meet up now and then and today we tried out a new place in Woodbridge called The Moorish Lounge For anyone who knows Woodbridge it's where The Captain's Table used to be.
The weather was lovely and there were several tables outside under a good shady gazebo but we decided to sit inside as the chairs were more comfortable for fuss pot (aka me) If you follow the link you will see the sort of food they do, and their ethos. The web site is very good and worth a read. And the place itself is very good and worth a visit.
We had lentil carrot and something else salad (oh dear, my memory!) chick pea falafel, haloummi and roasted peppers, seared cauliflower with date and anchovies (yes, yes, I know but it really did taste wonderful) and spinach and feta parcels. The rose and vanilla creme brulee had sold out so I had apricot tarte tatin and R had chocolate pot.
It was a tad expensive I think, although I am a bit out of date these days so maybe other people wouldn't think so but it was all scrummy and I would certainly go again

Alphabe-Thursday Black and White

2010-07-22T18:04:00.006+01:00

Alphabe-Thursday is about to take its summer holidays and we have been given that end of term feeling with Carte Blanche to post what we will. I have chosen not to go back but to anticipate. The following seven weeks are to be a rainbow holiday and I am really looking forward to that. But I am of the age that grew up in black and white. The television was black and white. The photographs were black and white because colour photogrphy was quite expensive and my dad developed his own films. Even some of the pictures at the cinema were black and white. Life seemed a lot more black and white too, in that you knew what was right and what was wrong. And now my husband has discovered that the new trend is black and white. He used to do a lot of photography with SLR (single lens reflex) cameras that he bought as a young man and he never really go the hang of his digital camera. He has just read an article that tells him that those really in the know are eschewing the digital in favour of the old fashioned film cameras and he has found that it is suddenly possible again to get the film and batteries for his old cameras. Hurray, at last hubby has a hobby!
Goodness knows what other soup you will find HERE this week!

Alphabe-Thursday. Z is for Zebayda

2010-07-15T14:54:00.002+01:00

First of all a big thank you to everyone who came to the birthday party last week (Y is for.....) and if you missed it there's still some leftovers in the fridge so do pop in!) Thank you to for the lovely presents.
Now let me tell you about Zebayda
It's curious how things jump into your mind sometimes. I have a very visual memory and pictures suddenly appear behind my eyes and take me back more years than I care to admit. The letter Z (and where I come from we say Zed, not Zee) suddenly took me back nearly 50 years to a place that was then called The Hutton Residential School. I can see myself in a corridor painted that institutional green that many Brits will know and loathe. The corridor was actually a hallway in a large Victorian house and the house itself felt very friendly. The HRS was a place where children from the London Borough of Poplar who came from difficult backgrounds, broken families or who were orphans, were cared for. My mum and dad had befriended a boy who lived there - why is a whole other story which I might find a slot for next time round - and so we used to go there for tea sometimes. I would be sent off to be with the other chldren while my parents had tea with the matron and I was a bit apprehensive as an only child, suddenly finding myself, albeit temporarily, as part of a very big family.
Now Zebayda was the first black person that I ever met. Where I grew up, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, black faces were not commonly seen. Her father was part of a singing group, an English version of The Inkspots, but her mother was dead and so she stayed at the School while he was on tour. She was a year or two older than me and watched out for me when I was there. I never stayed the night but I guess my mum and dad thought it would be an experience to see how they lived in that place. It always felt full of love and I hope that it was.
HERE'S what other people made of the letter Z

Alphabe-Thursday - Y is for You are invited

2010-07-07T18:13:00.004+01:00

It's Thursday the 8th July and you are invited to my virtual birthday party. The caterers will be here soon. I have ordered an exotic fruit punch for the drivers and champagne for the drinkers. There will be smoked salmon canapes, vol-au-vents filled with cream cheese and caviar, or lobster in mayonnaise. There is the biggest cheese board you have ever seen in your life and a choice of several wines, spirits, mixers and fruit juices . Salads incude pasta and asparagus, orange and watercress and seared peppers and tomato. There's cold salt beef or ham, and a whole cold salmon which has been dressed in thin slices of cucumber to look like scales. If you fancy something hot there's a mushroom rissotto, a lamb pasanda curry and all the trimmings, or a smoked haddock chowder with crusty multi grain rolls. There are other breads too. For dessert there's a dark chocolate torte, a milk chocolate mousee, ice cream in three different flavours (vanilla, coffee and rum and raisin) and a fruit salad. I've also made a huge cobweb pudding to my Auntie Elsie's recipe, which I posted up on this blog last Friday. And there's cream.
Coffee, liquers, or herb tea. Mints.
Bryan Ferry has got Roxy Music back together just for the event but if you go right out into the extensive formal gardens, past the second fountain on the left, you will find a small chamber orchestra and some comfortable seating where you can get away from the heat and noise and repose calmly in the cool for a while.
I will be wearing my black velvet and the second best diamonds.
So all I want you to do is tell me what amazing and fantastic present you are virtually bringing me!
If you are reading this before I get up in the morning then come back later for the link to other Y's or make your way there from Jenny's blog HERE

Auntie Elsie's Cobweb Pudding

2010-07-02T20:49:00.006+01:00

A friend asked for this recipe so I thought I'd share it with you all. Not sure if you can read my auntie's writing so translation underneath!

1lb rhubarb
1 strawberry jelly
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 eggs
pink colouring
Cook rhubarb slowly without water until juice begins to flow, then more quickly until it is pulp. Liquidise, dissolve jelly in water in same pan. Stir into pulp add jam to sweeten and colouring if necessary. Separate whites from eggs beat yolks into rhubabrb mixture. Whisk whites to soft peak and fold in. (Auntie left that bit out!) Pour into glass dish leave to set
The top
3/4 pint double cream
2 levels tablespoons sieved redcurrant jelly
8 large strawberries
Whisk cream spread on top of rhubarb pipe redcurrant jelly in rounds etc like a cobweb, decorate with strawberries

Alphabe-Thursday X is for Xylophone

2010-06-30T21:08:00.004+01:00

Now that Jenny's link is up I see she was ahead of me on this one. I wrote this before I saw her's - honest! I have been wasting time trying to find a picture that I could point you to, showing the sort of xylophone I had when I was little. You all know what they look like, but all the pictures I found were much brighter than mine was, I guess because the modern ones are painted in rainbow colours and are wooden, whereas mine was second hand and metal and going a bit rusty. But I loved that xylophone. It was educational, I started to learn about how musical scales worked and about the fact that things of different sizes made lower or higher tones. So then I drove my mum mad going round the house with my little xylophone hammers (red wooden balls on the ends of two slim handles) hitting everything in sight to see what sound it made. Then came the exciting moment when we filled up milk bottles with different amounts of water and tried to tune them to a scale. Hey ho, happy days!
What other things did Jenny's team come up with for X. Link will be up on Thursday morning I hope. Jenny if you read this, what time does it go up on your page and how far behind the UK are you? I'm going to stay up one night to get at the front of the list!
And HERE is the link

Alphabe-Thursday Where or When

2010-06-23T18:03:00.002+01:00

OK, this week I am going to ask you all a couple of questions. When do you ever find the time to do all this blogging and commenting? Where do you sit when you do it?
The thing is, although I love to do my little posts I find that I am a very infrequent blogger and this discipline of Jenny's is often the only thing I do on my blogs (and I have two!) for weeks at a time. I am also a very bad commenter. Sometimes I find that after I have visited a blog and commented the whole thing crashes on me and I have to fiddle about re-starting and quite often the time is getting on and I don't continue. I am blessed with the gift of being able to sleep, and I need my 8 hours, so I don't surf in the wee small hours. My computer is upstairs so if I am cooking or eating or doing much of anything then I can't keep checking in and out - I have to sit down and look at the computer and do nothing else (except maybe listen to the TV in the background.) And of course, if I am out of the house then I can't get online either. So tell me where I am going wrong and give me your advice for being a better blogger (provided it doesn't involve spending any money please!)
And while you are here, here is a song called WHERE OR WHEN
sung by someone I may have mentioned once or twice before. It is actually a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes In Arms so a bit unusual for him, but from an album he did called As Time Goes By, which lots of people hated, but I loved.
If you are reading this before Thursday Morning UK time then the link will be up then for the rest of those W posts

V is for Villa-Lobos

2010-06-16T18:19:00.003+01:00

Many, many years ago, before I was married, I and my then gentleman friend used to buy and sell what was known in the trade as "smalls". Now I don't know if this is a word used for underwear in the US but let me reassure you that I did not buy and sell those sort of smalls. No, the expression referred to small items, usually china, of an antique or collectable nature. We went to fairs and auctions and eventually had a space in a couple of antique centres. Consequently I spent, or misspent, quite a lot of my youth trawling round car boot sales looking for bargains. One day I bought a record. You remember those big black circular things, don't you? The cover informed me that it was some work or other of the composer Vivaldi. I checked it for scratches and it was fine and I paid my pennies and took it home. Then I looked at it more closely and found that it was not in fact Vivaldi at all, but some works by a composer called Hector Villa-Lobos that had been put into a wrong cover. I put it on the record player and was transported, amazed, delighted. Since then, over the years, I have got to know his work and loved most of it. In fact, if I could only ever listen to the music of composers whose names began with just one letter of the alphabet, then I would choose V. Vivaldi, Villa-Lobos and a bit of Verdi would cover most of my moods. And if you would like to know what that first ever piece of Hector's work was that I heard then you can HEAR IT HERE
Curiously I am presently reading the book "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel (thoroughly recommended by the way) and Villa-Lobos means, roughly, the same thing.
Find out what other people thought of for "V" HERE

Alphabe-Thursday U is for Unusual

2010-06-10T14:16:00.006+01:00

First of all I would like to thank you if you visited my "T" post last week. Teacher put me at the front of the class and I had lots more comments than usual - so that was unusual! I didn't manage to come and visit you all. And if you read my "S" post then HERE is the link to the post I did afterwards about the Suffolk Show.

Now, here is a rather unusual flower. I wonder if you know what it is.

It grew in the garden of my old house one year. Later it grew a lot bigger and the colours faded a bit and it looked like this

Well, let me tell you the answer. It's a foxglove, but a very unusual one, I think you will agree. Why it did what it did, I do not know, and it never did it again, although someone did tell me that it is a mutation caused by a virus!

MORE Us HERE

The Suffolk Show

2010-06-05T10:02:00.011+01:00

I had a really lovely bit of "me" time on Thursday. I went to the Suffolk Show with my friend Irene. For those of you outside the UK, the counties in England are probably larger than the US counties but smaller than the states, well, let's face it, some of your states are probably bigger than England! Most of the rural counties have an agricultural show of some description. In Suffolk, and in many others, they are also a show case for local businesses, organisations and charities.
Parking is costly and can be very difficult so the local Park & Ride bus service run a regular bus to and from the showground which takes you on a route past some of the older and posher houses in Ipswich. Once there, and having recovered from the rather enormous cost of getting in we got our bearings and had a quick look in the tent where all the lovely shopping is, and then left again before we got too tempted. We had a good look at the animals

including a bat-eared sheep (?!)

and when it came to lunch time we got something to eat and went and sat in the shade under a grandstand and watched some horses.

I also arranged to meet up with a Twitter friend. Grethic (she's green and ethical) is a green blob on Twitter - it doesn't do her justice! It was nice to put a real face to the name and we chatted for a little while and then went our separate ways but have promised to meet up for a picnic in the summer

We went and had a look at the flower show

and I bought some fancy sweet pea seeds to grow next year and had an interesting chat with a man who grows the sort of thing I would like to grow in my garden. Irene bought a plant. She is the genius behind THIS garden by the way

We went to the stand of my local radio station and I gave one of the presenters a big hug, as we share our birthday and talk a bit on Facebook sometimes. He has the very early morning show and kept me company last year when hubby was in hospital and I wasn't sleeping very well.

Then I am afraid we did go back to the shopping tent. But I resisted most of the temptation and just bought some fudge and some soap. Can you tell which is which?

If I find the soap won't lather and the fudge tastes awful I will know I've got it the wrong way round.

Finally, here is a picture of two more piggy wigs (it's a face only a mother could love, isn't it) and two of what we call enormous tractors and what a lot of you will think are toy models - yes cousin Kathleen in Canada, I mean you!!!

It was a lovely day, the sun shone but there was a bit of a breeze, and I had managed to park my car where the shade of a tree had come round over it in the afternoon. I was tired and happy.

Alphabe-Thursday T is for Trees

2010-06-02T11:10:00.013+01:00

I have a bit of a thing about trees. I have very strong memories attached to certain trees that I have "met" during my life. I know, I know, cue for that well known song "I talk to the trees". On the Andy Williams Show years ago he changed the second line to "that's why they took me away". But I digress.
My first tree was a big old apple tree. For some years we lived with my granddad and granny and the row of houses where they lived were Edwardian and had been built on an old orchard. Each house had been left one or two trees in the garden. I used to climb up into it and sit and read for hours, often until the light had gone and I couldn't see anymore. Dad put me up a swing in it too, so here's a photo of me sitting on the swing.

The second tree was one that I used to pass every day when I was walking to work. I had a lovely photo of it but I've lost it so I managed to screen capture what it looks like now from Google Street View. It must be ancient but it isn't as healthy looking as I remember it.

My third tree gives me an excuse to show you what a slim and gorgeous young thing I was. I am about 18 in this picture. The tree behind me was in the garden of the flat below us. It was a lilac and we got all the benefit of it because it was outside out sitting room window. In the winter lots of little sparrows would come and sit in the bare branches and my mum always said they looked liked little brown fruit

One tree I don't have a photo of is a tree in the park in one of the towns where I worked. It was a huge, and I mean really HUGE Copper beech. On stressful days I would go and look at it at lunchtime and it helped. The next tree is one that was across the road from our last house. I was rather pleased with this photo. We lived in the countryside and there were lots of lovely trees around us.

Now we have moved but we are right on the edge of the town and some of you will know that I can walk through a little wood almost outside my front door. I have posted a few pictures of these in the snow so HERE is a link if you would like to look at them. From my study window I can see the woods and two big pines, here they are in the evening sunshine

Last two. The very old oak tree that is along the lane that goes to the old farmhouse that is now a pub

and my favourite tree at Sutton Hoo

See more takes on T HERE

Alphabe-Thursday S is for Suffolk Show

2010-05-27T17:15:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately S has come round a week too early as the Suffolk Show takes place next Wednesday and Thursday . I went for the first time last year but can't find the photos I took then so maybe I will put some up next week and direct you to them.
The Suffolk Show was, I guess, originally just an agricultural show. Most Counties in England seem to have them. There are lots of animals to see, rare breeds etc, plus cart racing and show jumping, bands, displays and you can see what I call huge tractors and what my Canadians laughingly call toy tractors. Well, our country is a lot smaller so, so are our fields.
But there is also a flower show and lots and lots of shopping and eating to be done. It's a whole day out. I am going with a friend this year so I expect to be tired but happy, well fed and a little light in the purse by the end of it.. The website is HERE if you would like to know more and you can see what other people thought of for the letter S HERE

Alphabe-Thursday R is for Ron

2010-05-20T09:05:00.002+01:00

Ron was born the youngest of seven children in 1925. Being the baby, he was spoilt of course, but there's not a lot of spoiling that can be done by an East End family with 9 mouths to feed on a milk roundsman's money. They gave up the "comfort" of their London home for a small holding in Essex. His mother lost her indoor cold tap and the privy and replaced it with an outside tap and "bucket and chuck it"
Ron was a bright boy and gained a scholarship to the local Grammar School but left at 16 to go into the Fire Service (World War 2 having broken out by then) until he was able to get into the RAF, which he did at 17. He was a Flight Engineer and made Sgt but didn't get any further because he burnt down the camp in Iceland. But Ron being Ron even came up smelling of roses on that one. His squadron was posted to Iceland but the men were told they would have to set up Nissan huts on the hill and would not be allowed to billet in the local town.. The cook house drain soon got bunged up with grease and Ron was told to clean it. He decided that if he put some petrol down the drain and set light to it that would shift the grease but what it did was set fire to the cook house - a fire that spread. He was sort of court-martialled and fined £20, a lot of money in 1945. But his comrades in arms were so glad that they were now going to have to be billeted after all, they had a whip round and he made a profit on the deal. But he never got past Sgt.
When the war ended he went back to his home town to find that almost all of his contemporaries had moved on, married, or, sadly, died. He went back to the church youth club and there was only one person who he remembered, a girl called Dot. They spent quite a lot of time together over the following couple of years but then decided that it really was time that they made the effort to go out separately and look for a life partner. Within a week they both found they missed each other so much that they had found their life partner and not realised it.
Ron trained as a surveyor, auctioneer and estate agent but his first love was drama and he belonged to several amateur operatic and dramatic groups. He was a founder member of a well respected amateur Shakespeare company and worked with after school drama groups at a local school. He was given an audition by the world famous D'Oyly Carte Company and, perhaps not kindly, they told him that they would have accepted him had he not been a husband and father by then, but that the life of touring and late nights was really only for those without family ties. He never really got over it. But, aged 38, he sent his wife (willingly) out to work and got a grant to train as a drama teacher.
He was a very good teacher, there being something of the little boy that understood the ways of little boys, and which appealed to the children. Then aged 49 in the space of four months he developed and died of cancer.
Ron was my dad

See what other R's have been written HERE

Alphabe-Thursday Q is for Q

2010-05-13T09:47:00.002+01:00

I am reading a book called "Questioning Q" at the moment. Yes, really I am!
For many years the accepted theological teaching was that the authors of the gospels of Matthew and Luke had both drawn on a common source, called Q, which was believed to have been a collection of sayings of Jesus, but for which direct evidence did not appear to be extant.
It was called Q for the German word Quelle, which means "source"
When I was studying for my theology degree (which by the way, I never finished) this was taught as being accepted and definite. We looked at the similarities and differences between the two gospels and where they were alike we were told that this probably meant that the two had drawn from a third source, (or one had copied from the other) OK, yes, I have simplified this somewhat but you didn't come here for a lecture now, did you!
The reason I am writing this now, though, is because this theory has come into question in more recent years and so what I was taught as - pardon the pun - "gospel" is now open to more and more scrutiny and the resulting discussions are, to me anyway, fascinating.
You have to bear in mind that theology is "talking about God" and does not in itself require any faith or belief. If you have read me before you know that I am a practising Christian but if theology has taught me anything it has taught me that it is healthy to Question, to re-think, to keep one's beliefs, principals, core values, alive and active and dynamic and to accept that sometimes you may change your mind about things.
Sorry, just had to get that of my chest!

Of course, we all know that Q grew up to build wonderful gadgets for James Bond and to make Jean-Luc Picard's life difficult.

And HERE'S some qawwali music, which I love

And please forgive me if I don't manage to respopnd to your comments or leave a comment on yours but blogger is giving me so much grief again today and keeps crashing

You'll find a long queue of Q's HERE

Alphabe-Thursday P is for Paris

2010-05-06T07:47:00.004+01:00

I am an armchair traveller. For all sorts of reasons I am no longer able to jet about (or cruise) willy nilly. In fact, not at all. And yes, I do get a little bit jealous sometimes of the people who can and do. But that is a negative thing and we don't do negative here on Just Jotting Along!
I have some very pleasant memories of Paris. I first went when I was 17. A school friend had a sister who married the gorgeous Jean-Paul and lived in a flat in Paris so I and 2 others went with her for a week's stay, sleeping, at first, on the floor of the living room. Then a friend of theirs said two of us could have his room in his college digs, which was fine until we realised that the only place to have a pee was at an open urinal at the end of the corridor. I drew the long straw and stayed with my friend and her sister, but the other two had to nip down the Metro last thing at night and then first thing in the morning. They were not meant to be there and the next night another friend of the family offered her digs in a slightly less difficult situation. And it was in that place that I first listened to Leonard Cohen, looking across the roofs of Paris from the 6th floor. I also bought my first 2 Jacques Brel LPs on that trip. I already knew of him but only from the radio. And it was the first time I had filter coffee. Those plastic cone things, and the papers, were just not available in the UK then, so we brought back supplies. And Petit Suisse cheese. We went to the Louvre and said "Ou est.... " and were pointed to the Mona Lisa before we could say any more . She's a lot smaller than I had imagined. One rainy afternoon we went to the cinema and saw Midnight Cowboy. I only half understood what was going on because my brain insisted on reading the subtitles
The second time was when I was 30; with another friend who had a cousin who lived there, but this time I had a real bed because they let their cats roam the place and I didn't like cats in the room when I was sleeping so I got the bedroom and the others slept on the floor in the next room. It was a very hot time of year and there were cicadas at night which was rather exotic. This flat was right near the Gare du Nord so I could watch trains coming in and out and going round on a turntable, and there were more roofs and windows through which you could see a little sometimes. We went to the newly opened science museum right at the end of a metro line somewhere in the wilds, and played with a computer for a while - a big deal then. We saw the weird glass pyramid that had now appeared by the Louvre. and The Geode
On both occasions, because I was staying with people in a rather off hand sort of way, we got to do ordinary shopping. You know, I think you should always go and look round a supermarket when you are on holiday, even if you don't need to. It's fascinating.
So I feel very nostalgic for Paris.
I started collecting books about the city, some are really old. and I love reading them as though I know the place, when, of course, I don't really.
Notre Dame seemed too touristy to me but Sacre Coeur was just wonderful.
Climbing those steps in Montmartre.
The self service restaurant at Motte-Piquet
The wonderful names of the stations on the Metro
Shops open in the evening
Asking for "un carnet " on the Metro, like you are a local.
DEEP SIGH

More Ps HERE

Alphabe-Thursday - O is for Oasis and Optimism

2010-04-27T09:49:00.005+01:00

This blog was never intended for anything but a bit of fun. My banner says it was meant to provide an oasis and that was what I wanted to do - promise anyone who followed that there would always be something positive to read here, or something funny or entertaining. Not for me the angst, the baring of the soul, the ranting and raving. Most of those things are, at least in my life, short lived and I have no wish to record them for posterity! So I have been a little quiet recently. Last week's Note From My Mum was not a joke. I have, in the last few weeks, had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a full time carer, my husband and my mother both need a lot of care and between them they take a lot of my energy and time.
I have worked since I left school at 18. I was a lawyer though I tend to keep that to myself these days. I was also a book keeper as a sideline. I was single until I was 36. When I gave up my job just before Christmas it was to give myself six months to catch up with a lot of things before I looked for something else, but I now realise that planning to get another job has been creating its own stress. My own health has been a bit suspect and I don't have the stamina to keep going all the time. Now that I have decided that I am not going to do that I find myself truly feeling a lot more optimistic about the future because I can give my energies to the two people who I love most in the world, and who need me the most and be very glad and feel, frankly, very blessed, that I harbour not one iota of resentment about the situation..
I am extremely fortunate that we can manage without my earning. Hubby being in a wheelchair means that we don't spend on things like holidays, or going very far afield for trips, neither of us smoke, he doesn't drink and I only do in moderation, I have time to cook real meals which are much cheaper than ready made and I have a wardrobe full of clothes that I used to keep for work, or best, which I can now wear to do the gardening in should I so desire. The social life I have is with the people I genuinely want to spend time with, not because they are the people I need to cultivate or people to whom I "owe" an invitation.
I may actually find that I will have the time and space to start preaching again - oh yes, have I told you I am a Methodist Preacher? I haven't been active for a few years because of all the other stuff that has been going on but I am hoping that might change in time. In God's time and mine.
So, for all you fraught and frazzled bloggers, this little oasis will remain open for business for the foreseeable future. I will welcome your company on this new journey and will stay optimistic I hope
More "o" s ( which makes an "oooooo" ) HERE

Alphabe-Thursday N is for Note from my mum

2010-04-22T17:26:00.004+01:00

Dear Mrs Matlock, I am afraid I had to keep Jay from class today. I know that her education is important but I needed her more than you did.
Kind regards
Mrs Dubblah

Alphabe-Thursday M is for Music

2010-04-15T10:27:00.003+01:00

Anyone who has been reading my Alphabe-Thursday posts regularly will know that I have already introduced some of you to a couple of my favourite singers but in fact my musical tastes lean a lot more in the classical direction than you might so far have thought. Music has been an important part of my life. As a small child I was taken along to rehearsals of Gilbert and Sullivan, as my dad belonged to two and sometimes three, amateur operatic societies. I appeared in my first musical at the age of 9, just a small part as a gypsy child in a musical called "Gypsy Love" and I was my dad's attendant in Iolanthe when I was 10 - he always played the G&S comedy role. I played a lead role in a school musical when I was 10 as well and at the age of 14 I sang in my first oratorio with the local choral society. That was as a soprano but I soon moved over to the altos. I have sung solo on occasion and have a video to prove it but not the technology to put it on YouTube (don't all breathe a sigh of relief quite so quickly ha ha) What was then called the "Third Programme" on the radio was on at home a lot, that was the classical music station, and I studied music at school. It is now called Radio Three and I still have it on a lot. Three of my favourite composers begin with "V" and that is my planned post for that letter when we get there. I do like popular music but if I had to choose then it would be classical. I like "World" music too, that is, music from non-western traditions. So, I thought I would set myself a little challenge and try to pick one classical and one popular composer or artist for every letter of the alphabet and this is what I came up with - I had to cheat a bit with first or second names and stretch the definition of classical or popular in a few cases. And there are surprisingly few classical composers for N and none that I like so I put in The Naxos Catalogue, which is the hugest list of classical CDs that I know of and which I drool over regularly. And I didn't want to cheat so I had to leave a few gaps. But I would be really interested to know a) how many of the 48 in the list you have heard of and b) any suggestions for the gaps

Albinoni and Alice Cooper,
Bach (J.S.) and Jacques Brel,
Canteloube and Leonard Cohen,
Dvorak and Dave Brubeck ,
Elgar and Electric Light Orchestra,
Faure and Brian Ferry,
Gershwin and Georges Guetary,
Handel and Lionel Hampton,
Isobel Baillie and The Inkspots
Jussi Bjorling and Japan,
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and The Kinks,
Lehar and Lata Mangeshkar ,
Mendellsohn and Mohammed Rafi,
The Naxos Catalogue and Peter Nero,
Orff and Mike Oldfield,
Phillip Glass and The Police ,
John Shirley Quirk and Queen,
Rodrigo and Diane Reeves,
Sondheim and Sade,
Tedesco and Tom Lehrer ,
?? and Unit 4 plus 2,
John Vickers and ??
Weil and Scott Walker,
Xavier Depraz and XLNC,
Yves Montand and The Yardbirds
??? and ???

Sorry I haven't put any pictures up with this, I was going to do a photo of my cd collection but the battery's gone on the camera again! See what other things the letter M has brought to mind HERE

Alphabe-Thursday L is for Langham and Lehrer

2010-04-07T20:41:00.007+01:00

I found myself torn this week between introducing you to one of my favourite places and two of my favourite singers. But then I remembered that some of you do not confine yourselves to one subject, so I am going to take my L-lead from you.
The place is Langham Glass. I have only been there twice but hope to go again someday. They make glass ornaments there which are very expensive but they also have a visitor centre where you can go and watch stuff being made. Glass blowing is an amazing skill and the people who do it "in public" have a terrific patter which is very entertaining. It is mesmerising to watch. There is a beautiful walled garden there too. HERE is the link to their website There is, of course, a shop, which is why I have a "second" paperweight, much cheaper and just as lovely. It would be easy to spend an awful lot of money there. Hubby gave me a wren for our wedding anniversary this year so I have posted a picture of my two pieces of Langham glass

The singers are Tom Lehrer and Leonard Cohen - poles apart! Leonard Cohen is a Paris memory so you will have to wait for the letter P but Tom Lehrer, well I can't quite explain what it is. He is very clever for a start, he was a Maths Professor at Harvard who had a sideline in very funny songs. THIS is one is one of the less Politically Incorrect ones. Look at others at your peril. His career in singing was short lived and he was on The Frost Report a few times here in England. I am not sure how I came across him but listen to him over and over when I need cheering up

For other people's take on the letter L go HERE

Alphabe-Thursday K is for Kaleidoscope

2010-04-01T09:14:00.011+01:00

I bought a new photo manipulation programme a while ago. It has some amazing features including what they call "Reflection" effects. One of those is called Kaleidoscope and I can't stop playing with it.

It turned this

into this

and this

into this

I didn't find the letter K very easy. I could have talked about the knife I used to cut the onions yesterday and how it cut my finger instead. I could have talked about my kinfolk, about not having any kids, about Kierkegaard or Khachaturian, but I want to go back and play with my photos some more.

See what other people thought of for the letter K HERE

Alphabe_Thursday J is for Jacques Brel

2010-03-25T08:23:00.000Z

I don't speak French very well. I can just about make myself understood I think. I can read it a little better and am quite surprised how things come back to me when I try. I did do "A" level at School.
My parents were quite "bohemian" in a way and it was through one of their friends that I first discovered Jacques Brel . I don't remember much about that, it seems that I have loved his voice and music all my life. Those of you who know me will be shocked to discover that he features in my subconscious even before Bryan Ferry hit the scene!
His voice is just so.....The words of his songs, well, it sort of doesn't matter if you don't understand them, although over the years I have gradually understood more and a few years ago got hold of a copy of his complete works in book form so now when I feel I want to I can follow a song and get out my great big French - English Dictionary and try to sort them out.
He died relatively young at 49, which is the same age my dad died, in 1978 And he wasn't French - he was Belgian
The link at the end of this post is to what is probably my favourite. Basically it says that although there are so many things in the world that cause us pain, the worst is to see a friend cry. There a few pics there too.
Scott Walker made a bit of a name for himself singing translations but his interpretation was very different, far more angry, than the originals. If you are interested then have a hunt round YouTube for some more. Some are slow and sad, some are angry and some are very funny. Try Madeleine and then Mathilde. And there is at least one song that many of you will know "Ne me quitte pas" which really means "don't leave me" but which in the translation became "If you go away" The original is better I think. Some of the translations really miss the mark
He also wrote "The Impossible Dream" which doesn't really sound much like anything else he wrote

LINK to Voir Un Ami Pleurer

Read more "js" HERE

Wednesday Waffle #004

2010-03-24T19:31:00.003Z

Inside this right handed person there may be a left handed person trying to make herself heard!
Due to some medical issues which I won't bore you with, the hospital consultant suggested that I buy a Wii. So I did. In fact, I had been tempted for some time but this gave me the clincher when it came to persuading Hubby that I wouldn't be wasting my money.
If you don't know, then I need to explain that one of the things you can do with it is a set of tests that give you your so-called "Wii-Fit Age"
Now I don't want to get all lopsided so I decided, as I am a bit ambidextrous anyway, to do the tests both right handed and left handed.. On the first try my Wii-Fit Age right handed was 74 and left handed was 62. I have now got the right hand down to 53 but the left hand is 39. At least, those are my best scores so far, it does go up and down.
My dad was left handed and the things he taught me to do I do more naturally with my left hand. I can write with both, use a screwdriver with both (very useful when you are putting flat pack furniture together) and do tend to get them mixed up, as in "turn right here dear", while pointing left.
So am I messing with my brain or was I just right handed generally because that's the way you are taught to be unless you have a really strong tendency the other way?

On the bathroom front, things are going well except that I had a really bad allergic reaction to the fumes coming off the stuff they put down on the floor before the waterproof flooring is laid. The builder is a happy chap and startles us regularly by suddenly singing one line from a song, quite randomly and then going quiet again. Then when you have got half way through that song in your head he has another go with a totally different song. Very strange! It should be finished by the weekend - here's hoping

Alphabe-Thursday I is for India

2010-03-18T09:40:00.009Z

If I was fit enough and money and time was no object then the one place I would visit before all others is India (and Pakistan too) My maternal grandfather was in India in the British Army during the First World War. I have his photo albums of his time there but the pictures are so tiny and frankly most of them are quite boring because they are sepia and faded. I like this one though, of him writing at his desk.

We had, I should now be ashamed to admit, a tiger skin rug, which I remember being in Granny and Granddad's bedroom when I was little. There were quite a lot of bits of brass, some of which I still have and an embroidered shawl, which I have used as a backdrop for this next picture.

I am fascinated by the music and culture of the area, I love qawwali and I love bhangra and if you know about these things you will know that is going from the sublime to the ridiculous, to coin a phrase. I also love all that Indian cotton stuff that I used to wear when I was a hippy and which I now feel old enough to get away with again

The place I would go first is Jodhpur. This is in Rajasthan and is where my puppets came from. A lot of the buildings are painted a particular blue and it must be a wonderful thing to see. The picture here is a photo of a poster that I have on a wall

I have found a couple of good blogs about India so for the moment I have to be content with being an armchair traveller. See what other people have for I HERE

Wednesday Waffle #003

2010-03-17T16:57:00.001Z

When I went out for my walk this morning I thought that at long last there was a smell of Spring in the air and the wind was actually almost warm.
It's been quite a busy week and blog watching has been rather low on my list of priorities. Those of you who also look at my "arty" blog, as opposed to this one which is my "wordy" blog, will know that I have been joining in a few photographic and illustrative challenges from time to time. I like to get real comments, constructive criticism is always welcome, but I know from looking at the contributions of other people that it can be difficult because there is no universally accepted form of notation for a tone of voice. When my husband started his OU course on computing the thing they called "netiquette" was heavily featured and it is something we can all do with learning about from time to time. The problem for me at the moment is that although I manage to do the challenges I don't always have the time to start trawling through all the other contributions and then I find it difficult sometimes to know what to say so I just slink off again without saying anything. So naturally I don't get a lot of comments either. So what do you think - is it better to stay quiet, say what you really think but being careful how you say it, or just say "how lovely" to everything whatever your real thoughts? It is such a subjective thing anyway.
The bathroom is coming on and the latex went down on the floor this afternoon. Much fun was had at the weekend as we went to the local swimming pool so that I could give OH a hose down in their disabled adapted shower room. Does anyone remember when Public Baths meant something other than a swimming pool? Are there any in big cities still?
I also had to go to the hospital for an appointment with a consultant and he suggested we get a Wii, so we did. Aren't they a lot of money! Anyway, my Wii Fit age right handed is 74 and left handed is 62. That gives me a lot to work for as my real age is only 54 and three quarters!

H is for.......

2010-03-10T21:10:00.002Z

Come in, come in, take off your coat, sit here in this chair, no, not that one, that's MOTHER'S chair. Well now that I have lured you, little innocent that you are, into my strange blog (you really would have thought that you would have known better) and now that the door has closed mysteriously and of its own accord behind you, I will tell you that H is for........

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, ooops, sorry, forgive the maniacal laughter

H is for Hammer Horror Films

Don't worry, you are quite safe, you are the heroine so you will survive, albeit traumatised for a minute or two. You only have to worry if you are second billing, the friend of the heroine, or the slightly dozy servant girl from the village, then you will be what is known in the trade as an STBT character (soon to be toast)

When I was in my teens I had a little black and white television in my bedroom, on which I would watch late night films. In those days television still went off in the early hours, none of this 24 hour stuff, and on a Friday night there would be a good old fashioned horror film that went on until after midnight. Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were the three main protagonists, although you will find it difficult to name a film in which all three appeared. (As far as I am aware there are only two) The formula was pretty straightforward. Innocents abroad have to spend night in creepy location for whatever reason and are either preyed upon by monster/vampire in situ or provide the means for said m/v to travel to a more populated location and cause havoc among the friends and relations of said innocents. Or mad scientist experiments with electricity and soft tissue, or strange virus from space and creates something nasty in the laboratory which then escapes and causes havoc among his friends and relations.

Dracula featured heavily in my favourites but the thing about them was that they were not gory or horrific, they were just a bit spooky or scary and lots of fun. Identifying the STBTs was a good game, continued into my Star Trek days when they became STBTEs (soon to be toast Ensign) They were also great fun for spotting people in their younger days who became famous later on. That game was called "Good heavens it's him/her"

So there I would be in my little bed watching my little B&W tele in the wee small hours in my formative teenage years and you wonder how I grew up to be the well balanced intelligent individual that you see before you now? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Other more sane people will have posted their H's for Alphabe-Thursday at Jenny Matlocks Blog, now that the US has caught up with us HERE is the link

Wednesday Waffle #002

2010-03-10T10:05:00.004Z

I'm sitting here at my computer with a nice cup of Orange Mango and Cinnamon tea and wondering what to waffle about. I could tell you the long tale of the bathroom but there are a lot of negatives in that story. The short tale is much better as we have found a really good builder who is treating us like intelligent human beings and comes highly recommended from people who's judgement I trust. But OH is without a proper bathroom for up to three weeks which is challenging. Thank Tesco for their facilities. It will be lovely when it's done though, a proper wheelchair friendly wetroom.
I must tell you about the tiles. We had decided to go with white and a pretty border. I went to a rather nice shop on the local trading estate which had a huge choice of accent and border tiles and saw some I really REALLY liked and then some others that I thought himself might like and some others that we might just possibly agree on. The next day we went back together and he wandered around and then said "I like these" and with my heart in my mouth and my head saying "it's his bathroom so it's his choice" I went to see what he had picked out. Well, I guess you are ahead of me. Yes, he picked the ones I really REALLY liked. I couldn't believe it. In 18 years of marriage it was a first.. So we will be having pink metallic sheen sort of pearly border tiles, white for the rest and the grey Altro floor and white paintwork. It will look lovely. I'll take a photo when it's done and show you all.

Oh well, that's enough waffle for one day, must go and make the builder some more tea

Alphabe-Thursday G is for Greens

2010-03-04T10:05:00.002Z

It's Thursday again - doesn't it seem to come round quickly, and here were are already up to G, which stands for GREENS

I don't know if "greens" is a universally accepted expression for cabbage, broccoli and other brassicas but most people of my generation at least will recall the horror that the word evoked in us as children when faced with school dinners or a visit to a culinarily challenged relative. I have a feeling that it may mean something slightly different in the US - you will set me straight on that I am sure.

However, the greens I want to talk about are the beautiful shades of that colour in both art and nature. In my box of watercolours (which have been sadly neglected of late) the pan that is almost empty is the sap green. This is the colour of fresh green leaves, a slightly yellow green which looks good with any other colour.

In my wardrobe there are many different greens and I have selected a few for my next picture. When I was at High School our uniform was navy blue but when we got to the sixth form we were allowed to wear anything blue. After a while a chart went up on the art room wall, showing what was and what was not "blue" and woe betide anyone caught wearing something that did not match the chart. So those bluey-greens, or greeney-blues always remind me of Mrs Archer and her chart!

I believe I am right in saying that there are more recorded shades of green than any other colour and that it is considered to be the most restful. As summer comes and the leaves on the trees turn from Sap Green to Hunter Green or Viridian, Serpentine or Celadon, sitting under them is the most wonderful way to experience and rejoice in God's wonderful world.

Click HERE for more "G"s

Wednesday Waffle #001

2010-03-03T16:41:00.007Z

Well, I promised you waffle, so here I am wondering whether watching the televison in a mirror is messing with my brain.

Let me explain. My computer is basically in a fixed position, on a desk which faces the wall. The television is on the other side of the room. So I have a mirror on the desk so I can watch the television while I am at the computer, if it is a programme that I don't want to concentrate on. I am aware that a lot of people have these fancy phones that allow them to tweet and blog and facebook wherever they are but I am still confined to my desk most of the time as my laptop is so old that I can no longer get a battery for it to make it portable, so it has to remain attached to the mains. So when you watch The One Show the guest is sitting to the presenter's left, the Prime Minister lives at number 01 and Wales is east of England on the weather map. Should I worry?

Anyways up, today I have been busy and not at the computer at all (much) and this afternoon I have been painting a plate. In Woodbridge there is a shop called Jars of Clay where you can paint a plate or a pot of any number of interesting bits of pottery with the design and colours of your choice while having a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of cake. Then they fire it for you and you go back and collect it the following week so we all have that bit of excitement to look forward to. It took me rather longer than I had anticipated but I think I will be pleased with the result.

We also took the first step towards the new bathroom - the man with the skip arrived. Well, if you have been, thanks for reading. See you for Alphabe-Thursday tomorrow.

New Timetable

2010-03-01T11:54:00.008Z

I am very aware of the fact that I have hit that point where one becomes a bad blogger! That is to say, I have not been edifying you with the wondrous goings on in my life, lifting your spirits, lowering your blood pressure, or otherwise keeping to my self imposed task of providing that little oasis of calm and happiness as I had intended. Do not fear, gentle reader, I am getting myself organised. I have been somewhat pre-occupied with trying to get my other blog looking pretty and now that I have, at least in part, achieved what I wanted to achieve, I can start waffling on here again. I have a few challenges on my crafty blog which I hope to continue and so I have set myself a challenge here which I shall call Wednesday Waffle. (Yes, I know it is only Monday but this is a pre-waffle) That way you will be hearing from me at least once a week - I know, I know, but do please try to contain your excitement.
I shall need an oasis myself for the next three weeks as the bathroom is being "done" to make it more wheelchair friendly for hubby so that is going to make life interesting in the meantime! But if the sun carries on shining I will be able to get out into the garden and start clearing away some of the debris, and pruning and nurturing. When I was a little girl I had a picture on my bedroom wall of a lady in a crinoline, standing in a garden and the words read
"The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the bird for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than any place else on earth"

Alphabe-Thursday F is for Ferries

2010-02-24T21:06:00.010Z

At least one person I know is going to know where this is leading. As I think about ferries I find myself wandering off into all sorts of nostalgia.

REEDHAM FERRY

Reedham Ferry is just down the road from the house where my mother's cousin and his wife used to live in a place called Nogdam End, Norton Subcourse (I haven't included the name of the house, although he sadly passed away some time ago and his wife doesn't live there any more) It is a funny little boat that is pulled across the river on a big chain and saves a trip of about 30 miles. It takes ages and you can go on foot or by car. This is a post card of the old ferry, I think there is a newer one now. All very unhurried because it saves nearly an hour of driving. When I was a lot younger I used to go to our cousin's house and have wonderful meals and drink their own wine made from their own grapes (yes! in Norfolk!) with my mum and granddad and it was a lovely walk to the ferry along a country lane that was, weirdly, below the level of the river, so boats would go past and you would have to look UP at them

ON THE DOVER - OSTENDE FERRY

This next picture was going to be the one of me at the age of 14 on the Dover to Ostende ferry on a school trip to Germany. It was a long journey and a step back in time when we got there. The school my school was twinned with was in Southern Germany and everything was like the 1950s or so it seemed. I have just spent half an hour trying to find said photo but so many are stashed away in shoe boxes waiting to be sorted out I have given up. However, this is one that I took on that trip in 1969 from the rail. I got very sea sick below decks so froze in the fresh air. I fell in love with a boy called Klaus who had a lovely dark green courduroy jacket and danced with me a lot because I was the only one of the English girls who knew the Polka

PULLS FERRY - NORWICH

This one is Pulls Ferry which is in Norwich, you can see the cathedral in the background. My granddad grew up in the late 19th Century in Norwich and told some grand tales. We used to visit him a lot and I still love going there. Norwich Cathedral is wonderful and the Castle Museum is fascinating and the old parts of the City just gorgeous. I haven't been for a long time - must make the effort again.

And so to the most important ferry of them all
Have you guessed?

BRYAN FERRY

I have loved Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry for the last 35 years and more. I still listen to their music and enjoy it even though my tastes in music have expanded over the years and tend towards the classical. The early albums take me back to the back garden of my friend Marion's house when we were still care free teenagers. A lot of water has passed under a lot of ferries since then!

You can see what other folk have written here

E is for 18

2010-02-17T16:04:00.003Z

This week we are up to "E" in our Alphabe-Thursday challenge. If you would like to visit some other offerrrings go HERE
Next Monday me and him celebrate our eighteenth wedding anniversary. There were some who said it wouldn't last. A 36 year old spinster and a 60 year old disabled bachelor both very set in their ways. I think some of his family thought I was after his money. Little did they know he didn't have any. One friend said "You'll end up looking after him" Isn't that what you do for people you love? In fact I think he looks after me in all sorts of ways. I am amazed that he put up with me at the beginning. I was not the sweet, kind, patient person you see before you now. I have learnt so much from him and he is kind enough to say that he has learnt from me too. I think the people that know us well would say we have been very good for each other
Now, enough of this soppiness! E is also for earrings. I have a few, here's a picture. I do not have pierced ears but I make a lot of my own earrings and put them on those little screw fixings. I love beads. Unfortunately I often lose them so I have an interesting selection of single earrings which are waiting to be re-made into something else
By the way, what do you think of my efforts with Paint Shop, I am spending way too much time playing with it.

Sunday Stealing 14/02

2010-02-13T20:55:00.001Z

Sunday Stealing: The Clown's Meme 1

I'm doing this on Saturday as I won't have time tomorrow

1. How old will you be in five years? - 10 years older than I was 5 years ago

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today?- My husband

3. How tall are you? - 5ft 4" if I stand up really really straight

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?- Warmer weather

5. What’s the last movie you saw? - Blade Runner

6. Who was the last person you called? - a friend to remind her she's invited for pancakes on Tuesday

7. Who was the last person to call you? - my mother

8. What was the last text message you received? - Can't remember, hardly ever use it

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? - don't have voicemail

10. Do you prefer to call or text? - Write

11. What were you doing at 12am last night? - Sleeping

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? - Mum is a widow

13. When is the last time you saw your mom? - Last week but will be seeing her Sunday morning which is why I am doing this on Saturday night

14. What color are your eyes? - mud

15. What time did you wake up today? - 7

16. What are you wearing right now? - grey denim skirt, grey shirt, bright orange tights

17. What is your favorite christmas song? - Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar

18. Where is your favorite place to be? - Sutton Hoo

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? - Any supermarket

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? - India

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? - not far from here

22. Do you tan or burn? - Neither, I don't sun bathe and cover up or stay in the shade

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? - I didn't know what it was, that's what made it so scary

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? - Giles Coren in The Times today (Sat)

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? - 2

26. How big is your bed? - big enough

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? - laptop

29. What color are your sheets? - at the moment they are lime green on the bottom and a sort of sparkly shiny mauve and pink and grey on the top

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? - 1

31. What is your favorite season? - They all have their attractions

32. What do you like about Autumn? - late sunshine, gorgeous colours in nature,

33. What do you like about winter? - the fact that it doesn't last for ever

Woodbridge in the drizzle

2010-02-13T17:27:00.008Z

I've been for a walk in Woodbridge again and this time I remembered to charge the camera battery, and to put it in the camera, and to put the camera in my pocket. I worked in Woodbridge in the late 1980s and again in the late 1990s. I used to go walk about at lunchtime, sometimes along the river, which is mostly where I have been today, sometimes round the residential roads looking at front gardens. There are some nice houses in Woodbridge, and some grotty ones, but I guess that's what most places are like. There's a market there on a Thursday, and some good independent shops too so it is worth a visit.
Today was not the best for taking photos as it was drizzling and a bit cold but I wrapped up warmly and walked fairly quickly. Once I got away from the busy part of the river walk it got quite grey and spooky and there was a curlew calling and it was very therapeutic
By the way, if anyone can tell me how to put photos side by side rather than one under the other I would really like to know!

Bring me sunshine

2010-02-12T08:49:00.008Z

I'm all of a flutter because Caralicious has awarded me a sunshine award. Gosh, I'm quite tearful and need to thank my mother, my personal trainer, my stylist, the back room boys (see what they will have) Katie Boyle and everyone else who knows me, sorry I can't mention you all sob! gasp!

The rules of this award are pretty simple:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers. (or however many you can manage, I haven't treated the 12 as compulsory!)
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

And now I'm giving this award to the following bloggers:
(Sorry I haven't had time to sort out 12, having difficulty moving around in blogger so I may add to this over the next few days)

easternsparkle
Lady Banana
PoshTotty
Lynne's Days (who has promised to try harder)

D is for Dictionaries

2010-02-11T10:56:00.003Z

It's Thursday again and that means another post for Jenny Matlock's challenge Alphabe-Thursday. Go HERE to see other D posts

I have just gone round the bookshelves in our house and found 24 dictionaries. I won't list them all individually but there are 2 Law, 3 French/English, 1 French, 2 Quotations, 4 English, 2 Latin/English, and 1 each German/Eng, Modern Greek/Eng, New Testament Greek/Eng, Bible, Phrase and Fable, Synonyms and Antonyms, Rhyming, Crossword, First Names, Initials.
I don't have an American/English dictionary which is a shame because I now realise that my B post confused a few people because I talked about blackberry jam and blackberry jelly and I now realise that what the English call jam is what the Americans call jelly. Not sure what Americans call what we call jelly in this context because I'm not talking about Jello but a jam that has been strained through muslin to get rid of all the seeds and pips and lumpy bits
We do a lot of looking things up in this house. We like to use words correctly. Like "Decimate" which means to reduce BY a tenth not TO a tenth. So if your crops are decimated it isn't that bad!
Another favourite word of ours that begins with D is "Discombobulated" which I often am. No, not telling, if you don't know you'll have to look it up in a Dictionary

Family mystery

2010-02-11T08:21:00.004Z

My granddfather was one of 12 children, of whom 9 survived to adulthood. Two brothers went to Canada at different times, and a sister later on, and I am in contact with their families. One "cousin" is a regular correspondent by e-mail and is trying to piece together a family history, with the help of her late grandfathers photo album. One of the brothers (Arthur) who stayed in the UK married before World War One and had one son. Then my cousin in Canada came across some photos of "Betty" in 1932, in which said Betty looks around 5 or 6 years old. One of the photos also describes her as the daughter of Arthur. Now Arthur died in 1917 and neither the info given to me by my Granddad, or information checked out with another cousin (grandchild of one of my Great Aunts) ever mentioned Arthur having more than one child. We are now coming to the conclusion that Betty may have been Arthur's widow's daughter by her second husband. So now I need to try and find Arthur's marriage details to establish his wife's maiden name and then see if I can find Betty by reference to the surname we think was Arthur's widow's second husband's name. But although I think I have found the entry in the BMD of Arthur's marriage, it is before that record recorded the name of the other person so that would mean ordering a certificate without knowing if it was the right one and it's all going to get too expensive. One of these days I am going to try to draw a family tree and I have come to the conclusion that I will have to do it on a roll of lining paper stuck to the bedroom wall!

C is for Catalogues and Choirs

2010-02-04T16:08:00.002Z

The letter we have reached in the Alphabe-Thursday Challenge is C
C is for catalogues (or, for my friends across the pond, catalogs) and choirs Do you remember the excitement of going through the mail order catalogue when it came, just to see what you might want to buy? Maybe you still do it. I used to go down to my Aunt's and sit with her and her daughter and scour the pages for something to spend my money on - those were the days eh? I particularly remember some awful polyester trousers in garish colours, with polyester jumpers that matched. This was when I had an allowance from my parents that I had to make do for all my personal needs, good training for money management. Then after I started work I ran two catalogues myself and made quite a nice little bit of money from them.
The first thing I bought from a catalogue was in 1969. It was a black evening dress, shirt style top, ankle length sunray pleated skirt and little diamante buttons and buckle to the belt. I paid £4 19s 11d over 20 weeks. Does this require translation? In 1969 we had not yet gone decimal in our coinage so you say that "Fourteen pounds nineteen shillings and eleven pence" And that was very expensive. The reason I bought it was that I needed a full length black dress to sing in my first proper choir. I had been in the school choir and as my voice was quite low I used to sing tenor sometimes (all girls you see) but started off as a soprano so I could sit with my mum when I joined the Billericay Choral Society aged 14. The first work we sang was Medelssohn's Elijah. It was a choir that sang oratorio most of the time and I loved it. I soon found my confidence and switched to the altos. Then imagine my delight when a few years later my first love (another C for Clive - he looked a lot like Hank Marvin) took over as accompanist. He had been my piano teacher until he went to college. My passion was not reciprocated by the way, poor Clive, these days I would probably have been arrested for being a teenage stalker.
Sorry if I find it difficult to stick to one subject, some letters bring so many things to mind. If you have time, please read my Mission Statement (link in my profile)as it is something I feel very strongly about at the moment
And if you would like to see some other bloggers take on "C" go HERE

Crochet Jacket

2010-02-03T09:38:00.002Z

I made this long jacket by sewing granny squares together (in various shades of purple plus some black) and then extending the sleeves and collar with the same groups of three trebles just straight but with a decrease at the shoulder seams to shape the collar. Looks a lot better on than it does on the hangar - honest!

Mission Statement

2010-02-02T19:21:00.002Z

These days being positive is the in thing. Which is fine if you are that way inclined. I am, sometimes. But one thing which I would like to say is that I am not going to confuse positive with conformity. Lots of women of my age which is 54 and nearly three quarters, are persuaded to think that being positive means trying to be younger, trying to look younger, trying to persuade other people that they are younger. And if that's what you want to do then that's fine. But please accept that it is also fine, if it's what you want to do, to let your hair go grey, stop thinking about sex and buy some comfy shoes. At long last I have realised that I am a grown up and I do know a bit about life, having lived it in various disguises, and it really is OK to be who you want to be and not what other women, or men, want you to be. SO THERE!

Sunday Stealing 31/01

2010-01-31T09:33:00.003Z

Sunday Stealing: The Pretentious Blogging Meme

Thnak you for some serious questions for once, I am going to enjoy this one, get yourself a cup of coffee and a biscuit

1. How long have you been blogging? -
I started on August 23rd 2009 so that's just over 5 months

2. What made you start? and
3. Who inspired you? -

Easier to answer these two together. I made friends with this person
on Twitter and she had a blog so I started to read hers and a few of the ones that she followed. As I wasn't working full time and seemed to be spending a lot of time in the house I thought it would be a good way to chat away without boring hubby to death by repeating stuff he'd heard 50 times already. Then I came across a couple of arty/crafty challenge blogs that I liked so I started a second blog for my arty/crafty things. Not working at all now so wittering on even more these days

4. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog? -

Not that many actually, maybe a couple on each

5. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing? -

I used to write editorial for two local newspapers, mostly articles about local businesses, but also a cookery column for a while and I even got to review a car once. Also had a little business going where I wrote funny poems for special occasions, helped people with writing important letters and did a couple of Company histories to go with presentations to financial institutions. In my life as a lawyer (so long ago now it seems) I had to know how to write clearly and concisely and as a Methodist preacher I write sermons. I have also always been a letter writer rather than a telephoner

6. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas? -

Just started Alphabe-Thursday (we are on letter B) which is a good way to think of something different, and there's this one, of course, and things pop into my sad old brain all the time anyway

7. What or who inspires you and your blog? -

-Everyone and everything

8. Where and/or how do your brainstorming for your blog? -

Have probably answered this already

9. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow? -

Yes. Stay positive. I fully understand the need to get things off one's chest but decided I would try not to do that so that my reader's could be reasonably sure of finding something upbeat to read.

10. Is there anything you will not blog about? -

Other people's private lives, anything I wouldn't want shouted from the roof tops to everybody I know (which is basically what you could be doing here anyway) And on the art blog, anything that I would be really upset about someone copying

11. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic?-

Only in so far as is imposed by the challenges

B is for Blackberrying

2010-01-29T13:19:00.007Z

This is a new meme wot I am going to do, called Alphabe-Thursday, only I haven't quite got the hang of all the linking that is required. And I haven't yet worked out how to put the logo in my side bar. Sorry I missed last week but I do have a note from my mum. Anyway, as my blog tries to stay positive at all times I am planning on participating in this Alphabe-Thursday with happy and nostalgic posts. When I was little I really hated school and sometimes my mum would see I was so distressed that she would let me stay at home for the day. It was usually worse after the long summer break and we would go blackberrying across the fields near where we lived. Mum and I used to walk a lot together as she didn't drive so we knew a lot of the places where you could get lovely fruit away from the exhaust fumes from the traffic (which in those days were laden with lead) and she would make blackberry jelly with them. It had to be jelly because the pips in jam got under father's plate (false teeth, you see) We used to make little talismans out of cloves wrapped in a bit of muslin to keep the wasps away as we were both very frightened of wasps. It works, you know! And we would walk and walk and identify the wild flowers and try to identify the trees and sometimes we would find ourselves somewhere we hadn't been before.
If you would like to read other people's take on the letter B go to Alphabe-Thursday Letter B
And if you are visiting me for the first time please feel free to look around at this and my crafty blog Not Cute and Not Funny

Hope rewarded?

2010-01-26T15:02:00.002Z

Following on from this mornings post, we have had a visit from a very nice man who seems to understand the requirements and actually paid attention to hubby and understood that he knew whereof he spoke. Hubby off to look at loos and washbasins tomorrow. Tiles and floor were chosen last year and see no need to change our minds over that. Might be a bit of a wait before it can be done but it will be a huge load off my mind if I know it's going to happen. Watch this space!

Here's hoping

2010-01-26T09:22:00.003Z

I am full of hope for today. After being seriously let down last year by someone who was going to do our bathroom and then just didn't turn up on the agreed start date and wouldn't answer our calls, and several false starts with people who did not understand the nature of our requirements re the wheelchair, we may have found someone who comes recommended by three people I know and who has a wheelchair user in the family so might just belt up and listen to us before trying to tell us what they want to do. This could be a story that runs and runs. I hate the disruption that having things done to the house causes and the stress that it will put both of us under because naturally I worry about hubby when he starts to get uptight about things. Still, let's be optimisitic about the meeting with the builder today and hope that he and hubby see eye to eye. The sun is shining through my study window as I type this and I am planning on a good walk this morning after I have done the shopping AND the new dishwasher is installed so that's a relief too. A happy Tuesday to you all

Start again

2010-01-25T10:44:00.004Z

I think I will have to call last week's trying to get thinner and fitter regime a trial run as I am no lighter or smaller than I was this time last Monday. I am not very fit so burning off the calories is not easy and because I have to be a bit careful of my dodgy back it isn't just a question of doing more exercise, it has to be the right kind of exercise too. I am not overweight as such so don't need to loose much but I would like to re-distribute what I have got. I am the unhealthiest shape because I have no bum or saddle bags, which is now reported to be a good thing to have, and I have a huge waist which means I probably have organs drowning in visceral fat which will finish me off any day now. So if anyone has any experience of these things and has some ideas I would be pleased to hear them.
Now, as I am determined to keep this blog optimistic, I am able to report that I feel as if the stress etc that I was suffering last yer has at long last released its grip and I am beginning to think more positively about some of the things I hope to get done in the next six months. I don't go out in the evening but I am even toying with the idea of joining the local choral society so if you hear any noises akin to an animal in pain it will be me practising!

Coo-eee, only me!

2010-01-24T08:57:00.001Z

By the time you read this the crisis will be over and I will be back online. At the time I am typing this I am bereft, missing all my chums, and my virtual fish have probably died by now for lack of virtual food. I must say that I am a trifle alarmed by the fact that it is bothering me as much as it is. Fortunately I do actually have a real life in which I have real friends, one of whom I had arranged to meet for lunch on Saturday, although, (this is a worrying thought,) we originally met via Twitter. As Ipswich has been so busy recently we decided to go to Woodbridge instead. I used to work in Woodbridge and I go there fairly regularly to shop. The lunch was very good company wise and passable food wise but I had done a bit of a reccy earlier in the week and found that the choice is a bit limited if you only want a light meal but want something more exciting than a sandwich, (although sandwiches can be very exciting if you make the effort..) My friend also had the dubious pleasure of meeting him indoors so now when I tweet about hubby she will have a picture in her mind, but I'm sure she could get counselling if she needs it.
I know a lot of people don't get Facebook and Twitter, they think it is a waste of time; they think that if you want to communicate with people you should pick up the phone or write a letter, or visit. For me, however, it has become, in part, a substitute for the bus queue, the coffee machine, the photo copier, the lunch club, all those places in my working life when I used to have little chats with people I didn't really know very well. I would become quite friendly with some of the lawyers I used to talk to on a regular basis because we would find ourselves on either end of a number of transactions, even though I never met them. When I travelled by bus I would see the same people every day and gradually learn more about their lives, interests, hopes and dreams, and listen to their troubles too sometimes, and they would do the same for me. There was a benefit in talking to people who you didn't see any other time. And occasionally I did make a friend who became more of a part of my life. Now, of course, if you are reading this then you don't need to be convinced but I hope I may have given you some thoughts to pass on when someone else tells you that it is a waste of time.
The internet is not, however, only about social networking and I am also struck by how many times in the day I would have looked something up on Google, IMDB, Wikipedia etc. I know that you have to be wary of the information that you find and if it matters then, as a rule of thumb, try to find the same information from three different sources before I start to trust it, but it's mostly trivia, like who wrote the music for a film I am watching, and what else did they write, or do Waitrose sell the particular fruit juice that my mum wants or have I sold anything on amazon today (oh dear, I hope not or I shall get a black mark for a slow response) I wonder if any of you who are into Sci-fi remember Dark Angel which was set in the US but after a terrorist "pulse" had knocked out all the computers so nobody could get at their money, all the Social Security records, criminal records, medical records etc were unavailable and so on and so forth. Now there's a thought

Serendipity #002

2010-01-21T19:30:00.005Z

I love charity shops. A large percentage of my extensive wardrobe has come from them, but I have enough stuff now so I am trying not to even go in and look. I also love India and Indian things, not just clothes but music (both classical and Bhangra), films (when I have time, they do go on a bit)and "bits". As a hippy I loved all that Indian style tie dye and still have quite a bit of it. A while ago I acquired a pair of Rajasthani puppets which I have hanging on a wall. And yesterday I went to Woodbridge to go to the bank and decided I would allow myself a visit to one charity shop while I was there. And so here are my two new friends!

Fit for nothing

2010-01-18T19:58:00.003Z

A few of my Tweeting friends have decided that getting fit might be a good idea and I have decided that it might be too. If you are a stranger and a tweeter you can try #f450 to see what we are on about. Because I have back problems I have gradually reduced the number of activities in which I engage and walking is about the only exercise I get now. I used to fence, which is a great sport for people with bad backs because it helps develop good posture, but it also develops the calf muscles to an alarming degree! I used to play badminton years and years ago but have no one to play with anymore. At school I played cricket (quite a good all rounder) and rounders ( liked fielding at 1st deep as the ball hardly ever came my way) and netball (Goal Attack) I was forced to play hockey in the winter (cruel and unnnatural punishment) and always seemed to end up playing a small butch girl who we will call Christine (because that was her name) I soon realised that the only way I was ever going to cope was to let her go gallopping off up the field and just wait until she came back again. I am grateful that we did not do cross-country or lacrosse like the convent girls did. I never learnt to swim but my greatest triumph was beating said Christine in the float race because she couldn't swim either.
So, at the moment all I am promising is that I will try to do my exercises every day, and walk more and cut back on the unnecessary calories and we'll see how it goes. I will report on how many pounds and how many inches round my middle I have lost but am not going to admit the starting points for either. I carry all before me which I am told is the most unhealthy shape there is. Hey ho.

Sunday Stealing The Trivia About Me Meme

2010-01-17T14:07:00.002Z

By the way, if you notice a lot of weird traffic on my Feedjit it is because I spent a lot of time last night going in and out to edit posts so I could start putting labels on

Sunday Stealing: The Trivia About Me Meme

Opening…

Do you get regular massages?-Used to but go to Chiroprator now

Do you have an answering machine?-Yes.

What cuss word do you use the most?-Out loud or in my head?

Are you underweight or overweight?- A tad over at the moment but working on it. With me it's less about the overall weight and more about the distribution thereof!

Can you see your veins?-Yes, parts of me look like an underground map

Favorite…

Soap?-Lavender unless someone's bought me some Coco Chanel

Fruit?-Crystallised

Kind of red meat?- No too sure what qualifies as red, does lamb?
Fish?- Nemo

Candy bar?-Toffee Crisp

Have You Ever…

Eaten a whole bag of potato chips?- Yes, they don't keep you know

Eaten lobster?- Yes, many times

Climbed a mountain?-No

Been skydiving?-No but would love to only not sure what it would do to my dodgy back

Been water skiing?- No, can't swim, stay away from the water if at all possible

Do You…

Wish you could change something about your life?-I would so like more energy

Like your nose?-Yes, it's very small and sweet and people used to comment on it when I was little

Like salt and vinegar chips?- I would if they weren't so strong

Eat salsa?-Yes, my own home made

Own a boat?-Yes and there are two little plastic sailors that go inside it

What Is…

A small thing that people let slide but that actually has dire consequences?-Disciplining their children

Your most macho trait?-I can read maps and bowl straight

The longest relationship you’ve ever had?-18 years in February

Your most embarrassing thoughts?-I'm thinking them now

Your most shameful moment?- Having trouble deciding which is the most

This/That…

Bath/Shower?-Shower, have problems getting out of the bath

Markers/Crayons?-Depends what I'm using them for

Pens/Pencils?-Depends what I'm using them for

Jelly/Cream Cheese?-Depends what I'm using it for. Anyway, in UK Jelly is a disgusting glycerine and E-Number concoction

Bagel/Toast?-I tried a Bagel once but it was too chewy

Finish…

My greatest weakness is…-Bryan Ferry

I wish I was…-fitter

Three things I wouldn’t do for a million dollars are…- You'll call me old fashioned but I can tell you 10 things I wouldn't do

The oddest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth is…- A cup of coffee that I thought was tea

Firsts…

Credit card you had?-Access

Loan you got was for?-House

Paycheck was for how much?-I started on £5 a week but was paid cash so the first cheque I go was when it went up to £10. And when it went up to £15 I had to start paying tax

Time you had stitches?-Only ever had stitches twice and they were both at the dentist

Time you went to the hospital for something?-First and last time I was an in-patient was when I was born

Lasts…

List everything you ate in the last 24 hours?-Scrambled egg and smoked salmon, yogurt and stewed apple for tea last night, cereal and fruit for breakfast this morning, cheese rusks and an apple just now. Have to avoid eating between meals

Last thing you used a credit card for?-New dishwasher

What was your job previous to the one you have now?- Don't have a job now
Last thing you celebrated?-Christmas but quietly

Last time you were at a sports bar?-Not sure what a sports bar is but doubt I have ever been to one

Serendipity 2010 #001

2010-01-08T22:11:00.007Z

One of the things I love about "listening" in on people on Facebook and Twitter is that I come across things which across I might never have otherwise come. I posted up some photos a couple of days ago which I had taken when walking to the shops to get a few essential supplies in this unusually wintery weather. A friend (both Twitter and Facebook) said that they reminded her of a favourite poem by Robert Frost. Now I have to admit that I am not a great scholar when it comes to poetry. What I know tends to be mostly 17th Century and I don't know such a lot of that. We "did" Ted Hughes for A Level and I don't remember much of it. Anyways up, I looked up the poem and was instantly transported back to my walk, except that it was night time and I distinctly heard the bells on the harness of the pony who didn't know why I had stopped, because all he wanted was to get back to his stable and his hay. Another comment by my friend pointed me to another poem so I Googled around a bit and now have a free e-book with 118 poems to read. It has reinforced my intention to try and get better acquainted with more modern poets. So, if you are reading this and have a suggestion as to who I should investigate after Mr Frost (how appropriate is that, ha ha) then I should be glad to receive them
There are some of the photos on my other blog and an album on Facebook of the ones I did today.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Back again

2010-01-07T17:58:00.004Z

I've been a bit down but now I am up again! I think it is partly because at last it has sunk in that, for the moment at least, I have all the time in the world to do the things I want to get done. Sorry, some of you will no doubt think I am being smug and insufferable, well, sorry but it's a situation that isn't going to last forever so I shall revel in it. I went out to the shops today, with my knapsack on my back and trusty walking pole in hand. The snow had fallen quite thickly which actually makes it safer because the wellies grip on the soft stuff. I don't have any waterproof boots with softer rubber soles. I do have some little grippy things that you can strap round the shoe but I haven't tried them yet. On the way I took some photos and the sun came out for a while and I took my time and it was great. Got some supplies and hubby's newspaper and hopefully will do it again tomorrow.
I have also been doing a bit of sorting out and discover that I seem to own rather more pairs of socks than is reasonable for one human being!

I went to a marvellous party

2010-01-05T08:06:00.002Z

My friend Grethic has been working hard to keep us entertained over the 12 Days of Christmas and as I am a well brought up guest I have brought a little present with me to give to my hostess on the last day. Nothing special, just a token of course, but it's been such fun my dears!

With apologies to Noel Coward (if you would like to read the original you can find it HERE

Quite for no reason
Perhaps it's the season
I've started to Tweet
I've met a few people
Who put me to sleep. All
the same most are sweet.
Some of my followees are really inventive
And I'll tell you why if you can stay attentive
Wearing plimsoles and daps
They're the nicest of chaps
That you're likely to meet

I went to a marvellous party
With Sparkle and Grethic and all
It was all on the net
But I started to fret
Was it done as a bet
This 'ere ball?
For 12 days she's been sending Twitters
And as soon as we got through the door
We had to counts leggies
Hatch ostortoise eggies
And eat up our veggies
I couldn't have liked it more

I went to a marvellous party
With Farctum and Vivia too
Someone let in some hens
But in threes, not in tens
They'd come up from the Fens
(As you do!)
Then some bird started telling a story
It was spooky and full of strange lore
The kiss of the snow
A dark place to go
I worry 'bout Jo
I couldn't have liked it more

I went to a marvellous party
Goodshoeday and Unspelt arrived
We all had to say
What games from the day
We all used to play
When the old village fete was contrived
Then some nut said "Why don't we go swimming
Tho' you may have to strip to your vest
Off to Sizewell we'll go
That'll give you a glow"
Oh, I should have said NO
I couldn't have liked that less

People get ratty
And possibly batty
When they go to the pub
They try to play cricket
Counting legs and not wickets
And reviewing the grub
Jaydubblah didn't understand the rules
Went off all on her own and played some boules
And scoring DFL
Can give a blogger hell
But don't you blub
Come join our club

I went to a marvellous party
It went on for twelve nights and days
If you're anyone smart
Then you had to take part
(Friday brought us some art
By the way)
On Tuesday the place was Fort Knox
To get in required knocks four
Someone started some drumming
We all started humming
It was really worth coming
I couldn't have liked it more!

Reflections and Resolutions

2009-12-31T16:00:00.001Z

I am feeling in reflective mood. As I was driving over to mum's this morning I came up with a philosophical phrase of which I am rather phond -

"I must stop defining who I am by what I was"

I am becoming aware of the fact that when I answer memes or join in conversations or describe myself I always seem to be talking about what I used to be and what I used to do. This tells me (and maybe you too) that I seem to have nothing in the present to talk about. At least, nothing very interesting. I have to admit that I do miss a lot of the things I used to do. So now I need some suggestions of things I can start doing in 2010 that won't involve travelling very far or being out of the house for too long and which I can use to define who I am rather than what I was. I await your comments with interest.
In the meantime my New Year Resolutions - well, to blog better and to work out how to do my own art work for my blog background, to listen to Radio 3 more, to get a play accepted by Radio 4 and/or my novel published. To sort out the 3,000 photos that are on my hard drive, to go for a proper walk every day, to ban melancholy from my life as it is self indulgent and non-productive. To get the garden tidy. To get the house tidy and to seriously chuck out what I don't need.
So what about for February......(only joking!)
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

2009-12-29T17:11:00.003Z

On the fifth Day of Christmas at my friend Grethic's party we have been invited to share some interesting fund raising ideas for fetes and the like. I can't say that I can offer anything novel or original but it did get me quite "soggy with nostalgia" as Tom Lehrer would say and I started thinking back to the wonderful fetes held byu the Friends of St Andrew's Hospital in the Billericay of my childhood. Now when I was a child Billericay was quite a small town, it was long before all the development that is there now and not in the least the place that is lampooned in Gavin and Stacey. There was a hall called The Archer Hall on the corner that was Sun Corner and where my first tentative steps in mateur dramatics were taken, and next to it was a big field where the Hospital Fete was held once a year. My dad was often the MC for the day and, of course, rolled out the old one about a fete worse than death! There were lots of games to play - guess the weight of the cake, a coconut shy, rolling pennies down a little slope thing to see if it landed inside a square and won you a prize (these are what a lady in a shop the other day described to me as those big brown coins - did that make me feel old!)tipping the lady out of bed, tombola, and lots of other things too. And there was the fancy dress competition. One year my mum and dad made me a costume to look like Marina (no, this was a long time before Last of the Summer Wine) She was Troy Tempest's girlfriend in "Stingray" She never spoke and she had a green floaty dress and green hair and a big pearl on a chain round her neck. They dyed a hair piece and made the dress and dad fashinoned the pearl out of a candle stub and I came second. Later I found out that I didn't come first because they thought we must have hired the costume.
So, if it isn't too late, maybe I could suggest a fancy dress competition?
By the way, I am working on a poem but it's going to have to wait until the party is over.

Sunday Stealing last one of 2009

2009-12-27T08:56:00.003Z

Sunday Stealing: The Final Week of 2009 Meme

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Joined up with Twitter and Facebook and got a blog

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Every year I say I will get more organised and every year I fail

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
Don't know - what's on the tele?

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes

5. What countries did you visit?
Haven't been out of the County let alone the Country

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Energy

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Pass

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Pass

9. What was your biggest failure?
Pass

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Changed my car

12. Where did most of your money go?
See 11

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Can't think of anything

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Everything

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting about doing nothing

16. What was your favourite TV program?
Dr Who

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No

18. What was the best book you read?
The Historian

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten

20. What was your favorite film of this year?
Didn't see many new films so limited choice but I would say Frost/Nixon, but that's partly because I knew David Frost's mum and have met him

21. What did you do on your birthday?
Nothing special

22. What kept you sane?
God

23. Who did you miss?
All my cousins, don't get to see the family anything like as much as I would like

24. Who was the best new person you met?
I met someone on the internet and then met up with her in real life
THIS
is her

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Write things down and then you might remember them when you have to answer next years meme

Sparkle's meme

2009-12-20T09:42:00.003Z

My friend at Random Ramblings posted her own meme today so here are my answers, boring but honest!
Choose three words to describe yourself-Tired, tired and tired
What was your first job?- Washing up in a pub when I was about 13
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?- Playing the piano
What is your favourite ever film?-Not easy to choose. The one I went to see more times than anything else was the Frank Langella Dracula
What one wish would you like to be granted? - For no one ever to be nasty or violent towards anyone else ever again anywhere
What would you choose as your last meal? - Oh, what a depressing question. If I knew it was going to be my last meal I probably wouldn't feel hungry
What are you most passionate about? - My apathy
Who are your heroes? - People who get their priorities right
When are you happiest?- When I am out for a walk
What really irritates you?- Oh, don't get me started
What's your biggest indulgence?- Hats and gloves and scarves and nail varnish and eye shadow
What keeps you awake at night? Wondering where to put all the hats and scarves and gloves and nail varnish and eye shadow
Be honest, if you live somewhere that has snow – do you really like it?
Yes if I can go out for a walk in the soft crunchy stuff, otherwise no
And finally, just to make a contribution to the festive season, how do you expect to spend Christmas day? - It will just be us two unless mum wants to come over, which she probably won't so it won't be much different to what I would do on a Sunday, i.e. Church, lunch, walk, dinner, read a bit.

Sunday Stealing Lola's Meme

2009-12-20T08:20:00.003Z

Sunday Stealing Lola's Holiday Meme

Before we start I just want to say that I hate the word "holiday" at this time of year. It is Christmas. Just as Hanukah is Hanukah and Diwali is Diwali, Christmas is Christmas

1. What is your favourite holiday show/animated show?
- Any children's Nativity Play

2. What holiday character do you think you're most like?
- By the time you finish reading this you'll probably say Scrooge. I get a bit fed up at this time of year because we are too far away from family for them to visit us and anyway they all have their kids and grandkids to occupy them.

3. What holiday character does your spouse think you're most like?
-He has no answer to offer

4. Favourite Christmas/holiday song?
- Three Kings From Persian Lands Afar

5. Most hated Christmas/holiday song?
- I've told you before, I don't even want to think about it or it will be stuck in my head all day

6. If you have an all holiday music radio station when do you start listening to it? Don't think we do but if we did I wouldn't

7. If you have an all holiday music radio station do you love it or hate it?
- See above

8. Have you ever wrapped yourself as a Christmas present?
- No, but my mum was a pass the parcel once

9. Who is Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer's father?
- Ask his mother

10. Do you drive your neighbourhood or one near you at night to look at other people's holiday decorations?
- No.

11. When you see a heavily decorated house do you think, 'oh that's lovely'? Or do you think, 'oh criminy, that looks like Christmas threw up all over their lawn'?
- I think "Glad I don't have to pay their electricity bill, whatever is their carbon footprint like"

12. Are you counting the days to Christmas with excited anticipation or dread?
- Not counting

13. When was the last time you had your photo taken with Santa? Did you sit on his lap?
-Never

14. Do you make a Christmas list for your spouse or significant other or do you rely on them to pick your gift(s) without a clue from you?
- We don't do presents

15. When do you put up your tree?
-We don't have a tree or decorations. Too much hassle when it's just the two of us and hubby not bothered

16. Real or fake?
-See 15

17. When do you take your tree down?
- See 15

18. Do you shop the day after Christmas sales? What do you shop for?
- No

19. Is your work/office having a holiday party this year? Will you attend?
-Left work

20. Do you have your New Year's Eve Plans set yet?
- Bed about 10 with a cup of cocoa

's no joke

2009-12-18T13:52:00.005Z

It snowed. Did you notice? I am glad I didn't have to go out in the car in it. I did walk to the Heath to get a paper, but the papers hadn't srrived, nor any sign they would. For any of my Canadian readers I should explain that in this country we all grind to a halt when we get a few inches of snow because we are not used to it any more. Frankly I am of the cautious frame of mind and prefer not to risk it. Lots of people seem to have no fear and fare perfectly well, apart from the ones who don't. Anyway, took some photos of which here are a few

One of my best pomes

2009-12-15T19:42:00.003Z

I used to write silly verses a lot, for people that I worked with, friends, etc. Writing one for Sparkle and the kind comments it received made me think I would share the one I wrote about the exhausting months we spent trying to get OH's dentures sorted out. His own private dentist said nothing could be done but my dentist at the time, who was NHS said he would give it a go. However, how he wanted to do things was not how the NHS wanted him to do them and he had to go along with their suggestion even though he wasn't very pleased about being over ruled in his judgement of the best way to deal with the situation. So this is what I wrote, with some names changed to protect the innocent.

There's a feller known as Hubby who has lost a lot of teeth
'Twas not that he was careless or the victim of a thief
But just that as a nipper and a small evacuee
The mobile dentist yanked one for his even smaller fee
The school's dentist that followed was a brutal sort of guy
He yanked another front one, but Hubby did not cry
From then it simply escalated and the rot set in
And one by one his toofypegs were put into the bin.

Fast forward now by 60 years and see that gappy smile.
He has a set of dentures and he wears them for a while.
But Wifey makes him bashful 'cos whenever they're on show
She says it cheers her up no end by laughing, don't you know.
By now he goes to Blankburgh where the steps are far too steep
To get into the surgery risks landing in a heap
But Wifey's dentist says "No probs, I'll take you, NHS
My goodness Mr Person, you really are a mess
I'll solve your dental problems with a bridge of strange design
The technicalities are naught when you have skill like mine.
But first we'll have to clear it past the dental boarding man"
(I know that isn't grammar but I couldn't make it scan)

A trip to sunny Stowmarket was called for at this juncture
And that was fine except that Hubby's wheelchair got a puncture
The man we saw was some sort of investigative dentist
He hummed and hawed and tutted and he sucked his teeth and hissed
"I think your dentist's optimism has to be admired
Do you concur with what he says?", and Hubby, who was tired
Said, "I'm not sure I understand just what it will entail"
So the dental man explained it. Hubby started looking pale.

The upshot of all this was that it didn't quite get passed.
They didn't say "No way" but Hubby's dentist was aghast.
"We'll have to find a specialist to look at you some more.
It really is a nuisance and frankly quite a bore."
The Hospital in Norwich had a chap to fit the bill
So off to them we trekked, more miles, more parking, what a thrill.
More X-rays too, that's good thought I, dear Hubby, do not pout.
They'll make it very easy for them if the lights go out
For then your teeth will glow, so radiated will they be
If the surgery's plunged in darkness by your light they still will see.

"A bridge too far" the surgeon said, unable to resist
That corny joke and I thought "I am glad I did desist
From saying that, although I thought it more than once or twice"
Our reaction to the comment made the room feel full of ice.
"But all is not quite lost my friend, I have another plan
And if your dentist's up for it then he's a brave, brave man"
Our dentist didn't like it but he bit the bullet hard
"I'll try", he said, "but it's not how I wanted to retard
The crumbling of your gnashers. I'll do the best I can
To implement the dental boarding man's fantastic plan"

The treatment was extensive, Hubby started looking haunted
And every time the dentist said, "It wasn't what I wanted"
We drove to "B-Town" several times, and to get those lovely smiles
We must have travelled very nearly one whole thousand miles.
The dentist hacked and drilled as if he worked down a coal mine
"If we'd done it how I wanted then it would have been just fine"
He pulled and pushed and moulded like an baker kneading dough
"They should have done it my way, then all this would be just so"

Then bits fell off and splintered and it all had to be mended
"This never would have happened if we'd done what I intended"
Then the lovely dentures took a grip that would not yield
Poor Hubby thought his chewing days were over, his fate sealed.
But he wiggled and he jiggled and at last the teeth were free
"This never would have happened if you'd listened up to me"

By now you will have realised the dentist was not happy
To have been over ridden, he thought Dental Boards were.... horrid
But Hubby kept his temper, a paragon of calm
A feller with a dental drill can do a lot of harm
And to be fair he does get through a steak now, once a week
And at his gold bits he's prepared to offer you a peek
And Wifey has got used to seeing such a dazzling smile
And managed to stop laughing, which she did for quite a while

The moral of this story, well to the children I would say
Be warned of what might happen if you don't floss twice a day.

A Birthday Poem for my friend

2009-12-14T20:02:00.003Z

There's a lady name of Sparkle
She's a star that's in the East
She's a super powered hero
Wonder Woman at the least
And she's very calm and quiet
And you'll never see her frown
Unless some footy upstarts
Go and beat old Ipswich Town
She's half an empty nester
One son's moving out real soon
But it doesn't bother Sparkle
(Who's that baying at the moon?)
And if you should upset her
Don't you worry that she might
Hit you with one of her handbags
'cos to pick one takes all night

Happy Birthday H

Christmas is coming

2009-12-12T17:35:00.004Z

Every year I say I will cut down my Christmas Card list - yes, you guessed it, every year I say but I never do. It is nice to know that people think of you, even if it is once a year although I wish people would tell me what they have been up to. I know there are those that eel a "round robin" is a bit impersonal but I always feel that I would rather have something than nothing. Usually I do one of those and add a bit where appropriate but for various reasons I didn't get round to it and then when I came to do the cards this week inpiration was sadly lacking so I decided to do it within the boundaries of this blog and just send people the link so they can look if they want to. (You can too if you want, just look right) Not that I find anything very rivetting to say, but next year - oh, next year, all that lovely free time I am going to have, who knows what might occur.

Family Christmas Letter

2009-12-11T20:42:00.005Z

Hello Family and Friends. I am sorry that I didn't get round to doing a proper letter in with your cards this year. It's all been a bit fraught! Anyway, as anyone in the whole wide world can read this if they come across it I will keep things a bit vague but you will know who I mean. Hubby is fine now but gave me two scares. Firstly, just into the New Year 2009 he had another TIA (mini stroke) then in June he was very seriously ill for a few days because his medication caused an ulcer and he had to have 4 pints of blood and really frightened me. So glad we live near the hospital now so I was able to visit twice a day and boy was he glad to get home. I also had a bit of a scare but it turned out OK in the end (those who know what I am talking about will get the pun)I also decided, for various reasons, to give up my job and take a break but I only left last week and what with mum having been quite poorly recently as well that is why the cards are late and I am only now getting this letter done. Sadly mum's sister died in October. She had been very ill for a few months following her stroke from 10 years ago.
We both changed our cars. Hubby qualified for the scrappage on his 12 year old Mondeo so got a Focus and I got a second hand Fiesta that was a good deal and top of the range, trading in my 9 year old. The bathroom never did get done, very badly let down by the builder, all very upsetting. So, also for various reasons but pressure of other people's needs being one, I had to stop my studies and it is very unlikely I will be going back to them.
And, as you see, I have become a Blogger, and Twitterer and Facebooker and have made one very good real friend along the way and a few virtual ones. I know, but I don't get out much these days. If you look at my other blog( click here ) you can see some of the art work I have been doing for challenges and on this blog (click on the "Just Jotting Along" banner at the top there are some photos and the rest of my musings if you have time.
I am working on getting hubby to start up his own blog too!
We still go to Sutton Hoo a lot as it is one place close by where we can get quite a good lunch and a walk in the fresh air.
I have left this open to comment by anyone so do leave a message if you have dropped by. HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Free as a ...as a...as a free thing

2009-12-08T21:29:00.005Z

Well, today was my last day at work until I find another job, but I'm not going to be looking for a few months. I managed to get away from the office at about 3:30 so literally drove off into the burgeoning sunset on the way home. It was a lovely sky, all pale blues and pinks and greys - the photo above isn't it but it's quite like it. I took that photo before we moved. I had Radio 3 on and there was some lovely music playing and I really did feel a weight lifting. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road and all in all it was a very pleasant journey. I do feel incredibly lucky to be in this situation and I hope I make good use of the time it will give me. So tired now though but tomorrow I shall try and catch up with paperwork at home that has been neglected and hope my toothache doesn't get any worse before my appointment on Thursday. Then a bit of me time, a bit of card making (actually better get on with that) and some crocheting (if I don't get on with that it will be spring and my cardi will be too warm)and some housework (yes, better get on with that) and I have foolishly promised OH I will give him a few games of chess (if I can't find a good excuse to get out of it) - Oh dear, better get a job so I can have a rest!
Look out for lots of blog posts in the next few weeks!

Sunday Stealing well, almost Sunday

2009-12-05T20:47:00.001Z

Sunday Stealing: The Can't Sleep Meme

Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?
No, expect to be doin it within the hour

When is it hard to kiss someone?
When they are wearing a diving helemt

You're trapped in a room with your most recent ex for three days, what do you do?
My most recent ex dates back 20 years. Probably help him with his Zimmer frame

Does it matter to you if your significant other smokes?
He doesn't but it would

Have you ever regretted letting someone go?
Not now, ended up with the one I really wanted

Where would you go if you were butt naked and locked out of your house?
Next door, got good neighbours

Do you want to please everyone?
No (but secretly yes)

Have you ever been called heartless?
Not to my face

Someone calls you at 3:00 AM, who do you expect it to be?
My Mother having a panic attack. Never mind, usually I can calm her down

Does it matter if your significant other drinks?
He can't 'cos of the statins

Could you go the rest of your life without doing drugs?
Yes, managed so far

Which is better, amazing eyes or an amazing smile?
Some people smile with their mouth and not with their eyes, but some people can't help smiling with their eyes even if the mouth is miserable

Do you want to get married and have children one day?
Am married and past child bearing

Are you easy to get along with?
Who, me?

Do you ever want to go to sleep and not wake up?
No, go to sleep looking forward to the possibilities of the morning

Are you shorter than your Mom?
She's getting there

Describe your life currently in one word:
Great

Are you on medication for anything?
Yes

Who would you allow to read your thoughts for one day?
Oh no, no one, things catch me by surprise

Are there things in your life that you will never be able to get over?
The fence at the end of the garden

If you woke up naked next to the last person you kissed, what would your reaction be?
Good morning hubby

We are Famileee

2009-12-05T18:42:00.004Z

Had such a great day today. My cousins Christine and Helen came to visit. I haven't seen Chris for about 10 years, when we met when mum and I visited mum's sister (C&H's mum)Auntie Joan (see My Auntie Joan ) just after she had her second stroke. Before that I saw them both at my wedding. Chris and I are within a year in age and we used to get together as teenagers, and before that when we were smaller I used to go and stay with them for a week in the school holidays. Throughout our lives we have met up again and just picked up where we left off and it happened again today. After coffee and mince pies courtesy of the local baker and cake which I made myself we went over to Felixstowe to visit my mum, then back here for lunch and then I took them for a walk round the Heath. My Uncle was in the RAF in WW2 so I showed them a bit of tarmac so they could tell him about it. Then we looked at some old photos and got very nostalgic. It's just been a brill day and they have promised to come again soon and we had BIG HUGS.

A Fun Christmas Meme

2009-12-05T18:11:00.003Z

A Fun Christmas Meme
I've picked this meme up from my good friend over at Random Ramblings who got it from EmptyNester and found it got me thinking so do have a go too
1) What is your favourite Christmas movie?
Anything with Fred Astaire in it
(2) What is your LEAST favourite Christmas movie?
Difficult to say but I hold it as a matter of pride that I have NEVER seen the Sound of Music so I will be avoiding that if it's on
(3) What is your favourite Christmas Song?
"Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar" if it's sung well
(4) What Christmas song(s) drives you crazy?
Don't even want to think about it
(5) What is your favorite Christmas drink?
Port (with a little Stilton and crackers on the side)
(6) What is your favorite Christmas memory?
The big get togethers at Auntie Elsie's

(7) What is the best toy/gift you've received on Christmas?
I remember getting my big teddy when I was about 3 - still got him
(8) What is the worst toy/gift you've received on Christmas?
I do remember a jumper that it took me three years to grow into
(9) What do you LOVE about the holidays?
Memories of past Christmases when I was nearer the family

(10) What annoys you about the holidays?
Decorations, stuff in shops etc way too early

(11) Do you prefer star or angel on top of a Christmas tree? Or something else?
We don't have a tree but I don't have apreference

(12) What is your family favorite recipe at Christmas?
Chestnut Tourinois - a concoction of pureed chestnuts, chocolate orange and Grand Marnier

(13) Are you a Grinch or a Who at Christmastime?
What?

(14) Christmas light displays - Love them or Hate them?
Oh I'm sorry but I love them

(15) Santas at the mall - Fun times or Creepy?
He doesn't really exist you know. I knew this at about 3 years old. It's a man dressed up who works in the stores the rest of the year

(16) Christmas cards - do you send them, yes or no?
Oh yes, and I make a lot of them too. This year I really am beginning to think I need to cut the list down
(17) What is the best thing about Christmas, in your opinion?
Well, actually it is the fact that God sent his son to redeem us all

(18) What is the worst thing about Christmas?
Commercialism

(19) When do you put the tree up and take it down?
Don't have a tree

(20) Out of the 12 days of Christmas, which day and item would you want your truelove to give to you?
Are there maids in there somewhere, who would do the cooking and the washing up and the housework for a week or two or fifty)

(21) Why do you think that Grandma got run over by a reindeer?
Well, I guess because she didn't look both ways
(22) Who is your favourite reindeer?
Donner and Blitzen, one of my favourite expletives

(23) Do you believe in Santa Claus?
Please see Q15
(24) What is your favorite smell at Christmastime?
Sitting in someone else's house and smelling the cooking that I haven't had to do
(25) What would make you happy at Christmas this year?
Getting a visit from some family and friends 'cos I can't get to visit them

A bit of psychology

2009-12-05T17:23:00.003Z

Some friends of mine have been doing a personality quiz and posting it into their blog. I don't know how they posted it into their blog. There are thingys to post it into Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, but I can't find a way to post it here, so you'll just have to believe me when I say I am Warm and Social, but not the same way that some of my friends are warm and social because
(I quote)

You Are Warm and Social
You are unique and philosophical. You have your own way of living life, and you relish your independence.
You are very outgoing and friendly. You feel very comfortable in a crowd, and you can get to know anyone.
Money is fairly important to you. You aren't super greedy, but you enjoy spending money on yourself.
You are curious about ideas. If you had the means, you'd like to explore the whole world.

Spookily this does sound like me!
If you look at the questions then you will smile because anyone who knows me knows that I am of the opinion that heaven has a really good second hand book shop.

Now then, to my day.