the 'c' word

Only September and already many stores are getting ready for Christmas.
Apart from writing my cards, which I try to do in the October half-term, I rarely do an awful lot before Advent is upon us - mainly because I find that too long a build-up tends to make the actual day feel like a bit of an anti-climax.
There is a member of our team at work, however, to whom the whole festive season appears to be anathema and who doesn't like to even hear the word until about two days before !!
So I have taken my Peace Hospice collecting box into the offfice - and every time we say 'the word' before December we have to put 50p in it! K says that at the rate we are going, we will be able to build an entire new wing! hahahaha
But I am not in the office now . . . so:
christmas christmas christmas christmas christmas christmas hoorah!!

an entire month gone (but enjoyed!!)

oh no!
suddenly it's september, schools are back (mostly) and tomorrow i have lucia back again!
august was busy! busy!! busy!!! - at least I think it was . . . it was gone in a flash and now i am struggling to remember what I did!
camp was great! although for me personally camp will never again be as much fun as it was in the 80s and early 90s (too many of my 'old friends' unable to come for one reason or another) the 2008 camp must be in there with the top 3 parish camps of all time! Very relaxed, great laughs and lots and lots of lovely peeps . . . and i even managed to actually sleep in a tent every night! Sarah won the cup (richly deserved!) and a good time was had by all.
rest of august: heaven only knows! mind a complete blank on the subject! D minus Po! must try harder!

what is my decor rating?

'nil' i think - hahaha
that is such an old joke that i shouldn't put it on here - it's just that i need something to cheer me up in the decorating department!!

here is what has happened in the last week:
i cleared out bedroom and now have a pile of stuff in the 'guest (ie stella's old) room'
here is a photo of the mess:














ii i stripped the old wallpaper using my new (!!) wallpaper stripper
iii a considerable amount of plaster fell off - but i carried on!!
iv i decided to call in a plasterer
v a jolly good plasterer arrived and gave me what i considered to be a good quote - and said he would come on monday and do the job
vi i went out yesterday and arrived home to find a message on the answerphone to say the plasterer was going to ireland for a week to visit relatives - but could still do the job on tuesday week if i still wanted him to
ho hum!!
and i had hoped i could complete the room in this week's hols!!
oh well - at least i don't have any visitors expected in the next month or so!!
frankie (who came over on monday with lucia for lunch) and i did have a good laugh, however, at all the funny writings we found underneath the wallpaper - mainly messages that boogy and franks wrote to each other when they were decorating in 1999 (frankie started but then had to let her dad take over!!!).

on a lighter note:
yesterday:
visited with o and g and stella rich and the pies came too. we had a lovely day and went out in the afternoon to foxton locks on the canal. we walked for about as far as we thought o and g could manage, stopped at the tea rooms and then walked back. a good day

today:
f'ster's second birthday party at cat and david's. a good time was had by all - especially f and lpip: f in his new little car and l on the slide. david cooked a leg of lamb on the barbie!! i wouldn'[t have thought that was possibly - but yumm!!! it was delish!!
here is a photo of f'ster's birthday cake - splendido or what?

and now a funny . . .
it would seem that stella was telling the pies that in her family when she was young, it was her dad, boogs, who did the cooking.
and kpie said:
oh, so that's why avie can't cook!!
out of the mouths of babes!!!!!

counting at my house . . .

This year we had 'The Counting' at my house - please read Cold Comfort Farm if you don't get the allusion - please read Cold Comfort Farm if you never have before - please re-read Cold Comfort Farm if you have not read it within the last 10 years!! Oh yes! it's a great book!!
Nearly all the family managed to come and the weather was warm enough for us to sit around in the garden - though very windy!! Alex put the paddling pool out for the littles and Kpie, Jpie, Cpie, Lpip and the F'ster had a grand time! I was too busy to take any photos but maybe I will be able to nab some from those who did.
Stella and company stayed at Jackie's house but they returned the following day to 'help out' with the left overs and then Lizzie and Matt nipped over too before travelling back. I love my family - we always seem to hurt with laughing when we are together - and we are very noisy!!
Wednesday was Reading Group and we were at Cat's house - so I got to see the F'ster again - all spangly clean after his bath and ready for bed. We had been reading 'The Sea' by John Banville - a Booker winner which provided lively discussion and a mixed reception from the group. The vocabulary was the most challenging I have read in years!!
. . . and now I have a week's hols. Yay!! I'm not going away but will be trying to decorate Frankie's old bedroom. This is my first attempt at wallpapering and I've chosen F's room because it is the smallest . . . so watch this space . . .

I like this story

I have been seriously debating whether to blog this . . . but I understand that just recently Stella has been reading 'Little House on the Prairie' to Kpie and it kinda brought this tale to mind . . . it's about O when she was little.
O is a farmer's daughter and in 1924 when she was 4, she lived with her parents and 2 younger brothers on a farm high on a mountain in south eastern Austria. In the spring of that year Opapa, her father, heard of a farm for sale down in the valley: a bigger farm and, because of its proximity to the village and a (largish) town, providing a much better opportunity to sell their produce.
I'm not sure if they had a horse, they certainly didn't have a tractor and cars were virtually unknown in those parts; so the move to the new farm was accomplished by Opapa going on ahead with the household goods and his equipment and tools (and possibly on a handcart!) and Omama and the children following on on foot. It was a very long journey: a long way down the mountain, through the little village and then about a mile to travel on from there. O remembers it very well: she tells me that she and Manuel (they were aged 4 and a half and 3 and a half) had little rucksacks on their backs with their picnic lunch and Omama carried not only an assortment of pans but the baby as well! (and he was only a month old!)
The journey took almost all day with every so often a glimpse through the trees of their destination. At last they arrived! And there was Opapa working in the farmyard and when they saw him both O and Manuel, tired as they were, rushed to hug him, they were so happy to see him!!
I like this story because it makes me think of Pa in Little House who was always moving his family on to better situations (this was the third farm O had lived in - there was just one more move when she was 13: to 'Singer', the next-door farm . . . my cousin lives there still) but also I like to think of the little children rushing to hug their 'Vattie' at the end of their long trek.
. . . and I'm still not sure whether I should blog it . . .

The power of 'Worry'

Hmm! well I seem to have returned revived and recouperated. I'm not really sure how it happened - all I did was worry about it - and here I am!! Some may say my reappearance is due to the computer prog, some that it was something to do with the internet, some that it was 'just something that happens' . . . but I know my problem was solved purely by Worry. Hoorah for Worry, my tried and trusted friend!!

And before I disappear again, I'll just add my photos of the Dancing show . . .
I went up to Yorkshire a couple of weekends ago to see Kpie and Jpie performing. It was a marvellous weekend . . . and the pies were magnificent!! I took these after the Saturday matinee back at the house.
Here are both Kpie and Jpie as two of the 'children' who lived with the Old Woman in her shoe:

Kpie as a dream fairy:









Jpie (who had all the audience saying 'aahh!!'):










Cpie can hardly wait until she is old enough to start dance classes. Here she is dressed in Kpie's dream fairy costume:










Frankie, Alex and Lucia came too - here is Lucia 'doing the ironing' and Rich and Cpie in the background:











3 Pies and a Pip:

i'm not sure what is happening here . . .

something somewhere is going sadly wrong
I was in the middle of adding an item about my weekend in Yorkshire in which I saw the Pies performing in their dancing show, adding photos I was . . . when my computer disconnected.
I left it a while and then tried to re-connect only to find that all the photos from the wedding and at O and G's had disappeared . . . and the weekend in Yorkshire didn't appear at all . . .
and now I find I am unable to add photos, change the font etc etc
I hope I don't have a bug . . .
Oh dear!! (sob)

catching up!

It's been aeons since I paid blogland any attention . . . least of all my own blog . . . and as I have been taking photos with my new camera I thought it about time I posted a few of the better ones and updated this with a few of the past couple of months' highlights!

Mary's 'Hen Do'
This was on Spring Bank Holiday Monday in Jackie's back garden. Lots of lovely people came including Stella, Kpie and Cpie down from Yorkshire just for the day. Cat came and brought F (a lone male!!) who had a lovely time playing with all the other littles. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we ate, drank, talked and played a funny competition game of dressing Mary, Ruth and Jane up as 'brides' using tissue paper.
Meal at Lynn and Mick's
Drove up with P and C one evening. We all had a great time catching up on our news.
Mary and Kevin's Wedding
What a wonderful day!! Mary was quite amazingly laid back about it and I have never seen them look so good! The mass was beautiful and everyone looked gorgeous!! Then we all went next door to the Parish Centre for Afternoon Tea and, later in the evening, Fish and Chips. When it was almost time for M and K to go off to London, all the guests formed 2 lines down the hall and M and K had their 'First Dance' in the middle. I've not seen that done before - but what a great idea!! The whole day had a wonderful party atmosphere!! Here are some photos:

That's: N, Jpie, Cpie, Kpie and J!









And here are: Jpie, Jackie, Cpie, Kpie, Ruth, Cat (in the hat!), Imy, David, Mary, Kevin, F'ster, Rich, Stella, someone behind S - probably Brian and Pete.







Cpie in the parish centre looking very cute!!












Mary's attendants:
Jpie in his new 'Bowing Suit', Ruth, Cpie, Kpie, Doireann and Imy:









and finally . . . and most importantly: The Happy Couple, Mary and Kevin:

After the Wedding
I have done quite a few good things since:
Meeting G:
I met my friend G - after 38 years!! G and I and 3 other girls had shared a grotty flat during the Second Year of our Teachers' Training Course. We met at Euston Station and went along to the British Library Cafe/Restaurant. I had wondered if a) I would recognise her and b) if we would find each other much changed and c) if we would find enough to talk about. The answers are yes and no and yes, yes, yes! We both had the most marvellous day and just sat and talked and talked and talked - for almost 8 hours!! We had sooo much to catch up on. And the most amazing thing is a) we had had many very similar experiences and b) we kind of relaxed together like we had seen each other only last week!! Next time, I am going up to Manchester and we can continue the story . . .
Going to O and G's

On one of my Wednesdays-with-Lucia I took her up to O and G's and Stella, rich and the Pies came too. We had a lovely day, mainly sitting in the garden as the weather was so good. Here are some photos: (incidentally, here is a funny thing: if you look on www.maps.google.co.uk - and you know where to look!! - you can actually see O sitting in her garden!! - all the way from outer space - incredible!!!)
Kpie and Cpie dancing and Lpip getting into mischief!

I love this photo of Kpie practising with her violin:

I watched the sunrise . . .

. . . is:
1. one of my favourite hymns and to my mind no wedding or funeral is quite complete without it (no offence intended!!)
and

2. what Jackie, Danuta and I did yesterday morning!
Ivinghoe Beacon has long held a special place in my heart: it was where Boogs and I (and half a million other scouty-types) went for the Annual Aspidistra Competition in November 1967, meeting on the summit at mid-night. This was our first date - aahh!!
It was also where Stella, Rich and approx. 50 of their guests went on the morning of their wedding in June 2002 - to see the sunrise and drink tea and coffee and feast on danish pastries.
Of course it is rather a hit-or-miss activity as one can never be too sure if the sun will be seen to rise or whether it will be obscured by clouds. This year we were lucky: there were no clouds on the actual horizon and the good old sun had just enough space to rise and be seen in all his glory before hiding behind the clouds which covered all the rest of the sky! Here in Hertfordshire, the sunrise yesterday was at 4.44 a.m. - so an early start - but it was surprising how many others were up there too: the usual scouts sleeping in their orange survival bags, a group of about 5 girls who had spent the night under a sort of fishing shelter and numerous others, like us, who trudged up in the morning, including 2 or 3 druid types.
I find it amazing that in this digital, technological world, so many people will go to see an event which has been happening for millions of years - but which is breathtakingly beautiful and still evokes a sense of wonder!
Here he is just rising over the Hertrfordshire countryside.


And talking of beauty, I bought myself these lovely peonies in Costco last Sunday. Rather an extravagance . . . but aren't they superb?
Back again for 'catch-up' news soon . . . .

sunday 'round-up'

A couple of weeks of too little sleep finally caught up with me! Sadly not the result of a wild and exciting social life but only due to too much late-night-sorting-stuff-out-at-home-and-early-mornings. So I woke Friday morning with the most blinding headache and blurred vision and called in sick. I have, however, had a wonderful, peaceful week-end catching up on things and have even managed to start a new knitting project! Can't say 'what' as it is a present - and anyway after 2 hours I was dissatisfied with it, slipped it off the needles and will have to start again!!
Meanwhile . . . I have at long last sorted out how to put photos from my new camera on here so . . . .
here are Frankie and Lucia at Brian's 40th birthday part a couple of weeks ago:

all 3 Pies ready to go and play in the snow:



That's all for now, folks, back again soon . . .

where did the time go-o-o-o-o-o . . . . ?

I don't kno-o-o-o-o-o-w . . .
tbh I have been so busy that I have hardly even been on the computer except to messenger with Stella!
It has, however, been a very pleasant few weeks since last I was here . . .
I have:
Been to Ali and Adam's Wedding - which was an utter gas!! The entire bridal party looked gorgeous (but Ali particularly so!!), the ceremony was wonderful, the company delightful, friendly and fun and the whole day was truly grand!!
Babysat for Frankie and Alex when they went out to celebrate Fran's birthday. Lucia was very good, I had a lovely relaxing evening knitting and watching the 'Gavin and Stacey' dvd (hahahaha) and F and A enjoyed themselves too.
Been on hols to Croyde - which was wonderful!! - Stella, Rich and the Pies came too and had a caravan for a week sharing with Frankie, Alex and Lpip when they came down for the first week-end. As it would have been somewhat cramped with 8 of them, I had Kpie to stay for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights . . . and then she came back again for Wednesday and Thursday (just because it was fun!). I read her the whole of 'Winnie-thePooh' for her bedtime stories and we had 'cosy' breakfast which the others came to share as well on a couple of mornings. Lots of other lovely peeps were there too and I walked 'up Baggy' and down to Polly's for hot chocolate with Lizzie and John and Jude. David and Cat made a wonderful 'Sunday Lunch' for 21 on Sunday night. We were: David, Cat, James, Imy, Jackie, Jane, Eric, Lizzie, Matt, Peter, Emma, Stella, Rich, Kpie, Jpie, Cpie, Frankie, Alex, Lpip and moi . . . if you count up that is actually only 20 . . . but . . . F'ster was there too but zonked out sleeping during the actual meal. We had a lovley relaxing barbie on the Thursday. And on the Wednesday . . . I spent the whole day reading!! which was utter bliss - and which I haven't done since I was a teenager!!
Finished Kpie's ballet cardi (at last) and knitted a little pink bag too for her ballet shoes - finished just in time for her birthday too!
This week-end I zipped up to Yorkshire to visit with S R and the Pies . . . and had a lovely, lovely time. (I laughed so much I hurt!!!)
Stella showed me how my new camera works!! Yay!! (I have only had it since last Autumn - useless of what???)
I have done lots of other things too . . . but will have to catch up next time . . . for now I am off to catch up with emails . . . and other bloggers . . .

i keep thinking of things to blog . . .

. . . but haven't been getting down to blogging!

so here's just quick catch up since last time:

the reunion was good - only 6 of us managed to get there: sue, maygrey, frances, angela, margaret and moi as there had been the threat of snow - so i suspect many people decided not to risk it. we seem to laugh just as much as when we were at school. pauline and chas 'popped' round soon after i arrived home and we spent so long chatting that we decided to make an evening of it - we sent out for a pizza, fumbled about making some pudding-out-of-a-tin and custard and sat around talking and laughing until midnight.

last sunday was lpip's first birthday party. i collected o and g, brought them home here for lunch and then we nipped over for the party at fran and alex' house. It was a lovely party and lpip was very cute in the dark blue velvet dress malcolm had given her for christmas. stella rich jpie and cpie came too (kpie was unwell that day and stayed with jackie but is completely recovered now) and also malcolm, aoife, janine and michael.

stella lpip and the pies came over on wednesday and we had a nice time. it was quite eventful in a 'pine grove' sort of way! i love the road i live in: it is a bit like ramsey street in 'neighbours' but much more exciting!! when we moved in we were 'the new young family' - almost all the other residents were elderly retireds. now, 15 years laters, all those houses have been sold to families with young children and i am certainly one of the oldest here - the 'mrs mangal of pine grove' as i like to think!! when i went to tess's 'book party' in december, one of the guests said she envied me having the house on the end where i could look out my window and see what is going on all the way down the road!! it's a shame i am out at work most of the time - what a waste!! lol!!!

'in harmony' and other happenings

i haven't been doing much like blogging lately - not even looking at my fave blogs, which is a shame because there are some i really do enjoy reading on a regular basis. i'm not sure why this is; i certainly haven't been too busy - perhaps just the time of year - i do always feel a little low in january. however . . .

some nice things have happened in the last 2 weeks . . .

last friday i went to the 'in harmony' concert at church arranged by gerry and kate. i nearly didn't make it but am so pleased i did as it was perfection!! it was an intermingling of music: singing both accompanied and gregorian chant, readings: poems and prose from wordsworth, shakespeare, laurie lee and many more (but those were my favourites) and slides of different aspects of the church and images to illustrate the readings. i loved the way the performers moved around the church to highlight different areas and the way all the items were linked together. it was very clever . . . and so enjoyable! afterwards we all went into the parish centre for drinks and chats. heaps of people i know had come so it was a great evening.

saturday was the annual catenian quiz. and we won - again!! - yay!! well done us!! we were: juliette, gerry, cathy, tony, liz, david, katrina, bob, trish and self. the last round is one in which the tables 'gamble' with their points. We managed to go from a score of 1004 to over 7 million!! hahaha! ah! but we had to know the answers!!

sunday: collected mel from heathrow - what is it about airport bookshops that makes the books look even more inviting than normal? i bought 'the rose of sebastapol' - katherine mcmahon and 'the thirteenth tale' - diane setterfield - both now in my ever-growing 'stack' and then mass with edna in the evening

monday: met pauline for a drink and chat in the essex

wednesday: visited o and g with lucia - talked about their plans etc - very good day

thursday: went to look at homemanor house with a view to o and g buying an appartment there - then dash home and out to scottish dancing

today: i have been sewing a card for julia's baby - i am using 14 count aida and find that even with magnifiying glasses and a hands-free-round-the-neck magnifier i still have trouble seeing to sew. went to hobbycraft after work in the hope that i could get one of those magnifying lamp things but there were none on show - all in boxes, terribly expensive and none of them exactly what i wanted. i shall struggle on with this card but really i don't know how i shall be able to do anything other than big-thread projects - which is a pity as i love the small dainty work. 'tempus fugit' - and eyesight fugit too by the looks of it!!

tomorrow is the annual school reunion - it is bitterly cold here today so i hope it doesn't put too many people off coming. i didn't go last year and missed seeing quite a number of ogs who hadn't been for years - we meet beforehand at the scotsbridge for lunch and then trundle down to school about mid afternoon. apparently the scotsbridge is under new management so hope it is as good as previously!

however . . . on a lighter note . . .

i have just discovered that one of my favourite tv programmes is back soon . . .

ladette to lady!!

i probably watch about 30 hours tv per year - not a huge fan!! - but i find this compulsive viewing!! - very entertaining!

Where is the 'care' in British Gas Home Care??

this 'service' costs me over £200 a year - and this is how useful it is:

sunday:

around 18.00 hours:

boiler started to clank and then the lights started to flash and then there was no hot water and no heating

around 20.30 hours:

phoned homecare and they said the earliest they could get an engineer out was 'between 8 and 1 on Tuesday'

monday:

no hot water, no central heating

tuesday:

engineer arrived around 10.00 - fixed the pump - boiler working again

wednesday:

lucia was here and also stella and the pies.

around 14.00 hours: more boiler clanking and flashing lights - no more heating, no more hot water. phoned home care and said this was priority because i had small children staying with me in the house, youngest of whom, cpie, is 22 months. said they could get an engineer out 'tomorrow between 8 and 6.'

thursday:

16.00 hours and no engineer in sight. phoned home care and asked if one was coming - yes definintely.

17.00 hours and still no engineer - phoned again, asked what was happening and was told they would email the engineer and get back to me

17.20 still no engineer and no phone call. phoned again just as the van drew up on the driveway

engineer came in, looked at the boiler and said the pump was broken (i personally think the other chap just bodged it), he would get a new part and would be back in the morning at 11.00.

17.45 home care phoned to check if engineer had been

another night with no central heating and no hot water.

today:

11.00 engineer arrived, fixed the boiler and left by mid-day.

between sunday at 6.00 p.m and today at mid-day (114 hours) my house had neither hot water nor heating for a total of 86 hours

the engineer (who had to bear the brunt of my anger - although i told him several times that i did realise it wasn't his fault) had only been told about the job 30 minutes before he arrived!! yet homecare had known about it for 27 hours by then. arriving so late in the day, he was unable to get a part before morning. this 'service' is quite obviously a complete shambles!!

i think the administrative team (if there is one) should get themselves organised - get some people with brains on the job is my advice

swings and roundabouts . . .

the weekend has had its 'ups' . . . but also a decided 'down'

HIGHS:

I am lucky that I have a good number of really great friends - but of course over the years there are some who, for whatever reason, stand out. My friend B is one of them. For one year we shared a truly grotty flat with 3 other girls. This flat was the top floor of a large but very run-down house near Sefton Park, Liverpool - and I'm not saying the Landlord was exactly criminal but he was certainly more than a little bit shady!! Then, as now - well probably more then than now - I was up for any mischief going . . . and B and I certainly got up to our fair share - including one memorable and hilarious History field trip to London. (B and I both did History as a 'Main'.) This included us gaining unlawful entry to the Houses of Parliament - mainly due to B telling the policeman who challenged us that we were 'expected'!! About 20 years ago B and family moved to the Antipodes and I lost contact. I bet you can all guess where this is leading . . . . . Good Old Facebook!!! YAY!! This weekend I heard from her again - they are back in England and not really terribly far from here. The last time I saw here she was expecting their first baby - and now he is almost 30!! We have a lot of catching up to do . . . and I am very excited!!!

My second high is having Kathy and Tony drop in for a bite to eat on their way back home from visiting Claire. It is always lovely to see them and hear their news. Exciting times for them as they have 2 grandchildren expected this year. Unfortunately, however, while they were here . . .

My LOW occurred:

I had just turned the tap on when the boiler gave an almighty clunk!! crash!! bang!! Then 2 of its red lights started flashing and the gas flame symbol thing went out too. The upshot is that the darned thing is broken, I called the Home Care people and an engineer is coming out Tuesday morning. In the meantime . . . no heating and no hot water other than what I can boil up in the kettle. I love the snow and the cold weather . . . but just for now I'm hoping we have at least 36 hours of warmish temperatures!!

a smile a day . . .

here's what made me smile today:
from 'My Little Book of Crap Advice':

Ten Top Reasons to Procrastinate
1.


hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

nicked from cat's blog . . . .

this seemed like a good idea . . . though a little after new year . . .

2007 - MOST MEMORABLE

FILM: The Queen - about the only new release I saw

BOOK: Conrad's 'The Rover' - 'O' level text I revisited after 40-odd years - recommended!!

MEAL: New Year's Dinner - 2 halves really: the one which ended in 2007 at Judy and John's and the one which started at mine in 2007 and ended in 2008

HOLIDAY: Northumberland - visiting Barter Books and walking along the coast to Dunster Castle on the same day - fantastic!!

WEEKEND: Sheffield at Easter . . . and going to the top of Win Hill

DAY: the wedding - of course!!!!!!!

MOMENT: seeing Lucia-Rose for the first time

twelfth night

it has been a busy week-end!

saturday:

eric, janey and lizzie arrived early afternoon and eric did some extraordinarily useful jobs for me: mended my bath and outside pipe and (even more importantly) mended jpie's chair-he-ever-had. then we just did the usual: sat around drinking coffee and/or wine

in the evening it was our 2nd annual visit to the panto at the palace along with kpie, jpie, rich and most of rich's family (they took up almost the whole of the front 2 rows!!) . amazing fun - what can i say? we all enjoyed it tremendously! then back here ordering a chinese en route and we all ate far too much and drank more wine - lovely!!

sunday:

latish breakfast and then j e and l pushed off for maud's.

stella rich and the pies came around 3.00 and then frankie alex and lucia a bit later. we had tea out in the conservatory (hoorah!!) and then (at last) opened our christmas presents. stella had lucia, cpie and jpie as the 3 wise men and kpie as the camel with little l riding astride - they all lined up in the hall and then processed into the sitting room - hahaha they are very funny

after they left i took down the crimble decs and tree decs and took the tree outside. it always seems so sad when it all has go. i always leave the crib up until about february as the wise men only come today and it seems a shame to pack away so soon! this year, however, i have left quite a few other things out on the basis that they were only up for the wedding anyway

so . . . christmas over for another year . . . 2008 looks like being an eventful year: ruda with s,r,k,j and c (and possibly f, a and lucia too) in april, mary and kevin's wedding in may, the counting in june, possible trip to stoff in the summer, o and g trying to move down here, i may do another solo hols - possibly yorkshire this time - and quite a lot of my targets to be achieved too . . .

back to work

nothing much to report about that . . . except that . . . people were enthusing about some tv prog called 'how to look good naked'. i turned on to watch . . . and just about managed ten minutes and had to turn it off again. i have rarely seen such a load of old drivel in my life. if it hadn't been so cold i would have gone out to the shed, got my tin of yellow paint and watched it dry!! far more interesting!!

2008 . . . and no resolutions

i have only just remembered one is supposed to make them . . . never mind . . .

last night was the Annual New Year's Eve Dinner - and it was at my house - yay! i am really getting into 'party-hosting' mode!

eric and janey were here around mid-day and we had heaps of fun getting ready - eric made funny hats and a 'menu' like a sort of 'cheapo' (!! imagine!!) mcdonalds

janey had brought beouf bourguignon and also made mashed tates (and did most of the veg cooking too), denny and john brought the starter (fish) and jane and dave and john and jude brought the puds (trifle, pineapple and a chocolate torte) - yumm mcscrumm to all. i didn't really do an awful lot it seems - just the nigella express chicken and the cheese and biscuits. but it all went very well, we seemed to laugh a lot and the atmosphere was lovely. we sang auld lang syne at midnight and then went back into the conservatory to finish our cheese course and 'passed the port' - great company and a great start to 2008!!

then today we had the Annual New Year's Day Walk and Pub Lunch. Same 'suspects' as at the dinner plus Cat and David and Freddie (except they weren't allowed to stay because the pub 'doesn't have a licence for under 14s unless accompanied by an adult and eating a meal') - ya boo to the Essex Arms for a rotten attitude!!. matt and helen, chris and zoe and ali and sam also pitched up.

Frankie phoned when i had been back home for a while - they are visiting stella et al - to let me know the web-site for the wedding pics. so had a quick shufti at them and then did some ou work - which i have been sadly neglecting what with all the wedding palaver. also spoke to stella who has booked their ruda van - so booked mine too - yay!! - north devon here we come - wheee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a joyous noel . . .

Yesterday evening I went to celebrate Noel's 80th birthday at Watford Bowls Club. (I find it hard to believe Noel actually is 80 - he looks years younger!!) It was a lovely party with delicious food, great speeches and lovely company.

Earlier in the day I went round to Jackie's to visit and see the pies. They were all well - Ketta and Jose in the kitchen doing play-doh modelling and then Calla got up from her sleep. Today Jackie is driving them back up to Yorkshire.

Mid-day today Janey and Eric came round to bring some drinks and the beouf bourguignon for tomorrow's New Year's Eve Dinner (at my house this time). They will be back in the morning and I think I shall have a busy day getting ready. I am a little nervous - not least because I am such a useless cook - but the Nigella recipe seems quite simple so I am hoping for the best!

I am writing now because I know I shan't have time tomorrow and I wanted to wish everyone who visits this blog a Very Happy New Year - with much love xxxxx

christmas time . . . mistletoe and wine . . .

here's a quick catch-up:

saturday:

stella, rich and i fell into various beds around 2.00 a.m. - the pies and lucia had all been fast asleep since about 7.30/8.30

once we were up it was mainly taking stuff back (cutlery, crocks, wine glasses and the car) and also collecting frankie and alex from the noke where they had spent the night.

heaps and heaps of tidying and in the evening went to jackie's for a lovely meal. we were: jackie, pete, brian, ruth, rich, stella, elizabeth, barry, anna, isabelle, ryan, jemma, andrew and self. brian had made a nice starter - and also some seasonal reindeer meat - and then jackie had made curry with accompaniments including naan bread - yumm! i was very tired however, and had to excuse myself before 11.00.

sunday:

mainly tidying i think and when i was completely finished watched 'father of the bride' for the aah factor

monday (christmas eve):

up to yorkshire by early afternoon. what a wonderful christmas it was!!! the pies were lovely and we all had lots of laughs. stella cooked a brilliant christmas dinner which we had that night as they were travelling back down to hertfordshire on boxing day and wanted to have as few left-overs as poss. it was delish!!!!!

christmas day:

splendid!! what can i say? christmas with the pies is just the best!! mainly we just sat around talking and eating and drinking - we watched 'polar express' with the pies in the afternoon and 'love actually' in the evening. their house is so cosy, the company was wonderful and the only sad thing was missing frankie, alex and lucia. we all went to bed tired but happy.

boxing day:

down to ashby around mid-day and managed to catch o and g still there and then went with eric to take them back home. they had all had a lovely christmas too. eric and i were back home by early evening. we were so full after lunch we didn't need supper so just sat around talking and drinking wine for yonks

thursday and friday:

home again - robin has been and collected the marquee and associated bits and pieces

stella and rich have gone back to yorkshire minus the pies for a couple of days adn called in briefly on the way home

i went over to hazlemere to spend the evening with the fairlies yesterday - had a lovely time - this was the first time i have been there since they moved in - it is very homely and cosy and i had a great evening. lucia was very sweet - malcolm gave here a little rocking horse (except it is a reindeer) for christmas and she just loves it - she is very sweet

friday 21 december 2007 - frankie's and alex's wedding

i have already described the wedding as the best night of my life . . . and it was certainly that!

lots of people helped including stella and jess both of whom were here until late on wednesday and thursday helping frankie and me with the decorating/orders of service

friday morning saw eric and janey here - janey to look after lpip who was crawling over just about everything and eric to hoover the marquee - a man!! a man mark you, doing the hoovering!! - whatever next??

the wedding mass was beautiful and frankie looked stunning!! lpip and cpie looked very sweet:

lpip (with jackie) and cpie waiting for arrivals in church

huge, huge thanks to jackie, incidentally, who, with rich, looked after not only her own grandchildren, kpie, jpie and cpie, but also lucia whilst the rest of us were flying around getting the marquee and the morning preparations done - and went out and did shopping for me thursday morning! - a lady who truly deserves the title of 'MUMBE'!!

jpie walked down the aisle with me and did the most tremendous bow when he got to the front!
jpie doing his 'piggy' face

as for kpie! the prettiest flower girl i have ever seen:
and here are most of the bridal party on the altar:

that's: gerorge, jess. frankie, alex, stella and justin, the best man (and wicked conservatory builder!)

folks just milling round at the back of the church after the mass:

jess, stella with kpie and jpie, rich, jemma (who made frankie's beautiful, beautiful dress), pete (who did parking warden duty during the mass) and peter who stood in for boogs so magnificently!

our 'new' family:

moi ('oh my! where did you get that 'at?'), alex, lpip, frankie and stella

i love this photo of my 2 lovely girls - you can tell they are great friends - and you can also see how jess did the bridesmaids' hair with black feathers in the chignonny-type-thing:

beautiful bride and dishy groom!!:

meanwhile . . . back at the house . . .

here are o, lizzie, matt and g in the marquee:

eric and cat

lots of friends and relatives in the marquee:

anna talking to brian (who also 'did' her wedding), round the table at the back its jackie, with clara, talking to jemma, table in front: g, james, peter and emma, malcolm is talking to geoff just behind them and there's justin on the extreme right

more or less the same but with ricky on the left behind anna, stella at the back, alex talking to geoff behind me and lpip and the table on the right has sarah, kelly and mark with justin:

and here am i with lpip and obviously having a wonderful time (even though my grin looks scarily like cherie blair's!!)

frankie and alex cutting the caake - cat made this cake for them!! - it was chocolate covered with white chocolate with chocolate swirly bits - and feathers and roses for the top - yumm mcscrumm!! - and obviously 'Frankie Heaven'!!!

alex and justin both did very good- and very funny speeches . . . and this is frankie doing her speech . . . thanking cat . . . (that's pauline and chas in the background)

a very happy couple . . .

. . . and finally . . .

frankie and alex had a wedding guest book . . . and someone who knew him very well wrote 'Boogy would have been proud' - my cup brimmeth over!!

'the night i ever had . . . '

yes . . . the wedding has come and gone . . . and it was the best afternoon/night of my whole life!!! . . .

. . . in the same (but of course completely different) way that 22 june 2002 (stella and rich's wedding day) was the best morning/afternoon of my whole life!!! . . .

i am still totally overwhelmed with what a wonderful day it was . . . and now there is only the kitchen still to finish tidying and i shall be 'all square' again!

tomorrow early morn i travel up to yorkshire to spend christmas with stella rich and the pies, leaving tully in the capable hands of my lovely neighbours, lara, ricky, lauren, jake and benson . . . and i shall update on here when i return . . .

happy christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

worrying . . .

this is how i manage to irritate my daughters . . .

today stella rich and the pies drove down from yorkshire

they dropped in for a quick coffee/milk on the way to jackie's

rich and the pies are staying down but stella is going back up for a few days and then coming down for the wedding

the insurance paid up after stella's accident - it wasn't her fault - but they are waiting a while before they get a new car and in the meantime have been lent one by a kind friend.

rich sent me a text to let me know that stella is on her way back . . . but what is worrying me is that:

she is always losing her keys and now she is driving back home with a set of keys which aren't really hers and i'm wondering if she has remembered her house keys!

this is quite (quite!!) ridiculous!!!

stella has been independent for 9 years - 4 at uni and now over 5 married

she has 3 lovely children whom she manages to look after superbly

she is one of the most capable women i know

. . . and yet i am still worried she may be locked out of her home when she arrives!!

is it any wonder my family get irritated??

why do i only ever write on here on sundays?

. . . i don't know . . . it's certainly not because it is the quietest day of the week . . . or the least busy . . . or the day i feel inspired.

a lot has happened this week . . . some of it good . . . some of it awful . . .

i am very cheesed off . . . in fact i am a gorgonzola

a whirl of activity!

we have all been very busy since last i wrote - so just a quick update then . . .

my lovely girls:

it was Frankie's 'Ladies Pre-Wedding Dinner' weekend' - and we all had a grand time!

Stella arrived Friday evening - I picked her up from the bus station in Golders Green - and then stayed up until gone 2.00 chatting and making things (games) for the dinner.

Saturday S and I went into Watford shopping - we went into every clothes shop in the Harlequin and found absolutely nothing for me to wear at the wedding!! although Stella managed to change the top and bolero of her bridesmaidmaid's outfit for a smaller size. (She had ordered it over the internet and when it came it was too big) so at least that was one good thing.

Frankie Alex and Lucia fetched up in the afternoon and we mainly sat around talking until it was time to get changed and go.

Stella and I collected Anna, Cat and Lizzie to take them over to the Lily Lounge in Harpenden where Shirley, Lucy, Seamus and Luke made a fabulous meal for us all. It was a fantastic venue and and an inspired choice! Frankie looked stunning and her friends were kind enough not to embarass her with any vulgar 'props' (which she had been a bit bothered about). We were: Anna, Jemma, Stella, Cat, Lizzie, Barbara, Grace, George, Catherine, Collette, Emma, Aoife, Jess, self and (naturally) Frankie. Stella had arranged some very funny games between courses which were good ice-breakers and a jolly time was had by all!

To bed late and up late too! Barbara, Grace and George cmae round this morning to see Lucia and then I took Stella off to catch the bus back at 4.00 and happily she is safely home with Rich and the Pies now.

the wedding:

plans and events coming along skippity-skip - but i am keeping schtumm about it for now and will post a report after the event.

my conservatory:

finished!!! yay!!! Alex has painted the walls and I am delighted with it - so now it is ready for the wedding which is a huge relief!!

any other business:

heaps!! but i think this post is long enough for now - and anyway it's getting late and i will just have to update some other time

until next time . . .

grrrrr!!

i don't believe it!!

arrived home from visiting o and g to find that builders' merchants have delivered for my conservatory:

one bag of sand

several lengths of skirting board

one 3m length of window board

and left them on my driveway . . .

in the rain!!!

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccccccccccchhhhhhh!!!!! (me letting off steam!!)

a veritable medley of unusual and unexpected activities:

lots of novel events for me this week . . .

monday and an election:

straight to school after work to do gov's stuff (parent gov election) which meant i had to miss the 'sharing in his life' session. it was a shame but the work i had to do was new to me and consequently interesting.

tuesday and the women's group:

it was my 'turn' to have women's group evning. I had really struggled to think of something to do and then on sunday night stella had a crafty idea which sounded a good bet. i looked on the hobbycraft website and also went to the store after work. but in the end i decided i should really have at least practised to make sure it worked and to be confident about showing the others how to do it. and so i abandonned the idea and we just had mulled wine and mince pies to get us in the Christmas spirit - even though it isn't even advent yet!! it was a good evening though. these ladies came: jackie, mary e, sue s, katrina, dorota and liz.

wednesday and my first tutorial:

after looking after lucia i went up to london in the evening for my first german tutorial. it was very enjoyable and didn't even seem like hard work. i got lost getting there (of course) but fortunately i was early so still managed to arrive in time.

thursday and a dancing lesson:

friday will be my first scottish dance! so tonight we practised as many of the dances as we had time for

friday and my first scottish dance:

petra and i have been going to scottish dance lessons for about 2 months now and the association held a 'beginners' dance. It was held in watford at St Thomas's. The experienced dancers were very helpful, it was nice to 'dress up' a bit, both p and i did better than we expected, we all sang auld lang syne at the end and a jolly good time was had by all!! Home exhausted but happy!!

saturday and shopping (yes your eyes do not deceive you - i really did go shopping!!)

left early and was at the 'pie-house' by 9.00 a.m. quick coffee and communing with pies and then stella and i went to leeds ikea. stella bought lots of nice things for the house: some wooden slatted blinds for the kitchen, a shaker-style shelf and boxes for kezia's room, a hobby horse for jago, a red fleecy blanket for clara, some other odds and ends - like one always just seems to do at ikea! - and a lovely present for someone (can't say what or for whom - spies may be reading this - lol!!). i was starving by mid-day having had no breakfast and vitually nothing on friday, so we even stopped for lunch. we were there about 5 hours all told and then called in at the white rose centre on the way back to get stella's maid dress (only they didn't have it in but she has ordered one internetly). arrived back after dark to find clara sitting in her high-chair chatting to herself in the window's reflection, kezia and jago playing and rich just finishing making us all a lovely soup. yumm!! quiet evening.

sunday and a snow journey:

lovely morning with the pies and then set off home after lunch. stella has a rotten cold poor thing so i think she was going back to bed as soon as i left. horrid weather all the way down except for some snow - yay!! - round milton keynes/luton. it was far too wet for it to settle unfortunately but it did look lovely in the head-lights.

and finally . . . i am aghast to think it is only just over a month to the wedding - i am beginning to stress a bit about my 'outfit', frankie on the other hand is remarkably laid back about everything! i now find she has quietly been sorting everything out so that it is all in fact organised whilst conning us all that she is totally disorganised - what a joker!!!

An Element of Electricians

life has been busy mcbizz this week all right!!

Monday: to Liz and David's in the evening - very nice time

Tuesday: Frankie and Lucia here after work and then Frankie whizzed to collect Linda. Linda is doing the food for the wedding and had lots and lots of tips and useful hints for us. We have decided what we will have and I have a l-o-n-g shopping list. This was a jolly good job done! Alex and Justin were also here to talk about electrical work to be done on the conservatory. (I knew my fuse box and junction box etc did need to be updated)

Wednesday: Fran had parents' evening so stayed at school, Alex came here and stayed with Lucia, and I went shopping. Fran home around 9.00 ish and we all had soup and then all 3 of them stayed as it was too late really to go home.

Thursday: I was expecting 'The Electrician' to come and put in a new fuse box to accommodate the stuff needed for the conservatory. Imagine my surprize when Frankie rang me at 4.15 to say she was parked outside my house and did I know that there were 'Electricians' in my house - 'about 3 of them and two great big vans parked on the driveway'. Oh dear!! A Siege!! (What is the collective noun for electricians, by the way?) I arrived home to find floorboards and carpets up all over the house, toolboxes and bits of flex everywhere, brickdust on every surface and what seemed like a veritable battalion of electrical johnnies in every room in the house. Actually there were only four - it just seemed like hundreds!! Then I had to go weaving in and out of the homegoing traffic and buy the wall lights I wanted in order that they could be placed at the right height - and to make matters worse Next didn't have the ones I had chosen from the catalogue so had to make a quick dash to Homebase and buy others - which I don't really like as much but I was desperate by then!! I eventually made it back home, by which time the electricians had left having first promised to come back the next day to finish off . . . and I was just in time to gather my stuff and dash out to Bushey for class.

Friday: decided to use a bit of my flexi to leave at 3.00, go home to tidy up and get the dinner on before Janey and Eric arrived for the night. I was so sure the electrical work would be done and everything neatly back in place. You've guessed it!! Two electricians still there, carpets still up toolboxes still lying around, place looking like Bedlam (but not as tidy) and no apparent end to the work! I managed to dust and tidy a bit in the upstairs rooms which had been finished but couldn't vacuum as all the sockets were off and, even worse, couldn't get dinner started because, with the power off, I couldn't use the oven either. They did eventually leave at 5.30 (and if this sounds like a rant I have to say they did a very good job and it wasn't their fault it took so long). By this time the house was still in pretty poor shape tidy-wise and the dinner only just in. I could have wept! Janey and Eric arrived at 6.00 by which time at least the dinner was heating up and the dining room back to normality. But it's amazing what a difference a box of wine makes! By 7.00 we were sitting round the table laughing and the evening finished very well indeed!

Saturday: made the 'one-pan breakfast' Stella told me about - which went down very well, lashings of coffee and then E & J left around 11.00. Spent most of the rest of the day cleaning and tidying and then Evening Mass with Edna.

Today: It was Remembrance Sunday so up to O and G's early and Eric and Janey came too. G, E, J and I went to the Remembrance Parade and then back for coffee and caake before going out to the Heart of England for lunch. We managed to have quite a lengthy chat about the possibility of O & G moving down to Hertfordshire - which looks like a bit of a 'go-er'.

So . . . it's been a busy week - but quite productive: 10/10 Po!! well done and gold star!!

weekly 'round up'

The week has been very busy and consequently gone in a FLASH!! (this is a Good Thing)

The wedding seems to be finally coming together: Fran has actually decided on the style of her dress (unbelievable but true!) and she and Jemma went to London yesterday and bought the fabric . . . so no going back now (lol). While they were there they even saw dresses for the maids which they liked and which should be easy to get for the girls. Replies to invitations have been coming in and today Fran and Alex went to M & S and bought wine and stuff. I thought I had better start thinking about my m.o.b. outfit as I think the one I had for Stella and Rich's wedding will be too snug a fit now. (I know it is customary to have a new outfit - but I do so hate shopping and I thought I would get away with a new top to go with it and different accessories. Besides which it seems plain daft to have yet another outfit hanging in the wardrobe which I will probably never wear again.) Anyway Fran and I had a quick look on the internet and there seems to quite a few nice things in the shops right now. I dread actually going into all those horrid crowded shops though! Sigh!!

Frankie and Alex and Lucia have moved to their new home - I haven't been over there yet - it will seem funny not having them so close. I looked after Lucia yesterday while Fran was in London. We went over to visit Cat David and Freddie in the afternoon. Freddie is very sweet and kept giving Lucia hugs and kisses and grapes and bits of melon. We picked Fran up from the Junction, came home here and had cups of tea etc. By the time they left it was a liitle too late to make it to the Park for the Fireworks so I had a shower, watched the last bit of 'Gunpowder, Treason and Plot' and then went round to Jackie's for supper. Danuta and Nusia were there as well as Elizabeth, Barry, Claire and Anna with Isabelle and Ryan. Ryan is lovely - he sat on my lap for ages and was quite content. (Isabelle is lovely too of course!). Brian was home and had brought some sparklers which we had in the garden. And then we all went back inside and chatted - it was a lovely evening!

Today was fairly quiet until Fran and Alex and Lucia arrived. I have been trying to sort out some paper work and it was in piles all over the floor in the Library. After Lucia had been in there it was all over the floor of the Library NOT in piles! She also does what Kezia, Jago and Clara did: push all the books right to the back of the shelves - but the funny thing is: Fran used to do the very same thing when she was little - she said it was 'such a nice feeling' !!! Mad as pants!!