wombling about . . .

i start a new job very soon so am taking this week off to use up my hols allocation before the end of the council's 'holiday year'
it's been great so far!!
saturday early morn i set off for south yorks to visit with stella, rich and the pies. i had a lovely lovely time. they are all so welcoming and the pies are so funny and always pleased when i come. we didn't do an awful lot other than drink gallons of coffee and chat and play with the pies and read stories. stella and i went to the garden centre to buy some of the good organic meat they sell there . . . and then we popped into dunelm mill because . . . well because it's dunelm mill and we love it! i stayed for 2 sleeps and kpie kindly let me have her bed and she 'topped and tailed' with cpie.
monday afternoon i set off south and visited with er and ja. we popped round to see em and pe in their home. it was the first time i have been there. it's a lovely house and very cosy. then back to e and j's for dinner. li had arrived home by then so she sat and chatted for a while and then went out to meet some girlie friends. it was a lovely relaxing evening.
this morning after breakfast i continued south and called in on o and g who seem very well. o was going out with some friends to a 'talk' so it was nice to just sit and chat with g for a while and then go and collect o and bring her home. quick cuppa and a slice of caake and then travelling on down the m1 and so home.
tomorrow i will be looking after lpip for the penultimate wednesday as my new job is full time and the wednesdays will be 'lost'. boo-hoo!! i will enjoy it while i can!!

i have found my camera!!

hoorah! although, in truth, the photos are really rather boring . . . and since the last one I took was in october, rather old too. however, as i haven't published any photos for ages and my blog looks somewhat bland i am adding these: they are all of lpip, who actually looks quite different now . . . but anyway . . .

i changed my front door in the summer. here is lpip trying to 'escape' ~ early september. she has grown since then!!



frankie and lpip in my kitchen ~ early autumn

lpip loves her little car! here she is in my garden mid october

that's it for now ~ all the blurry ones are nice and all the clear ones aren't ~ mostly! ho hum!

it's been a good week so far:
saturday: pa and ch and ly and mi came round for a meal.

sunday: frankie and alex and lpip came round for sunday lunch. frankie cooked (fortunately) so it was edible!!
wednesday: book group at my home. we had been reading 'the vanishing act of esme lennox' and scores ranged from 8.5 to 10. we all loved it and had an interesting discussion on psychiatric care in britain over the last 50 years an enjoyable evening!

addenda . . . and life so far in 2009 . . .

this is very bad indeed . . . but i completely forgot, amongst all the lovely events over christmas to write about 2 very kind acts by members of my family
firstly:
stella made the most delicious christmas pudding for us! boogs used to make 4 each year: one for us, one for e and j and family, one for jackie and family and another 'spare' . . . and how we have missed them! it would seem, however, that stella really is a 'chip off the block' because hers was every bit as good! I do so hope it will become a tradition!
secondly:
g nailed on and undercoated the skirting boards in the conservatory whilst he was here over the christmas break. at the time i was really wishing he had left well alone as it just seemed like work that could have been done some other time ~ not when i was trying to keep everything 'tidy' ~ but in truth it was very kind and i'm jolly pleased now!!
the annual panto trip:
stella, rich and the pies were in watford for richard's family's annual visit to the palace for the panto. they came round for lunch on saturday which was a hoot. the pies were very lively and funny and i had a lovely time with them all. after they had left janey, eric, and lizzie fetched up and after we had sat around talking for a while we headed off for the palace. almost all rich's family were there including cpie and fredster who, being now 2, were going for the first time. we all had a great time with lots of shouting, singing and laughter. freddie shouted out that the man was 'silly' at one point (LOL ~ he was!!). it finished quite early and j, e, lizzie and I went home, ordered a chinese and feasted . . . and drank wine ~ hoorah!! up very late in the morning, late breakfast of croissants, tea and coffee and the 'awks went off home and i sorted myself for work the next day
this week:
back to work ~ which after such a very long break i wasn't looking forward to ~ but it hasn't been too bad . . . it has, however, been very cold. it has snowed several times but not enough to give much cover. but it has never quite disappeared and the temp is well below freezing. in lincolnshire they used to say ' it's hanging around waiting for more' !! i can but hope!!

101 things

i am trying to complete a list of 'things' before I am sixty . . . and to be honest i'm not progressing as rapidly as i had anticipated!
here are some of the 'things' i have achieved this year:
No 19: see the sunrise
yay! did this with jackie and danuta on ivinghoe beacon at this year's summer solstice
No 21: walk on the beach at least 4 times
given that no-where in england is very far from the sea, one would think this would be an easy one! sadly not! time is the problem mostly but at least i managed to walk by the sea at bournemouth last november. having done sligo last year, that only leaves 2 to go!
No 28: knit a scarf for alex
managed to do this in time for christmas
No. 29: frame my old long-stitch piece
am really pleased with how it looks ~ it is in my bedroom and if only i could find the camera i would take a photo!
No. 30: knit 3 items for kpie
have finished 2
No 32: knit 3 items for lpip
started a little ballet cardi back in may but now i think i will have to unpick and start again
No 33: knit 3 items for jpie
just finished a 'froggie' scarf
No 43: change my front door
i have hated that door since we moved in on 22 jan 1993 - a long time to hate anything!! - but in july i changed it for a lovely dark green one which is far more in keeping
No 44: change all internal doors
i have hated the internal doors even more than the front one if that were possible. early last month they were all changed to lovely old-looking ones to match the front door - now all i've got to do is paint them!
No 61: see 3 shakespeare plays one of which i have never seen 'live' before
again not too difficult one would think but again time is the problem. this year i saw 'much' and last year is was 'r and j'. so this year it will have to be one i've not seen before ~ hmm!
No 74: read wordsworth's 'the prelude'
i am trying to re-read all the texts i studied for 'o' and 'a' level ~ this was one of them. we only did boook 1 for 'a' level but i am reading all of them ~ and both the 1805 and the 1850 versions. i must be mad ~ it's a jolly long job!!

i sometimes think i have set myself too difficult a challenge ~ given the time i have awailable

christmas 2008 . . .

. . . was lovely . . .
tuesday before . . . i finished work at mid-day and zipped up to collect o and g for the hols. we were back early evening and had a fish & chip supper (hoorah!! as it's something I rarely have) and then a quiet - but very jovial - evening
christmas eve . . . i was up and to the butchers soon after 5.30 to collect our capon and the rest of the festive meats, then to sainsbury's for the 'last minutes' and home and all put away by 7.00 (well done me!!) the rest of the day was really busy with lots of jolly visitors: cat, david, imy and freddie for morning coffee, frankie and lpip soon after lunch and then barbara and clive for afternoon tea. oh yes, and alex nipped in for a while too. in between i was doing all the prep bits - and o spent ages making breadcrumbs for me: heaps and heaps of them it seemed although they were all used up in the stuffing-making in the end! i was fairly late to bed after all as i kept finding extra jobs to do!! and i thought all this late-night stuff would stop once the chillun weren't chillun anymore!!
christmas day . . . fabulous!! it was just o and g and frankie, alex and lpip and moi. so quite quiet really. we have a tradition that the youngest girl always hands out the presents one at a time so that everyone else can ooh and aah at them too whilst they are being unwrapped- makes it last ages but fun to watch of course. lpip, helped by frankie (who has obviously had years of practice!) got to do it this year. the dinner was really delish - and then g , frankie and lpip had a little sleep and alex and i talked to o. we were all so full that we never managed 'tea' so the christmas caake is still (!!) un-cut. it doesn't sound like a busy day but i for one went to bed tired but very happy.
boxing day and the rest of the hols . . . i have had a cold - pah!! started feeling a bit under the weather boxing day afternoon and so it has continued. eric and janey took o and g home on sunday. it was lovely having them here such a nice long time but but then i was feeling so grotty that all i really wanted to do was wallow a bit. which is what i have been doing since. tonight (new year's eve) i was supposed to be at denny and john's for the annual new year dinner but had to cry off since me sneezing violently thoughout the meal didn't seem like too good an omen for 2009!! so i stayed home and watch chocolat and another film and then jools holland welcoming the new year. as i sit here i can hear fireworks going off all round. i have 'talked' to stella on messenger which seems like a pretty good start to the year! and also to frankie who is at home with alex and lpip and newbee! . . . . and that's my Good News for 2009: Frankie and Alex and Lpip and . . . Newbee who is due on 25 May 2009!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

A Quiz I found

rosy took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Needs a change in her circumstances or in her rela..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Well, I'm not convinced!
Whilst it is fairly accurate, I rather think it would be about right for most people.
Still . . . it was easy to do . . .but . . . 'works well in co-operation with other people' ? ? ? as if!!

a lovely l o n g weekend . . .

yay! was i the happy one last weekend!!
i spent it with eight lovely friends (who included janey and eric) in a barn conversion just outside wimborne. it was soo relaxing ~ and the place itself was fabulous!
we went to poole on the saturday and went for a one hour trip round brownsea and the other islands in the harbour, went to bournemouth and walked along the beach for a while, went into wimborne on the sunday morn (what a fantastic little town ~ like somewhere out of a period drama!) and had sunday lunch in the local inn.
the rest of the time we were mostly at the barn, laughing, doing the crosswords and jigsaw, laughing, reading, chatting, laughing and watching strictly come dancing ~ oh and did i mention laughing? - it was that sort of a weekend! everyone brought foodie-type things they had prepared earlier - yumm! we certainly didn't starve LOL!! it was all just brilliant!!
tomorrow i go to fracture club and hopefully see the last of this darned plaster!

hallowe'en . . . whoooo-o-o-o-o-o!

when the girls were very small we were blessed to live next door to a lovely family with one small daughter a few months younger than stella. kathie and i soon became good friends and stella and jenny became inseparable.
they only lived in england for just over a year before moving abroad but we had a lot of fun and kathie, who was canadian, showed me what i can only describe as 'the proper way to do hallowe'en' - and believe you me this is a much much better way than most of us do it here in england (though it has to be said we are improving!!) what i mean by that is that it appears to have become the custom for younger teen-agers to dress themselves - very half-heartedly! - in outfits very vaguely resembling witches, ghouls and ghosts and then roam the streets throwing raw eggs at house doors and windows and at cars. so it is little wonder that many english people dread the night and pretend to be 'not at home' to the trick-or-treaters.
well i'm pleased to say that is definitely not the case here in north bushey!!
i had bought a candle, looking like a pumpkin, from the hospice and placed it in the front window raised up on 'harry potter and the half-blood prince' - which i thought a good prop as it's not only in the spirit of the night but is also a jolly thick and weighty tome! i had a little basket of sweets and bounty bars and then sat and waited.
4 sets came altogether which i thought a good 'score' . . . and they were all lovely! trisha came round for coffee and cake when i was one set 'in' so she saw most of them. the first 3 lots were mainly teenage - and lovely - but i have to admit the last lot were the best. they were 7 really little children - all neighbours and aged between 4 and 7 - and their mummies and daddies waiting at the end of the drive. they were wearing great costumes which were very diverse. 2 of them were m and a from next door who promptly invited trisha and me round to watch their fireworks!!
so we went. there were quite a number of us as m seemed to have invited a few other unsuspecting neighbours on his travels
it was jolly cold but lots of fun watching the children get excited. tess brought out wine both mulled and un-mulled and crisps to nibble.
i was talking with stella this morning and they had a great night up in yorkshire too. they had 15!! sets of visitors - but stella was saying that may have been because the pies dressed up too and then sat and looked out of their bay-window. i suppose the trick or treaters knew to call!!
anyway it does seem that we are finally getting into the right way of doing hallowe'en
it was a great evening!!

expressions

i am endlessly fascinated by words . . . and accents . . . and expressions.
and i am constantly intrigued by the way people in different walks of life use them - in ways i would never think of myself.
for example, my lovely niece, whilst on her media journalism course once memorably said 'i'll have to take a different camera angle on this one'
but yesterday, when talking about a rather dim figure currently in the media spotlight, alex said, 'well, he's not the sharpest tool in the box'.

any other expressions, anyone? tell me more!

what i have done . . . and what i can't do

DONE:
i have adjusted to my life as the 'one armed bandit' - though this is very frustrating! - and am just about coping with taking life at a slower, more sedate and, hopefully, more dignified pace.
the plan for last saturday was for me to drive to cambridge with frankie and lpip where i was to do my end of course assessment (ou - but only level 1 so far!) and then drive to ely for the cathedral - which both f and i love - and then onwards to south lincs for nostalgia trip and lunch. since i was still in a state of very mild shock i felt it better to postpone the eca so frankie came over with lpip and did some useful household chores for me.
(i phoned the ou and did the eca on wednesday by phone - i think it went ok - phew!)
sunday, monday and tuesday were mostly spent reading - yay!! - making the most of it while i can!!
wednesday: couldn't have lpip as i realised i wouldn't be able to change her nappy one-handed so had another free-ish day until evening when i did the eca and then cat and david picked me up for book club. what excitement!! (details to follow another bloggings). we have been reading afterwards by rachel seiffert. it was an orange nominee apparently - why??????? - i haven't finished it yet - it's a real struggle to get involved with either the characters or the plot and the writing is not the good - scoring ranged from 3 (mair) to a 6 (anne)
thursday: jackie took me to fracture clinic (fracture club we call it) where they took off the old plaster and 'installed' a most marvellous (and much lighter) emerald green one - wow do i look the bee's knees!! in the evening liz collected me for a women's group dvd night at her house. we watched sex and the city. i have never seen any of the series but have heard enough about it in the media to have some idea what it was about (well the title gives it away a bit - hahaha). it was a bit rude but very funny. we all laughed a lot - a good evening.
yesterday: boogy's anniversary. i had to miss mass as the buses just don't run early enough to get there and i wasn't sure i would make the walk so went in later, did a bit of shopping, had a coffee and caught the bus back home. i had forgotten how much i like public transport! watched a dvd of diane keaton and jack nicholson's 'something's gotta give' in the evening.
today: it's a beautiful day such as we often get here in october - blue sky, fairly warm with just a slight nip in the air. alex is here putting up a fence for me (more details later possibly!) and frankie and lpip are coming to lunch. hoorah!!

CAN'T DO:
(what a darned nuisance this all is! however . . . it is being an interesting experience!!)
i) the ironing ~ i do actually like ironing! doing simple things is ok - only i can't put the board up but frankie does it for me - thanks franks
ii) driving ~ like driving too. solution: kind friends,dd and public transport
iii) shopping ~ ugh i hate shopping but it's a necessary evil. on tuesday, stella asked me if i would be in between 3 and 5 because she had arranged a delivery from tescos. how kind! i have done this myself but hadn't had enough wit to think about it at this time

iv) changing nappies ~ real nuisance this one as i can't now look after lpip on wednesdays

v) hanging out the washing and changing the sheets ~ really can't manage this one handed
but frankie kindly did them both
vi) knitting ~ i get very bored and fidgetty watching tv with nothing to do with my hands
vii) straightening my hair - oh dear! that's vanity for you lol!! - and washing it is a bit of a problem too what with kneeling in the bath with one arm hanging over the edge so as not to wet it - lol!
viii) feeding tully was a problem since i didn't have strength or mobility in my fingers to hold the can - ricky and lara helped out there but thankfully i can do it now this lighter plaster is on
ix) emptying the kitchen bin - i did manage this but it was a real struggle - amazing what one takes for granted
x) stitching - i really miss this! ~ i did manage a birthday card but got awful cramp
but all-in-all i think i am managing well enough, finding humour in the situation and being grateful that it wasn't my right arm!!

i have broken my left wrist . . .

. . . and i am typing this one-handed!
i was so-o-o happy it was friday and the end of the week that i was doing a little ballet in the kitchen, my foot slipped from under me (no shoes/slippers etc - only my socks!) and as i fell i put out my hand, fell backwards onto it - and that was that!
fran and alex came and took me to a & e where they plastered me up. fortunately the hospital staff thought it was as funny as i did - at least i think they did! they were certainly laughing along with me - probably thought i was just a mad old lady!!
hahahaha
this may be my last post in a while as this one-handed lark is almost more trouble than it's worth!!! maybe this will give me the chance to catch up on some reading - i won't be driving for a while - that's for sure!!!

driving miss stella

I used to do a lot more driving than I do now. Stella was at University in Scotland for four years and I drove her up and back at the beginning and end of almost every term and a few random other times in between. St Andrews is over 450 miles from our home - and about 500 with Stella in the car since we always had to do a detour to visit Rich at Sheffield!
So it's just as well that I love driving!! The prospect of the open road stretching before me, listening to the radio or cd and stopping as and when I want is a joy that never palls. I love travelling alone but having Stella's company was fun too. We would always stop at Tebay Services at Appleby in Westmoreland - our favourite services! - and somewhere else as well. We managed to visit Durham one freezing January day and struggled up the hill through the snow to see the cathedral - would have been worth it if it had been twice as far, twice as steep and twice as much snow!. One April we turned off the motorway to drive over the winding hills and through the sleepy little towns of Northumberland to see Hadrian's Wall and another time we went right off the beaten track to see a deer farm in the Border country. Trips back down south were always quicker and more direct as we were both keen to get home but they had a different type of charm. Stella would spend almost the whole journey telling her news - which was always hilarious - the time went very quickly!
It was great while it lasted but, of course, not so easy to organise these days. But last evening Stella nipped round and it was just like old times. Stella has a fabulous dry sense of humour which I really enjoy. I put the coffee machine on and we drank coffee and talked until almost mid-night. It was a lovely evening and it has set me up for the Autumn!
Hoorah for daughters!

'I have a strange yen . . . '

. . . and I don't mean I have a peculiar item of Japanese currency!
I love that expression and feel it isn't used enough!
I was ironing this afternoon and thought of a couple of odd little sayings like that . . . and now I can't remember either of them
Ho hum!

travelling on . . .

Taking the 'A' train . . .
After an illness bravely borne, a very dear friend died last week. His funeral was last Thursday. P had been a close family friend for over 20 years and then actually part of our family for the last six. We will all miss him very much. His funeral mass was a triumph and I know that he would have loved it. And a kind friend managed to get a recording of the Jazz classic, 'Take the A' Train' for the committal. He would have loved that too! Parish Camp, wonderful though it continues to be, will never be quite the same without him and Boogy!
Taking the Bridle Path . . .
Today, the weather was wonderful - warm and sunny and perfect for a walk in the woods. I phoned Jackie and a little crowd of us spent the afternoon in excellent company walking in Whippendell Woods and enjoying the dappled sunshine and evidence of the changing seasons. I couldn't be bothered with carrying a bag and lots of 'stuff' so didn't take my camera - a fact I regretted as soon as we started walking as there were lots of beautiful things I would have loved to capture. So sadly there are no nice photos to enlive my blog this time. Maybe next bloggings . . .

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