oh dear!

i went to my second weightwatchers' meeting tonight. i have put on two pounds! obviously too many good dinners and too much caake!!

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 . . .