'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