the day before the last day of 2013

This is the one day of all my Christmas holiday days when I am not 'doing something' so a chance to catch up on odds and ends . . .

I started by doing a bit of stitching for a birthday which is coming up and then Frankie, Alex and the Pips came round ~ Alex to put back the door between the kitchen and dining room : off since the new carpet was fitted ~ phew! ~ I was getting so cheesed off with it leaning against the gap and falling down every so often! 

Lpip and Dpip played outside for a while but it was really cold  so they didn't stay out too long and came in and went up to Frankie's old bedroom where I had stashed all the toys while the work was being done.  

Kpip will be 2 next month and makes us laugh all the time now ~ she is very cute! (and she knows it!).  To my great regret I have lost the plug thing that the lead thing from the camera goes in so am unable to charge my camera ~ no doubt it will turn up at some point but it's a darned nuisance right now when I would like some catch up pics!

It is dark now and the Pips have left and I shall go and have a sandwich of left-over gammon from when Stella, Rich and the Pies were here and then later on watch TV and knit. I hardly ever watch TV but tonight there is an adaptation of 'The Thirteenth Tale' from the book by Diane Setterfield which I enjoyed so much.  Not only that but it stars not only Olivia Colgate (from 'Broadchurch') but Vanessa Redgrave too!

Toastie time!

Po x

forgotten . . .

. . . or so I thought . . .

I haven't looked at my blog in months ~ no really! in fact not for over a year ~ not since my last post in fact . . . and I haven't been following other blogs either ~ which seems rather rude and impolite ~ like ignoring a friend perhaps?  Well in point of fact because I was not blogging it seemed kinda 'stalky' to be reading other blogs and not commenting or sharing . . . so I just stopped . . . 

But today I suddenly wondered whether my poor blog had been wiped off the face of the Earth and so I had a look . . . the odd thing was that it looked like four (4??) views today! Who, I wondered, was looking when I was totally ignoring the thing?  Maybe I should pay it just a leetle more attention?

2014 is just around the corner ~ I would like to catch up withe blogs I have enjoyed in the past and feel I am only justified in doing so if I share doings of my own . . .

Back soon with news of the Pies and the Pips, Tully (no longer terrifying said Pies and Pips ~ they are mostly bigger than he is now!), family, house renovations, knits, stitches, books, visits, fun times and more . . . .

Po x

1 pm

Saturday 28 April 2012

Just arrived to visit G and this was the time.  This was O's watch and G gave it to me after she died.  I wear it almost every day.

~~~~~

Circle

Sunday 29 April 2012

Quite a number ofcircles actually!

~~~~~

Something that makes me sad

Monday 30 April 2012

Well, not really sad ~ more nostalgic I suppose.  Eric and Janey gave us the clock when we married ~ 40 years ago this coming September. And time passing is quite sad really.

The photo is of Frankie aged 20 months and Stella aged 3 years 9 months.  Cpie looks like Stella and Lpip looked like Frankie when she was that age.  I love this photo and it always sits on my mantle piece but it is sad that it was so long ago. 

Well that is the first month done (last half at least) and I am still continuing.  But now I am going to post them all on my Annus Mirabilis blog ~ and at the end of each month.  It has certainly helped to concentrate the old mind! and I have messed about a bit to see how to get better shots.  All good.

The weekend

I had a great weekend ~ Janey and Eric came down and we nipped over to Enfield to collect the photos, went into Porcelanosa and laughed at the ridiculous prices, collected G, had lunch at mine, took G home and then, after E and J had left, I went for a walk in the lovely Whippendell Woods.  So peaceful!

On Sunday it was the Confirmation Mass which was beautiful.  But now I know I am getting old!  It was a 'new' bishop whom I had never seen before and my first thought was 'Goodness, he's young'.  I expect that reaction with policemen but Bishops???!!!!!

continuing the challenge ~ day 5

vegetable

Monday 23 April 2012

An onion.  Not much more I can say really . . . .

~~~~~

 

Something I am grateful for

Tuesday 24 April 2012

A peaceful room at work in which to sit and read at lunchtime.  Ok so it's unsociable, but I like to be away from the hurly burly for a while!

~~~~~

Looking down

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Stella and the Pies usually visit G after their violin and recorder classes and I generally manage to meet them there before they go home.  Looking down as they wave goodbye.

~~~~~

Black and White

Thursday 26 April 2012

My purse ~ and me in the mirror taking the photo ~ also in black and white.  This is at around 7.00 in the evening and I was at work waiting for the Development Control Committee meeting to start.

~~~~~

Somewhere I went

Friday 27 April 2012

Work! That's where I went. And then I went home again. But it was a Friday ~ and time to relax!  Like today, really.

I have a good weekend ahead: Janey and Eric are coming down tomorrow early and bringing a Boeuf Bourguignonne for lunch.  We will go to Porcelanosa to choose some tiles for their new bathroom, nip over to Enfield to collect the 'Kpie' photos and then collect G and bring him for lunch.  I'm not sure what we will do in the afternoon and evening but then J&E will go home.  On Sunday it will be the Confirmation Mass in the afternoon and then maybe a quiet evening with a dvd or the tv or reading . . . .

and a Fourth Day . . .

Orange

Thursday 19 April 2012

I was reading 'Room' by Emma Donoghue ~ Orange short-listed.

~~~~~

 Something I drew

Friday 20 April 2012

It was the Grand National Horse Race the following day and the office held a Sweepstake.  I drew State of Play.  Needless to say it didn't win.

~~~~~

Bottle

Saturday 21 April 2012

On my kitchen window sill.  I love coloured glass.  The tall triangular ones I brought from Austria last time I visited and the bulbous one with the leaning neck is just a random one that once had wine in it that I shared with G.  

~~~~~

Last thing I bought

Sunday 22 April 2012

I had to cheat with this one ~ it was the last thing I bought but I bought it on the Saturday.  I had organised a studio shoot for Kpie and Stella and I had been to choose the photos we wanted.  On the way home we called in at Starbucks in Chiswell Green. 

Back tomorrow

Po x

Third Day of Photo Challenge

Flower

Monday 16 April 2012

Trisha planted up this pot for me in memory of Boogy.  It blooms every year without any help from me.

~~~~~

Something I don't like

Tuesday 17 April 2012

A rainy morning ~ who would like a rainy morning?

~~~~~

Hair

Wednesday 18 April 2012

From the left: 

Kpie: brown, thick and glossy like Kate M's

Jpie: a double crown

Cpie: gentle red ~ like marmalade

yay! catching up!

Second Day of Photo Challenge

How you feel today
Saturday 14 April 2012

This was the day Lpip and I went to see Joseph and these were some of the sweets she didn't eat!  It was a funny day all told.  I felt: grumpy, confused, unsettled, frustrated, angry, intolerant, undecided, hungry, annoyed, happy, enthralled and ultimately contented.  A real mixed bag all day ~ just like the sweets.

Sunset

Sunday 15 April 2012

The view from the bedroom that used to be Stella's.

Hmm!  well putting the photos on was a little quicker today!

Back soon

Po xx

Photo a Day Challenge

Something you found ~ Friday 13 April 2012

I have taken up the challenge!  The challenge is to take a photo a day and the subject for each day is on a list which I found on a blog whilst browing.  I rarely take photos and when I do they are usually hopeless so this has been a good way of focussing the mind and experimenting too.

So far I have only missed one photo and that was because I really couldn't 'get it'!  More of that on the day though.  

This is my first and was 'something I found'.  I found it on the computer at work ~ a 2-for-1 ticket offer for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' at the Watford Colosseum.  I took Lpip the next day and it was amazing!  and we both loved it ~ Lpip wants to go again!

it has taken me half an hour so far to upload this photo ~ here must be an easier way . . . . 

Back with more anon I hope

Po x

Some Questions and Some Answers

Kim tagged me with these questions aeons ago in January and this is my first chance to answer them ~ they mostly hold as true to day as they did in January though.

1. What was the best thing that happened yesterday?
     A request for annual leave was approved
2. What book could you read once a year and never get bored?
     The Diary of a Nobody
3. What was the last good idea you had in the shower?
     To visit the second hand bookshop in Stow on the Wold
4. Mac or PC?
     PC
5. What is your first thought when you hear that snow is in the forecast?
     Yay! Get indoors and batten down the hatches!
6. Favorite beach?
     Gillan Cove~ by the Herra
7. If you could do one sport very well, with no fear of injury, which would it be?
     Tennis
8. What is your favorite piece of jewelry and why?
     My wedding ring ~ for the symbolism, of course, but also because it is an unusual design
9. Do you get excited when the mail arrives?
     NO!
10. If you have a superpower where anything you knit would be finished, flawlessly, in a week, what would you knit?     
     A fair isle cardigan
11. DPNs or circs?
     DPNs

And the answer to the question 'What did Frankie have?' is: a beautiful baby girl weighing in at 10lb 5oz.  Lpip and Dpip think she is the Bees Knees and truly is she adorable.  She was born on 18 January ~ arriving much later than any of us thought ~ and she is growing, thriving and laughing. 

Almost ready to re-appear . . .

Everything has changed and I had forgottten by password . . . oh dear! 

BUT!! . . .

Stella came over this afternoon with the Pies and has helped me to reconnect with Blogger and I am hoping to be back on board soon . . .

I have photos, news and more ~ but sadly, less time than ever!

Po x

In which I feel miserable . . .

I didn't go back to work after all as I felt ~ and still do feel ~ really grim. 

And have spent my time sleeping, reading or with my head draped with a towel over a bowl of hot water ~ which is about the most boring occupation in the Whole World!

My foot is returning to a more 'normal' size although it is of a most unpleasant colour!

There is no News as yet in the 'Frankie and New Baby' section of the Po Et Familiares site . . . but hang on in there, folks, I'm sure it won't be long . . . .

I have also done a tiny bit of knitting: on the pink scarf which I started for Frankie about two years ago.  This sounds worse than it is  ~ I have done loads of stitching and even some knitting on the way!

I am reading 'Mr Pye' and 'Introducing Chaos'  ~ which says it all really!

A bientot!

Po x

2011 Books

I am losing my touch ~ or probably I never had one I the first place. In any case I don't seem to be able to post comments on other blogs now: PAH!!!
Kim asked me what I had read recently that was good and although I tried to post back it just didn't work somehow. I will write it all here . . . .

Crace: The Pesthouse ~ not an 'easy' read and quite harrowing in parts but well worth the effort
Ali: Brick Lane ~ a story of life for a Bangladeshi woman in an arranged marriage and her life in London's East End. This story spans many years and chronicles the changes in her life and how she copes. I loved it.
Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Eath ~ a Reading Group read or I would never have picked it up. I'm pleased I did, however, as although I dislike the way he writes and disagree with many of his ideas, the subject WAS fascinating.
McMahon: The Rose of Sebastopol ~ Strong characters and an engaging tale of two very different cousins and the impact of the Crimean War.
Bryson: The Lost Continent ~ Hilarious! and I now know where the 'Mid-West' is!
McMahon: The Crimson Rooms ~ Enjoyed this even more than the Sebastopol. A young, female lawyer in 1920's London and the murder case she takes on. Had me gripped to the last page.
Fallada: Alone in Berlin ~ Such a sad book! Set in Nazi Germany and one man's attempt to sabotage Hitler and the Third Reich. It does end on an up-beat. Please read it!
Austen: Persuasion ~ This year's Jane Austen ~ say no more!
De Bernieres: Notwithstanding ~ I want to buy a copy for everyone I know! Very funny although so quintessentially English that maybe one would need to be brought up in the English countryside to really enjoy it.
Banks: The Crow Road ~ Second time read and just as good as the first time. Banks' books fall into two groups for me: the ones I have to read with my eyes closed (!!) and the others. This was an other!

I also read, amongst other books, Niffenegger's 'Time Traveller's Wife'. This was an interesting idea but I found the idea of the poor chap turning up naked every time he went back and forth, having to steal and the author's use of vulgarities right through the book off-putting and sordid. I didn't like it.


On to 2012 and I have started out with Mervyn Peake's 'Mr Pye', which is good although I should really be reading Nicholls' 'One Day' for Reading Group meeting on Wednesday week.


And a quick update on the NYE Dinner:
We did hold it at my house and it was great fun (as usual). Jane and Eric did most of the cooking (others brought Starters and Puds), we had fireworks in the garden and many a laugh. We all sang 'Auld Lang Syne' when the time came and a good time was had by all.


My right foot has now turned an alarming purple colour and is hideously swollen. I am resting it as much as poss and, when not, hopping about accompanied by a stick borrowed from G. Work again tomorrow ~ although I'm not sure how I will get there as driving is quite out of the question. Such is Life!

that was Christmas . . . this is New Year

. . . and so yesterday I was cleaning in the kitchen, slipped on a patch of wet floor, fell and twisted my ankle but Kept Calm and Carried on.
By evening the pain was getting worse and the foot was swollen.
Stella took me to hospital where we spent three hours in A&E, I had an x-ray and then came home.
No bones broken fortunately, but Rest has been ordered for the next 2 days (useful diagrams received showing a chap on a sofa with his feet up on cushions ~ aha! I get it!) and Ice Packs at regular intervals.
It is my turn to host the NYE dinner so I am a trifle perturbed about the two hunks of lamb which have yet to be cut up into 'bite-sized pieces ~ mainly becasue I am now forced to either hop about the place like a demented robin or crawl on all fours like a dim-witted tabby.
Like all things, this will pass and besides, it is funny really, but at the moment I am just so frustrated because there is so much to DOOOOO!!

Christmas 2011 . . .

. . . exhausting!
no more than most years I suspect ~ it must just be me getting older
One new pip expected early in the New Year
I have been off screen for ages for a variety of reasons and have had little time even to look at other blogs far less comment ~ although I have been keeping up to date as much as I have been able.
back later with news . . . . hopefully!

holidays in suffolk

dunwich
1986 ~ peter and frankie
2010 ~ kpie, lpip, jpie, g, dpip, frankie and cpie
2010 ~ lpip and jpie

books . . . .

It was lovely to hear from Kim in Oregon! and books! now there's a good subject for scrutiny!!
Kim asked me for the titles of a good book for the summer ~ which got me thinking . . . so here are a few ideas:
I loved Kate Atkinson's 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' ~ it made me laugh out loud
Isla Dewar's 'It could happen to you' was another gem
Barbara Erskine is good for her plots which go back and forth in time ~ great for summer as you can gallop through them in no time.
Joanne Harris' 'The Evil Seed' was scary and a real page turner
I love the E F Benson 'Lucia' series ~ nothing to do with Lpip of course! ~ and they also bring back memories of lovely family holidays when the girls were young in Winchelsea/Rye
I have Philippa Gregory's 'The Other Boleyn Girl' on my shelf which I keep meaning to read ~ bought a very cheap DVD of it in Sainsbury's ~ if the book is as good as the film it's a winner.
William Trevor's 'Felicia's Journey' was wonderful ~ although no-one else in Book Group raved quite as much as I did!
Anything by Margaret Forster or Tracy Chevalier . . .
And Khaled Hosseini and Kazuo Ishiguro . . .
Old faithfuls like Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope . . .
One can hardly beat 'The Book Thief' ~ everyone loves it this side of the Pond!
We read Maggie (I think) O'Farrell's 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' at Book Club ~ great praise from us all.
We read one per month at Book Club and I oftentimes forget them but Patricia Ferguson's 'Peripheral Vision' was good . . . and Peter Carey's 'Oscar and Lucinda'.
This month we are reading Nancy Huston's 'Fault Lines' ~ although I haven't started it yet ~ we all think it looks and sound pretty good!
Gracious!
I think I am making up for Lost Time.
Back again soon
Po xx

in which I attempt to catch up . . .

This is a blogging in which I attempted to 'catch up', dated 18 April! ~ it is in fact 22 June now!
I can't now remember what exactly mis-fired with the computer ~ but summat did and I gave up.
So this is just to let anyone who does still 'tune in' know: I am still alive, very busy and always hoping that I will be back some day.
I still read my fave blogs but feel so bad about not writing that I haven't even had the heart to comment.
Maybe I will be on the radar again soon . . . .
Po xx

O & G's Diamond Wedding Anniversary

This is the article about O and G which was in the Watford Observer a couple of weeks ago:

Diamond couple put marriage down to dominoes

A diamond couple have put their long and happy marriage down to a daily hand of cards and game of dominoes.

Fred Hawkins met his future bride Elly when the pair worked at the Oxhey Grange mansion.

Elly, who was born in Switzerland and raised in Austria, came to England in 1938 to learn English.

After being picked up at the train station in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, Elly was taken to the house, where she met a young son of a building labourer from Pretoria Road, who worked in the gardens.

Elly, now 89, said: “I came to learn English so I came to a family in Oxhey Grange and Fred worked there. I worked in the kitchen and around the house and he was a gardener.

“So that's where we met.”

In 1939, when World War 2 was declared, Elly found herself marooned from her family in Austria.

She said: “There were four girls who worked in the house, but the three other girls were Welsh so they went back to Wales.

“But in 1940 Oxhey was declared a restricted area for all foreigners so I got another job working for a family in Hempstead Road.”

At the age of 19, meanwhile, Fred signed up to the newly formed Local Defence Volunteers, who were more commonly known, later on, as the Home Guard.

After hearing about the newly formed LDV the night before, Fred and his pal made their way to King Street at 7am the next morning, where they signed up inside Meredith's Wood Yard.

Five months later Fred was conscripted into the army and found himself stationed near Dover, where he helped make guns.

In 1945, Elly returned to Switzerland and then Austria, having had no contact with her family and unaware if they were alive or dead.

Happily, Elly managed to find her family in Austria and shared letters with Fred until she returned to England in 1949.

Fred, also 89, added: “I went over once to see her and we talked things over through letters and we agreed to get married so she came back over.”

The pair were then married on August 1, 1949, in Holyrood Church, in Watford, and celebrated their marriage with a reception at the Windsor Club, in Loates Lane.

Sixty years on, Elly and Fred - who now have two children, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren – will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on Saturday with a family meal.

Asked what is the success to their marriage, the pair, who live in Bushey, say they share one hobby.

Elly said: “We play dominoes every morning after breakfast and then in the afternoon we play cards.

“We play for money.

“We play five games of dominoes for 5p a game. The money then goes in a jar and then when we want to go out for a meal the money comes out of there.

“We also play ten games of cards for a penny a game and every game goes to a mission in Africa.”

We had a truly lovely celebration on the Saturday of their anniversary ~ O and G enjoyed it tremendously!!

Firstly we went to mass at Holy Rood ~ the church in Watford where they married, where many of us were baptised, confirmed and made First Holy Communion . . . and in Stella and Richard's and Cat and David's and Frankie and Alex's case married too. That was beautiful and O and G also received a Papal Blessing which J had organised. Oh yes ~ and they had had a card from the Queen arrive the day before!

While we were waiting for mass: Jpie and Cpie:


Kpie ~ and of course Budin came too!



Then we zipped off up to Il Pappatore in Bushey ~ one of my most fave-of-all-time restaurants for a family meal.

In the restaurant: Em, Eric, O ~ and G just trying to get out of shot!








Lizzie and Janey








The children had their own table-for-four. When he had finished his first glass of orange, Jpie ordered another round for himself and 'the gels' ~ taking the 'man's' role already . . . and he's only five! here they are: Lpip, Jpie, Cpie (back of her head) and Kpie)


And then back to mine for tea and caake ~ and Kpie entertaining us with a tuneful medley on her violin.



Here they are about to cut the caake.












A lovely day ~ we were all so happy to see them enjoying themselves so much! they deserve it!





coming soon . . . . The Calke Abbey Concert Week-end . . . .

The journey home

Nice view of the Motorway? I think so . . . but just as well as I spent over an hour looking at it!
Started off at 9.00 a.m. after a, fortunately substantial, breakfast and hadn't gone more than a mile when my ABS light came on. Stopped to check the manual which said that it was ok to drive as the brakes would still work ~ which they did.

On my way down the A9 I stopped off at the House of Bruar ~ and spent far too long and far too much there! Really it's a day's shopping experience ~ E&J called in later in the day and reported a helicopter taking off with a group of shoppers ~ now that's style!!

Anyway I carried on but by the time I reached the outskirts of Glasgow I did wonder if the slight swaying in the steering had more to do with the car than the wind! So I stopped at Happenden Services and looked at the back ~ but it seemed ok. By the time I set off from there it was gone 4.30 p.m. and I was all set for a long drive home listening to music and quietly mulling over my hols. Pah!

Just onto the Motorway a dreadful rattling started and the car began to swing about alarmingly. Stopped at one of the phone boxes and called the AA.
It took over an hour for the first chappie to come, decide my stub axle had gone and that I should be relayed home. Still, it was good weather while I waited, I had a book and it wasn't raining! This is the view northwards.

In all it took 5 vehicles and just over 10 hours to get home from there. The drivers were jolly helpful and mostly a good laugh ~ but it was a l-o-n-g night and I was glad to have my little car off-loaded at home at 4.30 the following morning. I was dead-beat and longing for a bath!!
And as post-script: the car was mended the next day and now appears to be as right as rain.
Back soon with news of O&G's 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration.

More Photos from Bonny Scotland

This is the view from one of the eight sides of the tower. None of us was sure who owned this bit of land . . . but it was certainly very productive!







Another view of Stella and Rich's room.






Budin having a quiet moment on Kpie's bed

I thought this was a cupboard under the eaves . . .



. . . but in fact it was the ensuite!




















The Drawing Room ~ comfy rather than posh . . . and all those books!!














Jpie, Cpie and Kpie at the gipsy caravan at Cawdor Castle






In the Wild Garden at Cawdor







Nature Trail at Cawdor


RP at Ja's Party!







F'ster!!