and the first day of spring for Australia, so my son tells me, and good weather, too
However, for us today, it was cold and grey and dull, and then the rain began just as we were going to our harvest festival lunch; the rain stayed with us for the remainder of the day. Yesterday, was one of those beautiful English late summer days, warmly hot, with a bright sun which lasted well into late afternoon. Not quite Indian summer weather yet, for that happens in October but, well then, we're almost into October already and businesses are beginning to urge us forward to the Christmas season, and I for one am simply not ready for that yet.
Now my dear daughter, who's getting ready to return to work after her maternity leave, is already planning to do her gift shopping before she does; she gets so particularly busy in December, which leaves her with practically no time for festive shopping. And now she has two little boys, she and my son-in-law, will have their work cut-out trying to juggle all the different strands of their lives, and they will be stretched as never before.
I shall wait until after our property renovation is complete before attempting to get serious about my festivity plannings, particularly since on Friday evening I gave myself another project to undertake and which has to be utterly finished by next Friday evening. What am I doing, I hear you chorus?
Well, let me tell you!! I'm giving a coffee morning for the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity, which has its yearly "World's Biggest Coffee Morning" event in September, and my own event will be held next Saturday, 29th September, in our village hall in, Oxfordshire. I've not held a fund raising event for many years and I have to admit to great feelings of excitement and panic at the prospect of all the work involved plus the utter dread of failing to encourage enough guests to attend!
Not to mention all the cooking that will need to be carried out by Friday afternoon, like sponge cakes and cupcakes, meringues and fruit tarts, cookies, Brownies, scones perhaps, for strawberry jam and cream, and a banana cake, a carrot cake and perhaps a fruit cake with a glazed fruit topping. We shall have to see what I finally decide to conjure up?
Unfortunately, neither my boy Lewis Hamilton nor Jenson Button managed to win today's GP in Singapore but well done to Vettel for his win, and happy news for his team and supporters. There surely can't be many more Grand Prix events for this year, which will be a great blow to my dear SO, but next March will soon come around again for the 2013 season.
Our harvest festival lunch was a very jolly affair, with lots of happy chatting folk and many good dishes of food to consume. Actually, probably just a little too much food, if I'm going to be honest of which I'm just as guilty as our other providers; don't we always produce enough to feed an army, and knowingly providing too much because we love to feed our friends and neighbours, and ourselves?
I really do love feeding people and, if there are leftovers, I'm perfectly happy to eat them up for another meal time, with the saved preparation time being allocated to a project, or an outing with the dogs or a good read.
We've all watched Downton this evening. Friday evening gave us the last episode of Parade's End, of Tom Stoppard's brilliant adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford's Great War tetrology and on Thursday evening we watched the third and last episode of the Bletchley Park murder mystery. My daughter has been telling me of the Great Bake-Off cooking programme and of its participants vying with each other to bake the most gorgeous choice of baked cakes and pastries, bread and buns. And apparently
the programme has garnered an enormous viewing capacity, which just goes to show how many of us are seduced by a cream bun or gateau, fruit tart or a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Isn't food glorious and hopefully my home made cakes for my coffee morning will be equally seductive in their power to attract many willing visitors to my "do" next Saturday. Wish me luck?
On Friday I went with my daughter and my two adorable grandsons to Knew Gardens in Richmond, Surrey, and we had a glorious outing, with coffee and lunch, and time to be with my eldest grandson as he happily walked and climbed on the wooden climbing frames and rope walks, and scrambled thru' a tunnel and slid down the grassy slopes, which even had me almost falling over and down!
My youngest grandson was teething and very miserable, which was a new thing for him, for his first two teeth came through with no discomfort at all luckily, but he perked up after lunch and all was well again.
Tomorrow morning I'm off to get my posters laminated, my invitations written and my lists of things to do and remember and organise. Then I'm off to my book club meeting before supper and goodness knows whether I shall get down to that pile of ironing awaiting my attention. And the poor dogs only had garden walks today so they will be very keen for me to exercise them first thing tomorrow morning, which reminds me, I should stop writing right now and retire from the lists for today.
Enough is enough, wouldn't you agree??
Daisy x
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
And the paint rolls on......
Well, it did today, but it was somewhat delayed yesterday by the preps. which took rather longer than I'd expected! Yes, the washing down and hoovering up, the scrubbing off and the application of the sandpaper block, and the ensuing dust-storm which followed. It all took its toll, you know, well I'm sure you do; so there I was, down on my knees and up on the step-ladder, working away and trying to get as much done as could possibly be done - just so that i could spend all day today, painting.
However, there was the laundry to hang out on the washing line and the dogs to walk; and what a lovely morning for a walk, it was. A little freshness, with a slight breeze in the air, but the sun was shining just as brightly as it could, and the clear blue sky overhead and sweet damp grass beneath one's feet. With no other dogs and their owners about, Alice and Poppy were able to run free and clear of all leads, and I was able to enjoy the best of the day. For I've often commented on the fact that the best of the day is early to mid-morning, after which the nice weather will simply melt away, followed by a dull and grey afternoon. Up with the lark, hey, and the early bird catches the worm and carpe diem, but enough of that.......satis!!!
Then.....shopping, and eyeing-up possible new curtains for the sitting-room and then finding the dear
SO boiling the kettle and making me a cup of tea the instant I arrived at our new property - what a welcome. Of course, my arrival coincided with the luncheon hour, with time to read our favourite Broadsheet and indulge in a spot of conversation over the headlines, articles and letters page, all of which he'd already got a handle on, having read the newspaper over his mid-morning mug of tea!
It's a hard life!!!! In fact, we were awake quite early on this morning, so it was just like the good old days when I had an early drive to work and then not getting back home until the early evening but I enjoyed my busy days, and loved the twice daily drive to and from the coal-face in my lovely Mazda!
So today the paint did roll on once I changed into my painting gear and got going, but it was trying for most of the time I was down on my hands and knees painting the skirting board in the hall, then the door frames, and then back to the skirting boards in the bedroom which, thank goodness, has almost enough paint on it to look finished. Ah, but perhaps just a little more over the window frame and inside the cupboard?
So we'll be celebrating harvest home this weekend here and perhaps, elsewhere, others will be doing the same or perhaps a little later, or even earlier than here, for I'm sure we all enjoy traditions which celebrate the gathered summer harvest against the forth coming winter months and the snowy days ahead.
But I must stop here for a favourite TV programme is about to start and I simply must watch itQ
See you again, soon,
Daisy
However, there was the laundry to hang out on the washing line and the dogs to walk; and what a lovely morning for a walk, it was. A little freshness, with a slight breeze in the air, but the sun was shining just as brightly as it could, and the clear blue sky overhead and sweet damp grass beneath one's feet. With no other dogs and their owners about, Alice and Poppy were able to run free and clear of all leads, and I was able to enjoy the best of the day. For I've often commented on the fact that the best of the day is early to mid-morning, after which the nice weather will simply melt away, followed by a dull and grey afternoon. Up with the lark, hey, and the early bird catches the worm and carpe diem, but enough of that.......satis!!!
Then.....shopping, and eyeing-up possible new curtains for the sitting-room and then finding the dear
SO boiling the kettle and making me a cup of tea the instant I arrived at our new property - what a welcome. Of course, my arrival coincided with the luncheon hour, with time to read our favourite Broadsheet and indulge in a spot of conversation over the headlines, articles and letters page, all of which he'd already got a handle on, having read the newspaper over his mid-morning mug of tea!
It's a hard life!!!! In fact, we were awake quite early on this morning, so it was just like the good old days when I had an early drive to work and then not getting back home until the early evening but I enjoyed my busy days, and loved the twice daily drive to and from the coal-face in my lovely Mazda!
So today the paint did roll on once I changed into my painting gear and got going, but it was trying for most of the time I was down on my hands and knees painting the skirting board in the hall, then the door frames, and then back to the skirting boards in the bedroom which, thank goodness, has almost enough paint on it to look finished. Ah, but perhaps just a little more over the window frame and inside the cupboard?
So we'll be celebrating harvest home this weekend here and perhaps, elsewhere, others will be doing the same or perhaps a little later, or even earlier than here, for I'm sure we all enjoy traditions which celebrate the gathered summer harvest against the forth coming winter months and the snowy days ahead.
But I must stop here for a favourite TV programme is about to start and I simply must watch itQ
See you again, soon,
Daisy
Monday, 17 September 2012
Property Renovation
It's getting much better - you know, the painting and today, well, I was even managing to create quite a good impression of painting with a gloss paint, which is amazing, for this stuff drips you know. So quite some energy had to be expended on masking tape, and sanding things down, cutting strips of the carpets to get to the skirting boards, and lots of the sugar soap solution.
Thank goodness, at the weekend's car boot sale, we both bought bags of a cotton knitted material work glove, and they are absolutely brilliant. I'd not been able to find any earlier when buying paint and brushes etc. and now we have two bags, which is wonderful. Are you like me, well, not mad, I don't mean that, but working without gloves, it's just awful, don't you find? And those thin disposable and throw-way gloves, ghastly!!
Quite apart from that, they are usually too big, so they don't fit, and you can't wipe the paint off with them, so you're using copious amounts of kitchen clothes, or moist hand wipes, which are really rather too costly to use often; and the plastic gloves don't absorb the paint at all, so everything becomes paint-splattered, even yourself. That's if you are like me, hey??
My training chef used to tell us to "work clean" and he was absolutely right, because if you don't, after your shift is over, you have another job of work, clearing up after yourself! well, the same applies to decorating; you simply have to clean up as you paint which means every little splodge and splash and trailed paint across the door or floor or carpet. And even if you're going to change the carpet once the painting is done, you still have to be careful about all the drips because you, or rather me, must be wasting quite a great deal of paint during the course of a big job? And paint is expensive, don't you agree?
The dear SO was having fun with the plumbing today, and removing the kitchen sink and draining board, can you just imagine the pools of water spreading over the floor and the mess?
We left Alice at home today because she hasn't been terribly good at being a paintbrush and she's been getting so much paint on her fur, which actually bothers us, if not her.
My book club meeting was good and so was this week's book content, Jed Rubenfeld's The Interpretation of Murder, which we shall discusss again next week. And then another, and another...
I think it's leading up to a great deal of reading, and mostly novels, which are not always my cup of tea, so I shall have to see how it all goes.
And talking of how things go, I think it's time for me to go...
Goodnight,
Daisy
Thank goodness, at the weekend's car boot sale, we both bought bags of a cotton knitted material work glove, and they are absolutely brilliant. I'd not been able to find any earlier when buying paint and brushes etc. and now we have two bags, which is wonderful. Are you like me, well, not mad, I don't mean that, but working without gloves, it's just awful, don't you find? And those thin disposable and throw-way gloves, ghastly!!
Quite apart from that, they are usually too big, so they don't fit, and you can't wipe the paint off with them, so you're using copious amounts of kitchen clothes, or moist hand wipes, which are really rather too costly to use often; and the plastic gloves don't absorb the paint at all, so everything becomes paint-splattered, even yourself. That's if you are like me, hey??
My training chef used to tell us to "work clean" and he was absolutely right, because if you don't, after your shift is over, you have another job of work, clearing up after yourself! well, the same applies to decorating; you simply have to clean up as you paint which means every little splodge and splash and trailed paint across the door or floor or carpet. And even if you're going to change the carpet once the painting is done, you still have to be careful about all the drips because you, or rather me, must be wasting quite a great deal of paint during the course of a big job? And paint is expensive, don't you agree?
The dear SO was having fun with the plumbing today, and removing the kitchen sink and draining board, can you just imagine the pools of water spreading over the floor and the mess?
We left Alice at home today because she hasn't been terribly good at being a paintbrush and she's been getting so much paint on her fur, which actually bothers us, if not her.
My book club meeting was good and so was this week's book content, Jed Rubenfeld's The Interpretation of Murder, which we shall discusss again next week. And then another, and another...
I think it's leading up to a great deal of reading, and mostly novels, which are not always my cup of tea, so I shall have to see how it all goes.
And talking of how things go, I think it's time for me to go...
Goodnight,
Daisy
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Sweet home Sunday...
Ah, it's Sunday evening, we've just eaten a supper of pure comfort food, and in less than three-quarters of an hour, the first episode of the third series of Downton Abbey will fill our TV screens, and we shall all be in seventh heaven. And we can't wait for it to begin!!
Actually there has been so much of interest to watch during these late summer days such as Parade's End, Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford's superb story of the Great War; the last episode is on next Friday evening, and I'm longing to get my hands on the books, very soon. We're also watching The Bletchley Park Murder mystery, a tale of murder and suspense involving four imaginary past women code breakers of Bletchley Park, working together and using their brilliant capabilities to solve a ghastly crime, and it's quite brilliant. We've watched the usual round of the Who Do You Think You Are genealogy tracing programme, University Challenge, Master Mind, New Tricks and, of course, we're still revelling in the glory of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Apart from the weather and the few glorious days and weekends, our TV programmes have given us a very good summer;
And for today, a leisurely summer Sunday. We went to church and at the conclusion of the Service, it was my girlfriend's duty to prepare and serve coffee and biscuits, but as her usual companion couldn't be there for she had a very bad cold, I stepped into the breach and assisted with the setting up and washing of the crockery. Next Sunday is Harvest Festival, which we shall celebrate with the traditional and beautiful Service, followed by our Harvest Festival lunch, to which we shall all contribute a dish or two. I'm taking a glorious dish of green spinach pasta, with creme fraiche and Pesto sauce, and perhaps a simple pudding.
Our much loved and recently lost Vicar is being installed in his new Parish on Thursday evening, and we're hoping to attend that Service too. Then there's drinks and nibbles on Friday evening for all the Parish volunteers, so there's plenty of activity already for next week, and who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Certainly we shall be back at the new property, decorating, building and installing kitchen units and our new oven and hob, and finishing off the electrical wiring. And I'm hoping to make a visit with my family to Kew Gardens. They've just returned from their holiday in France and I'm longing to hear all about their adventures, and to hug my two little grandsons!
And, of course, tomorrow night I'm going to my first Book Club meeting, where we'll be discussing
The Interpretation of Murder, by Jed Rubenfeld; and, if there's time, I shall call in on my new line dancing class for a minute or two, just to see how they are going on?
A busy week, I think?
Byeee for now,
Daisy
Actually there has been so much of interest to watch during these late summer days such as Parade's End, Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford's superb story of the Great War; the last episode is on next Friday evening, and I'm longing to get my hands on the books, very soon. We're also watching The Bletchley Park Murder mystery, a tale of murder and suspense involving four imaginary past women code breakers of Bletchley Park, working together and using their brilliant capabilities to solve a ghastly crime, and it's quite brilliant. We've watched the usual round of the Who Do You Think You Are genealogy tracing programme, University Challenge, Master Mind, New Tricks and, of course, we're still revelling in the glory of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Apart from the weather and the few glorious days and weekends, our TV programmes have given us a very good summer;
And for today, a leisurely summer Sunday. We went to church and at the conclusion of the Service, it was my girlfriend's duty to prepare and serve coffee and biscuits, but as her usual companion couldn't be there for she had a very bad cold, I stepped into the breach and assisted with the setting up and washing of the crockery. Next Sunday is Harvest Festival, which we shall celebrate with the traditional and beautiful Service, followed by our Harvest Festival lunch, to which we shall all contribute a dish or two. I'm taking a glorious dish of green spinach pasta, with creme fraiche and Pesto sauce, and perhaps a simple pudding.
Our much loved and recently lost Vicar is being installed in his new Parish on Thursday evening, and we're hoping to attend that Service too. Then there's drinks and nibbles on Friday evening for all the Parish volunteers, so there's plenty of activity already for next week, and who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Certainly we shall be back at the new property, decorating, building and installing kitchen units and our new oven and hob, and finishing off the electrical wiring. And I'm hoping to make a visit with my family to Kew Gardens. They've just returned from their holiday in France and I'm longing to hear all about their adventures, and to hug my two little grandsons!
And, of course, tomorrow night I'm going to my first Book Club meeting, where we'll be discussing
The Interpretation of Murder, by Jed Rubenfeld; and, if there's time, I shall call in on my new line dancing class for a minute or two, just to see how they are going on?
A busy week, I think?
Byeee for now,
Daisy
Friday, 14 September 2012
So, where was your ancestor in 1485?
Wouldn't it be exciting to have an idea of where ones ancestors were, way back when, and to be able to put together an approximation of the life they led? I don't expect many of us can and indeed how could we, if we don't have blue blood running through our veins!
But the thought is awfully appealing, if terribly unrealistic.
So let's come forward by a few hundred years, and see who's ancestors were up and doing things. Perhaps a diary, or some correspondence, details of dates of a life lived and survived, now wouldn't that be an exciting thing to be able to own up to, and be jolly proud of, hey?
Well, we're coming up for the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, in 1914. Now I had a grandfather who was caught up in that tragedy, and I'm sure there must be other people, like me, with distant relatives also involved in that awful war.
And great grandchildren, who've heard tales of their forebears deeds and triumphs.
So let's take the year 1914 and ask, do you know of somebody who was doing their bit for the Great War, and where they were, and if they survived the horror of it all, or did they succumb to that terrible time, somewhere?
The thought is mesmerising and dreadful, both at the same time,, and I should be enthralled to hear of anyones stories and details of that time, if they felt at liberty to share their family history with me?
My grandfather was an army driver and he served abroad in the Great War, and then he came home and got on with the job of working and providing for his family; and he suffered acutely from his war - and life went on.
Of course, war is a grisly business; perhaps we should fast forward to another time and place? Let's suggest the 1950's, when we're recovering from WW2 and war is behind us...but no, there was Korea in the '50's. Bother, this war business is almost a constant.
OK so we'll fast-forward again to the 1960's and ask, do you remember what your parents were doing back then; or possibly even yourself?
I was a school girl and not a very happy one, at that, but I guess I got over those feelings and grew up, but I was not keeping a diary back then, so have no real memories from that time.
Does anyone have such memories and wouldn't it be good to construct a wide-ranging collective memory data-base for such details as could be remembered?
I'm already, slowing, compiling a list for myself and would be very glad to hear from anyone who is possibly doing the same/
I do hope I'm not talking to myself.......
Daisy
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Well, I think that I have got it, got it, got it!!!
Back to the coalface again this morning but not before I'd gone shopping again for a roller tray for the paint and then, what do you think I found hanging on a shelf besides some small tins of paint....why, an extendable paint roller, of course. Now the dear SO and I had discussed buying one of these beauties only last week and he, of course, being the dab hand that he is, at all things to do with painting and building and putting kitchens together, simply pooh-poohed the very idea of buying such a silly and unnecessary piece of equipment.
And even I had conjectured that it would probably be very unwieldy to handle and manoeuvre and hardly, or not all, worthy of the extra charge such a potentially useless piece of kit it would be, to ever disgrace a builder's kit bag!
Well, I ask you, how wrong can one man or woman be, simply to ignore the possibility of a tool or anything, being effacasious in the right hands or at the right time, to any individual?
Of course, the dear SO wouldn't be seen dead with such a piece of kit and why, because he's been painting and building and putting things together for all his life, and I might add, so have his forebears and, of course, it has always come so naturally and easy to him and them, so why on earth would they ever consider it a requirement to purchase any extra costly tool to do a job, when their basic and trusty tools can be made to do anything they wish, just by their very nature and understanding of things and their innate sense of how things should be, and be done?
But.and here's that word again...but, we are not all the same, I mean, are we? We all have talents and gifts; some more and others less, while others have entirely different and unrelated gifts. And sadly, there are some people who never understand their gifts and sadder too, the people who believe they simply do not possess anything at all of the nature of a given gift or talent or perception or a sensitivity about; they simply feel useless.
Now I have my full quota of gifts but, when it comes to painting and decorating, I have always firmly believed that it was something I should steer myself completely away from. So apart from a rather lacklustre attempt a few year's ago to paint the interior of a property of mine, and when I called on the services of my children to come and help me out, I have to tell you I've made no effort to decorate or even contemplate the possibility of taking up pot and paint, and gone to it like a decorator.
Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I undertook to get to grips with pot, brush and paint now, and....well, here we are, on my fourth paint be-splattered day, actually as pleased as punch with my new-worked skill of being able to make a rather dark and dingy wall, look almost attractive in its new glossy paint coating! Ecstatic, well I jolly well am, plus somewhat pooped and slightly exhausted from all the effort and energy exercised by little me today!
That one tool revolutionised my previously clumsy attempts into smoothly sublime wrist actions, lifting my spirits and encouraging my creative energy to rise to the challenge standing before.
So, what is entirely unnecessary to one human being maybe just the very thing to get another moving forwards, gloriously, into higher levels of achievement, just by the expedient of a little positive step into the unknown.
Daisy xxx
PS You just never know what you can achieve unless you push yourself forward and.......have a go at something different or untried, or an attempt at something at which, earlier, you have failed miserably.
And even I had conjectured that it would probably be very unwieldy to handle and manoeuvre and hardly, or not all, worthy of the extra charge such a potentially useless piece of kit it would be, to ever disgrace a builder's kit bag!
Well, I ask you, how wrong can one man or woman be, simply to ignore the possibility of a tool or anything, being effacasious in the right hands or at the right time, to any individual?
Of course, the dear SO wouldn't be seen dead with such a piece of kit and why, because he's been painting and building and putting things together for all his life, and I might add, so have his forebears and, of course, it has always come so naturally and easy to him and them, so why on earth would they ever consider it a requirement to purchase any extra costly tool to do a job, when their basic and trusty tools can be made to do anything they wish, just by their very nature and understanding of things and their innate sense of how things should be, and be done?
But.and here's that word again...but, we are not all the same, I mean, are we? We all have talents and gifts; some more and others less, while others have entirely different and unrelated gifts. And sadly, there are some people who never understand their gifts and sadder too, the people who believe they simply do not possess anything at all of the nature of a given gift or talent or perception or a sensitivity about; they simply feel useless.
Now I have my full quota of gifts but, when it comes to painting and decorating, I have always firmly believed that it was something I should steer myself completely away from. So apart from a rather lacklustre attempt a few year's ago to paint the interior of a property of mine, and when I called on the services of my children to come and help me out, I have to tell you I've made no effort to decorate or even contemplate the possibility of taking up pot and paint, and gone to it like a decorator.
Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I undertook to get to grips with pot, brush and paint now, and....well, here we are, on my fourth paint be-splattered day, actually as pleased as punch with my new-worked skill of being able to make a rather dark and dingy wall, look almost attractive in its new glossy paint coating! Ecstatic, well I jolly well am, plus somewhat pooped and slightly exhausted from all the effort and energy exercised by little me today!
That one tool revolutionised my previously clumsy attempts into smoothly sublime wrist actions, lifting my spirits and encouraging my creative energy to rise to the challenge standing before.
So, what is entirely unnecessary to one human being maybe just the very thing to get another moving forwards, gloriously, into higher levels of achievement, just by the expedient of a little positive step into the unknown.
Daisy xxx
PS You just never know what you can achieve unless you push yourself forward and.......have a go at something different or untried, or an attempt at something at which, earlier, you have failed miserably.
Another day at the coalface!
The dear SO was hard at work yesterday, building the kitchen cupboards and fixing them into the kitchen. working on the plumbing for the washing machine and fitting sockets about the place. And I was painting and getting the hang of it all!
Actually, it is going along fairly well and doesn't wet paint look worse as it's drying? Hopefully,
things can only improve with greater application and effort, and more paint, of course, and - practise makes perfect, doesn't it?
We're following the news of the search for the buried remains of Richard lll, thought to have been found beneath a car park in Leicester and the research being carried out by archaeologists at the University of Leicester. Richard lll died at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Now that really is an interesting story for family historians to get their teeth into!!
Alice is much better and we can now take her out for little walks but not allowed to run free and off her leash, but hopefully next week we can?
,
I'm impatiently waiting for a book to arrive which needs to be read before next Monday, when I'm off to my book club meeting. It should have been here on Monday and, here we are on Thursday, and still no book. It will have to be a very quick read indeed!
And line dancing - do you? I've found a new class and, guess what, lessons for beginners are on Monday evenings, at 7pm and of course, next week is book club night on Monday too, so it will have to be a quick 20-minute twirl followed by a short dash with book in hand, to our meeting venue!
After another day at the coalface - I wonder how much paint we're going to get thru'?
Daisy
Actually, it is going along fairly well and doesn't wet paint look worse as it's drying? Hopefully,
things can only improve with greater application and effort, and more paint, of course, and - practise makes perfect, doesn't it?
We're following the news of the search for the buried remains of Richard lll, thought to have been found beneath a car park in Leicester and the research being carried out by archaeologists at the University of Leicester. Richard lll died at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Now that really is an interesting story for family historians to get their teeth into!!
Alice is much better and we can now take her out for little walks but not allowed to run free and off her leash, but hopefully next week we can?
,
I'm impatiently waiting for a book to arrive which needs to be read before next Monday, when I'm off to my book club meeting. It should have been here on Monday and, here we are on Thursday, and still no book. It will have to be a very quick read indeed!
And line dancing - do you? I've found a new class and, guess what, lessons for beginners are on Monday evenings, at 7pm and of course, next week is book club night on Monday too, so it will have to be a quick 20-minute twirl followed by a short dash with book in hand, to our meeting venue!
After another day at the coalface - I wonder how much paint we're going to get thru'?
Daisy
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Preparation's the key......
to getting a good finish! Isn't it always the way, a new project, it's exciting, thrilling and you can't wait to get on with it. But, and there's always a but, you have to do the planning, and then the preparation, not to mention the gathering-in of all the tools, brushes, rollers, etc. and so on.
Ah ha, pause here, to check you have all you need, and now, let's begin again.
Today, I was all ready to plunge in at the deep end, you know, as you do, and bite the bullet, and get to grips with the art of the paint brush, and its many applications.
Now, of course, I have held a paint brush before, and applied a decent coat to a few walls, and even a few strips of skirting board. I've even attempted to decorate a radiator and a window frame or two.
But, and here we go again, the but, well, here's mine.....I just don't seem to be able to get connected to it, somehow. So today, I was determined to get the hang of painting, and prove to myself that I could brush with the rest, if not with the best!
So there I was on the second highest step of my short step-ladder, reaching up to the ceiling, and...whoop whoop...I managed a decent, almost straight line, which didn't cross over onto the ceiling, and actually looked quite good.
Well, that was a good start and tomorrow I shall be wielding the roller and tray and not just the brush, which is brilliant!
And we've chosen the wallpaper and have begun trialling paint to go with it, which is real progress. But I still have more walls to wash down, so still plenty of prep. to do before the paint can start to spread again, so I guess I shall have to be patient a little longer?
Don't you just love decorating?
Three cheers for Andy Murray - winning the US Open Championship in New York, our first such win for seventy-seven years, since Fred Perry's win...what a triumph for Andy. A brilliant finale to our summer of sporting glories.
goodnight..
Daisy xxx
Ah ha, pause here, to check you have all you need, and now, let's begin again.
Today, I was all ready to plunge in at the deep end, you know, as you do, and bite the bullet, and get to grips with the art of the paint brush, and its many applications.
Now, of course, I have held a paint brush before, and applied a decent coat to a few walls, and even a few strips of skirting board. I've even attempted to decorate a radiator and a window frame or two.
But, and here we go again, the but, well, here's mine.....I just don't seem to be able to get connected to it, somehow. So today, I was determined to get the hang of painting, and prove to myself that I could brush with the rest, if not with the best!
So there I was on the second highest step of my short step-ladder, reaching up to the ceiling, and...whoop whoop...I managed a decent, almost straight line, which didn't cross over onto the ceiling, and actually looked quite good.
Well, that was a good start and tomorrow I shall be wielding the roller and tray and not just the brush, which is brilliant!
And we've chosen the wallpaper and have begun trialling paint to go with it, which is real progress. But I still have more walls to wash down, so still plenty of prep. to do before the paint can start to spread again, so I guess I shall have to be patient a little longer?
Don't you just love decorating?
Three cheers for Andy Murray - winning the US Open Championship in New York, our first such win for seventy-seven years, since Fred Perry's win...what a triumph for Andy. A brilliant finale to our summer of sporting glories.
goodnight..
Daisy xxx
Monday, 10 September 2012
Ah ha, my boy won!!!
Lewis Hamilton won at Monza - brilliant! Deep commiserations to Jenson Button for losing out so badly - the dear SO was most upset.
I attended my local church for the morning service which included a baptism ceremony for a baby boy, and it was a most joyful occasion for his family and for us in the congregation. It was very pleasant greeting old friends and acquaintances over coffee afterwards and then I went to find a young niece who's just been awarded ten top exam results, clever girl. They were not at home so I must send a card instead.
Risotto for lunch followed by a peaceful afternoon on a comfy lounger in the garden - "peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away"!
The family came to dine on roast pork and crunchy roast potatoes and then we watched a TV drama, an adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier story which was gripping.
And today Alice has her stitches removed; the new kitchen and work tops are being delivered, and I shall remove the last of the old wallpaper - excellent!!
Daisy
I attended my local church for the morning service which included a baptism ceremony for a baby boy, and it was a most joyful occasion for his family and for us in the congregation. It was very pleasant greeting old friends and acquaintances over coffee afterwards and then I went to find a young niece who's just been awarded ten top exam results, clever girl. They were not at home so I must send a card instead.
Risotto for lunch followed by a peaceful afternoon on a comfy lounger in the garden - "peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away"!
The family came to dine on roast pork and crunchy roast potatoes and then we watched a TV drama, an adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier story which was gripping.
And today Alice has her stitches removed; the new kitchen and work tops are being delivered, and I shall remove the last of the old wallpaper - excellent!!
Daisy
Sunday, 9 September 2012
It's another Grand Prix - it must be Monza?
Yes it is, it's the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today and my boy, Lewis Hamilton's on Pole position for the race with Jenson Button on second placing, and Felipa Massa on third placement; let the race begin and the best man win today's exciting race.
I've been so caught up with Alice's care after her operation and our refurbishment programme, I've scarcely mentioned the Paralympics, or the tennis at Queens, in New York, where Andy Murray has just got through to the finals, and I'd completely overlooked the possibility of a GP this weekend.
And that tornado which hit New York looked awesome; the dear SO was watching it on his mobile device first thing this morning. Actually, it was a very early wake-up video, but we were so impressed with the steady handling of the camera.
So there's lots going on today. The Paralympic Games finish and we've all had a wonderful view of those brilliant athletes' performance, and marvelling at their achievements.
Enjoy your day, wherever you are
Daisy
I've been so caught up with Alice's care after her operation and our refurbishment programme, I've scarcely mentioned the Paralympics, or the tennis at Queens, in New York, where Andy Murray has just got through to the finals, and I'd completely overlooked the possibility of a GP this weekend.
And that tornado which hit New York looked awesome; the dear SO was watching it on his mobile device first thing this morning. Actually, it was a very early wake-up video, but we were so impressed with the steady handling of the camera.
So there's lots going on today. The Paralympic Games finish and we've all had a wonderful view of those brilliant athletes' performance, and marvelling at their achievements.
Enjoy your day, wherever you are
Daisy
Saturday, 8 September 2012
Out with the old and stripping down again......
The dear SO tore out the old kitchen and the seating area, which must have been in situ from the very beginning, and we smelt the damp and rotting timbers as the seat gave up its hold on the flat. It was actually a rather nice bench-with-back-type seat and quite cosy but, it had to go, it was just a little old fashioned for the look we're giving the flat.
All Shaker white cupboards and lovely wooden worktops; white paint work throughout, and nice pale carpets.
Stripping the one wall of paper was fun too, until I realised too much had been attempted yesterday, and I was so very glad when two kindly fairy friends visited and stayed to help with the scraping. It's the getting up and down from the floor to the step-ladder, to the wall tops, soaking and rubbing down, the scraping again to remove all those stubborn little pieces of paper, steadfastly refusing to come away from the plaster.
It's almost done but tomorrow is taken up with many other things so no renovating tomorrow. I'm off to church and taking a home made cake for the flower festival tea in the afternoon; and I made a cake for home tea too, and a favourite recipe for coffee and walnut sponge cake....yippee!!
Alice continues to improve and we'll be at the vets surgery early on Monday morning for the stitches to be removed, and that's a double-yippee. We'll soon be out for our walks again for both Alice and Poppy and me, thank goodness.
It's been another beautiful day too, and I've even been gardening on two days this week and hopefully more tomorrow. More bedding plants for free with a voucher from my favourite newspaper, four pots of herbs to find places for and I must stain my lovely Versailles tub while the weather is good.
So I think tomorrow will be very pleasant and, oooh, we have a small family gathering for dinner tomorrow evening.
And did you see the third episode of Parade's End on Friday night - it was brilliant! I've ordered the book from Amazon and can't wait to begin reading it, although I do have my book club choice to read before the 17th September, so I think it's going to be a busy week.
Ah well, that's life!
Daisy
ps I've had two awfully nice letters in response to my request for information on my nursing family members, wshich is great, so I must get back to my correspondence on Monday. Byee for now.
All Shaker white cupboards and lovely wooden worktops; white paint work throughout, and nice pale carpets.
Stripping the one wall of paper was fun too, until I realised too much had been attempted yesterday, and I was so very glad when two kindly fairy friends visited and stayed to help with the scraping. It's the getting up and down from the floor to the step-ladder, to the wall tops, soaking and rubbing down, the scraping again to remove all those stubborn little pieces of paper, steadfastly refusing to come away from the plaster.
It's almost done but tomorrow is taken up with many other things so no renovating tomorrow. I'm off to church and taking a home made cake for the flower festival tea in the afternoon; and I made a cake for home tea too, and a favourite recipe for coffee and walnut sponge cake....yippee!!
Alice continues to improve and we'll be at the vets surgery early on Monday morning for the stitches to be removed, and that's a double-yippee. We'll soon be out for our walks again for both Alice and Poppy and me, thank goodness.
It's been another beautiful day too, and I've even been gardening on two days this week and hopefully more tomorrow. More bedding plants for free with a voucher from my favourite newspaper, four pots of herbs to find places for and I must stain my lovely Versailles tub while the weather is good.
So I think tomorrow will be very pleasant and, oooh, we have a small family gathering for dinner tomorrow evening.
And did you see the third episode of Parade's End on Friday night - it was brilliant! I've ordered the book from Amazon and can't wait to begin reading it, although I do have my book club choice to read before the 17th September, so I think it's going to be a busy week.
Ah well, that's life!
Daisy
ps I've had two awfully nice letters in response to my request for information on my nursing family members, wshich is great, so I must get back to my correspondence on Monday. Byee for now.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
We've begun at last......
Today we began our renovation of a new property and very slowly I've been rubbing down the old paintwork with a block of sandpaper, watching clouds of paint dust rise about me, then sprinkling themselves on the ground, about my feet, all round the skirting board, as I travel around the walls.
It's simply amazing how much dust gathers itself together, on the floor, and also on the duster in your hand as you wipe the stuff away from elsewhere collection points, like shelves, and door frames, window frames.....and anywhere else, for dust is so light that it will settle wherever it wants to.
My dust today was cream coloured thus making it very easy to see wherever it fell. However, just imagine how difficult it might be to find if it was dark coloured, like purple or black or maroon or indigo, particularly if you were disturbing the dust onto a deeply coloured floor surface. Hey, you might really have to get down on your hands and knees to get to it, right?
Thank goodness, walls and ceilings are normally painted in a colour such as cream or white or some lovely pretty pastel shade, which makes the search for your dust so much easier. However, imagine a room painted entirely in the darker shades of life and think how difficult it would then be to find your scattered dust and remove it, for ever!
Well, luckily for me, my paintwork was either white or a dull cream and on my darker coloured carpet, it was very easy to locate the piles of dust particles disturbed by my sandpaper block.
Bit it didn't end there, oh no indeed not. I then had to wash all that down sanded wood with sugar soap and a wet cloth, and more of the dust particles were gathered up, with the moisture, and formed little clumps of dust' and my cloth had to be re-washed, and the wood re-sprayed with the soap mixture, until every wooden area had been washed down.....no.
We ran out of time and we were expected somewhere else, but we'll return, for the work and the dust will not sort themselves out, and I shall be on hand to deal with any lingering specks of dust tomorrow....wish me luck, please?
Daisy
It's simply amazing how much dust gathers itself together, on the floor, and also on the duster in your hand as you wipe the stuff away from elsewhere collection points, like shelves, and door frames, window frames.....and anywhere else, for dust is so light that it will settle wherever it wants to.
My dust today was cream coloured thus making it very easy to see wherever it fell. However, just imagine how difficult it might be to find if it was dark coloured, like purple or black or maroon or indigo, particularly if you were disturbing the dust onto a deeply coloured floor surface. Hey, you might really have to get down on your hands and knees to get to it, right?
Thank goodness, walls and ceilings are normally painted in a colour such as cream or white or some lovely pretty pastel shade, which makes the search for your dust so much easier. However, imagine a room painted entirely in the darker shades of life and think how difficult it would then be to find your scattered dust and remove it, for ever!
Well, luckily for me, my paintwork was either white or a dull cream and on my darker coloured carpet, it was very easy to locate the piles of dust particles disturbed by my sandpaper block.
Bit it didn't end there, oh no indeed not. I then had to wash all that down sanded wood with sugar soap and a wet cloth, and more of the dust particles were gathered up, with the moisture, and formed little clumps of dust' and my cloth had to be re-washed, and the wood re-sprayed with the soap mixture, until every wooden area had been washed down.....no.
We ran out of time and we were expected somewhere else, but we'll return, for the work and the dust will not sort themselves out, and I shall be on hand to deal with any lingering specks of dust tomorrow....wish me luck, please?
Daisy
Where are my secateurs?
We were going off to Selsey in West Sussex today, right on the coast line, and it would have been a most refreshing seaside day. However, our plans changed quite suddenly, and early on , for we'd planned to leave about 7.30 am as the drive would have taken about two hours, and we wanted to have a full day there.
Ah, but it was not to be, perhaps another day!! Instead I found some new gardening gloves, and a friend's secateurs, as I couldn't find my own, and got down to some serious gardening.
We used to have a vegetable garden for the dear SO to take care of, while I grew the herbs and flowers and those mostly in terracotta pots, plus a few wooden tubs; I had one Versailles tub, a square shaped wooden tub named after the garden tubs at Versailles, Paris, France, and it is a favourite container for mine.
My pots and tubs were in a somewhat poor state of affairs, and I'm afraid to say the overgrown plants were in a terrible condition.. It was a very busy morning, digging over the plants and compacted soil, and thankfully, the sun was shining and it was amazingly very hot; phew.
And then we all went out to lunch, me, the dear SO and our kind friend of the secateurs. We ate out in the garden of our local pub and had a most enjoyable meal but, unfortunately, the occasion was slightly spoilt by the hovering wasps. We've not seen many this summer, because of the cold and the rain, but they appeared again today with the sun, and were a great nuisance!
Of course the sun was shining and it was hot, and why, because the children have gone back to school, and without fail, the weather always improves when the new school term begins. I remember when my children were very small, and going back to school in September, and requiring them to wear their new winter uniform on their first day back, as they were expected to do.
Well, not so on the second day of the new school year, oh no, not at all. Summer dresses and perhaps a blazer for the girls, shirts and short trousers for the boys, were the children's chosen outfits and rightly so, for it was often far too hot for winter uniforms. And the girls wore straw boaters with a blue ribbon band, and the boys their dark blue caps, and they all looked utterly adorable.
A little family research late afternoon and then it was my time to cook supper, and we had hot smoked salmon, creamed potatoes with fresh garden chives, and home grown green beans plus some fresh carrots.
Altogether a very pleasant day!! And Alice is getting very much better.
Daisy
Ah, but it was not to be, perhaps another day!! Instead I found some new gardening gloves, and a friend's secateurs, as I couldn't find my own, and got down to some serious gardening.
We used to have a vegetable garden for the dear SO to take care of, while I grew the herbs and flowers and those mostly in terracotta pots, plus a few wooden tubs; I had one Versailles tub, a square shaped wooden tub named after the garden tubs at Versailles, Paris, France, and it is a favourite container for mine.
My pots and tubs were in a somewhat poor state of affairs, and I'm afraid to say the overgrown plants were in a terrible condition.. It was a very busy morning, digging over the plants and compacted soil, and thankfully, the sun was shining and it was amazingly very hot; phew.
And then we all went out to lunch, me, the dear SO and our kind friend of the secateurs. We ate out in the garden of our local pub and had a most enjoyable meal but, unfortunately, the occasion was slightly spoilt by the hovering wasps. We've not seen many this summer, because of the cold and the rain, but they appeared again today with the sun, and were a great nuisance!
Of course the sun was shining and it was hot, and why, because the children have gone back to school, and without fail, the weather always improves when the new school term begins. I remember when my children were very small, and going back to school in September, and requiring them to wear their new winter uniform on their first day back, as they were expected to do.
Well, not so on the second day of the new school year, oh no, not at all. Summer dresses and perhaps a blazer for the girls, shirts and short trousers for the boys, were the children's chosen outfits and rightly so, for it was often far too hot for winter uniforms. And the girls wore straw boaters with a blue ribbon band, and the boys their dark blue caps, and they all looked utterly adorable.
A little family research late afternoon and then it was my time to cook supper, and we had hot smoked salmon, creamed potatoes with fresh garden chives, and home grown green beans plus some fresh carrots.
Altogether a very pleasant day!! And Alice is getting very much better.
Daisy
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Holiday postcards....
I dashed off to get a copy of The Daily Telegraph, which I normally do with the dogs beside me, for they will always love another walk. Of course, Alice cannot go for walkies yet because of her operation, so I had to sneak out without either of them noticing. But never fear, next week will soon be here!
The Letters Page featured a continuing postscript on family holiday postcards and their relevance to family history, the senders whereabouts and activities, plus the idea of using the postcard stamps as a good start to a wide ranging stamp collection. My response suggested such postcards provided a great introduction to your research by giving dates and addresses and holiday destinations to aid family discussion and thus bring live material to the dryness of dates and addresses.
My advice is to send and collect all such postcards for they will form a solid start to anybody's family history; and if you then encourage the exchange of holiday memories and tales, you'll back up the somewhat dry list of dates and addresses with actual living recollection, to infuse your research with live history. Priceless!!
But don't stop there!! Keep, beg, borrow, copy from someone else's fund, of family letters, documents, papers, receipts (I have my Father's and Stepmother's honeymoon hotel receipt !) in fact, whatever written scrap of evidence for your family and loved ones, and hold on to them. Secrete them away where you know they'll be safe and hoard them, while you work out how to copy, use, and store. Of course, today you can photocopy, scan, laminate, photograph and create a disc of chosen and particular family pieces; perhaps by branch, lineage, date, place and time.
Whatever you do, keep them safe and never lose them. This is your family we are talking about here, your family and your ancestors. They deserve your loving attention to their details and lives for many reasons, but mostly because if they hadn't cared about themselves, you or your siblings and descendants, would not be alive, and your history would be cast to the winds of time, without trace, scent or memory.
Of course, no one person, not even an entire family, could expect or even, anticipate keeping every single scrap of living recollection; and don't we already overload ourselves with stuff? But do try and keep what you can, for it's yours and it belongs to you and yours. And photographs....!
It breaks my heart to see collections of undated and un-named photographs, thrown into a box and consigned to the rubbish bins. They're not litter, they're somebody's kith and kin, and if the descendants don't know about them, I mean who they were, or when they were around, find a secure body or museum or historical society who might be willing to be interested in saving them for posterity.
I have a fat folder, chock-ablock, with collections of letters and Christmas cards and odd scraps of paper from family and friends, and photographs too, and to me, these are my life line to my family's joint past. and they are utterly precious to me.
Daisy xxx
The Letters Page featured a continuing postscript on family holiday postcards and their relevance to family history, the senders whereabouts and activities, plus the idea of using the postcard stamps as a good start to a wide ranging stamp collection. My response suggested such postcards provided a great introduction to your research by giving dates and addresses and holiday destinations to aid family discussion and thus bring live material to the dryness of dates and addresses.
My advice is to send and collect all such postcards for they will form a solid start to anybody's family history; and if you then encourage the exchange of holiday memories and tales, you'll back up the somewhat dry list of dates and addresses with actual living recollection, to infuse your research with live history. Priceless!!
But don't stop there!! Keep, beg, borrow, copy from someone else's fund, of family letters, documents, papers, receipts (I have my Father's and Stepmother's honeymoon hotel receipt !) in fact, whatever written scrap of evidence for your family and loved ones, and hold on to them. Secrete them away where you know they'll be safe and hoard them, while you work out how to copy, use, and store. Of course, today you can photocopy, scan, laminate, photograph and create a disc of chosen and particular family pieces; perhaps by branch, lineage, date, place and time.
Whatever you do, keep them safe and never lose them. This is your family we are talking about here, your family and your ancestors. They deserve your loving attention to their details and lives for many reasons, but mostly because if they hadn't cared about themselves, you or your siblings and descendants, would not be alive, and your history would be cast to the winds of time, without trace, scent or memory.
Of course, no one person, not even an entire family, could expect or even, anticipate keeping every single scrap of living recollection; and don't we already overload ourselves with stuff? But do try and keep what you can, for it's yours and it belongs to you and yours. And photographs....!
It breaks my heart to see collections of undated and un-named photographs, thrown into a box and consigned to the rubbish bins. They're not litter, they're somebody's kith and kin, and if the descendants don't know about them, I mean who they were, or when they were around, find a secure body or museum or historical society who might be willing to be interested in saving them for posterity.
I have a fat folder, chock-ablock, with collections of letters and Christmas cards and odd scraps of paper from family and friends, and photographs too, and to me, these are my life line to my family's joint past. and they are utterly precious to me.
Daisy xxx
Post op blues!
Well, Alice is coming along very well indeed but yesterday the full realisation of her huge operation caught up with me. We had not slept well on Sunday night, it was too warm, I'd thought. However, as the morning passed by I realised my fears and worries over Alice's medical treatment, had gone much deeper with me, and it was obvious to me that I was in an acute state of post-op stress and fatigue. The remaining day passed by in a mild haze, with me prone on the sofa.
A few years ago, my own dear dog Hank, a great companion and survivor to the age of fifteen years, became ill and very low, the condition brought about by his great age, and sadly I had to let him go. It was a very bad time for me and, accordingly, my suffering was very pronounced.
We become so very attached to our pets it's no wonder we feel their distress and they too, sympathise with ours. The seem to know instinctively when we are not well, or saddened, or hurt and angry, and they'll stay as close as possible to you, offering their support and affection; and we're so glad of their presence in difficult times.
Dogs are taken into care homes and welcomed when visitors arrive with a pet in tow, for their arrival cheers and gladdens rheumy eyes and troubled hearts, and to pat a dog brings an instant connection with earlier days, perhaps even back to childhood's carefree days and happy times, and the troubled soul is refreshed and enlivened.
When my children were growing up we had three cats, Liquorice and Fudge and their kitten Ruggles.
Liquorice died of old age, slipping out of the barely opened back door into the garden, where he curled himself up into a comfortable position and went to sleep. Dear old Ruggles, who was my very
particular favourite, and whom, I have to confess, I'd over-fed to the point of his having gum decay, was run-over on a May Bank Holiday by a speeding driver; he was so remorseful over his lack of care and deeply sincere for our loss. We buried Ruggles in the garden beneath a flowering shrub and we very sad.
Fudge came with us to a new home a few years afterwards, living to a ripe old age. One day she was found shivering on top of the tumble dryer having gone into a state of "tarn", believing herself to be sick and ailing. I wrapped her up in her blanket and stayed close beside her all afternoon; by next morning she had completely recovered. She eventually died at home in a very peaceful state after sitting in the bath for comfort's sake; she had actually asked to be put there, and as I sat near her, her pupils dilated and she stared at me through twin pools of amber light, smiling at me and saying goodbye. I had, oddly at this point, got up to get something from the sitting room and when I returned, found Fudge had slumped into a dejection, leaving me heartily sorry for my absence.
It was sometime later I discovered my instincts had been absolutely right, for it is well-known by aficionados, that cats communicate with us through their eyes, just as Fudge had done with me.
We buried her beneath the kitchen window.
By this stage I just had Hank with me and when I removed to Oxford he came too. But that's another story.........!
Alice is asleep beside me as I write this blog. She really wants me to take her out but she must wait for her stitches to be removed before this can happen, and that won't be until after next Monday. Longed for time comes so slowly, doesn't it, yet, at other times, when one is busy and occupied, time passes by very quickly, an illusion, of course, but very real?
Our pets are enormously important to us and, of course, they're family members, and we share the good and the bad times with them, which is so rewarding for the whole family.
Daisy
A few years ago, my own dear dog Hank, a great companion and survivor to the age of fifteen years, became ill and very low, the condition brought about by his great age, and sadly I had to let him go. It was a very bad time for me and, accordingly, my suffering was very pronounced.
We become so very attached to our pets it's no wonder we feel their distress and they too, sympathise with ours. The seem to know instinctively when we are not well, or saddened, or hurt and angry, and they'll stay as close as possible to you, offering their support and affection; and we're so glad of their presence in difficult times.
Dogs are taken into care homes and welcomed when visitors arrive with a pet in tow, for their arrival cheers and gladdens rheumy eyes and troubled hearts, and to pat a dog brings an instant connection with earlier days, perhaps even back to childhood's carefree days and happy times, and the troubled soul is refreshed and enlivened.
When my children were growing up we had three cats, Liquorice and Fudge and their kitten Ruggles.
Liquorice died of old age, slipping out of the barely opened back door into the garden, where he curled himself up into a comfortable position and went to sleep. Dear old Ruggles, who was my very
particular favourite, and whom, I have to confess, I'd over-fed to the point of his having gum decay, was run-over on a May Bank Holiday by a speeding driver; he was so remorseful over his lack of care and deeply sincere for our loss. We buried Ruggles in the garden beneath a flowering shrub and we very sad.
Fudge came with us to a new home a few years afterwards, living to a ripe old age. One day she was found shivering on top of the tumble dryer having gone into a state of "tarn", believing herself to be sick and ailing. I wrapped her up in her blanket and stayed close beside her all afternoon; by next morning she had completely recovered. She eventually died at home in a very peaceful state after sitting in the bath for comfort's sake; she had actually asked to be put there, and as I sat near her, her pupils dilated and she stared at me through twin pools of amber light, smiling at me and saying goodbye. I had, oddly at this point, got up to get something from the sitting room and when I returned, found Fudge had slumped into a dejection, leaving me heartily sorry for my absence.
It was sometime later I discovered my instincts had been absolutely right, for it is well-known by aficionados, that cats communicate with us through their eyes, just as Fudge had done with me.
We buried her beneath the kitchen window.
By this stage I just had Hank with me and when I removed to Oxford he came too. But that's another story.........!
Alice is asleep beside me as I write this blog. She really wants me to take her out but she must wait for her stitches to be removed before this can happen, and that won't be until after next Monday. Longed for time comes so slowly, doesn't it, yet, at other times, when one is busy and occupied, time passes by very quickly, an illusion, of course, but very real?
Our pets are enormously important to us and, of course, they're family members, and we share the good and the bad times with them, which is so rewarding for the whole family.
Daisy
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Goodbye .."singalonga Max"...
Max Bygaves has died, so long Max. His songs have been part of the featured soundtrack to my life and I mourn his passing. He was a wonderful entertainer and a great favourite with many folks.
I have a memory of him from my early life when, within our church Sunday School programme, a friend and I were encouraged to perform one of his songs for a school concert. And the song - You're a Pink Toothbrush I'm a Blue Toothbrush - which we sang dressed in our pyjamas while very firmly clutching our teddy bears. Of the performance, I have not one single recollection. My memory is of my Grandmother, waiting for me at our garden gate, with my nightwear neatly folded over one arm, and my teddy bear and slippers held tightly in her other arm. I think she probably had a slight frown on her forehead, for to take me to the church hall, after school, would have used up her precious home time, when she should have been finishing off chores and preparing supper for everyone.
And did we look cute, singing that song, and holding on to our teddy bears for comfort, well you bet we did!!
Max Bygraves gave a great deal of pleasure during the 1950's and during many of the following decades and his name should definitely reverberate throughout out collective memory.
Jenson Button has won the Belgium Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton was shunted off into nowhere land, bad luck, Lewis, at least you won the previous GP. The dear SO was so elated that his boy had won: what a star turn he is.... Jenson Button, I mean, of course?
Alice is much better today and coping very well with her collar, which beastly as it is, is making sure she doesn't get at her wounds and irritate the stitchery so neatly done on Friday. We have medicine to last until next Thursday and then another hospital visit on the following Monday for the stitches to be removed. Hopefully, we'll then be able to get back to our daily two-walk schedule, for me as well as Alice and Poppy!
Oh gosh, I've just read that American lyricist, Hal David, who collaborated with Burt Bacharach on many absolutely brilliant songs, has died, aged 91. There are so many favourite songs of theirs to choose from, so here are just two, which for me remain top ten all-time best-ever popular songs - Magic Moments by Perry Como and Walk On Bye sung by Dionne Warwick.
Totally brilliant memories - ones own - and priceless!
I'm watching the Paralympic Games with Alice beside me, singing along to the short videos now playing on the news channels in celebration of both Max Bygraves and Hal David, deeply immersed in nostalgia.and....perhaps it's time for a cup of tea?
"And possibly a spot of family history when I've finished, or a page or two from one of the books on my present reading list?"
Enjoy your Sunday evening, wherever you are,
Daisy
I have a memory of him from my early life when, within our church Sunday School programme, a friend and I were encouraged to perform one of his songs for a school concert. And the song - You're a Pink Toothbrush I'm a Blue Toothbrush - which we sang dressed in our pyjamas while very firmly clutching our teddy bears. Of the performance, I have not one single recollection. My memory is of my Grandmother, waiting for me at our garden gate, with my nightwear neatly folded over one arm, and my teddy bear and slippers held tightly in her other arm. I think she probably had a slight frown on her forehead, for to take me to the church hall, after school, would have used up her precious home time, when she should have been finishing off chores and preparing supper for everyone.
And did we look cute, singing that song, and holding on to our teddy bears for comfort, well you bet we did!!
Max Bygraves gave a great deal of pleasure during the 1950's and during many of the following decades and his name should definitely reverberate throughout out collective memory.
Jenson Button has won the Belgium Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton was shunted off into nowhere land, bad luck, Lewis, at least you won the previous GP. The dear SO was so elated that his boy had won: what a star turn he is.... Jenson Button, I mean, of course?
Alice is much better today and coping very well with her collar, which beastly as it is, is making sure she doesn't get at her wounds and irritate the stitchery so neatly done on Friday. We have medicine to last until next Thursday and then another hospital visit on the following Monday for the stitches to be removed. Hopefully, we'll then be able to get back to our daily two-walk schedule, for me as well as Alice and Poppy!
Oh gosh, I've just read that American lyricist, Hal David, who collaborated with Burt Bacharach on many absolutely brilliant songs, has died, aged 91. There are so many favourite songs of theirs to choose from, so here are just two, which for me remain top ten all-time best-ever popular songs - Magic Moments by Perry Como and Walk On Bye sung by Dionne Warwick.
Totally brilliant memories - ones own - and priceless!
I'm watching the Paralympic Games with Alice beside me, singing along to the short videos now playing on the news channels in celebration of both Max Bygraves and Hal David, deeply immersed in nostalgia.and....perhaps it's time for a cup of tea?
"And possibly a spot of family history when I've finished, or a page or two from one of the books on my present reading list?"
Enjoy your Sunday evening, wherever you are,
Daisy
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Well done Alice........
"We've seen her Vet. this morning and she's doing just fine. All bandages off but the collar remains to prevent wound licking!" which is splendid, don't you think?
And she's been sitting beside me all day, resting, but getting up enthusiastically to greet family members and visitors, which is great.
And the sun is shining, the laundry is drying out in the garden, and I think it's time I took Alice into the garden for a little walk-about.
Talk to you soon,
Daisy
And she's been sitting beside me all day, resting, but getting up enthusiastically to greet family members and visitors, which is great.
And the sun is shining, the laundry is drying out in the garden, and I think it's time I took Alice into the garden for a little walk-about.
Talk to you soon,
Daisy
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