Parnter Swapping

I love snowscenes.  No snow here today though. Instead we have sunshine, a bit hazy but nice and bright.  Looks like the weather is warming up again.

It would seem that Sandra and I have indulged in a bit of partner swapping!  It is quite funny.  A couple of people think that I am married to Jim which must mean that Sandra is married to Mike.  Exactly when this happened I am not sure.  I wonder if Jim approves of his new wife and Sandra approves of her new husband!  I do not think I would like to have to handle and cook all those fish that Jim catches and I do not think Sandra would put up with him indoors (Mike) snoring for long!

Well, I knew it would happen.  We were up bright and early awaiting delivery of the desk and there is still no sign of it. Had we decided to have a lie in you can bet on it that the delivery man would have been hammering on the door.

I have kept myself occupied though.  I had my anniversary present in advance as well.  Mike got me a labelling machine which plugs into the computer so I have been going through my address book and typing in all the addresses (never knew I had so many in there).  So, no more writing envelopes for me.  Just press a button and hey presto, a label comes out all nicely printed for me.  Typing in the addresses has taken some time but now it is done, it is done.

The Christmas lights are all in place outside ready for switch on in a couple of days.  We were going to start putting up the indoor decorations today but by the time the desk does arrive and we have moved the old computer and put everything as it should be, it will be too late to start.  Also, my back is quite painful today so perhaps it is better left until tomorrow. 

No luck on my net curtains.  I had a letter saying "due to production problems" they were going to be delayed until the second week in December.  I have a strong feeling that I might not be getting them at all.  So that will mean no new curtains in time for Christmas because by the time I have waited until the second week of December and then if I find out they will not be coming, I shall have to place an order elsewhere and that is cutting it very close.  Well, maybe I am wrong and a miracle will happen and they will suddenly arrive.

I might well be receiving a mention in a magazine come February.  More of that another time when I find out for definite myself.  So, dear readers, you will have to be patient before you stampede out to buy a copy.

Have a good day everyone.

 

Linen And Stuff

Still chilly although not as cold as it was.  Monday again, where does the time go.  Thanks for all the lovely comments on little Daniel in his snow suit.

Just been doing one of those jobs that you tend to leave and leave - cleaning out the airing cupboard.  Not sure if our American friends have airing cupboards.  Anyway, it is the place where we keep all our towels, drying up cloths, bedding etc. etc.  It was badly in need of doing to say the least!!!

I have been through everything and thrown away all the things that were worn and tatty.  When we buy new bedding, I always tend to keep the old bedding "just in case" - probably a habit I acquired from my mother.  Anyway, all the old stuff  has all gone now and we have masses of room.  Only trouble is that I shall have to buy loads of new tea towels now and some more hand towels.

Him indoors has just disappeared outside to put up the rest of the Christmas lights accompanied by moans of "it's cold out there."  Hope he has tried them all first to make sure they are in working order.

Tomorrow we have the new piece of furniture coming. So we have made room for that as well.  I thought Spring was the traditional time for cleaning.  Well, not in our home!  Actually it is a present from me to him indoors, a combined wedding anniversary and birthday gift that he wanted a few days in advance.  A computer desk.  He has our old computer for doing all his photographic work and for ages it has been sat on our dining room table so I shall be glad it will have a new home of its own.  It is coming tomorrow anytime between 7.30 a.m. and 1 a.m. so we are going to be busy again and then I hope to start putting up the inside decorations.  That is something I dread, getting all those boxes down from the loft and going through it all.  You end up with glitter and tinsel bits all over the carpet.  However, it is worth it in the end.

So, I had better get off here and get stuck into the rest of the housework.  I would prefer to curl up with a book but there you go, it will not do itself.

Thanks to all of you who have sent your addresses for my Christmas card list.  It is not too late for those of you that have not, I shall be writing the cards towards the end of the week.  After all, we talk to each other all year through our journals and we have all become friends.  Nice to be able to send a personal greeting. Internet cards can be nice but they are not quite the same as something popping through your letterbox.

As we all seem to be getting in the Christmas mood, I shall sign off with a Christmas siggie today.

 

 

Shivery Sunday

 

Brrr about sums up the weather.  We did not actually get any snow here as predicted, but the winds are biting and it is very very cold.  Would have loved to have seen Nathan in the snow but there is still plenty of winter to go so perhaps we will get some yet.

On Friday I managed to get all the Christmas presents wrapped. First time I have ever done it in November but it is nice to get it all out of the way.

Today, Mike is out in the cold starting to put up the outside Christmas lights . We always like to have them lit by the 1st December.

Yesterday Becky and the boys came over.  Poor Nathan was not in his usual smiley mood at all.  He is cutting several teeth and was in real misery so we had a lot of tears from him.  He was also very over-tired from being up most of the previous night.  We gave Daniel a pre-Christmas present of a little snow suit.  Daniel is not yet smiling to order so no big grins from him to brighten your day.  He does look adorable in the little outfit though.

I still have to tackle the job of writing all the Christmas cards.  Which reminds me, quite a few of you are on my Christmas card list.  If you are not and would like to be, please send me an email with your full name and address so that I can include you.  I am talking about regular readers and friends here as you will understand.

We have a new piece of furniture coming early this week so we will be busy changing things around in our little home and then I can begin putting up the indoor decorations. So, I am going to be pretty busy.  There always seems to be so much to do at this time of year.

Hope that you are all having a good weekend and are keeping warm.

Money, Money, Money

 

 Just a very quick entry from me today.  Got my winnings from the t.v. quiz show in the post this morning.  Whoo hoo, so at last I can believe it. It is now safely stowed away in the bank.   So the little character above was me this morning!   Just got all my heavy winter jumpers out of storage and going to load them all into the washing machine now.  Bit late in the day but I have been busy doing other things.   I wish all our American friends

 

Hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy your special  meals.

 

Bits and Pieces

Well, we have had some luck.  Some of the fish have survived.  They were not at the bottom of the pond which we could clearly see.  Mike went outside to check all the filters and the UVB lights and to have a general tidy up.  He moved one of the pond plants and several fish came out from underneath!  They must have been cowering there after the aerial attack, scared out of their wits, if fish have wits.  So the covers are now in place and peace reigns in the household again. We are not sure how many have survived but at least we have some and that is better than nothing.

Not as cold today but if the forecasts are correct, we are in for an Arctic blast.  Him indoors has gone out shopping.  Just in case, he is getting extra bread and extra essentials. We are not panic buying.  In fact, we do have a very small "supermarket" at the end of the road and just around the corner.  However, even in good weather, it is surprising the number of times they have sold out of bread and the shelves are emtpy.  As they only get one deliver per day, when goods have gone, they have gone.  So, we prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

I am still enjoying working on the rug, I find a real sense of achievement when another piece is completed.  It is very time consuming though because the canvas is not stencilled with the pattern, you have to work from a chart so it is constant counting.  Not only that but there are quite a few different colours and none of them are labelled with either a name or a colour code number.  At the moment, I am about to start on a patch that should be pale pink.  The trouble is, there is no colour that actually looks like pale pink!  Quite a few different shades of peach but I do have a picture to work from so I am matching the colours to that as far as possible and hoping I am correct.

I still have not started wrapping presents. Intended to do it yesterday but never got around to it.  That is something I have to be in the mood for.  I am getting a bit concerned as some items have not arrived yet although they were ordered a couple of weeks ago.

How many of you are watching "I am a Celebrity, get me out of here"? I did not intend to watch this series but have got hooked.  I could not believe that Carol Thatcher did not admit that is was her who answered a call of nature in camp just by her bed.  Everyone was suspicious of everyone else and poor Sid Owen was convinced he had been doing it in his sleep.  Does she really think they will not find out eventually?

Well, that is about all from me today.  Between doing the normal chores and working on the rug, there is nothing else I can really tell you about.  I shall have to try and come up with a ghost story in time for Christmas.  I just cannot believe it is December next week. It only seems five minutes since it was summer.

Have a good day everyone.

This and That

Another cold and frosty morning.  Sitting here now the sun is shining in a big orange ball lighting up the wall behind the computer, it is a very pleasant light.  Last night we had thick mist and you could not see across the road but it has cleared today.

I have been busy working on the rug I bought to make for Nathan's bedroom much earlier in the year.  I had started work on it but when the weather got very warm I found I could not sit with it draped across my knees so I put it away for the summer.  Whilst decorating, I came across it again and decided to carry on with it.  I enjoyed last night watching the t.v. and working on the rug at the same time.

I am going to start wrapping Christmas presents now that I have got the paper, the tags and the bows, so that is going to take some of my time.  I usually leave it to the last minute but decided to do things differently this year.

Mike will be taking the carpet shampooer over to Becky this morning.  Now that her house is relatively back to order and Dean has done some of the decorating, she wants to give her carpets a good clean. You can imagine the dust that has built up with the builders being in all those months. Eventually the carpet will have to be replaced because some of it had to be cut away for building work, but you can only do a little at a time.

I am quite upset today and it is one of those rare occasions when words have been exchanged between myself and him indoors.  Why?  Well, we seem to have lost all of our fish to a Heron.  Him indoors spent a lot of time making covers for the pond and then did not bother to put them on when the weather got cooler.  Now, he goes into the garden every single day and has to walk right by the pond.  He has even been feeding the fish their winter diet.  We have not been getting up so early in the mornings with all the decorating and therefore not looking out of the window.  This morning I was up very early and glancing out I saw the Heron sitting on top of next door's dead apple tree.  Mike walked in and I pointed it out to him.  Then he tells me thatwhen he has been feeding the fish lately, he has been surprised not to see any!!! Yet, he still did not put the covers on.  I immediately went to the pond and saw only one fish. You can imagine what I said.

We invested a lot of time and money extending the pond from the small one we had to the very large one we have now but considered it worth every penny. To many people, they would be just fish and so what.  But I have had some of my goldfish for twenty-five years and more - they have moved with us on more than one occasion. I still had a couple of fish my late Mother bought for me and they had grown very large. So, in a way it was a last link with her. I could never look at them without thinking of her and all the years that have passed since.  Not to mention the Koi which I had watched grow up from two inches long into nearly eighteen inches in the last year and a half. A lot of the fish were born in our original pond and I saw them develop from little tiny creatures into very big fish.  Now we have the cold weather, we cannot replace any of the fish until next year but really we cannot replace them at all.  I knew every one.  I knew each by its markings.  I have spent so many happy hours watching them, feeding them,  The Koi were at the point where they were eating from our hands. The Heron must have been paying daily early morning visits. Now the fish  are gone, the pond is silent and virtually empty.  I feel empty as well. I have lost much loved and long-standing companions. Not as bad as losing people, I know that, but it has hurt and upset me.

Just the other day I was on top of the world and excited at my monetary win.  I guess this balances things out now.

 

 

Siberian Sunday

Well, no, of course it is not Siberia but the weather has been very very cold this last few days and the frost has been so thick it resembles snow.  They say it will warm up mid-week before another cold snap towards next weekend, maybe bringing snow.  Snow definitely for Scotland but then, I guess they are used to it up there.

So, why have I used a Panda graphic?  Simple. I love Pandas.

Yesterday we had a lovely time with the boys although Daniel slept most of the visit. Had lots of hugs and snuggles from Nathan.  That little chap can really dance, he loves his music.  He has his own DVD's and when the entertainers dance on them, you should see the hip action, he really rocks!  Not to mention the feet and that he spins around and around - he has a real feel for the beat.  He now likes to go around to us all and give us a "high five" with big beams on his face.

Grandy took the boys out in the dreaded double-buggy and came back so proud as he had people stop and chat and beam at him.  They were both sound asleep by the time he got back

The decorating is finished but everything is not back in place, we are going to have a change around of some pieces of furniture but are having a break from that for a little while. So, any pictures will have to wait until then.

I am pleased with the new rug that we got for the lounge, something a little bit more modern

Something unexpected and exciting happened to me last night.  I was flicking through the Sky t.v. channels trying to find something to watch and alighted on one of those quiz stations.  I usually steer clear of that sort of thing.  Anyway, it caught my attention and I decided I would watch for a while.  They gave a word and youhad to find something that went with it.  The word in this case was "long".  Well, I listened to endless people phoning in and getting it wrong.  I had a good idea of a word that might be there.  So I decided I would try and phone in and limited myself to ten phone calls.  If I had not got through by the tenth then that would be that.  Imagine my amazement when, on the very last call, a voice said, "please hold and we will see if we can put you through to the studio."  Next thing I found myself talking to the t.v. presenter.  He had a brief chat and then asked my answer.  I replied "memory".  "Did you say long memory?" he asked.  I repeated that I did.  Turns out it was the second to top answer on the board!  Then I had the chance to go for the jackpot.  It was a hidden celebrity and you had to guess who it was as they took little squares away. I had not got a clue, made a wild guess but it was wrong.  So I could have been several thousands pounds richer.  However, I did get the second to top answer on the board and quite a nice little cheque will be reaching me by the end of the week. Whoo Hoo!

I am not going to get addicted.  All too easy to get greedy and go back and try and win more and more but I am not prepared to run up a huge telephone bill.  I am happy with what I have got particularly, as I am a person who does not usually win anything. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

It will certainly help with the Christmas bills.

Update to previous entry

In the line of duty

 

I am even more saddened than I was.  Have just heard on the news that the policewoman who was shot dead yesterday was the mother of five children, three of her own and two step-children.

Yesterday, the day she lost her life was her little girl's 4th Birthday.  It breaks my heart.

I am glad to be able to say that three men have been arrested in connection with the shooting.  I know the police will leave no stone unturned.

God bless and comfort her family.  Her children will always know what a brave and popular woman she was. May she rest in peace.

Short Entry

Just a short entry from me today as I have things to do and we are looking after Nathan and Daniel this afternoon so that Becky and Dean can go Christmas shopping.

This is really in response to a comment by Sandi.  She says  in her comment yesterday that she thought guns were outlawed over here.

Well, Sandi, our police are not armed.  They have never been armed.  We do have special armed response squads for very serious situations but the ordinary "bobby" or "copper" is not issued with firearms.

The two women police officers had been called to a robbery in progress at a Travel Agency.  They did not know it was an armed robbery they simply answered a personal attack alarm.  The officers who were both probationers,  were wearing body army but only against knife attack.  It is though that even if they had been carrying guns, they would not have had time to use them.

Sadly, the carrying of guns and knives is happening much more frequently over here. Gang members think knives are an essential part of them being in the group.  I just do not know how the authorities will stop it unless they make it illegal for anybody to sell guns or knives.  However, that would only create an even bigger "black" market.

I read in the papers this morning that even the proposed Gun Register is to be scrapped. After the Dunblane massacre it was proposed to set up a National Register - a computer record of everyone in the country who applied for a gun licence.  It was also to stop anyone applying for a licence after they had been turned down elsewhere and would also have kept a record of all stolen and missing firearms to stop legal guns getting into general circulation. Of course, criminals would have found other ways, but it would have done at least something to help.

It seems that, wherever we live in the world today, violence is on the increase.  It is a very sad situation.

My thoughts are with the families of the two officers, both women in their early thirties. The injured officer is not in any danger but she will have to live with what happened for the rest of her life.  The other young woman laid down her life in the course of duty. Their names have not been released at this time.  I hope that  those responsible will be apprehended and that they will be given life sentences and that life MEANS life.

 

Say Hello

I have notified some of you in e-mails.  For those of you that do not know, we have a new British journaller. I think it is going to be an excellent blog.

So please take a couple of minutes and visit

Jason's Musings

The decorating is finished but we have not yet got everything back in place.  Still waiting for my curtains. I have been busy going through catalogues and choosing Christmas presents.  Most of it is done now although I still have a difficult person to buy for (yes - a man! and no, it is not him indoors).  Men are so difficult to buy for.

Next week we will be getting our Christmas lights down from the loft and sorting through them deciding what to put outside the house this year.  I have bought a new fibre optic Christmas tree so I will not have to decorate a tree this year.  I used to love doing that but as I have got older I find I get impatient with it, all that fiddling about.  Also, we have young fingers around now who will just delight in pulling things off so I think it is also safer as we will not be using normal lights on a tree.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Just heard on the news that two policewomen have been gunned down in Bradford.  One is dead, the other is injured. My heart goes out to their families.  Oh, for a world where violence did not exist.

Justice Waited

I am sorry to those of you who have read this before but if you see the previous entry, you will see why I am re-posting.

 

Her name was Nora.  She owned and ran a ladies and babies wear shop in a small market town just a very short car ride from where we live.

Every Tuesday morning my mother and I would visit the open-air market and browse around.  Afterwards we would go into the back street where Nora's shop was located. We would have a cup of tea or coffee and then wander over to Nora's shop to see her latest stock.  She was a lovely lady, coming up to retirement age in a couple of years, quiet but with a sense of humour.  She was much loved in the town and regarded very highly.  She gave service of the old-fashioned kind.  If you wanted something specific then she would do her hardest to get it for you.

On bad weather days, we would still go there and she would offer us a cup of tea and we would sit in her shop and chat and put the world to rights. We considered her a friend.  As she sold babywear, I bought many items there when Becky was born and Nora was delighted to see Becky and watch her progress.

The town is ancient and its narrow streets do not allow for the parking of cars so all vehicles had to and still have to be put in the central car park.

Then came that awful day in 1978 when we heard that Nora had been murdered.

I do not know the full circumstances.  It was a cold November day. Nora had closed the shop as usual.  She lived above the shop and so she must have decided to go somewhere or visit someone.  She headed the little distance to get her car in the car park.  She never made it.  Somewhere in those few yards she was to meet her killer. They found her the next morning. She had been raped and bludgeoned to death.

All the local communities were horrified and fearful.  Did her killer know her?  Even more scary, did we know him?  For months women were afraid to go out at night.  In those first few weeks the police were everywhere, interviewing people, doing house-to-house checks, following up alibis. They centred their enquiries very much around a local public house, the police were sure it was a regular drinker there but could find no evidence.  I myself used to visit this pub on a weekly  basis and I might have sat right next to the culprit.

Time passed. Weeks turned to months and months into years. The killer was not found.  Life went on as life has to go on.  The Essex police did not forget.  In the intervening years science had moved on, especially forensic science and damning evidence had been safely stored away.  The police decided to re-open this "cold case".  After twenty-seven years it seemed a daunting task.  However, they now had DNA.

The person responsible was apprehended because of a routine driving offence.  Whilst he was in custody a mouth swab was taken and having been run through all the normal checks it proved to match with the evidence left on Nora's body.

The trial has been running these last few weeks.  Yesterday a fifty year old builder who lived in a little village just close by was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison which in this case is to mean at least twenty-three years.  He was a married man with young children at the time of the murder. It was subsequently revealed that he had previously been in prison for sexually molesting a two year old child.

There are no winners in a case like this.  His family have to live with the crime he committed and the stigma of being related to a murderer.  His elderly mother refuses to believe her son was responsible. She says the police were just looking for a scapegoat.  Forensic evidence says otherwise.

I am just glad that Nora's killer was caught and will serve his sentence.  That closure has been put upon it.  That Nora's husband has seen the killer receive his retribution. I will never forget her.

Justice waited a long time, justice waited twenty-seven years. He must have thought he had got away with it, the perfect crime.  He went on living his life and enjoying his life. I wonder if he ever re-lived in his mind that cold November night all those years ago when Nora fought desperately for her life on a patch of waste ground in a quiet little town.

Justice has, at last, been served.

OH ****

Because of all the trouble with aol. and playing around with my journal to see if entries would save, I did a test entry then went to delete it.  You have guessed it, I pressed the wrong delete entry and wiped out completely the whole of the entry today I posted on the lady whom we knew who was murdered.  I usually type in processor and copy and paste.  Today is the one day I did not.  I can tell you that the air is BLUE!!!!!!!!

A Sad Day in J-Land

Well, I have at last been able to access my journal by going in through Internet Explorer.  As if I do not spend enough time on here without having to go through Explorer and put in my screen-name and password. Those of you who are unable to post for the same reason - the SAVE button does not work, trying going in through Explorer.  Put in your journal address, when you get to your journal you will have to go to sign-in and put in your aol screen-name and password.  Then you will be able to write your entry and save as normal.

What a sad day it is in J-Land.  So many are moving their journals, so many leaving AOL.  I can understand their feelings.  In my own personal opinion, advertisements have no place on journals.  Yes, the space belongs to AOL but journals are private things. Each journal is a part of someone. People write about traumatic experiences, their illnesses, broken relationships and even more personal things.  This is a place where we have been able to write our journal and read other journals in peace without the annoyance of adverts.  I can understand it when people say they feel "invaded" or even "raped."

Journals UK is different to American journals but I cannot help but feel that this change is heading our way. When they make changes to American journals it inevitably filters through.

Aol must make a hefty profit out of our monthly subscriptions and why they feel the need to do this is beyond me.  Even Patrick, who recently ran the Vivi awards, has taken his journal elsewhere.  Many are protesting.  Will it make any difference?  I doubt it.  When did the big corporations ever listen to the little people?

Aol should remember the loyalty of its users, many of us have been here for years.  They should also remember that there are many other providers out there who are cheaper.  I certainly do not want my journal decorated with adds that I have no say in and no option but to carry.  We do not visit journals because we want to read ads. It is as simple as that.

There are probably those of you who disagree with me but this is my view and I have every right to think theway I do.  I repeat, advertisements have no place on journals.

Well, the decorating is going well and we are now starting on the spare bedroom.  The whole place is looking so much brighter.  I am still awaiting my net curtains. I shall be so happy when they come so thatI will see something new at my windows.

We had the family over all yesterday afternoon which gave us a nice break.  The boys are thriving and getting bigger each time that we see them.

I hope the SAVE button on journals will be working again soon.

To all of those journallers that have left, we are sorry to see you go, some of you are friends of mine.  But I do understand and share your feelings. Sometimes, even if it changes nothing in the long run, you have to make a stand.  I wish you all well.  If ads appear on my journal, I may well be joining you.

Oh well, back to the painting.

Liza With A Z

Only her husband ever called her Liza.

Her name was Eliza Thomas although, of course, the Thomas changed when she married.  She was my Great-Grandmother.  She was born in the East End of London the daughter of a poor shoemaker and his Irish wife. The East End in those days was a harsh place and people struggled to survive in poor housing with little money.  Cholera was still rampant in London and there were regular outbreaks in the East End and these outbreaks carried hundreds of people to an early grave.  I know nothing of her early life except that she had three sisters and little if no schooling as she signed all the birth certificates of her children with a x.

How and when she met my Great-Grandfather can never be known because he is a man of mystery.  His roots are untraceable.  It is said in the family there was a surname change.  I really do not know.  I only know he was not born in the place he gave on the census records and that he could have been at least six years older than he said he was.

Anyway, however they met, I can imagine that he would have been bowled over by this beautiful young woman:-

His job as a Carpenter journeyman took him all over the place and their two eldest children were born in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire before they eventually settled in London.  At one time he gave up his work, left London and became a publican and Liza was by his side.  Alas, he was too genial a "mine host" and gave so many free drinks to his pals that the venture was doomed to failure and they returned to London where he took up carpentry again.

In the buildings where they lived, the occupants had to take their turn at sweeping out the corridors and keeping the laundry room and toilet facilities clean, so she did not have an easy life.  Eventually they were able to move out of the buildings as his salary increased and rented a house nearby. Eliza already had several children but had to share their home with a widow who had five children.  It is hard to imagine allthose people crammed into one tiny house with an outside toilet.

She and William were to have eleven children and nine survived to adulthood.  Louisa died aged eight and Maud died in babyhood.

Eventually the family moved further out of London and  in middle aged acquired their own little house. Eliza had a love of animals and particularly of gardening.  She grew all the old fashioned type of flowers, those that have lost popularity today. 

This is a picture of her taken later in life.  She posed as "lady of the manor".  It is unknown who the "maid" is, maybe one of her daughters or grand-daughters.  It is a charming picture and I love the fact that she is in her garden.

She was adored by all her family. When my mother spoke of her she always said "oh, she was a darling".  My mother always kept the mourning card that was issued on Eliza's death and I have it still.  I wish I had known her but she passed away several years before I was born.

All the neighbours turned to her in times of trouble and she really was the person who held the family together.  Her little house was kept immaculate and she tended her flowers with loving care.  Her particular favourites were blue Hydrangeas and she always had two large pots outside her front door with one in each.

William outlived his Liza by nearly eleven years . Alas, the way he was treated by one of his sons at the end of his life caused a split in the family that was never to be repaired. Eliza would have been heartbroken.

They were buried together not far from where they lived. Sadly the grave has now been vandalised as have so many graves in the suburbs of London.

I am proud to share something of her life with you today.

 

We Remember

The eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Remembrance Day. We remember. We must always remember.

Our mantlepiece and the top of our t.v. are adorned with red poppies from the British Legion.  Many of my family fought in WW1, many of my family fought in WW2, my brother fought in the Korean War.  Let us never forget and let us never cease to remember all those who have served and laid down their lives and those who continue to be in danger in Iraq.  Old soldiers have passed away but young soldiers are still risking their lives on a daily basis. Young women are still being widowed and children left without Fathers.  All those past and present are in my thoughts.

"When you go home, tell them of us and say - for their tomorrow, we gave our today". ~ The Kohima Memorial, Burma.

On a different note, our decorating the lounge has set a chain in motion as it often does when you do one job and we have decided that our dining room is badly in need of a make-over so Mike is painting the ceiling right now.  Then work will commence on the walls.  At the moment we have green patterned wallpaper but not for much longer.  We like the colour of the paint in the lounge so much that we are going to use it in there as well.  We know how our weekend is going to be spent!  When the new curtains and rug arrive, it will be like living in a new home.

Now,  dear friends, I have a favour to ask you and I am sure you will not let me down.  We have a great new journal that has recently been created.  John  lives in Yorkshire, he says he is a silver surfer, he has a great interest in wildlife.  He has done four or five entries and I urge you to read them all if you have the time.  Memories of his childhood, thoughts on wildlife, blogging etc. etc.  He is an extremely good writer and will be a wonderful addition to J-Land. I am happy to promote his excellent writing.

So please friends, pop over to John and say hello.  I shall write and tell him to expect you.  Here is the link

Old John'sThoughts

Have a happy weekend everyone.

 

 

 

As Requested

This is a pretty graphic and seems appropriate as we still have fireworks going off around here on a nightly basis, just the bangers.  I am not against fireworks as such, in fact I love to see the pretty ones, no, it is the endless thumping explosions.  I suppose we will get them for another week and then all will go quiet until New Year.

Quite a few of you requested before and after pictures of our living room.  Well, we did not take any "before" so when your requests started coming in comments, all we had left was one wall with the border stripped away.  Still, it does show the peach colour that it used to be.

If you look closely you will see the line at the top where the border used to be. Mike worked hard on the room and it took a long time because we cannot take furniture out of here, there is simply nowhere to put it. It could only be moved from one side to the other.  Basically he had to do one wall at a time.  As the walls needed two coats of paint the whole rigmarole had to be gone through again and then there was all the cleaning up.  Still we are very pleased with the results.  Here are a couple of pictures:-

I do not think the true colour shows. It is slightly more golden than this. We can never get the whole room into a photo because of its small size and, of course, it will be much brighter when Spring comes again and we get much brighter days.  We replaced the wall lights, relatively inexpensive ones but they look good. In fact I liked them so much I have put a pendant shade and a table lamp in the bedroom that are identical. I do not think a designer would particularly care for my mix of Victoriana and Egyptian!

Even with hazy sunshine coming in, we still had to put the lights on to try and capture the colour.  The patio doors are the only natural light coming into the room, our only "window".  Still I think the photos give you the flavour of our "new" room even if we cannot capture the colour exactly.  I have ordered a new rug as we have had the current one I made down for around ten years.  It will seem strange at first but I think a change is called for.

As some of you know, I am not posting on a daily basis anymore. I was spending too many hours on here every day and those hours seemed to grow longer each week.  So I have decided on every couple of days or so.  It is amazing the things I have been able to catch up on since cutting down my time.  I have measured up for new net curtains throughout the property and ordered them, started getting my Christmas presents organised, cleaned out a cupboard, been through stacks of old videos (ones we recorded) and thrown them away, plus other things.  So, I think I have found the correct balance for computer time.

Today is very dull and gloomy and quite a lot colder than it has been of late, much more like November weather after quite a warm spell. The only trouble being that we have to have lights on all the time so it seems more like permanent evening.  I am a person who likes daylight.

Well, dear readers, until the next time.

Duchess For The Day

I was not going to do an entry today but something changed all that or rather somebody. Angel changed all that.

Before I proceed, I want to point out to everyone who reads my journal that this is just in fun, a gesture from a kind friend and nothing more. Angel makes wonderful signatures and graphics for people and freely gives her time to do so. She decided to give her own accolades which she is entitled to do, not just to me but to others.

It is not intended to belittle in any way the Vivi Awards, it is not intended to offend anyone or upset anyone in any way. The winners of the Vivis won fairly and squarely and I have no problem with that.  Anyone who reads anything into it has got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

Angel took the time and the trouble to make this graphic and there was no way I was not going to use it just this once.

 

From her personal trials and tribulations to her wonderful stories and memories of England. Jeannette brings a lot of inspiration,wonder & awe to the online community.She is without a doubt my "Duchess Of The Blog"

So, thank you Angel for such a sweet gesture.  I know that everyone you have made graphics for has been touched. For anyone wanting to see Angel's beautiful work, the link to her graphics journal is on the right under Favourite sites.

Monday Smile

There is nothing like a smile to start the week and here is one from Daniel.

 

Cleaning Up

Him indoors has almost finished the decorating, just the second coat to do on one wall then.............we have to start all the clearing up.  A good vacuum then putting all the furniture, pictures and ornaments back.  Hopefully today will see the back of it.  So, at the moment I am sitting here surrounded by mess.

Last night was like a war with all the fireworks, you could hear them rumbling from miles away like distant gunfire and it made me wonder just how people coped during the war when this was a nightly occurence.  I think the last one exploded about 1 a.m. with one of the loudest bangs I had  ever heard.

I am thoroughly enjoying the book on Wilkie Collins. The author is married to Wilkie's great-grand-daughter and so had access to all the family papers and history.  It has been fascinating to read of his great friendship with Charles Dickens and how they travelled the continent together and spent "wild" weekends in Paris.  The friendship was eventually ruined because Wilkie's brother married Dicken's daughter Kate, a marriage that should never have taken place and relationships became more and more strained. I smiled at Dickens, Wilkie and Augustus Egg indulging in a moustache growing contest. I am learning so much I did not know. Wilkie steadfastly refused to marry whilst maintaining two mistresses, one who bore his children.  He was addicted to laudanum and admitted the the second half of "The Moonstone" was written whilst he was under the influence of it.  He later became addicted to morphine.  I can definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in literature, writers, artists and also in Victorian morals.

Well, I am holding my beloved up.  He aches from head to foot with all the work he has been doing the last three days and wants to get finished so that he can have a rest.  He has told me to tell the ladies that, alas, he cannot offer his services to all those who requested them (decorating of course - what else did you think?) as I have totally exhausted him.

Congratulations to all the Vivi awards winners.

Hopefully I can getback to visiting your journals soon.

 

 

Checking In

I have managed to grab a few minutes on the computer before our lounge is turned upside down.

I needed a break from journals and from the computer itself because of aches and pains and feeling a bit under the weather.  I think we all need a breather from time to time.  Sometimes, even the computer can get on top of you especially with the amount of time we journallers seem to spend online.

My beloved decided, in the circumstances, that this would be a good time to decorate our living room (where our computer lives).  So yesterday the computer was covered over completely whilst he did some preparation and today it will have to be unplugged and moved whilst he paints the walls.  I have no idea how long it will take because it will have to have two coats and him indoors does not like to rush anything.  At the end of the day it pays not to rush when you are decorating.

He has done a trial patch on the walls and we think it is going to look good.  For several years we have been peach and we are now going to be a very light yellow. The colour is called Golden Hue and is like pale sunshine. He has just fitted vertical blinds at our patio doors and they look great.  It is going to be so nice to have a change.

Just before he started all this, he took a trip to the small Sealife Centre with his trusty camera.  I shall put just one picture on today . As fish are always on the move, it is not as sharp as he would have liked, but I love the glints on this Pirhana and how they appear like little "v's".

I shall be popping on when I can but obviously will not be able to when the computer is disconnected.

I will be back commenting on your journals in the near future.

As for me,  between making cups of tea, I shall be reading "The Secret Life Of Wilkie Collins"(the author of "The Moonstone" and "The Woman In White") which looks to be very interesting indeed.

Hope you all have a good day.