What A Few Days!

Well, we have certainly had a hectic week.  It all started last Saturday.  We decided that the pond really had to be emptied out completely.  There were far too many fish, so many that, had disease broken out, we would have lost all of them.  That was a huge job.  Dean very kindly came over and helped Mike catch all the fish.  The Koi were put in an inflatable pool.  All the others were placed in various containers.  Luckily our neighbour is very into fish and has many friends who are as well, so over 100 fish have gone to new homes.  We kept a very few goldfish, just ones we particularly like the colours of.  It was a long and dirty job but it was all completed by the time dusk fell.

It took until midnight to completely refill the pond but Dean had gone home hours before that.

Little did we know that on Sunday Daniel would be taken into hospital.  We were happy to step in and look after Nathan and, to be honest, he was a joy and gave us no trouble at all.  You have to have eyes in the back of your head of course.  He came up to me and said "pocket" and patted his pocket.  I asked if he had something in there and he smiled so I felt it and yes, he had something in there, most of Grandy's loose change! Grandy had no idea.

He was always a bit nervous of Jack because Jack is very big and being young himself, quite boisterous.  However, they soon became firm friends.  Nathan now tells Jack to sit or to lie down and Jack does.  He also now pets him.   Nathan went to the local supermarket with Grandy and picked for himself what he wanted to eat for his meals.  He spent lots of time on my computer.  He has his own little mouse which we plugged in.  He loves to use "paint."  After a couple of days he had learned how to do circles, squares and oblongs and also learned how to colour them in. I only had to show him a couple of times and then he could do it unaided.  I wish I had saved one of those.  I did save one of his early efforts and here it is

Daniel seems very happy to be home. He goes back to the outpatients' clinic next week.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that his infection soon goes completely.

Mike and I both have very sore throats at the moment, no colds, just sore throats that feel uncomfortable when we swallow, headaches and generally feeling "not right".  We are hoping we have not passed it on to any of the family.  We are also tired because this has been a week like no other for us, well not for many years have we been quite so busy.  Our lives tend to be very quiet.

Very sadly, Dean's Grandmother passed away last night, she was the last of his Grandparents so it has been a very traumatic week for Dean in particular. Such a shame this had to happen now.  Our thoughts are with Dean and his family at this sad time.

We have just watched the memorial service for Princess Diana.  It seems incredible that it is ten years since her death.  Prince Harry gave a wonderful speech that he wrote himself.  Mike and I both found it very moving.  She would have been so proud of her two fine sons. She remains a great loss to this country. She was one of the finest assets we ever had. Truly the Peoples' Princess and with a genuine feel for the ordinary person in the street and for the sick, the disabled, the suffering. God rest her soul.

 

Well, I started this entry by telling you that we had cleared out the pond.  We can now see the Koi in all their glory.  We have taken some photos which really do not do justice to their size.  To think that only two years ago they were all lessthan four inches long.  We have only got names for two, the pale gold one is Sundance and the huge fat one is Big Blue.  It took both Mike and Dean to hold the net with Big Blue in it because he/she is so heavy.

We all want to thank you again for all your many messages of support regarding Daniel.  Becky and Dean were very touched by all your kindness.

Now I am going to take something for my throat and then have a lie down for a couple of hours.  Wishing you all a happy and peaceful weekend my dear friends and readers.

***P.S.  It is NOT my birthday.  People seem to think it is and I am receiving Birthday wishes, very nice but too soon.  My birthday is not until the 9th September.

Daniel Update

We have just heard that Daniel will be coming home at some point today.

He will remain on antiobiotics but the hospital decided that surgical intervention was not necessary.  It only remains to find exactly the right drug to clear up the infection and they feel that this can be managed with him returning home and attending the childrens' clinic as an outpatient.

Wanted to let you all know the news.  We have Nathan here at the moment and Becky will be calling later to pick him up on her way home with Daniel.

Thank the Lord that surgery was not neccessary and we hope that this infection does clear up really soon.

 

You Are Wonderful - Thank You

Just a quick entry from me.  We have been overwhelmed by the amount of comments received under my previous posting.  People I have never heard from before, some have left journal links and some have not.  They have all come here because other wonderful journal friends did postings mentioning Daniel.  I did start e-mailing my thanks to all "newcomers" but we were looking after Nathan and it all got too much, the e-mails I mean.

I want to thank each and every one of you, those I know and those I do not.  Directly I finish this small entry I shall be printing off the previous one with all your comments and it will be going to the hospital for Becky to read.  I know she and Dean will be as moved as Mike and I have been.

The news we had last night was that Daniel was on the anti-biotics, that his appetite had not been affected (that is our Daniel, he loves his food!), he had blood tests done and was still being monitored.  No news yet today.  We will probably know more tomorrow after the Bank holiday is out of the way.

Somebody commented that this is the internet at its very  best and I have to agree.  People coming together to support others, it is truly the best.  You are truly the best. I have always said there is no community like J-Land, it is very special.

From myself, Mike, Dean, Becky, Nathan and, of course, little Daniel we thank you so very much for all your love, kindness and concern.  God bless you all.

Please Pray For Daniel

Dear friends and readers, can I ask you please to pray for Daniel who has been admitted to hospital today.

As you know it was just two days ago we were celebrating his 2nd Birthday and I shared the pictures with you.

His parents do not want me to go into any details at this time and I respect their wishes.  At the moment he is on intravenous antiobiotics and his progress with be closely monitored.  There is a likelihood of surgery but nothing is certain at this time.  We only know at this stage that he will be in for several days.

Becky will be staying at the hospital with him and Mike and I will be helping out where we can looking after Nathan.

You stood by me through my ordeal earlier in the year, please stand by Daniel now.  Send him all the love and all the prayers that you can and ask the Lord to heal him quickly and to surround the family with love. I know many of you attend church and many belong to prayer groups.  The power of prayer can be amazing.  We need Daniel to be surrounded by a blanket of prayer and for the doctors to be guided.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love and prayers I know you will send. All your messages will be relayed to his parents.

Daniel's Birthday Pictures

We had a lovely day, the boys were so happy and Nathan was so good with his little brother.  About seventy photos were taken in all plus some video. I have picked out those that I like best.

The family spent quite a long time here and then took the boys to a Play park, so the photos I am sharing with you are not in the correct order of when they were taken.  As for the picture of Leo, no, we did not put him in the plastic bag, he went in there all by himself!

Hope you enjoy the pictures my dear friends and readers. I have noticed the slideshow is sticking now and again so please be patient, there are over twenty photos and I would like you to see them all. I have also noticed that now and again it jumps, shows the first three photos then starts again after which it is o.k.

Dan-Dan's Day!

Today, Friday the 24th August, is a special day. 

 

Yes, somebody we love dearly has a Birthday!

 

Our youngest Grandson is celebrating his second Birthday.  Daniel, Grandy and I wish you a wonderful day with lots of presents, lots of laughter and lots of love.  You are a real bundle of energy and a joy to the whole family.  Wishing you many, many happy returns and many blessings.

A big journal HUG from us.  We love you very very much. xxxxxxxxx

Many thanks to Donna for making the lovely Birthday tag using pictures of Daniel.

Is There One That You Hate?

I like this Graphic of Big Ben and the scene on the River Thames.  Many people think that Big Ben is the name of the tower when, in fact, it is the name of the bell that chimes out the time.  The bell is silent at the moment as essential maintenance work is being carried out.

I am sick of talking about the weather.  It is truly awful.  The trees are practically bending double today, leaves flying off them, things being blown around the garden. I even have the light on because it is so dark and gloomy and the heating is also on low.  We have to be thankful that we did not experience any of Hurricane Dean and I know that many countries get much worse happenings, but this is the worst "summer" I ever remember.  They say it might turn warm and sunny for the weekend.  The leaves on my trees are already turning to Autumn colours.

So why the title of this entry?  Well, I was discussing films with someone the other day.  I was asked which one was my favourite film and was there one I absolutely detested?  I said there was one that I could not abide and was asked the reason why.  As I do not have anything else much to write about I will tell you why.

Firstly, this is the film

Yes, I know it is considered a classic, the acting was excellent, the settings beautiful.  So what do I have against it?  Well, the film was released in 1952 and I was obviously still a young child.  My family were great movie goers.  Both my parents adored films and we, as a family, would attend two or sometimes three times per week.  My father always fancied being a cowboy so I do not think there is a western film that I have not seen!

We had a cinema at the top of the road we lived in.  It was called the Astoria.  It was managed by  an elderly couple - I shall never forget them -  especially him.  He moaned about every film they showed.  When you went to buy your ticket, his wife would be in the box and he would be standing next to the ticket box.  He always said hello and then " we have a duff old film on this week".  Everything was a duff old film to him, I do not think he liked anything.  Anyway, I digress.

My Mother worked in those days when women generally did not.  She had no need to, my Father earned enough money to keep us all in reasonable style.  She worked because she wanted to, she hated housework and most domestic things.

This always caused a dilemma because she had nobody she could farm me out to.  My Dad repeatedly asked her to stay at home but she would have none of it.  The neighbours all got fed up with my being foisted onto them so on summer holidays she got really stuck.

Came the above mentioned year and The Quiet Man had been released.  Naturally it came to the Astoria.  As it was a very popular film, the elderly managers either decided or were told to run it for two weeks.

My Mother got on very well with the wife of the couple who ran the cinema and that is how she found her answer.  Every day on her way to work on the afternoon shift we would take me with her, drop me off at the cinema, pay my entrance fee and then go off and leave me.  The attendant ushered me to a seat and that was it.

The first time I saw it I quite liked it.  After all I did not know the story and although young, I was quite entertained by it all even if I did not understand all of it.  However, day followed day and there I sat seeing the same scenes re-played over and over again, the same advertisements, the same second feature.  For ten whole days I had to watch that film!  I sat there miserable and lonely, nobody to talk to, having to constantly move seats because of the "dirty old men" who frequented afternoon matinees - although the usherette did try to keep her eye on me.

My brothers teased me with it for years afterwards but for me, it was no laughing matter.  I came to detest that film with a passion and I still do.  I think if I was onboard a plane and that was the film they were showing, I would bale out. I run a mile if it ever comes on the t.v.

You may detect a hint of bitterness in what I have written. Yes, I am bitter about many things that happened in my childhood, things that formed me into the fearful person that I am today.  However, this is not why I am writing this entry.

It just gave me an idea.  I wanted to find out if there is any film that you particularly hate.  Any film that frightened you, upset you or you took a dislike to for any reason.  If there is, I would love to know what the film was and why you dislike it. 

So, come on dear friends and readers, I am sure you can come up with something.  If you cannot think of a film then maybe there is a t.v. programme you dislike or disliked.  I shall be interested to read your answers.

*P.S. Strange that I was to meet John Wayne in person and have a conversation with him many years later whilst I was holidaying in Spain.  I have written about it earlier in this journal.  No, I never told him that I hated that film lol

Birthday Message

 

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday DEAN.  You are a wonderful husband and father and the best son-in-law we could ever have hoped for.

Have a wonderful day and may the year ahead bring you all your heart desires.  Many many happy returns to a truly special person.

 

Teeming Tuesday

The weather changed just as predicted.  It is more like late October or early November.  Dark, cold, wet and extremely windy.  On Saturday I took a photo from our sunlounge window showing a lovely sunny garden with the parasol up and ready for me to sit under.  Here is the same view taken a little while ago.  The rain had eased but you can see it on the windows.

Jesse got jealous of all the attention that Jack was receiving at the "exhibition" so we have now had to make sure his picture is there as well!

I have a few more photos to share with you.  Taken on Sunday when the weather was good.  Him indoors does not often get a look in on my journal so here are two shots of him

Jesse and Jack go mad when you get the hosepipe out.  They just love "hose" games and leap around trying to catch the jets. In this first picture, Jack's tail is like a fluffy white cloud.

Finally one of Jesse on his own

They are all the latest photos that I have. On Sunday night we sat up late to watch the Perseid showers. Well, to us they were more of a slow drip than a shower but we did manage to spot at least ten of the meteors, two of them very bright -  one with a flaming green trail and one with red.  They are so fast that you dare not blink.  Anyway, they were nice to see.

I am getting so sickened by the ever increasing violence in this country.  Yet another man has died after being kicked in the head by a group of teenagers.  They were damaging his car and he went out to stop them.  Apparently the street where he lived has been the target of trouble for eighteen months. I have to ask why have the police done nothing before?  Why does it always take someone to die before things are taken in hand.  My heart goes out to his family.  The letter his 12 year old daughter wrote to him is absolutely heartbreaking.

The wind is now howling around the house and I do mean howling.  It is hard to believe that this is August.  It has brought most of my aches and pains back and even Mike is complaining of them.

I think I shall lie on the bed this afternoon and continue with my book.  Mike knows I like historical non-fiction so he chose it for me.  It is called "Love & Dirt."  It is the story of the marriage between Arthur Munby (no, I had not heard of him either) and Hannah Cullwick.  Munby was a friend of R.D. Blackmore and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  What a fascinating read. 

He was besotted with working girls, the dirtier the better (I mean dirt in the grimy way) and he liked them to look masculine with brawny arms and red coarse hands.  He liked Hannah  to "black up" for him by covering herself in chimney soot, she wore a slave collar to which only he had the key.  She addressed him as "Massa" (master) and he had several nicknames for her.  He had various pictures taken of her licking his feet, polishing his shoes, doing her housework (she was a domestic servant) even one dressed as a man. Hannah revelled in it all and adored being his "slave".  She had to write him daily letters detailing all the work she had done and how dirty she had got! 

He collected photographs of working girls in their working attire, women who toiled inside the coal mines, mudlarks, dustpickers and the girls all seemed happy to oblige with having their photos taken and the shilling he gave them for their trouble. But he had a genuine love for these women, he often helped them financially if they had fallen on hard times.  He arranged for one hideously disfigured girl to get treatment at a London hospital, paid for her lodgings and tried to find her employment.    He adored Hannah, literally adored her but their relationship had to be kept a strict secret because of the class distinctions.   I have not yet got to the part where they actually married (forbidden in those times to marry outside of your class). Their relationship lasted fifty years.  It is a very interesting book indeed.

Well, time for a cup of tea and I am going to put something warmer on.  I really do not want to turn the heating on this early in the year.

Have a good day dear friends and readers.

Jack Makes An Exhibition Of Himself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scorching Saturday

Today really is a scorcher.  At last I have been able to sit in the garden for a little while after being laid up for days with a bad neck and shoulder.  It is still not completely right so I am going to continue limiting my computer time for a while yet especially as it is on the same side as my operation and treatment.

Firstly I would like to thank my dear friend and our journal friend Cindy of Cindy's Life for sending me from America these beautiful yellow roses after she read on my last entry that I was looking for some smallish artificial flowers to put on the t.v. in our new look bedroom.

As you can see, they are just perfect. Mike got me the vase at our local "factory" shop and also the glass pebbles and glass cubes.  I got some Rose oil and put a few drops on some of the blooms and now the whole room smells of roses.  Cindy, thank you so very much.  Your kindness has really touched my heart and they brighten the room even more and I think of you when I look at them.

Becky and family had a nice holiday.  They really struck lucky with the weather and the boys enjoyed being on the beach.

Even Nathan who is usually pale (takes after me) acquired a rosy glow.  Daniel has different skin type and tans very quickly although they are always smothered in strong sun cream.

I love this next photo - it reminds me of the Blues Brothers

On my last entry I showed you photographs of the sunflowers in Becky's garden.  Well, when they had returned home the plants had grown even bigger.  Two jacks and a beanstalk?  Well two jacks and some sunflower stalks!

The garden is looking pretty good although we have had a bad summer, the weeds have done well though, Mike is forever pulling them out.  I took this an hour ago from our sunlounge. As you can see we did get our big sunshade. Becky and Dean found it for us and Mike was able to get a cast-iron base to hold it.   Today is the first opportunity we have really had to use it.  You can bet that the weather will change now!

I have been spending a lot of time reading and listening to talking books plus occasional t.v.  I am going back outside when I finish this entry, sit with my book, listen to the sound of the water in the pond and just enjoy being in the fresh air after spending most of the last two weeks lying on the bed.

So, I will finish with a couple of pictures of me that Mike took just before I came in to write on my journal.

Before anybody asks what is in the bags in the summerhouse I will tell you.  Birdseed and rabbit food.  It is not usually kept there but him indoors put it there recently and forgot to move them before he took the photos.

So I will leave you for now with a wave.  I hope you all have a nice weekend.