Things I have to tell you ...5!

Shhhhhhhhh

I have a secret to confess

but don't let it get out

don't spread it around

this is just between you and me!

I have fallen in love with

a younger man,

a Frenchman,

a policeman!

a man who cooks divinely,

who enjoys his wine,

his rugby and his tennis

who takes time to train the children,

who knows everything to know

about his town and his people,

a kind man, a savvy man

and his name is 

Bruno

I have spent 

4 days in his company

and cannot wait to spend

another few days

but I thought you might like to meet him

as I have just discovered he has

his very own BLOG!

Now he must also be a very shy man

as the photo on his blog 

IS NOT HIM!!

you will find his blog

here

It is a wonderful place to visit,

he will tell you all about his region,

his wines, his food and also all about the man

who introduced me to Bruno

whose name is

Martin Walker

Now because I am a very generous soul

and don't have a jealous bone in my body

I encourage you to go meet

Bruno

because if you are a bit of a

Francophile like me

you will also fall in love!

 But

there is

a very sad note to this story

unfortunately

Bruno only exists

in the pages of these

three books

all of which I have now read

Damn!!!!

so to see him again I have to wait patiently

 for Martin Walker to hurry up and write

the next adventure!

I am running out of things to disclose as after nearly

100 posts I think I have told you just about everything!

but if you've tagged along  only recently

you might like to go here

where very early on I confessed

seven other facts!

Goodnight

Things I have to tell No 3.... and 4!

From when I was a small child

to right up until I left home

I was a prolific letter writer

                                                                                                                                                                                         Google

If you were related to me,

a school friend,

if you had me to stay,

if you gave me a gift

                                                                                                                           here

I wrote you a letter

if you were a boyfriend 

I wrote you many a letter!

                                                                                                        cattycamehome

After I had finished the letter

 I would address the envelope with great care

I would race downstairs to my Father

and beg a stamp

but it had to be a pretty stamp!!

back upstairs, stamp on

I would put it in my top drawer to reread tomorrow

just to make sure it sounded alright

                                                                                                       Don't know where this beauty came from

Now the time came when it was time to leave home

the time came to marry

the time came for my Mother to get rid of the junk

I left behind

We had left the chest that sat in my dressing room

and my Mother thought she would take it downstairs

but it was too heavy

So...

she opened the drawers and found

                                                                                                                                                    image by Yunhee Kim

letters...

hundreds of letters

all addressed and stamped

with penny stamps and every thing else 

up to  5 cent stamps!

(not a big jump in nearly 20 years!!!)

Not one of those  letters 

had ever been sent!!!!

in her wisdom my Mother 

took those letters to the Sydney GPO

                                                                                                                                    Google

where the Postmaster, when told the story

agreed to send the letters as they were

this is a long time ago and Postmasters could decide things like that then

                                   Taken a bit of a Liberty here Benjamin Franklin image from Google

Nearly everyone who received one of those letters wrote back

and said some really lovely things

but

not one of those letters was addressed to me

they were all addressed to my MOTHER!!!!!!!!

So now I don't write letters, not many emails, and I try very hard

to reply to you all but occasionally I hold back the reply

to improve it and, you guessed it, it stays in my draft file!

I never draft my blog I sit, write and publish

Frequently I have to edit horrendous spelling mistakes 

and statements I didn't mean to make 

but at least they get published!

If I comment on your blog it has taken

real effort to press the send button

without previewing,

so if I ever offend I appologise now

as it would not have been meant

I just write too quickly and sometimes it

doesn't come out how it should!

There are now 15 draft blogs on file that I know

will never see the light of day

as my Mum is no longer with me to send them

There you have things 3 and 4 I have to tell

and I think I know who I will pass the award on to...I think!!

Goodnight.

Thing I have to tell No 2......

This is a story for Renee Finberg

Once upon a time

I was like every little girl

who wanted to have

a pony of her own

to ride!!

Fortunately the circumstances 

of my family were such

that I had that pony

and a few more as well

and I grew up in the show ring

in both riding and led classes

                                                        Debbie Dunbar artist

and perhaps I took

 the love of that first pony

just a bit too far

because I made Top 

(who knew nothing about ponies!)

have ponies too!!!

                                                                                                     Welsh Mountain pony from popsters. com

Bless him he was wonderful with them

 and he became the best

riding teacher at the local pony club

and really taught those kids

how to look after their

beautiful animals

                                                                                                                              Australian pony from Google

But eventually life got in the way

as it does (thank goodness)

and I found babies and moving back to the city

didn't make ponies a good fit any more

                                                                                                                               Australian pony from Google

It was hard to give them up totally

 so I did a terrible thing........

I became 

a breed pony judge!!!

Welsh Mountain ponies and Australian ponies

were my breed of choice

but for my sins

                                                                                                                                        Shetland pony from Google

I generally ended up with

the Shetlands as well!!!

I have not been into the show ring with the ponies

for over 15 years now

instead we have chosen a slightly smaller animal

with our Borzoi and Saluki and

entered the dog world

but I promise

I will

NOT become

a dog breed judge!!!!!!!

Goodnight

Things I have to tell No 1....!

for my children

I tilt at windmills......

and just sometimes I win!!!

                                             

                                                                Ted Szukalski

                                                

As part of the lovely award 

karina 

presented me with

I have to tell

6 things about me

that you don't know

I figure I can drag this out a bit

Karina did not say I had to tell all at once!!

                                                                                                                                           painting by Frank Stock

I love the old style windmill, dragon style!

though I don't mind the modern green ones either

so if you

 know your classics

you will understand why

I also quite fancy dragons

                                                                                                                          here

But the real thing I have to tell

is 

that

 I collect Don Quixote

This was my first piece 
my family bought it for me
after I fell hopelessly in love with it
It makes me laugh!!!

I don't have an extensive collection

some pieces are old some new

most pieces came to me with a story

 and often the story is as 

important as the piece itself

Goodnight

Into the ether.........!

We sit at our desks

our kitchen benches,

our tables

curled up in comfy chairs

and in our beds

And

we read,

we type with passion, 

about our crafts

our families,

our decorating,

our lives

and things that catch our fancy

then we send it out into the ether!!!

It's a funny place, this blogging place

we start, not knowing what we are doing

I wonder, sometimes, if we ever know

what we are doing!

 Do we  ever stop and think

about how,  what we say, may affect someone else

There are people I have never met,  who,

because of my blogging,

 know me better than some of my long standing friends

 but we would pass each other on the street without recognition

You come from all around the world,

for a short time we meet here 

and I'm saying all this

 because...!

Because today I got an email from

Karina Gentinetta 

to say

pssst!  You may want to visit my blog, Julienne

so I went visiting and imagine my surprise and joy

when I saw she had presented me with

Now whilst the award is lovely

it was the words she wrote that got me

totally emotional!

Karina thank you

it may take me awhile to choose someone

to pass this on to

but you have to know

YOU MADE MY DAY!

bless you

Now apparently I am supposed to tell you seven things about me
but I am going to ask your indulgence 
and tell you tomorrow because today should be about


Karina


and her generosity of spirit
 so go visit her
you will be amazed at what she has achieved

Goodnight

It's not home anymore....!!

This is the area

I grew up in.

A family suburb on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour

the cars parked in the driveways

were Holdens,

Fords, and the occasional Bentley.

My parents paid 14,000 pounds

for our house

it was three stories high

(if you count the attic with it's two bedrooms

and the playroom built into the slope of the block!!!!)

and it had a view straight through

the heads of the Harbour

it sold recently for over

2 million dollars

I do wish they had kept it!!!

 The homes were all a bit tired, 

the gardens often had a bike 

on it's side in the drive or

a cricket bat lying on the lawn

and  the grass was  often just slightly too long

and the gardens were a bit free flowing,

hydrangeas and camellias were the plants of choice.

It was not an untidy suburb, it was just a family

place.

recently I went back to visit 

and it was not the same

There is not a bit of peeling paint

 to be spied anywhere

the gardens are manicured to 

within an inch of their lives

the cars in the drives are 

BMW s,  Mercedes Benz, and Suburus,

 mostly large 4 wheel drive machines

It is beautiful, there is no doubt about that 

but somehow it

 has lost that fabulous  familiar feeling

that said 

you are home!

all images were found here

Goodnight