Friday, November 25, 2011

So long, farewell, adieu......





It is with a heavy heart
 that tonight I pull the plug on
 mostly older than me.
This blog has been about the family
our dreams, our plans.

Now I have to find my own dreams
and make my own plans
and those dreams and plans
deserve a place of their own

But it is important that I not
leave here without
saying how much I have enjoyed the trip
and a huge thank you to
those wonderful people who
have travelled it with me. 

who held my hand over the last
seven months and made
sure I came back


and the friends I met who have also been there
through the long hall
Vicki from Vicki lane mysteries
Anita from Castles Crowns and Castles,
  Semi expat in Oz,
A-M
Life in the Country Lane
James
Karina,
Gigi
A room for everyone
and Ann 


There are so many other wonderful people I met
who have widened my view of the world
who allowed me to share some of their
tears and laughter who
gave me a glimpse of their lives
and who taught me that
goodness still abounds in this
world of ours


I thank you one and all


hopefully I will catch up again in the near future
but for the last time from here


Goodnight

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

tidying up loose ends


Following up and tidying up loose ends


On my sidebar is a link to 
a house that was built by 
Ambrose and Bridget Rotton
without whom I would not be here!!!!
in the post I wondered what
it would have been like inside
and UK daughter promised to visit.
She did and we have lovely photos
of........
 Offices!!!!!!

But we were not to be totally denied a vision
into the past as we then discovered
that Bridget's brother had built a
house a few years before
 and it was this house that Ambrose and Bridget
obviously got some of their ideas from
they are incredibly similar.
and this house, called Blakesley Hall,
is also still standing
and is in fact a museum so
if you would like to have a look hop over here to


and check out how they lived in the 1600's!
Maybe find a few ideas for your new interiors!!!!!!!!!!

Goodnight

Saturday, November 5, 2011

The joys of downloading!!!!!!

What a wondrous world
hangs out there in the ether!

We disposed of the cameras upload program
downloaded another
and here we are!!!


don't know if this is all going to work
but if it does
the pic is a rather wonderful shot
taken by the clever
Gregoir
just before my first guests arrived
for my first 
"entertaining"!!!!

So lets see how this works!

Goodnight

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

My computer has taken
exception to the fact
that it has had little use in the
past 6 months
It absolutely refuses to allow me to load
any photos.
The minute I try I get the dreaded
blue screen.
Don't know how long it is going
to continue this sulk...
but we will continue anyway
and hope it forgives me 
for being absent so long!!
Blogger on the other hand has 
recovered from it's sulk and
is now allowing me to log in to my dashboard instead of
just the new post page!
So after this very boring tirade
it would appear that  
I am back

Thank you
for all those wonderful comments
and emails that have kept me going
you are a truly wonderful group of people

Hugs to you all
and Goodnight

Goodnight

Monday, October 31, 2011

I have a problem
I am not allowed to log on but I can post!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Some good news at last...!

15000 rioting people
100's of riot police
tear gas hanging in the air for hours,
two days of transport strike!

Did I say good news?!!!

Well yes...

because
 despite all the carrying on in Athens 
our beautiful  Harry
ignored it all
and he and his team
played wonderfully and he brought home 
a bronze medal
from the
World Special Olympics!


His parents, sister, aunt and Gregoir
all braved the elements to watch
him play.

Harry 
Papa would have been soooooo proud!

and as usual you continue to amaze me
with your sporting abilities,
your sportsmanship,
your team spirit,
your indomitable spirit and your 
truly wonderful sense of humour.
You enrich my life Harry
 and I love you very much


Goodnight

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

another goodbye...!!!!!

He was a large puppy
an even larger dog
who had a friendly wag for everyone
but behind that
cheerful look and wagging tail
there lived a fierce protector


but at 15 years and without Top and Maggie
John Wellington Wells (or Wells for short)
decided on Sunday that it was time for him to go too.
Travel safely Wells till you find the other two.

Goodnight

Monday, May 23, 2011

The tomato lady soup...!




1 large onion chopped
half a medium pumpkin chopped
6 - 8 medium ripe tomatoes
2 cups of chicken stock (4-5 cubes)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons basil

Put everything in a soup pot. Bring to the boil, 
cover and simmer
 until pumpkin is soft.
Puree and then strain
Serve with lots of black pepper and sour cream


Once you have made this soup using the recipe above
you can then improvise like I do
garlic not crushed, basil not chopped
sometimes more pumpkin than tomato
sometimes the other way round!!


and truly, somewhere in there, there is also pumpkin

Top hated pumpkin soup and really disliked tomato soup
but this is one of his absolute favourites
and every year I fill a freezer drawer full.
on Sunday night a warm bowl and some crusty bread 
WOW!!!

In the height of summer sieve twice 
so it is like velvet and serve cold
WOW! WOW!!!

at the moment my freezer is full of many different types of soup
made by incredibly wonderful women
but there is no Tomato Lady Soup!!!

I thought you might like to try this with me
and we can all share a bowl

Goodnight

Thursday, May 19, 2011

This is my world....!




This is my view
at present



I am
surrounded 
by wonderful people
but
even with 
a full house 
the loneliness
is unrelenting!

Goodnight

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

thinking rationally?....I don't think so.


My concentration and rational thinking 
are rather limited at present
This morning I 
put the tea bag in the dishwasher
and the spoon in the bin
Took the wash out of the washing machine
went into answer the phone
came back out
put the wash back in the machine and washed it again!!!!!!

Maggie joined Top last week
so they are walking together now.

I will come back soon

 I thank you all
for the well wishes here and the emails
 Goodnight

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Thank you Kerry



I can't do this at the moment so 
thank you Kerry from
for doing it for me

I will be back
and I will need you all

Goodnight

Friday, April 22, 2011

A very happy Easter



A decision we do not want to make
has to be made this weekend

so while we see things that are not there
and wish for things to be different
and struggle to accept our decision
and know that it is the right one

I wish all of you a wonderfully
happy Easter 
full of all the joy of this life
that is our gift

God bless you all

Goodnight

Saturday, March 19, 2011

a relaxing day and impossible things!!!!!

It feels like forever since I have been here!
I have so much catching up to do
that it now seems an impossible task



Today we went out to lunch


and I have fallen in love with this building
it is what I would like our
next home to look like 
on a much slightly smaller scale



the alfresco dining is just beautiful 


and the different areas


make it hard to choose a place to sit


so I tried them all!!!!!!


This turned out to be my favourite and
over coffee we discussed other
impossible things
 like ipods and iphones

do I get one or both???
and what is the difference anyway? 

But the reason we went to lunch
 was to celebrate the fact
that, today,
 I am a whole year younger 
than I thought I was!!!!!

( so I am just going to pick up that missing year
 and there I intend to stay for the next ten years
until people say...
poor thing, she hasn't aged at all  well has she!!)

truly, old age can be really quite exciting sometimes!


Goodnight

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

explanations....!


For those of you who think
I am totally mad.
my unwillingness to cut flowers

                                                                                                                         from here

began with a tree, twice the size of this
and a chain like this
hanging from the branches


and a gentle old lady


The tree was an almond tree and it was covered in fruit.
The wonderfully gentle elderly woman reached up
and picked a handful of the dried fruit and
showed me how to discover the nut inside.

Twice, I hit my head on the chains that were hanging
from one of the branches

(rather nasty, rusty old chain with three heavy strands
attached to a ring large enough to put your hand into)

Being the curious type I asked why it was hanging there

"Oh, dear, that's the tree beater"
"The what?"
"The tree beater,
 when we first came here, 50 years ago,
 the tree didn't bear fruit
so after a few years 
my Jack put this chain together for me and each year
I beat the tree, every day for a week, around the trunk,
and it has never failed to produce a crop like this."

Well I did have to ask why,  didn't I?!

The answer was that apparently almond trees
bear more fruit if they are stressed
and beating the trunk with a heavy chain rope
stresses the tree
Now the problem is that I have never forgotten that
and I figure if someone beat me with a chain
I would be stressed to
because
it would hurt!!!!!!

So
the question is
do you think it is possible that plant life might feel pain?

Just in case the answer is yes I no longer 
go on the attack with the secateurs!!!!!

What do you think?

Goodnight

Monday, February 28, 2011

I did promise I'd try....!



Jane does this count?????




I have a secret to confess
but before I tell
Jane you must promise you will still speak to me

OK

promise?



I have terrible trouble picking flowers or pruning shrubs
the reason I have trouble is...

I am not totally convinced that it is painless
to the said shrub or flower!!!!!

What if the plant is soundlessly screaming
 as I have at it with the secateurs?

Dumb...I know....really dumb!

but every time I go to cut
I get this terrible picture in my head and just can't do it.

AND

that is the reason for my dashing pink paper roses!
and why I enjoy this in my garden 



Now to see really beautiful floral arrangements in the home
go to


and just enjoy her utterly charming blog

Goodnight 

Sunday, February 27, 2011

shades of green....!


Petty jealousy is really very boring!!!!
and not something I normally suffer from
...thank goodness!

BUT... 


a wonderfully eccentric friend 


rang tonight for a chat


and half way through the conversation said


go and check out where I have been staying!


so I did


and I could so see myself lying by the pool


enjoying a wee pre dinner drink


then settling in for the night


perhaps grabbing a good read of the shelves


and day dreaming


after lunch in the shade before another dip


or wandering through the beautiful gardens


so I suggested next time she went she had better take me!!!

                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                        all images from here

Alas....too late
 as it will probably be sold
she replied

So
 just slightly
 tinged green am I!!!!!

Goodnight

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