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One Lovely Blog Award
Awards must be just like London buses; you don’t see any for ages and then two come along at once. So it was with me this week. Not only was I told I was to be a BON on Monday, but I also received a ‘One Lovely Blog Award’ from Katie Gates. Thank you Katie! (I discovered an icon for this Award which I have pasted on the site. I thank whoever it was who produced it.) Do visit Katie at Katie Gates: Stories and Opinions . Katie is a very talented writer. Her personal essays are topical, thought provoking and often humorous and I can personally recommend her novel, ‘The…
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WOW!
WOW! Today is my BON day! I am pleased and flattered to have been chosen as ‘Blogger of Note’ by Sandy and Pam over at Words of Wisdom today. This is indeed an honour. Thank you! I am also a little nervous since I have read many of the brilliant blogs that have been highlighted over the past few months and I know I am in esteemed company. WOW’s mission is to help bloggers of substance find each other. They do that by not only offering a place for like minded bloggers to gather, but also by highlighting great blogs each week. Visit them at Wisdom of Words to find…
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What Goes Well with Wellingtons?
It has come to this, I realised earlier this morning, as I stepped out of the shower wondering what to wear. I have come full circle. Thirty years ago when I got married and had children, I ditched the smart work style clothes and on most mornings I pulled on a pair of jeans and T shirt so that I could do all those things young mothers need to do in a day peopled by persons under three feet tall, without snagging my tights or getting baby sick on a silk blouse. In those days, my wardrobe was dominated by easy wear/easy wash labels. The odd special occasion dress remained but for…
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Nappy cakes, picnics and pop-corn
On Sunday we threw a surprise ‘Baby Shower’ for Laura. Laura is my youngest daughter and her husband did very well to keep this surprise a secret. It was her Sister-in-law who actually organised the entire thing so, thank you Anne-Marie! Your dedication and organisational skills were very much appreciated and your ‘nappy cake’ was brilliant. (Who knew that a ‘nappy cake’ is not an iced cake made to look like a nappy? Not me!) ‘Baby Showers’ are a fairly new addition to the UK. They certainly weren’t around when I had any of my children although, thanks to some American neighbours over here from the USA in the ‘70s,…
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Calmer and Kama – How about that?
No sooner had the ‘ink’ dried on the page as it were, than the phone rang. It was a call from a chap from an Energy Company. He was clear. I heard his first words. I listened and I replied and thanked him for his call. The operation was painless. Not a Swahili word anywhere. Did my words of yesterday really inspire this sudden about turn in my ability to hear? Is this another instance of ‘what goes around, comes around’? I am mildly superstitious and I believe in all sorts of things that you probably don’t want to hear about, including ghosts. Why? One day I’ll tell you. I…
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“I heard that – Pardon?” *
This post is inspired by what I now see as selfish behaviour on my part. Yesterday, the telephone didn’t stop ringing. As well as calls from family, there were many from British Gas, BT and a variety of sales people not to mention those irritating automated calls that begin by telling you it is an important public announcement (it never is). Having spent most of the day answering the phone and part of the evening, I began to think Alexander Graham Bell was perhaps my least favourite person. I even stated on ‘linked-in’ this morning that I was ‘out’ to callers. How wrong could I be? Where would I be…
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Fowey Royal Regatta – celebrity or not celebrity?
“Excuse me please,” I say sweetly. The man jumps aside and that’s when I step into the street and realise the camera is on me. Everyone else has moved to the side of the street
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‘Help For Heroes’ BBQ
The Barker Summer BBQ has been around for some time and is a well known feature of summer in these parts. Previous years have seen us basking in sunshine beneath blue skies, our guests scrabbling for a place in the shade. On only one occasion have we been virtually ‘washed out.’ That was a challenge! With Dave manning the barbeque outside, beneath a hurriedly erected gazebo, the rest of us huddled indoors. At least, most of us did. The children still insisted on running through the rain to play on the bouncy castle and some intrepid teenagers managed to join them. The guest list had dwindled somewhat as some people…
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Catch that pigeon!
Funny how sometimes luck just seems to be on your side isn’t it? It is downright scary just how often chance plays a part in our lives. If we could watch from somewhere on high and see the paths life takes us, how amazing would that be? The film, “Sliding Doors” dealt with just this subject. If we could change a single event how would it affect our lives? What different scenarios would face us? The other day, Flossie, yes, she who writes regularly on this blog, proved her status as a retriever by retrieving a pigeon. Flossie has tried catching pigeons before. Her great puppy paws pound the turf,…
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Vendredi 13e frappe encore (Friday 13th strikes again)
There is something intriguing about watching people come and go in A&E on a Wednesday evening. Not too many drunks tonight. I have been here before, on a Saturday night, and the entire place seemed to teem with drunken youths and their older counterparts, falling in gangways, swearing at one another. Tonight it is different. How did I come to be here and why? Well, for one thing, there is nothing wrong with me. I was packed and ready to have an early night before leaving for Marseille and a long weekend in the sun. It is my friend who has fallen foul of Friday thirteenth, a full two days…
