Rain, rain go away......!!!

10 years ago a friend asked if I would do a two day course with her
she didn't want to do it on her own

Of course I said yes...hadn't learnt to say no then!

and that is how I came to be a member of the Red Cross disaster relief  teams
The years passed and fortunately I was never called upon to assist anywhere
 Now, ten year on  and I truly don't remember anything we learnt, have lost my notes


                                                                                                                                             from here

Which brings me to this afternoon, when the phone rang
The Red Cross calling
Would I be available?
over the next few days?
for the evacuation centre
if it is needed?

So what did I say...?

Why

YES
of course!!!!!

Obviously I still haven't learnt to say
NO!!!!

I think have heard of this town
I have now looked up how to get there

through three areas that are also likely to be flooded
and have I told you

I am terrified
of storms

I hate 
driving
 

Soooo why can't I say

NO

What to do....What to do?

I had such a lovely post for here tonight
and then I got a comment from Milly at
the Laurel Hedge
here
who sent me out to get
this magazine

and there on page 97 is a short story competition!
NOW
do I publish my post here tomorrow or do I send it of to
Country Style as an entry in their competition????

HELP!!!!

Wise words....sometimes!!!!

Top always said I would talk to a lamppost if there was no one else nearby!
Not quite true, but close enough
The truth is
I love people
I love all people
people of every age,
I love to talk to them all
(if I am being honest some more than others but hey!!!!!)


I believe 
that I am a product of all these people I talk to
I believe that every conversation I have changes me in some way
those conversations make me grow,
 they make me see some things in a different light
they build my level of empathy,
they expand my sense of humour,
because
I take on board a little of everyone
 and that makes me who I am!!!!

                                                                         via Pinterest

which in my round about way brings me to blogs and the comments
 The blogs I follow are the ones that amuse me,
interest me, challenge me
 and delight me. They are the ones that engage me in some way

                                                                                                          via Pinterest

and because they do, I like to build a connection
with the fascinating person who is the originator.

It is through the commenting on the blog that we do this
and over the past two years I have made some truly wonderful connections
I have met people who will be friends for life
I have met people who allow me to have a thoroughly good giggle,
 a bit of a cry, a burst of anger, a sigh of delight
and I like to tell them when they give me this joy
I also like to let them know that I appreciate
the time and effort that went into writing each and every post

                                                                            I'm listening via Pinterest

so I comment on what I have heard them say
sometimes a dumb comment because I may have misinterpreted their message
sometimes one I think is quite clever till I go back later and see it in print...oh dear!


Top passed on to his children the ability of the smart retort, the quick comeback,
the funny one-liner...me... I don't have it
but I comment regardless because I enjoy the building of the connection.
and it gives me great joy when you want to do that with me
I am so thrilled when you leave a comment and I try always to reply
but
do you come back and read those replies?
am I connecting with thin air?
(I always check your posts back to see if you have answered my words!)
and sometimes I want to reply to someone else's comment
sometimes I want to have a full conversation
but 
that does not seem to be the way
which is a little disappointing
so feel free to reply to another's comment,
feel free to initiate a conversation,
feel free to just say hello!
to let me know you are there!
Now
to the nitty gritty
Google have changed their word verification and I can't read it
so if I haven't commented lately it is not for lack of trying it just won't accept
what I am seeing, so please could they go back to letters you can understand!!!!!

Come and say hello I just want to meet you!!!!!

He's back.......my Frenchman...!!!!!

This weekend was not a time to be spending outdoors
too hot during the day and at night
the storms chased each other across the sky
and the rain came down in torrents

but it didn't matter because Bruno
came from the Dordogne
to visit for the weekend!



do you remember me confessing my love for Bruno?
if not
then you can go here before you read on!

 because this weekend
I have nowhere to be and nothing I can do so
I am just going to curl up in a chair with Bruno
and indulge myself.

I have found some images from the area that Bruno lives in in France
because he describes it so beautifully
I am definitely going to visit one day soon!!

Before we got together for the weekend I trotted over to his
blog to find out what he had been doing
here

He has been incredibly busy recently in his role as
the Chief of Police
so I have lots to catch up on!

Tell me, did you also fall in love Bruno after I introduced him to you?
Because if you did I am thrilled to say that he is back in

So I have had a wonderful weekend with Bruno!!!!!!!

Do tell if you intend to too

all images of the Dordogne via

It's all about the people.....!!!

It rolls to a stop.
A car like this

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              via

except, that it is bright yellow
 held together with chewing-gum, wire and blue tack.
The driver takes up both seats in the front
and in the back sit three large dangerous looking young men

The first time you see them you think
Oh hell...here we go!!!!

The three young thugs leap out of the back and fight to open the door.
The driver exits, despite her size, with a grace and dignity I have yet to see repeated
by any younger or thinner woman

and then she sways like jello
her whole body gently rolling from side to side
as she glides across the hot and dusty ground
a young man on either arm
one to the rear

It is a procession unlike anything I have ever seen before

This little group arrive at the table

and slowly, carefully she extracts a large change purse from the depths of her voluminous dress
and hands it to one of the young men, he takes it and waits patiently until she has both hands
formed into a bowl, then he slowly and carefully tips it into them

The young man who had brought up the rear steps forward and says
Auntie would like a bag please
ripe ones please

a bag of plump, red tomatoes is handed to him and
Auntie then pours that handful of 5cent pieces into my hands.

and the biggest, broadest toothless grin spreads over her face!

and with that the three young men escort their Auntie back to the car, carefully assist her back in, turn and wave and call a big thank you before they head off in a cloud of black smoke and back firing!!!

That was five years ago and every fortnight they are back
the $6.00 is always in 5 cent pieces, Auntie rolls and flows gracefully to the table and the young men are unfailingly polite to me and gentle to her

and that is why every year for five years I turn up to sell tomatoes on the side of the road from January to June!

That is my payment that wonderful Auntie, to whom a ripe tasty tomato is like a fine cut diamond, and now she stays and chats awhile, as do the hundreds of other regulars who appear like magic on the first day back.

I do it for a friend, it started as a favour for two weeks,
she pays my costs and it has become
 my mental health break and I wouldn't miss it for quids!!!!
 This year I am doing it alone;
It is strange but familiar

I wonder if I will stick with it now!!!!
                                                                    

I read the red.....!!!!

I started blogging when someone whispered in my ear
"I follow a blog"
and so I came to look at absolutely beautiful things
and then later other beautiful interior blogs
and then I started
Mostly Older Than Me
which was supposed to be about the furniture we bought and renovated!
Didn't happen!!!!

but we are a cliquey lot here in the blog world and where you come in
seems to be where you find a home

if you check down my blogroll, and the blog rolls of those there, you will find that on the whole
we all follow the same people, here, is where we make our friendships

I have branched out a little to some very beautiful lifestyle and writing blogs, mostly because they found me first (thank you!) but it is the interiors that still grab me.
 First, because we were going to build our dream home and now, because I have to move into something much, much, much smaller and it needs to be just right, for me

So
because a lot of my bloggy friends like the pretty interiors I thought it was time I put up some of the pretty images that appeal to me these come from my red file which is a colour that I just seem unable to resist!!

In my frantic bid to declutter (You would not believe the clutter I have!!)
 one of the first things to go were the two boxes of magazine pages, my dream files

They have gone because I discovered I could photograph the page and save it on the internet
and now the chair fits back into the corner of the room instead of two feet out because the boxes (I never looked at) were behind!!

So I have no idea where any of these came from, they could be anything from 2 years to 10 years old or perhaps older still!!!

The magazines I read during that period were House and Garden, Country style, Verandah, Architectural Digest so I am guessing that's where they are from

Do you cut out the pretty pictures and keep them too?

A tale of five hens....!

When I first met Top he was an agronomist
and on this particular Friday he had arranged to visit a farmer to discuss a new feeding regime for his cattle.

He arrived to find the farmer had been called away unexpectedly so he refused the offer of a cup of tea thinking he could finish the day early

but
The farmer's wife asked if he could do a small favour first
of course he could!

They had a large family gathering the next day and the farmer had left before organising the 5 hens she needed for the lunch
 could Top please dispatch them for her?

 Top had never done this before, but he did know how to do it
you pull and twist the neck in a smooth fast motion and it breaks the neck instantly.
Unfortunately Top had a very soft spot for all animals, but he was also a gentleman and could not refuse the farmers wife

So it was with great trepidation that he approached the first hen that had been chosen as the dinner sacrifice.
10 minutes later he presented the farmers wife with her 5 lifeless bodies with poor little necks hanging at an awful angle . She put them on the laundry floor for plucking later and Top went on with his days work.

It was only after many repeat visits to this farm that he learnt the fate of those five hens. Somehow the subject of the family party came up and Top asked how lunch had gone
 The wife gave him a strange look.

Oh very good the farmer replied we had spit roasted  pig and it was a great success
Oh, said Top, I thought you were having chicken
the wife gave him the strangest look and went blood red

Oh no said the farmer, my wife asked a caller to wring their necks for her but when she went to pluck them they were all wandering around the laundry!

The farmer's wife never gave Top away, and she did tell him she felt that those five hens had been through enough with their poor sore necks so they had a lifetime reprieve and apparently went on to die of old age!!!!!!

Top was happy for the 5 hens but did admit that he always had trouble calling at that farm again!!!!

It wasn't long after that that he went into hospitality!!!!!

No hens were harmed in the writing of this post!!! 
 the images were all taken in a friends garden

A very musical family.....!

My son has perfect pitch and perfect timing

now don't ask me what that means except that his piano teacher (when he was a boy)

wanted to take him back to Shanghai Conservatorium with her

and no we didn't let her!!!!

Unfortunately a later teacher destroyed his love of playing!

but he can play any tune by ear and almost any instrument once you show him how!!!!!!

I also have two young cousins

Stephen Lindsay

 was one of the winners of the Abbey road Anthem competition and you can hear his entry

 Stephen Lindsay - A Million Stars

played by the London Symphony Orchestra

it is just amazing and after I listen to it it runs in my head for the rest of the day, very happily!

and then 

Tabatha McFadyen

Tabatha is still studying but I think she will be a force to be reckoned with in the musical world before too long.

What I would like to know is with all this musical talent (and it runs on both sides of the family)

Why

I, who loves music with a passion

can not sing one single note in tune!!!!!

Can you?

bubble wrap, scissors and......!!!!

The widow has everything she needs

SO

why can't she find anything!!!!!!

Image: Sorry have no idea where this came from but it is pretty and if it is yours let me know!!!!!