January 2011

My diary for the month.

New Year's Day at Evie's flat. We had the whole family in the same place, at the same time.

Things I made this month
Joel's pirate suit

Mr Broccoli - the second - to replace a lost one.
I also made a book of photos for my friend Marion, to commemorate a particularly happy time several of us had at her house a few days before Christmas. Sadly no rooom for a photo.

Another memorable event was the Peter Pan Party, but I think that deserves a blog of its own!

Books read this month: An Act of Peace - Ann Widdecombe
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Picture Perfect - Jodie Picoult
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
A Place of Secrets - Rachel Hore
I started Out of the Woods but not Over the Hill - Gervase Phinn, but I got distracted... I will finish it sometime. The one I read quickest was the Rachel Hore one.
Surprises in January included haggis for dinner on the 25th , and also a pineapple upside down pudding. That same week we had prawns - all prepared by Brian, DH is branching out!
Healthwise, in the last few days of the month, I actually stopped coughing and began to feel better!

18th November 2010

This is my friend, Leslie. We go to the same scrapbooking crop. Unfortunately she was involved in the 7/7 bombing in London. Since then she has suffered PTSD. Today I went with her to King's Cross to lay flowers at the memorial to those who died.
At first we thought we wouldn't be allowed to leave the flowers. Security is very tight. The staff were very apologetic and we ended up talking to the duty station manager. He explained that people are generally encouraged to come at 6pm ( when the fire happened) but that since we were there he would come with us, with the official wreath, and we would lay our flowers together. Leslie is unable to go out after dark.
Sorry its not the best photo - I was being quick and surreptitious, expecting to be arrested at any moment.
There are 2 memorials - one for the bombing victims and one for the victims of the fire.
It was Leslie who told me about the Mixed Media Art day at the Museum of London - to which we both went in June. She is an inspirational and inovative artist and I appreciate her very much.

On holiday with a very smart phone...

If you would like to see nice photos of my short visit to Scotland in August, then head over to my daughter Evie's blog. The link is on your right. What follows is a different side of the holiday...

I knew Evie had this nice new phone...

As we left London there was a prolonged call to someone called Fiona. The tunnels didn't seem to cut the connection.

Then we got to Lancaster. 'I wonder what that river is called?' No reply but I could feel the increased level of concentration beside me. She looked up from the phone and announced 'its the River Lune'! Really?

We got to my cousin's house and the conversation was all about her son's forthcoming wedding. The hymns? The first one was All things bright and beautiful' - straightforward enough. The second was something like We vow to one another... would that be to the tune of I Vow to thee my country? We didn't know but the phone told us the answer ( which I can't remember now!)

Visiting my sister in Dunoon by ferry, I've always been confused about which loch is which - three of them branch off where the Clyde turns to flow to the south -no longer thanks to that phone! I know exactly which is Gare Loch, Loch Long and Holy Loch.

The next day was wet - again so we decided to stay in Glasgow. I took Evie to see some of my favourite places. One of them was the replica of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house. It's attached to the Hunterian Art Gallery. She tried hard to get a guided tour of the house on her phone, but it didn't quite happen...

The next day it was much brighter so off to Loch Lomond we headed. I've had many a picnic on the bonny banks and I always knew there was at least one island... but now I know exactly which piece of land is Inchmurrin.

In bed at night I wanted to finish a chapter of my book. 'Thats OK, Mum, I'll just try my flag recognition app. while you do that.' I think she could recognise about 40 flags at that point. The World Cup had been a help. Shortly afterwards my chapter finished I switched off the light, forgetting she might still need it. Problem? Not at all, the torch on her phone was like a searchlight- brighter than all the lights in our room! And anyway she had moved on to do a maths game. ( I wish she'd had a phone like that when she was at school!)

On the way home it was cloudy and we couldn't see the sun. We wondered which direction we were travelling. Should have been south - to London? It turned out we were going east at that point, but we did get safely to London!

Thanks, Evie, for being such a good travelling companion and enriching the experience with your phone!

Silver Linings.

You will have to read back to my birthday blog at the beginning of July to find out why I have called this series of blogs 'Silver Linings'
This is the hotel in Eastbourne where I have just been to the Cardinal Colours Scrapbook Retreat.

It is a lovely place...

and I met some lovely people! This group sat together for the first meal and we stayed together for every meal after that. I've never been in a group that gelled together quite so well before. It was a good experience! More of the stuff I made, later when I take the photos of it all.
Thanks, girls, for making the weekend so special.

Lichfield.

This weekend in Lichfield did me a lot of good. I loved the size of the cathedral and all the old historicl buildings.

To get into the town we had to walk across the bridge at the end of this pond - or lake. This

This is my cousin - whose son was being married.

This is the dishy bridegroom...
When the blog template only lets you upload 4 photos at a time, you chose the best... and beautiful as the bride was, her photo wasn't among the four best. So sorry...

Silver linings in Glasgow

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife designed the interior of their home in their own special style - and it it stunning! This is a replica, attached to the Hunterian Art Gallery.

We spent a wet day travelling by land and sea to visit my sister and her family in Dunoon. 4 generations here!

This is one of my favourite views in Glasgow. On the left is the Cathedral and beyond it is the graveyard known as the Necropolis. The highest statue up there is of John Knox, the Scottish reformer.

On the day we went to Loch Lomond the sun came out. I don't know how many picnics I have had over on the side behind Evie's head. On this occasion we stayed at Lomond Shores, the visitor centre at the south end of the loch.

Thanks for being such a good travel companion, Evie.

And I still haven't got round to the lovely flowers in the Botanics...

Random Silver Linings...

Outside the British Museum we chanced on this South African Garden

as we passed on the way to Blades, the stamp shop. They sell some nice arty magazines too...at nice prices!!

Another day saw me at The Princess Diana Memorial Playpark with my two daughters and various friends and family members. There must have been about 20+ in our group. This is the French contingent.It was lovely to see them and practice some French.

On the way home I called to say hello to another good friend and while we had a cup of tea, this butterfly visited us.

I thought it was called a woodland something but I can't find it in the book now.