Pink, pink and more pink

Happy Monday to you all and thank you so much for your comments on my last post.

I popped into our local village this morning and was bowled over by the pink decorations many of the local shops and businesses had put in their windows.

It turns out that this is all in aid of The Lady McAdden Breast Screening Unit - affectionately known locally as BUST - a free service for all women of any age and unconnected with the National NHS screening service.  The screening does not include a mammogram, rather a place where you can check out any lumps or bumps, pain or any other breast symptoms. A place you can get advice from specially trained breast nurses. They do such a fantastic job and all they ask is for a donation whenever you visit.

Hence all the pink - and hats of to all those who organised this fundraising week in Thundersley where customers can make donations in their local shops.

While I was there I came across one those pop up libraries. I think I wrote about this a few years ago.  Anyway it's back in the village and such a lovely idea.

Hope you all have a great week. 

P x

Floating bookshop

I love London and we often spend hours just walking around and exploring the hidden alleyways, cobbled streets, marketplaces and old buildings.  It was last year that I heard of this fabulously quirky bookshop that is known as the "Word on Water" a floating bookshop barge on the Regent's canal and so we had to go and investigate.

On our visit it was moored at Granary Wharf near King's Cross, where regular jazz bands play either alongside or on the roof.

It cruises and moors up between various locations on the Canal including The Angel at Islington and another close to the Olympic Park at Stratford.

It was a book lover's delight - so many fabulous second hand books

Its uniqueness had me enthralled

It had its own resident dog and even an old iron stove below deck

  

 This visit certainly came up to my expectations and didn't let me down.

Have a great weekend.

The clearing in the woods

What started out to be what we thought a pleasant stroll admiring the changing colours of the trees turned out to be a nightmare

Have you ever gone for a stroll through the woods, taken a wrong turn and spent what seems like hours trying to get back on track - or the very least find a clearing ahead and a road back to civilisation?  This happened to us yesterday. 

What would normally be a twenty minute stroll, lasted 1.5 hours!!  The trees were getting thicker and darker, not a bit of sky to be seen and at one point Mr M said lets go back to where we think we went wrong. Definitely a no no. I just wanted to be out. A jogger who obviously knew the woods well, did not even know the name of the road where we'd left our car but insisted that there was a road ahead if we just kept going! Ahead seemed to go on forever and getting very damp and muddy.

At last I could start to see daylight and yes - a clearing in the woods. Yay! However, it was nowhere near where we'd begun our walk and so had to put the sat nav on the phone to see where we were - a mile away - and so our walk, instead of being perhaps a mile  in length max, turned out to be 3.5 miles (as tracked on my phone app Map my Walk).

Foraging was the name of the game and after I'd scraped the mud off my boots and had a well earned cuppa finally managed to put this together for my dining table.

Moral of the story? Stick to the path - even better, buy the darned thing!!

Thankyou for all your lovely comments dear friends.  See you again soon.

The beginnings....

So - going on from my last post I've taken the bull by the horns and signed myself up for a free online course "Start Writing Fiction" with an organisation called Future Learn and run by the Open University. I loved my six years studying with the OU and have missed it very much. It lasts for eight weeks and the study hours are around 3-4 a week - or more if you want. I'm not totally sure at this point if I want to write a fictional novel as such - probably a bit of fact (historical) and fiction mixed up.

Anyway the order of the day is notes - lots of notes - people watching notes;  notes about  overheard conversations; notes about body language; notes about different smells, sounds and daily life events. That's my homework for this week - taking a notebook wherever I go so I can build up a picture and create a fictional character.

Incidentally Future Learn have literally hundreds of free online courses, run by different universities and there's so many categories to choose from. Another one I've put my name down for  is called "Literature of the English Country House" - watch this space!

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses

Hope you all have a happy week and I'll be back soon.

Patricia x

Finding the time

Hello everyone. 

This quote sums me up right now - trying to do too many things all at once. Lots of thoughts. lots of ideas. Lots of plans and basically lots of not much being done at all.  My head bursts sometimes with all the things I want  to achieve and at times am like a Whirling Dervish.. Do you find that the more you want to do, the less actually gets done?

So taking things slowly is the order of the day and it's actually beginning to work. I spend so much time thinking about what I'm going to do that it eats into my 'doing' time. Planning is the key I believe and am having fun using my old Filofax again and actually writing up lists and notes rather than using electronic devices for all my hurried thoughts and ideas.

My next project? I've always wanted to write a book - and do you know what - I'm jolly well going to give it a go - given that I can find the time!

Have a great weekend dear friends

P x

(pictures by courtesy of Pinterest)

It's been a while I know.....

....... I could say it's my busy life; I could say I've lost my mojo; I could give any amount of reasons. It hasn't helped of course that I re-discovered Instagram and I'm well and truly hooked on Pinterest!  Added to which I'm toying with the idea of creating another blog - focusing on Essex villages, London and a bit of family history thrown in as well. More of that another time.

So - here is a small potted history of the last couple of months.

May saw us getting out and about with our family - boats, camper/caravans. 

So lovely to be out in the fresh air taking in all that mother nature has to offer

To celebrate the hubster's birthday we lunched at the top of London's Gherkin building. The views were stunning. Oh and lunch was good too!

June - our garden is really coming along now that all the pots have 

been filled with bedding plants and given a general tidy up

We've recently returned from a fabulous week in Sorrento 

which we enjoyed very much  

Just a a glimpse of what's been going on, with more to come.

I really will be back again soon. 

Have a wonderful weekend dear friends. 

P x

The wanderer.......

....has returned.

I've missed my blogging friends over the last six weeks or so and hope this finds you all well.  I can't wait to start catching up with all your news and musings. It has been pretty hectic and messy around here I can tell you, so much so I haven't managed to put pen to paper (or fingers on keys even) but I've written a little ditty to put you in the picture.

Oh for a bit of peace!

Just ten minutes to escape the mess

The banging the crashing the sawing the drilling

The comings and goings of men

Sparkies and chippies, plasterers and painters

Deliveries, and parking and skips full of rubbish

there's no end

Walls are knocked through and ceilings renewed as are the window and door 

The kitchen ripped out and tiling removed and also a brand new floor

The hammering, the knocking, the chiselling, the dust

The dust - oh the dust -  in the wake of the work

Finds its way to places unseen

in crevices in corners on ledges and sofas

On curtains and carpets and more

The dusting and polishing, the sweeping and Hoovering

Makes no difference it never looks clean.

Sniffing and sneezing, coughing and wheezing

That darn dust gets everywhere 

No doubt about it I've definitely felt it

But knock it?  - no  - I'll not dare!

We've "lived" in our living room for five weeks or more

With two rooms  of furniture and  boxes to store

kitchen paraphernalia in all shapes and sizes 

Where the crockpot and microwave came into their own 

and meals were produced In various guises.

The kettle's worn out with the endless brews 

Made for the builders who've invaded our home

 I'm starting to see that proverbial light

At the end of the tunnel - yes please

The beginning of the end is almost in sight

But not without problems it seems.

Why oh why at the warehouse 

when those boxes are packed 

Do they not check that all is there 

Saving us time in sending it back 

So, my kitchen/diner is almost complete,  just

A few finishing touches to make

I can't wait to move back into my new abode

And enjoy the PEACE 

Make tea

And Eat cake!

I'll be back again very soon.

xx

Book making

I've been making notebooks, journals, scrapbooks and mini photo albums for a few years now, loving the diversity of the many designs, layouts and size. I'm a collectaholic, (is there such a word? my automatic spellcheck doesn't seem to think there is) and I'm always on the look out for bits of ephemera and memorbillia, cuttings from magazines, sheet music, script, quotations and so much more besides. You name it, I keep it.

Now some might scorn at what I'm about to say but I actually check out charity shops for old books which are long past their use by date and about to go into the great bookshop in the sky. Why you ask? Well I've been learning all about the craft of Altered Books or Book Reinvention. Basically ripping the pages out of a hard back book (the pages can be saved for later use eg making book page sculptures or Christmas decorations - more about that another time). Anyway once the pages are out and the spine is intact then you have a solid cover for turning into your own journal, notebook or whatever.

Just punch some holes in the cover and correspondingly your own paper and there you have it. The titles of some books are often very apt for the kind of book I'm making. For instance "In and out of London" ideal for recording my trips into town. "Looking back at the past" great for my family history and so it goes on. Never a dull moment!

I love paper in any shape or form and have enjoyed using various techniques on many types - sketchbook paper, handmade, lined, squared and even wallpaper lining paper. Stamping, painting, drawing, writing, torn edges, there's so much scope for creating your own personalised work of art.

So, here is one of my recent makes - a scrappy, shabby kind of book which I can add to whenever and wherever I want. Memories of anything or everything, recent or not so recent.

I sprayed my cover with a few different water colours and then decided on a name - couldn't be anything else could it? 

I'm very much looking forward to filling it now that 

I've prepped all my pages

And because it's an anytime kind of scrappy book I can start my recollections wherever I want to and a perfect place for my eclectic musings, sketches, poems and favourite quotations.

As well as the occasional photos

Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll be back soon.

Bye for now x

Five on Friday - February

I'm linking up with  Amy for this month's Five on Friday post so I thought I'd share some good moments of my February.

1. A trip to the Houses of Parliament - the Palace of Westminster organised by our local church. A fabulous day where we soaked up loads of history and learnt about all the ceremonial traditions of this amazing palace. We were able to walk around the House of Lords and visit their library/tea room/writing room but bcause it was a Wednesday and Prime Minister's Question Time was taking place we could not go into the Commons. However we went up into the viewing gallery later on and were able to witness a few political debates taking place. Fascinating!

2. When visiting friends in Berkshire recently we drove over to Hungerford a town well known for its abundance of antique centres and evidently featured occasionally on various TV antiques road shows. The walk down to the canal was pretty chilly - we'd already had some sleet and hail showers so didn't hang around for too long. A pot of steaming tea was most welcome in "The Rafters" in one antiques arcade.

3. A morning stroll the next morning saw us in the pretty village of Cookham where sunny skies greeted us. The River Thames always has a place in my heart - be it the narrow up river or wider down river where we live in Essex. Onwards to the village of Littlewick Green for lunch.

4. We belong to the Royal Horticultural Society and are lucky enough to live near RHS Hyde Hall, some 15 minutes away by car. We try to visit once a month and take in all that the changing seasons offer us. The colours are beautiful all year round and this is February's view.

5. Some quality fun time with two of our grandchildren on Saturday mornings occasionally.

I'll leave you with this little ditty I found via Pinterest

Now, if I've done this correctly you should be able to see others' 

posts by clicking on this link

Well I believe there should have been a little icon with four thumbnails. Oh well not to worry. I'll try and add it to my sidebar and lets hope the link from here works. You can't test it out until you've actually published the post.

Have a great weekend

PS - just checked and it doesn't  work so for now just press on Amy's link above. I'll get it sorted!!

St Valentine - A legend

St Valentine's Day or the Feast of St Valentine is a celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentine and observed around the world on February 14. There are several legends of martyrdom around St Valentine, one of which was Saint Valentine of Rome who was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and also for ministering to Christians who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. Legend has it that during his imprisonment he healed the daughter of his jailer, and before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.

The medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer may have invented Valentine's Day. He often took liberties with history, placing his poetic characters into fictitious contexts that he represented as real.  In his work "Parliament of Foules" he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St Valentine's feast day. The poem refers to February 14 as "the day birds (and humans) come together to find a mate".

In Great Britain Valentine's Day celebrations became quite popular around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes and by 1900 printed cards began to appear.

After 45 years together, John and I still uphold this little romantic tradition.

HAPPY ST VALENTINE'S DAY !

(text based on an article by History.com)

Year in Books - February

Linking up today with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees for this month's Year in Books where we aim to read at least one book a month. At the start of the month we blog about the book we are intending to read and perhaps a few words about the previous book.

Last month's book Wolf Hall by  (Dame) Hilary Mantel was one that I had started, put down and then picked up again when I realised the serialised drama was scheduled on the tv. Try as I might, I simply couldn't finish it in time and had to put it back on the shelf once more.

In summary, the book is a fictionalised story of the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell whose father was a blacksmith who bullied him as a child. At fifteen he ran away to sea and travelled Europe - joining the French Army and later working as a merchant in Antwerp and Florence. After many years he returns where his life experiences enabled him to becomes an assistant to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Steeped in history around the life and loves of Henry Vlll this book brings the brutal world of the Tudors to life.

This month's book is Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton -   and seemingly of a mystery/crime genre.

"Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace sees the smoke and runs. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her". 

Afterwards, Grace must search for the identity of the arsonist and protect her children from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

I'm not one to read crime as a rule but I do like a bit of mystery so hope I'll stick with it. I picked this up last night and it clicked instantly. I have a habit of testing the water so to speak. Sometimes I just get bored after the first chapter and leave it on the side for another time - which never happens! 

********************

On another note I just want to apologise to all of my blogging friends for my lack of comments and posts this last couple of weeks. We have been in a dilemma here as to whether to move house or stay where we are. We've lived here for 30 years and the children have now fled and we thought it might be a good time to downsize. However, I do love my house, all of our bedrooms are in constant use - our master bedroom, the guest room, my study/craft room and then a little box room for whatever gets put in there.  Plus we live in a quiet neighbourhood with plenty of walks and open spaces nearby as well as the sea. We started to look around and nothing matched or compared with our house - even if we did move I daresay I would definitely want some re-decoration and/or improvements done. That being so we have decided to stay and have some work done here - new kitchen and possibly some other improvements. So instead of hours of trawling around looking at properties we are now out looking for kitchens etc and having people in for designing and quoting for said work to be done. This all takes time and something has to give - so once again I hope you'll bear with me.

I would like to say thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last posts. I really do appreciate them and they mean such a lot to me. Hopefully I'll be back on track again in a few days.

Take care my friends and have a good week.

Patricia x

The Beach

I love going down to the beach, there's something that just draws me to it. As much as I love the surrounding countryside, give me the beach any day.  Living virtually on the River Thames we have plenty of beaches to choose from. Most of our local beaches are sandy with a coating of cockle shells.

 Leigh on Sea is famous for both its cockle boats and cockle sheds where the cockles are cooked and then the shells I guess are either re-cycled and/or returned back to the seashore.

I love hearing the Sea Gulls, the Curlews and the sound of the tap, tap, tapping of the rigging against the aluminium masts of the boats

I love the varied assortment of seafaring paraphernalia to be found along the shore

I love the sound of the waves swishing over the shells along the shoreline

and further around the coast love seeing these gorgeous beach huts

(which I would love to own if they weren't so expensive)

We took a walk on Sunday along this stretch of the beach where the tide was almost up and the sailing boats were getting ready for some kind of regatta.

A light wind was whipping up and sails were raised 

Up on the promenade this sign always tickles me

but I guess a man's gotta do what a mans gotta do!

I hope you enjoyed my beachy theme today.

*******

I'd like to say a huge thank you to all you lovely people who have left comments on my recent posts. I'd love to reply individually but I guess I'm probably not the only person who cannot always find the time to reply.  I just wish there was a "like" button as on Facebook that you could just let your commenter know you have read their comment. Anyway many thanks again.

See you soon x