SATURDAY GHOST STORY

                    IGNATIUS the MONK

The vicarage at Elm, Cambridgeshire is built on the site of an old monastery and haunted by the ghost of a monk, Ignatius, who died about 800 years ago.  One of Ignatius`s many responsibilities had been to watch the water level in the nearby Fens, and to warn the monastery in times of dangerous floods.  On night while on watch he fell asleep and did not give a warning as the water level rose and some of his fellow monks drowned, leaving him in disgrace and full of guilt.

A rector and his wife, shortly after they went to live in Elm Vicarage, were regularly awoken by the sound of footsteps in the night.  They could find no reason for them or where they had come from.  Soon after the footsteps began, the rector`s wife met the ghostly monk, Ignatius, as she walked along an upstairs corrider one evening, and heard him say ` Do be careful.!`  With remarkable presence of mind she asked his name...`Ignatius the bell ringer,` he said. The ghost was wearing a brown monks habit and sandals and was seen many times afterwards by the rector`s wife, who eventually learned his history.

The rector`s wife saw him in many different parts of the house.  He always appeared initially as a faint outline, then gradually became the figure of a man of about 33 with dark, curly hair and fine features.  He was always dressed in an old, worn habit and appeared at dusk.

One night in September the woman decided to sleep, as she sometimes did, in a bedroom that was usually kept for guests.  The family dog usually slept on her bed but on this particular night was distressed and ran whimpering from the room before being calmed and persuaded to stay.  The rector`s wife fell asleep but woke up to find something round her neck.  She switched on a light to find a tendril from a vine that gew outside the bedroom window lying across her neck.  As she removed it she was picked up violently, thrown sideways over the bed, and became aware of a black shape leaning over her.  A pair of gnarled appeared through a haze and gripped the terrified woman by the throat, gradually tightening their hold until she began to suffocate.

At this point Ignatius appeared and, coming toward her, reached for the hands and pulled them away, letting her fall back, exhausted, on the bed.  Before she had time to recover she was shocked again, this time by the sight of a vague creature with a huge head and red face bending over her and her dog and her dog snarling and fighting with something invisible.  Somehow tearing herself free she rushed into her husband`s room to find he had heard nothing.

The marks on her badly bruised neck were visible for days afterwards and the next time she spoke to Ignatius he told her that she had been attacked by a man who had been murdered in the room where she had chosen to sleep.  However, some good had come of the affair.  By saving the life of the rector`s wife. Ignatius had completed his penance and could now be forgiven and allowed to rest.                                                                                                    

                     

                               

PHOTO FRIDAY

Hello everyone on this beatiful sunny day!  The above photos are from my garden.  Top left is Magnolia `susan`, Top right is a Japanese Maple, or Acer.  Bottom left is a conifer and Euonymus. and bottom right another Acer.

Here top and bottom left is the bird table and peanut feeder. Bottom right is a Japanese Azalea and top right, ( take note Sara, you did say you wondered what an orange azalea was like!) is my newly planted deciduous azalea, `Glowing Embers`.  As you can see it`s not in flower yet but the picture shows just how lovely it will look when it it does.

Today my headache is gone and last night I slept like the preverbial log for a good seven hours without getting cramp in my legs or feet.  Thanks everyone for the good advice given and and I will definetely be taking it, though I`m not sure about Stlvia`s advice about standing on cold lino...........I`m sure it works but I don`t think Jim would want to get rid of the bedroom carpet...lolol! :-)  Also I`ve not had anymore strange men knocking on the door, only the postman ...... and he`s not THAT strange...... delivering the long awaited `Sleepy Slurp` for Kerry.  For those of you wondering what on earth that I`m on about , well, I ordered some nice goodies for pregnant women, as a treat for Kerry.  The `Sleepy Slurp` was out of stock and it has just arrived after a couple of months.   It is a type of hot chocolate drink that is specially made for ladies-in-waiting, formulated to help them sleep, which is something that she is finding increasingly hard to do.  I hope it might at least help her to relax at night.  Well that`s it for now.  I hope you all have a very good weekend, and as it`s a Bank Holiday here in Britain, a very good Monday too.  :-)

 

~  A chamois goat can balance on a poit of rock the size of a one pound coin. ~

~  Frogs don`t drink water - they absorb it through their skin. ~

~  The ragdoll is the largest bree of domesticated cat in the world.  ~

~  The sloth moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur.~

~  Male boars excire females by breathing on their faces.  ~

~  The poison arrow frog has enough poison to kill 2,200 people.  ~

~  Emus can`t walk backwards.  ~

~  Pigs can cover a mile in 7.5 minutes when running at top speed.  ~

~  Iguanas can and do commit suicide.  ~

 

THURSDAY HEADACHE

Hello everyone, this might as well be me today.  I had just 5 hrs sleep last night and I must have woken up at least 4 times, one of which was caused by a painful attack of cramp which sent me crashing out of bed like a woman possessed !      It was so painful and my leg is still sore from it now.   When I finally woke up at 7.30, I should have realised that this was a day when I should have stayed in bed.

I had a headache, nothing serious, just one of those little " it`ll get better as the day goes on" kind of headaches....... WRONG... it didn`t get better, just worse and worse until I had to take some paracetamol, by which time it was too late and they didn`t help at all!  Back in time to this morning.  Jim went to Tesco`s for the weekly shop at about 8am, I carried on with loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen when there was a loud bang on our unopenable front door.  I went round to the side door with Jake close by and took a look outside and there stood an angry looking man who was still banging on the door.  He came toward me and immediately Jake shot outside the door , barring the man`s way, making him jump back.  The man didn`t speak English and wanted a man with another foriegn name.  I told him that nobody with that name lived here and he went to walk away.  I think he wanted to say something else, but then he turned round and thought better of it as Jake was standing there, as still as a statue, watching him intently.  Jake didn`t move until the man was out of our driveway completely and then, and only then did he come back in the house.  The man had scared me a little but I think now I know that Jake would protect me, he has never been like that before, as usually even if he hasn`t met someone before he goes straight up to them wagging his tail and treats them like old friends!  As for the man I think he is one of the Eastern Europeans cigarette sellers.  They smuggle in cheap cigarettes from China, ( they are very nasty things, with high arsenic levels) they then go on to sell them and make huge profits.  It is said people have accounts with them and they don`t always pay their bills.  Maybe this man was looking to collect money owed.

The weather has been cold and wet again...surprise !!!   The ground is now waterlogged and I just hope the plants won`t drown.  Though we have been promised hosepipe bans for later in the year if there`s not more rain...WHY??  I just wish it would get warmer soon.  It`s time we had the central off not on, summer duvets on not off, but it`s just too cold, and it`s nearly May too.  Global warming ...where?  Not here that`s for sure!

Anyway I still have the headache, though it`s just a fuzzy little irritation now.  I just hope I`m not getting a cold as I`ve been sneezing a bit more than usual lately and I`ve got away without one for a long time now. Bye for now, enjoy what`s left of your Thursday.  I for one am going to watch "Footballer`s Wives" and will enjoy every ridiculous moment of it!  :-)

 

~  An Elephant`s trunk can hold 2 gallons of water.  ~

~  An adult lion`s roar is so loud that it can be heard up to 5 miles away.  ~

~  The word rodent comes from the latin word `rodere`, meaning to gnaw.  ~

~  A mole can dig over 250 feet of tunnel in a single night.  ~

~  A cow`s sweat glands are in ite nose.  ~

~  When a horned toad is angry it squirts blood from its eyes.  ~

~  Bats have sex in the air.  ~

~  The pocket gopher,  a burrowing rodent, can run backwards as fast as it can run forwards.  ~

~  Chameleons can move their eyes independently;  one eye can look forward at the same time the other looks back.  ~

~  Bulls and crocodiles are colour blind.  ~

PS   DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PREVENT CRAMP?

 

 

SAD BUT HEARTWARMING

Hello everyone

I start this entry in the middle of a thunder, lightening and hail storm.  Very unseasonable weather!  This morning started out bright and sunny and though the forecast was for all of the above,  I still hoped that it would miss us....not so, but I got all the washing dry and still had my 11am coffee on the garden bench.   Now it`s so dark it might well be nearing 7pm than 2pm.   We`ve never had a storm since Jake came to live with us and I wondered what he be like, but I needn`t have worried because after the initial `crash` of thunder where he jumped up and looked around, he then resumed his deep sleep and presumably carried on dreaming about doggy things.

Today I`m going to post something a little different.  Whilst reading the paper this morning at breakfast...yesterdays in fact.... I`m always a day behind with the paper,  I came across a story that was both tragic and heart-warming and even early in the morning when I`m never at my best, it left me with both tears in my eyes and a smile on my face.  I`ll just explain the story first.

 

Helen Harcombe was a 28yr old wife and mother whose short life was lost to cancer just a few days after Christmas.  When she found out she had only 6 months to live she wrote for her husband Anthony a " mummy manual" to help him with the upbringing of their 7 yr old daughte Ffion.  This is the exact text:

""  Dinner money in envelope every Monday.

Check school bag every night for spelling/letters.

Tuck money - PE kit check days - liase Karen.  PE Wednesday Friday.

Uniform bought every Sept. - Marks and Spencers only! tried all the others - do not wash or wear - cardigan, trousers , tights, socks, skirt, dress + and short sleeve shirts ( posh pintuck nicest) you should also be able to use the previous years if tidy enough if not chuck out- no daughter of mine to look scruffy.  Always new school coat in Sept. - practical but trendy.

Check hair for nits regularly - Tea tree shampoo & condioner - bath and hair every other night,   at least. No child of mine to be smelly.

Regular trims on hair - may need extra conditioner or leave-in conditioner for knots.  Ensure hair is tied back for school - neat parting, no bump.  Smooth with tail comb if necessary, ensure fixed with spray and hairspay to keep neat and no straggly bits.

Dress her trendily out of school - boot-cut jeans, trendy boots, go to tidy shops not Woolworths or Oxfam!  Have a look in catalogues like Next to see what is trendy for little girls.

School shoes from Clarks + get measured in Clarks - once sure of size u can buy elsewhere but school shoes from Clarks - check feet regularly so they do not outgrow and hurt feet.

Xmas always new Pj + slippers + summer PJs.

Bedding should be changed once a fortnight or more if sweaty or accidents happen.

House polished right through once a week.  Should vacuum more often especially downstairs.

Scrub bathroom at least once a week + kitchen sink - more if necessary.

Regularly bank Fi money either in Bradford and Bingley or Lloyds - she has two accounts.

Xmas time, don`t forget smaller things like stocking fillers to make it look more + fill the stockings - chocs, bobbles, clips, make-up, jokes stuff, girly fun etc.

Make sure serve food with veg/peas - get fruit down her - don`t let her eat out of cans, noodles + toast etc.

Before long put lock on bathroom door  -  she will appreciate that as she gets older.

Give her a hand washing obsession B4 food after toilet etc.

Flowers to me at least Mothers day, my birthday, Fi`s birthday, our anniversary, Christmas etc but in between would be nice.

Don`t just take down my photos, keep them safe for Ffion.

Keep her swimming - v important.

Go to parents evenings - all of them - homework. Keep eye out for bullying, problems at school..

Keep in touch with Fi`s god-parents + my friends especially Mom and Dad or I`ll haunt you!

 

  

GOOD NEWS TUESDAY!

 

Hello everyone

Danny has a new job!......   The one he wanted too.  Out of 9 interviews he has been offered 4 jobs.  He is really pleased that he got this one, even though it does mean wearing a suit to work.  He has the very best computers to work with and very good in-house training, pension scheme, benefits and chances of promotion too.  He was interviewed by a panel of 3 people and he told me it was the only one where he felt nervous.  Well he`s got it and me and starts on Tuesday, and Jim are thrilled to bits, relieved too, but so happy for him.

It`s a miserable day today weather wise, though the rain has stopped for the moment, it is only a bit of respite and I`m certain it will pour down again soon.  Today is washing day again and I did hope to hang it outside again...no chance of that  so it`s the tumble dryer for today!  What was I saying ???  The sky is clearing and the sun is coming out....... I still don`t trust it.  I have to take Jake out when I`m finished here and I will be taking my umbrella with me.  With my luck if there is just the one black cloud in the sky, it will find me and dump the rain on me wherever I am !.  It`s almost May and we`ve had enough rain, we don`t want to drown the flowers now do we?  I want to put my garden furniture outside so I can sit out there and read or just do nothing at all, but for that we need the SUN!    

Jim say thanks to all the kind people who sent him birthday wishes.  He did manage to get a doughnut for himself even though the other blokes at work polished the rest off as though they were the last doughnuts they would ever see. He got lots of cards and presents and on Saturday we are going out for dinner with Kerry, Slava, Danny and Salina.  Danny has already told me that he and Salina have organised a birthday cake to be brought to the table during dinner.  That will make Jim`s day for him.

Well thats all for today, I`ll finish with some of the usual trivia.  Bye for now, and have a great , and hopefully drier day than here!  :-)

 

~  In Albania nodding the head means "no" and shaking the head means "yes".  ~

~  Everthing weighs one per cent less at the equator.  ~

~  Mongolia is the largest landlocked country.  ~

~  More redheads are born in Scotland than any other part of the world.  ~

~  Eskimos use refridgerators to keep their food from freezing.  ~

~  Two-thirds of the worlds aubergines are grown in New Jersey.  ~

~  !0 per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.  ~

~  Emperor Caligula once decided to go to war against the Roman god of the sea, Poseidon, and ordered his soldiers to throw their spears into the water.  ~

~  Richard II died in 1400. A hole was left in the side of his tomb so people could touch his royal head, but 376 years later someone stole his jawbone.  ~

~  Albert Einstein was once offered the presidency of Israel.  He declined, saying he had no head for problems.  ~

 

                                                                               

MONDAY, BIRTHDAYS and PHOTOS

 

Hello everyone,

These are some of the photos from my morning walk last week, when, armed with my trusty digital camera. I`ve included my favourite trees with the white and red  blossom.  I don`t know what type they are but they are very beautiful.  Also I`ve never seen a white bluebell before so I thought  I`d post that too.

Today is Jim`s birthday..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND JIM !!!......and this morning he went shopping for jam doughnuts to take to work.  He bought 3 dozen for the crew room at work.  He said they won`t last 2 mins when the other blokes get a sniff of them, mind you, he only took 35 to work as I had one this morning with my coffee. Very tasty it was too !   This afternoon my friend Pat came over and we had planned to go on a nice country walk with Jake.  Well, we did go on the walk but it could have been nicer if it wasn`t raining and we didn`t bump into `HER` ( the woman I told you about last week, the one who I can`t stand).  We didn`t exactly bump into her as see her from a distance coming towards us.  Well as neither of us could face the idea of bumping into her, we ran, quite literally down the lane as fast as our fifty-ish legs would carry us!  It did the trick, we got away and Jake thought we were playing a game.  Maybe if she saw as take off like that she will have got the message, but somehow I doubt it.  I took Pat home just after 5pm, later than I intended because I hit the evening traffic coming out of work, which nearly doubled the journey, time-wise.  It gave me time though to play the CD Pat had bought me for my birthday. So there I was in traffic singing my head off to `Laura` by Scissor Sisters.  Great stuff, even though Jim says I`m too old for that sort of music...NEVER , say I !!!

The man who is going to fit our new front door was here just now so I could show him the style we want.  It will be different from the last door but the same as our side door.  At least now our two doors facing the front of the house will be the same.  The glass I wanted turned out to be the most expensive so we have decided to have the same glass as the side door also.  It was very smart but for anextra  £50, it wasn`t that nice!

I`m having a lot more trouble with my arm and hand at the moment and can`t wait to get back to the specialist on May 13th.  I just hope they can explain why a)  It hurts a lot now where before the op. it didn`t hurt at all.    b)  The numbness in my hand has not only returned but spread to other fingers and my thumb!  I`m now totally fed-up with the whole situation and dread the thought that maybe they will need to operate again.  But I will cross that bridge when I come to it but I will insist on some answers.  I had the op. on February 16th and it`s getting worse, maybe it`s just me, but it just doesn`t seem right.  Thats it for now, I`m off and I`ll leave you with some trivia again..... Bye for now!

 

~  Alaska is the most northern, western and eastern state;  it also has the highest latitude, the most eastern longitude, and could hold the 21 smallest states.  ~

~  The coastline of Alaska is longer than the entire coastline of the rest of the US (excluding Hawaii).  ~

~  If an Amish man has a beard, he`s married.  ~

~  La Paz in Bolivia is so high above sea level there is barely enough oxygen for a fire.  ~

~  The people of Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.  ~

~  The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined.  ~

~  There is no point in England more than 75 miles from the sea.  ~

~  Despite having a land mass over 27 times smaller, Norway`s total coastline is longer than the US`s.  ~

~  Seoul, the South Korean capital, means `the capital` in the Korean language.  ~

 

 

SUNDAY SCRIBBLING

                 

Hello everyone,

What a quiet day it is today.  Is there anyone out there in J-land?   I`ll take it that some of are still around and post as usual!  The weather started off well today, sunny with a coolish breeze, which I didn`t mind because I had a lot of washing to get dry. The sun didn`t last though and it started to rain this afternoon.  The washing was dry, thankfully,  and the rain didn`t last long but it`s became quite cool and the sun has long gone.  When I took Jake for a short walk this afternoon I thought it would pour down but it didn`t and we got home nice and dry.

Danny and his girlfriend came round to see me and brought Jim`s birthday present for tomorrow.  They got him a nice polo shirt which I know he will like.  They stayed for about an hour and he was telling me about his job interviews, so far , two are very promising.  The one he`s most keen on is not the very best paid, but a lot more money than he is getting at present. The all round package is excellent with a good pension plan and health care etc.  They are a very big company and he will have to wear a suit for work, which will be a first for him, he is more used to being in casual clothes!  He has two more interviews tomorrow and another on Tuesday so fingers crossed he will get one of them.  Slava has already got a job and he is delighted as is Kerry.  It has awkward shifts but he realises that as he doesn`t have Danny`s experience he had to lower his sights for the time being.  In another year he will be able to move on to another company carrying his aquired knowledge with him, such is the nature of the business they are in.

Would you believe it !  The sun has come out again.... after all I said too.  Anyway that`s it for today.  I`ll leave you with some trivia on geography.  Have a great Sunday. :-)

 

~  Tasmania has the cleanest air of the inhabited world.  ~

~  The furthest point from any ocean would be in China.  ~

~  There are no public toilets in Peru.  ~

~  The Red Sea is not red.  ~

~  China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year.  ~

~  The Pacific Ocean covers 28 per cent of the Earth`s surface.  ~

~  The poorest country on Earth is Mozambique.  Switzerland is the richest.  ~

~  At the nearest point, Russia and America are less than 4 km apart.  ~

 

"  The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs.  "

                                                                   Alphonse de Lamartine

 

ST. GEORGE`S DAY

Hello everyone,  Today  I am going to post an entry about St George, the patron saint of England. It`s not really a celebration in this country as the `far right` of politics have hijacked the English flag of St. George for their dubious use.  Also it is associated with England football matches.  So I thought why not relate one of the legends of the slaying of the dragon.  So I prepared this tale.......

     ROYAL ST. GEORGE

Though King Arthur favoured Camelot and Caerleon as his chief seats of power, his father King Uther Pendragon, Emperor of Britain, had always loved Uffington above all his palaces.  It was from Uffington Castle that Merlin had turned a flock of sheep, gazing below Kingstone Down, to stone;  and it was here that the old Emperor died.  While Merlin whisked little Arthur away to be raised in safety,  King Uther was buried under a huge mound, a small hill even, near his favourite home.  The country became split once more into numerous minor kingdoms, while Arthur`s return was awaited; but it would be many years before he would slip the sword from the stone and re-unite his Empire.

Some of the sub-kingdoms flourished during this period of independence, but that which centred around the Berkshire downs was not so fortunate.  The local king who had taken power in Uffington after Uther`s death had thought that the Emperor`s tomb would bring wealth and riches to his kingsom through the visits of pilgrims ; but the monument was nothing but a blight to his people.  King Uther, as befitted a mighty Emperor, had been buried along with many of his finest treasures.  Unfortunately the smell of so much gold and silver had attracted the attention of a ferocious dragon.  It had flown straight to King Uther`s tomb and taken up residence as gaurdian of the Imperial treasure.

When the beast had first arrived, it had ravished the countryside to satisfy its appetite.  So the King of Uffington had ordered that the dragon be fed each day with a plump sheep from one of the local farms.  This was but a temporary solution however, for it was not long before all the sheep in the kingdom had been eaten.  These were followed by the cattle, and then all other animals available.  Eventually the King had to make a very difficult decision.  He knew he had to try to keep the majority of his subjects safe.  So he decreed that lots should be drawn every morning and whoever`s name was pulled from the hat would have to sacrifice themselves to save the rest!

Sad was the day when the first child of Uffington had been set forth, tied to the stake for the dragon to devour;  but the torment brought to the townsfolk had not ended there.  All names returned to the hat each day and they could never be sure whose name would be drawn next.  There was gloom and despair all over the kingdom and the King of Uffington felt guilty that not even his own family were exempt.  Then the unthinkable happened, the name of the King`s own daughter, Princess Sadra, was pulled from the hat.

All the kingdom mourned on the fateful morning that the young princess was brought to the Dragon`s Hill.  The beast lay asleep and she was tied up where it could see her when it awoke.  Then the people of Uffington went back to their homes, they didn`t want to see the poor girl`s fate.

Passing through the kingdom at this time was a swarthy young knight looking for adventure.  He had set out from his home, near what is now Coventry, to try to make a name for himself.  He was an accomplished soldier who had served the old Emperor, but with the Imperial Guard disbanded, he needed to find a new path in life. He had sought exitement in the sub-kingdoms of the Midlands and Southern Britain:  at Glastonbury he had obtained a miraculous sword.  Now he was riding the Downs.  It was just as he rounded a bluff down in the valley below Uffington Castle he heard a piercing scream, and knew his time had come.  His horse, named Bayard, stamped at the sound.  Looking up, the knight could just make out the tiny figure of a beatiful maiden frozen with terror at the approach of a huge monster!

The princess had kept her composure remarkably well up until that moment.  The dragon had woken and smelt her presence.  She could bear the situation no longer, and terror overtook her.  The dragon`s nostrils were smoking now as it crept forward; but down in the valley the young knight was spurring his horse up the steep hillside.  The dragon stepped forward again, its foul breath engulfed the princess and she fainted at the smell. Our hero reached the top of the escarpment just as the dragon`s jaws opened wide to devour the poor girl.  He hurled his spear right at the dragon`s exposed hindquaters. The beast let out great gry of pain and swirled round to face his attacker.  Sword drawn, the knight charged into the fray.  He had never faced so terrible a foe, but he had no time to question the wisdom of his actions.  Sword clashed upon scale and tooth, flame and claw clashed against shield.  The knight was unseated now but he fought valiantly on.  The noise was so horrendous that curiosity enticed the court out onto the Castle ramparts to see what was going on.  They couldn`t believe their eyes, the knight was attacking the dragon with the ferocity of a wild animal, dodging it`s fiery breath with surpising agility.  Forward he thrust with his sword again and again, until suddenly it slid smoothly between the beast`s scales and embedded itself deep in its heart.  The acidic blood poured from the wound and onto the grassy mound, burning through the glimmering chalk below.  The howls of anguish from the dying animal resounded around the valley.  Its body thrashed wildly and then it was silent. 

The people of Uffington flooded from the Castle, overjoyed to see the dragon finally vanquished.  They lifted their saviour high above their heads and took him through the castle gates. Cheers filled the air as the King of Uffington greeted him warmly and with gratitude.  He had not only saved his people but his own daughter as well, and the girl seemed to have taken an instant shine to her hero.  So the King declared that as a reward for his gallantry, the knight had won the princess` hand in marriage, and would one day inherit the throne.  The people cheered, and as a further honour to the knight is was decided to carve a great monumental dragon into the chalk hillside next to the Castle, while the beast itself was buried with King Uther under the Dragon`s Hill.  All would now remember his miraculous deed forever; and the King turned to the young knight and exclaimed, " I haven`t asked you lad, what is your name?"

" George." said the knight.                 

                                                                                 

 

SUNSHINE,FRIDAY AND GHOSTS

Hello everyone,

What a lovely day it is today.  The sun is shining and it`s feeling really warm and on top of that it`s friday.  What could be better?  I went shopping with Kerry this morning for Jim`s birthday present for Monday.  She bought him a nice shirt which I know he will like.  Shopping is a slower process than it was with Kerry now. Being 26 wks pregnant does tend to slow you down a bit, so we just wandered around at her pace, not easy for me because I`m a fast walker and I just whizz around the shops when I`m on my own.  We didn`t get home until after 2pm and then I snatched something to eat and took Jake for a hort afternoon walk just to stretch his legs ( he`d already had a long run in the park with Jim this morning) then it was back here and finally computer time.  Speaking of which,  I heard on the radio this morning about a study somewhere that has found that people who are addicted to reading email daily are in danger of becoming less intelligent.  They call it infomania I think, I won`t worry because with my brain I doubt it`ll make much difference lol!  So whilst suffering from infomania I`ll have to check my email and before i go to wish you all a very nice weekend and may the weather be kind to you.  ;-)

PS:  For Sara,  I will post some garden pics when the clematis flowers.  The garden is rather `new` looking at the moment, and my `beautiful` new plants are not really much more than twigs, but in a couple of weeks my orange azalea will open and there will be a great photo opportunity and then later the summer jasmine.  :-)

 

PPS:  A now a ghost story which may be familiar to my American friends.  It`s called............................

                                              THE `BELL WITCH`

John Bell lived with his wife, four sons and a daughter on a farm in rural Tenessee.  Betsy, the daughter, became the focus of the hauntings of a spirit now referred to as the `Bell Witch`.  The disturbances started in 1817 and were initially, no more than the sound of scratching and the occasional knock.  Soon however, bedclothes were being pulled from people as they slept and there were odd noises as though of someone choking.  Furniture began to move, stones were thrown and then the spirit started to slap Betsy across the face.  She would hear the noise of a blow and then her face would redden in the pattern of a hand.  On many occasions her hair would be pulled violently and painfully.  Obviously now the target of the the spirit`s malevolent, Betsy was soon tired out and eventually John Bell sought help for his daughter from a neighbour James Johnson, who was a very much liked and respected lay preacher.  Johnson very quickly came to the conclusion that it was not practical jokes that were being played, and he decided that the only thing to do was try to contact the spirit.  It became apparent after a while that the spirit was trying to communicate, and according to one account, `It commenced whistling when spoken to, in a low broken sound, as trying to speak in a whistling voice, and in this way progressed until the whistling sound was was changed to a weak, fluttering whisper uttering indistinct words.  The voice however, gradually gained strength in articulating and soon the utterances became distinct in a low whisper so as to be understood in the absence of other noise.`

Now that it could form words, it started to tell stories that were sometimes contradictory.  It was the spirit from a body that was buried in the surrounding forest;  it came from a settler who had hidden his fortune in the woods and had died before he could retrieve it;  and it was an evil conjuring by a local woman, Kate Batts, who had the reputation of being a witch.  Then John Bell started to suffer attacks.  The ghost declared that it would give him a dose of such a medicine that he would die from it.  His jaw then swelled, and he suffered violent spasms and convulsions until one day he fell into a coma from which he never awoke.  When he eventually died, the spirit filled the house with cries of triumph that were repeated at his funeral a few days later.

For a short period after this, the remaining members of the Bell family had peace, and then in 1821, one evening as they sat around the supper table, a large smoking sphere rose from the grate and gradually vanished as it turned to smoke.  The spirit`s voice cried out, ` I`m going to be gone for seven years.`  It never returned.

 

WEDNESDAY WAFFLINGS

Hello everyone,  Apring has well and truly sprung here today. I do say today because the forecast is for rain tomorrow!  But for today it has been beautiful.  This morning I took the camera out with us on our walk and I got some great photos.  I snapped the trees with various coloured blossom and later Jake with a couple of off-duty guide dogs as they all played happily in the field nearby.  Later Jim and I went to the garden centre for lunch and the buying of plants.  We bought a deciduous Azalea with glorious orange coloured blooms for a dull corner of the garden, a clematis to train up the trunk of our newly delivered weeping cherry, some sweet peas and a couple of alpines to put in a pot that looks a little bare at the moment.  This afternoon we planted the lot and though I say it myself the garden looks rather nice, not as nice as it will be next year, but nice all the same.

We had the news yesterday that our front door has to be replaced.  The entire system has broken inside the door and it can`t be opened at all.  They`ve changed the locking system nowadays and if the locks `go` like ours has, all that needs changing is the barrel itself.  Of course it is going to cost a fortune, but we have to have a front door, so we are in the process of choosing a new one.   Well, that`s it for now, enjoy the rest of your day!

 

~  Renee Zellweger keeps a `grateful` journal, a collection of her favourite things, on her bedside table.  ~

~  Cindy Crawford believes placentas should be buried under trees for good luck.~

~  Sean ( P Diddy) Coobs wears a diamond-encrusted watch to protect him against pollution from his mobile phone.  ~

~  Nicholas Cage was 28 before he first went abroad ( to a special screening in Cannes).  He employs his own pizza chef and has a special oven in his house.  ~

~  During their marriage, Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton bought an electric chair for their dining room.  ~

~  Harrison Ford has a species of spider named after him.  ~

 

SHOPPING and GHOSTS

Hello everyone, welcome to Wednesday`s journal entry. I was out shopping today and had rather a good time.  I was looking for a pair of jeans as I live and die in the things!  I had decided it was worth spending a little more to find a really comfortable pair.  After trying on lots of so-called `quality` jeans, I came across a pair that were perfect in fit and appearance.... the cost?  £15!  I am impressed.  I also bought myself a new novel, ` Life isn`t all ha ha hee hee` by Meera Syal.  I`ve been wanting to read it for some time so I shall get stuck into it tonight.  Then I went into a discount bookshop where I found my Purchase of the Day.  A book of true ghost stories which I hope will please my readers.  They are not too long and from what I`ve seen so far, just right for my journal, so I`ll start today with a short one.  It`s called......................

            

 The Legend of Evelyn Carew

Every year at midnight on 31st May, a phantom coach races from the Hall at Potter Heigham, Norfolk to its destruction on the three-arched bridge in the village.  In the 18th century, Lady Evelyn Carew was married to Sir Godfrey Haslitt.  The marriage ceremony took place on 31st May 1741 at Norwich Cathedral, but the wedding had only been made possible by the bride allegedly making a contract with the Devil, promising she would be his if if only she could first marry the rich Sir Godfrey.   After the wedding the bridal party returned to Sir Godfrey`s estate for the reception as the clock struck midnight.  At that moment the gates of the Hall burst open, and there framed in its door was a skeleton.  Ignoring the screaming guests, the skeleton rushed over to where the bride stood and grabbed her up in its bony arms and carried her to a waiting coach.  The Devil had demanded his due.  Sir Godfrey`s last sight of his young bride was her pale face through the window of the coach with the skeleton seated beside her.  The coach, pulled by four black horses and occupied by three other skeletons, raced down the driveway and took  the road to Potter Heigham.   The night was quiet but there were still a few people who saw the coach and its terrified passenger race down the road until it reached the bridge in the village, where it swung across the narrow road and, smashing into the parapet, broke into pieces and fell - horses,coach and passengers - into the river below.

 

TUESDAY TITBITS

I couldn`t find a good graphic to post to match my entry so I`ll have to do without.  I spent most of this morning having my hair done so there`s nothing from this morning to report.

Jim`s fishing in Guildford today with Ted, so there`s nothing about him either.  So this is all about this afternoon.  I set out after lunch with Jake for what was meant to be a nice leisurely walk, ( I always have the best intentions!), and to start with everything went according to plan, sunny afternoon, black cloud hovering but not threatening, me throwing Jake`s pastic fling-ring for him to retrieve, all the usual stuff.   Then it happened,  I saw `her` and couldn`t even make a quick getaway, she had seen me and my exit was blocked.  `Her` is an ex-colleague from my old job.  `Her` is the sort of person you either take to or you don`t, I am in the latter category.   I also knew that my quiet afternoon walk was over and I would be out for nearer 2 hrs but wouldn`t get much walking done either.  I also knew her ghastly little dog would try to eat Jake if they got to close to each other too.    The first thing she said to me was about our old workplace, then the people who worked there, then the managers there, then all the gossip she had heard recently about said workplace and managers.  The thing being I`ve heard it all before, she knows I`m not at all interested in gossip but she still told me it all again anyway. Her little dog, as predicted, had his lip permanently curled with his teeth bared at Jake.  I tried to add a little of my own into the conversation, but this was met with annoyance that she was being distracted...... I didn`t bother again and switched my mind on to auto-pilot and just nodded and murmered from time to time, hopefully in the right places.  lol!   Thankfully there was a loud clap of thunder and she decided it was time to go, well she didn`t want to get wet did she?  Nor did I , but then I had much further to walk home than her.  As we were working down the road a van pulled up with  another ex-colleague in it.  She was so pleased to see him that she forgot about me, I just said my goodbyes and hurriedly walked away with a relieved Jake trotting by my side!  I was free at last after an hour and a half.  Now we could begin our walk ..... but wait, was that rain I felt?  Oh yes, and plenty of it threatened to come down by the look of the sky.  As it happened the rain didn`t come to much but there is still very dark clouds hovering over my house and the odd rumble of thunder, so a storm is definetely brewing.  I won`t be taking him out again today but I will have to avoid the same area at that time of day in cause she`s there again with that animal of hers that she can`t control .

I have to go as I`m I`m cooking Chicken Fajitas for dinner tonight and I have to prep it all up before I can settle down here for the rest of the afternoon.  Take care and have a great day. :-)

 

~  David Lynch always leaves one shoelace untied.  ~

~  Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina state anthem.  ~

~  Debra Winger was the voice of ET.  ~

~  Woody Allen won`t take a shower if the drain is in the middle.  ~

~  Queen Latifah wears the key for the motorcycle on which her brother suffered a fatal crash on a chain around her neck.  ~

~  Anna Kournikova hasn`t cut her waist-length hair since she was seven.  ~

~  Robert Downey Jr once spent a night in jail with Tommy Lee.  ~

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POSTCARDS AND MONDAY

This is one of the last postcards that I have give or take a couple.  I may have enough to for another collage, we`ll have to see.  Here we have from the left , the first two columns, Gibralter and two of its famous resident  barbary apes.  Kerry says they are a real nuisance, throwing rocks at you and trying to steal your belongings! lol  From the right-hand corner going down, we have Istanbul Turkey. Porto, Portugal and Barcelona, Spain with the famous unfinished church of the Sacredo Famillia.

Today has been another fairly uneventful day.  Weather-wise, it has been a very funny one.  Last night and most of this morning it poured with rain, this afternoon it got really sunny and warm, now it`s getting very dark outside with more rainclouds.  I know it`s April but c`mon... let`s have a bit of real sunshine that lasts more than a day!  We were in Black Park again with Jake, letting him have his regular swim.  When we got him we were recommended to take him to hydrotherapy to help his hip dysplasia, but it`s very expensive and Black Park lake is free, more fun for him and completely painless where our pocket`s are concerned.  The swimming is really building up his hip muscles and hopefully in just a couple of months he`ll be walking better too.  I don`t think other people notice it but he has this funny gait where he carries his back legs together when he runs, but it is improving all the time now thankfully.  We have been told he would probably have quite bad arthritis early on, probably by about six.... well not if I have anything to do with it he won`t.

This morning I bought a couple of stepping stones from the £1 shop so that I can walk on the garden to get to my climbing plants.  This afternoon Jim called out to me that Jake had picked one up in his mouth ( they are very heavy!) and was just about to chew it..... unbelievable that dog!

Thanks for the comments for yesterdays entry about the Sikh parade.  What I forgot to mention was the noise that was made.  When the parade started from the temple a couple of streets away.  They fire a very loud air bomb-type firework that awakens the neighbourhood.  That is followed by the loud drumming and chanting which actually started quite a few dogs howling along with it.  Not Jake of course, he`s far to polite.  but the noise was quite something, very impressive, and  as I noticed just how clean it was when it has passed, so I did when the noise stopped.  It was really wierd, as if they hasn`t really been there at all, very strange indeed.

Well that`s all for now.  I`ve run out of the trivia facts I was posting so now I have something else for you.  Enjoy the rest of your day.  Bye for now and take good care. :-)

 

~  Tommy Lee has a Starbucks in his house.  ~

~  Marlon Brando`s occupation on his passport was "shepherd".  ~

~  Demis Roussos was on a plane that was hijacked and taken to Beirut.  ~

~  Julio Iglesias once had f gallons of water flown from Miami to LA so he could wash his hair.  ~

~  Sir Anthony Hopkins used to hypnotise people by pulling their earlobes.  ~

 

VAISAKHI FESTIVAL

Hello...... A big thankyou to all those who read yesterday`s entry and left the kind comments.  Jake is fine today, nothing wrong with him at all. It`s only me who is still a bit upset by it all, but then I do tend to overeact a times.  Today we went to Black Park instead, had a lovely time there in the sunshine,  Jake swam, ran around with many of the other dogs that were there without the slightest hint of trouble.  As I said, thanks again! :-)

I took these photos today of the annual celebration parade of Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year festival and commemerating 1699, the year that Sikhism was born as a collective faith.  It is always a very colourful event with orange being the Sikh`s colour.  The parade is conducted very well, with the local Sikh community paying for the extra police who manage the procession, they also have their own marshalls and street cleaners.  After the procession has passed you would never know it had happened as the streets are cleaner after they have gone than before!

The photo in the bottom left corner, are the holy men who walk barefoot carrying the ceremonial swords representing the five K`s, or Khalsa. The 5 K`s are:

~  Kesh (uncut hair)

~  Kara ( a steel bracelet)

~  Kanga (a wooden comb)

~  Kaccha (cotton underwear)

~  Kirpan (sword)

The parade was much smaller than it has been in the past.  Usually there are quite a few more floats and many more people, but this one went by really quickly.  Maybe a lot of people didn`t come to Slough this year and opted instead to go to another parade elsewhere. I`ve not bothered taking photos of this before so I decided to take them from an upstairs window, all the while darting back and forth to the computer reading emails and journals. I`ll sign off now but I hope you`ve all had a smashing weekend, Bye for now and enjoy the rest of your day. :-)

 

~  An inch of snow falling evenly on one acre of ground is equivalent to about 2,715 gallons on water.  ~

~  During the middle ages people used spider webs to cure warts.  ~

~  In 1967, the American Association of Typographers made a new punctuation mark that was a combination the question mark and an exclaimation mark, they called it an interrobang. It was rarely used and hasn`t been seen since.  ~

~  Genghis Khan`s cavalry rode female horses so soldiers could drink their milk.  ~

~  Given sufficient amounts of chocolate, pigs can master video game skills. ~

 

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Hello everyone,   I`ve had a hell of an day.  After last night too.  Jim came in from work yesterday afternoon, closed the front door behind and CLUNK, the lock on the door broke and all six bolts on the door now prevent it from being opened.  In fact, we are lucky that we have another door to the front or we would be trapped in the house.  Because of the type of door catches we have, we most likely will need a new door.  We have a friend who came out to see us last, he fits double glazing and doors for a living.  He`s not hopeful of saving the door at all.  He will let us know what do do by Monday, he is going to consult with an expert before coming to any definete conclusion.  He did say though, not to go to a locksmith as they charge a fortune just to drill through the barrel of the lock.  So for now we are using the dining room door.  We are lucky that we still have the door, because when we did the building work on our kichen and we were knocking down walls etc., we were going to brick up the door and put in a window.  The reason we didn`t was that I thought that if and when we sell up, another family might not like the idea of only one door.  I`m certainly glad we stuck with the idea or we would have to climb in and out of the window !

Back to my rotten day today.  This morning was filled with boring housework, nothing different there,  but this afternoon we took Jake out for a walk to Burnham Beeches, again nothing different, but while we were out and on our way back to the car, we walked passed a couple of elderly people with dogs, we know them slightly and stopped to say `hello`. We were just about to go when one of the dogs jumped on Jake and attacked him viciously.  It wasn`t one of this spats that dogs have to see who is boss, the type that sorts itself out in no time, no it was a full-blown attack that came from nowhere.  Poor Jake , he was screaming as he was bitten again and again, Jim kept trying to grab the dog, ( who wasn`t wearing a collar, thus making it even harder) but it kept getting away from him and going straight back from the now very frightened Jake.  Eventually Jim did manage to pull him off long enough for the lady owner to put him back on a lead, but he was still trying to get Jake.  The lady, who is probably in her seventies looked terribly upset and apologised profusely saying her dog had never before done a thing like that, he probably hadn`t, but for an old dog he was certainly very nasty.  We told her not to worry and that Jake was OK,  and we left them and got back to the car as soon as we could. He had a couple of red marks on his ears and he was wet around the neck, no real damage, but he was very shaken.  Jim and I were both very upset and are still wondering what could have sparked the assault.  When we got home I started shaking and felt very hot, I even thought I was going to faint. I went outside and sat down, shock , I suppose.  It was a very upsetting experience, Jake`s Ok but i do hope it doesn`t make him wary of dogs in future.  He has a wonderful nature and it would be very sad if it was spoiled by this.  

Sorry for my long ramble, but it helps to put it down on paper, so to speak. Bye for now and have a very good Saturday. :-)

 

by Angel

MORE POSTCARDS AND STUFF

 Another collage I`m afraid!  Now I`ve started this Photomix thing I can`t stop, and it`s a good way to post all of Kerry`s postcards. Here we have Copenhagan Denmark,  St. Petersburg Russia,  Rhodes Greece and the Isle of Capri, that little jewel in the Mediterranean Sea.  Kerry tells me that sailing away from from Capri at sunset is one of the most beautiful sights there is.

Today is a really dismal, chilly day.  When I woke up this morning it was foggy.  Not something to expect at this time of year.  It`s rained on and off all day.  I had planned to go into town for a few things but I had to wait in for a delivery by courier.  I did hope he would come early , leaving me plenty of time to do something with the day, if only to have a long walk with Jake.  The package eventually turned up at 1.00pm.,  I could have gone to town as planned.  Never mind I just got on with the washing instead.  Kerry came over to tell me about her ante-natal appointment yesterday.  Everything is fine with both her her and the bay, though she does have some fluid retention. for that the midwife told her to drink a bottle of tonic water a day, something to do with the quinine contained in it, she won`t get malaria, that`s for sure!  :-) 

I was hoping to be able to buy some more tiger bread, we bought some earlier in the week.  Has anyone else heard of it ?  It`s totally new to me.  It looks like any other baguette but it had dark brown stripes across the crust.  Jim liked the look of it and thought we should give it a try.  I made tiger bread bacon sarnies and they tasted wonderful....mmm  yummy!

I stayed up even later last night with my book, I didn`t go to bed early so I  read until I was going cross-eyed, not the cleverest thing to do, but I just wanted to know what was happening next.  I spoke to my son this afternoon, still nothing on the job front as he is waiting on one company to get back to him and another where the guy he needs to see is on holiday!  My son-in-law has been asked by the agency if he will do some temporary work for them and he has agreed.  he has to go to Russia for his studies next month unitl early June and then he can look for something permanent.  Luckily for both of them that because their jobs are specialised there are agencies that deal with just that.  I`m starting to think about getting a part-time job myself, not especially for the money, though it would help. But for something else to do.  The trouble is it would have to be something flexible because of the holidays we`ve got booked and because I promised Kerry I would be around for her until she`s settled with the baby.  That will take me up until September when I`ll be screaming to get back to work!  I`ll have to see what I can find.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and that the sun will shine on all of you.  Bye for now. ;-)

 

~  A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; a group of geese in the air is a skein.  ~

~  After Custer`s last stand, Sioux leader Chief Sitting Bull became an entertainer and toured the country with Buffalo Bill`s Wild West Show.  ~

~  Aeschylus, the founder of Classical Greek tragedy, is said to have died when an eagle passing overhead dropped a tortoise on his head.  ~

~  Aztec emporer Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant `plenty of excrement`.  ~

~  Bananas contain about 75 per cent water.  ~

~  Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.  ~

~  Chewing gum has rubber as an ingredient.  ~

~  Coca-Cola was originally green.  ~

~  Cuckoo clocks come from the Black Forest in Germany - not Switzerland.  ~

 

                  

POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER

 

Today`s collage is made up of postcards Kerry sent from her voyage around South America. They are from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Mombasa.  ( yes, I know Mombasa is in Africa!)  The African photo was taken before they all went off on safari,  Kerry is in the middle of the group, dressed in black. The safari was a highlight of the cruise that took in visits to Egypt, Jordan, the Suez canal, Kenya, Jabouti (they only stopped for fuel there) Morocco and Tunisia.

Today`s weather is better than yesterday but has been threatening to rain all day.  I`ve been lucky to not to get wet while out with Jake, just the odd spit and spot.  I do want the weather to get better so I can spend some time in the garden sorting my plants out.  I don`t enjoy gardening in this weather, I need the fair weather and then I can really get some work done.

I`m halfway through my book now.  Last night I read for much longer than I intended and this morning I nearly overslept.  Maybe tonight if I go to bed earlier I can read for longer and still get enough sleep.  I`m enjoying this book so much that I will miss it once I`ve finished it.  I do hate that and end up imagining what the characters do after the ending!  I suppose I`d better get myself another couple of books when I go to town tomorrow.  The best book shop we have is Ottakars, they always have special offers on.  I know I want to read the `Da Vinci Code` but what else do I fancy?  I`ll have to have a good browse around and see what I can find.

Yesterday I was looking on the net for something interesting to post today.  What I found was an interesting tale about St. George, so I will wait until St.George`s Day,  23rd April ,to post it.  I will have to trawl around to see what else I can find.   I`m off now to do just that, so I hope you`ve all had a good and productive day, Bye for now and take care. :-)

~  The warrior tribes of Ethiopia used to hang the testicles of those they killed in battle on the ends of their spears.  ~

~  Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or mother as both were deaf.  ~

~  The Zambian authorities don`t allow tourists to take pictures of Pygmies.  ~

~  Ralph and Carolyn Cummings had 5 children between 1952 and 1966, all of whom were born on 20th February.  ~

~  Eau de Cologne was originally marketed as a way of protecting yourself against the plague.  ~

~  South American gauchos put raw steak under their saddles before a day`s riding to tenderize the meat.  ~

~  The Crystal palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 contained 92,900 square metres of glass.  ~

~  Blackbird, chief of the Omaha Indians, was buried sitting on his favourite horse.  ~

 

     

WASHOUT WEDNESDAY

Hello everybody, and welcome to a very wet and miserable wednesday.  This morning when I woke up I had hoped to hang all my washing outside........wrong....... not today.  I also had planned to take Jake for a long walk along the country roads.  That I would still have to do bad weather or not.  As it turned out, by the time I got round to walking him the sun had come out and we had a really nice time walking around for an hour,  Jake got all the exercise he needed on and off the lead.  I got the chance to look at the lovely gardens hereabouts and also to see how many different species of birds I could spot or recognise by sound.  By the time we got home the sky was looking threatening and it was only a matter of time before the rain fell again, so I was pleased to get home, have a cup of coffee and a bit of lunch.

Nothing else has really happened today at all.  When the post came, all I got was a letter telling me I`d won another luxury cruise and all I had to do to claim it was call this number etc. etc.  Hmmph..... if all these so-called holidays were genuine I wouldn`t have time in the year to take them all  lol!  But really thats that.  I honestly have nothing of any consequence to say......I do have a very sad existence it seems! I think tomorrow I`ll have to find something of interest to fill my entry.  For now I`ll leave you with some more trivia. Bye for now, and have a great and more fulfilling day than me. :-)

 

~  Pablo Picasso was abandoned by the midwife just after his birth because she thought he was stillborn.  He was saved by an uncle.  ~

~  At the height of his addiction, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge drank about 2 litres of laudanum (tincture of opium) each week.  ~

~  The metre was originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the pole.  ~

~  A fully loaded supertanker travelling at normal speed takes at least twenty minutes to stop.  ~

~  North American Indians ate watercress to dissolve stones in the bladder. ~

~  In Russia, suppositories cut from fresh potatoes were used for relief of haemorrhiods.  ~

~  Opium was widely used as a painkiller during the American Civil War.  More than a hundred thousand soldiers became addicts.  ~

 

                                       

TUESDAY TRIVIA

Hello... I started my entry this morning, but I had to go out so didn`t finish it.  I did try early morning first of all but the journals were down.  In the meantime I thought I`d mess around with Photomix and what better subject than the handsome Jake.  I must get out there and find another subject to point my camera at!

This afternoon we had an unproductive shopping trip to Uxbridge to buy my birthday present. Jim`s buying me a watch but the problem is that I have very small wrists and always have to have several links removed from the strap. Like today for instance, after finding a watch that I really liked I tried it on and had to have three links out this time. Consequently ity took a long time and Jim paid for the watch while we waited.  It turned out that three was too much so they put one back in..... problem...... now it was too big and the watch would be no good to me, so Jim had to go through the process of getting his money back and I still have no birthday present :-(  We didn`t have time for anymore shopping around as the carpark ticket was due to run out.  Jim is going back to work tomorrow so I`ll go into town later in the week and see if I can find anything there.  I did get my present from Danny last night, he got me Katie Melua`s CD  `Call off the Search`.  I`ve wanted it for ages and it`s really good.  Thanks Dan!

We bought some teak oil for our wooden garden furniture.  I suppose we will have to get busy with that in the next few days.  Jim read the instructions on the bottle and apparently if you don`t wash the cloths that you use to apply the oil at once they may spontaneously combust...... scary!  but a hell of a party trick....... don`t try this at home folks.....lol...!

I started my new book `The Family Way` and it`s a really good story, one of those where you get into it straight away and you don`t want to put it down.  I can`t wait to get my hands on it tonight.  I always read in bed so that if I fall asleep I`m in the right place  lol :-)  I`m going to try ` The DaVinci Code` next to see what all the fuss is about.  I`m definetely getting back into book reading, I`ve been more into magazine reading and crosswords of late.  I don`t read womens magazines but I have a dog mag.that I subscribe to and the odd computer mag ,so books it will be for the forseeable future. I don`t have time for both.  That`s it for today, I`ll sign off now and have something to eat. Enjoy the rest of your day and I hope the weather is kind.

 

~  Actress Sarah Bernhardt played the part of Juliet ( 13 years old) when she was 70.  ~

~  EMI stands for ` Electrical and Musical Instruments`.  ~

~  1 kg of lemons contains more sugar than 1 kg of strawberries.  ~

~  About 70 per cent of all living organisms in the world are bacteria.  ~

~  The yo-yo originated in the Philipines where it was used as a weapon in hunting.  ~

~  The board game Monopoly was originally rejected by parker Brothers who claimed it had 52 fundamental errors.  ~

~  The screwdriver was invented before the screw.  ~

~  The screwdriver cocktail was invented by oilmen, who used the tool to stir the drink.  ~

 

                            

COLNE VALLEY DAY OUT

Hello everybody!  We had our day out as planned at the country park.  It`s in the village of Denham, about 6 miles from where we live.  Although I`ve lived in this area most of my life I`ve never been there and it came a nice surprise to see how what a lovely place it is too.  The park at one point goes around Buckinghamshire Golf Club, a members only place that is kept in pristine condition.  Despite this , dog walkers are allowed to cross the fairways as long as they keep their dogs under control.  We thought it best to keep Jake on the lead until we were out of the way of the golfers!  There is a lake there with a waterspout in the middle (pictured), and apparently the club doesn`t mind if dogs go in for a swim as long as they don`t interfere with the play.

We then made our way down through the fields along the river Midbourne and on to the Colne.  The Colne is a fast-flowing but shallow river where trout can be caught at certain times of the year. At the moment river fishing is out of season but even in season the rights belong to an angling club, much to Jim`s disappointment.  We then walked along the towpath of the Grand Union canal and on to Denham Deep lock where we were lucky enough to see a narrow boat going in through the lock gates.  While we sat and watched a swan came walking along the towpath just to get to the other side and carry on his journey upriver. It was so funny to see him waddling along ( pictured).  He looked at Jake and hissed, Jake looked at him and growled, then Jake decided enough was enough and sat back under where Jim was sitting and the swan just carried on walking.

We didn`t realise until then that we had been walking for over two hours so we decided to make our way back to the carpark.  On the walk back we noticed that part of the Colne actually ran underneath the canal lock. How the builders did that we`ll never know, but it certainly is a clever piece if engineering. A lady there told me that quite a few lives were lost in the building of the lock and I can`t say I am surprised, the canal is very deep there. What a hazardous job to do. When we got back to the car we were all worn out, even Jake who didn`t even want to jump into the back of the car, he changed his mind when I threw a dog biscuit in though!  When we got home Jim decided to do some gardening and mow the lawn too.  Jake decided to sleep on the cool grass, and I decided to write in my journal and read all 59 of my emails!

Well that`s it for now.  I have to catch up those emails and read the journals. Bye for now and enjoy the rest of this lovely Monday.

 

                                                         

SUNDAY STROLLS

Happy Sunday!

My first collage....... not great but I had to start somewhere.  This is a collage of photos I took today in Black Park.  We always love to go there on a nice sunny day like today.  As you can see Jake had a fine old time in the water. He was in there for ages and would have stayed for the rest of the day if we had let him.  We also walked for miles through the woods just to savour the day.  I took 41 photos altogether and only had to delete 2 . My technique is improving I`m pleased to say and it does help to have such an easy little camera.  I took some shots of some of the sculptures that are dotted around the park.  I don`t know what significance, if any, are attached to the stones. I just like them anyway.  They are made of granite and glass and will last years and years.  The wooden `pagoda` is a native American Indian style structure, so I`m told, but it`s very unusual looking so I thought it was worth taking a photo.  Soon the floor of the woods will be covered in bluebells and the really old rhodadendrums ( sorry about the spelling!) will be flowering and they are definetely a sight to see.  More photos to take!

Late this afternoon I decided to put another two plants in the garden. One is an ornimental cherry shrub and the other a Pieris `Forest Flame`.  I have to buy some more clematis and sweet peas and a deciduous azalea.  I have great plans for the bare patch of lawn at the end of the garden.  Next spring and summer it will be really colourful.  I plan to grow clematis up the branches so that when the trees finish blossoming there will be more flowers from the clematis for the summer...clever eh? 

Now the good weather is back Jim and I hope to go out for the day tomorrow.  We were going to go to the coast but decided against it until later in the year, it`s not that warm yet, and having Jake with us means we won`t be allowed into the shops if the weather turns bad again. There`s a country park nearby that we`ve wanted to visit for a while, maybe we`ll give that a try.  We`ll decide by tomorrow anyway.  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Bye for now. 

 

                         

SATURDAY THINGS

Happy Saturday to you all.  Another cold and blustery day here.......brrrrr, I do hope it warms up soon, this weather is all mixed up.  I`ve been messing about with a program called Photomix. I wanted to know how do do things with my photos and I asked  Jeannette, who sent me the site and it`s really good fun.  I hope soon I can post some fun photo entries.  I was trying to learn how to make my own graphics but I think I`ll leave it too the experts.  I found it very difficult and time consumming just trying to learn.  I think I`ll stick to photographs in the future.  I took this one of my cream camelia.  The bush itself was getting rather tatty so I thought a close up was the way to go.

Good news, my son-in-law Slava has passed his British driving test.  He passed at home in Russia 8yrs ago but he`s not allowed to drive here on that licence for more than a year.  It should now help his chances in the job department.  My son Danny has had one job interview already that went very well, and he has another coming up soon.  He is very confident about his prospects as he knows his own worth.  I`m very proud of him as he sets about finding not just another job but a better one.  He has a very easy manner about him that employers like.  He very much takes after my dad who always said there is nothing wrong with knowing your own worth as long as you don`t brag about it.  I wish I had inherited that confidence but it has skipped a generation and the future is all about the young of today.  

Hmm...... this is getting to deep for a weekend entry, I`ll be talking about the meaning of life next lol!  Did anyone watch the wedding today?  I watched a bit of the blessing to get a peek at the faces of the Queen and princes Willam and Harry.  To me the Queen looked as though she would rather be somewhere else, (probably watching the National!) William was looking down most of the time while Harry, like any teenager looked throughly bored and kept leaning on the pew in front.  I do like Harry because you never know what he will do next.  A bit of bad behaviour from him always makes headlines and usually makes me smile ( though I didn`t approve of his choice of fancy dress at THAT party!).  Let`s hope Charlie and Camilla are happy now, though I wonder if they will ever banish the ghost of the lovely Diana.  Have a good weekend all of you.  Bye for now.

ps: I had a bet on the Grand National ----  The horse came fifth!