8 things

On my return from Spain I found that Karen at The Rubbish Diet had tagged me - so here I go.

8 things I am looking forward to:

Our holiday on the Isle of Wight, with daughter and grand-daughter
Visiting the Banksy exhibition in Bristol
Going on the big wheel in Weston Super Mare
Meeting up with a friend for lunch next week
Meeting up with a friend for coffee next week
Selling our house
Moving to our new home
Booking a flight to Australia and New Zealand to see family

8 things I did yesterday

Took Mother grocery shopping
Sorted through some old photos
Washing
Ironing
Spoke to daughter on telephone
Wrote to doctor on behalf of mother
Blogged
Went for an Indian meal with friends in evening

8 things I wish I could do

Play the piano
Ride a bike
Swim better
Drink a cup of tea (I really dislike the smell of it but envy anyone who enjoys it so much) - I know, weird!
See my grandchildren more often
Prevent cruelty to children and animals
Have a cookery lesson/session with Rosemary Schrager
Have dinner with George Clooney (anyone can dream!)

8 of my favourite fruit

Cheddar Strawberries
Oranges
Bananas
Grapes
Apples
Raspberries
Peaches
Tomatoes

8 places I would like to travel

I would like to see a lot more of this country
I would like to travel around Australia, it being my son's chosen country to live
I would like to travel around New Zealand, it being my step-daughter's chosen country to live
Canada
China
Iguacu Falls in Brazil
Italy
Barcelona

8 places I have lived

The house where I was born, which overlooked Chesil Beach in Dorset
The cottage where I lived from the age of 3 until I was 12, in Dorset
Osmington Village in Dorset from the age of 12 until I was 20
Wrington near Bristol
Northumberland
Somerset - I have lived in this seaside town since 1971 in 5 different houses.

That's the best I can do!

and finally - I should tag 8 people but I am going to leave this to the choice of any visitors to this post.

ABC Wednesday - B is for Butterflies

My theme for this week's ABC Wednesday is Butterflies.



Knowing my fondness for them my OH has been inspired on occasions to buy me a gift depicting butterflies.

This Bracelet was bought during our holiday in Hawaii in 2001. It's design is based on the Hawaiian Lei and you may be able to see that it is a circle of Butterflies.


Another time he gave me this marcasite Brooch


And, most surprisingly of all this Bag!


So delicate these beautiful, colourful creatures - I have always loved them.

ABC Wednesday - the letter A

I am always intrigued by the entries in ABC Wednesday so thought I'd have a go now that a new round has begun. I know I could have joined in at any time, just wanted to start at the very beginning! I am hav ing to schedule this post for publishing and won't be able to link to ABC Wednesday this time but will be back for next week's.

Photo Albums


This ancient photo was taken at Portland Bill in Dorset about 62 years ago. It is of me, Anne, with my twin Aunts, when I was 3 and they were 18. Aren't they glamorous.



They are still lovely - the next picture was taken at their 80th birthday celebrations last November. (They are the other way around in this picture)!



Next is a photo of me (again)(on the left) with my cousin. We were bridesmaids at one of the twin Aunt's wedding, about 58 years ago. We wore pink dresses, taffeta with an over layer of net and carried posies of Anemones. You can't tell from the picture but we were also wearing liberty bodices to keep us warm as it was a November wedding. We were so upset and still talk about it today!!

Back - but not for long!

So, we are back from Spain. On the day we left we got to the airport in good time and were checked in within 20 minutes. Flight was delayed 2 hours! We telephoned our friend meeting us to break the news and then wandered off to get a drink and kill the time! It went quickly really and finally we were on our way. A good flight over, I sat by the window and was very impressed by the cloud formations I saw. Some of them looked like huge meringues - beautiful! Guess who didn't have her camera with her! We arrived at around 10 pm - very warm! Our friend met us and we drove directly to the local village for something to eat.

We had a lovely relaxing holiday. The weather was hot, very hot, relentlessly hot, day and night! So we sat in the shade and dozed or read or chatted. We cooled off by having a swim. Our friendly duck is still in situ - it is actually a thermometer and the water temperature was around 30 degrees most of the time we were there.

We ate out most days, catching up with acquaintances made last time we were there and making new ones. One evening we (about 16 of us) went to a local cafe for supper where there was a live band playing for a couple of hours - mostly tributes to The Beatles, Van Morrison and a Country & Western singer I can't remember! Later there was dancing. It was a great night and we walked back home at around 1 am.

That was pretty much all we did. I only took about 3 photographs. It was wonderful to just - well I can't say "chill out" - but to RELAX! I read "The Good Earth" by Pearl S Buck which I thoroughly enjoyed, a wonderful book. It was first published in 1931 and in 1937 it was made into a film. In 1935 Pearl S Buck was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. You can read more about her here.

I also read "The Conjuror's Bird" by Martin Davies. I thought it was a good, pacy read. I am a little confused about the reference to "the conjuror" but think I know what was meant. If any of you have read it I would be interested to know your thoughts. I also got well into "The Return" by Victoria Hislop. Having read her previous book "The Island", I guessed I would enjoy this story.

Our flight back was uneventful and on time. When we left Spain it was 39 degrees. We landed at 10.10 pm and were back indoors by 11 pm. Temperature here was 16 degrees!

I have been trying to catch up with fellow bloggers this week because on Tuesday I'm off again. This time to Stratford on Avon to look after our 5 year old grand-daughter for a few days, to help out for the first week of the school holidays. I won't have my camera with me this time though, as OH wants to borrow it whilst I am away.

Looking into Blogworld I found I had an award from Hadriana. She has designed this award herself and awarded it to fellow bloggers who have kept visiting and supporting her in spite of her being a little out of touch lately due to family commitments/work pressures. Thank you Hadriana - I do appreciate it.

I also found that I have been tagged by Karen at The Rubbish Diet. I will be doing this once I am back from my grandparenting duties in Stratford on Avon. Hope you don't mind Karen.

One task I must tackle before I go off on my travels is to make a birthday cake for my lovely daughter, who will be 40 at the end of August. It will give the cake time to settle and mature and I will be back in good time to ice and decorate it.

The Casa of the Missing Duck!

We are lucky enough to have friends who have a holiday home in Spain and OH and I are off today to spend a week with them. A few days of R & R is just what we need right now and we are both looking forward to it. The last holiday we had was our trip to India last October (when we missed our flight to Delhi - you can read about it here)!

We have been to our friends' place before, a couple of years ago and they asked us to go again last year but with one thing and another we just couldn't fit it in. However the last time we were there they had to come back to the UK for a couple of days leaving us "in charge". They have a swimming pool so we didn't intend going very far - we just relaxed by the pool and generally spent the time reading and swimming with an occasional stroll into the local village.



The weather was lovely - warm and sunny - but one day it was very breezy. Going in for a swim I suddenly noticed that the little duck that usually sits in the pool was missing! I asked OH if he had moved it but he was as bemused as I was. We searched everywhere for it - and I mean everywhere! Where on earth could it be! We even looked over the edge of the pool area to the garden!! Oh no - we had been left in charge and the little duck was missing! For quite a while it was a complete mystery. Obviously it hadn't sprouted flight feathers and taken off. Obviously the breeze wasn't strong enough to lift it out of the pool! So where was it!

OH finally found it. At one end of the pool is a flap for the overflow (and possibly something to do with filtration!) - only narrow - but the duck had got itself jammed in there, right at the back so it wasn't visible unless you actually looked closely. OH had a job getting it free but finally did it - thank goodness!! It made us laugh anyway and our friends when they returned.



So we are all packed and will be off this afternoon in good time for our flight from Bristol. I will be back in touch on our return and hopefully will get back into blogging more regularly.