Bits and Pieces on May Day

I have fond memories of May day when I was a child and how different life was.

I remember one particular year when I was about 8. There was a May procession for the children in the road and I was chosen to be the May Queen leading the procession.

Previous to the day the children sat outside our house selling things we had made and anything that we could get our hands on that was no longer wanted. In other words a 1940's garage sale for the kids.

We then used this money for a little party in the street.

How I wish there were photos but there was no such luxury during the war. 

Back to modern days and a wedding card that I made for a friend's daughter last week.

My new i-pad Pro purchased on Saturday. It has taken some time but I now have all 80 plus apps from my old one installed and running.

Alan will have my old one and as he has never had one before there will be new learning curves for him.

I was just thinking how quickly time flies when coming across this picture when going through my computer albums.

Having a quick lunch in Marks and Spencer last December with our friends Don & Joyce from Louisiana. I first met Joyce as a fellow blogger and this was their third visit.

Lastly but not least Oliver and Rebekah having made it to the centre of the Hampton Court Maze last week.

Rebekah now 8 and Oliver 11 in July.

A Different Take

A different take on the Royal wedding!
Blogs seem to be full of pictures of the wedding so I thought I would do something different.
The now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are having a quiet weekend away in a secret location before returning to work next week. Honeymoon postponed as William has to return to his Air Force duties as a search and rescue pilot.
He is based on the Isle of Anglesey, off the North Coast of Wales and he and Catherine live in a cottage there while he is still in service.
It reminds me of a 'memorable moment' in my life.

Anglesey in 30 miles long and we see here the furthermost tip of the island.

At the age of 18 (when I lived in the North West) myself and 3 friends, when on a day trip to Anglesey, decided to sleep out in the open on the cliffs under the stars.

photos taken from the TV screen

We had nothing to lay our heads on but the bracken, seen here in the foreground. I remember drinking water dripping out of the rocks and also remember a nasty tummy upset when I arrived home the next day.

The things one does when young.

What makes this island so appealing to the newly married couple is that they can have the privacy not afforded to them on the mainland.

A little known fact connected with the wedding is that on the previous evening both the Princes William and Harry went out onto the Mall to greet and shake hands with the public and also arranged for large urns of tea and coffee to be served to them. William's idea apparently.

As for the wedding itself, I loved every minute of it, including the run up.

I prepared lunch immediately after breakfast and put it in the fridge so that I could watch TV from  8.30 am until 3.30 pm when William and  Catherine left the Palace to have a rest time at Clarence House before the evening reception. Good to see William driving his new wife in Prince Charles Aston Martin (decorated by Harry).

It gave a very fun and human touch.

I was very impressed with the wedding address to the couple by the Bishop of London

Loved the avenue of trees inside the abbey

and the hats were something else!

I could not imagine a more classic and beautiful dress

I probably will not be around when they become King and Queen but I have no doubt they will do our country proud.


For accuracy sake - have just seen in media that William & Kate will have a honeymoon in an undisclosed island in the Indian Ocean later in May. 

Must be Spring - It's April

Spring is in the air!

If you look closely, especially if you click for a full screen,

you might just see Mrs Blackbird sitting on her nest

It takes me back to a time which I call one of my "Memorable Moments" when one of my cats took a baby Blackbird in it's mouth, ran into the  house and up into a bathroom.

The memorable bit is that Mother Blackbird flew into the house after her and perched on the shower rail chirping so hard until my cat let the baby bird go, whereon the Mother immediately herded it back downstairs and out into the garden.

One of those moments when one wishes a camera had been close.

It was amazing to see.

It's good to see the garden awakening from it's winter sleep

even though it is a time of hard work outside

The sticks are  not very photogenic but they are there to deter the Heron from taking more of our fish
We had about 70 last Summer but so far this year have only seen
5 at one time. Hopefully there may be more  hiding

Sky from my window last evening as the sun set lighting up the clouds



Nothing to do with Spring but a fun photo

Taken on a ramble in the village of Goldhanger

To get water from this village pump one has to work hard as seen on the right of the photo

 

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

It is 1980 and we have gone to a London theatre to see The Mousetrap along with a house guest from Toledo in Ohio.

As we near the theatre we see there are policemen everywhere - why we ask one of them. "The Queen Mother is going to see The Mousetrap as part of her 80th birthday celebrations". How exciting, I had not see the Queen Mother since I was a child.

As usual the royal party arrived after everyone was seated and just before the curtain rose. The evening passed as we enjoyed the play but just before the end I began to figure out how I could get to see the Queen Mother when I knew she would leave the theatre before everyone else. I decided to leave a few minutes before the end to get outside in order to see her leave.

I found myself in a labrynth of corridors and eventually found my way to a side exit. Without thinking I pushed open the door (this was in the days before all the high security that we know today) and to my surprise and shock I was faced with a mob of people who were waiting outside and obviously knew that this was the exit the Queen Mother would be using. What could I do? I just stood in front of them trying to ignore the various comments coming my way!

Within a few minutes the Queen Mother appeared and standing about 3 feet away from me stood and acknowledged us all with her engaging smile and wave. The only camera that evening was the one belonging to our USA friend who was still somewhere in the theatre with Alan. Shame!

Today I would never have the chance to be in that position and if I did would probably be carted off as a terrorist.

The Sound of Heaven

As many of you know we have spent a lot of time at Leigh-on-Sea over the years staying at our friend's home overlooking the Thames Estuary. Whilst walking out on the marshes one day my ears picked up a sound on the wind. I stopped and listened and although I did not know what it was, I was drawn to the sound. These marshes on Two Tree Island out in the Thames are often deserted so it is not usual to hear anything more than the wading birds chirping in the marshes or Seagulls flying overhead.

As we began to walk in the direction of the sound I realised that it was human voices I was hearing. These voices were raised in song and I became determined to seek them out so quickened my pace.

As we approached the above steps it sounded like a choir. We could see nobody but the sound was getting nearer. Angels singing in tongues is what it sounded like in that deserted place.

Suddenly all was made clear. Through a gap in a hedge we could see many people and a rainbow of colours. We had come across a large group of people from Africa - all in national dress singing their hearts out.

In joining them and chatting to them they told us that they came every year (hosted by a local church) to worship in the Thames Estuary and pray for our country and particularly London our capital. I always remember the sound and the sense of heaven whenever I walk out on those marshes now. It was one of those memorable moments.

Memorable Moments with a Toddler

I was reading through the post of another blogger who was sharing how having put her young toddler to bed he had got up and sprinkled baby powder over the whole room. From my perspective I can see both sides here, the child having a great time making such a mess and the Mother frantic about clearing up and the health implications for the child.

It took me back to some memorable and scary moments when my son was a toddler. He always woke early and liked to start his day before we did. Added to that he always wanted to know how things worked. I'll stick with 5 of his memorable episodes here.

1. Hearing him awake I went in to investigate and found his face smeared with a red syrup. He had drunk a bottle of cough mixture. Now this cough mixture was on a high shelf above his cot. Somehow he had managed to climb up and knock it down. The rest of the day was spent in casualty having his stomach pumped out before spending some time in the poisons unit. It is hard to explain the guilt one feels as a Mother when something like this happens. If only, if only, if only! A hard way to learn a lesson. When it was time for discharge the following day we knew he was better as the nurses were glad to see him go. He had been turning the winding gear that altered the position of some of the patients beds.

2. The second episode found us responding to a call "I have swallowed a key"! It took us a while to realise that this key was a Wing nut that he had unscrewed from the side of the cot. (Don't think cots are made like this anymore!) Another trip to casualty for X-rays followed by a long wait watching for the appearance of the Wing nut once more.

3. Once he moved from cot to bed and was much more ambulant and was able to go downstairs alone we were in for some more fun! Arriving in the kitchen one morning my dear son was sitting on the floor in a pool of one dozen broken eggs, with the fridge door open happily smearing the yolks around and making them 'pop'!

4. On a visit to town one day when in a large department store we endured an embarrassing time when darling son went to investigate the mannequins in the open fronted windows. He was wanting to see if they were real or not. However in his enthusiasm he knocked the first model over and if you have ever seen a stack of dominoes fall then you get the picture. Of course today these windows are completely closed in and locked.

5. We had taken the children to the Pantomime and at the end he wanted to see where all the characters had gone. We were close to the front and before we had even had time to react he ran on to the stage and slipped under the heavy fire curtain just as it was coming down.

I must add that he was never a naughty or rebellious child but extremely bright and curious. However he did give his Mum some hairy moments to remember.

What memorable and scary moments have other bloggers had to endure, do tell?

More of Spring with a Memorable Moment

A camera view today. As you can see here there is still a lot of work to do on the soil after the winter. Weeding, turning over, mulching and feeding. Not one of my favourite jobs. Signs of Spring make up for it though.

And now to a memorable moment. This one is not mine but my son's and interesting enough I think to tell.

He was in Rome with a friend and as always his camera was ready. They had just finished touring a church in the city when they saw an open door that they had not yet visited. Not wanting to miss anything they walked through into a passage that led into another room. There directly in front of them was an open coffin complete with the deceased and surrounded by a group of morning women. It was a private house. They quickly put their cameras away and quietly left!! Not something to easily be forgotten.

Sky High

I love taking photos of skies

but here are some different skies to my usual sunsets

A Virgin balloon flying over

The Millau Bridge in Southern France taken from the air

I have not been over this bridge but the many people I know who have

find it takes a big chunk of time off their journey to the South of France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/millau-viaduct.html

Double click on this photograph which I downloaded from the second link

The Blue Ridge Parkway - North Carolina

photo from a postcard

One of my Memorable Moments was driving along this parkway by myself

at 1.0 am in the morning

It felt like I was the only person on earth at that moment

part scarey and part exciting

The Queen visits my town

See full story on the following link

http://http//www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page2160.asp

4 years ago Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited my home town

I was so excited as I had never seen her before in person

I duly went into town in good time, taking my camera and finding a good spot to be able to take a photograph of her

You know that didn't happen but something strange did

As she came into view I just burst into tears and I could not take my eyes off her

There was a sense of majesty that I had not seen before nor expected

The radiance that eminated from her

Taking a photo was not as important as having this imprint in my mind

That same week there was a programme on tv where photographers and artists that had done portraits of the Queen all said without exception that when she walked into the room they were struck with her sense of majesty. All they had planned to do and say just left them

It got me thinking

What will it be like when we come face to face with Jesus for the first time

If an earthly Soveriegn can have this effect what will it be like when we meet our Soveriegn God

Beyond imagination

A visit with Princess Diana's Father

In reading others blogs this weekend, I realise that a number are referring to the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death.

It reminded me of a time when I met her Father when visiting her ancestral home Althorpe. Diane was still alive at this time.

I said to her Father, Earl Spencer, that I expected that he was very proud of his daughter Diana. You know what he said, "I am very proud of all of my children" Wasn't that nice.

I bought a bottle of wine from his wine cellars and he signed the label for me. I threw it away when having a clear out some time ago, only to realise that there were folks in the USA who would have loved to have the label.