Primrose

Driving round the countryside this afternoon, the last day of January I was suprised to see on one of the hedgerow banks primroses out in flower already, along with lots of clumps of snowdrops.
I think that snowdrops have to be one of my favourite flowers, they are so dainty and pretty, yet their fragility is deceptive in the way that they are strong enough to stand up to the wind and weather at this time of year.
Another beauty of God`s creation.

Blowing the Cobwebs away

Take a walk with me this afternoon, along by the sea, and this is what you`ll find...... it looks a beautiful scene..... it is a beautiful scene.
The sun is shining, but a bitterly cold wind is blowing strongly, giving life to the sea. The waves are breaking and pounding up the beach, sending spray up into the air where they hit the boulders and the promenade. Churning the water up until it looked completely white.


But, what these pictures aren`t able to share with you is the wonderful sound of the sea. There`s no other sound like it. On a calm day it has a very soothing sound as it gently laps on the shore, but on a wild windy day, although it roars, crashes and splashes as it races up and down the stones on the beach, there is still (to me anyway) a beautiful rhythm to the sound of it.

What strength and power is has, it`s awesome. How vast is it. How constant yet ever changing it is.

I could stand and look at the sea for hours. It puts my life into perspective.
I feel close to God there. It makes me think of his strength and power, yet also his gentleness, but even more than that, it makes me aware of how constant he is throughout whatever happens. The sea is always there, no one can move it, or change it. So it is with God`s love.
I need to remind myself of that at times. And a walk by the sea`s the perfect place to do it.

Drunk Dogs?

I think you can be charged for being drunk in charge of a dog, but what happens if it`s a drunk dog and you`re sober! This caught me eye today. Drinks for dogs.

Manners

I`m going to have a little (or perhaps a big!) grumble today!

Where have peoples manners gone to? And I don`t just mean from young people.

I was always taught that if you want to speak or talk to someone and you see that they are already talking to someone else, you wait (and if possible at a reasonable distance, so that you don`t stand to purposely hear what they`re talking about) until they`ve finished talking to that person.
Am I the only one that`s been taught that?

I constantly find at work and in other places, in the street, anywhere, that people have no such thought, they just barge in and start their own conversation with the other person, regardless of the conversation already going on between two people. AGGGHHH........ it makes me so mad!

A Red Sky at Night

Red sky at night, shepherds delight.
Well, I`m not a shepherd, but I couldn`t resist taking a picture of the beautiful sky at sunset tonight, and here it is.

Weather folklore

"Days lengthen, cold strengthen".
I think these old folk who relied on the signs and aspects of nature to tell the weather, certainly knew a thing or two. So often these old sayings turn out to be so true. Days lengthen, cold strengthen is certainly true again this year. It`s lovely to have the mornings beginning to be lighter and the other evening when I left off work, walking down the road, I had to look twice at my watch to make sure I hadn`t left off an hour too early, as it was so much lighter than the same day the previous week! But, with the snow and hail showers it`s got much colder, proving the saying true.

There`s lots of these various sayings around. I`d love to know the origin of this one, (don`t know if its peculiar to Norfolk, of if its a general one), but on a cloudy or rainy day when the sky begins to clear, if there`s a small patch of blue sky appear, I`m told that if there`s enough to make a sailor a suit, it will get out and stay dry! How big the sailor`s got to be I`ve no idea!!

Blue Monday

"It`s a blue Monday"....the words of Sarah Kennedy on Radiio 2 greeted me, as my alarm radio woke me this morning.

I looked around me.

She`s right, I thought as I looked around me and took in the blue sheets, pillowcase, curtains, carpet and chair. Getting dressed into my blue skirt, blouse and uniform, I combed my hair with my blue comb, before going into the blue papered bathroom, washing with a blue soap and drying myself on the blue towel hanging on the rail.
And then went to work in my blue car, hoping it would behave itself after yesterday! (see yesterday`s post)

Yes, she`s right, I thought,..... but it will also be a blue Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.... too!

Shut or Open?

A nice sunny afternoon, so off we went for a drive along the coast. My parents walking aid standing in the boot compartment as normal. Having gone about 10 miles, I heard a click and then a rattle from the back of the car, which sounded as if the boot door had opened. Or, as least I should say unlatched itself, it hadn`t flown up and open. So, stopping as soon as I could a bit further down the road, I got out to have a look.

Yes, it was uncaught, so I shut it down, got back in and drove off again. A few yards down the road, what did I hear? Yes, the same thing again. I pulled over to the side as soon as I got a stretch of road wide enough to do so. Got out, went and looked and yes again it was unlatched. I opened it wide, checked that there was nothing in the way to prevent it closing tightly and got in. Turning on the engine to start off again, as soon as I released the hand brake, I heard it uncatch again. Out I got, banged it shut again, got in. What happened?...exactly the same again. This I repeated about half a dozen or more times. I just couldn`t find out what was causing it. I tried turning the walking aid to a different way round, although it had been in there hundreds of times, so it couldn`t be the cause of the problem. Not being able to solve why this was happening, I daren`t go any further on our outing incase it fly completely up and open while I was driving along, so finding a lane to turn round in, we set off home again, at a sedately 20-25 miles per hour, just incase.

On getting home, I got the walking aid, and my passengers out, shut the boot - No, I don`t mean my passengers were in the boot too!! And took the car round the block to see what happened. The boot door behaved perfectly and made no attempt to click open!

After tea, I again went to the car to put the walking device in to go to the evening service, and what happened?... no not the door wouldn`t keep shut, this time I couldn`t get the boot door to open! I tried locking and unlocking the whole car a couple of times, but still the door refused to budge.

On coming out of the church, I thought I`ll just try the door and see what happens...it opened perfectly! and stayed closed for the journey home!

What an odd day I`ve had with it.

So, what do I do - take it to the garage and look stupid if they say they can`t see anything wrong with it, or wait and see what happens and risk a problem maybe on a longer trip or busier road than today?
(And, it was only serviced last week)

Formation Swimming?

Rain & Wind

After all the rain and wind we had yesterday, I just had to share this cartoon with you.

Black & White beauty

Wonder why so many birds chose to stand on one leg when I take a photo of them!

"Alright?"

After hearing "Alright?" or "Are you alright?" said dozens of times during the course of the day, mostly as a form of greeting, it began to grate on me, and I began wondering why has it suddenly become the thing to say? Why not a "Hello, how are you?" or some such greeting.

Would we ever really answer, "No, I`m not alright" ! and, more to the point, does the person asking the question really want anything other than an affirmative answer that we are ok. Is that why people greet each other in that way, so that they make it difficult for the other person to answer truthfully?

Maybe because of "Alright" being such a positive sounding word it seems hard to contradict it and give a negative reply, or an opening for a person to give a reply other than a one word "yes".

Ok, I know I`m guilty of doing it too sometimes. But, having made myself think about it, I hope I won`t be doing it as much.

Nature sightings

I`ve seen the first snow-drops of the year!
I went out for a drive this afternoon and coming back, I was passing an old church which has a grave-yard all around it, and something small and white amongst the grass and memorial stones caught my eye. Yes, they really were snowdrops. I don`t think I`ve ever seen them as early as the second week of January before.

Then, another treat was in store for me, stopping at a junction my attention was drawn to a bird flying over the field opposite, something about its movement made me quickly realise it wasn`t a seagull. It was infact an owl. What a beautiful sight. It`s so seldom that I see one. It somehow always thrills me to see an owl flying in the wild like that.

Sorry I can`t show you any pictures of them though. I did have my camera with me, but the road wasn`t one that it was advisable to stop on to get out and take a picture.

What happened?

If anyone wonders why there isn`t a post for Friday, nor I discover for Saturday either ... I don`t know why or how I missed doing it!
Must have been asleep!

Things People Say

It`s amusing at times the things one overhears people saying. Today, on a windy wet day I overheard one lady say to another today "Did you get caught in the rain coming down?"

I thought all rain came down - or have I missed seeing some go in other directions - like up??

And, another good one I`ve heard is "I`ll help you when you`ve finished"!
This was said in all innocence about the washing up by an Aunt (who has died years ago), but it always stuck in my mind when someone offers to help wash-up.

Historical badge

I`ve really got into turning my cupboards and drawers out since the start of the new year, and oh what a lot of junk I`ve been hoarding! So, whilst I`m in the ruthless mood I tackled another cupboard yesterday, and in doing so came across something which I`d not seen before (or if so it was so long ago that I don`t remember seeing it) and my parent couldn`t remember it either.

I`ve very intreguied to know whether it`s rare, or unusual or even of any value. I took a photo of one of them, and it`s pasted here - can anyone shed any light on the history of them, or suggest where I look to find out?



There are two of them, both the same, they are obviously embroidery packs to do badges. One still has the embroidery silks with it and they both have the pattern transfer sheets. There`s a price of them of 7d. including Purchase Tax.
On the transfer sheet it has: "Designed by the Royal School of Needlework and approved by H.M.War Office"

I`d love to know more about these items. I assume they belonged to my Dad, but don`t know any more than that.

A Warm Welcome

Following my new year resolution to have more exercise, I decided to start going to an activity yesterday evening that I haven`t been to for at least four or five years. I wondered what reaction I would get after all that time -

- I was overwhelmed!

As I entered the door another couple of ladies were just arriving and one greeted me with, "its nice to see you again are you coming back to join us?", when I affirmed that I was and she said how pleased she was, she went ahead of me into the hall and started saying to the others already there, "look who`s here", and during the course of the evening I got a lot of welcomes and the feeling that they were genuinely glad to see me again. Infact I think that every single one of them greeted me and made me feel that I belonged.

These weren`t a church group of people, although they were meeting on church premises, but I could really feel a warmth of genuine welcome and friendship coming from them the whole evening. It was great to be back!

The Trifle

Especially for Cherry Pie (and anyone else with a sweet tooth) here`s the recipe for my orange chocolate trifle.

You`ll need:

• a tin of manderin oranges (I prefer a large tin!)
• 4 trifle sponges
• a tangerine jelly (or an orange jelly if you can`t get a tangerine one)
• a packet of chocolate blancmange powder
• milk
• a packet of dream topping
• cadbury`s flake (or some grated chocolate)

Drain the juice off the oranges. Cut 3 or 4 trifle sponges into about inch cubes and put in the bottom of a large dish, with the drained oranged. Make up the 1 pint jelly as directed on the packet. Pour enough over the oranges and sponge. Leave to set.

When this is set, make up the blancmange as directed on the packet, then put it in a basin and put the basin in a bowl of cold water, or iced water, keep stirring the blancmange all the time until it gets cold. Then pour this onto the set jelly mixture. (If you put it on hot, it melts the jelly!). Leave this in the fridge to set.

Make up the dream topping and spread over the top. Then sprinkle with a crumbled chocolate flake or grated chocolate.

And.... enjoy!

(Sorry, I`ve not taken a picture of one of them yet to put on here.)

A few favourite photo`s

Having a browse through some of the many photos I`ve taken since having digital cameras, here are a selection of some of my favourites.

I wonder if others are like me and get carried away with taking lots and lots and lots of shots of the same or similiar scenes, at different angles, different times, or on diferent days, now that with digital cameras unlike the reel of film ones, one doesn`t waste money by printing what`s no good. I know I do. But, the trouble is - I then find it difficult to decide to discard any once I`ve got them on the screen, but I really must be ruthless, after all, who wants dozens of photos of the same boats on the same bit of water!

I`ll have to make it part of my New Year spring clean of everything.

My A-Z Alphabet

Having seen this idea of an alphabet on someone elses`s blog I though I`d have a go at it too.

A is for AGE: I`m 17 short of the three score years and ten.

B is for BEER of choice: None. I don`t drink alcohol (well, apart from one glass of wine at Christmas, and I`m not really keen on having that)

C is for CAREER: Don`t think working in retail counts as a career, does it?

D is for favourite DRINK: A cup of tea

E is for ESSENTIAL item you use every day: Difficult to pick just one, think I`ll have to choose: my bed

F is for FAVOURITE song at the moment: I`m not really into music, and particularly not pop music. I like listening though to Aled Jones or Daniel O Donnell CD`s.

G is for favourite GAME: I enjoy an occasional game of Scrabble. But I`m not really a games person.

H is for best HOLIDAY taken: This would be a week spent with friends on the West coast of England.

I is for INSTRUMENTS played: I was taught to play the piano, with I kept it up. I can still just read music to play the right hand music.

J is for favourite JUICE: Orange, I`m not adventurous!

K is for KIDS: How I hate to hear children referred to as kids. (No, I`ve none)

L is for LAST KISS: Last kiss? – I`ve not had a first kiss!

M is for MARRIAGE: Never been asked!

N is for full NAME: Just call me Ivy Leaf

O is for OVERNIGHT hospital stays: I`ve had two of then when a teenager, and each time I came out with less than I went in with! (tonsils and teeth)

P is for PHOBIAS: Spiders and creepy crawlies

Q is for QUOTE: “Don`t spoil the ship for a `hapworth `o tar”

R is for biggest REGRET: this has to be that I didn`t leave home to live on my own years ago.

S is for SPORT: I`m not a sport person, but I enjoy a game to table-tennis.

T is for TIME you wake up: If it`s a work day 6 a.m., if it`s my day off 7.30 a.m.

U is for colour of UNDERWEAR: All colours of the rainbow!

V is for VEGETABLE you love: Potatoes – (cooked as chips especially!)

W is for WORST habit: Putting off till tomorrow what I should do today

X is for X-RAYS you’ve had: Elbow, when I cracked a bone, Ankle, Chest when I had bronchitis several years ago, and stomach. So quite an assortment over the years.

Y is for YUMMY food you make: Chocolate orange trifle

Z is for ZODIAC sign: Sagittarius. Not that I follow the star signs at all.

January turn out

I don`t know what`s wrong with me this week! No, don`t get alarmed I`m not feeling unwell, I feel fine. But having taken down all the Christmas trimmings, cards, tree etc., and for the first time (as far as I can remember), actually wanting to take them down now that Christmas was gone instead of trying to keep them up as long as possible, I find myself wanting to have a good turn out and start somehow a fresh year.

I`ve started by having a good tidy up of my office room, and it needed it! Then I turned out my craft cupboard this afternoon and discarded some bits that I really don`t know why I kept, they were just odd scraps of coloured paper, card and the like, and I`ve now got, besides a tidy cupboard a whole free empty shelf. Wonder how long it will stay empty!!

Even my car has had it`s service and MOT and been cleaned.

Small Print

Looking at an old bible and an old hymn book the other day, set me wondering - did people have much better eye sight years ago than they do today?
The print in both these books and in an old dictionary too, is mimiscule compared to the same books today, yet we have better lighting in our homes than did the people of the 19th. and early 20th. century, so how did they manage to read that tiny print.
It certainly made the books lighter and less bulky to carry too. Was it done to save on costly paper and ink I wondered, or was it just that that was the natural size and people didn`t expect anything different.

One last look

The decorations are all off the Christmas Tree now, so here`s one last look at them for this year before they all get packed away. Some of them, as you may be able to tell are quite old, over 40 years. I wonder if others have similiar decorations? Or maybe some of these are collectors pieces and, dare I even say valuable for that reason?

Thinking about it made mw wonder if there`s any collectors of such items, in the way that people make all sorts of collections of items? It would be interesting to know wouldn`t it.

Resolutions 2007

I spent quite a while yesterday thinking of what my resolutions for 2007 should be. I decided that I wouldn`t make as many as last year. Maybe it would be easier to try and keep fewer rather than as many or more, so I came up with these half dozen:-

1. To have more patience, (especially with my parent)

2. To get more exercise – not to drive when I could walk!

3. To do more to be environmentally friendly

4. To beat the nerves/stress that affect me in various situations

5. To make time to pray and read my bible daily

6. To be more contented with my life as it is.

Ok, I know some are the same as last years, but as I failed with them then, they`re things I still need to do, and to try harder this year.

New Year

Wishing you all

A Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year