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Once again, am behind playing the free word association meme hosted by LunaNina.
She says, I think & say what pops into my head and you ponder my thought process!
It's been a bad few weeks but here goes...
Last weeks words:-
1) Suitcase :: packed, ready to fly away, I wish - those were the good old days - I do miss the travel!
2) Exhaust :: ed as tired of doctors/hospital/referral appointments.
3) Olympics :: Winter - Vancouver & Whistler CA, both visited, both great places - enjoying watching the action!
4) Video :: DVD's - Films - my cinematic viewing medium in the comfort of my own home.
5) Cargo:: Luggage, never travelled light.
6) Previously :: loved daughter, mistress, pet owner, well travelled - non of these now!
7) Wilderness :: My garden! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
8) Artificial :: colourings / flavourings ingredients as in food! Natural is best.
9) Gambling :: Little Buddy & locking him out of our hotel room in London when he blew all my cash as well as his own @ a Casino there & then refused to leave with me; Vickster, his wife the Slot Machine addict & Platinum card holder in Las Vegas; my own fun Las Vegas trip last March!
10) Exhibition :: Art in London - Cezanne, Monet, Picasso, Van Gough - all viewed.
This weeks words:-
1) Teeth :: Dentist needed! Our National Dental Service stinks!
2) Sweetener :: Honey, natures natural sugar, the only one I have in my cupboards
3) Demons :: 'Angel & Demons' by Dan Brown - Set in Rome, Little Buddy & I visited every site mentioned in the book long before it's publication - not seen the film version, as actor Tom Hanks just grates with me big time.
4) Pizza :: Italy & a classic Margarita Pizza! But @ home, it's spicy meat with peppers & mushrooms & onions & herbs & lots of cheese - in other words, the works!
5) Protector :: My Mother in childhood from my Father.
6) Smooth :: Wine, a very good wine.
7) Coat :: Silky as in Hero's coat - well, he was a Springer!
8) Pebbles :: Brighton's beach - gosh, do they hurt when walking on barefoot!
9) Pregnant :: Termination! Not going there.
10) Sing :: LOL - can't - am tone deaf, dead pan & out of tune - an embarrassment to friends when carried away with enthusiasm @ concerts/musicals; once so much so, a one one time friend disowned me - now I mime when out in public!
No matter what the cost I was truthful!
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
27 February 2010
25 January 2010
Unconscious Mutterings 2010 - # 3!
Time to play the free word association meme hosted by LunaNina.
She says, I think & say what pops into my head and you ponder my thought process!
1) Food :: Glorious, Food..." that catchy song from the film 'Oliver'.
And, Spag Bol or @ least what I call a Bolognese sauce, as have a pot simmering away right now on my hob to have for supper tonight with Spaghetti!
2) Death :: inevitable; the right to determine the time of ones own!
3) Cafeteria :: Canteen food, school dinners - not that I ever had them as lived within walking distance of home!
4) Need :: My own space - hate to be crowded, feel pressurised...
5) Born :: Free' - the book [own a copy] written by Joy Adamson about herself, her game warden husband George & Elsa, the orphaned cub lioness, they raised whilst living in Kenya.
And, the film telling their story & it's sound track sung by Matt Monro, both of the same name...
She says, I think & say what pops into my head and you ponder my thought process!
1) Food :: Glorious, Food..." that catchy song from the film 'Oliver'.
And, Spag Bol or @ least what I call a Bolognese sauce, as have a pot simmering away right now on my hob to have for supper tonight with Spaghetti!
2) Death :: inevitable; the right to determine the time of ones own!
3) Cafeteria :: Canteen food, school dinners - not that I ever had them as lived within walking distance of home!
4) Need :: My own space - hate to be crowded, feel pressurised...
5) Born :: Free' - the book [own a copy] written by Joy Adamson about herself, her game warden husband George & Elsa, the orphaned cub lioness, they raised whilst living in Kenya.
And, the film telling their story & it's sound track sung by Matt Monro, both of the same name...
6) Stitch :: the saying "A Stitch in time, saves nine"
But, I'm no seamstress & being a procrastinator doesn't help either!
7) Badly :: In hindsight, think I handled my sudden break with Little Buddy badly, as it has had repercussions far beyond our relationship ie mine with my only cousin, his sister-in-law!
8) Block :: OUT - the uncomfortable past; and the future, if my medical tests results come back bad.
9) Chuck :: Well, apart from LB - Chuck Wagon racing as always wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede to see the action but that was just too close to his home comfort zone/doorstep!
10) Spiral :: out of control, as things have re (7) - so be it, whats done is done.
This quotation expresses my current feelings well...
But, I'm no seamstress & being a procrastinator doesn't help either!
7) Badly :: In hindsight, think I handled my sudden break with Little Buddy badly, as it has had repercussions far beyond our relationship ie mine with my only cousin, his sister-in-law!
8) Block :: OUT - the uncomfortable past; and the future, if my medical tests results come back bad.
9) Chuck :: Well, apart from LB - Chuck Wagon racing as always wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede to see the action but that was just too close to his home comfort zone/doorstep!
10) Spiral :: out of control, as things have re (7) - so be it, whats done is done.
This quotation expresses my current feelings well...
"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new.
What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken pieces as long as I live."
Margaret Mitchell - Author of 'Gone with the Wind'
[1900 - 1949]
What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken pieces as long as I live."
Margaret Mitchell - Author of 'Gone with the Wind'
[1900 - 1949]
14 January 2010
True Colours Thursday - APRICOT!
Long standing fun participants Doyle & Mollie, selected this weeks nice warming colour.
So, finding other APRICOTs in my present very WHITE world has been a challenge.
To join True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
If you simply want to use the idea as a 'prompt' for a post, as I do now, with many memes, that is fine with me.
But, if, you'd like others including me, to visit you, please leave a comment below, so we know you are 'IN'!
For this meme only, I lift my 'Comment Moderation' to help players connect with each other.
Next weeks colour is BLUE & WHITE together!
And, please remember ideas for forth coming colours would be very welcome!
As they are now enjoying Summer in New Zealand, I'm hoping to see the lovely fresh fruit, as I'm rather partial to it - infact I usually have the deliciously soft 'ready to eat' preserved ones to hand, but when I need a photo, their glass jar is empty - pout!
So, finding other APRICOTs in my present very WHITE world has been a challenge.
Around home, I've retrieved a childhood school form prize no less from my bookshelves, because it's cover fits the bill - it's titles appropriate too...
These Carnelian crystal gemstone beads of my Mothers, remind me of small APRICOTS threaded into a necklace...
This trinket tray's flowers seem the right shade...
And, what about this surprisingly striking Sunrise from the morning before the snows fell...
The best I can come up with re that all important cake is this, with it's APRICOT Catherine Wheels... 
These Carnelian crystal gemstone beads of my Mothers, remind me of small APRICOTS threaded into a necklace...This trinket tray's flowers seem the right shade...And, what about this surprisingly striking Sunrise from the morning before the snows fell...The best I can come up with re that all important cake is this, with it's APRICOT Catherine Wheels... To join True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
If you simply want to use the idea as a 'prompt' for a post, as I do now, with many memes, that is fine with me.
But, if, you'd like others including me, to visit you, please leave a comment below, so we know you are 'IN'!
For this meme only, I lift my 'Comment Moderation' to help players connect with each other.
Next weeks colour is BLUE & WHITE together!
And, please remember ideas for forth coming colours would be very welcome!
13 November 2009
Sky Watch Friday - Autumn Market!
Gloucester Green in central Dreamingspires, is home to a new development of modern designer apartments...
I do like the 'look', as fancy flat living, but perhaps not the location so much!
It was though, thoughtfully tree'ed for Autumnal colour...
Every Thursday it's central square, hosts an Antiques [& Craft] Market.
I regularly check it out....
All these shots were taken yesterday morning, before the skies clouded over & we, locally battened down the hatches for a long weekend of torrential gales & rain - Yuk, yuk, yuk!
Sky Watch for the brave, is to be found HERE!
I do like the 'look', as fancy flat living, but perhaps not the location so much!It was though, thoughtfully tree'ed for Autumnal colour...
Every Thursday it's central square, hosts an Antiques [& Craft] Market.I regularly check it out....
All these shots were taken yesterday morning, before the skies clouded over & we, locally battened down the hatches for a long weekend of torrential gales & rain - Yuk, yuk, yuk!Sky Watch for the brave, is to be found HERE!
20 September 2009
The BBC Book List's Reading Challenge!
Each weekend Angie does a post called 'Talking 'about Books'; todays includes the BBC's Book List, that asks 'How many have you read?' as the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books - after a quick glance @ the titles I found that hard to believe, so decided to take up the challenge.
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and mark those you have read in bold.
2) Star (*) the ones you LOVE.
3) Italicize those you plan on reading.
1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen *
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien [wonder if part of it counts!]
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee *
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier *
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell *
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy [another partly read tome!]
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere *
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden *
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins *
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy [Love the film!]
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo [Loved the theatrical version]
Over the years I've only managed to read completely 40, not brilliant but better than six!
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and mark those you have read in bold.
2) Star (*) the ones you LOVE.
3) Italicize those you plan on reading.
1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen *
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien [wonder if part of it counts!]
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee *
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier *
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell *
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy [another partly read tome!]
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere *
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden *
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins *
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy [Love the film!]
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo [Loved the theatrical version]
Over the years I've only managed to read completely 40, not brilliant but better than six!
14 July 2009
Captain Corelli's Mandolin!
With mid Summer proving a wet squid & Wimbedon Tennis now history, am reading more.
Seeing Angie was struggling with 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' by Louis de Bernieres, I decided to re-read.
I, loved this book from the first moment I encountered it.
Even, the poor 2001 movie adaptation, using typical Hollywood 'poetic license', so giving the tale a different, decades earlier ending - has done little to dent my enthusiasm.
I have the DVD...
But then, I do like actor Nicholas Cage & the scenery was wonderful.
Seeing Angie was struggling with 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' by Louis de Bernieres, I decided to re-read.
I, loved this book from the first moment I encountered it.
Even, the poor 2001 movie adaptation, using typical Hollywood 'poetic license', so giving the tale a different, decades earlier ending - has done little to dent my enthusiasm.
I have the DVD...
But then, I do like actor Nicholas Cage & the scenery was wonderful.But, back to the novel - it is set on the Greek island of Cephalonia from the Second World War to the present day.
And, tells the story of the love shared by local Dr. Iannis, his beautiful daughter Pelagia & Italian Captain Antonio Corelli, sent to the island as part of the occupying forces - he brings his much loved mandolin with him .
When I first read it, shortly after publication in 1995, it captured my romantic imagination.
But, it is also a serious war story with all the guts & the gore.
More recently - well, a year or so ago, I went to see a theatre adaptation, of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', put on by Mike Maran Productions @ Dreamingspires Playhouse.
It had already been much acclaimed @ fringe festivals, including Edinburgh.
And, was said to be all about the art of storytelling.
The pre-publicity blurb read - "With live music from Alison Stephens on mandolin & Anne Enans on piano, Mike Maran brings this epic tale of love & war to the stage with two chickens, two aubergines, three puppets & a goat!!"
Louis de Bernieres, was also quoted as saying "I'd rather see this show anyday than the film"
I was NOT diappointed.
Infact, I was enthralled from start to to curtain fall.
The set, if you could call it that, was a beautiful mosaic back-clothe of azure blue depicting the Aegean Sea, dolphins & mandolins, which was only briefly displaced, by a bloodstained wall, for the terrifying event in the story, when the Germans gun down the Italians soldiers including Captain Corelli.
The props, quite literally were a small wooden fence, cut-outs of a cross, a goat, a motorbike, & three soldiers heads and a plastic chicken or two - I missed the aubergine!!!
Centre stage was mesmerising held by Mike Meran, who alone related the tale, bringing the characters of the book alive, by his storytelling - one listened intently, spellbound to his soft lilting Scottish accent.
Through him, you could almost see Dr Yanis, & Pelagia & the Capt Corelli – it was an incredible piece of one-man theatre.
The two musicians, Anne Evans on flute & keyboard and Alison Stephens on guitar & mandolin, sit to one side and their music added atmosphere & depth - the mandolin especially so, as sooo evocative.
For me, it really was an unique memorable evening - funny, sad, uplifting & thoroughly entertaining.
My companion, Greengage, found it less so.
So much so, I have never seen her again!
But, that was more due to the break-up of her relationship than me or the play!
Anyway, am enjoying my re-reading of the first chapters, curled up on my sofa.
12 July 2009
Camera Critters Sunday - Wanted a Dodo!
I forgot to include this, my final 'Alice' snippet, on a earlier post.
To illustrate it, I really needed a photo of a Dodo, that extinct, 'mythical' bird instead of Geese by the River Isis, but...
On a 'Alice' walking tour around Dreamingspires, I learnt that author Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, had a problematic stammer.
With children, it amazingly disappeared.
But, in adult conversation, he struggled when renouncing his surname.
So, it's thought he is 'taking the micky' out of him-self in the 'Alice in Wonderland' with his character the Dodo!
Camera Critters is Misty Dawn's creation, the blog is HERE!
To illustrate it, I really needed a photo of a Dodo, that extinct, 'mythical' bird instead of Geese by the River Isis, but...
On a 'Alice' walking tour around Dreamingspires, I learnt that author Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, had a problematic stammer.With children, it amazingly disappeared.
But, in adult conversation, he struggled when renouncing his surname.
So, it's thought he is 'taking the micky' out of him-self in the 'Alice in Wonderland' with his character the Dodo!
Camera Critters is Misty Dawn's creation, the blog is HERE!
10 July 2009
'Alice Through the Looking Glass' as Theatre!
Alice week on my blog is drawing to a close!
Today, I'm remembering a theatre review of mine from my first blog 'If only, if only... I'd'.
Before money became tighter, I was a very, very, very regular 'Dreamingspires Playhouse' goer.
Eighteen months ago, I went to see the student company 'Plantlife Productions' version of ...
Lewis Carroll's second Alice story is a tough one to retell, let alone transfer to the stage.
The book opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night.
Alice wonders what the world is like in the reflection of her home, she can see in the mirror.
To her surprise, she finds she's able to pass through it to the other side & finds an alternate world, full of opposites and where, time runs backwards.
The main characters, Alice meets are chess pieces on the landscape's giant chessboard that's divided into squares by natures fields & streams.
Alice becomes a 'Pawn' in the game for the White Queen & while trying to cross the crazy chess board, encounters nursery rhyme characters Teedledum & Tweedledee, who recite the long poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter."
'The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things:
of shoes - and ships - and cabbages - and kings -
and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings'
Then, she meets Humpty Dumpty, followed by the Lion & the Unicorn, before being rescued from the Red Knight by the White Knight, and progressing to capture the Red Queen.
With the Red King check-mated & the chess game over, Alice wakes up & blames her black cat for strangeness of her dream!!!
The bizarre imagination of Mathematics academic, Dodgson [aka Lewis Carroll], never ceases to amaze me!
Today, I'm remembering a theatre review of mine from my first blog 'If only, if only... I'd'.
Before money became tighter, I was a very, very, very regular 'Dreamingspires Playhouse' goer.
Eighteen months ago, I went to see the student company 'Plantlife Productions' version of ...
Lewis Carroll's second Alice story is a tough one to retell, let alone transfer to the stage.The book opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night.
Alice wonders what the world is like in the reflection of her home, she can see in the mirror.
To her surprise, she finds she's able to pass through it to the other side & finds an alternate world, full of opposites and where, time runs backwards.
The main characters, Alice meets are chess pieces on the landscape's giant chessboard that's divided into squares by natures fields & streams.
Alice becomes a 'Pawn' in the game for the White Queen & while trying to cross the crazy chess board, encounters nursery rhyme characters Teedledum & Tweedledee, who recite the long poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter."
'The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things:
of shoes - and ships - and cabbages - and kings -
and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings'
Then, she meets Humpty Dumpty, followed by the Lion & the Unicorn, before being rescued from the Red Knight by the White Knight, and progressing to capture the Red Queen.
With the Red King check-mated & the chess game over, Alice wakes up & blames her black cat for strangeness of her dream!!!
The bizarre imagination of Mathematics academic, Dodgson [aka Lewis Carroll], never ceases to amaze me!
Now, from this cryptic 'resume', even those familiar with the book, will realise his Alice - Through the Looking Glass' story is weird - big time!
Personally, I'm more an ''Alice in Wonderland' fan.
And, the new theatrical adaptation by young play-write, Emily Lim, I went to watch, was so imaginative, it bordered on bizarre @ times - only in hindsight, I see it was spot on!
The set was minimalist - a building site with scaffolding, which acted a hill, a tree & Humpty- Dumpty's wall.
Props were an armchair, blue plastic sheeting tied together to represent the streams that divide the chess board, wheel-barrows for boats, and buckets of water poured from one bucket to another for Alice's tears & the streams sound effects.
No fancy costumes at all.
The entire cast apart from Alice were dressed in white work-mens boiler suits, that were swapped for red ones when portraying the red chess pieces, & green ones when the forest.
Sometimes it cleverly worked, other times it didn't.
The garden scene did exceptionally well, with just the addition of coloured hard-hats representing each talking flower - yellow for the Daisy chorus, pink for the Rose & orange for the Tiger Lily.
Of the characters portrayed - Humpty Dumpty was the best - he wrung every bit of humour out of his lines before falling of his wall to strobe lighting effects; Alice was childlike & full of amazement, and the all dancing, all singing chorus were 100% enthusiastic.
But, it was off beat entertainment & often very hard going, even with a good imagination!
The audience was small.
The company, to my knowledge has not staged another production!
And, I'm pretty much Alice'd out now!
4 July 2009
Color Carnival - Alice's Day!
Whilst in town today & earlier this week, the Celebration Cake Shop's window reminded me of a bit of local literary history.
This colourful cake showing Alice @ the Mad Hatters Tea Party is the clue...
The story goes like this...
One golden afternoon, 147 years ago today, the Reverend Charles Lugwidge Dodgson, a don @ Christ Church, who wrote mathematical & philosophical books and had an interest in photography, which is how he initially met the family of the Dean, took Alice Liddell & her sisters Lorina & Edith on a boat trip on the river Isis from Folly Bridge to Godstow lock.
It seems the girls were were frequent companions of Dodgson on such expeditions along Dreamingspires waterways - do, wonder what would be made of such a friendship now!!!
Anyway, on that particular outing on 4th July 1862, Dodgson to amuse the children, related a story about a little girl sitting bored by a riverbank, who finds her-self tumbling down a rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy world called 'Wonderland'.
The tale so delighted the 10 year old Alice, she begged him to write it down.
It wasn't til some months later, that he delivered the completed hand written & illustrated story, then called 'Alice's Adventures Underground' to her.
Friends, who saw the little book, urged him to publish it, which he did under the pseudom Lewis Carroll, which I learnt recently, comes from reversing & adapting his real name - Carroll from the Latin for Charles & Lewis from Ludwidge his mothers maiden name!
The story, renamed 'Alice in Wonderland' broke all previous publication records & has never ever, ever been out of print - the sequel 'Through the Looking Glass', followed.
Both, marked a turning point in children's books and Alice & Lewis Carroll became part of Dreamingspires literary history.
Re Alice herself...
She went on to do the 'Grand Tour' with her sisters.
But, did not marry til she was 28, so, would have been by then, viewed as an old maid.
And, re her original copy of 'Alices Adventures Underground', she finally sold it after becoming a widow.
She died in 1934!
This colourful cake showing Alice @ the Mad Hatters Tea Party is the clue...
The story goes like this...One golden afternoon, 147 years ago today, the Reverend Charles Lugwidge Dodgson, a don @ Christ Church, who wrote mathematical & philosophical books and had an interest in photography, which is how he initially met the family of the Dean, took Alice Liddell & her sisters Lorina & Edith on a boat trip on the river Isis from Folly Bridge to Godstow lock.
It seems the girls were were frequent companions of Dodgson on such expeditions along Dreamingspires waterways - do, wonder what would be made of such a friendship now!!!
Anyway, on that particular outing on 4th July 1862, Dodgson to amuse the children, related a story about a little girl sitting bored by a riverbank, who finds her-self tumbling down a rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy world called 'Wonderland'.
The tale so delighted the 10 year old Alice, she begged him to write it down.
It wasn't til some months later, that he delivered the completed hand written & illustrated story, then called 'Alice's Adventures Underground' to her.
Friends, who saw the little book, urged him to publish it, which he did under the pseudom Lewis Carroll, which I learnt recently, comes from reversing & adapting his real name - Carroll from the Latin for Charles & Lewis from Ludwidge his mothers maiden name!
The story, renamed 'Alice in Wonderland' broke all previous publication records & has never ever, ever been out of print - the sequel 'Through the Looking Glass', followed.
Both, marked a turning point in children's books and Alice & Lewis Carroll became part of Dreamingspires literary history.
Re Alice herself...
She went on to do the 'Grand Tour' with her sisters.
But, did not marry til she was 28, so, would have been by then, viewed as an old maid.
And, re her original copy of 'Alices Adventures Underground', she finally sold it after becoming a widow.
She died in 1934!
Color Carnival just requires a colourful photo.
Martha is the creator & host.
30 May 2009
Saturday Photo Hunters - Book(s)!
The prompt, this week from host tnchick suited me fine!
Books, despite early reading difficulties as child, have always been important to me.
My very first job was in Dreamingspires, as a trainee book-seller no less!
And, every room of my house, except the bathroom - the damp, not being good for them, has shelves crammed with books.
My eclectic collection, includes hardback & paperback fiction, Cook & Wine books, glossy Travel guides & factual tombs on every subject from Antiques, Birds, Follies, History, Teddy Bears & Trivia and Dictionaries!!!
Many of these books are cherished processions, as bare personal greetings from my Mother & close friends re Birthdays, Christmas etc!
However, there is only one book, that carries such a treasured hand written note, as well as an actual printed acknowledgement inside the fly-leaf from it's author B J Roan ...
How did I achieve this surprising tribute?
Through, a friendship started via a 'Comment'!
Back in January 2007, I'd only been blogging for a few weeks, when purely by chance - i.e. by hitting the random 'Next blog' button, I came across a fascinating short story on the site Serendipity.
I was immediately impressed & responded enthusiastically.
Yes, in those early days I was a keen commenter!
And, so began, what has turned into a very close, genuine & rewarding, I think, life long friendship with BJ.
Initially, she posted her short stories, and I commented & critiqued them, as one of her sole readers.
We soon started exchanging regular emails.
However, when she asked me for a 'prompt' for a story idea, I was both surprised & flattered.
It was Derby Day, one of the most prestigious horse race meetings in the UK, & I'd been cheering on, personality plus winning jockey Frankie Dettori, a favourite of mine.
That day he'd ridden in Emerald Green racing silks, rather than his more usual Galdofi brilliant Blue colours!
I relayed my thoughts to BJ, she subsequently wrote the lovely story, 'Winning Silks'.
Later that Summer, when special Airedale, Oscar suddenly died, tragically young, knowing BJ's love of dogs - I asked her to write a story in his memory - her deeply touching tribute, 'Oscars Next Adventure' caused many a tear to be shed in the DWB community.
August, saw BJ's wedding day & happily married, she 'virtually' threw me her bridal bouquet!
And, naturally, a hilarious story in the form of 'The Runaway Bouquet' followed.
It recounts how the red roses made their way across the Atlantic to Dreamingspires, to re-unite Little Buddy & I, due to the mis-adventures of a ferret called Wicket - LOL!
And, yet, another request for a 'prompt', months later, caught me with a large goblet of red wine to hand!
I came up with -"The glass was half empty, or again, was it, half full"
Boy, did my personal blog-diary entries come home to roost!
She wrote 'The Wine Dog', all about Azure & her friends that included Nick, @ that time my wine guru, Jeannie & Little Buddy!!!
So, when BJ celebrated her first blog anniversary - I wrote...
"One day, very soon, I hope to see your short stories published.
And, nobody will be prouder than me to read them in book form."
Well, that day came in April last year, which is why the story's I've mentioned, are no longer to be found on Serendipity, as they are now officially published, along with a host of other delightful tales!
When I received my own complementary copy of 'The Apple Tree' I was ecstatic.
And, that was before, I discovered the personally signed, oh so kind, dedication "Without your encouragement, this book wouldn't exist."
And, the printed one, "A huge thank-you to all my loyal readers, especially Blue. I am most grateful."
I was & still am, deeply touched, that she believes I made a difference to her writing career.
BJ is a born author, she writes from the heart; some of her tales are dark, others romantic, they're frequently funny, often deeply touching & always a 'darn good read'.
She, is now busy editing her second volume of short stories for publication & describes it as a massive undertaking.
I know it will be worth the effort & can't waited see what is included in this book.
My personal wish is for 'Stranger on the Shore'.
She is free to use my image to illustrate it too!
I know many Internet friends already follow & know BJ, through her photography blog Rubbish By Roan.
However, if you haven't checked out Serendipity - go read a.s.a.p, - you don't know what you are missing!
Books, despite early reading difficulties as child, have always been important to me.
My very first job was in Dreamingspires, as a trainee book-seller no less!
And, every room of my house, except the bathroom - the damp, not being good for them, has shelves crammed with books.
My eclectic collection, includes hardback & paperback fiction, Cook & Wine books, glossy Travel guides & factual tombs on every subject from Antiques, Birds, Follies, History, Teddy Bears & Trivia and Dictionaries!!!
Many of these books are cherished processions, as bare personal greetings from my Mother & close friends re Birthdays, Christmas etc!
However, there is only one book, that carries such a treasured hand written note, as well as an actual printed acknowledgement inside the fly-leaf from it's author B J Roan ...
How did I achieve this surprising tribute?Through, a friendship started via a 'Comment'!
Back in January 2007, I'd only been blogging for a few weeks, when purely by chance - i.e. by hitting the random 'Next blog' button, I came across a fascinating short story on the site Serendipity.
I was immediately impressed & responded enthusiastically.
Yes, in those early days I was a keen commenter!
And, so began, what has turned into a very close, genuine & rewarding, I think, life long friendship with BJ.
Initially, she posted her short stories, and I commented & critiqued them, as one of her sole readers.
We soon started exchanging regular emails.
However, when she asked me for a 'prompt' for a story idea, I was both surprised & flattered.
It was Derby Day, one of the most prestigious horse race meetings in the UK, & I'd been cheering on, personality plus winning jockey Frankie Dettori, a favourite of mine.
That day he'd ridden in Emerald Green racing silks, rather than his more usual Galdofi brilliant Blue colours!
I relayed my thoughts to BJ, she subsequently wrote the lovely story, 'Winning Silks'.
Later that Summer, when special Airedale, Oscar suddenly died, tragically young, knowing BJ's love of dogs - I asked her to write a story in his memory - her deeply touching tribute, 'Oscars Next Adventure' caused many a tear to be shed in the DWB community.
August, saw BJ's wedding day & happily married, she 'virtually' threw me her bridal bouquet!
And, naturally, a hilarious story in the form of 'The Runaway Bouquet' followed.
It recounts how the red roses made their way across the Atlantic to Dreamingspires, to re-unite Little Buddy & I, due to the mis-adventures of a ferret called Wicket - LOL!
And, yet, another request for a 'prompt', months later, caught me with a large goblet of red wine to hand!
I came up with -"The glass was half empty, or again, was it, half full"
Boy, did my personal blog-diary entries come home to roost!
She wrote 'The Wine Dog', all about Azure & her friends that included Nick, @ that time my wine guru, Jeannie & Little Buddy!!!
So, when BJ celebrated her first blog anniversary - I wrote...
"One day, very soon, I hope to see your short stories published.
And, nobody will be prouder than me to read them in book form."
Well, that day came in April last year, which is why the story's I've mentioned, are no longer to be found on Serendipity, as they are now officially published, along with a host of other delightful tales!
When I received my own complementary copy of 'The Apple Tree' I was ecstatic.
And, that was before, I discovered the personally signed, oh so kind, dedication "Without your encouragement, this book wouldn't exist."
And, the printed one, "A huge thank-you to all my loyal readers, especially Blue. I am most grateful."
I was & still am, deeply touched, that she believes I made a difference to her writing career.
BJ is a born author, she writes from the heart; some of her tales are dark, others romantic, they're frequently funny, often deeply touching & always a 'darn good read'.
She, is now busy editing her second volume of short stories for publication & describes it as a massive undertaking.
I know it will be worth the effort & can't waited see what is included in this book.
My personal wish is for 'Stranger on the Shore'.
She is free to use my image to illustrate it too!
I know many Internet friends already follow & know BJ, through her photography blog Rubbish By Roan.
However, if you haven't checked out Serendipity - go read a.s.a.p, - you don't know what you are missing!
14 May 2009
True Colours Thursday - TURQUOISE!
Now, TURQUOISE is being repeated early, due to a request from Muge of The World of Wonder Turquette, because she missed its appearance in January.
I do hope she plays this week, as till I arrived home from my stay @ WelshAire Country, I was struggling with this colour!
Then, I realised it does feature in my life.
I've TURQUOISE shower essentials; a favourite top in that shade with matching scarf & 'mardi-gras' beads as acquired @ a Las Vegas venue; two fascinating paperbacks on my book-shelves have TURQUOISE covers - John Berendt's 'The City of Angels' about Venice and Peter Hoeg's novel, translated from Danish 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow', a thriller set in ice; and, perhaps most important, my late Mothers much treasured, Tortoise broach is genuine TURQUOISE, set in silver...
There's also, sad eyed 'Pooch' a collectible hand painted figurine from the 1980's by Pendelfin...
On TURQUOISE's previous outing, I featured a modern car, this time I have vintage one from my visit to Brighton last November, that coincided with 75th Royal Automobile Club's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
I posted about it HERE!
But, this is a previously unbloged image, of what I believe is a Panhard that has to be pre 1905...
And, being away, means I've not checked Dreamingspires Celebration Cake Shop!
So, confession time - I hold my hands up high & admit this weeks cake is NOT one PHOTOGRAPHED BY ME.
I found it a while back on the blog Yummy Cakes but couldn't resist posting today...
I do hope she plays this week, as till I arrived home from my stay @ WelshAire Country, I was struggling with this colour!
Then, I realised it does feature in my life.
I've TURQUOISE shower essentials; a favourite top in that shade with matching scarf & 'mardi-gras' beads as acquired @ a Las Vegas venue; two fascinating paperbacks on my book-shelves have TURQUOISE covers - John Berendt's 'The City of Angels' about Venice and Peter Hoeg's novel, translated from Danish 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow', a thriller set in ice; and, perhaps most important, my late Mothers much treasured, Tortoise broach is genuine TURQUOISE, set in silver...
There's also, sad eyed 'Pooch' a collectible hand painted figurine from the 1980's by Pendelfin...
On TURQUOISE's previous outing, I featured a modern car, this time I have vintage one from my visit to Brighton last November, that coincided with 75th Royal Automobile Club's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
I posted about it HERE!
But, this is a previously unbloged image, of what I believe is a Panhard that has to be pre 1905...
And, being away, means I've not checked Dreamingspires Celebration Cake Shop!
So, confession time - I hold my hands up high & admit this weeks cake is NOT one PHOTOGRAPHED BY ME.
I found it a while back on the blog Yummy Cakes but couldn't resist posting today...
To participate in True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
Then, LINK back to me & leave a word here, to say you are playing along.
For this meme only, I have again lifted my 'Comment Moderation' to help visiting.
Everyone, who to my knowledge, is or has previously participated recently, is named & linked in my side bar.
AND, I do try to up-date the list throughout the day.
Next weeks colour is GREY - what was I thinking of???
If, anyone has a suggestion for a future 'Colour', please feel free to say.
27 March 2009
The Name Game 2009!
Saw this fun meme over @ Dughallmor Beagles.
Remember, playing a similar blog meme in 2007.
But, thought I'd give it a whirl, never-the-less.
Depending on which letter you have it's tougher than you'd think!
Have used Flickr & Google images to add colour to my post.
1. What is your name? Blue!
All my answers to the below list, now must begin with the B.
2. Four letter word: BALD as in Bald Eagle, a favourite sight soaring in the blue skies over Vancouver Island BC, Canada - miss those times...
3. Girl Name: Thought of Barbie, but never owned the doll.
So, went for BRIDGET of 'Bridget Jones's Diary' instead - hated the novels.
But, loved the films!
4. Boy Name: BRIAN of 'The Magic Roundabout', an iconic BBC TV's childrens programme.
He's the only snail I've ever liked...
5. Occupation: Book-seller once, then baker now BLOGGER!
6. Color: BLUE - what else
7. Piece of clothing: BLACK BELT
8. Food: BACON BUTTY - am no vegitarian.
9. Item in the bathroom: BLUE BUBBLEBATH!
10. Place/City: States wise - BOSTON, would love to visit after all, Agatha & Archie's postcards.
Re locality - BANBURY - remember the childhood verse?
"Ride a cock horse to Banbury cross.
And, see a fine lady on a white horse.
With Rings on her fingers,
And, bells on her toes,
She will have music where ever she goes"
11. A reason for being late: BEEN BUSY BLOGGING!
12. Something I’d yell: BE right BACK!
13. Movie: BUTCH Cassidy & the Sundance Kid - Brillant, best western ever...
14. Something you drink: BOTTLES of BORDEAUX red wine.
15. Band: BEATLES
16. Animal: BLACK BEAR, actually encountered/seen close in the wild on Vancouver Island & @ Whistler BC, Canada...
17. Street name: BAKERS Street - home of author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Homes.
18. Car: lamBORGHINI, a bit of a cheat but one has to go BIG...
19. Song: 'BLACKBIRD' by Lennon/McCartney
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free"
20. Activity that includes more than one participant: BALLOONING!
So, want to take a flight.
Would settle for one over my local shires.
But, a dawn Safari would be better elsewhere.
Remember, playing a similar blog meme in 2007.
But, thought I'd give it a whirl, never-the-less.
Depending on which letter you have it's tougher than you'd think!
Have used Flickr & Google images to add colour to my post.
1. What is your name? Blue!
All my answers to the below list, now must begin with the B.
2. Four letter word: BALD as in Bald Eagle, a favourite sight soaring in the blue skies over Vancouver Island BC, Canada - miss those times...
3. Girl Name: Thought of Barbie, but never owned the doll.So, went for BRIDGET of 'Bridget Jones's Diary' instead - hated the novels.
But, loved the films!
4. Boy Name: BRIAN of 'The Magic Roundabout', an iconic BBC TV's childrens programme.
He's the only snail I've ever liked...
5. Occupation: Book-seller once, then baker now BLOGGER!6. Color: BLUE - what else
7. Piece of clothing: BLACK BELT8. Food: BACON BUTTY - am no vegitarian.
9. Item in the bathroom: BLUE BUBBLEBATH!
10. Place/City: States wise - BOSTON, would love to visit after all, Agatha & Archie's postcards.
Re locality - BANBURY - remember the childhood verse?
"Ride a cock horse to Banbury cross.
And, see a fine lady on a white horse.
With Rings on her fingers,
And, bells on her toes,
She will have music where ever she goes"
11. A reason for being late: BEEN BUSY BLOGGING!
12. Something I’d yell: BE right BACK!
13. Movie: BUTCH Cassidy & the Sundance Kid - Brillant, best western ever...
14. Something you drink: BOTTLES of BORDEAUX red wine.15. Band: BEATLES
16. Animal: BLACK BEAR, actually encountered/seen close in the wild on Vancouver Island & @ Whistler BC, Canada...
17. Street name: BAKERS Street - home of author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Homes.18. Car: lamBORGHINI, a bit of a cheat but one has to go BIG...
19. Song: 'BLACKBIRD' by Lennon/McCartney"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free"
20. Activity that includes more than one participant: BALLOONING!
So, want to take a flight.
Would settle for one over my local shires.
But, a dawn Safari would be better elsewhere.
So, who to tag:-
The Barkalot Boyz , they're so bright!
BJ, because, love to tease her.
Dina, she always has a lot to say.
Maggie & Mitch, because no one is more game!
Sir Woodstock, to keep it in the family!
17 March 2009
Two for Tuesday - Dancing the Day & Night Away!
Now I've mentioned Las Vegas's 'Bellagio' Hotel & it's Conservatory garden several times already.
It's one of the THE smart places to stay.
This hotel's theme, is the delightful sub-tropical small town of Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy.
Amazingly, Little Bubby have been there & done that too like Paris!
Back, in the Summer of 1993, we had several liasons in Milan, and discovered the high speed train link to Coma.
From there, we cruised the lake, the deepest in Europe & the third largest in Italy - I have a pair of sun glasses @ the bottom of it!
Don't ask how!
All I'll say, is drinking excellent vino Rosso on board was involved!!!
The lake foreshore is lined with exclusive, fabulous villas, owned buy the rich & famous, including new resident, George Clooney.
Deep breath of envy here!
It is a wonderful spot.
I would love to full on holiday in the region.
Reading authoress Anita Brookner book "Hotel du Lac", a Booker Prize winning novel [1984] which was later made into a film, makes me think it is possible!
It's about a spinster who finds lasting romance on such a lake vacation; she went to Lake Geneva in Switzerland, but I've always envisaged it as Lago di Como!
A view replicated Vegas style...
On our cruise, Little Buddy & I actually stopped off @ Bellagio, & walked through the beautiful hilly town, which is on the promentory where Lake Como separates into two branches.
Anyway back to the more recent times; one of the Vegas Bellagio's principle attrations is it's dancing fountains.
These display half hourly from mid afternoon till midnight, each performance is different.
I was happy to watch them endlessly @ anytine of day.
It's one of the THE smart places to stay.
This hotel's theme, is the delightful sub-tropical small town of Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy.
Amazingly, Little Bubby have been there & done that too like Paris!
Back, in the Summer of 1993, we had several liasons in Milan, and discovered the high speed train link to Coma.
From there, we cruised the lake, the deepest in Europe & the third largest in Italy - I have a pair of sun glasses @ the bottom of it!
Don't ask how!
All I'll say, is drinking excellent vino Rosso on board was involved!!!
The lake foreshore is lined with exclusive, fabulous villas, owned buy the rich & famous, including new resident, George Clooney.
Deep breath of envy here!
It is a wonderful spot.
I would love to full on holiday in the region.
Reading authoress Anita Brookner book "Hotel du Lac", a Booker Prize winning novel [1984] which was later made into a film, makes me think it is possible!
It's about a spinster who finds lasting romance on such a lake vacation; she went to Lake Geneva in Switzerland, but I've always envisaged it as Lago di Como!
A view replicated Vegas style...
On our cruise, Little Buddy & I actually stopped off @ Bellagio, & walked through the beautiful hilly town, which is on the promentory where Lake Como separates into two branches.Anyway back to the more recent times; one of the Vegas Bellagio's principle attrations is it's dancing fountains.
These display half hourly from mid afternoon till midnight, each performance is different.
I was happy to watch them endlessly @ anytine of day.
The waters dance & shoot sky high in time to the music...
And @ night the magic is illuminated...
Two Fer is Jonna's concept, she is @ the moment in India.
And @ night the magic is illuminated...Two Fer is Jonna's concept, she is @ the moment in India.Wow!
Business trip too!
However, to participate in this easy weekly meme, all you need is two or pairs of photo's on your choice of theme.
5 February 2009
True Colours Thursday - ORANGE!
Now, ORANGE doesn't feature very much in my life, apart from the fruit.
Am a great believer in their Vitamin C content!
Anyway, looking around my home for subjects to photograph, the only blaze of this weeks colour, came from these, 1970's Penguin Paperback spines on my bookshelves, next to peachy, no ORANGE silk roses...
That got me thinking!
I have several pre-war books owned by my Mother...
Penguin Paperbacks first went on sale in Britain in July 1935!
And, "The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg" by Louis Bromfield, seen in the photo on the left is an early copy.
It's reverse cover lists the first twenty titles published.
It is No 19 & inside, the fly page states:-
'Published in Penguin Books 1935'!
Moving into more recent times, one of my favourite reads was the winner of the ORANGE Prize for Fiction in 2002.
"Bel Canto" by Ann Pratchett, even obligingly, has the right coloured cover...
To participate in True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs or text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
Then, leave a me a 'Comment' here, to say you are playing along this week.
Rinkly Rimes has already done so else where.
And, another earlier player this week is Rosy.
NB - To help visiting - everyone, who is or has previously participated, is named & linked in my side bar.
Next weeks colour is SILVER!
If, anyone has a suggestion for a 'Guest Colour', please feel free to say.
Postscript:-
Am again, posting unusually early for me, via Bloggers 'Scheduled Posts' function to aid any early players!
Last week, we had seven new participants!
Am amazed & delighted equally.
If this meme continues to grow in popularity, I will consider asking Mr Linky to help out.
In the meantime, do please check out my sidebar & Comments!
Am a great believer in their Vitamin C content!
Anyway, looking around my home for subjects to photograph, the only blaze of this weeks colour, came from these, 1970's Penguin Paperback spines on my bookshelves, next to peachy, no ORANGE silk roses...
That got me thinking!I have several pre-war books owned by my Mother...
Penguin Paperbacks first went on sale in Britain in July 1935!And, "The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg" by Louis Bromfield, seen in the photo on the left is an early copy.
It's reverse cover lists the first twenty titles published.
It is No 19 & inside, the fly page states:-
'Published in Penguin Books 1935'!
Moving into more recent times, one of my favourite reads was the winner of the ORANGE Prize for Fiction in 2002.
"Bel Canto" by Ann Pratchett, even obligingly, has the right coloured cover...
To participate in True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs or text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
Then, leave a me a 'Comment' here, to say you are playing along this week.
Rinkly Rimes has already done so else where.
And, another earlier player this week is Rosy.
NB - To help visiting - everyone, who is or has previously participated, is named & linked in my side bar.
Next weeks colour is SILVER!
If, anyone has a suggestion for a 'Guest Colour', please feel free to say.
Postscript:-
Am again, posting unusually early for me, via Bloggers 'Scheduled Posts' function to aid any early players!
Last week, we had seven new participants!
Am amazed & delighted equally.
If this meme continues to grow in popularity, I will consider asking Mr Linky to help out.
In the meantime, do please check out my sidebar & Comments!
30 January 2009
A Seriously Booky Tag Game!
To be honest, I'm now unsure, where this particular tag came from via Internet surfing!
But, loved the book theme, as was once an avid reader.
Am shamefully, a bit lapsed now, as have so many blogs to read!
However, I still have an extensive personal library, which I keep adding too.
The tag game goes like this...
List:-
Four childhood books read [& in my case, still owned]...
1. 'The Bunny Whiskers Find an Island' by Isobel Knight - a gift from a close school friend & still cherished, despite the lost connection.
2. 'Ragged Robin' by M.E.Ropes - belonged to my Mother - it was her Term Prize for Drawing & Painting in 1928!
3. 'A Winter Holiday' by Arthur Ransome, better known for writing 'Swallows & Amazons' - my school Form Prize in 1966!
4. 'Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame.
Four Classic books read & never forgotten [& re-read I'll add]...
1. 'Pride & Predudice' by Jane Austin
2. 'Our Mutual Friend' by Charles Dickens
3. 'The Women in White' by Wilkie Collins
4. 'Shirley' by Charlotte Bronte, far better than 'Jane Eyre'.
Four personal modern 'Classic' novels...
1.'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee
2.'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding
3.'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee
4. 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' by John Fowles
Four authors I read again and again...
1. Charles Dickens
2. Barbara Vine
3. Margaret Attwood
4. Betty J Roan - she is my dearest 'virtual blog' friend & I want her to do well as a writer because she has talent.
Besides which, her first book "The Apple Tree", is the only published work of fiction in the whole wide world that's ever likely to give me, yes ME, an acknowledgement!
Four authors &/or books I'll never read again [I won't go into why, because it would take too long here!]...
1. Sebastian Faulks
2. John Saul
3. Joanne Harris
4. The Bible
Four books on my 'To-Be-Read' list...
1. 'Run' by Ann Patchett - loved 'Bel Canto' her 'Orange' prize winning novel
2. 'The Last King of Scotland' by Giles Foden - it's been sitting there a while now.
3. 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens - the recent BBC TV adaptation has inspired my interest.
4. 'Lonely Bones' by Alice Sebold - because BJ rates it highly - still have to buy my copy!
The four books I'd take to a desert island...
1. 'Rebecca' by Daphine du Maurier - am a romantic!
2. 'The Apple Tree' by Betty J Roan - think I've explained partly, why earlier!
3. 'The Monthly Sky Guide' by Ian Ridpath & Wil Tirion, as would so enjoy the star gazing & need the information to recognise the constellations from a new location!
4. A large blank Notebook for personal scribbles - I might write my own novel!
Four books recommendations you have followed:-
1. 'The Ballard and the Source' by Rosamond Lehmann, from BBC Radio 4's Womans Hour's serial.
2. 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow' by Peter Hoeg, suggested by my cousin Headmistress after watching the movie adaptation together.
3. 'Angel & Demons' by Dan Brown, from Little Buddy as he said I'd recognise the stories locations and I did!
4. 'The Handsmaids Tale' by Margaret Attwood - it's my friend Wilma's all time favourite book.
Will add, I enjoyed all four reads; and each now, has a permanent home on my bookshelves!
The last lines of one of my favourite books:
'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
"Soon afterwards, like figures made of mist, father & son disappear into the crowd of the Rambles, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind"
Now, who to tag???
1. BJ - Well, she is a writer!
2. Nonizamboni, my fellow blue lover, because I think this is her sort of thing.
3. Aileni - now, I know he usually, graciously declines participating in Tags, but am hoping to tempt him in with this one as know he's a fellow book lover!
4. Wilma, because she's a avid reader!
And, as a bonus, so to include my DWB friends - Marvin, he's a scholarly hound given to prose and his Jeannie is sure to have input, if she's not to busy reading books on Australia!
But, loved the book theme, as was once an avid reader.
Am shamefully, a bit lapsed now, as have so many blogs to read!
However, I still have an extensive personal library, which I keep adding too.
The tag game goes like this...
List:-
Four childhood books read [& in my case, still owned]...
1. 'The Bunny Whiskers Find an Island' by Isobel Knight - a gift from a close school friend & still cherished, despite the lost connection.
2. 'Ragged Robin' by M.E.Ropes - belonged to my Mother - it was her Term Prize for Drawing & Painting in 1928!
3. 'A Winter Holiday' by Arthur Ransome, better known for writing 'Swallows & Amazons' - my school Form Prize in 1966!
4. 'Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame.
Four Classic books read & never forgotten [& re-read I'll add]...
1. 'Pride & Predudice' by Jane Austin
2. 'Our Mutual Friend' by Charles Dickens
3. 'The Women in White' by Wilkie Collins
4. 'Shirley' by Charlotte Bronte, far better than 'Jane Eyre'.
Four personal modern 'Classic' novels...
1.'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee
2.'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding
3.'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee
4. 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' by John Fowles
Four authors I read again and again...
1. Charles Dickens
2. Barbara Vine
3. Margaret Attwood
4. Betty J Roan - she is my dearest 'virtual blog' friend & I want her to do well as a writer because she has talent.
Besides which, her first book "The Apple Tree", is the only published work of fiction in the whole wide world that's ever likely to give me, yes ME, an acknowledgement!
Four authors &/or books I'll never read again [I won't go into why, because it would take too long here!]...
1. Sebastian Faulks
2. John Saul
3. Joanne Harris
4. The Bible
Four books on my 'To-Be-Read' list...
1. 'Run' by Ann Patchett - loved 'Bel Canto' her 'Orange' prize winning novel
2. 'The Last King of Scotland' by Giles Foden - it's been sitting there a while now.
3. 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens - the recent BBC TV adaptation has inspired my interest.
4. 'Lonely Bones' by Alice Sebold - because BJ rates it highly - still have to buy my copy!
The four books I'd take to a desert island...
1. 'Rebecca' by Daphine du Maurier - am a romantic!
2. 'The Apple Tree' by Betty J Roan - think I've explained partly, why earlier!
3. 'The Monthly Sky Guide' by Ian Ridpath & Wil Tirion, as would so enjoy the star gazing & need the information to recognise the constellations from a new location!
4. A large blank Notebook for personal scribbles - I might write my own novel!
Four books recommendations you have followed:-
1. 'The Ballard and the Source' by Rosamond Lehmann, from BBC Radio 4's Womans Hour's serial.
2. 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow' by Peter Hoeg, suggested by my cousin Headmistress after watching the movie adaptation together.
3. 'Angel & Demons' by Dan Brown, from Little Buddy as he said I'd recognise the stories locations and I did!
4. 'The Handsmaids Tale' by Margaret Attwood - it's my friend Wilma's all time favourite book.
Will add, I enjoyed all four reads; and each now, has a permanent home on my bookshelves!
The last lines of one of my favourite books:
'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
"Soon afterwards, like figures made of mist, father & son disappear into the crowd of the Rambles, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind"
Now, who to tag???
1. BJ - Well, she is a writer!
2. Nonizamboni, my fellow blue lover, because I think this is her sort of thing.
3. Aileni - now, I know he usually, graciously declines participating in Tags, but am hoping to tempt him in with this one as know he's a fellow book lover!
4. Wilma, because she's a avid reader!
And, as a bonus, so to include my DWB friends - Marvin, he's a scholarly hound given to prose and his Jeannie is sure to have input, if she's not to busy reading books on Australia!
11 January 2009
The Things I've Done Meme!
Found this loooooooooooooooooong, but interesting meme, when visiting Misty Dawn's blog this morning!
Being housebound - there's no going for walks for me @ the mo - so, with time on my hands thought I'd give it a go, as some of the Questions are all new to me.
Settle down - it is a LONG but informative read - only 100...
1. Started your own blog ? - Yes, now, on Number three!
2. Slept under the stars? - Strangely, No.
But, stood & admired them often!
I love to star gaze.
3. Played in a band? - If, miming the recorder in a school concert counts, Yes!
4. Visited Hawaii?- Yes, yes, yes...
5. Watched a meteor shower? - Like Misty Dawn I've seen shooting stars, but not sure about meteors.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity? - I tend to donate merchandise more than money, as cash strapped.
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World)? - Yes, Euro Disney, now known as Disneyland Paris several times in the Ninties!
What fun, fun, fun.
8. Climbed a mountain? - Hills, Yes; Mountains, not so much!
My tendency to want to head downhill head first, is a handicap but have hiked in the Rocky Mountains, Canada!
9. Held a praying mantis? - You must be joking!
10. Sang a solo? - Excuse me, what with my deadpan flat voice! No!
11. Bungee jumped? - No way, NEVER!
12. Visited Paris? - Oh, Yes! A lovely romazntic city.
Little Buddy flew there frequently, so I visited big time!
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea? - Yes, both here in the UK @ Brighton alone.
And, during brillent night storm @ a small resort in Italy with LB!
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch? - Most of my skills are self taught!
15. Adopted a child? - Err! No way, unless my late Springer 'Son' Hero counts?
16. Had food poisoning? - Yep, from Seafood pasta in an Italian restaurant.
It was quick & violent and the bill was was subsequently reduced!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty? - No but would like to; as long as I could catch a lift down!
18. Grown your own vegetables? - No, not green fingered; even Mustard & Cress dies on me!
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France? - Yes but was really disappointed!
The painting is soooooooooooooo small & insignificant!
20. Slept on an overnight train? - Yes, several times when a teenager, on the way to Edinburgh, Scotland.
It was fun, especially when going to Festival!
21. Had a pillow fight? - No. As only children, didn't have that fun as no siblings.
22. Hitch hiked? - No.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill? - Yes, lots when I was a Tax Officer, then junior Inspector in the Inland Revenue as HATED my job!
24. Built a snow fort? - No, as rarely that amount of snow in my world.
But, remember walking on high snow drifts in the Sixties!
25. Held a lamb? - No; baby Chicks Yes!
26. Gone skinny dipping? - Oh, Yes; same places as I saw the lightening over the sea!
27. Run a Marathon? - No way! Thats like hard physical exercise/work!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice? - I wish!
Turned down the chance to visit the floating city, when in Milan with Little Buddy!
29. Seen a total eclipse? - No!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset? - Lots, love them both & taken photo's too!
31. Hit a home run? - What's that? I'm NOT sporty!
32. Been on a cruise? - If taking the BC Ferries between Mainland, Canada to Vancouver Island counts & it should, Yes!
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person? - Yep, in sunshine & frost! It's incredible!
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors? - No; family is not big to me!
35. Seen an Amish community? - Not Amish, except in the movies.
But, Yes to the Canadian equivalent, the Mennonites!
36. Taught yourself a new language? - Sadly No!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)? - Yes, I guess!
Money is not my God; as long as I can keep a roof over my head & live quietly, it isn't that important!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person? - Another Italian regret, as could have when in Tuscany!
39. Gone rock climbing? - No way, NEVER!
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David? - No, as missed out Florence on my Tuscan holidays too, but maybe the replica in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London counts, as seen that one!
41. Sung karaoke? - LOL. Never, & never will!
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt? - The real thing, No.
A replica @ Disneyland Paris, Yes!
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant? - No! See too many Street People in my City, who abuse peoples donations to go there myself.
44. Visited Africa? - No, and have mixed views as whether I want to, too!
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight? - Oh, Yes!
46. Been transported in an ambulance? - Yes, & with all flashing lights & siren blazing!
It was after a wild gale on the South Coast, when a sheet of window glass blown out, landed on my head & splintered there!
47. Had your portrait painted? - No.
48. Gone deep sea fishing? - No, but would be interested!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person? - Strangely enough, No!
The weather was always so great in Rome, kept postponing my visit to the Vatican for a 'Rainy Day' that never happened!
And, then Little Budddy stopped flying there...
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris? - Yes, the view is wonderful, especially @ Dusk!
Any one still reading here?
I did warn you.
Am only half way through @ this point...
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling? - No, not a strong swimmer but would have liked to have tried it in Hawaii, but went sailing instead!
52. Kissed in the rain? - Think so!
London & Paris can be damp!
53. Played in the mud? - NO!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater? - No, they don't exist in the UK.
55. Been in a movie? - No.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China? - No, but like to walk it with company!
57. Started a business? - Yes, with a Government Grant - had my own cake baking business for twelve years till bureaucracy forced me to close down!
58. Taken a martial arts class? - No, not into violence not even the self defence variety!
59. Visited Russia? - No, but would like to go to Moscow for the architecture!
60. Served at a soup kitchen? - No.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies? - No, but we call then Girl Guides in the UK!
62. Gone whale watching? - Oh Yes; twice from Torfino, Vancouver Island, Canada!
First time no sightings, hence the second trip. We eventually, caught sight of the tell tale blow spout off from a Gray Whale, who finally surfaced along side our cruiser!
63. Got flowers for no reason? - Don't think so...
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma? - No, have a needle phobia!
65. Gone sky diving? - NO way, do I need/want more broken bones???
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp? - I couldn't do it when near one in Munich!
67. Bounced a cheque? - Like Misty Dawn not intentionally.
68. Flown in a helicopter? - Yes, off Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, Canada - posted about not that long ago
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy? - Still have many of mine, as was an only child!
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial? No.
71. Eaten Caviar? - Yes, but not impressed!
You can keep fish eggs.
72. Pieced a quilt? - Have taught my self to do Patchwork!
73. Stood in Times Square? - No.
74. Toured the Everglades? - No, not sure I want too as not keen on crocodiles!
75. Been fired from a job? - No, resigned first!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London? - Oh, of course!
Even went out briefly with a Grenadier Guard, who I met whilst on duty @ Buckingham Palace! A long story & one I don't believe I've ever blogged about!
77. Broken a bone? - LOL! Excuse me, who is writing this!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle? - Never ridden one or been a pilian passenger.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person? - No, but would like too.
And, do the Skywalk, as have no fear of heights!
80. Published a book? - No, but was soo proud when my dear friend BJ did!
81. Visited the Vatican? - See my answer to No 49, but have been inside St Pauls.
82. Bought a brand new car? - No. Cars are just wheels to me, not status symbols.
83. Walked in Jerusalem? - No.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper? - Thankfully, No!
85. Read the entire Bible? - Old Testament only, because I was studying Religion for an 'O' level exam!
86. Visited the White House? - No, but would like to visit Washington.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating? - Yes, learnt to wring a Chickens neck & gut it when younger.
Not so keen to repeat the exercise now.
88. Had chickenpox? - Yes, when a schoolgirl.
89. Saved someone’s life? - No, not a humans.
But Hero's, as his previous owner threatened to put him down!
90. Sat on a jury? - No.
91. Met someone famous? - Sort of!
Anyone in the UK listen to Bob Harris late night weekends on BBC Radio 2 & remember the TV show 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'???
And, what about his first wife, the Italian Countess TV cook Valentina Harris???
92. Joined a book club? - No, but would like to.
93. Lost a loved one? - YES.
94. Had a baby? - No way, NEVER.
95. Seen the Alamo in person? - No.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake? - No, but love swimming.
97. Been involved in a law suit? - Err!
Been prosecuted, paid a fine!!!
98. Owned a cell phone? - We Brits call them 'Mobiles'.
I have one but use it little - am not a phone person.
99. Been stung by a bee? - No, but Wasps, Yes a plenty!
100. Read an entire book in one day? - Oh, Yes!
Last compulsive one - Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaiden's Tale', on friend Wilma's recommendation.
Then, had to re read @ leisure to fully digest its ramifications!
By the time I'd completed this list, I realised just HOW fortunate I was.
I've travelled well, had some great experiences, been blessed.
A post, without images seems unlike me.
But, would need to rummage in inaccessible Albums!
I'm not tagging anyone; but, if friends want to take up the challenge - DO tell me so I can read...
Being housebound - there's no going for walks for me @ the mo - so, with time on my hands thought I'd give it a go, as some of the Questions are all new to me.
Settle down - it is a LONG but informative read - only 100...
1. Started your own blog ? - Yes, now, on Number three!
2. Slept under the stars? - Strangely, No.
But, stood & admired them often!
I love to star gaze.
3. Played in a band? - If, miming the recorder in a school concert counts, Yes!
4. Visited Hawaii?- Yes, yes, yes...
5. Watched a meteor shower? - Like Misty Dawn I've seen shooting stars, but not sure about meteors.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity? - I tend to donate merchandise more than money, as cash strapped.
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World)? - Yes, Euro Disney, now known as Disneyland Paris several times in the Ninties!
What fun, fun, fun.
8. Climbed a mountain? - Hills, Yes; Mountains, not so much!
My tendency to want to head downhill head first, is a handicap but have hiked in the Rocky Mountains, Canada!
9. Held a praying mantis? - You must be joking!
10. Sang a solo? - Excuse me, what with my deadpan flat voice! No!
11. Bungee jumped? - No way, NEVER!
12. Visited Paris? - Oh, Yes! A lovely romazntic city.
Little Buddy flew there frequently, so I visited big time!
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea? - Yes, both here in the UK @ Brighton alone.
And, during brillent night storm @ a small resort in Italy with LB!
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch? - Most of my skills are self taught!
15. Adopted a child? - Err! No way, unless my late Springer 'Son' Hero counts?
16. Had food poisoning? - Yep, from Seafood pasta in an Italian restaurant.
It was quick & violent and the bill was was subsequently reduced!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty? - No but would like to; as long as I could catch a lift down!
18. Grown your own vegetables? - No, not green fingered; even Mustard & Cress dies on me!
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France? - Yes but was really disappointed!
The painting is soooooooooooooo small & insignificant!
20. Slept on an overnight train? - Yes, several times when a teenager, on the way to Edinburgh, Scotland.
It was fun, especially when going to Festival!
21. Had a pillow fight? - No. As only children, didn't have that fun as no siblings.
22. Hitch hiked? - No.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill? - Yes, lots when I was a Tax Officer, then junior Inspector in the Inland Revenue as HATED my job!
24. Built a snow fort? - No, as rarely that amount of snow in my world.
But, remember walking on high snow drifts in the Sixties!
25. Held a lamb? - No; baby Chicks Yes!
26. Gone skinny dipping? - Oh, Yes; same places as I saw the lightening over the sea!
27. Run a Marathon? - No way! Thats like hard physical exercise/work!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice? - I wish!
Turned down the chance to visit the floating city, when in Milan with Little Buddy!
29. Seen a total eclipse? - No!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset? - Lots, love them both & taken photo's too!
31. Hit a home run? - What's that? I'm NOT sporty!
32. Been on a cruise? - If taking the BC Ferries between Mainland, Canada to Vancouver Island counts & it should, Yes!
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person? - Yep, in sunshine & frost! It's incredible!
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors? - No; family is not big to me!
35. Seen an Amish community? - Not Amish, except in the movies.
But, Yes to the Canadian equivalent, the Mennonites!
36. Taught yourself a new language? - Sadly No!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)? - Yes, I guess!
Money is not my God; as long as I can keep a roof over my head & live quietly, it isn't that important!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person? - Another Italian regret, as could have when in Tuscany!
39. Gone rock climbing? - No way, NEVER!
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David? - No, as missed out Florence on my Tuscan holidays too, but maybe the replica in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London counts, as seen that one!
41. Sung karaoke? - LOL. Never, & never will!
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt? - The real thing, No.
A replica @ Disneyland Paris, Yes!
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant? - No! See too many Street People in my City, who abuse peoples donations to go there myself.
44. Visited Africa? - No, and have mixed views as whether I want to, too!
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight? - Oh, Yes!
46. Been transported in an ambulance? - Yes, & with all flashing lights & siren blazing!
It was after a wild gale on the South Coast, when a sheet of window glass blown out, landed on my head & splintered there!
47. Had your portrait painted? - No.
48. Gone deep sea fishing? - No, but would be interested!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person? - Strangely enough, No!
The weather was always so great in Rome, kept postponing my visit to the Vatican for a 'Rainy Day' that never happened!
And, then Little Budddy stopped flying there...
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris? - Yes, the view is wonderful, especially @ Dusk!
Any one still reading here?
I did warn you.
Am only half way through @ this point...
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling? - No, not a strong swimmer but would have liked to have tried it in Hawaii, but went sailing instead!
52. Kissed in the rain? - Think so!
London & Paris can be damp!
53. Played in the mud? - NO!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater? - No, they don't exist in the UK.
55. Been in a movie? - No.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China? - No, but like to walk it with company!
57. Started a business? - Yes, with a Government Grant - had my own cake baking business for twelve years till bureaucracy forced me to close down!
58. Taken a martial arts class? - No, not into violence not even the self defence variety!
59. Visited Russia? - No, but would like to go to Moscow for the architecture!
60. Served at a soup kitchen? - No.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies? - No, but we call then Girl Guides in the UK!
62. Gone whale watching? - Oh Yes; twice from Torfino, Vancouver Island, Canada!
First time no sightings, hence the second trip. We eventually, caught sight of the tell tale blow spout off from a Gray Whale, who finally surfaced along side our cruiser!
63. Got flowers for no reason? - Don't think so...
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma? - No, have a needle phobia!
65. Gone sky diving? - NO way, do I need/want more broken bones???
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp? - I couldn't do it when near one in Munich!
67. Bounced a cheque? - Like Misty Dawn not intentionally.
68. Flown in a helicopter? - Yes, off Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, Canada - posted about not that long ago
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy? - Still have many of mine, as was an only child!
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial? No.
71. Eaten Caviar? - Yes, but not impressed!
You can keep fish eggs.
72. Pieced a quilt? - Have taught my self to do Patchwork!
73. Stood in Times Square? - No.
74. Toured the Everglades? - No, not sure I want too as not keen on crocodiles!
75. Been fired from a job? - No, resigned first!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London? - Oh, of course!
Even went out briefly with a Grenadier Guard, who I met whilst on duty @ Buckingham Palace! A long story & one I don't believe I've ever blogged about!
77. Broken a bone? - LOL! Excuse me, who is writing this!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle? - Never ridden one or been a pilian passenger.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person? - No, but would like too.
And, do the Skywalk, as have no fear of heights!
80. Published a book? - No, but was soo proud when my dear friend BJ did!
81. Visited the Vatican? - See my answer to No 49, but have been inside St Pauls.
82. Bought a brand new car? - No. Cars are just wheels to me, not status symbols.
83. Walked in Jerusalem? - No.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper? - Thankfully, No!
85. Read the entire Bible? - Old Testament only, because I was studying Religion for an 'O' level exam!
86. Visited the White House? - No, but would like to visit Washington.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating? - Yes, learnt to wring a Chickens neck & gut it when younger.
Not so keen to repeat the exercise now.
88. Had chickenpox? - Yes, when a schoolgirl.
89. Saved someone’s life? - No, not a humans.
But Hero's, as his previous owner threatened to put him down!
90. Sat on a jury? - No.
91. Met someone famous? - Sort of!
Anyone in the UK listen to Bob Harris late night weekends on BBC Radio 2 & remember the TV show 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'???
And, what about his first wife, the Italian Countess TV cook Valentina Harris???
92. Joined a book club? - No, but would like to.
93. Lost a loved one? - YES.
94. Had a baby? - No way, NEVER.
95. Seen the Alamo in person? - No.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake? - No, but love swimming.
97. Been involved in a law suit? - Err!
Been prosecuted, paid a fine!!!
98. Owned a cell phone? - We Brits call them 'Mobiles'.
I have one but use it little - am not a phone person.
99. Been stung by a bee? - No, but Wasps, Yes a plenty!
100. Read an entire book in one day? - Oh, Yes!
Last compulsive one - Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaiden's Tale', on friend Wilma's recommendation.
Then, had to re read @ leisure to fully digest its ramifications!
By the time I'd completed this list, I realised just HOW fortunate I was.
I've travelled well, had some great experiences, been blessed.
A post, without images seems unlike me.
But, would need to rummage in inaccessible Albums!
I'm not tagging anyone; but, if friends want to take up the challenge - DO tell me so I can read...
15 November 2008
Saturday Photo Hunters - Ruin[ed]!
As ever, host tnchick posed a tease with her subject.
My only ruin, photographed recently, is the already, well over posted West Pier, Brighton; so, I really wanted something new but had no ideas!
Then yesterday, coming home from town, I came upon a woeful sight; particularly, after rain!
To me, books are treasured possessions, I rarely ever part with mine.
And when I do, for whatever reason, I donate them to my local charity shop, for others to hopefully enjoy more than I did.
What I NEVER EVER do, is cast them out with the rubbish!
It's sacrilegious!
So to me, these bags of ruined, soggy paperbacks was an sorry sight...
Like a street scavenger, I delved into them, hoping to find still dry books, not yet ruined by abandonment and the wet weather.
I retrieved a damp five, that looked interesting & weren't further ruined by badly bent back spines & turned down pages - another BIG sin in my eyes!
The books I saved from complete ruination were:-
'Alibi' by Joseph Kanon - read & enjoyed 'The Good German' by him; 'The Siege' by Helen Dunmore; 'The Jane Austin Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler; 'The Remains of the Day' by Kazuo Ishiguro - I have the DVD of the film version; and 'The Stone Diaries' by Carol Shields, even though this one was more than a touch on the wet side!
Now, I can continue to ruin my fading eyesight, by more reading.
My only ruin, photographed recently, is the already, well over posted West Pier, Brighton; so, I really wanted something new but had no ideas!
Then yesterday, coming home from town, I came upon a woeful sight; particularly, after rain!
To me, books are treasured possessions, I rarely ever part with mine.
And when I do, for whatever reason, I donate them to my local charity shop, for others to hopefully enjoy more than I did.
What I NEVER EVER do, is cast them out with the rubbish!
It's sacrilegious!
So to me, these bags of ruined, soggy paperbacks was an sorry sight...
Like a street scavenger, I delved into them, hoping to find still dry books, not yet ruined by abandonment and the wet weather.I retrieved a damp five, that looked interesting & weren't further ruined by badly bent back spines & turned down pages - another BIG sin in my eyes!
The books I saved from complete ruination were:-
'Alibi' by Joseph Kanon - read & enjoyed 'The Good German' by him; 'The Siege' by Helen Dunmore; 'The Jane Austin Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler; 'The Remains of the Day' by Kazuo Ishiguro - I have the DVD of the film version; and 'The Stone Diaries' by Carol Shields, even though this one was more than a touch on the wet side!
Now, I can continue to ruin my fading eyesight, by more reading.
7 November 2008
A Snapshot Into My Life!
Snuggle Puggle Eduardo, left me a message the other day saying:-
"Come to my blog & see this meme I did, you would enjoy it!
And, I would love to see your answers!"
How could I resist such an invitation???
So, here goes:-
And, here's a Monochrome version of today's Sky Watch beacon....JPG)
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Weekend...
Tonight drinking some red wine! Okay, it should be white to go with my luxury fish fingers - LOL!
Tomorrow, getting up early, hangover permitting to catch my coach to London & the Dog Show!
And, on Sunday, sleeping in, then listening to the omnibus edition of my favourite long running BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers - an every day story of rural folk".
"Come to my blog & see this meme I did, you would enjoy it!
And, I would love to see your answers!"
How could I resist such an invitation???
So, here goes:-
Outside my Window...
It's been bright & sunny today, but with a nip in the air, as I discovered on my walk along the River Isis's tow path into town... 
I am thinking...
I should have posted this quick snapshot whilst away...
Yes! I now, have my very own B&W Bone china WFT mug, courtesy of Jackson & J1.
Don't know what I did to deserve such a thoughtful gift but love it!
Yes! I now, have my very own B&W Bone china WFT mug, courtesy of Jackson & J1.Don't know what I did to deserve such a thoughtful gift but love it!
I am thankful for...
My Blog friends, who despite my many 'wobbles' still follow me!
From the kitchen...
Tonight it's Captain Birds Eye's Cod Fish Fingers!
A favourite easy-peasy meal with peas & oven-baked chips.
And, to add a touch of class, some Tartar Sauce!
A favourite easy-peasy meal with peas & oven-baked chips.
And, to add a touch of class, some Tartar Sauce!
I am creating...
A post relating to Remembrance Day - Ninety years since Armistice...
I am going to...
I am going to... The Discover Dogs presented by the Kennel Club @ Earls Court, London tomorrow!
I am wearing...
Blue jeans, an old navy polo-neck & warm Arran Jumper, as I don't run my central heating during the day time, till the bitterest, darkest days of Winter!
I am reading...
My friends blogs - always playing catch-up!
And, 'Honorary Dog' by the late, Dora Wright, who was a breeder & life time lover of Airedales.
The book's on loan from Molly & Taffy's hooman!
The book's on loan from Molly & Taffy's hooman!
I am hoping...
To loose some weight, before Christmas - LOL!
I am hearing...
Alan Jackson's 'Greatest Hits Volume II' CD, which includes favourite tracks 'When Somebody Loves You', 'Remember When' and 'It's Five O'clock Somewhere'.
I discovered this terrific Country artist through Marvin, the Hollow Hound's Jeannie.
I am for ever in her debt!
I am for ever in her debt!
Around the house...
There is endless clutter, a Crystal garden... 
And, countless Teddybears; this group is my Summer Olympic 2008, Synchronised Sitting team, who won a 'Certificate of Merit' from Bob T Bear [Esq] for fur-colour co-ordination...
One of my favorite things...
And, countless Teddybears; this group is my Summer Olympic 2008, Synchronised Sitting team, who won a 'Certificate of Merit' from Bob T Bear [Esq] for fur-colour co-ordination...One of my favorite things... Is photography!
I love taking photo's & keep on trying to experiment with the results!
This is the blue 'Demonic' looking negative image of the Jax...
I love taking photo's & keep on trying to experiment with the results!
This is the blue 'Demonic' looking negative image of the Jax...
And, here's a Monochrome version of today's Sky Watch beacon...A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Weekend...Tonight drinking some red wine! Okay, it should be white to go with my luxury fish fingers - LOL!
Tomorrow, getting up early, hangover permitting to catch my coach to London & the Dog Show!
And, on Sunday, sleeping in, then listening to the omnibus edition of my favourite long running BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers - an every day story of rural folk".
Remember...
I keep trying too, even though I sometimes fail!
"Be who you are and say what you feel;
Because those who mind, don’t matter;
And those who matter, don’t mind."
Dr. Seuss
Because those who mind, don’t matter;
And those who matter, don’t mind."
Dr. Seuss
[1904—1991]
I'm going to tag to play this, a cross section of blog friends:-
Sunshine, Agatha & Archie, Nydia, Bob T Bear [Esq], Bear Naked & Simba!
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Dear 
"These are magic roses, and if you put your rose in water overnight, there will be five more roses there in the morning for you to share with who ever you think has a PEACHY HEART OF GOLD."