We Must Always Have Hope!

On reading through my friends' Blogs over the past few days, it has become apparent that several of them are going through quite a hard time at the moment, for one reason or another.

I noticed this poem on another blog, and Bethe77 has very kindly said that I might use it here today.  I hope you like it.



DON'T QUIT

by Edgar A. Guest

 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit - rest if you must,
but don't you quit.

 

Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about when he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow - you may succeed with another blow.

 

Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man;
often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor's cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.

 

Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem worst,
you must not quit.

 

 

Sunday Snap!

Eldest granddaughter & Youngest granddaughter.  Taken April 2010.



Another Weekend!

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
—Howard Thurman(1899-1981); Author, Philosopher, Theologian, Educator, Civil Rights Leader.

I borrowed that quote from Chatty Crone If you haven't visited her before, I would recommend her blog to you.  It is a mixture of inspirational quotes, humour and general chitchat.  She makes me smile anyway!

My daughter has been looking at flowers for the wedding and found this wonderful website which is just a few miles from where we live here in Devon.  Look at these gorgeous photoes!

We're just waiting to see if the lady will be available for the date we want in June, so fingers crossed!

Well, I saw the doctor again yesterday, and she confirmed that there is still a lot of crackling on my lungs, so has given me a stronger dose of antibiotics to take during this coming week.

She then went on to say that I wasn't 21 any more, and things take longer to heal at my age.  At my age??!!  I responded with "make me feel good, why don't you!".  LOL!

I absolutely refuse to think of numbers in respect of my age.  I still feel young inside, still like being silly and intend to grow old very disgracefully, and I hope that you will all accompany me on  the journey.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Another Tragedy

It seems like only yesterday that all our thoughts and prayers were going out to all those poor people in Australia, who were affected by the terrible flooding.

Now, we have another terrible situation over in New Zealand with the awful earthquake that they experienced.  I realize that others have probably posted about this already, as I am a little behind at the moment, but I just had to mention it and send prayers to all those affected.

It was horrible watching all the images on the BBC news last night.  The thing that really affected me was the interview they did with a mum whose daughter was trapped in the rubble of her office.  This poor lady said that she was constantly ringing her daughter's mobile phone, in the hope that the rescuers would hear it ringing and that it would lead them to her beloved daughter.  Oh dear, I can't even begin to imagine what that poor mum was going through.  It certainly wasn't looking good, that's for sure.

Does anyone else feel a bit uneasy by all this twenty four hour news coverage of these terrible tragedies.  It's always the bit when the reporter sticks his microphone up to someone's face and asks such inane questions, when they are suffering so much.  Perhaps it's just me, but sometimes I do feel that they go over the top in the reporting of these horrific situations.

One of my favourite singers, Neil Diamond, is in New Zealand at the moment to perform three shows, and he has launched an immediate appeal for the earthquake relief.  He has posted a link to donate to the New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal online.

It's The Real Me - YAY!!

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears!" 

 "A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." 

 "To be or not to be: that is the question!"

Sorry dear friends, but this is the first time that I have opened up my beloved little laptop for well over a week, and I think I've gone a little stir crazy in that time!  As it's been so long since I've written a post, I thought I should start off with something profound and wonderful - hence the quotes from Shakespeare above!

First of all, I would like to thank my beautiful daughter for writing that little update on my behalf.  I had no idea she had done that until all your wonderful comments started to appear on my iPhone.  Thanks honeybunch!

Secondly, I must then thank all of you who posted such lovely comments - they really DID cheer me, and it was good to know that my lovely little bloggy friends were out there rooting for me.

Amazingly, since I haven't been posting, I've gained four new followers, so I would like to welcome them along to my Blog, written here in deepest Devon in England.

I guess my illness had been building up over the past couple of weeks, and I was just trying to fight it - as you do!! All I have been doing every day is just sitting in the chair, reading and sleeping, reading and sleeping, which is just not like me at all.  I'm still feeling very weak but, suddenly wanting to write a post is, for me, a huge leap forward, so I can only think that it's onwards and upwards from now on.  Anyway, I've got an outfit to buy for this wedding, which will be here before we know it!!

I'll just finish off with something that, hopefully, might make you smile.  One of my more senior moments, I think you could call it.  Two days ago, I had my shower and, feeling really pale and pasty, I thought I would put on some of my L'Oreal bronzing spray, to give myself a bit of colour.

I picked up the aerosol and sprayed myself all over.  Yikes! My first thought was, "OMG! That's COLD!", which doesn't normally happen.  Anyway, when I looked again, I had picked up the wrong thing, and I had sprayed myself all over with Ellnett Hairspray!! DOH!  I wouldn't mind, but I couldn't move my arms and legs for about eight hours, because they were so stiff. LOL!!

Lordy, Lordy, it's good to be back with you all again.  I hope that all is well in your part of the world, wherever that might be.

Update..

Hello lovely Bloggers!

Now before you get too excited, this isn't Thisisme....it's her daughter.

I just wanted to let you know, that Mum has been very poorly with pleurisy which is why she hasn't been able to do any posts or put any comments on your blogs.

She's been on antibiotics since Friday so is slooooowly getting better, but hasn't been able to get out of bed for days or do anything (so, so unlike her).

Fret not, she will soon be back to her usual form and catching up with you all, but in the meantime I just wanted to let you all know that she hasn't forgotten about you!

Happy Blogging Everyone!

Some Jokes & A Lovely Holiday To Look Forward To

I thought today I would share some daffy blonde jokes with you :

A Police Officer stops a blonde for speeding, and asks her very nicely if he could see her Licence.  She replied in a huff, "I wish you guys would get your act together. 

 Just yesterday you took away my Licence and now, today, you're asking me to show it to you."


There's this blonde out for a walk.  She comes to a river and sees another blonde on the opposite bank.  "Yoo Hoo!", she shouts.  "How can I get to the other side?"

  The second blonde looks up the river and then looks down the river and shouts back " You ARE on the other side!"


A gorgeous young redhead goes into the Doctor's office and said that her body hurt wherever she touched it.  "Impossible!" says the Doctor.  "Show me".

The redhead took her finger, pushed on her left shoulder and screamed.  She then pushed her elbow and screamed even more.  She pushed her knee and screamed.  Likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed.  Everywhere she touched made her scream.

The Doctor looked at her and said "you're not really a redhead, are you?"  Well "no" she said. "I'm actually a blonde."

"I thought so" said the Doctor.  "Your finger is broken".  (That one HAS to be my favourite!).

I had a lovely long chat with my granddaughter who lives in France the other evening.  She always makes me laugh, so it was just the tonic I needed.  Anyway, she suddenly said "Grandma, I thought that next summer, we could go on holiday together, just you and I." 

 Now, how lovely is that?  The next summer she is talking about, she will be 14 and I will be 65, so imagine how delighted I was to think that she would want to come away on holiday, for a week, with little old me! Yay! 

I then asked her if there was anywhere in particular she would like to go, and she said "Italy might be nice."  Eeek, my very favourite place - my joy was unbounded! So I have said that when we next meet up, we can look at some places and see what we fancy.  (Do you think I might be able to sneak Venice in there somewhere?  Hee Hee!).

Mind you, her mum and dad think that I'm a total nutcase, so whether they will think that we should be let loose together, who knows?  (I always find it funny when I'm visiting them in France, because, you would think it would be the grandma's job to look after the granddaughter.  But, for some reason, when we're out and about,  they say things like "petite singe, ' take grandma to the toilet' ".  Excuse me??  Just because I'm in France, it doesn't mean that I can't find my way to the toilet!!).  Still, we're usually glad of any excuse to escape on our own!

Grand Singe & Petite Singe

Answers To The Survey Posed By puppykisses

First of all, thank you to all my lovely friends that wished my husband well with his eye op yesterday.  It was a complete success, which was the good bit.  He has to go back in three weeks time to have it looked at, and then probably have the second eye done three months after that.

The trouble with people who have never had anything wrong with them, is that they don't like it if something upsets their plans.  Of course, hubby thought that he would be home, and then carry on checking his e-mails and generally just getting back to normal.  Hah!  After a couple of hours, the anaesthetic wore off and he wasn't very happy for the rest of the day.  He said it felt as if the eye was full of grit.  Anyway, I phoned up the Eye Infirmary and the nurse assured me that this was perfectly normal.  Because the eye had been nicked, there was obviously a small wound there, so that every time my husband blinked, that's when he felt that  grit like feeling.  This will last for a couple of days apparently.  He certainly wasn't very happy about that either.  Oh dear, I think I shall be keeping a fairly low profile for the next couple of days!

Survey Questions:   

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family?

I don't have any pets myself at the moment, but when I had a Persian Blue cat, called Merlin, he was very much a part of the family.  A lot of you will know that my daughter and family who live in France have a delightful little French Bulldog called Alfred.  He will get his passport in March, so that, every time they  pay us a visit, little Alfred will be staying too!

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?

Totally unrealistic I know, but I would love it if no little child ever had to suffer again, be it from illness or abuse.

3. What is the one thing most hated by you?

Abuse, whether physical or emotional.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?

Make sure that my family and close friends were well taken care of, then I would end world poverty, and pour whatever was left into medical research to try to find a cure for all the awful illnesses that there are in the world.  Cancers, MS, Motor Neurone Disease, Arthritis, Dementia, Parkinsons, and all the others in between.

 5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?

Listening to music from the 60's or walking by the sea.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

I would have to say being loved by someone, because if you love someone and they don't have any feelings for you, it can be pretty painful.

7. What is your bedtime routine?

Take my make-up off, clean my teeth, put my night cream on and snuggle down to read a couple chapters of whatever book I happen to be reading at the time.

8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?

I guess it was a blind date really, because I had been in a very nasty car accident where my car was written off.  I had pretty bad injuries to my face and a friend from work felt I needed cheering up.  Her husband's friend was staying with them, as they were in the Army together.  So I turned up, with the whole bottom half of my face swollen to about three times its size.  (I know - pretty scary for anyone to have to meet!).  Obviously I didn't want to go out looking like that, but something deep down inside must have been urging me on, and I went.  We had a very pleasant evening, and the rest, as they say, is history!  But, nevertheless, he obviously wasn't attracted to my blinding beauty!!

9. If you could watch a creative person in the act of  the creative process, what would it be?

No-one famous, but I would love to watch someone creating a water colour picture from start to finish.

10. What kinds of books do you read?

I love reading novels, but I love to read Biographies and Autobiographies as well.  I still have the Autobiography of Dame Judi Dench to read, which one of my daughters gave me as part of my Christmas present.

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?

To be honest, as I would be almost 74 by then, I would very much like to still be alive and in good health.

12. What’s your fear?

My fear has already come true on three occasions in recent years, in that I have lost three very close friends.  My fear still is to lose one of my immediate family members or another close friend.

13. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to visit outer space?

I don't think I eat that much junk food really, but I certainly have no wish whatsoever to visit outer space.  There are far too many beautiful places here on earth that I haven't visited yet.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?

Mmmm... I think that's the hardest question of the lot so far.  Can I come back to it please?

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

Say "thank you" for another day and all my blessings.

16. If you could change one thing about your spouse/partner what would it be?

Ever since I first married my husband, he has been a total workaholic and  is still exactly the same now, and he will be 67 in July.  So I really would like him to be able to appreciate that there are other equally as important things in this life, especially at our time of the game.  But I know that that's never going to happen.

17. If you could pick a new name for yourself  what would it be?

Augusta. (That's an in-joke between my daughter and I, I'm afraid!).

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?

I would certainly forgive because it doesn't do any good to hold onto something like that.  It just festers inside and makes you a very bitter person.  Deep down, I don't think you could ever really  forget it, but it will get much easier with time.

19. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?

Roast Chicken.

Apparently I now have to tag four more bloggers to take part in the same survey, so here goes. 

Bouncin'Barb ( I don't think I've seen you do this one before, but I could be wrong!!).

Facing50withhumour (No fibs on this one Carol!).

Just Martha http://jellyshane.blogspot.com/

SkippyMom http://skippymom.blogspot.com/

Have fun with this one ladies.  It's surprising just how long it has taken me to answer all those questions!!

Sorry?? What's that??  I've left one out?  Which one would that be then?!

14.  Ok, I'll give you what I know you want to hear, and, that is, single and rich.  Ooops! Sorry, my fingers slipped there for a minute.  That should have read, :( married and poor.

  

Thought For The Day

I don't want to brag, or make anyone jealous or anything.

But I can still fit into the earrings that I wore at High School.

My husband is going into hospital today to have his first cataract removed, so I'm hoping that the procedure will go well.  It's been pretty miserable for him over these past few months, but he hasn't complained at all.  

My only worry is that he has probably been seeing me like this

 

Whereas tomorrow he will be seeing me like this.  Oh dear, this doesn't bode well!



A few days ago, I was tagged by one of my newer friends, Karen over at puppykisses, so I will be answering her survey questions tomorrow.  Please pop over and pay her a visit.  She is new to blogging and I'm sure we can all remember how lovely it is to have the support of other bloggies when you are first starting out.   

"Bottle of Lucozade, Madam? Certainly, Coming Right Up!"

I don't know if they make Lucozade in countries other than England, so I should start off by saying that it is a fizzy energy drink, which has been around since I was a young child and, at that time, Noah was busy next door to us building his ark.

 "Where is this going?" I hear you ask.  Well, as there has been so much love flying around in Blogland over the past few days, I guess there are other kinds of love than leaving little notes for each other under the pillow and dancing the flamenco on the kitchen table with a red rose clenched between your teeth.  I'm sorry, I'm getting carried away now - it's the fever you know (and, YES, I am still confined to bed with the dreaded lurgy!).

As in yesterday (yes, that's right, Valentine's Day, just in case you had forgotten), when my husband was out all day saving the world, as he likes to do on a daily basis.  I had no idea what time to expect him home, so I phoned up (he was obviously at a meeting) and left a message on his Blackberry, asking him if, perhaps he wouldn't mind picking me up a bottle of Lucozade on the way home. (You can see who is the humble one in this partnership, can't you?!).

Anyway, about half an hour later, I heard him coming in downstairs.  Goodo, I thought, glass of Lucozade on the way.  But - Nothing.  After he had read his post, he did remember that I was upstairs, so came up to make enquiries about my health, whilst at the same time checking his e-mails on his Blackberry.  Anyway, I didn't say anything (not being one to make waves, you understand). 

After he had gone downstairs, a period of about ten minutes had elapsed, when I heard his car roar off down the drive.  He had obviously by now checked his text messages and heard my plaintive cry asking for the Lucozade.  My glass of chilled drink was delivered to me a short while later.

Now that has to be love, doesn't it?!!  I'm just starting to nod off again now, but I will write more about my experiences of my husband's TLC at a later date.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

I used to be like this ....

then, I met a  girl

She was like this

Together, we were like this ....

I gave her gifts like this ....

When she accepted my proposal I was like this ....

I used to talk to her all night, like this ....

And at the office, I used to do this ....

When my friends saw my girlfriend, they stared like this ....

And I used to react like this ....

But on Valentine's Day, she received a red rose from someone else, like this ....

And she was like this ....

And I was like this ....

which later led to this....

I felt like doing this ....

But instead, I started doing this ....

GIRLS!!!!!!

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH LOVE & ROMANCE.



Valentine's Day Sunday Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESOVrc4K3CQVc

No "Sunday Snap" today, as Natasha has asked if I would like to participate in her Valentine's Day Sunday Song link.

I'm not very good with these links, so I am just hoping that this will work!

If you would like to participate or listen to other romantic songs, please click on the link below.

http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com/

I do hope you get to watch the video accompanying this song, because it is so romantic for Valentine's Day.  For me, it has everything - Italy, Vespa scooters (!) and touching love between young and old.  Gosh, I'm an old romantic!!

Wedding Preparations!

Wedding preparations are well in hand!  The marquee has been ordered and the outside catering has been booked.  We have chosen a very local company called "Amazing Taste" and they source all the food from around our region, so this was a big plus for us.

An order has been put in to supply the champagne from  France (i.e. my daughter and son-in-law!).

My daughter went up to view the venue this morning, and she was really thrilled with it.  It has been raining hard all day again here in deepest Devon (it does stop sometimes - honestly!) but, apparently, when she was actually in the wedding room, the sun came out for a brief moment and the whole room was bathed in sunshine.  Good omen?  Let's hope so dear bloggy friends.

The room where the ceremony will take place.

Double Heat!!

Well, the husband had just lit the log fire last evening, when the delivery of oil was made!  I thought you might like to see a photo of the log fire - as you can see, it is very cosy.



As you know, yesterday, Mskanorado very kindly gave me the Life is Good Award, and it is now my pleasure to pass it on to five deserving Bloggers, and they are :

Sharon over at It's Random - but relevant to me.  Sharon is having quite a rough time of it at the moment, and I'm sure she would appreciate it if you popped over to say "hello".

Amber over at Dragonfly Sweetnest

Bethe77 over at Daily Journey

Sandie over at Chatty Crone

Donna B over at Discovering the Purpose of our Lives.

All these ladies are well deserving of this Award and I am sure you will enjoy paying them a visit.

I am now going to tell you why I think that life is, indeed, good at the moment (apart from the little blip of not feeling at all well right now!).

I am blessed with a loving and caring family.

I am blessed with three gorgeous, healthy grandchildren.

I am blessed with the gift of friendship, including my blogging friends.

I am blessed with having a home that I love.

I am blessed with having the health and strength to do the things I do.

Poor Me!

First of all, I must apologize, as I am way behind with commenting on my friends' blogs!  I have a terrible cold with a hacking cough and I don't really feel up to blogging at the moment :(

On top of that, my husband, who is in charge of our oil tank, didn't realize that it was empty (I'm saying nothing!!), so there is no heating in the house at the moment.  Although before he went off to his meetings this morning, he did turn on the two electric heaters in our sun room, so I'm warm enough as I type this little note to you. 

Did I say sun room?!  As I'm looking out of the windows the rain is pouring down and I can't see across the fields for the mist that has enveloped everything. 

When I finish this, I'm going to make a cup of coffee, eat a couple of cakes and read some more of my book.  (I know how to enjoy myself!!).

Strangely enough, my book is called Separate Beds (by Elizabeth Buchan), so perhaps it is trying to tell me something. LOL!

I wasn't really going to write a post today, because I have to admit that I am struggling with something interesting to say ("yes, we can see that" , I hear you all cry!).  But my lovely blogging friend, Mskanorado at A Perfect Dose of Life has awarded me The Life is Good Award.  Thank you so much for that Mskanorado - please do pop over and visit her blog and say "hi".  She is a lovely young lady, and I'm sure that you will all enjoy her very interesting blog.

I hope she doesn't mind if I take a bit of a twist on this one, because I have answered these particular five questions before.  As the Award is called the Life is Good Award, I thought that tomorrow I would make a list of why life is, indeed, good for me.

I will try to look at a few blogs now before I have that cup of coffee, but please forgive me if I don't get around to yours today!

Romantic Post - Number 5.

If I could have just one wish,
I would wish to wake up everyday
to the sound of your breath on my neck,
the warmth of your lips on my cheek,
the touch of your fingers on my skin,
and the feel of your heart beating with mine...
Knowing that I could never find that feeling
with anyone other than you.

- Courtney Kuchta -

A stranger you were once.
Then, with a gentle look you took my hand.
As our lives engaged,
you lit my life and I held both your hands.
Now that decades have passed,
our souls have indeed become one.
How fortunate we are
that we have found the love so true
that everyone dreams about.

- Laura Veronica Merodio -

Now for something a bit more lighthearted!

"Never go to bed mad -- stay up and fight." - Phyllis Diller.

"I feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor's eighth husband on her wedding night: I know what I'm supposed to do...I just have to figure out a way to make it interesting." - many attributions.

"I love being married. It's so great to find one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." - Rita Rudner.

"There are three kinds of men who do not understand women: Young, old, and middle-aged." - Anonymous (and with good reason). 

Now I'd like to share some romantic photos with you - enjoy!



Quote by Agatha Christie, the famous author, who, herself, was married to an Archaeologist :

"An Archaeologist is the best husband a woman could have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her."

I Did Try!!

Well, all my little American bloggy friends, I did try!! Try what, you might well ask?!

Superbowl 2011 was televised LIVE on BBC television here in England, so I thought I would sit and watch it, so that I could be there with all my friends from America.

First of all, may I say that the Stadium was Awesome!  Then along came the players in their brightly coloured Lycra.  What can I say -  that sight was even more awesome!  Didn't leave much to the imagination in many cases.  Somehow, I can't imagine David Beckham running on to the pitch dressed like that.  (Well, I can dream, can't I?!).

As the players were running out, I noticed that some of them had like little pieces of white material hanging down.  Tell me, was that there to protect their modesty, or was it there for some other important reason?  A girl likes to know these things, you know.

Anyway, it started here at 11 p.m. and television coverage was due to continue until 4 a.m.  Apparently, the game was going to last for four hours (4 hours!).  (Our football matches last for 90 minutes, and then they have a 15 minute interval).  No wonder you all needed so many munchies and were talking about tables laden with home made guacamole dips, hot crab dips, pigs in blankets, veggie trays, potato skins, Italian sub cut into bite size pieces, cheese and crackers, wings, stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, devilled eggs, fruit plate with dip, chocolate fondue ....... etc. etc. (and these were only some of the menus I saw being bandied about yesterday!).

I'm afraid that I could only make it until 11.30 p.m. when the game was about to commence, and I was so tired that I just had to go to bed.  But I was with you in spirit, if not in body!!

Congratulations to  Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers (you see, I know all about these things!!).  I hope you all enjoyed the game and had a wonderful evening.