We Miss You Desiree!

One of our good bloggy friends, Desiree, over at  Driftwood Ramblings, has decided to take a well earned break from blogging at the moment, and I know that we all miss her.  She provided wonderful photos of her own garden, stunning gardens that she had visited, not to mention all her wonderful doggies!  I certainly miss seeing her comments around in blogland, but I know that she will return when she's ready.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to wish her a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! Desiree,  I hope that you will manage to have a lovely, relaxing day and that you will be spoilt rotten on your special day.

I tried to give this particular birthday cake a garden theme, as I thought it was appropriate for someone who loves her garden so much.  I'm sure Desiree won't mind if we all have a slice as well, because I know what a generous hearted lady she is.

Another good bloggy friend, Jenny, over at Knees and Paws, has also announced that she will be giving up blogging for a while, to concentrate home-schooling her son, Elliot.  I'm sure we all wish her luck and send our love to her whilst she concentrates on this very important task.

All of us who blog know just how much of our time that it takes up.  Sometimes I feel things slipping away from me a little bit, as I am so anxious to keep up with everyone and always try to leave comments.  I am retired, but I don't know how others manage to keep up with it all when they go out to work, lots of them full time.  Certainly, there is no way that I could have spent so much time on my blog when the children were growing up.

Blogging is enjoyable, and we have all met so many truly lovely people from all parts of the world, but it shouldn't make us feel stressed out or worried about keeping up with everything.  Perhaps having a little break from time to time is something that we could all think about.  I think we know each other well enough by now to know that we will all still be around when we return. 

I don't know if any of you have any thoughts on this.  Meanwhile, I will go and search out some more photos for Sunday's post!  Hugs to you all.

Sunday Snaps

Hi again everyone.  Well, we have had a real taste of sunshine and warm weather for the past couple of days, and very nice it has been too.  Doesn't it make such a difference when the sun is shining?!

Once again I have been trawling through my photos to come up with some more Sunday Snaps, and I hope you enjoy the selection I have for you today. 

This first one was taken at the beach a couple of weeks ago, when the weather was still decidedly chilly!

I love this next one of Eli, which was taken on my birthday last year.  As you can see, his hair is still quite long, and he still has quite a baby face.  This year, he is fast growing up, and that babyness is starting to disappear :(



The following is another one of Eli, again taken on my birthday last year.  It was the first time that he had been to a 'posh' restaurant and here he is sat at the table.  He obviously knew that something special was going on and was quite excited about it all!

This next one is of Alfred when they were here visiting in April of last year, when the weather was absolutely fabulous, so we are hoping that it will be the same this year, when the family arrive, once again, from France, in a couple of weeks time.  Eleanor will be keen to go surfing again!

I took this photo of the house yesterday under a lovely blue sky.  Not much colour yet, I'm afraid, because it is a little too early for the tubs and hanging baskets.



This next photo is of daughter number 2, who actually had a couple of days away without the children the week before last, when she travelled up from Devon to near London to celebrate a friend's special birthday.  Daughter number 1 also travelled over from France with a couple of friends, so it was lovely for them to all meet up together.

Here are my two girls together, no doubt getting ready for a fantastic evening!

This last photo is a bit special - it is of my mum as a little girl (on the left) with her brother and sister. 

My grandad must have carried this photo all through the First World War with him, because when I turned over the photo, this is what I saw -

I do hope that I haven't put in too many photos today, or bored you too much with the little accompanying stories!  No doubt I'll see you all later in the week.  Until then, take care ....

A Special Birthday Wish To A Dear Bloggy Friend.

Yes, it's time for another birthday wish, and another birthday cake to be baked!  This time it is our dear friend Odie over at The Simple Life, who celebrates his 65th birthday today.  Congratulations my friend.

Oh, I wonder who that could possibly be on Odie's computer screen?! Hee Hee!

If you haven't yet visited Odie's blog, I would urge you to do so.  This man really has proved himself to be one of the best, as he is always so encouraging and supportive of all the blogging friends that he follows.  Certainly, I am proud to call him my friend. 

Odie retired a couple of weeks ago, so he now has more time to spend doing the simple things that he loves doing.  He is married to Linda, and has this amazing little dog called Rocky.  I always tell him that it's Rocky's ears that get me every time!!

See what I mean?!

"A 65th birthday is a time to celebrate the achievements, dreams and individuality of a person"

 This cake really did test my cake decorating skills I can tell you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ODIE! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AND A WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD, FILLED WITH GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

I've just realized that there is a birthday girl among us as well today, and she is Carol over at Dizzy C's Little Book Blog, so happy birthday to you too Carol, and I really hope that you get some pampering today and that the family spoil you!

I'll be back with some more Sunday Snaps for you tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday (and how spring is starting to appear in the garden!).

Quotations and Mother's Day Presents

First of all, I have to thank you for all the lovely and touching comments I received in response to my Mother's Day post on Sunday. 

I posted the above quote on my facebook page, and it gained quite a good response, so I thought that I would share it with you here today.

Most of my Followers who have been with me since the beginning, will know that I love quotations and it occurs to me that I haven't done a 'quotation post' for quite a while now, so I've been looking at a few, which I hope you will enjoy.

All quotes today courtesy of Pinterest.

Every so often, we have little catalogues come through the post with special gift ideas.  I have always admired one of the items, and, look at this, Emma gave me one as a Mother's Day present, and, more importantly, she made it all herself.  Presents that are hand-made always seem to carry special meaning, don't you think? It was difficult to get a good photo really, because it is quite large. The wording Says "Home is ...... Where the heart is".  Then all the little maps are specially created for places that have a special meaning for me.

The first heart is where Emma and family live and  the second heart is where I used to live with my mum and dad as a child.  The third heart is where Alison and family live, the fourth heart is Florence (which I adore), the fifth heart (right in the middle) is where hubby and I live now, and the sixth heart is of Venice (my very favourite place!).  The bottom line of hearts starts with Lake Garda (you will see that Italy has a special place in my heart from all this!), followed by Bigbury & Burgh Island (which is the lovely beach that I keep posting photos of) and the final heart is Fallingbostel, where we lived for three years when hubby was in the Armed Forces.    So! You will see that each heart has a special meaning for me.  Lovely, don't you think?

Last,  but by no means least today, is this beautiful bouquet which arrived from Alison, daughter number 2.  Aren't they beautiful?  They came from the same lady that did all the flowers for Alison's flowers in June last year, and many of you might remember how stunning they were.

So, all in all, I am very blessed and feel very lucky to have two such beautiful and caring daughters.  Thank you girls!

Tomorrow I will share a little bit of spring which has arrived in my garden!  Bye for now.

Sunday Snaps!

It's Mothers Day here in the United Kingdom today, and my thoughts quite naturally turn to my own dear mum.


If I had a wish, it would be that she was still here with me, for I still miss her so much and think of her every day, even though it will be sixteen years this June since she passed away.  I am just so very grateful that her ending was peaceful and that I was with her, holding her hand and talking to her right up to the end.  My special thoughts are with those of you that might be spending  your first Mothers Day without your own mum in your life. 

I've got lots of photos of mum, of course, through the years, but it really upsets me that I just can't recall her voice, even though I try very hard at times.  I do have her on a little video somewhere, where she was speaking to me, so I really must try to find it.  This was before the age of digital cameras and camcorders.  It is so much easier these days to record precious moments that will last for ever.

This is mum how I remember her, sitting in the garden with her cup of tea!  I am only sorry that she didn't live long enough to see the house that we live in now.  She would have loved it, and the garden.

Mum's favourite flower was the Violet, so it is quite fitting that Ruby is called Ruby Violet!



Happy childhood memories filled with love.

God Bless You Mum.

"As is the mother, so is her daughter" - Ezekiel 16:4

 "A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie "-  Tenneva Jordan.

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother" - Author unknown.

"There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it". - Chinese Proverb.

"No gift to your mother can ever equal her gift to you - life" - Anonymous.

I hope that you're having a relaxing weekend wherever you are in the world.  Look after yourselves my bloggy friends.