Christmas Memories ....

Hallo again peeps.  I know I said in my last Blog Post that I probably wouldn’t be writing again until after Christmas, but here I am, the little Christmas elf, just dropping by to make sure you’re still being good and that all your preparations are going well..  I don’t know how many of you will actually be travelling to spend the festive Season with family and friends, but if you are, I wish you safe travels, with no delays.  Sometimes it’s not the easiest time of the year to be travelling, is it?

I seem to have gained quite a few new Followers to my Southhamsdarling Facebook page, which is rather nice.  I would like to welcome you all, and to thank you for joining me, especially at this festive time of the year ❤️

Most of my Facebook friends know that I love vintage Christmas images, so I thought I would include a few for you today.  I suppose they take me back to a less complicated world, a kinder world, when Christmas didn’t start three months before the 25th December!

One of the things I remember so well as a child, was visiting all the local Department Stores and to stare in wonder at the magnificent Christmas displays - each huge window telling a different story, and the outside of the Stores had Christmas trees on every corner of the building. A couple of years ago, whilst staying with my eldest daughter, who lived in Paris at the time, I felt the same wonder whilst walking by Galeries Layfayette.

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Our Christmas trees would be dripping with shiny slivers of silver icicles and the ceiling would be festooned with brightly coloured paper garlands, which were eventually taken over by metallic ones.  I can’t remember now when we stopped doing that! These are the Christmas trees lights on our tree when I was a little girl...

Here you can see how the paper decorations gradually changed to the more modern metallic ones!

As a little girl, Christmas Eve was always a special day for me, when my dad and I would go out to collect the goose from the market, which had already been ordered, and we would then choose a Christmas present for my mum.  We never had Thanksgiving over here, and I’m almost sure that the tree didn’t go up until a couple of days before Christmas. Imagine that!

It’s nice to be nostalgic sometimes, and remember how things were.  As I say, they were simpler times, and, to be honest, I’m glad I grew up when I did. Glad that I was a little girl in the 50’s and glad I was a teenager in the 1960’s, when fashion and music 🎶 were changing so much, and there just didn’t seem to be the pressure that the young ones have these days.  No social media for a start!  What am I talking about - we didn’t even have a television until I was 14, and my mum and dad only had a telephone installed when I got married at 19, and had to move a few miles away!  I well remember going out to the old, red phone boxes in the dark and rain, so that I could call them.  So mobile phones have to be one of the best inventions!!

I think that’s the end of my Christmas reminiscing, so I’ll finish off this Post, once again wishing you blessings at Christmas, and to remind you of the reason for the Season ....May God bless you all ❤️

As a Postscript, I’ve also published a new Featured Post today - just click on the link at the top of the sidebar on the right hand side. ❤️

(Images today courtesy of Pinterest.com)

Tis the Season ....

As I write these few words, it is a truly awful day out there - dark, with the rain pouring down. I am thankful for the twinkling lights around the house, and the festive Christmas trees, which brighten my day.  Not to mention the Christmas music playing in the background. 

Actually, I have much to be thankful for this festive Season, above all of course, the good health of myself and my family, although I am well aware that things can change in an instant. Even now, I know of three friends who are in hospital at this very moment, having heart surgery. Christmas will be a quiet time for them this year. 

I’m sure most of you are now right in the middle of all your preparations.  Amidst all the hustle and bustle, it is important sometimes to  just ...... breathe!  Everything will get done. It usually does, doesn’t it?!  Some advice here from me to you .... 😊

I know that I am very blessed, and I reflect on those for whom Christmas is a real struggle. People who have lost loved ones, and for many, this time of the year never gets any easier. Families who are struggling financially, but who carry on spending on their credit cards so that their children won’t be disappointed on Christmas morning. People who will be on their own, especially the elderly....

I am an only child, so there has never been any large gathering of the clan at this time of the year!  Is it lovely to be surrounded by lots of siblings and their families,  or can it be quite exhausting?!  Friends of mine tell me that I have a very romantic view of family life!

Having said all that, I truly do love Christmas.  In fact, I think I love all the build up just as much as the day itself. 

I probably won’t be writing again before Christmas, so I wish you ALL, wherever you are, a very happy and magical Christmas Season. 

Me? I have lots of lovely things planned in the next couple of weeks, with my youngest grandchildren, aged ten and almost nine 😊.  Meanwhile, I’m off to Madrid this weekend to celebrate my eldest granddaughter’s 21st Birthday. 🎉.  See what I mean - BLESSED I AM 🙏🏻

All images today courtesy of Pinterest.com

We Need Less Hate, Less Pulling Apart ....

Firstly, as I write this Post, I have to say that I have no answers - I only know that answers must be found. 

Of course, there have always been differences between us, but in my lifetime, I just can’t ever remember such hate spewing out, hate to people different to us and much less fortunate than us. Is it the internet that has done this, is it social media (where people seem to think they can just sit there and send out the most awful statements  about other people, without fear of any comeback), is it that we have twenty four hour news coverage....??

This, unbelievably, also comes from the very top of our Society, from people who, surely, should be trying to set some sort of example.  Whatever side of the political fence you sit on, this simply cannot be right. 

Constantly we are hearing of abuse against women - STILL! In 2020.  Racial abuse seems to be getting worse.  AntiSemitism seems to be rife - what is happening with people?  It seems to me that we are almost  being dragged backwards, instead of moving forwards. 

As I said right at the very beginning. I don’t have answers, but something HAS to happen - otherwise, I feel that we’re all going to hell in a handcart.  

I am usually one for saying that all each of us can do is to spread kindness and love in our own little corner of the world, and, of course, I know that all of us do that in our own small way, but, recently, the bigger picture seems to be winning 😟.  I just can’t believe that people can carry such hatred in their hearts and think that it is perfectly acceptable to behave in the way that they do. 

All images today courtesy of Pinterest.com

Beautiful Autumn Colours....and Pumpkins

Hallo everyone. A Happy Thursday to you. 

The above image is  courtesy of Pinterest.com
I don’t usually write another Post so quickly, but, on a Thankful Thursday, I am grateful for all the Autumn colours around at the moment, and I feel blessed to be able to get out and see the beauty of nature. I thought I would share a few photos that I’ve taken this week, and I hope you enjoy the colours as much as I did. Of course, with the sunny weather and blue skies that we are experiencing in heavenly Devon at the moment, everything seems so much more vibrant. 

One thing, certainly for me, which has really added to the Season this year, is that we finally seem to be getting into decorating for Fall and Halloween, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing so many pumpkins around!  I don’t know why, but they just make me feel happy, and bring a smile to my face. 

On Saturday over here, the clocks will be going back an hour, so it will be dark at around 5.30pm. My goodness me, isn’t this year just hurtling by?!  Next week it will be Halloween, and the children will be looking forward to trick and treating. Here is a photo of my grandchildren from four years ago. They’ve grown rather a lot since then 😳.

Well, I’ll close my ramblings again for now. Enjoy the rest of your week, wherever you are 🍁🍂🍁🎃.

Sunday Snaps

It’s that time of the year, over here in England, when we ‘put the garden to bed’ once again, although this October we are still experiencing warm, sunny weather. The light always seems so clear at this time of the year. I took this photo the other morning, as the sun was rising across the fields next to the garden....

There are still so many roses blooming at the moment, although I’m sure that they will finish flowering once the mornings start to get a little chilly. 

I think the colours of Autumn are shown really well in the following photos - it really is like having a carpet of gold in the garden 🍁🍂🍁

Every year I like to plant winter flowering pansies in the tubs, so that their colourful faces brighten each day! 

All the photos here today have been taken in the past week. This was my attempt at a little Autumn display!

Don’t forget to just double click on any image if you want to enlarge it.  I think the following quote (courtesy of Pinterest.com) is always worth remembering 

It’s hard to believe, but this little tub of flowering daisies has been in full bloom since June and, even though it is now October, it is still covered with buds!

So then, I hope you have enjoyed my Sunday Snaps feature today,  of my Autumn garden. I will leave you with this thought .... ❤️. (Pic courtesy of Pinterest).

And All At Once, Summer Collapsed Into Fall.

Hi everyone. That’s a lovely saying, isn’t it?  This past week, I’ve been spending a few days in Ibiza with daughter number 1, where the temperatures are still in the high 80’s.

I landed  at my local airport, and was almost blown off the flight steps as I disembarked from the aeroplane!  Apparently, the U.K. was being battered by Storm Ali in my absence.  

A lady was killed in Cornwall, when a caravan blew over the cliff 😳. Wow!  

As I sit here writing this on Saturday evening, I’ve got the first fire of the season going in the wood burner, so it’s lovely and cosy. 

It was dark by 7.45 pm, so Autumn 🍂 is really on its way, although we’re supposed to be having some warmer, sunny days next week, when I hope to get out walking with daughter number 2.

I feel so blessed to have my two daughters, who are really good company.  Although one of them lives in Ibiza at the moment, fortunately the other one lives less than five minutes away 😊.  

So then, only another week and we will be into the month of October - the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.  I’m looking forward to the new season, I must admit. 

Cooking a lovely roast dinner once again, chicken or slow cooked lamb. It’s been such a hot Summer over here, that it was all about light bites really. But who doesn’t love a good old roast? 

Summer, you’ve been wonderful, but it’s time to move on from sandals and crops, to boots and warmer clothing. 

So then, I’ll leave you once again, hoping that you are all keeping well and looking after yourselves.