End of August is here!

Well, here we are on the last day of August.  Hopefully we will have some more warm, sunny days to look forward to in September.  I seem to have gained some more Followers to my Blog just recently, so I would like to welcome you and thank you for deciding to ‘follow me’.  It was nine years ago that I started blogging, encouraged by my number 1 daughter, who was running a successful Fashion Blog at that time. Since starting, I have made wonderful friends from all over the world - friends that encourage and lift you up.  I’m afraid I just can’t understand all the negativity in the world, which seems to have been encouraged, in many ways, by social media.  

It seems that many of you share my love of notebooks, as mentioned in my last Post.  In fact, I was given some great ideas as to how to make good use of my own Notebooks!  I’m sure most of you also love books, and reading. I’ve loved reading since I was a young child, and my two daughters and three grandchildren also adore books.  Now that the evenings are starting to pull in again (over here in the U.K. anyway!  I know that many of you are now starting to look forward to LIGHTER evenings in your own part of the world!) I’m sure that I will be reading even more. 

I can still remember, as a young child, feeling the excitement the night before my birthday, as I knew I would be receiving a new book.  How simple life was back then.  I still have a few of those books, dating back to the 1950’s! To me, reading a new book is a joy, and I love getting to know all the characters, and completely losing myself in the story. There has never been a time when I’ve not had a book on the go.  They have certainly helped me through sad times in the past.  

I hope you have all had a lovely Summer, and I’m sure many of you are looking forward to the Summer yet to come.  At the moment, I have a little harvest in my own garden. The apples have all been pressed, and made into pure apple juice. 

 So then, life is good.  Enjoy your weekend everyone ❤️

A Love Of Notebooks? 📒

Hallo again lovely peeps. I'm writing this on Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, and we are in the middle of our very own mini-heatwave. Apparently, it's been the hottest Bank Holiday ever, with temps reaching 90 degrees F in many places. I'm afraid I'm not into this Celsius malarkey, but for those who prefer to use it, 90 degrees F is 32.222 C.  So I am informed by my friend Google.

Devon and Cornwall are still besieged by tourists, and there were a million extra people expected to converge on these two beautiful Counties over this Bank Holiday weekend (the last holiday of the Season), Surely that can't be right? We'll be tipping into the Atlantic soon!  Needless to say, those of us who are lucky enough to live in this beautiful part of the country, tend to keep to our home territory, so we are oblivious to the caravans, cars and and tractors clogging up our narrow roads, as they head off to the lovely, sandy beaches. We locals don't have to get involved with all the hustle and bustle at this time of the year, for we are fortunate indeed that we can enjoy the natural beauty all year round. 

Are there any other notebook lovers out there??  I have quite a collection, and if I see one that looks a bit different, I am instantly drawn to it. Is there a name for a person who loves notebooks, I wonder?  After all, we have bibliophile for book lover and philately for stamp collectors.   Apparently (yes, I referred to my friend again) 'nota' is Latin for "note/take note", so perhaps I am a Notaphile. 

I bought a very cute little notebook a couple of weeks ago (see the first pic), and I decided to actually use it, and not just stick it in a drawer somewhere. Most of you know that I love quotes, so I decided to fill it with my favourite quotes - quotes that inspire and uplift me.

Lo and behold, I have just been away for a couple of days, and I found another notebook!

I thought that this one was quite retro looking, which attracted me in the first place, but on opening it, I had a lovely surprise - it is a lined notebook, and at the bottom of every page there is ... wait for it ... a wise little quotation. How good is that?!  I will just write a few of the quotes to give you a general idea.  Needless to say, I am in notebook heaven!  

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."  BUDDHA.

"Most smiles are started by another smile."  FRANK A CLARK.

"Look for something positive each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder."  UNKNOWN.

"You cannot do a kindness too soon. For you never know how soon it will be too late."  RALPH WALDO EMERSON. 

There must be well over a hundred little sayings in this gem of a notebook, and I know that I will get lots of enjoyment out of it. You see, It really is the little things....

So then, I will say Cheerio again for the time being, but I'm sure I will pop in again soon! 😊

Time Passing....

So here we are in the middle of August and 2019, to me, seems to be galloping by at an unseemly rate of knots!  Time - it’s such a precious thing, but seconds turn into moments, moments into hours, hours into days, and so it marches relentlessly on.  

It makes me well aware that I am now in the Autumn of my life - I feel that I should be doing more, achieving more.  As women, we have no excuses any more really - opportunities are out there for every one of us.  It seems to me that I blinked, and I went from my 50’s to my 70’s in what seems like a nano second.  I actually remember my dear mum saying exactly the same thing when she was in her 80’s.  She said that it didn’t seem very long ago that she was in her 40’s!  I didn’t take too much notice of it at the time, but, my goodness, I know just what she meant now.  

A funny story - well, I thought it was quite funny.  My youngest grandchildren are aged 11 (boy) and 9 (girl), and it’s amazing the conversations you can have with them.   Children these days seem to be so aware of everything that is going on around them in the world, and mine can speak quite intelligently on a whole range of subjects, and they certainly care about this planet of ours - what they should be eating and what they should be doing to make the world a better place.  It quite astounds me at times.  Anyway, I digress!  My grandson and I were talking about getting older, and I said that I hoped I would still be around to see him grow up.  He said, “oh, you will, Grandma”.  Then a little thought, followed by “but I don’t expect you will see me get married.”  Then he did a quick maths calculation in his head.....”no, you certainly won’t be here to see me get married!”.  (I am 72 by the way....).  

I often wonder whether time seemed to pass so quickly for previous generations, or was it a slower pace of life in those days?  Not so much pressure perhaps, although I know that they worked very hard indeed.  Just think, for example, about the harvesting that used to take days, with so many people involved out in the fields, including young children.  Whereas, now, you just have one man sitting on a 

beast of a Combine Harvester and getting the job done in a relatively short space of time.  

These days, we put our washing into the washing machine, and walk away and get on with something else.  When I was a little girl, I can remember wash day (a Monday in our house) used to take all day., and it was hard work, especially with the sheets etc, which had to be taken out of the Boiler with wooden tongs, and then put through the mangle, before hanging them on the line.  Does anyone else remember the little packets of ‘blue’ to keep the sheets white..?!

It’s funny things that you remember, isn’t it.  I can remember my mum always wearing an overall or apron whilst doing the housework - then she would change into a pretty dress before my dad came home from work!  Amazing to think of that now! 😊.  How the times have changed.  Everything is so much more casual these days.

This one made me smile, I must admit! I’m sure that’s how it really was for a lot of women!!

Well, I seem to have rambled on a bit today, so I’ll  close again for now.  See you again soon ....I’ll just leave you with this....

All pics today courtesy of Pinterest.com

Take me down to the sea ....

Well, the weather here in the UK has been hot, hot, hot over this past week, with temperatures being the highest ever recorded!  Fortunately, here in heavenly Devon, it's been a little cooler than the rest of the country, but still very pleasant indeed, and the gardens over here have been looking glorious.   

As most of you know, I live close to the sea and I head there whenever I can. The sea always calls to me and it refreshes my soul. I am proud to be a Devon maid through and through, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, with all this beauty a mere stone's throw away.

The historic Barbican is always a lovely place to stroll around, as there is always something going on out in the water....

The following quotes say it all for me....

On another note altogether, my beautiful, eldest granddaughter had her Graduation 👩‍🎓 Ceremony in Madrid a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't be more proud of this special young lady. The world awaits her!

I'm blessed with my other two young grandchildren as well, and they only live five minutes away 😊.  My grandson will be starting at the 'big' school in September, so a big step for him. 

So I have so much to be grateful for, and grateful, also, for all of you who take the trouble to read and support my Blog. So THANK YOU ❤️

I've changed the Featured Post today - see the sidebar on the right hand side - talking about the birds and the bees!

Make The Most Of Being A Woman Of A Certain Age ....

I was thinking just the other day about how fortunate we ‘women of a certain age’ are in the year 2019.  (When I say ‘women of a certain age’, I think I’m being kind to myself, as I’m sure I’m now in the ‘women past their sell by date age’!).

When I think of my grandma’s time, and even my mum’s time, I can see how things have really improved over these past fifty years or so.  Don’t get me wrong, I realise that we still have some way to go. I’m a big fan of the “me too” movement, and it’s so good to see how that Movement  has improved things for women over just the past couple of years. Now, at long last, talented women are achieving those top jobs, and getting salaries to match their male counterparts.  When you think where we’ve come from, that really is worthy of huge celebration.  

There are so many amazing groups that women can join now, to learn new things, and to forge exciting new friendships.  These things don’t just happen, of course.  You have to go out and look for them.  I know, sometimes, it’s easier to just carry on with the ‘same old’, and if you’re happy doing just that, then that’s fine too.  The main thing is, we have CHOICE these days.  Just remember the old saying......”life is not a rehearsal.”  THIS IS IT!

I do think it’s important to keep a close circle of lady friends.  As we get older, these ladies become even more important, and we realise how blessed we are to have them in our lives.   Cherish these friends, and let them know how much they mean to you.  Remember, life can change in an instant.  Never be afraid to say “I love you”, or  compliment them when they look good, or tell them when you like their new perfume, or lipstick, or whatever.  Try to love all the stages of your life, for they are all magical in their own way.

I hope you have enjoyed all the little quotes I have included with my Post today - all courtesy of Pinterest.com.  I’ll leave you with one that, hopefully, will make you smile, from the wonderful Dame Maggie Smith......

See you next time little peeps, and thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings ❤️

Another Month Almost Over....

Well, it seems ages since I last wrote a Blog Post, and here we are,  almost at the end of June.  Summer finally decided to arrive here in heavenly Devon during this past week, and that certainly makes me happy, especially after all the dreary weather we were having earlier in June.

Mind you, I feel very sorry for all those living in Europe at the moment, with the record breaking high temperatures, in the mid-40's. My eldest granddaughter lives in Madrid, and number 1 daughter has recently moved to Cannes from Ibiza, so I know they're doing their very best to try to somehow keep cool at the moment. 

So today, courtesy of Pinterest.com, I thought I would show you some sunshine ☀️ quotes to brighten your day.

Thinking about sunshine, happiness comes to mind, and I think the following little quotes help us to focus on how we can all find happiness within us...

"The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts."

"Thinking positively will attract positive things into your life."

"If you love yourself, you open yourself up to being loved in return."

"Search for the beauty in everything, because it's there if you look hard enough."

"Being generous and loving spreads happiness that is then returned to you tenfold."

"People treat you according to how you allow yourself to be treated."

"You can't control what happens to you in your life, but you can control how you react."

Something for us to think about perhaps.  I hope all is well in your little part of the world as you read this, and I hope you have sunshine in YOUR life. Take care ❤️