An exciting day

Yesterday was an exciting day for me…. my birthday!  Yes, another one.  They do seem to come round more quickly each year, don’t they?

It was a grey and dull day but that didn’t detract from my day!  As a treat we were to go to London to see a show called the Jersey Boys which I had long wanted to see.

We got ready to go out and had decided to take the bus to the rail station.  Waiting at the bus stop with about 8 minutes to go we noticed an Interlink van driving out of our road.  Hubby realised that a parcel he had been waiting for might have been attempting a delivery.  As soon as the van came towards us at the bus stop he flagged it down.  The driver expecting a hold up by a couple of wrinklies looked quizzically as my husband explained.  Yes, the package was onboard so it was signed for and duly handed over.  Right!  A quick sprint to the house and I’ll be back, according to  Hubby.  There was to be just enough time before the arrival of the bus.  I waited thinking that if I could just see my husband coming out of our road I would be able to delay the bus long enough for him to catch up.  The clock ticked, and ticked.  At last!  Around the corner he rushed just in time to arrive at the bus stop simultaneously as the bus!  Unbeknown to me as he was locking the front door a ParcelPost van drew up wanting to deliver a box of flowers for me!  Quickly they were accepted, placed in the hall, door locked and then the rush to return to me at the bus stop.

Once at the station we bought our rail tickets to travel by train to Victoria from where we were to continue our journey to Leicester Square by Underground.  Since we were early we decided to have a drink and a spot of lunch.  How civilized!

Now the time was coming to enter the Prince Edward Theatre.   We were to be sitting in the grand circle.  Settling down we waiting in anticipation for the lights to dim and the production to begin. By the way, we sat in two of the red seat pictured in the picture on the right!

The musical show of Jersey Boys is based on the electrifying true life story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. With spectacular performances of their hits, follow the rollercoaster journey of a group of working class boys from the streets of New Jersey, who worked their way to the heights of international pop stardom.  The show featured many memorable hits, including: Beggin’, Oh What a night, Can’t take my eyes off you, Sherry, Walk like a man, Bye bye baby and Baby, big girls don’t cry to name but a small selection of songs preformed.  Follow this link to read about the story of the Four Seasons http://www.jerseyboyslondon.com/jerseyboys_behindthemusic.asp  You can even get a taster of the music as well as some clips from the actual show! 

Actually, one of the scariest thoughts was that here we were clapping and singing our hearts out to music from over 40, yes, 40 years ago!!!  Gulp!  It was especially hard when I looked around me at some of the audience and fully realised, here were all the wrinklies….mmmmm.

We had thought about having a drink and a meal to round off the evening but decided just on a drink, travelling back home to invite our daughter over for a take away pizza with some bubbly!  A wonderful end to a brilliant day.

What were the flowers and who were they from?  Beautiful cream roses with purple irises and some lilies in between from one of the boys, wasn’t that kind?  Who loves ya baby!!!?

A very merry Christmas!

Without further ado, I would like to thank all my readers for joining me in my various escapades during the year, the highs and lows!

The parcels/presents are all wrapped and sitting invitingly under the tree... no feeling them to guess what is inside!  The shopping has been completed apart from the few last minute items.  The food is being prepared and readied for cooking on the big day.  Light up the lights, pull a cracker or two and share a 'not so funny' joke with a funny hat on whilst you try to play with plastic toy from the cracker.  Don't you love tradition?

So it just leaves me the important job to wish you all the merriest of Christmases.  May your cup be overflowing, as they say!  Some of you will be experiencing a white Christmas (and how!) whilst the rest of us in parts of UK will be enjoying a cool, damp day.  Where ever you are, may your Christmas be peaceful, share with family and friends bringing you fond memories to relish over the years to come.

Minstrels a Christmas Poem by William Wordsworth

The minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,
That overpowered their natural green.

Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings:
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
Nor check, the music of the strings;
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped the chords with strenuous hand.

And who but listened?--till was paid
Respect to every inmate's claim,
The greeting given, the music played
In honour of each household name,
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And "Merry Christmas" wished to all.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas, a time to remember!

Christmastime is a time to cast your mind back to childhood memories that make Christmas for you today.

Some of my earlier childhood was spent in the Far East. Java, to be precise. My most vivid memories are of an enormous real Christmas tree that reached right up to the ceiling. Bearing in mind that houses were built with high ceilings for coolness in the heat of the day. As was the usual custom, we had servants. My poor mother did not know quite what hit her when we arrived in the western hemisphere and she had to do her own housework! We used to have a maid for the laundry and general cleaning, one acted as cook and there was a gardener along with a driver who took my Dad to his office and back every day. Life was good!

Anyway, my parents used to entertain a lot but I do remember that we used to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. This gave a magical sense to the whole event with all the candles and lights shining brightly. Loads of presents were placed under the tree including presents for each of the servants and their families. It was always the custom for them to come in and be given their presents before we sat down to our Christmas evening meal. And, guess what? I was allowed a little taste of red wine with lots of water added. Oh, how the colour would sparkle as I showed my wine glass to the candle light!

Christmas in Guernsey, Channel Islands which is where I spent the rest of my childhood, was very different. Here my parents decided latterly to celebrate on Christmas Day with lunch. The magical atmosphere did not seem to be prevalent then unless my earlier childhood memories were becoming clouded.

There was one custom which I remember from Java and Guernsey. This was the custom my canny Scots father instigated! That of saving Christmas wrapping paper! Since my parents were strong believers that the festival was a close family one only (and so, there were three of us since I was an only child!) it was easier to continue with the habit of saving the wrapping paper. We had an old brown beaten up leather suitcase which had seen far better days. Inside were carefully folded pieces of Christmas wrapping paper of all sizes and styles. Many tags as well which had all been written years before, Mummy, Daddy, Patricia. Since we always had a real tree the pine needles would find their way into the case and therefore the contents always had a wonderful pine smell about them. To this day, Christmas means pine trees in my mind's eye!

The first time I spent any time outside of the home and watched as people we had given presents opening up theirs was to be a hard lesson to be learnt. They all would rip off the paper! Didn't they think to carefully remove the sticky tape and then fold the paper in the creases that had been created so long ago? This is what we always did!!! To this day, I still feel guilty if I rip or tear the paper as I try to open the present carefully whether I save the paper or not!

Now it is my turn to recreate a family Christmas. We ,too, decided that Christmas dinner should be just for our family. However, with 4 children it was a lot noisier and more fun! For many years we had our routine of trying to sleep through the noise of the children waking early, excitedly opening up the presents in their sacks. My husband sometimes worked shift work during these years and so often he would not be home until early afternoon. I would allow a couple of the smaller presents to be opened with the main ones waiting for when we were all together before dishing up the meal. Evenings were always spent playing with the new found presents.

Today, the children and their respective partners have their own commitments in that they spend alternate Christmases with their various 'in laws'. Bucks Fizz (champagne and orange) is always the starting signal of Christmas morning whether my husband and I are on our own or not. Later others arrive and we go through the ritual opening of presents, the meal, the playing with presents before we all go home to our various homes.

One day, they will all have families and want to spend Christmas in their homes. I wonder what their childhood memories will be of their Christmases?

Nearly the end of the month and....

Yes, it is nearly the end of the month and the 30/30 challenge is nearing its end!

Di's 30/30 challenge has quite a number of us participating.  Each of us setting ourselves different targets which we hoped to achieve during the month of October.

My goals were:

1. To create an encaustic painting to enter into a competition on ArtScuttlebut.com  Here is my entry entitled Celestial Magic.  It has been created using pigmented beeswax which was then hot air blown.  To enhance the painting I used my trustworthy iron, hot stylus and tissues.

The painting has been created on canvas as a support and is painted around the sides, top and bottom so is immediately ready to hang.

When you view the painting from the sides you can see the whole subject which makes it rather fun!

 

 

2.  My next goal was to continue using the Wii sports.  This I have done using it to play tennis which is a game I love.  In addition DH and I have taken many walks through local parks to enjoy the beautiful foliage at this time of year.

3. My third goal was to create something every week and this week I have had my encaustic paints out again.  This time to create a painting using one of England's oldest monuments, namely, Stonehenge.  Each year during the summer solstice the druids come from far and wide to celebrate the season. 

This particular painting evolved from a greetings card I was trying to create for my DH whose birthday is on Saturday.  He loves the wax art so I began and the first picture that emerged was this one of  a landscape scene.  I wasn't too happy with it so carried on and then Stonehenge was born! 

 

 

 

 

So you can see the different processes and how a painting can evolve from card to canvas.

All these paintings are created by me but under my 'other' personality!  On a Whimsey where I only have encaustic art.

In addition I have managed to keep up my new blog A Precious Memory where I have written some of my father's memoirs of a dark period in his life.

And so, my friends, I feel that I have managed to acquit myself reasonably well by 'just' keeping up with my self set goals.  Now with Christmas just around the corner there are plenty more challenges.  Thank you, Di, for making us get up and get on with things.  It is always easier if someone goads you into being more productive.

A new blog!

Whilst going through some paperwork the other day I came across a manuscript of my late Dad. Having been an avid diarist all his life he took it upon himself to record in retrospect his experiences during his internment in Japanese POW camps in Indonesia during WWII.

He had always wanted to prepare these words with a view to recording them in a book but just never got round to doing so. It was with this in mind that I thought I might attempt to use his words but in a blog format. I must say, he would have loved to have done that himself. He was always one to try out new technology!

Rather than intrude on this blog with a subject that needs to be recognised in its own right I decided to start a new blog devoted to his manuscript. There I will transpose his words in the original format as much as possible and hope it will be of interest to others.

Certainly there will be aspects that are not widely known to the younger members of our society and I am sure he would be pleased to help nuture a better understanding of how things were and how we should move on to try and better ourselves.

Without further ado, I invite you to visit http://apreciousmemory.blogspot.com where I hope you will find something to hold your interest.