A lively funeral

Colin was the husband of one of our Scottish Country Dancing group. He was a lovely, kind man a true gentleman. He and Mary had been married for 56 years they met in the Army when he was in the Medical corps and she a nurse during National Service.
He contracted cancer a short seven months ago, and it just rampaged through his body. He had been a very fit and active 79 yr old , such a cruel disease.
He was buried in the Woodland Burial ground, which some may remember, I wrote about in WLS some time back, I too have booked my spot there, though it was the first funeral I have attended at it.
It was lovely, Colin wanted no hymns or prayers, The service started wit Nat Cole singing  Autumn Leaves, so apt for the time of year, then Cavallero Rusticano, serene but not too solemn, lovely tributes and it finished with Morecambe and Wise singing Bring Me Sunshine, a nice uplifting end blowing away any ‘blues’. A piper led the way to the graveside.  It was very ‘Colin’
Several people there were impressed enough to make enquiries for internment, and after the service I felt quite relaxed and happy it was a choice I had made.
He will be missed though but we have many happy memories of a nice man.

Technorati Tags: Burial,autumn leaves morecambe and wise

Friday Faffles

Technorati Tags: Black rats,autumn,Andrea Bocelli,library,fifty shaddes of grey,rain.

Morning folks.
I didn’t have a very good night last night, a vague tummy upset and jumbled up dreams woke me around 2 am. However the tummy ache came to nothing, I decided to read the current library book, The Rats. a rather scary chiller, though a bit far fetched, it’s about mutant black rats invading London and tearing people to bits, etc…
I finished it and realised I only had one book to read, mental note.  go to library in the morning.
The weather forecast rain coming from the West and arriving after lunch, well….lunch was early…. I decided to do the library first then take Ruby for her walk, got to there around 9.30 am and when I came out at 10, it was bucketing down, as I said… lunch was early.
A most embarrassing thing happened to me in the library, I put my books on the counter around 6 of them, the librarian checked them, and said ‘’I think this is yours’’ I nearly died, it was Fifty Shades of Grey, I turned fifty shades of beetroot, and muttered it was given to me and wasn’t it a load of tripe and juvenile rubbish and would they like it for the library !  ‘’No thank you’’ she said, I slunk out with a lopsided grin.
Got a bit wet running to the car, and got even wetter when I got to the dog walk, rummaging around looking for sturdy shoes and waterproof jackets and coat for Roobs. oh well the garden needed it, I took a brolly so it wasn’t too bad, As she doesn’t like the rain the walk was a short one.
Of course now that I am home and dried off, the sun is shining, if it keeps up I will try and clear up some more branches that I cut down yesterday, I’ve already filled two sacks.
Definitely an Autumn feel in the air, and the leaves are starting to drift off the trees, like butterflies dying, and just as poignant, I love some aspects of Autumn, so long as it’s not too cold or wet, but there is a very haunting beauty about it.
Well I’ve had some Orange squash and am sitting here listening to a tape of Andrea Bocelli , lovely voice, However this won’t get any work done so I’ll catch up later. keep dry.

To-day

Hi all, many thanks for your good wishes for my birthday, I’ve had a lovely day, with some super presents, My friend Sue gave me some ‘Ghost’ perfume, I hadn’t smelt it before, and I must say it is very nice, I do love perfume.
We went to a local restaurant and had a nice meal, |I had beef Stroganoff and fruit crumble for dessert, with orange squash, just like a kid, { I don’t drink, nor do the girls} the meal was very nice, home cooked and hot. I waited till we went back to mine for tea and cake, Yes Beth, I did have a big piece.
My family gave me some nice presents for the garden.,  a lovely planter in the shape of an old fashioned perambulator, I look forward to filling it with flowers. Also a new garden table and chairs to replace my [very] old set, the table had been used for painting and was in a dreadful state, the chairs I disastrously painted with texture paint, not realising what the effect would be, which was the surface was rough and dirt and grime stuck and wouldn’t come off. So the new set is most welcome. plus some very acceptable toiletries . Yes Horst it was my birthday  to-day not tomorrow.
Thanks Chancy for the compliments on my art, I was happy and flattered.
Glad the Bounce tips were taken on board and will prove useful. I did know about them being useful for wiping TV and Computer screens.
I am judging at a dog show to-morrow, so off to bed shortly for a 5 am rise

Technorati Tags: birthday,presents,garden,stroganoff,fruit crumble,art,paint,ghost perfume,bounce

The Garden Centre

A few blogs back I mentioned that I lost a few shrubs to the hard frost we’d had, I was most saddened at the loss of a Firethorn that was maturing nicely.   However I decided to-day to go to the Garden centre to get a replacement.

I pondered on whether to choose a Viburnum, Escallonia, Holly, Laurel or what, I wanted something that would grow quickly, so Holly was out, that had flowers at some time, Laurel, out, I wanted a shrub that would be quite bushy to hopefully encourage birds to nest, as a blackbird had been eyeing up the Firethorn, they take a long time to mature so it was out too, I eventually settled on the Escallonia, in fact two, both different species,  as I have several Viburnum, they are good workhorses in the garden though.

Now I just need some reasonably mild weather to venture into the garden, the past few days have been very windy and chilly.

They also have a good line in cut price books and I spent a pleasant half hour having a browse, I got a recipe book ‘How to get the best from your Slow Cooker’ and ‘ 400 Budget recipes’, it’s a real cornucopia of goodies. I also got a nice little poetry book, a mixture of classic poets and some modern ones, a bit more light hearted than the ones I already have, though I love my them and enjoy an evening reading. I also bought a ‘Puzzle book for Gardeners’ just the Christmas present for a girl friend who is an avid crossword puzzle and garden enthusiast, She organises our quiz nights, most enjoyable they are, with some super varied questions.

Oh well that’s about it for to-day, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I’d intended buying soap powder to do some washing but ran out of money. books and plants are more important though, wouldn’t you agree?

Technorati Tags: garden centre,plants,recipe books,poetry

Ruby etc. part 2

Thanks for your feedback Sheila and Beth, much appreciated. and yes I did feel £15 a roll was pricey. I’ve attached pics of the kitchen after Martin had done the prepping, painted ceiling and such, hopefully the paper will be up tomorrow.

Now to Ruby, I said yesterday it had started to rain, we also had thunder and lightening, She didn’t appear to be too worried, but when it came to ‘get busy’ time before bed, she wouldn’t go outside.

I eventually had to leave her and let her go to bed, next morning, she wouldn’t get up, and I had to tip her out of her bed., she was reluctant to go out again, and wouldn’t eat her breakfast,

Fortunately the rain eased off and we went off out and she ‘performed’ but when we came back still wouldn’t eat,

I spent the afternoon with both dogs in the little summerhouse, painting, she did eat her food this evening, and is again fast asleep. Tango has been very good with her.

It’s been raining heavy again, we just got back from our walk before the heavens opened. It’s a welcome relief and let’s hope it puts out the devastating fires of the past few days.

Technorati Tags: decoratinmg,kitchen,painting,dog thunder lightening

Ruby Etc.

Just a little update on Ruby.

Her operation went well, I dropped her off at the vet at 8,30am and they phoned me 10.30 to say she had been done!, and to phone between 1 and 2 pm, I did and picked her up at 2.30.

She was a bit dis-oriented but soon came back to normal.

She enjoyed a couple of chicken ‘n’ rice meals and gentle walks .

Went to the vet for her post op check op and he was pleased with her, another 9 days on lead walking and she’ll be fully functioning as before, but with no hassle of seasons or puppies.

While typing this I can hear a strange sound outside,  I glance out of the window, and see raindrops glistening through the dark panes, good, that will save me watering the garden or cleaning the car to-morrow, just hope it doesn’t last too long,  

Oh before I forget,my son in law is coming over to-morrow to decorate the kitchen.

I went out yesterday to buy the wallpaper, I went into a proper decorator shop in New Milton and was confronted with an absolute library of books, yikes I haven’t got time to go through that lot.

I whittled down to four to plough through,

I  only found one I could see that was remotely what I wanted at £15 per roll, OK I only wanted three rolls, but felt it was a bit pricey as it wasn’t 100% what I wanted, so I went to the local B&Q store, and though they didn’t have the amount of stock but I felt it was better that way, not so confusing.

I had a browse around and spotted a couple I could live with, then spotted the ‘clearance bin’ and had a quick shuftie, well, well, I picked up pretty much what I wanted at £3 a roll, and believe it or not, they had three matching rolls! YES! When I took them to the checkout, I was asked for £6, as the current offer of three for two also applied, Now how lucky is that. ?

Now I wonder how lucky I might be with the carpet……………

Technorati Tags: dog operation,wallpaper,DIY,lucky,bargain,carpet

To-day’s happenings

As I had posted earlier, i had a funeral to go to to-day. , Saying good-bye to an old friend, and on a lighter note, meeting up with others I hadn’t seen for some time.

It was a nice service, as these things go.

I got up 6.30 am as I wanted to take the dogs for a good run, we went out at 8 am back 9.30 to get changed. I left home 10.30 am, though it was only 54 miles, the A27 can be pretty busy as much of the traffic is heavy goods heading towards The Dartford tunnel and hence to the Channel for shipment to France.

I downloaded the directions from google, and a fat lot of good they were, the turn off to Chichester was wrong. and I wasted time having to ask directions. The first lot was OK up to a point, then they went haywire, so had to stop and ask for more, by this time it was noon and the service was 12.30. However I got there at 12.15.

After the service we had a lovely spread , sandwiches, and some hot food, lovely cake and éclairs, and tea, coffee.  That was most welcome.

Off for home at 2.15 and made good speed on the way back getting home just before four o’clock. Quickly changed had a coffee and took the dogs out for a well earned walk for over two hours. I took the camera and took some photos of to-days walk, with a couple of wild flowers thrown in, mostly wood anemones which carpet the ground at this time. with some wild primroses.  The bluebells are just coming into bloom, but it is difficult to find real English bluebells now as the rather coarser Spanish form are taking over, so I didn’t take any, If I change my mind I have them in my own garden.

Over someone’s fence there was a ,lovely spray of Ribes, and though it stinks like cat pee, it does look pretty, so I took a snap of it too. The rest are scenes of the sea looking to the Isle of Wight one way and toward Bournemouth the other.  I haven’t deleted or sorted any, sorry as I haven’t got time, so just gloss over the rubbish.

I also managed to get a couple of rabbits.This is the waterfall that comes out from under the raod from the Chewton Glen Hotel

Technorati Tags: Wood anemones,bluebells,ribes,primroses,Isle of Wight,traffic,travel.Bournemouth,dogs.

The weather was beautiful to-day and we are promised a warm and sunny week-end Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay good one.

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