finally!! I sits down for a cup

of the good stuff

and you're welcome to join me - very welcome. . . only I need to get away from it all for a moment or two, so I'm relocating to somewhere with a view of the waves and some fresh air. . .

wherever you are today
I hope that you have
a quiet moment of contemplation
with a delicious drink

(-:

XXX

when did you last treat yourself to

a bunch of flowers?I don't do it often enough. . .

. . .but when I do, my heart sings! the other day I was wandering around the supermarket, as you do when your cupboards are bare, and having filled my basket I then checked my rainy day purse and I decided that I had a few spare pennies so stopped at the flower displays

not quite the same as one's own garden, but not to be sniffed at (altho the freesias were very tempting), I settled on a small bunch of hyacinths; I couldn't find a photo on Mrs G Image that do my modest selection justice - the stems are a dark burgundy in colour and the bells of the flowers change from a pale blue-grey at the base to a deep purple-blue at the tips, whilst the leaves such an incredible vibrant green - and my words can't convey their beauty either

whatever your day brings you
I hope you have a moment
or two
when your heart sings

XXX

the past few days

as I've been tootling backwards and forwards from iTowers to the butcher's, the baker's and the candlestickmaker's I have walked by a tree within which a little robin has been chirruping away to his heart's contenton each occasion, that small bird has momentarily brought such a smile to my face!

one is very "in the moment" when one listens to birdsong, and that moment is full of the very joy of life

no matter what the other moments are full of

I do so hope that you've had
a moment like that
in your day today

XXX

my new oven gloves

after a few days of a bitter chill

it is finally mild enough to open a window or two without danger of being numbed into non-existance and let in some fresh air: there's nothing quite like it, is there!it's by no means warm and the sun is still NOT shining (I'm kind of missing the sun, it has to be said) but spring must surely be around the corner, which makes me think of snowdrops and daffodilsand also of forsythia (my mother always asked me to clip a branch of forsythia when she sent me into the garden to pick daffodils for the dining table, so in my mind the two are inextricably linked)simple thoughts, but pleasant enough for now

I hope you have some
simple pleasures
in your day today

XXX

"trouble at mill"

there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the origin of this phrase on Mr Google which is not such a problem in itself, do we have to know the meaning of everything? is teh net obliged to fulfil our (or, in this case, my) every quest for knowledge and understanding?it does seem clear that the phrase has its background in Lancastrian factory history as opposed to that of windmills or watermills

.

.

thoughts of both of which caused my mind to wander and Mrs G Image to triumph once again producing for your visual satisfaction a certain Windy Miller and a Constable mill. . .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

needless to say, all this subtle humour on a midweek morning is just a mere distraction from the topsy turvy world that exists within the walls of iTowers today, where siblings relations are not as happy as portrayed in the story books. . .

*sigh*

sometimes I just have to ask myself

but that's a really tricky one, because ha ha ha!

I..........
HOPE....... there R
one or two simple things
th@ bring a smile
2 your face
2day

XX
X

as I was trudging along today

I saw a walnut shell in the gutterit reminded me of those little boats you make when you're a child to race across the bird bath when the ice has melted (remember being able to lift off a whole piece of ice without it breaking?) for some reason, this made me look up - there was a clear blue sky above me! and then a song started spinning around in my head

(-:

I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas Day in the morning. . .And what was in those ships all three? On Christmas Day. . .
Our Saviour Christ and his lady, on Christmas Day. . .
Pray whither sailed those ships all three? On Christmas Day. . .
Oh, they sailed into Bethlehem, on Christmas Day. . .
And all the bells on earth shall ring, on Christmas Day. . .
And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing, on Christmas Day. . .
And all the souls on earth shall sing, on Christmas Day. . .
Then let us all rejoice, amen, on Christmas Day. . .

for your listening pleasure, your choice of
NAT KING COLE or STING
or TRADITIONAL CHOIRBOYS!!

I hope something made you* smile unexpectedly today!

XXX

.
(*yes! you!!)

my Lady Batten

keeping a house spick and span is a little like painting the Forth Bridge - once you've reached the end, you have to start all over again at the beginning. . .so having almost completed the renovation of the front space, planted bay where there was lavender, moved the lavender to a gap between the bamboo, repainted the brickwork, stripped and repainted the front door (was blue, now black), stripped and repainted the French windows to the courtyard, moved all the pots around and replanted some with ivy and grasses and rosemary, having almost finished painting the banisters on the main landing, having purchased the paint for the breakfast room, having made three trips to the dump in the last two weeks (clothes and books for the charity/recycling bins), having used up the last of the dreaded yellow paint on a single wall behind my poster of Rear Window

(it's the same colour as the title font)

and on a bookshelf from which I removed all the children's book and put them away for the next fifteen-twenty years and then reorganised the art books and the poetry books and the novels from my youth, today I find myself three floors up in Mini-Teen's room. . . oh, and the term "spick and span"?

.
first citation November 15th, 1665, Samuel Pepys' diary: 'my Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes'; from spick-and-span-new - literally 'new as a recently made spike and chip of wood' (1570s), from spick (“nail”, variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new”, from c1300, Old Norse "span-nyr"). . .
.

. . .from spann (“chip”, cognate to Old English spón, Modern English spoon, due to old spoons being made of wood) + nyr (“new”, cognate to Old English nīwe, Modern English new). . .

.

. . .imitation of Dutch spiksplinter nieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”), for a freshly built ship. . . observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term. . .

.

so now you know!

the easiest way to work out whether

a decision is a good one, is to make the wrong decision: I have tried and tested this method of discerning "rightness" many times. . .

ok, sometimes you can't actually go back and remake the decision once you realise that what you did in the first place wasn't such a good idea (as regards relationship issues, for example), but not all of life is that complicated

so, when Mini-Teen told me that the colour I'm painting the bathroom with looks like baby-sick (it's more like a certain shade of bile, actually) (and, no, it certainly didn't look that colour on the sample card nor in the tin), I suppose it won't actually be that difficult to correct the situation

*sigh*

at one stage it was looking like the colour of a traditional yellow plastic duck, which would have made the whole project so much easier in the coordinating accessories departmentwouldn't it. . . oh, and Mel. . .

GIANT RUBBER DUCKIE!!!!

when? 2007
where? River Loire, France
what? inflatable, rubber coated PVC, pontoon and generator
how big?!?!? 26m x 20m x 32m
why? read on:

"a yellow spot on the horizon slowly approaches the coast. . .
people have gathered and watch in amazement
as the giant yellow Rubber Duck approaches;
the spectators are greeted by the duck,
which slowly nods its head;
the Rubber Duck knows no frontiers,
it doesn’t discriminate people
and doesn’t have a political connotation!"

not so mellow yellow

why is it that if I wanted something kinda lemon curdy I've ended up with something more like the the yolk of a boiled egg?

IT'S THE BATHROOM!!!!! noone wants to bathe in a dippy egg, do they. . .

the fat lady is singing!!!!

all over! now, as you, dear reader, will know I am a devout believer in the fact that

however, even I have my limits. . . fifteen 13/14-year old girls and the one boy make quite a messso, I determined to use my well honed motivational skills and, as the end of the party drew close, appointed two tidy-up-team leaders, allowing each to pick their team members, whilst keeping the Most Sensible Friend (there's always one, isn't there) as Tidiness Monitor
Tidiness Monitor had the sparklers, which she was allowed to give out when there was no mess left to Those Deemed Having Made A Suitable Effort (it's incredible how easily influenced these girls are)(which is worrying in itself), Best Friend headed up one team and Boy Friend headed up the second; I advised them to whistle while they worked

three bin bags and two recycling bags later, the sparklers were dolled out and iTowers was back to it's usual state - I even have the t-shirt to prove it(if, like me, you've always wondered what that saying was about, this is the answer, apparently: "The saying in today's form has been recorded as early as 1840, 'shipshape' alone being about 200 years older. The term developed most likely in view of the port of Bristol which had a very high tidal range of 13 metres (43 ft), the second highest in the world. Ships moored in this area would be aground at low tide and, because of their keels, would fall to one side. If everything was not stowed away tidily, or tied down, the results were chaotic and cargo could be spoiled.")

it did occur to me that if I could regroup these girls into some kind of After Party Cleaning Up Organisation, and if sparklers might replace wages, I'd be onto a good thing (and the team uniform could be the t-shirt) but there's probably some law or other preventing that

preparation, preparation

it's all in the preparation (which reminds me, even the best laid plans etc etc)now, those of you in the know will recall that Mini-Teen is having A Halloween Party. . . I know, I know, I'm just a big softie really. . . the invite went out with the strict instruction that attendees had to Dress Up in Halloween Costume but that there were to be No Witches (my charming child wants to be the only witch); of course, being my child, she looks more like this:(substitute natural blond ringlets for the hair and stick the world's ugliest braces on the teeth, and that is Mini-Teen right down to the last detail) (did I tell you about the braces? no? well, that - my dear reader - is the reason behind the party: ANYTHING to distract her from the agony and the mouth ache) (and me from the moaning)
.
(ahem)
.

anyhoo, preparations are apace in iTowers and the cupcakes are baking as we converse. . . my only issue is that I do quality cupcakes - see above - as suitable for a witch who resembles a teenage Ms Hepburn - and yet when looking on teh net for inspiration I found little that inspired me. . . they are a *insert appropriate collective noun here* (any suggestions on the back of a postcard to the usual address) (prizes as I see fit) of 13/14-year old girls after all (and let's not forget that one solitary boy) (bless his cotton socks, or whatever he'll be wearing on the night) (*shudders*). . . (well, maybe that last bunch - but on the other hand, perhaps they are just too sensible!)however, when I came across the following, I knew I was on the right track (that'll be the track that I'm not currently distracted from). . .why? I hear you question yourself quietly. . . because when we were doing a little party shop, my dear sweet 13- going on 17-year old Mini-Witch-Audrey chose Hungry Caterpillar paper cups

*shakes head*