Thursday, August 30, 2012

PINK FAN DOODLE

Doodles or Tangles  I don't mind what you call them.  Cliche coming up -- 'they are what they are'.  My sister at Kaybee has decided to try her hand at these and I really like her result.  As she says, they are quite relaxing to do because you can disguise mistakes.

This is my latest:


I call it Pink Fan and I can think of several things I wish I'd done differently.  For example, the pumpkin at the bottom.  Didn't want it to be a pumpkin. It would probably have looked better in that royal blue.  But that is the idea for me here.  Trying out different patterns and colors  -- and just having fun.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

G IS FOR...

THREE  'G'S  IN ONE PHOTO...


MY GORGEOUS CAT.
THAT GHASTLY CANDLESTICK.
THE BRASS   GEMSTONE GLOBE WHICH WAS A GIFT
You've  seen my gorgeous cat, Scruffy, before ... who is poorly named because he isn't scruffy at all.  His name when we adopted him was Fluffy and we wanted something a bit more distinguished.  Scruffy can hardly be called a distinguished name, but the name had to be similar to his original one so he would quickly learn to answer it. (He was eight years old when we adopted him.)

The ghastly candlesticks you have also seen before.  They were brought home from India by my grandfather after World War I.  I haven't decided what to do with them yet, so they are still displayed in the open since I had my last foray into eBay to see if they would be worth anything.

The gift of the gemstone globe was given to my husband as a commemoration gift of so many years as pastor of our church. (I don't remember how many years it commemorated, sorry. We were there for 28 years.He is not here right now for me to ask. But I know he will remember.) It is really rather beautiful. The gemstones inlaid in it are semi-precious, such as Lapis and Mother of Pearl. The oceans are done in Lapis.

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I will be missing ABC Wednesday for the next two weeks.  Wedding plans at our house.  Big happy times and family get together.

This is my submission for ABC Wednesday, the letter 'G', graciously hosted by Roger Owen Green and founded by Mrs. Nesbitt.  For more fascinating entries please click HERE

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

F IS FOR .....

F is for FAMILY

Well, that's not a very original choice I know, but it really is for us because we are about to acquire a brand new family! 


My eldest son, at the age of 47, has decided to take the plunge.  He has had plenty of girl friends over the years  and I was quite resigned to him never getting married, so I nearly fell off the chair when he told me!  But we were SO happy to hear the news.
So now we have a ready-made family and I will have a ready-made granddaughter.  Of course we have known them for quite a while and we couldn't be happier.  Such a happy family!  MOTH will do the ceremony. It will all take place in about three weeks and this seemed the right time and place for me to announce it, though of course we have known for several months. The sweet little girl, H, is 11 going on 15, but such a sweetheart and attends a local Christian School.  Very smart with top notch grades.  She is joining the cheer leaders when school returns. (Grandmothers are allowed to boast aren't they?)  Altogether it is a blessing worth waiting for.

Now here's another F:

How about a FAMILY SECRET?
This is something that only I knew about our family, since I was about 6 or 7 years old.  I don't think my brother knew but he died  nearly 30 years ago. As far as I can ascertain no-one in my whole extended family knew, not aunts and uncles cousins etc. until it was revealed at my mother's funeral which was about ten years ago.  

My husband conducted the funeral  and during part of the proceedings included the fact that my mother had had four children.  Everyone there was shocked because they were sure there were only three children in our family, my brother,  my sister who is now in Canada and me.  But my mother had told me when I was about six years old that I had another brother whose name was Geoffrey but he had died a few days after he was born.  This event was never discussed in our family other than that one time when my mother told me.  

Unsuspectingly I told my husband this bit of family history for his preparation for the funeral.  I had no idea that no one else in the family knew about the fourth child. I just assumed that it was one of those topics that was not discussed in those days.  But I discovered that not even my mother's twin sister knew of Geoffrey.  His birth was between mine and my younger sister's.  My brother Michael was the oldest child. 

I quite distinctly remember the moment when and where I was when my mother told me, but we had no proof until my blogger cousin, Snafu did some family history and genealogy.  There among all the papers of information Snafu recently dug up, was the proof that blogger Kaybee (my sister) and I had another brother, Geoffrey.

All of my mother's generation have now passed on so now I will add this:  I'm sure there is more behind this story because I have some other bits and pieces of memories that fill out more of the picture.  But they shall remain a secret between my sister and I out of respect for my mother's memory.

This is my entry for this week's ABC Wednesday project.  F is the current letter.  We are now in the eleventh round of the alphabet and encourage you to join us -- or at least take a look at other entries which are always Fascinating. You will Find many more entries if you click HERE.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

TROPICAL TANGLE


It's been a difficult week with so much heat and excessive humidity (80-85%). Fortunately I haven't had a lot of things that were imperative for me to accomplish.  So I have set myself up in the den each day with my lap top, a telephone at hand, a book to read, a notepad and a pencil, art pad and colored pencils, my Bible and a large cold drink -- mostly Gatorade and water, to replenish electrolytes and then I just didn't move any more than I had to.  


Now that might sound like bliss to some, and if you like sitting around in a wet 'swim suit' all day with a fan on you, it could be.  For me apart from feeling like I'm sitting around in a wet swim suit, the worst part is not having the mental energy to do any of the creative things I want to do. The humidity just drains me. I do think I don't adapt as well to humidity as other people do.  

BUT I have survived one week, -- yet they say there is no end in sight.  Though I must admit it is a little cooler this evening, hence this blog.

Now as far as my TANGLE above is concerned:
I have spent an hour or so each day doing as much as I could, mainly because these don't require a lot of thinking and planning ahead. Then if I don't like it I can scrap it or make easy changes on it.  In actual fact I didn't really think I would finish it or that it would be worth keeping.  Well it turned out better than I thought so I decided to post it.

For those who follow or participate in Every Inchie Monday, I have skipped several of these but do intend to get back in soon.  I almost didn't make ABC Wednesday last week and from hereon I have to use whatever cool breezes may emanate from our heatwave, to come up with something for Tuesday.

P.S. While putting this blog together I was listening to KPBS,  our public TV station.  They were showing a concert of the new-to-me, Nathan Pacheco.  A brilliant young tenor.  I have never heard of him before this evening, but  I have heard many many singers perform "Nessun Dorma". So when I heard him sing this and I got goose bumps, I knew he was a great singer.  Go to You Tube and look him up if you like hearing tenors.  He doesn't only sing opera.  Another piece he sang was "Hallelujah".

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

E IS FOR...



I suppose I should have expected it.  I've been bragging for so long about not having air conditioning because our ideal climate cools down so well at night.  I know we have about a week or so around the end of July beginning of August when  we have to get the fans out, but this is ridiculous!  Temperatures in the 80's and 90's with 80 - 90% humidity! 

I am melting! 

Everything  takes too much effort.  Too hot to blog.  Too hot to read.  Too hot to draw. Too hot to watch TV.  Too hot to eat. Too hot to sleep. Too hot to think.  As for getting the fans out...it was done in sheer desperation.  They were stashed away in a couple of closets and by the time I realized we were going to need them, it was already too hot, period.  This is Micronesia weather! 

Taking a shower isn't much help. It's almost too much exertion. Afterwards I flake out on the bed to cool off. But by then I'm dripping wet again. So I have raked out my one Micronesia dress -- a bit like a MuMu. I gave all my others away.  SO glad I kept this one. In Micronesia everyone walks around with a towel around their neck to keep wiping their face and neck, and it is useful for cover for the torrential rainfall they get. At least we don't get the downpours. But I am using the small towels we have accumulated from there.

The more showers I take the more clothes and towels have to be washed -- the more exertion it takes......Ah well, too much complaining as well.

EXCITEMENT
Had great fun watching the exciting Olympics before the heat.  The games were EXCELLENT.

The opening event -- out of this world.  Made me proud to be British!  I have started a painting, a sort of collage of the opening event, and I will get back to it when the weather cools off.

The closing event was excruciating.  Sorry, just not my cup of tea. The John Lennon clip was excellent and I missed the Spice Girls' segment.  Just had to keep changing channels at the boring, rowdy bits.  I'm almost the Queen's generation so I can guess why she was not there. But I must say Prince Harry is an excellent substitute! In my teens, red hair, blue eyes and freckles were right up my street!  That's how I knew it was true love when I met my husband. He was not any of the above.

The END of a couple of not very good days was capped by finding out that someone had stolen our credit card number.  I think we've got it all sorted out now.  (Hours on the phone ). Fortunately we do not use credit cards very much (old fashioned I know). Nor do we do on-line banking.  I feel like the old lady who used to keep her money under the mattress or in a hole up the chimney.

So even without the heat I would not have accomplished much this week. Didn't even get any EXTRA photos for future blogs.

For more ABC Wednesday entries, please  CLICK HERE and give a nod to our new moderator, Roger, who is giving Mrs. Nesbitt a break.


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

D IS FOR...



I still haven't blogged much this week.  I've been so happy to see properly again, I have done quite a bit of drawing.  I was really missing it.


So D is for Doodles and Drawing and also for the Dramatic Olympics!

They have been so exciting!  I have three countries to cheer for  -- The UK, the USA and Canada  and then for the underDog countries such as Grenada.  

I loved the Opening Ceremony and immediately started on a drawing of my impressions from it.  I planned to put it on my blog but it isn't finished yet and I've come across a Disappointment -- just about everything to do with the Olympics is copyrighted, so I may have to post a censored copy!

I will try to take some more photos this week, so I have a new supply for future posts.

Oh, I almost forgot. D is also for DENTIST!  I had a tooth extracted this week.  It was all over in about 60 seconds -- that is if you don't see the large hypodermic needle that looks big enough  for a horse!  The most painful part is the bill!

For more Delightful Debuts for the letter D of ABC Wednesday, now being  moderated by our own DEBONAIR Roger Owen Green, please click here .  

Double accolades to our Dear Mrs. Nesbitt -- Denise for her Devoted Duty for the past ten rounds.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

CHRIS CATCHING UP AFTER A CRASHED COMPUTER


Thanks to my wonderful computer man I’m back in blogland!  Thanks too, to Photowanabe for the hint for ABC Wednesday. I don’t really know what happened and he was here too long getting the thing set up that I didn’t ask him.  But it’s been living on borrowed time for a while (my lap top that is).  We knew back in November when we got the new PC that this little lap top needed some work on it, mainly because I had made a lot changes on it and didn’t really know what I was doing.  But whatever it was, it wasn’t life threatening and in the process I learned more computer ‘stuff’ as well as Windows Vista, Picasa and MS Word 10.  Still got a long way to go on some of these programs  but I’m up for it! Three and a half days without my trusty laptop was Chafing, Crippling and Crushing!


Finally, my entry for ABC Wednesday and soon I will be around to see all the other wonderful entries.  To see all these please click HERE