Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree…..

 

Now that the excitement of last weekend is wearing off, I thought you might enjoy seeing the Christmas Tree Festival held in St Peter’s Church, Sandwich.

I missed the festival last year, so I had to go and have a look this year. They are trying hard to raise money for improvements to the church, and I think this is a lovely way to raise some much needed cash. St. Peters is a redundant church that is used for art exhibitions etc. but is well worth a visit at any time. I went down into the crypt on an open day in September, another blog waiting in the wings. I wonder if I will ever catch up with myself???

The trees had been dressed by various sections of the community, there were sections from businesses, families and groups, all were just lovely to see, from the trees dressed by children from the local nursery through to the ‘whole room’ display, done by a local business. There was one done by the local bell ringers group which was great, sadly I don’t appear to have a photo of it.

My daughter came home on Saturday, last year she was still in China, so we are all looking forward to a really good Christmas this year. Our tree this year looks lovely, it is crammed with lots of special ornaments on it, below is a close up so you can see what I mean! Oh and a photo of my friend and I pretending to be reindeer, at least I was brave enough to show my face..

Thank you Pat and Shaun for the little Christmas Party, it was great, and Pat you make the best Christmas cake ever!!!!

As this is my last blog before Christmas I would like to wish every one of you a truly special Christmas. Take care all xxx

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.°( . • . ) ˛°./• '♫ ' •\.˛*./______/~＼*˚°。°*。°*°*❤ ˚°*★
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★*˚°。°*。°*。★ MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Canterbury Rocks at Christmas

On Saturday my best friend and I went to the ‘Canterbury Rocks at Christmas’ in Canterbury Cathedral, wow did we have a great time!! The main performer was Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull with Justin Hayward (Moody Blues) and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) as guests.

I have been a Moody Blues fan since 1967 and had never had the chance to see any of the group live, so I just had to go to this concert, I think I would have walked if the weather had been bad! lol

We had pretty good seats in the centre aisle, of course in front of me was the largest man there could be but I could still see pretty well! Ian Anderson is just amazing on the flute, Bruce Dickinson has a really great voice, and sang a totally amazing version of ‘Jerusalem’ and Justin Hayward sang ‘Forever Autumn’ and ‘Nights in White Satin’, his voice is just awesome, there were parts of Nights in White Satin where his voice just totally filled the whole cathedral. To see such a concert in this amazing venue was just something else!

At the break I went outside through a side door, for a quick ciggie,  and came back in the same door – right in front of me was Justin Hayward signing autographs, and amazingly enough there were only a few people who had found him!!!!! I fished out my programme and a pen, waited patiently and managed not only to get his autograph but have a few words with him…..I have been on cloud 9 ever since!! He seems a genuinely lovely man, and although I have waited a very long time to see him live, the wait was more than worth it! I never dreamt I would get to talk to him or get his autograph! I also took a photo of him and a young man who was there, sadly I didn’t get any photos myself as the tickets stated no cameras, phones or video recorders allowed, so I left my camera at home. In fact they did allow non flash photography, but meeting Justin made up for the fact I have no photos. The end number of the concert was Locomotive Breath, a very well known Jethro Tull song, performed by all whom took part, a fantastic end to an amazing evening, all in all a truly fantastic start to Christmas for me

Bath

There were lots of amazing statues round the city, I loved this one!

Back in October my best friend and I had a mini break in Bath. My friend had never been there before and my last visit was over 40 years ago, so we were both looking forward to the trip very much.

Fountain House, the building on the left, our flat was on the 2nd floor.

To the right is the Abbey and the entrance to the Roman Baths.

We had rented a flat on the Lansdowne Road, which was just beautiful. We were about 2 minutes walk from Milsom Street, the Assembly rooms, and The Circle, about 5 minutes walk away from the The Royal Crescent and about a 10 minute walk away from the The Roman Baths and the Abbey, so you can see we chose our spot very well!!

The entrance to the Kings and Queens Baths, when I last visited there was a water fountain in front of the building. The water was the famous Bath Water, and attached to the fountain was a metal cup for tasting the water. The fountain has now gone, probably due to the fact that everyone used the same cup!!!

The Lansdowne Road.

Bath is a beautiful, vibrant city, with wonderful individual shops, interesting shop lined alley ways mingling with the Georgian buildings. The first afternoon we just had a gentle walk to get our bearings, we did go into the Abbey, and then ate Fish and Chips in the Queens Square, it was a lovely evening. The weather throughout our visit was wonderful, with wall to wall sunshine, a real treat in October!

Abbey Green.

We started our sight seeing with the Roman Baths, we arrived at opening time on Friday morning, and spent an amazing couple of hours wandering round and chatting to the ‘Roman wife’ who was waiting patiently for her slave to return. This lady was just hilarious, she certainly made our visit to the baths a memorable one!

The Roman Baths

That lady probably has a photo of me taking a photo of her….lol

The water entering the baths from underground.

The overflow

The mask of Minerva.

The wonderful ‘Roman Wife’

Exhausted by all the laughing we had coffee in the Pump Rooms, which was very nice, then we wandered down to a local garden, took one of the bus tours round the city and finally went back to the Abbey for a good look round, and, for me, a climb up the tower…. More about the Abbey in the next blog as it deserves a blog to itself.

One of the chandeliers in the Pump Room.

One of the display cases in the Jane Austen Centre.

I just had to include this photo!!! lol

The following day we visited The Jane Austen Centre, The Circle and the Royal Crescent, had some retail therapy and checked out the local tea shops, and the modern shopping centre, I think you can tell we had a busy but lovely time, and certainly saw the sights!!

Pulteney Bridge.

In the Park

I loved this

Looking down the Lansdowne Road

The Royal Crescent

 

Our short but very enjoyable visit ended the next day, after a final visit to the Royal Crescent in glorious sunshine. We travelled home, tired but very happy, and we both want to go back again soon

My daughter would just love shoes like these!!!

Eye problem update

Silver linings?

I spent about 3 hours at the hospital yesterday, my eyes were given a full MOT, the outcome being that my Retina is fine, but a small piece of the jelly part of my eye has turned to water, its an age thing!!! There is nothing they can do for the problem so its a case of putting up with it. Apparently my brain (I have a brain??? lol) will get used to the disc being there and will compensate for it, in the mean time I am fine to drive, and I only really notice the disc when I blink and I am aware of it when I am reading, its nothing too bad just a tiny bit blurred. I can live with that, I am just pleased I don’t have to have surgery and can start looking forward to the concert I am going to on the 10th December. More about that nearer the time. Thanks to you all for your kind wishes, they are very much appreciated  

Probably the last rose of this year, photo taken 28th November, the wind has now destroyed the flower, looks like winter is getting here now.

Photo Exhibition

Hi, I told you I would let you all know how the exhibition went on Saturday – it was really good fun, but I forgot to take photos until it was too late, not good!! Below is the one I did take, there were a lot more on show, it was good to see them all together, and worth all the hard work mounting them!

We had lots of people visit us, sadly they were reluctant to part with their money, but I had fantastic feedback, which is really more important to me. I did sell one photo and I may be in for a commission in the New Year, I will let you know if it comes off.

It was a busy day in Sandwich, there were all sorts going on, including a fun fair on the car park which our room overlooked, as it got dark, the uneven panes of glass and the colours from the funfair looked amazing, so out came the camera, the photos here are the result. I love them!!

A very short blog again this time, when I got up on Saturday I noticed a large grey ‘disc’ in my right eye, oh..oh… I got to the Drs yesterday, she thinks I may have a detached or detaching retina..great just what I need! I have a hospital appointment tomorrow at 11am, I think they will just have a look and it will be taken from there. I am not sure how my eyesight will be affected so thought I would get this blog published quickly just in case! I will let you know what happens next, when I can.

Sunday Walk

Last Sunday was just one of those days when you just know you have to get out of the house, once again the weather was amazing for November, so I set off towards the seafront for a walk into the town. As soon as I reached the seafront I could see lots of colourful sailing boats setting out from the shore, it was a lovely sight. Days like that at this time of year are a real bonus, today has been beautiful weather too, but I have been a bit under the weather for the last couple of days, so I was content to stay indoors and look at the sun from the comfort of my chair! I am feeling much better now, so its back to work tomorrow!

A very short blog this time, I am really busy just now getting my photos ready for an exhibition/sale next Saturday, my first exhibition! I am not too worried if I don’t sell any of my photos, but it will be interesting to get the feedback. I am exhibiting in The Guildhall, Sandwich with four friends, all of whom make amazing things ranging from painting, ceramics and beautiful Christmas wreaths. Wish us luck! I will let you know how it goes next week sometime and there will of course be photos!!

 

Remembrance Day 2011

Once again I am re-publishing this blog for anyone who has not already read it, it just says it all for me. I hope you will forgive me for repeating it, it was originally entitled ‘Remembrance’
 :
March 1945 - stationed on an RAF base in Lincolnshire were a 22 year old man and his girlfriend who was 21. He was a Flight Engineer on Lancaster Bombers, she was a parachute packer. On the night of the 11th March, the young man flew on a mission, by coincidence wearing a parachute that had been packed by his girlfriend. The mission was over Germany and coming home his plane was shot down. Three of the crew of 7 parachuted out of the plane, the other 4 went down with the plane.

The young man was an only son, his Mum received a telegram telling her that her son was 'MISSING, BELIEVED KILLED'

Six weeks later the young mans Mum got another telegram saying 'I AM ON MY WAY HOME, I LOVE YOU'

The young man and his girlfriend were re-united and got married later that year.

This is a true story, the young man was my Dad, he landed in Belgium, and by chance was located by the Underground. He was smuggled out of Belgium and crossed the Kattegut to Copenhagen, stowing away on a German ship. In Copenhagen he bought his Mum a fob watch, which I now have. My Dads log book and the telegrams are in my brothers safe keeping. My Mum really did pack the parachute my Dad used on that night. My Dad only spoke of this to us once, I am glad that he did.

Tomorrow at 11am I will observe the 2 minutes silence, and among the thousands and thousands of people that are being remembered I will share a special thought for the 4 brave young men who lost their lives on that night in March 1945. We will not forget them.