Saturday 30 March 2013

Some You Win & Some You Lose!



“Are you shopping with your wife today?”  the cheery assistant asked my Dad.  “No, this is my daughter.”  My Father is 76 years old.  Thanks love, you've really made my Easter!  I can only cling for dear life to the hope that she thought he was my Sugar Daddy.  Now, give me another pot of that wrinkle cream.




But some you win……… 



Oscar, Tony, Emmy be off with you, you can keep your awards.  I have been nominated for a Liebster Award.  Well knock me down with a feather!  I’m chuffed to bits. Thank you Multifarious Meanderings  for your nomination. 

I'm proud as a peacock's a...... oops wrong picture

I'm proud as a peacock!

This is what it is all about.

The Rules

  1. Thank and link back to the blogger who presented you with the award. 
  2. List 11 random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
  4. Create 11 questions for your nominees. 
  5. Present/nominate a Liebster Blog Award 11 newbie bloggers! 
I’m not going to go into a Gwyneth Paltrow speech but I will say  thank you to Multifarious Meanderings for her nomination.  Have a peep at her blog some time; I want to write like her when I grow up.        Thank you to all of you for reading the blog. I enjoy writing it and it is always nice to get your comments and feedback and know that there is someone out there enjoying it. Oh, and Alan for suggesting I start a blog. The Liebster award is for blogs with fewer than 200 members (I well and truly qualify in that respect).

wikipedia
So, now I am meant to write 11 things about myself!  I suggest you make yourself comfortable on a bed of nails to keep yourself awake with a packet of Wasabi peas in case the nails don’t work.  Seriously, this is a hard one.




Here goes;

    I make little heaps around the place that drive the LGB mad.  A little heap at the bottom of the stairs (ladder these days) ready to go upstairs.  A little heap at the top of the stairs ready to go downstairs.  A little heap at the  door ready to go to the garage.  A little heap in the garage to go to the house.  You get the picture I’m sure.

    I’m a pescetarian, a fishy vegetable eater.  The LGB says I am just a pesky nuisance.  It irks him somewhat when he cooks to have to make two different meals. I manage, what can I say? I must admit I do feel a nuisance when we are invited to dinner, but I really am more than happy to eat just the vegetables.

   I didn't finish my degree and one day I would like to.

    The older I get the more impatient I get.

    I hate prejudice.  There are good people and there are bad people in every race and creed.  Thankfully the good outweigh the bad.

   I’m a fidget.  I can’t sit still for long.  The LGB counts how many seconds I can sit still while I am reading in bed ………… about nine!

    Ummmm………..I’m struggling.  I used to play goal shooter for the school netball team and left back in the school hockey team!  I told you I was struggling!

    I don’t like the cold……….and I don’t like the heat!  Twenty six degrees will do me fine.

    I miss my ginger hair.  Not because it has fallen out (well not all of it) it’s just not ginger any more.

    What do you mean I’ve still got two to go.  

I used to work as a film extra.  I worked on 102 Dalmations (the LGB says I was the 102nd dog – that’s not nice L).

    I am scared of all you Grammar Police out there!  Despite being TEFL trained I know my grammar is not up to scratch.  I often write as I speak but I have learnt not to get OFF OF the bus. (Thanks Al!  Ooohh, that hurt! That's twice I've thanked you in one blog.  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I said THEY say!)

Now I have to answer 11 questions from Multifarious Meanderings

What’s your favourite smell?
The first one that comes to mind is basil.  Basil means summer has arrived.  Simple lunches in the sunshine; garden picked tomatoes  with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and basil and a hunk of fresh bread.  Delicious!
Where would you like to go if you had an all-expenses paid trip?
At the moment I would go anywhere the wallet holder would like to take me.  Somewhere we could spend the morning exploring the area and the afternoon relaxing.  Lovely little restaurants within walking distance serving up good simple food.  Italy?
What was your favourite book when you were little?
Comics were my thing.  Dad had a newsagent so I had access to every comic available.  Bunty and Judy were favourites but the book would have to be Heidi.
Sweet or savoury?
It was always sweet but these days I am going more for savoury. 
You have an evening just for you. What do you do?
A glass of sparkling wine with nibbles or popcorn, a stack of magazines and my feet up on the sofa.
Beach or lake?
I love them both, but it would have to be the beach. I love waves crashing along the shore but I’m not so keen on sand in my crevices and sandwiches.
You can only take one thing with you on a desert island… What do you choose?
I have always said it would be mascara; I wouldn't want to frighten the natives if I bumped into them. Maybe a library worth of reading on my kindle (I am a recent convert).  However, the LGB would be useful; he could build a shelter, find food and make me laugh. 
What do you look for in a blog?
Humour and honesty.  I like the blogger to have made a little effort.  I like their own thoughts and words.  
One thing you can’t stand.
On a serious note; injustice, especially against ‘the little people’ and snakes (not injustice against snakes – I don’t like snakes).
One thing that makes you happy.
Watching small children always brings a smile.  They have no inhibitions. 
You have to give up one thing. What would your biggest sacrifice be?
Eating.
Well, that bit is over.  Here are my questions. 
What’s your favourite book or film (or both).
What annoys you?
Do you have any bad habits?
What is your favourite city?
What would your last meal be?
What is your fondest memory?
Who/what inspires you?
What do you look for in a blog?
If you could time travel where would you go?
What three words would describe you?
What would you like to do before you die?

I now have to nominate 11 blogs for the award.  Herein lays the problem.  As I rarely have internet access I only have time to explore a few blogs.  I would love to read more because they take up far less room than magazines.   I will tell you the ones I dip into and will also nominate other blogs at a later date.

All About Niamh   Julie and Paul were hit head-on with every parents nightmare - a child with cancer.  She writes about it in a moving and humorous way.

St Bloggie de Riviere   This is an honorary award because someone beat me to it.  Having done a little research on the Liebster Award, you can apparently give honorary awards where the blog can accept without answering the questions and nominating. 

Old Bones on Bikes  Mary & Alan cycle many thousands of miles and I am there with every turn of the pedal.  This award is also honorary because they are not blogging until their next adventure.

Basque Farmhouse in France  Beautiful photos and delicious recipes.

I do read a couple of other blogs but they have over 200 members.  

A fellow blogger suggested I put a widget on the blog so that she could subscribe and get notifications of new blogs, so you will find 2 widgets at the top right of the page.


And Finally

Enjoy your Easter!






Sunday 17 March 2013

Happy St Patrick's Day

Counting Sheep


I often find myself counting backwards from a zillion to enduce a little slumber when it evades me in the wee small hours, but to no avail.  My efforts at counting sheep don’t help either.  I like to count my sheep one at a time as they jump over a hedge, but I always get the miscreant masticating mutton who rebels and doesn't want to follow the crowd (or sheep) and stops to ruminate on a juicy blade of grass and then I forget where I am. 
My best escape from insomnia is singing a chorus to a song over and over again.  Not out loud because that would wake the LGB up and he would be none too pleased because by the time I start the singing I will already have tossed and turned and disturbed him, switched the light back on and read until I could keep my eyes open no longer, switched the light off to huffs and puffs from the other end of the duvet, snuggled back under the duvet and immediately become a member of the Wide Awake Club again.  So I just sing in my head. I compose (in my head also) the most amazing literary masterpieces worthy of a nomination for the shortlist of Dozy Author of the Year and witty, informative posts for the blog during these restless times.  The words pour forth out of the darkness but when the morning comes I can never remember a ruddy word!  Actually, on this occasion I do remember thinking about St Patrick’s Day but little more.

Insomniac wanted for sheep census



I touched on St Valentine in my last post, this time I feel St Patrick is worthy of a little mention (in a non-liturgical way) if only because my maternal grandparents were Irish and of course he is always a good reason to have a little shindig.  I wrote that the LGB doesn't celebrate St Valentine’s Day but strangely he is always ready to raise a pint of Guinness to St Patrick. His parents were Irish (not St Pat's, the LGB's) and he is often asked what part of Ireland he comes from even by the Irish. They mistake his Northumbrian accent for an Irish one. I put their mistake down to his leprechaunian good looks!


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Those of you who know him best know how appropriate the image on the right is!
I think I would have had a lot of time for St Pat, rumour has it he drove all the snakes out of Ireland.  It’s just a shame he didn’t move his way around Europe and do a little snake droving there.  I really don’t like snakes.  It’s only in recent years I have I been able to even look at them on television. You can tell me until I’m blue in the face that they are more scared of me but it doesn’t wash.   When we moved to France we lived in a house with a round bedroom that opened onto the garden.  A very long snake got in one day.  My immediate response was to shut the door.  The LGB wasn’t too impressed because he was still in the room.  He was even less impressed when I threw in a Vileda squidgy mop for him to fight it off!  I have been trapped on the terrace by one that I swear was giving me the evil eye.  I’ve been far too close for comfort to a coiled heap when picking tomatoes and had one in the caravan awning.  I go into panic mode and my brain turns to blamanche.  I would put them in Room 101 along with spiders, flies, mosquitoes and rats.




Back to St. Paddy.  There will be many the world over having a shindig and enjoying the craic today. There will be parades and celebrations in New York, Dublin, Boston, Sydney and at D & C’s in CourcĂ´me, France (which is where we should be).  So, Happy St Patrick’s Day to you one and all.

May the roof above us never fall in,
And may we friends beneath it never fall out

Probably not the most appropriate toast from a builder and labourer but the sentiment is there!