Christmas lights in Ludlow

Kinton in December

Poem written for Bible study Christmas do

‘Christmas isn’t what it used to be’

That’s what old folks used to say.

And now, grey-permed, joint-stiff, home-alone

I find it’s so.

Weary, but contented to let memory paint pictures

Of days that seemed permanently cold, as we dressed

Thumb-fumbling by the stove,

Bringing bulging, mysterious stockings

To open; wide-eyed at the tiny, innocent treats.

Then to church, blowing on mittened fingers,

‘Big’ presents of comic annuals, paints, dolls, yet unopened.

Home again for dinner – ‘here, you can help

Make bread sauce; stick cloves in this onion, so.’

Simple fare, but rare in its appearing only then:

The turkey, sprouts, coin-concealing pudding

Spread amidst happy, paper-hatted faces,

Even Grandpa white-haired and ruddy-cheeked,

Smiling now by the cave-pitted fire.

Those days, nostalgia’s bright offerings,

Smile at me,

Quietly, alone, but not lonely.

Because it seems, childish excitement long hushed,

I hear more clearly now,

The cry of a Jewish baby, long ago, but very near.

Sitting on Offa's Dyke

Winter Walk

Biker

Forgot to post this earlier. No, don't panic, HoF hasn't bought a Honda 800VFR. Just went for a cool spin on a friend's to check he hadn't lost his nerve for big bikes! Lovely to ride, but at 220kg, a bit too heavy to manoeuvre into parking position on a slope. (Phew!).

Cliches

I'm wrong about wanting to get my money's worth. How easily I slip into the world's cliches. What I really want is not to miss anything that's going, which is why I get in a muddle here when there are so many events on.
Yesterday there were two morning events: a village coffee mroning (yes, of course, yet another fundraiser, but good for socialising too) and an apple-pressing day. I went to both, took two washing-up bowls of apples to the latter and returned with 8 litres of apple juice. Then in the evening I went to a Christian meeting where Gerry McClelland was playing. We used to have a record of hers. Where did it go? Does anyone else remember her singing in the late 60's?
Now we're studying flights to Africa..............

Birthday treat

HoF's annual birthday treat for the past few has been gong to Bridgnorth Jazz Festival. We buy stroller tickets so that you can go to different venues (usually pubs) and hear different artists. I usually try and do the lot, to get my money's worth of course. But this year we stuck together having decided the best stuff was where the tunes were, and with the singers, all female. This is H0Fs favourite keyboard player, Craig Milverton, and the other one also with long blonde hair is Laura Collins. Usually the average age concerns us, too many oldies, but this year there was a young couple performing. The pianist was a former Cambridge graduate now at the Guildhall where presumably he is learning to play 'proper' music too. And there was even a toddler in the audience, jigging about to the rhythm.

Yes, his treat, but I like it too.

Another trip

There is something about a caravan holiday that is very liberating. No garden, no cleaning, no 'oughts'. We went to Bishops Itchington in Warks for three nights. Not too close to Miss P (beware controlling parent image) but near enough for a couple of visits either way. I loved the site because it had a great view, and a footpath so that I could walk to the village without going down the main road.

We had an outing to a nearby NT property and HoF went two days running to the Motor Museum whilst I did some solo walks to enhance the feeling of liberation. Otherwise I read and painted, occupations likely to make me feel guilty at home although I'm supposed to be retired, for heaven's sake. I think that must be a throwback to childhood, and 'chores'.

Nearby was Burton Dassett park, which you can see from the M40 and which we'd visited for a picnic after the aforementioned wedding. So we spent an afternoon there walking around the interesting knobbly hillocks, until HoF realised he'd left his walking stick at the NT property.....

The caravan window faced East and because of the time of year we were actually up to watch the sun literally rise out of the horizon. I took umpteen photos as it sailed into view. Now I wonder if I can turn that into a painting...
I've read some really good books lately, in spite of the in-house acquisition of BTVision. I recommend:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Other Side of You by Sally Vickery
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson
Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
and just now reading Blood River by Tim Butcher

Quite a few of these are first books. If you liked Precious Ramotswe, you'll like the middle three too, maybe even better. Let me know.

Kentish weekend

We had a bonus to The Big Wedding weekend when we met the Swiss Family at some rather nice accommodation in Kent. Before the ceremony we had lunch outside, and then changed into our glad rags.

Getting Mlle R to smile was quite a problem.....

Now we've dispersed to our separate corners of the globe and I'm struggling to get back on an even keel after being away from my own bed and too much excitement back at the ranch. On Wed 'my' team won a charity pub quiz. That's because I chose the right team members, I hasten to say. Not having a TV, nor being interested in sport does not make me good quiz material nowadays.
On Thurs I was a fashion model for a day at a village fund-raising lunch. I'd quite like some peace and quiet...............

Waterfall

How can one grow up near Wales, have holidays and day trips there and yet never discover its highest waterfall? Our Platypus neighbours have long been promising us a trip to a waterfall, and we naively imagined some trivial trickle. But this is the result of our adventure. Find it on a map if you can, it's called Pistyll Rhaedr (I think) and no ignorant giggles from the English please.......



Looking up/ looking down.


We have had a super two weeks with Miss P who seems to have recovered from her travels now and can actually get out of bed in the mornings not too late. We have valued the time together as who knows if it will ever happen again with the new horizons that may open in front of her. We take her to Rugby and her new address on Saturday. More postings when I get the photos from her camera...

Welsh holiday

Seems awfully long ago now since we had our week's caravan holiday in South Wales. HoF always says 'no-one ever takes photos of me', so I did. Not very good ones. Notice the days may change but the jumper doesn't......


Looking towards Skomer.

Cotswold Wild Life Park

A great place for a family outing, even for those who are used to African safaris.

Burying a boy

Theory was that the men would do the cooking on this holiday because 'that's what HoF used to do when we were kids'. Uh? Obviously I have selective memory but HoF agrees that this happened. Once?

A seaside holiday

A delightful time in Bournemouth with the Kenyan branch of the family

How blessed we were to have sea and sunshine at the same time. And look, we actually went in the sea. Some of us anyway. For me it's almost a matter of honour to get in the water on a seaside holiday, but HoF doesn't seem to have that tradition in his family.

But he does do a good line in sandcastles like a good grandfather should.