Category Archives: True Stories

A Plane and Simple Story

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It is the first Sunday in September, that means it’s Sian’s Story Telling Sunday. I am so pleased to be joining in again.
This is a funny little story that came about from an e-mail I sent (to the kind man).

Once there was a man who used to fly model aeroplanes.
He stopped when he became busy with work and family and his resources were needed elsewhere.
The man was always interested in flying but that’s as far as he dared to go.
One day the interested man met a man who still did the flying, they talked about the hobby for a whole evening while the wives ordered more drinks.
The new man said he would take the interested man to his flying club.
After only one afternoon
The interested man thought he would like to take up the hobby where he left off.
The new man became a very kind man and lent the interested man lots of aeroplane stuff so that the interested man could become a learner.
The kind man introduced the interested man to an instructor man.
The learning man had a lesson at flying but the wheels fell off the airplane so the learner man came home and began to repair the plane so that he could have more lessons.
After many rainy days and trips to the model shop the learner man proudly showed the new plane to his wife and she took photos of it.

WAT4


The weather man said that Sunday was good for flying so off the learner man went with the instructor man to fly the ‘new’ model.
The men spent a very long and happy day doing the learning and the flying and late in the evening the now sun burnt learner man brought his plane home to show his wife so that she could take more pictures.

WAT4 reduced to it's component parts


DOH! The radio broke when the instructor man was doing the landing bit!
The learner man was mortified (and sunburnt) and will buy the kind man a new plane. And build himself another one.

And a Layout

Story Telling Sunday

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Sian, she of the good ideas, is hosting a monthly story telling club. I really love to join in with this. I love to read other peoples stories but an added extra is that the stories sometimes spark off memories in me that I had long forgotten … like this one.

Actually, I wasn’t going to join in Sian’s story telling Sunday today because I wrote a story last week, for today, but reading it again last night, I decided not to publish it. But then this came to light this afternoon.

Last week I was visiting at Project 64 for the Yellow Orange challenge and came across this picture.

It brought back a memory so I wrote to Lili and asked her permission to use it. Of course she said yes!

When I was a young girl the walk to the shops or church involved walking past a couple of houses I didn’t like going past, both for different reasons.
One house had a lot of ‘big boys’ living there. They had cars and bikes and ‘things’ all over the front of the garden so I avoided it because it scared me. I can understand that even today.
The other house actually belonged to my mother’s friend Grace. She was not scary at all, rather nice in fact but, in her garden there was a huge bed of extremely tall Kniphofia. They used to scare the wits out of me! They were taller than me and waved about menacingly as soon as I went near them. I couldn’t bear to look at them, the colours were horrible and I thought that if one touched me I would surely die!
No, I have no idea why I had such a vivid imagination. Probably having lots of horrid brothers didn’t help.
My mother said that it was only a poor ‘ole plant, it had a pretty red and orange flowers.
No it wasn’t pretty! and it was called Red Hot Poker! For goodness sake even the name is scary. Perhaps it would burn me to death! I think I thought they might be the flowers of hell. Well, do you know I still can’t bear to look at them! I don’t think they are in the least bit pretty and I don’t really like red or orange and yellow together.

Thank you Lili, your picture is beautiful and not scary but to me the flower is not beautiful and it is still scary.

There will be wonderful stories over here today, take a look?

Blog Anniversary

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Well, how did that happen?

A whole year has passed since I posted my first post, and this will be post number 200. It kind of crept up on me so I haven’t a plan ready.
I started like many of you, very tentatively, telling no-one. I bought ‘Blogging for Bliss’ and learned lots about blog etiquette, and how to do this or that. Some I do some I don’t.
I didn’t comment, I felt like an intruder in a private club. I made myself do it. Amy helped there. And so it continued on and on posting this and that, whatever came into my mind, comments or no comments. Trying more than anything to be just me.
I am still not very gregarious, I don’t join in everything but I am feeling less anxious and more content with what I do.
I have learnt that there is insufficient time in my day to do this!
It is such fun, it is my stress reliever.
I have learnt how to use my DSLR and now I love love love it. I decided, all by my self that I wanted a new lens. If you knew me you would know what a major breakthrough that was!
I have learnt a little photoshop, I think it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on or off! As long as I don’t have that little camera at the top of my screen on so as not to scare you.
I have learnt some html, gosh that makes posting easier.
I have learnt, and am posting some digital layouts.

There are so many inspirational people out there in blogland and I have ‘met’ just a few.

And all because one day last May I began to wonder if I might think about having a blog!
And in June I made it so….
So to you reading this, whether you have visited me once or many times, commented or not.

Thank you!

I have been photographing a pretty pale pink peony over the last seven days. I made this collage in Picassa which I don’t find particularly intuitive but I do like the results that you get from playing!

A giveaway

Later
I went into town today to look for something to give away on my blog to celebrate 200 posts and being 1 in blogging years.

I looked at sooo many craft books and art books and funny books and fabric and bead books but nothing was right. I put them all back, took a deep breath and just walked around the shop until I saw the book I am giving away on my blog. The book called to me, I wasn’t looking for it.
Typical of me, it has absolutely nothing to do with blogging, craft, photography or anyone of the myriad of things that I blog about.
This is what I was thinking. Apart from one or two people I have no idea where any of you live, and unless you read all my posts you have little or no idea where I live. So this instantly appealed to somewhere dark and mysterious in my fuddled brain, it’s the place that only I understand.

My giveaway is a really lovely book about the town I now live in. It is definitely not a tourist guide.
…It came as a shock to me to discover that a busy, jolly lady who had spent more than sixty years in this town had never visited Anchor Head…
…The perception of the town is so locked into the tripper zone of the sea-front that much of it is left unregarded and undiscovered….
And It has beautiful watercolour paintings to accompany the text.
And just because it appealed to me I bought another book as well, just for you.

Ok, in the comments, if you would like to receive my gift to you, tell me a hint or tip or secret you have learned that makes blogging better for you.

Inspired by Amy

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I couldn’t resist Amy’s challenge
Scrap a page about something that’s happened this week. Content not important, just do it.
Then she said, blogging is scrapbooking anyway.
Is it too dramatic to say I had an epiphany? Well I kind of did. I have been wanting to put a digital page (other than my Project 365) together for ages but something always stops me. I ‘just blog’ so why not ‘just scrapbook, digitally’
To quote Helena ‘Amy made me do it’

I did two more but I’ll save them ’til later in the week. I am a bit nervous about them. You see, hard as I try (and I really love Shimelle), I am not happy with digital patterned paper…yet.

Journaling reads;
Sarah came to do my nails today. She has been coming to me every three weeks for a couple of years now.
It is my treat, well, nails and hair really, with the odd pedicure thrown in for a
change.
Anyway, back to the nails.
This should be titled or is it entitled? Someone will correct me no doubt, Miriam
Procrastinates Yet Again, but that’s not very sexy is it?

Sara was setting up and left her nail colour samples on the table.
She usually keeps them in her box because for 2 years I have had a French manicure and for the last 12 months I have had nail art as well.
Gosh, now that could have been another layout with the same title!

Honestly you would think it was a life decision.
• It is my nails
• It will last for three whole weeks
• Then it gets changed.

So there we are, Sara is telling me all about her ‘Royal Wedding Day’ and I am looking at the colour samples.
“Fancy a change then?” smiles Sarah.
“No, just looking” I said lamely.
“Oh go on, go mad, you’ll love it!” Sarah enthuses.
“That’s easy for you to say. A change means that I will have to make a decision and I still haven’t chosen the nail art that you gave me when you sat down 15 minutes ago” I wailed.
“Which one are you drawn to?” said Sarah.
”These darker, kind of red or purple colours, but not red or pink” I said with a little more enthusiasm than I actually had.
”Let’s find something that looks good with your skin tone, how about these?” Sara offered half a dozen sample colours.
“Just three please, I’ll think about three.” I said positively.

And that’s how it stayed for 75 minutes while she prepared my nails for a new colour. I stared at number 206, 92 and 2018 until she said “times up, choose!”

I choose (with her help) number 2018 Passionate Plum.

Now if I had known its name, I would have got there earlier….I think

New Boots

Journaling reads;
I had some new tyres on my car recently.
I just took it to the tyre place that does such things a bit sharpish and asked the guy to change some or all, whatever is necessary.

They changed three tyres.

I thanked them, paid and came home

A few weeks later my MOT and Service was due.
My husband booked my car into the main dealer. A husband needs to be sure his wife is safe.

This is a much posher place, they give you appointment times, a phone call to let you know when to collect, coffee and biscuits but not lunch so I came home for that.

Much, much later that day (they forgot to call me), just as they were closing the gates, we collected the car, thanked them, paid (nearly chocked on the bill) and went home.

When we looked at the service sheet we discovered that the car had passed its MOT with no problems, but with two advisories:
The wiper blades will need changing soon
The front ns tyre is not as good as the others. It has 6mm of tread, 1.6mm is the legal limit.

Now that is why you go to professionals!

You are safe in the knowledge that they can spot the bl****ng obvious.

Amy’s challenge is here

Lo’s based on one by Chrissy W at 2p’s

Friendship

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Thank you to my lovely friend Marcella, she arranged for us to meet at The Town Quarry today.
“Sounds boring, what do you want to meet her there for?” said family in unison.
“Because our town quarry is a lovely place! it has the most beautiful and photogenic rock faces, it has a blacksmith forge, it has a tea room, it has things for sale, crafty things! and today is the last day of the North Somerset Arts fortnight, there will be lovely things to look at (but not photograph) and I haven’t been able to get to any exhibits this time!”
Much more than this though is that I haven’t seen Marcella for a long time, but she is so beautiful that it didn’t matter. We walked into each others company as though it had been just a few days.
We laughed, we swapped stories, tales of children and husbands, recipes and craft stuff! we had tea and sat in the sun, we walked around to take some pictures and we looked at the exhibits and talked to some of the artists. Oh! it was so inspiring and made me want to craft again with paper and glue and even try some paint!

Marcella saw this

I saw this

This is for you Marcella

Did I write your name enough times?

People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don’t need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there.
Do you have a favourite friendship quote you could share?