November 16th 2013. 15:45

It is a grey, wet, miserable afternoon outside my room but in the house it is warm and bright and there is laughter, giggling actually, the sound of happy young people together again for a few days.

Pepsi is right here behind me; she is not well. I think she has pulled a muscle in her shoulder again and she looks sad but I keep her warm with lots of cuddles and blankets and a daily dose of Paracetamol for dogs.

My desk is a big mess! Paul has been by shaking his head.

There is paper and paint, ribbons and string, hearts and pegs. Paper houses that I have decopatched are on the windowsill waiting for their varnish. New Washi tape has just rolled onto the floor. A few little Christmas trees and some Christmas decorations are hanging from anywhere that will accept a hanging thing!
There are bits of fabric, Cellotape, beads and scissors under tissue paper and my small guillotine is balanced precariously on top. I expect it will follow the Washi Tape if I don’t re-arrange… Ooops, too late.

My iPad, iPhone, and keyboard are trying to keep away from the paint, but the more I try to protect them the nearer they get to a new colour.

But, the parcel is ready, taped up and ready to post out to Heather on Monday.
I remember to take a picture of it and as I lift up my phone I notice the card for her is still on my desk…on the outside of the envelope!!!
I open the envelope, put the card inside and re seal it. It will make her smile when she sees a second row of Cellotape across the top of her parcel.

My Simple Moment is not only filled with the trappings of Christmas but also with a sense of achievement; that I have organised the swap, and I have finished the little decoration. And, a sense of anticipation… will it work? is the postal system beginning to swell with decorations flying across the world and up and down the motorways?

We shall see. I do hope so.

Thank you Alexa at Trimming the Sails for allowing me space to record My Simple, Messy Moment for November.

I just noticed that this is my five hundred and fifty fifth post…Wow!

Alexa at Trimming the Sails invites us to share a moment of our lives at around this time each month.

This is mine for October 2013.

I’m sitting here stirring my cappuccino. I wish I could remember what all the different coffees are like but I can’t so I always order cappuccino. This one seems to be mostly froth that needs a lot of stirring.

The lunch was lovely: Italian and one of the best we have had over the last few months.

J is unhappy; she can’t seem to move on with her life after her husbands passing almost two years ago. I’m not judging, it is how it is. I have invited her out with me to a new lunch group next week. I hope that will give her a lift.

S the middle one, is being driven nuts by her mother. She has a trip to her son in Australia booked for Christmas but it is causing her such a lot of stress.

S the elder is just unhappy or “up and down” she says. I ask her which is more frequent? “Down” she says. My heart sinks.

S the younger is full of her woes but she is always laughing. This time she has hurt her wrist and she has had an incident with a caravan but still she laughs. She makes us all laugh.

M is the most stressed among us, with good reason, she had tears in her eyes today but still she laughs.

I had been tasked with organizing a Christmas lunch for us all but the plans I brought to the table have been scuppered! I am feeling flat.

I decided to be in this moment for Alexa’s Simply a Moment today, 16th October. I thought it would be a good time to write about. And this is it!

I have three choices:
Write as it is…really
Choose another moment
Make something up
I have decided that life isn’t always a bowl of cherries, so publish. I’ll get over it.

Thank you Alexa

Twisted this way and that
Different sizes, different shapes
Together forming a pretty green canopy
Much like our lunch group

Thank you Abi One Picture Twenty Words
And Thank you Amy for inspiring me to do it this morning

P.S. I’m over it!

On the fifteenth of the month, Alexa at Trimming the Sails invites us to stop and share a moment from our day.

15th September 2013

“Oh! This is lovely, so light and airy.” I say as I look around the room as we wait to be seated.
“I love how the two levels are separated with the glass-panelled windows either side of the steps. The carpet’s nice, a kind of coffee colour with tiny red squares, I like it and it’s the kind of colours that wouldn’t show dog paws easily!” Reality creeping in for a moment.
“The wood-burning stove at the other end of the room looks cosy, a bit too warm for me at the moment” I say hoping we will be by the window.

“What’s the wallpaper about then”? He asks as we sit down.
“It’s boutique I think, large pattern, it makes a statement, Oh! look at the curtains, Peacocks!” I say as I peer a bit closer to check.
The colours are not bright though; they are muted dark blue, navy and cream maybe a bit of gold around the feathers. They are heavy and gorgeous.

“Who would put horses on wall paper and then put it on a wall?” he begins but I interrupt before the rest of his observations come pouring forth.
The wallpaper is a repeating square design. The squares are picture frames, each slightly different in size and each has a horse and its rider depicted around the turn of the century. The overall colours are pale grey and charcoal; it looks a little like pencil sketching.
He will observe that the chairs are not matching in colour, or all the same around each table. He does notice that they are very comfortable though.

“That settee looks very comfortable too but I’m not sure about the colours or the fact that it’s a kind of patchwork,” he grumbles as if I am about to order it for our home. When I told him how that kind of pattern came about he was a bit happier!

The bottom part of the walls are painted in a pale grey, they make the room look so elegant.
We are both looking at the far wall, either side of the fire, “Do you think they are mirrors?” he wonders
“Yes they are” I say, having already checked them out, I can’t bear facing a mirror!

I really love the tables, not too many, various sizes, square, round and oval, not too close together, polished mahogany and no cloths! Perfect. The only things on the tables are the white heavily starched napkins enclosing the cutlery in a fold, a white candle lamp and the cruet.
Plain, simple, understated and elegant.

“Happy Anniversary darling girl, what are you going to order?” He asked
“Oh! a full English breakfast of course” I smiled
“Some things never change.” He said taking my menu.
“No, well that’s a good thing sometimes” I said as I poured my tea “because the other thing that hasn’t changed is, I still love you,
Happy Anniversary husband of twenty nine years” xx

Thank you Alexa.

Three Moments

Thursday 15th August 2013
2:15pm

Sitting in my car looking over the fields and across to the hills thinking “This is such a lovely place, I wonder what will be in the flower beds for me to photograph today”.
This used to be a fortnightly ritual, when I worked here that is.
It is six months since I was here.
I have been invited to the ‘café’ today because they miss me, of course, but more importantly one of ‘our’ volunteers is leaving today, she is moving out of the area and she asked if I could call in to say goodbye.
I am feeling nervous and apprehensive.

4:30pm
I had a really lovely afternoon; they made me feel so welcome. There were lots of hugs, how are you’s, kisses and compliments.
I had cake and coffee, talked and laughed, sympathised and suggested a couple of things to someone who asked for my advice.
I have flowers to take home and I have lots of pictures of the Rudbeckia looking so bright and cheerful in the flower beds.

5:15pm
Paul asked “how did it go? Are you OK? Were they pleased to see you?”
Ben asked me “How was it? Did you have cake? Did you bring any home?”

“It was lovely: afternoon and cake. I had a good time, I loved seeing them but I don’t want to do it anymore and no I didn’t bring any cake home”

I gave so much, I love them but I can’t carry their lives in my head and heart any more.
He said, “you don’t have to, you retired, stay home, do blogging, you love that.”

And so I do.

Thank you Alexa. I know I am on a blogging break but I really wanted to do this today, to remember a moment (or three) that was important to me. Your meme prompts me to do just that.

15th July 2013
Monday morning

I started making my list and realised it was time for A Simple Moment so my moment this month is taken up with:

Making a list of Things To Do

Paul and Ben have left for work already, just me & Peps alone for a day.

The usual street noises pervade the space around me as I have all the windows open and the wind chime in the bathroom is tinkling in the light breeze.
I have the blinds drawn and the fans on in all the upstairs rooms, it is stifling and it’s only 7.30 am. It is lovely and light (all the blinds are white) but nicely shaded against the hot morning sun.
So as not to be distracted I haven’t turned my Mac on. If I get the list done I will feel so much more in control…that’s the plan

• There is a parcel to pick up from the main Post Office
• A little shopping needed from the supermarket
• Return an item to M&S
• Order another pair of pumps. So comfortable and brightly coloured
• Get a new garage key cut ensuring that the lost one turns up
• Look for the neck strap for my strapless (?) dress
• Look for a recipe for Bang Bang Chicken that doesn’t have 20 ingredients in!
• Take the hem up on a pair of Paul’s trousers
• Make two triangles for my Summer of Colour bunting
• Finish my fabric journal. Just the pages to sew in
• Print two ‘Month in Numbers’ pages
• Edit the Sage & Sepia photos for the last week of Summer of Colour
• Start the book for Alan otherwise his birthday will have come & gone & still no book!

Blog Bits
Get some posts ready for this week:
Scavenger Hunt: Clouds
ICAD Scan and post July days
P52: Stacks or layers?? Maybe the pumps??
Summer of Colour: Sage and Sepia. I have pictures, they need editing and one printed for an ICAD
Looking up/down Just need to post
A Simple Moment Almost done

There’s another week gone. Things will slow down at the end of July when SoC and ICAD finish

Note to self
Keep calm and stay cool (in the non trendy kind of way)

A Simple Moment is inspired by Alexa over at Trimming the Sails

Edited before posting
I have accomplished 8 items on the first part of the list
Lists are so good for me.
How about you, do you make them?
Do you find them useful?

And the new pink pumps arrived today

Thank you Alexa.