We're going back in time friends... Back in time....

Interesting eh! Especially where I say the job must be very 'giving'...

My car has gone, sold I mean... Took her yesterday, after an on line appraisal, there about an hour, paperwork, viewing, drive, and more paperwork... Came away with a Jaguar emblem!?! Don't ask!! 

Franco took me to work, collected me today, and the same tomorrow, will taxi the remaining four shifts, and am renting a car to visit my sons and remove last bits from the house.

Tick tock!! Gulp!
TTFN
Marian

DC - Tiny

This weekends drawing challenge is 'Tiny'... Amended title! LOL last weekends drawing challenge was 'Tiny'...

Thank you Tammie...

Above is a part of the decking where I work actually, and then zooming in below to show the tiny plant, a little miracle of a plant, it seems to thrive for a day then die off, I don't know what it is (any ideas??).

As you can see its not at its best today...

So here it is from another days blog looking an amazing piece of natural beauty...

Beautiful Tiny little plant! Maybe zoom in to see each tiny little detail!

Well, although you don't realise, this has been nearly a week since I started this Blog!  In fact I am guessing last Friday!

Its been busy busy busy... The weekend happened, working for me, can't remember the details... Tuesday a sudden panic over Pippa, her rabies vaccination needed updating before travel, twenty one days before travel actually!  So needed do immediately, as work prohibited me from bringing her the next day or two and Franco would be back too late!  So to the vets we went, so lucky to get straight in, she could hear the panic in my voice!!

The vaccination went okay, but I learnt Pippa has exactly the same heart problem I have, I couldn't, can't... believe it, she has a heart murmur and mitral valve problem, the latter not exactly the same, mine has prolapsed a little but not dangerously, Pips is leaking where it shouldn't.  He said she is fine for travel but to get her checked out, and find out how far... well, how far... She has had a cough for some years, oddly the very thing I went to the doctor about which alerted him to mine heart problems, Pippa also has started panting when its not hot, a bit like my hot flushes... again, just like the doctor in Spain said, some women think they are having hot flushes until they are well into old age, they're not, hidden heart conditions... all over the place!

My poor Pip, my heart is breaking...

I had to go into work and I couldn't sleep... Anyway...

So, house is emptying even more, bed dismantled, wardrobe dismantled, both going Monday, we're like squatters in our own house, notice given on everything its need to be given on...

And today, my car SOLD!

I guess we are actually going, an idea formed, a plan put in place, each item ticked off one by one... Hold on tight we're ready to fly.... 

TTFN

Marian

DC Image

This weeks challenge, after the summer break is Image, and my Image is neither drawn or photographed...

I've done a long 24 hrs shift then out and about, and home late and tired.

'Home'... not feeling it at all now, our belongings in limbo, aka truck headed to Spain... We ate, we watched tv on the smallest of tv's in a big lounge, me floating within a duvet, I was feeling chilly, I think it's the emptiness of it all.

The house is now empty except for kitchen goods, there is a sofa downstairs, and upstairs a bed in one room and wardrobe in our old bedroom, a room a good 16 foot by 12 or more, the largest dressing room in the ferry!! Lol

I keep walking into a room and up towards a piece of furniture no longer there, I must have put my bag on the table all the time, because I really miss that table! And the big wall unit/room divider thingy from IKEA I built, all those areas that were home to so many things!

The house feels very quiet which is strange, it's the quietness one gets when the power is off and the electric isn't running through the house, it usually goes unnoticed, but whirring and buzzing all the time...

... except when Pippa barks and the noice echoes around the whole house!

It kind of feels sad here too, the house is not structurally too great, I think it needed new floors walls windows... kitchen... before we arrived three and half years ago, we have done our best to keep it in one piece, new flooring in the kitchen and paintwork, but it needs a complete reform to be honest, and now we're leaving it I hope the owner does so!

I have also, sadly, taken some of my step dads paintings to auction, the auctioneer doesn't expect them to sell for much, '19th century type art is on the shelf'... I just hope they are seen and bought by someone who will love them as I do, I feel I have abandoned old friends to make it on they're own... a couple of them have been on my walls for nearly thirty years... I forgot to tell the man the biggest painting was originally a canvas painted on by a prisoner of war during WW2... if they scan that they'll get a surprise! My step dad painted a few on purpose like that, to fool the future art world he said!  I feel I have let him down too, but to keep paintings hidden, stacked up, stored...? Why? They should, they need, to be seen, hung, appreciated, and loved by many...

And finally... before I have to include free box of tissues or at least give a warning of melancholy...

Blackberries ripening in the garden, it's soooo nice wandering about and nibbling on garden fruit, foraging amongst the flora and fauna... last few years the brambles have been cut back so much we missed out on the luscious blackberries, but not this year, they are ruining wild as they were before we arrived! Running the hedges on both sides, spilling over the wall down to the house, pink and white blossoms giving way to black berries full of garden flavour... and once the bramble thorns have been removed from wrist and ankle... yum yum!!

So my friend, did you pick up any 'Images' from my writings today? Did any pictures form in your mind... I hope so, it was hard not to place at least one photo on my page...

TTFN
Marian

Hard to believe my step dad passed away 18 years ago yesterday.... time goes too quickly, when we don't want it to, and far to slow when we want to speed it up! Here are some of photos I took the other week when I was going through dads albums...  His paintings are all over the world, N S E & W.... from Australia and New Zealand to Iceland, the States and Canada and all over Europe....

His paintings didn't end where the scene did, you always know there is more behind, never flat, never lifeless... you know there would be a village, or people or a forest just out of sight, just over the horizon, and now its so sad I cannot take all the paintings I have back again to Spain, to have them one behind the other hidden away; its seems the style of 19th century is just not in the mode just now... people seem to prefer a print from B&Q or Ikea, and I must admit some of their prints are very nice, stunning even.... and easy to just change or throw away when a change is needed or wanted, but the paintings of any real interest are.... just not of interest now to the many only the few...

Everything is boxed up now ready to go, just one TV and three cases to bring down stairs... seems early I know, four weeks yet, but our removals men are from Kent and they are here tomorrow to collect already!!  I got all the rest of everything finished yesterday, my fitbit tells me I did over 20,000 steps thats over eight miles and 60 flights of stairs! Today I feel like it, my shoulders are like rock and very sore... My neck is a little sore too, from my most recent tattoo though!!

Will get a better pic, its not easy!  And yet another Tattoo I have that I actually cannot see for myself without use of a mirror or twisting my head all around owl fashion!

Ithanka - The poem I read out when I scattered my mom, as aforementioned...  And the quote beneath is by Vivek Rajan Vivek - You and Your Dodoisms, a book I helped edit a while ago.

A bit hard to see but at the end of the quote is a semi-colon; its not the end....

TTFN
Marian

A couple of pieces of my photo art today... From the tiniest garden plant hanging on from decking to stones...

To apples 'n pears...

Feeling very tired today, thank you predictive words on my phone... E&EO exceptions?!?

I have another sleep in tomorrow night, as last night, and Friday will complete a nine day shift... Without a break, my rota for rest of time in this job allows no more weekends free, looks like I will be keeping my car until the weekend after we finish work to visit family before leaving for home...

Think I better post this now before phone blanks out along with me...

TTFN
Marian

Taken in Porthcawl last week, above the photo shows the peninsular on the land at sky meeting sea level... that's Ilfracombe...

We were sat, four of us girls in a line on a bench, faces to the sun, warm and happy and appreciating the beautiful day...

We were working, two of us, and down this lower end of the town it was really peaceful, went we went to eat lunch the sound of chatter and traffic broke our spell of calm!

We have been having good and bad weather, in that order!  Today is bad!  I popped out briefly before getting ready for work which is where I am headed soon.  I randomly bought things for home, a calendar for next year!!  And some other bits 'n pieces!?!

We are all packed really... only a few last things to go in a box or two on moving day, moving of our belongings that is, I think we will be here for a week maybe, living very sparsely! lol

Living in a strange place now, a moving changing weird limbo, ready to go but can't, counting down the weeks/days, items on lists being crossed off daily, plans made come into place...

Finally a photo from Facebook recently.... therefore it is purloined!  Thank you...

TTFN
Marian

Whats going on with the new surge I hear on Kombucha everywhere.... or at least into my inbox...!  I was making this stuff back in the early 90's, I guess what goes around comes around again eh... I remember when my little 'ol Kombucha arrived through the mail box, he looked real yukky and weird, more like an alien than a a... yeasty bacteria mound of goo!! lol... But I followed the rules and brewed my Kombucha tea, and did so, for quite a few months, for the life of me though I do not remember why I did it, and also cannot remember one single thing that improved... and so I am guessing that is why I stopped doing it... wonder what I did with my final Kombucha... ??? Did I bin 'him' or flush 'him' unceremoniously down the pipes!

Went to a great bagel cafe in Nottingham yesterday with my son and his family, had a breakfast bagel for... breakfast!  and they have a wall, above, you bring in a mug and they give you a free coffee!! cool eh!!

I have taken shots of these building bridges in three cities now, the first Venice, the second New York and now Nottingham!

Had a wonderful visit with my grand daughter.... I love the way she watches me constantly, even craning her neck around to keep her eyes pinned on me!  Beautiful....

TTFN
Marian

Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales

Yesterday, for my Birthday!!  We came here to Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, about an hour from us here in Wales...

The decision made on Monday whilst watching a TV program about a certain Renoir within its walls...!

Picton Castle is a beautiful building, its a small enough castle to feel welcome and homely, a place one feels one could actually live in, if you see what I mean!  The rooms are beautiful filled with wonderful pieces of art and antiques... the extensive gardens are filled to bursting with shrubs and trees, most of them yesterday in full bloom, some of which we had no idea what they were and couldn't find the name plaques for!  There is a wonderful walled garden, a beautiful pond with fountain... and more more more...

This beautiful room, the Renoir is on the right up above the lamp there.  The family has a history of being Royalists and Queen Elizabeth has visited a couple of times, last Christmas being the last time.

Lord Nelson also a past visitor, a family connection do you think!?! And Picton, one of our family names, been checking out on line today after work to see if I can find the missing link!!

Beautiful hand crafted fireplaces throughout...

And of course the Renoir....

I took this photo of flower and bee while we stopped for a pot of tea before touring the castle interior... and I came across this thought as we were driving there, when each and every road seemed more and more familiar to me...

TTFN
Marian

Sorting through the many photo albums of my mom and step dads... His paintings and newspaper clippings...

I came across one mom took of a mirror with a piece of his art work above, and looks like she roped dad in for a reflection shot... Although of course it could have been me or Brian, his friend who took many of his photographs for him...

And on seeing I thought

'Hello Dad...

How very much more I could have learned from you; if I had just stopped and listened...

TTFN
Marian

This picture shows a spiders web in the garden earlier on in the week, it is filled with thousands and probably thousands of baby spiders!  There was a big spider nearby with a nasty red mark on its back, I got Franco to move the whole thing out of our garden... we seem to have so many spiders there already!!  When you walk on the grass they jump away from your feet, weird strange things... creepy eh!!!

So, as you are seeing, a bunch of strange pics today!

Its been a very busy few weeks work-wise, covering for holiday, sickness and a bereavement...  One day I went in, did my usual 24 hour shift came home, paid a deposit for something and went back for another 24 hours!!  I was more than happy to help a friend in need, and the time at work passes very quickly...

I am off on Friday this week, and hopefully bound for somewhere new, we planned it some time ago, and can't wait now for the end of the week!

The pictures above I took while visiting oldest son and his family in Nottingham, a great walk through, looks like a way into the bat cave eh!!  Very quirky!!

And above the toys that hit the refuse the other week, they look a sad forlorn lot don't they... Bubbles and Bobby the twins, my old Tiny Tears, Tressy with... the hair extensions, [even then eh!]....

Not sure how many of you are aware we are moving back home.... there has been a countdown at the bottom of this page for some time, hiding away there silently counting down, as the other one is counting up and has been since our arrival here in Wales...

TTFN
Marian

Me and the babe.... Yes the chair is a little bit big... for now, but the rate Cassie is growing it won't be long, when I was there last week our little angel was moving herself about on her play mat, her little legs moving, only problem was she was going backwards, pic today on fb shows she has got the hang of it now though!!  So cute, so beautiful.... Arh... my heart is singing and my soul full of love for her....

See the little bug here on the left, hidden on the leaf, I was shooting something else and turned when I heard a buzzing in my ear!  

Some random photos here I have taken recently with my camera, I was using my friends camera with all the extras and I suddenly wanted a better camera! LOL, but actually then found I do already have Macro on mine!  I just, unfortunately hadn't been using it to its best ability!

So, now I am picking it up and running about all over the place, making up for lost time!  Some better than others and am getting an extension to it, Macro yes, but not the greatest and I want to do more, better, and the extra lens will enable me to do so!


I found these wild strawberries when Pippa and I were out the other day, Tuesday, it was hot, overcast, more humidity than sun... I took the correct route, then thought I gone wrong and turned about, adding about twenty miles to the journey!!  Came about from the other direction completely, and had to fuel up into the bargain!!  Still we parked, drank water, both of us... and took to the paths of the forest at Banwen, great walking spot there.  We were only there about an hour, so hot! LOL... 88% humidity I learned later!

Walking back to the car park area a fire engine pulled in! Randomly....

Last weeks road trip took me from here... after work at 3pm across to Tony's in Bedfordshire, he and Kate have recently moved, beautiful home... stayed the night with them and mid day on Friday drove up to Barry Heidi and Cassie in Nottingham... driving back down here again the following day, Saturday, back to work on Sunday! Just about 450 miles!  It was a good journey, despite the fact of turning off the M5 at the wrong junction!  Had a lovely drive through Cheltenham, taking in the beautiful scenery, the world famous Cheltenham Ladies Collage, stunning! LOL... just looked on the map... really!!! How was I there?  And Costa coffee picked up my presence going by the email I got two days later advising me of what summer drinks I can get at Cheltenham Costa Coffee!  Big brother is always knowing where I am... great if I get lost I suppose, although later on when my phones GPS couldn't connect I was sort of free driving about Milton Keynes, thankfully that one road number carried me though!!

I also ended up on the road onto Oxfords ring road which we usually use when going to Tony's old place... not sure at what point I joined the road, but spent 45 minutes going slow-mo first gear only and not moving at all!  The road rage of us in line must have been felt though by the guy in an old white car with 'L' plates on, who had the gall to just drive past us all! On the other side of the road, like a motorbike would, can... but a car??? Really!!! He just drove past us, ten twenty cars at a time, nipping in and out again when the way was clear!! The audacity!!!

Still, working backwards again, I was on the M4 not more than 40 minutes from leaving, at a standstill at Newport, the 60MPH had come down to 50MPH and then we all stopped, except, when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a man coming down my lane, the middle lane, still too fast, he was never doing the 60 in the first place! The car came hurtling towards me, the squeal of brakes, the back end of his car went left then right as he tried unsuccessfully to stop, so he drove over into the now empty right hand lane... but then he came back into our lane further down and then into the left?!??? What the heck!!!

I will forevermore see that mans face in my rear view mirror....

TTFN
Marian

We have a moth problem... Got some moth balls yesterday and hoping that will put pay to the little terrors! Hate moths, hard word I know, but really I do! Hate moths!!  They were hiding out up stairs in our bedroom, and as our wardrobe is of the open space variety not sure how our clothing will have withstood the little blighters hunger!!

The bees we were having trouble with out back have gone, we hung another brown paper bag stuffed with plastic, pretending to be a bees next and put off and new bees coming to visit!!

Work has been busy, holidays for some so extra work for who is left, one day off today after five on, and no whole days off again until next Friday! So a full seven days without a break... hey ho!

I am in a strange mood today, I feel that I have lots to do, but can't think what it is, should really turn this off but can't put it down! lol..

Find a photo?

Not difficult, our gorgeous grand daughter...  What a wonderful amazing little girl she is too... I just love her, love love love her... she makes my heart sing and my soul soar through the clouds... and explode into a million trillion zillion stars to light the galaxies...

And talking of stars.... a photo I took from work the other evening.... two suns setting over Neath.... Well........

TTFN
Marian

DC - Something from the Ocean

I am bringing to the table of our Drawing Challenge from Veronica this week of Something from the Ocean...  please visit her page for links to all challenged!

It is a wonderful view from a small peninsula just down from Cardiff a small seaside resort of Barry Island... slices of natures own rock formation...

As usual I feel I must do better next time!  Grimaces of school reports rattle through my mind and memories, no excuses except work and lots around the house, I will slap my own wrists, and see what else I can come up with, I did take my camera with me this week to Barry for the exact purpose of the DC....

Okay amigos, just had a play with a photo I took a few weeks ago down at Llansteffan, one of the jelly fish...

Now he really does look like an alien!

TTFN
Marian

Giraffe! Seriously?

Beautiful day today, visited Ikea first in Cardiff, wonderful breakfast, less than £3.00 for a full English!  Including coffee! Not bad at all!  A good rekky around the store, chose a few items we want, no purchases today, but notes taken and plans made...

We then went to Barry Island, I know!  28 years it took me to get there again, then twice this year already! Who'd have guessed eh!

After walk along the small peninsula, coffee and pastry, we made our way up to 'Pleasure Park'... sort of open but nothing really moving as such, although it is school time I guess, we went into an arcade and swapped a pound for 2p pieces and played the 2 penny drop machines!  Franco won a whole bunch of ticket things, I went to the office to exchange and a guy told me to come back when I had just a few more... I felt about 5 years old!!!  So, I did anyway, after swapping yet another pound for 2p pieces [last of the big spenders eh!!]  And I got a bag of sweeties and a small jelly tub thing, I think he felt sorry for me... I asked if I had enough wining tickets for a minion.. but alas no, I only had 58 and 2000 were needed, so I think that's why he threw in the jelly pot!  It could have at least been alcoholic! lol

This jolly giraffe and 'his keeper' were hanging about as school bus-fulls of niblets went on their way back to their schools!

The poor guy in the giraffe outfit must have been roasting!  stilts on both legs and arms to enable him to walk so high, his little face peering through a piece of gauze half way up the neck!!

The county of Somerset beyond over the Bristol Channel... it was only a couple of weeks ago I was in Weston Super Mare looking over here...

TTFN
Marian