The Time to Celebrate

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

I can't believe that a whole week has passed since I last wrote a post. Whatever have I been doing?

Well.....I have been busy with Millie's party, which was a great success.

My friend, Audrey played a huge part in organising it and choosing many of the games.

One game that was a great success was turning a new terracotta plant pot up on end onto a large plate. Then the children take turns to pick up jelly beans or Smarties with a fork and try to get as many in through the small opening as possible while being timed by a timer. This was not an easy task but anything that did make it through the hole in the bottom of the pot could be eaten by the child whose go it was.

Another game was to try to cut a large bar of chocolate with a fork, while being timed and a die was also being rolled all the time by the person whose go it was next. This meant that not many children got to eat much chocolate because they had to move along, but this didn't seem to deter them trying.

They played *Pass the Parcel* and everyone got a prize, so nobody felt left out.

The children, who were mainly aged 7 yrs, did much organising themselves and the party seemed to go without too much effort from grownups and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

This was the first home party that my son had ever been able to have and he now feels he would definitely be able to cope with other ones. (With his team of helpers, of course).

This is also the time of school concerts and today I went to watch Millie in her school production of a musical that represented The Nativity but emphasised the different countries of the world who celebrate it. There were songs from other lands and the children were in different national outfits and there was also an emphasis on World Peace. I have been invited to see another class doing the same thing later today when I will be able to see Audrey's youngest child taking part. I thought Millie's production was magnificent and look forward to seeing the second one because I am sure the different children taking part in the next one will bring out quite different qualities and make it feel as though I am not watching a repeat.

As well as the school activities around Christmastime, I look forward to going to all the Church events. Carol singing and church choirs. However, our weather has taken a real turn for the worse and we are experiencing gales and cold, slashing rain so I think I shall have to miss Carols In The Park.

These are all things that make me feel like celebrating Christmas, so it is a great pity that the outdoor activities will be spoilt. Never mind, there are still plenty of indoor concerts to go to. What gets you in the mood for Christmas?

My Birthday

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

Since my last post I have had a Birthday. I am now 69.

When I was ill last year, having chemo and being told there was no cure for my cancer, I wasn't sure whether I would make this Birthday or not. However, it was my ambition to make 70 because the Bible tells us that we can expect to live for three score years and ten..... which in todays language..... is seventy! So that is obviously God's plan to live at least that long. I would feel cheated not getting my full quota.

Well now it seems as though it might very well come to pass. It appears to be within the scope of reality. Another year.

I will have to extend my ambition and add more years to it. Dare I say 75!

I have decided I am going to quit work at the end of the school year, which is in July. I did intend to work till I was 70 and then retire. I was one of the women who could have retired at 60. (It is not possible to do that now.) Therefore, I have worked nine years more than I needed to. I have been happy doing this and the money (although not a lot) was very useful.

I want to do other things now. Maybe join a painting class and/or creative writing.

On my Birthday, I got up early-ish, gave Harry breakfast in bed and took him up the pills he needs to counteract the side effects of his chemo.

I got Amber and Millie something to eat and did their hair. I fed the rabbits and changed them from sleeping quarters to their indoor play pen after giving them fairly long cuddles. It was then that I opened presents and cards. The girls seemed anxious that I opened the one that Sam had given me, first. It was really small in a tiny box. It turned out to be an iPod shuffle.

I knew it was something precious but wasn't sure what I had to do with it until Sam charged it up and told me he could download music on it for me to listen to whenever and wherever I wanted to.

Wow, that will come in handy for my choir practice pieces and I can now go around the house and garden while learning my parts.

My daughter sent me money for more fish foot massage. I am really looking forward to more of this.

I was pleased that Harry had felt up to going out to buy me a card from a nearby shop and had slipped in some money for me to get something. I will have a little think about what to buy.

I also received a variety of lovely cards.

I got myself something to eat and was still in my pyjamas when my friend, Audrey arrived. Never mind. We know each other well enough not to be embarrassed.

She was pleased to see that Harry had perked up no end and he is now able to walk about the house without too much fear of passing out. He has some really bad pain in both feet, though. It is amazing what chemo throws at you. Sometimes really strange symptoms.

Still, this first treatment will be a pattern for the next session. I am writing down all his symptoms, when they occur, in a little book for him to compare one months treatment with the next. This is what I did last year. It proved to be very useful.

Later on in the day, I went to my choir practice. I walked all the way which took about 30 minutes. I really love singing in this choir and am getting to know the other people and the songs better now.

I can lose myself and let go all my worries for two hours.

I walked back in twenty minutes as it is all down hill coming back.

By the time I returned, Sam had put my practice choir pieces for altos on my iPod and now I can go anywhere and do boring jobs while learning my part. Wow. That is good.

My daughter is coming over with Rick and Dean for the weekend. There are definitely happy times mixed in with the sad and I do count my blessings, which are many.

The Honey Trap

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

Not long ago I wrote about a place that seems to lure every little girl and possibly boy into a state of bliss.

Amber bought a bear with her savings, on an other occasion, with her mother which she saw made from scratch, to her own specifications.

About a month ago, I asked her to start to think about what she would like for her Birthday and she had no hesitation about asking for clothes for her rainbow bear.

As it was holiday time, I decided to take both the girls to this special place, which was in the middle of a large shopping mall.

I took them on the bus and as I was used to hopping on and off with my free bus pass, the price of the girls' return fare was a bit of a shock straight away.

However, we set off to have a fun day and that was what we intended to do.

The moment we entered this *plastic* place I noticed it was like a snare for small children. I was immediately pounced on by a young girl shop assistant who was hoping for a large sale.

"Just looking'" I said.

I really hate to have an over anxious assistant hot on my tail.

I must admit that I would have given my eye teeth as a child, to be let loose in this shop because there were rows and rows of outfits of every description for these bears.

Although as a child, I wasn't poor by local standards, there was nothing like this and the war years had certainly limited any chances of luxuries like these and finances wouldn't run to it even if they were available. So I was thinking of how deprived I had been as a child and wondering if children really appreciated all the choice and luxurious toys they have today. Somehow I really doubt it.

Amber had no problem at all, choosing what she wanted. I had told her the amount that I was willing to pay and we worked out the cost as we went along through the rows and rows of clothes that stretched from floor to ceiling and filled the whole shop.

"Is it your Birthday?" asked the persistent shop girl.

When she was told there was a month to go, the assistant beckoned to her colleague and they both sang Happy Birthday with plastic smiles and theatrical gestures.

The minute the song was over the smiles switched off and away they went to find some other candidate to pounce on.

To dress a bear well, there would be a need for party dresses (or smart suits for a boy bear) casual skirts, tops and dresses, for the girl bears, never ending choices of footwear and even roller skates, for both. Nightwear and dressing gowns and sleeping bags, carrying slings, not to mention hats and scarves and football outfits were all on offer. There were toys for the bears to play with. I have never seen anything like it.

The little heap we came away with didn't seem to be much to look at but it was agreed that they would be put away for the month until Amber's proper Birthday and she readily agreed with that. I was secretly hoping that she wouldn't grow out of the bear phase till after her Birthday at least, because this is what seems to happen..... children get fed up with something very quickly and new things take their place.

However it didn't stop there..... Millie the youngest, was goggle eyed as she saw all the delights of this shop. She had mentally noted the colour of the bear she was going to have made and which outfits and accessories she was going to get the bear when her Birthday arrived later on in the year.

As we left the shop, there were other little children entering this Aladdin's Cave and like wasps around a honey trap, they got sucked in. Their poor parents didn't stand a chance.

The assistants sprang into action and so the cycle went on........

Ash and my Birthday

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

You can see that Ash is getting tamer as he now lets other people pick him up and stays still for longer. He has brown eyes but the camera caught his retina and made it look red.

Some people asked why we picked his name.

My daughter and I liked it. My grandsons inform me that the name Ash is the second most popular character in Pokemon and also the bunny must have been born around the time of the volcanic ash and the air problems. So it is a mixture of all those reasons really. Mainly because we liked the name.

I bought a large run for him to exercise in. I used some Birthday money. It was a one off thing putting him straight onto the carpet. I have plastic to go over it now. I learned quickly that I needed to do that.

Ash is enjoying that box and is supposed to use his blue toilet tray that you see in this picture for wees.

I think he is having a bit of a laugh as he uses that for sleeping in. I did put soiled sawdust in there from his cage, just like the book suggested. I reckon Ash needs to read the book!

I expect you remember on my Birthday last month, Harry and I were both quite ill and I never did get to write about it.

Sam bought me an alto recorder but then I went and cut my little finger and I still can't press onto the notes with that finger. I did want to learn and it is one of my *to do* things before I die. However not in the same room as Ash as he is totally freaked out by high pitched squeaky noises.

Lucky that we have a large house.

I also received lovely things for the garden and in the picture below you will see that I had a total surprise of a pretty mobile that my friend/neighbour made for me out of glass and lead.

I have had several wild birds commit suicide by flying into that window, so I do put butterfly stickers against the glass to try and stop them doing this. The mobile is just perfect for that purpose, as well as looking very pretty.

So you will see that I did very well indeed, apart from being too ill to celebrate the actual day or even week.

The Balloon Ride

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I was travelling on the bus in Bath, when I saw this hot air ballon. Fortunately, I had my camera on me and after a few attempts I managed to get a reasonable picture of it. Of course it was taken through the glass window but I didn't think it was too bad a shot.

Anyway, seeing this hot air balloon reminded me of the time when my husband, Harry and his twin brother, Larry, were about to be 65. My sister in law, Rhoda had decided it would be a good idea to treat Larry to a hot air balloon ride and my son Sam and daughter Deb decided to treat their father too, so that the twins could go together.

We had thought that it would be a fairly simple operation and that they would be able to just take off after the tickets had been paid for.

How wrong we were. We were told that the weather had to be just right and that the twins had to be prepared to come when summoned at short notice.

Unfortunately, they could only do that on a Saturday or Sunday evening, as Harry was still working, and they were put in a long queue and their Birthdays came and went!

The summer of that year was not really good and weather conditions were either too windy or too rainy. The company didn't want to run the risk of them crashing into the sea or being knocked into a power line. There is not much margin for error if the weather is wrong or suddenly turns bad.

Anyway, after waiting weeks and weeks for the flight, we had the phone call saying that the flight was imminent and the four of us quickly managed to get to the given site in time for a Sunday evening flight.

We all watched while the hot air was pumped into the balloon shell and the pilot told the twins to get in. Not an easy task to climb into the wicker basket, as they are not particularly tall. There were two other people going with them. No, Rhoda and I preferred to stay on terra firma. 

The balloon shot up fairly quickly and after lots of waving they took off towards some trees. It looked like they were going to go directly into them, but they managed to skim over the treetops. The weather was almost windless and the balloon hovered over the city and did not seem to go very far at all.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, the balloon started descending slowly and we wondered where it would come down. We had been told that they would be brought back to the starting place, so Rhoda and I just waited.

Apparently they had hovered over the city and seen some amazing sights and for some reason had landed in a park in a rather rough area. The balloon was mobbed by teenagers and the twins were a bit worried they would be mugged or something. However the balloon and the twins were packed safely into the land rover and brought back. They had a fantastic time but were a bit disappointed that they didn't get a longer journey. No two trips are ever the same apparently.

This photo and this story have been produced for Photostory Friday, hosted by Cicely and MamaGeek.