ROLL ON 2019

The Best a Man Can Get

Quotes from "The Best a Man Can Get"

We’ve all done it.  We’ve all kept little secrets from our partners.  We’ve all avoided telling them an awkward detail or subtly skirted over something we’d rather they didn’t know.  We’ve all rented a secret room on the other side of the city where we could hide half the week to get away from all that boring, exhausting baby stuff.  Oh, that last oine is just me apparently.

Alarm clocks are for people who have something more important to do than sleeping, and this is a concept that I struggled to grasp.

“Dear Deirdre, I am an attractive blonde and people say I have a good figure,  The other night, when my husband was away, his brother came round and one thing led to another and we ended up in bed…”  He broke off from reading out the letter.  “They always say that: one thing led to another.  How exactly does one thing lead to another, because that must be the bit that I’m getting wrong.  I understand the brother coming round, and I understand that they were in bed together.  But how did they get from the first stage to the last?”

“It’s easy, Simon,” said Jim.  “…one thing leads to another.”

“What are the kids doing?”

“Millie’s watching the Postman Pat video; the one in which he goes oin a shooting spree through Greendale.  And Alfie is strapped in his chair watching Millie.”

“Oh well, as long as the telly’s on.  We wouldn’t want to leave them unsupervised.”

I found these photos simultaneously revolting and compelling.  Like car crashes and anchovies, you knew they were horrible but you couldn’t help double-checking to make sure they were as sickening as they’d seemed the first time.

She told me I should stick up for myself and, not having the courage to argue with her, I meekly agreed that I would in future.

There had been a time when I had hated him for leaving Mum, but now I no longer based my view of people entirely on what my mother had thought.  I didn’t still think that Liberace had just never found the right girl.

                                                      John O’Farrell

A Festive Postbox

Little people and big people love this Christmas post box in Liverpool's Lime Street.

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With especial thanks to the kind parents who lent me their little person to help my postcards on their way. 

Fun with fours

Fun with Fours

Four names I go by:

1. John

2. Clive

3. CJ

4. Mr Edwards

Four places I've lived:

1. Broadgreen, Liverpool

2. Headingly, Leeds

3. Formby, Sefton

4. Pensby, Wirral

Four things I love to watch..

1. Strictly Come Dancing

2. Pointless

3. Formula One

4. Richard Osman's House of Games

Four places I have visited:

1. The Western Isles

2. Great Gable, Cumbria

3. Land's End

4. Lleyn Peninsula

Four things I love to eat:

1. Lemon meringue pie

2. Roast dinner

3. Lentil soup

4. Cheese

Four favourite drinks:

1. Breakfast tea (milk, two sugars)

2. Cappuccino

3. Bitter Lemon

4. Amaretto

Four smells I like

1. Furniture polish (Mr Sheen)

2. Roses

3. Lavender

4. Bacon

Why don't you have some fun with fours...

It's Christmas! (Well almost)

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will already have seen these but I appreciate some folk only look at my blog so I'm posting them here as well.

First job - clear the window-ledges and floor.

Start putting up Christmas cards.

Put out decorations on the window ledges.

Then the tree goes up.

Sorting the tree lights out takes hours - only to discover they weren't working.

Off to the shops for some new lights.

Then the tinsel and baubles go on.

A few early presents go under the tree.

An, of course, the mistletoe finds a place,

And when it goes dark (sorry about quality of photo) we have this -

Dad

December 10th was Dad's birthday.  He was born in 1907.

This is a sketch I did last year from a photo I took in 1964.

Crime novels

I'm currently reading the Logan series of crime novels set in Aberdeen and written by Stuart MacBride.  They are excellent.  The best crime novels throw in a bit of romance, some philosophy and plenty of dashes of humour.  Here are a couple of quotes from recent ones I've been reading.

“The Regents Arms was a dingy little place, the windows covered with a thick layer of black paint, shrouding the drinkers in dim, artificial light.  After the brightness of a sunny morning it was like stepping into a tomb.  A collection of apostrophes hung behind the bar – postcards, photographs, plastic ones stolen from shop signs, all there to make up for the missing one in the pub’s name”.   Stuart MacBride   ‘Blind Eye’

“Do you really still believe the popular press and prurient public care about the truth, constable?  How sweet.  And where do you stand on the topics of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?”    Stuart MacBride “A Dark so Deadly”

“With the toe of one shoe, she nudged an open pizza carton on the floor.  The remaining slice had grown enough mould to qualify as a houseplant.”

Carol O’Connell –‘The Jury Must Die’

Royal Ciphers

As I get older...

My First Cousin

This photo of my first cousin Walter was taken last year.  In October this year he had his 95th birthday.  I hope I look as fit as this at the age of 75 never mind 95!

Advice from a dolphin

You could be them...

Reading?

Are you reading?  If so, what level of cosy are you?

Quotes

QUOTES

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.  Friedrich Nietzsche

Nobody realises that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. Albert Camus. (I really lived this quote yesterday!)

I want to know you  whether you’re afraid of sharks or spiders death or love.   I want to know if it’s grammatical errors that drive you crazy or the people correcting them,  if you’re more comfortable  shaking sand out of your hair or snow, if you prefer coffee or tea, bars or board game nights.   I want to know which of your friends you’ve cried in front of, if you’ve ever laughed chocolate milk  out of your nose, or kissed someone you didn’t love.   I want to know you the you beneath the layer of small talk  always kept  shined and smudgeless  I’m just hoping one day you’ll invite me in.
Kristen Costello

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.  Albert Camus

There are people who vindicate the world, who help others live just by their presence.  Albert Camus

Off to the charity shops...

Val - a special lady

The week your wife's best friend is laid to rest cannot be a good one. R.I.P. Val Ross.  And sympathy to Graham, Justin, Matthew and all Val's family.

Jo had known Val for forty years. So many memories and so much sadness but after the funeral a lot of sharing of joy from all present. Val put so much into every relationship. At our wedding it was Val who walked Jo down the aisle and gave her to me. The male equivalent would be described as a true gentleman - Val was a true Lady.

These marvelous memory boards were put together by Val's sisters, Mandy and Debbie.

Quotes Galore

“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.”  R E Shay

“Eat right, exercise regularly, die anyway.”  Anon.

“Five days shalt thou labour, as the Bible says.  The seventh day is the Lord they God’s.  The sixth is for sootball.”  Asnthony Burgess

“If you can look back on your life with contentment, you have one of man’s most precious gifts – a selective memory.  Jum Fiebig

“An optimist tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.”  Anon

“The real problem of leisure time is how to keep others from using yours.”  Arthur Lacey

“Do not worry about avoiding temptation, as you grow older it will avoid you.”  Joey Adams

A cushion

This cushion cover was made by my grandmother.  It is composed of small remnants of material  from various bits of dress-making, embroidery, and other crafts in which she took part. 

Sadly some of the pieces are very worn and so I can't use the cushion, especially with the cats around.  And I'm not a good enough seamstress (or whatever the male equivalent is) to be able to just cover the worn out pieces and do such good stitching around the edges of the new inserts. 

Any suggestions, anyone?

Faking it - as usual.

Time flies

Four things will change you...

"There are four things in this life that will change you.  Love, music, art, and loss. The first three will keep you wild and full of passion.  May you allow the last to make you brave."
Erik van Vuren

Spindles

A dragonfly is any non-stinging predatory insect of the order Odonata,  having large eyes, a long slender body, and two pairs of transparent veined wings, especially those of the sub-order Anisoptera, which hold the wings outstretched when at rest, as distinguished from the damselflies. Also called regionally darner, darning needle, devil's darning needle, mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, needle, skeeter hawk, snake doctor, snake feeder, and spindle.

I hadn't heard the name spindle until I came across it in a two hundred year old insect book I have.

My daughter Helen and I have spent many happy hours photographing dragonflies and one of my favourites is the Broad-bodied Chaser the male of which has a blue body and the female a golden brown one.

Do you like dragonflies?  And, if so, do you have a favourite?

The Ship's Cat and Super Rat

This sculpture at the Albert Dock, Liverpool, is by Faith Bebbington.
The 15 foot long cat, together with super rat and her mischievous babies is made from over 1000 recycled milk containers on a chicken wire frame.  The creation was based on the story of Ms Chibley, a cat on Picton Castle, one of the Tall Ships which visited Liverpool recently.