I've been given an award by Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. - thankyou very much! I also have to list 7 things about myself. I always find it hard to talk about myself but I'll have a try and hope not to bore you too much:)

I was born in a big midlands city but when I was five we moved to a small village in North East Derbyshire.

I had Scarlet Fever when I was five just before we moved. I was ill at grandma's house and she looked after me. I remember being on a mattress on the floor in the corner of her room and tying myself up in the sheets because I was so restless and feverish.

I've worn glasses since the age of seven. When I went back to school after having measles and even though I remember being kept in a darkened room, the head teacher noticed that I was having difficulty copying things from the blackboard (as they were called then) into my exercise book from my desk at the back of the class room.

I love the theatre and in particular Shakespeare's plays - when I was a teenager I used to sit up quite late at night to watch the Wars of the Roses plays on the television. I was 17 when I first saw a play at the theatre at Stratford - I still have the programme in my collection.

I really don't like spiders!

I can't bear being stuck somewhere without a book to read. If I have something to read I can wait for ages in a queue, for a hospital appointment, for a late train or anywhere else you have to wait for ages.

I have a fear of huge mechanical objects inside buildings - for example I love steam trains and engines in the outdoors but feel overwhelmed by their hugeness if they are indoors in sheds or workshops.

I have to nominate other bloggers for this award and as usual I'm going to say if you want to please take the award with you and let me know if you decide to have a go at the seven things.

Ten Things

I've been tagged by Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. to list ten things that make me happy so here goes..........

My Cats

Morning Coffee either at home around eleven sitting in the conservatory and watching the birds in the garden - or out and about in town sitting and reflecting and watching the world go by.

Being by the Sea

Flowers - in gardens, in meadows, at the road side, in jugs on my windowsill, in tubs outside florist shops in fact, anywhere!

Walking in the Peak District; in fact, just being in the Peak District!

Doing Family History

(My lovely Mum sitting, her sister leaning on her shoulder)

Curling up with a good book


Soaking in a hot bath with lots of nice smelly things from my favourite place (link below)


Going to the theatre


Waking up on 'free' days - no plans, nothing specific to do - just a blank canvas to fill with whatever I want.

I'm supposed to tag ten other bloggers but, as usual, I going to say if you want to do it take it with you and enjoy thinking about what makes you happy!

A Simple Book Tag

I've been tagged by Michela at Little Secrets from my Garden to do a book tag. What I have to do is:-

1. Pick up a book that is nearby

this wasn't hard as there is a box of books right next to the desk at the moment because we have cleared the upstairs bookcase and boxed up all the books whilst we are decorating; all I had to do was lift up a pair of curtains, a bedside lamp and a couple of poster rolls and fish out the first book I came to - it just happened to the this one:-

Colette - Looking Backwards - Recollections
translated by David Le Vay published by The Women's Press 1987

2. The next step is to turn to page 161
3. Count down to the 5th complete sentence
4. Then place the sentence on here:-

'If the petals, fallen at the foot of the trees, form an even carpet, there is a good chance of fruit and the Normandy landowners, when the orchards cease flowering, never fail to go to see if their apple trees have 'snowed' in a good circle round the trunks.'

The book is a collection of Colette's memories of her childhood, her escape from Paris in June 1940 and her recollections of occupied France - as the 'blurb' on the back of the book tells us it is:-

'a moving reflection of war, resistance and courage by one of the great creative writers of the century'

5. Then I have pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

I know quite a few of you who visit me and leave such lovely comments are book lovers so I'm not tagging anyone in particular I'm going to leave this one with you to take away and have a go if you want to.

A Borrowed Tag Questionaire

I've borrowed this tag from Rowan's blog Circle of the Year as it seemed like an interesting one to do, so here goes:-

What is your current obsession?

I don’t have obsessions as such but I can get involved to the exclusion of everything else when I’m on the trail of an ancestor.

What is your weirdest obsession?

How can you define weird? The word has altered meaning in the last few years, now, to some people, things that seem ordinary, acceptable or just different to me are labelled 'weird'. So perhaps some people would find delving into the past (as above) weird to others it might mean following ‘Dr Who’, keeping snakes or bog snorkling - so I can’t really answer this.

What are you wearing today?

Long black denim skirt, cream stripy top and soft cream suede shoes.

What’s for dinner?
Three bean, tuna and black olive salad with crusty French bread

What would you eat for your last meal?

If I knew it was my last meal I probably wouldn’t be able to eat it!

What’s the last thing you bought?

A pretty little bag from a museum craft stall for £1 - I've carried it nearly every day since I bought it!

What are you listening to right now?.
Nothing much everything is silent except for the occasional sound of birdsong through the open window - I heard a cat sneeze earlier!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Near the sea


If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

There are so many places I long to see and many I long to return to but for just an hour I’d like to be walking along a beach somewhere, anywhere!

Where is your favourite holiday destination?

Cornwall

Which language do you want to learn?

It would be nice to be able to read a bit of Latin to transcribe old documents more easily. We did Latin at school for the first two years I was there then it was dropped in favour of Spanish or German - French was compulsory at that time. All I can remember is 'amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant' and the school motto 'Ab honesto virum bonum nihil deterret' - which means something like 'nothing deters an honest man from doing what is right'.

What’s your favourite quote (for now)?

‘By shallow rivers to whose falls melodious birds sing madrigals’

I read this earlier this year on a tin glazed earthenware pot by Lawrence McGowan at the Potteries Museum in Hanley – I liked it so much I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it.

What is your favourite colour?

Blue

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

An old black jacket I bought in 1996 at a Richards shop in Wilmslow

What is your dream job?.

I’d love to own a bookshop with a small coffee shop attached.

Describe your personal style?
Hmm – hard one – I do like everything to match but not be too formal for example a classic jacket with jeans and boots or a long wool coat with boots - in the summer I live in longish skirts, t shirts and sandals.

What’s your favourite tree?
Horse Chestnut because they look so gorgeous in Spring and early Summer with their spectacular huge flowers and in Autumn they give us shiny brown conkers.

What are you going to do after this?

Start to prepare the dinner – see above

What’s your favourite fruit?

Ripe Victoria plums - straight off the tree

What inspires you?

Wonderful writing and beautiful places!

Your favourite books?

Loads but these ones are always on my list - The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim , A Month in the Country by J L Carr, Mrs Dalloway by Virginnia Woolf, North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell

What are you currently reading?
Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel - a murder mystery with a twist - set in France during WW1 and The Wonderful Weekend Book by Elspeth Thompson - I've gleaned some wonderful ideas from this book including the recipe for tonights meal (see above). I’ve just finished Stratton’s War by Laura Wilson a murder mystery set in London during the second world war. Next on my TBR pile is 'The Unbearable Lightness of Scones' by Alexander McCall Smith.

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:

‘Swish, Swish, Swish went her long skirt over the grass verges, but every time they crossed the road she would relinquish Laura’s hand to gather it up from the dust , thus revealing to the child’s delighted gaze a frilly purple petticoat.’

From The Illustrated Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson

What delighted you the most today?

The booking of a holiday in the New Forest later this year we are going with my sister and brother-in-law.

What is your earliest childhood memory?

Sitting in my cot, looking through the bars at my mother running towards me along the landing, the light over the stairs behind her head. This was in our house in Leicester – my first home – demolished years ago to build the hospital car park.

'What is your all time favourite film?

To echo my choice of books – Enchanted April and A Month in the Country but also Amelie – I just love it.

I’m adding – what are you going to do tomorrow?
We are going into town to the building society to pay off our mortgage. We've tried for nearly two years to sell our house and downsize to get rid of it but couldn’t in this financial climate. We’ve really struggled over the last couple of years to pay the bills since Paul gave up his teaching job but now his lump sum from his teacher’s pension has come through, that, plus most of our remaining savings will pay it off – we’ll be broke but more secure – I hope!

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people.

I'm supposed to tag eight others but like Rowan am going to leave it up to you if you want to do it, if so feel free to take it with you.

Pancakes and a Tag

As it's Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day we had them for tea, drizzled with freshly squeezed orange juice. Mmm....

I've been tagged by Fern at Fern's Lakeland and I was asked to go to my photo album, choose my fourth photo folder and the fourth photo in - so here it is.

This is Apple Day, October 2004, at Ryton Organic Gardens in Warwickshire. It is a wonderful day out (as is their potato day) with orchards to visit, specialists to consult, apple based menus in the restaurant, trees to buy and apples to taste and buy. This is one of the tasting areas. I think this was taken by Paul as to the very right of the photo I recognise my fringe and my denim clad arm. Next to me, clutching her apple to be identified, is our friend Sue. There was an amazing array of different apple varieties and Sue bought a small tree which just fitted in our car so that we were able to get it home for her. I have to tag four other bloggers, I hope they don't mind, don't feel under any pressure to participate if you don't want to, anyway, here goes-

Pam at Southern Journeys
Teresa at Blueberries, Art and Life
Amanda at Pandy Potter Bears
Rosie at Under the Hedgerow

Here is another photo taken at Ryton on the same day -

Very Random Things

In a week in which the temperature has plummeted and during which we have had frost, snow, rain, and hail plus a little bit of sunshine - the last of the tomatoes ripened in the greenhouse! How can this be?

The weather, this year, is most unusual and I can't, for the life of me, work it out!

I was angered this week by an incident which happened to my neighbour who suffers from MS and has to walk with a stick. She was out with one of her friends who also walks with a stick. They were enjoying their weekly outing to the supermarket when two well dressed businessmen behind them tutted and said very loudly 'They shouldn't let them out should they?' Absolutely disgraceful! The phrase 'There but for the grace of God' springs to mind.

I've been tagged by Sarah at In the Wee Hours to list six random facts about myself. I always find these things really difficult to do but here goes:-

1. I've worn glasses since I was 7 years old, the teacher discovered I needed them when she noticed that what I was copying off the board wasn't what was written on it. My mother blamed it on the measles even though my bedroom was kept dark; I do remember the curtains being closed against the glare of the sun.

2. I really dislike spiders, although I can, with great trepidation catch them in a jar and take them into the garden.

3. I adore the theatre, I love watching plays especially those of Shakespeare. I used to go to Stratford quite often but I haven't done that for a few years now. Silly really as I live closer now than I did when I used to visit often. Maybe next year!

4. I have a fear of deep, still water, especially in dark, lakeside boat houses and also of the underside of boats in dry dock.

5. I once, many years ago, discussed Jane Austen's Persuasion with the writer John Fowles, he was also, at that time, Honorary Curator of the Philpot Museum in Lyme Regis where we had gone to photograph some fossils, I didn't know who he was then, I found out later. I was mortified afterwards wondering if I'd made a fool of myself. Paul later got a letter from Mr Fowles thanking him for helping with the identification of one of the museum's fossils - we still have it somewhere.

6. When I was a child as well as playing libraries (with mother's books, slips of paper as library tickets and a hot water bottle top as the date stamp) I also played museums - I would rope off part of my bedroom and label things like my hairbrush and the ornaments on my dressing table and windowsill. I don't think I charged an entrance fee. No wonder then that I eventually ended up doing a degree in history with the OU and spending almost 20 years of my life working in museums.

I hope Sarah doesn't mind but I'm not going to tag anyone else. If after reading this you want to have a go then please feel free to take it with you.

Lastly, just a very random photo of Chloe - because she's worth it!

Tagged

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been tagged by Rosie so here goes:-

4 films I'd watch again:- This was hard as I have several favourites but topping my list are Amelie, Enchanted April, Shakespeare in Love & Truly, Madly, Deeply - coming up behind are Ladies in Lavender, A Very Long Engagement, Gosford Park, Stage Beauty, Howard's End, Room with a View, Much Ado about Nothing, In the Bleak Midwinter, Peter's Friends, Brassed Off..... I could go on :)

4 places I've lived:- Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire - what can I say - I'm an East Midlands girl who has strayed into the West Midlands.

4 TV shows I watch:- of course these change as to what is showing at the time but at the moment I'd say:- Lark Rise to Candleford, Lewis, Trial and Retribution & Love Soup are the favourites. I adored Cranford and like things like Foyle's War, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness and Midsommer Murders. Also like QI, and recently Kingdom, Robin Hood and Primeval.

4 Places I've been:- Florence, Sienna, Paris, Edinburgh

4 people I e-mail:- well this won't mean anything to anyone but:- Jean, Pauline, Wendy, Graham - plus many others.

4 things to eat:- assuming here it means favourite things? vegetable lasagne with fresh green salad, fresh fruit salad, warm scones with jam and a good cuppa, pizza.

4 places I'd rather be:- At home in a comfy chair, with a good book and a cat on my lap, sitting in the garden in the sunshine listening to the sounds of summer around me, walking somewhere in the Manifold Valley, walking on a beach as the tide is going out.

4 people to Tag:- Sarah, Sissy, Jen, Paul

Hope you four don't mind being tagged; you don't have to do this if you don't want to :)