Wednesday 11 September 2013

Twelve years on ?

I have been looking at old entrys I made in my journal,back in the good old days of AOL journals ,I was able to migrate my journal over to blogger,well the words ,unfortunately not all the pictures survived  ,and found the entry I posted on September 10th 2006 
 
This was the entry I did a year ago today , In that year we have lived and laughed and loved we've cried ,smiled and the whole range of emotions , We have seen the seasons change ,,and for Johns family another year has gone by ,I know from experiance that it  still hurts ,but with each year you get some sort of strengh to carry on ,but how Frances and the girls are coping ,given the horror of what took John away from them I cant begin imagine ,after doing this entry last year I think of John often ,and my love goes out to his family ................................................................................................................... When journalists were invited to do a dedication,to a victim of 9/11,I thought about it and decided I would like to pay a tribute ,to one of these brave people ,It has however become a very moving thing to do ,and as I have researched this my heart has become heavier and heavier ,John has become so real to Maurice and I, of course we couldnt know him ,but it so important,to bear in mind ,many people did know and love him and be mindful of their grief ,then and now.
  John was one of,that number of people !
[John Santore]He was a married man,with two daughters ,how they must miss him .He was fourty nine.
There has been alot of TV  coverage ,on the disaster that started the millenium off. and we have been watching it all ,The New york fire Brigade had been featured on a film some Rooky firemen were making at the time ,and as it coincided with the disaster they decided to carry on ,and as you see from the above pictures John's picture was also featured .Here is the tribute left by his wife
 

John Santore
John  Santore
World Trade Center

Spoiling the Girls


When the Santores traveled, a few things always accompanied them: candles and two Champagne glasses wrapped in a towel. The candles were store-bought; the glasses were a relic. They were the same glasses John A. Santore and Frances Scarselli used to drink to their happiness the night he asked her to marry him. Mr. Santore asked the waiter if he could keep them.

Both the candles and the glasses were necessary tools for Mr. Santore, a firefighter with Ladder Company 5 on Staten Island, the father of two girls, 20 and 13, and a romantic.

"He would set the table withthe candles and the flowers and the wine and then cook for us," Mrs. Santore said. "We are three girls in the home, so he would always spoil us."

On weekend mornings, Mr. Santore would run to a deli to buy coffee and croissants for the family so they would not have to cook. During the week, he would often surprise his wife with a bunch of wildflowers.

When someone mentioned the need for a maritime museum on Staten Island to honor John Noble, a famed local artist, Mr. Santore, 49, formed what he called the Noble Crew to build it, his wife said.

"He was wonderful with his hands," she said. `There was nothing he couldn't do."

Profile  published in THE NEW YORK TIMES
 
 And here is a lovely picture I found of John off duty
 
 

John it was my honor to be assigned  to you ,as my victim you became my hero,and I shall think of you often ,and I send very special love to your wife Frances and  your daughters
......Jan xx


{As you can see ,from the little boxes with the crosses in them , many pictures  and graphics ,didn't  survive the migration from journals to blogger.....but in keeping with that time ,I have snagged my header graphic from Donna  in the USA  ,Thanks Donna  ,so many of my journal entrys were enhanced by your work }

Then I found this entry I posted about that awful time ,I was still at work at the time I am talking about , and I think this was about a week after  the tereble event . it was in fact  dated September12th 2005

 
Following the terrible events of September the eleventh,we were all in a state of shock ,of disbelief ,as was the rest of the civilised world,The news reports coming ,minute by minute.It was all totally beyond our comprehension.My poor residents,some of whom had been born during the first world war,had fought in and survived the second ,now this,why? was a question I was often asked and couldnt answer.We some how got through the following days,spirits were low.It was proposed we all,at a certain time and day,all over the world  should observe a two minutes silence,(I forget now quite when it was)As the suggested time was to be at a time when we wouldnt normally be  all together.I suggested we all meet in the community room.I told them I would like them to bring along with them a floral tribute,Iwanted a them to do an arrangement in their thimbles!Do you know some of these were beautiful,those that hadnt got a thimble used the little china ones , you know ,a present from Skegness type of thing,even the men took part,you can see what I was up to cant you ?keep them distracted, it nearly worked .So with all our flowers and candles on a table.............I suggested we all now kept the silence for two minutes whilst we remember in our prayers.........With my eye on my watch...... I rehearsed in my mind what I should say ,when I broke the silence  ,(what a strange situation to find myself in,can you imagine it?)The Good Lord , gave me the words.For which I give thanks.            Janxx

I cant  say the world has become a better place ,I have lost count of the human misery that has occured since 9/11 The wars ,conflicts,disasters .....good things have happened too ,We must stay positive ,live a good life ,love one another ,help each other ,Other wise what is the point ?


 

Saturday 7 September 2013

A Fantastic Weekend Away

 
Not only are my blogs few and far between these days, they are not in chronological order,I had to put this one on the back burner ,for my Serendipity Birthday  edition... In August ,Maurice and I went to see our family in Leicester,and to attend the Annual Barwell carnival
Maurice came off night shift Friday morning,went to bed ,then got up at Lunch time,We set off and arrived late Friday afternoon ,to stay with Brother in law Stan ,Stan's sister Gladys and her husband Harry ,came along they were staying in their caravan nearby,having come over from Dudley,Stan and Dot's youngest daughter Tina came to greet us and we all had delicious fish and chips,for our tea..Now every Friday evening ,Tina holds a girls night at her house ,and who ever is able turn up for a get together  ,she has six sisters and many nieces and friends .Tina invited Gladys and I to come along that evening ,so after leaving Maurice Harry and Stan ,to entertain them selves off we went to Tina's house were we drank coffee and some wine ,we chatted  laughed and generally had a great time ,until we got a phone call saying the men wanted to go to bed , OOps 'Doesn't time fly when your having fun ' ?
 
The next morning was sunny but rain was forecast ,Not deterred we sat in the garden or chatted again over a full English breakfast ,cooked by Stan ,who was really spoiling us !

My Kate had gone to Stella's {another lovely  niece} on the Thursday by train because Martin had to work ,though he did come on Saturday afternoon ,We met up  with the rest of the family ,and found our selves a spot to watch the carnival,,until Gladys  and I promptly got separated from the rest ? ,we had found a better vantage point from which to view the parade ,up a ramp that leads to the charity shop??
 
Then because it had started to mizzle {that's finer than drizzle} Gladys and I sheltered for a while inside !! ,and guess what ?I found a kangol hat ,red wool size small,[ I usually have trouble finding hats small enough ] £1.75,I was delighted !even if, when we met up with the rest they laughed at my hat ,as they sported wet hair , We made our way to the Fun Fair ,where Kate, Gladys and I explored ,see my buggy basket filling up with goodies ,Gladys took the picture ,nearly chopping of Kate's head ,
 

Kate's picture of Gladys and  I was much better  

Then on the way back to Stella's house, we saw people who had been in the parade so we took more pix


Back at Stella's ,the BBQ was lit ,music playing ,and here is Stan , dancing with his  Great Grandson
 
 
 
Brenny and me

 
Brenny and her daughter Cassie

 
Another gorgeous niece ,June

 
Great niece in law Michaela,lovely Mummy of  little special Oliver


Oliver and Maurice,having 40 winks ,Well one of them is ! 

The lovely Deborah, Great niece, who is a professional make up artist ,she has just finished work on a film which premiers soon ,Cheers Debs ! 

 
Oh look Martin has made it ,wonder what mischief  he and June are plotting ?
 
Laura and Carly
Lovely niece Wendy

Another wonderful niece Denise ,With Glad's  'arry

This is George and his family ,I later learned they have  another son  missing from this family pic,George manned the B.B.Q  all evening ,keeping us all fed .

 
Daniel and Mark

Brenny and Gladys

Well Kevin liked my hat, so there !
My lovely nephew Kev ,Dot and Stan's son ,(one boy and seven girls ,}and I love em all as my own ,as Dearest Dot  did my kids

Steve is Stella's partner ,and Brenny's son .

Just one picture of dearest Stella, who had opened up her home and garden for us all, to have such a lovely time ,I am sorry I didn't get more pix of her.. but she was busy all evening and it was a job to pin her down ,But thank you so much,Stella ,And I so enjoyed chatting to you on the phone today ,my darling girl .
 
Well I think I have covered all the high lights of our week end away ,with Dear Stan thanks so much mate
 
As ever with love from Jan xx 

Sunday 1 September 2013

Happy Birthday Serendipity


 
Eight years ago today... September 1st 2005 ,I posted the very  first edition of Serendipity on AOL  ,and became a member of a very unique group,this group entitled me to go on magical trips to J-Land ,I also received visits from so many people who also came  from J-Land ,so many people turned into friends , from all over the world ,and my what wonderful friendships were formed ,how well we all bonded ,we shared our glad days, we shared our sad days . we shared pictures, family news, mundane stuff ,exciting stuff some very clever ladies amongst us would make graphics and signatures personal to us to make our entries more themed and interesting ,Among them was Donna,Chris and Sugar and lots of other talented ladies A Huge thank you ladies  .....We talked about  our pets  too,oh and our hobbies ,but if you belonged to this fantastic on line family ,you know all this ,So if I'm boring you ,by telling you" the road you know" ,sorry . Have some more cake  

The next year I woke one morning,turned on my computer and found myself on the AOL  welcome page,promoting 'Silver surfers ' and of course our journals ,another valuable friendship was made with a lady who lived nearby ,she had turned on her PC  only to see me ,looking back at her , she saw me in the street and asked 'Was that you  etc etc ',yes says I, and Debbie and I have been best buddies ever since !

And then ,I was  voted' Lady of the blog 'by fellow journalists all over j-land ,one of many such awards ,I remember my dear friend Jeannette Locorriere won the travel blog award ,such pride for us UK  journalists

You will notice I have called us journalists throughout .We decided that's how we preferred to be known ,journalists from J-Land ,I seem to think it was a lovely friend Jeannette Oakley who started this ,another prolific quality  journalist ,who encouraged and helped so many of us get started .I know I could't have done it  without her patience  encouragement and help in those early years , Below is a picture of me taken around that time ,at Old Hunstanton on the Lincolnshire coast
 
Do have some more cake


 
 
Here is what I wrote on my journal,in 2007 
 
Over the last two years I have introduced you to my lovely family, and you have shared many of our gatherings, I have taken you along with Maurice and I when we have gone out and about .I have shown you knitting, sewing and patch work I have done, I told my Mothers life story, told you about all the Vicars I had the joy of knowing, Like so many of you I did a tribute to a victim of September 11th
I was honoured to get to know and mourn John Santore ,this for me, like many of you was a moving thing to do ,and I will always keep a place in my heart for this brave young fire-fighter. You shared our joy when we got our puppy Kizzie; I have told you about my ironing, and when I have cleaned my windows! (Guess what; we haven’t had our Summer duvet on yet!)
I have told you what books I have read .all about Maurice’s shifts and what I have for my supper .and you have faithfully commented and given me so much pleasure with your reply’s and your own journals ,So thank you all for sharing the last two years  with me ,sharing your journals/blogs and lives with me  ,There I wrote that in 2007...

Then bomb was dropped ,well we had heard rumours but it couldn't be right? could it ? we thought !!!Huh!
AOL  took away the journals facility...
 
                                                           
 
 
 
 
AOL Journals ended on 31 October 2008. AOL and Blogger cooperated to migrate our blogs,
   Thankyou to Guido for these facts
I was lucky ,because I was able to migrate my' blog'{weblog} from AOL to blogger ,without losing my early entrys ,following the instructions given at the time  ,Phew !
 
Oh yes Happy Birthday to Sara Smiles her blog is nine today ,
So I continued to blog ,about all the things I had always posted about ,saw no reason to change !The only difference that I can see is ,not many comments nowadays!!!! hint hint !!! ,though checking on the statistics page I see I have many page visits .In the begining I used a tower PC  now I am onto my second laptop I still pick and peck using one finger ,sometimes two to type ! ,I still sew and knit and crochet ,I have just retired as chairman of our residents group and resident board member  ,though I am still on the exec team and committee,of A.R.F, Axiom Residents Forum.
And although I can't now  walk far I still get around on my buggy and am still enjoying life to the full even if it is at a much slower pace . 

Here is the latest item I knitted , it's a minion hat for my Grandson

And it was my sister Jeans  bithday last week so I made her a cushion

Here I am in her gorgeous garden ,after spending a lovely day with her

And at a Family fun day ,for the children of Axiom Residents ,The fire brigade attended for the kids to check out the fire engine ,Granny Jan checked out the firemen ! well it had to be done !

 
I will close this entry as with many others
 
With love from Jan xx