Lets Celebrate !

Some thing exciting is happening in J-Land ,check out Donna's journal ,she has made some amazing graphics for us to celebrate three years of journals/blogs,and suggests we visit Vivians journal too, who has some ideas and is looking for more  ,both these Ladies are on my side bar , though have to admit Vivian is new to me ,I have now put her on alerts as she looks to have an interesting journal ,I am meeting new people all the time . My own journal has been going for just over eleven months now .And what alot of friends I have made in that time ,and what alot I have learned ,mostly from other journalists,who are great at helping out with stuff I couldnt get my head round ,I wonder just how many journals there are ?who took the plunge and pressed save to post the first one ! I have been doing a tentative look around the UK ones ,and the first one I came up with is Stuart  on specimen days ,(have you tried his quiz ?even I am getting respectable results !!) Then I think it was Jules with Its my life ,then Claudia ,La Doci vita,then Jeannette took the plunge with Jeannettes jottings ,and like Stuart they are both on the blog page ,and Jeannette has helped most of the UK  journals to get started ,she certainly put me on the right track ,oh the times I emailed her in the beginning ,and each time she came back with the solution and then Sandra ,with Sandras Scribbles ,another one who helped me in the beginning ,Sandra has recently had PC problems and was away for a while and boy did we miss her ,she was conspicuous by her absence ....Dont really know where this list is leading me ,I just wondered who had been here from the beginning ,I suppose ! and to see who stayed the course ,many havent ,even since I started .....

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I have posted some pictures I took last weekend ,we have had rain each day since and it feels quite cold out now ,the forecast  says the warm weather is coming back ,and I hope they mean warm and not hot as it was for a while ,some newspapers were saying August was to be even hotter than  the July  highs ,oh dear !

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Well I had better go and do some housework ,to justify my existence  Have a great rest of the day .....and .Lets

     Jan xx

Thankyou Donna !  'a graphic for all ocasions '

Happy Birthday Matthew

I know you have seen the above pictures before, on Sams Birthday ,Today Matthew ,is fourteen ,he is the first  son of my daughter Kate and Martin her husband,I think out of all our eight Grandsons Matt looks most ,like his late Grandfather Mick ,he would have been so proud of his youngest daughter and her boys ,he would have loved Martin ,Matthew was born with a narrow valve to the heart ,so hes been a regular visitor to Great Ormand street hospital ,in London ,he hasnt needed to go this year ,but has to go back again next year ,this hasnt stopped Matt ,he is a keen sports man ,he loves to swim ,and enjoyed his snorkeling experiance ,whilst on holiday in Alcudia recently ,he likes football watching and playing ,and also plays rugby ,he is a clever student always getting good grades along with good school reports ,I have just spoken to him on the phone ,where they are all spending a few days,in Skegness ,in Lincolnshire ,where their other Granny has a caravan,he tells me its raining there quite heavily ,it doesnt seem fair after all the hot weather last week ...speaking to him on the phone I hardly recognise him ,his voice has broken now ,along way from the little boy I used to look after ,so his Mummy could go to work ,we had a great time ,watching alllllll  ! the Thomas the tank engine tapes over and over ,If Ringo Starr ever lost his voice I could have done the narration , and we used to spend hours watching the real trains ,on their way to London ,and on the other line going North ...we liked Noddy too ,but not the Gremlins in the 'Dark Wood ',I made a Noddy complete with a bell on his hat ,who was much loved at the time ,though its been raining Matt tells me they have been shopping ,he has been spending his Birthday money .So a very happy birthday Matt with love from Granny Jan xxxxxx

Its raining here too today ,and has cooled down ,and is really quite refreshing ,so no need to water tonight ,we went out to the Lincolnshire Fens ,to a place called Gedney Hill yesterday,Maurice ,whos back at work for three days ,had heard of a new fishing lake ,and when we found it ,it did look good ,Ithink he would like to try over nighting there so it will be the tent ,and when the weather is nice again ,but will keep you posted on that ,This is the second time Ihave done all this ,I clicked save ,as you do ,and got ... blogs unavailable ...and the entry was lost ,Thankyou AOL ,So while the going is good I'll get going ,have a lovely evening everyone with love and

Jan xxxx

Visit to Littleport

Hello Everyone ,Well Jean and Pete came to pick me up around ten am yesterday morning,and off we went to Littleport,we found the place the open day was being held ,and we were  made very welcome ,we met Mr Bruce Frost ,and with the aid of documents,Pete had taken with him it was soon established ,Pete is a decendant of the rioters,and not the branch of the Harleys of  Harley Davidson fame ,Bruce explained there are two branches of the family name ,and he would dearly like to find a connection to the two familys ,hes sure there is one but though he has  records going back to the seventeen hundreds , still hasnt found one ,but hasnt given up hope .

The Littleport riots came about in 1816,when at the end of The Napolonic war in 1815....the ordinary man was working hard to support a family on farm labourers wages ,it was said The Farmer /land owner was spending as much on a shirt for him self,as it cost to pay three mens wages,and to cut a long story short ,the men decided to rebel and went on a tour of the village taking from those better off than themselves ,whilst some few succeeded in getting away,many were caught it is believed to be approxamately fourtyfive (possibly one woman ?)they were tried in Ely,and recieved sentances,ranging from prison sentences  varying lengths,deportation to Australia,and five were hung, Isaac Harley (Pete's ancester )was one of the five ....As you will see we found the' Barn'which is indeed a council conferance room ,and took pictures of the plaque and the model ,we then left to go on to Denver Sluice ,another story another day .....but we then  saw the church ,and found the grave stone for The father of the motor bike Harley who went to America,and teamed up with the Davidson bros ,and the rest as they say is history ,opposite the church St George,stood the best of all  a stainless full size model of the first Harley Davidson ,glinting in the sunshine ...apparently in 2003 ,Littleport was host to thousands of motor bike fans to mark the hundred years of the partnership ...

We went on to Denver and watched the boats coming through the locks ,motor boats, sail boats and the lovely long boat I have photographed ,and just as if she knew Donna offered this lovely graphic this morning what a bonus ! thankyou so much Donna, Donna can be found in my side bar ...

I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story and account of our day .there is more but I will save it for another time, Have a Blessed Sunday everyone ....With Love

                                                       

 

The Littleport riots

Those of you who read my journal regularly ,will know I am interested in the history of the fens ,and have been looking at various things since we moved here nearly two years ago ,and I have shared much of it with you ,Remember I told you about the posts that had been sunk in the Holme fen ,in the eighteen hundreds and are now about fifteen feet above ground proveing how much the fens are shrinking ...I looked at bog oaks ,and a fen blow ,we recently went to Ely cathedral affectionately called the ship of the fens ......well now we have our noses into something else ,which is interesting us ........

 You will remember last month we went to my cousin Alans birthday lunch in Northampton, Maurice was talking to my late cousin Doff's son David ,they were talking motor bikes,Maurice had recently sold our Dragstar ,but David still rides,they were talking about shows and rallys ,Pete (Pete is my sister Jeans husband )introduced to the conversation ,he thought somehow he might be related to the famous Harleys ,of Harley Davidson . A Harley went to America after some riots at Littleport,near Ely.

This fired Maurices imagination,so with the help of his friend Chris ,and armed with facts from Pete (Harley is the maiden name of Petes late mum ),they checked electoral registers ,and yes we think we may have a connection !

As you know we went to Ely cathedral ,affectionately known as ,'the ship of the fens 'and when we went in ,we were greeted by a delightful Lady welcoming us to the cathedral ,Maurice was chatting to her ,about the cathedral and the area and in the course of conversation Littleport came up and the riots and she told us there was was a gentleman called Bruce Frost who lives in Littleport who could tell us more,and that there is a  plaque in the church yard of St Marys church ,near the cathedral ,to the men who had been hung ,after the cathedral ,we went to look around the church ,and though we searched, we didnt find the plaque.......

The following Monday ,I looked up and found the telephone number for Mr Bruce Frost ,and what an interesting man he is ,he told me lots of interesting things ,and that there was to be an open day ,of a Historical society,that he participates in ,is world wide and he invited us to join ,which I plan to do ,the open day is tomorrow and church records will be on view plus lots of data ,and he told me the plaque at St Marys was a replica ,he will show us were the original is, in a barn in Littlport ,that I'm sure we will find interesting ,unfortunately Maurice has to work,but Pete has offered to take Jean and I....so watch this space        Well I hope you all have a great weekend  .....

With Love From Jan xx

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Is it Thursday ?

Some time ago I commented ,I probably asked Angie,what a black eyed susan was ,well here is what she posted this morning ,arent they lovely ? Thank you Angie,Jeannette (travels added we have them here) ,well yes we do ,dont we?I didnt realise that was the name .Now I want to grow some .

Jean came over on the bus on Tuesday ,and we had a lovely day together ,we wandered round our few shops ,apart from that and prepare the dinner ,for our fishermen ,we didnt do alot apart from talk drink coffee ,juice and more coffee and oh yes talk ,it was so hot ,to hot to do any thing,but we enjoyed our day together ,then when our red men came home we had dinner on the patio ,on the pictures you can see the dregs of our dinner ,but Scooby was so funny he waited until we were done then went under the table to sit with the men

I have had the computer off most of the last two days ,We had thunder and lightening ,and yes alot of rain (and Maurice has been off work ,)the TV ,hasnt been on either and guess what ? we have discovered the art of conversation ,we were chatting ,last night until gone one o clock ,he has gone back to work now ,for three nights ,so his days off went quickly ....at least tonight, as last night, I dont have to water the garden ,apparently we have had five inches of rain in the last two days and it is so much fresher...so tonight I plan to just chill out  ,and if we dont have any storms I will watch TV (I turn TV and PC off in a storm )So now I will go and make some thing to eat ,feed the dog ,So have a good evening everyone ,With Love From And .....

                                           Jan xx

 

Visiting Day

Good morning Everyone ,another sunny day ,like the bright sunny graphic kindly made by Chris ,I'm doing this entry a bit earlier today ,Maurice, still on holiday, has gone off early to meet Pete ,my brother in law ,at some fishing lakes,Jean my sister is coming over later to spend the day with me ,Pete and Maurice will come back here later where we will all have dinner (dont know yet what we will have )Jean and I will spend the day ,doing whatever it is sisters do ,when they get together mainly chatting ,Ithink !

Maurice and I had a busy day yesterday ,we went to  Peterborough ,first to the fishing equipment shop ,to buy various stuff he needed for today ,including hooks ,oh and he bought a new pod he'd been after (for resting rods on !) and some baits including maggotts !

We then went to see Aunty Kitty ,who was asleep when we got there ,as we woke her she gave us a lovely smile ,she is gently confused ,so we made conversation ,best we could ,the topic she hit on yesterday was school ! Where did we go to school ?Itold her where I went ,but of course it meant nothing to her ,then Maurice told her the name of his school ,and her face lit up , 'good school  with the Sisters?',Yes says Maurice pulling a face at me ,some of them had been ,well ....very strict ! He then asked her where she went ,could she remember ?She tried a few things then ,her face lit up ,and she says ....in her genteel Irish accent 'I went to Heffing school ..and thats near Heffing church ',with a wicked sparkle in her eye ,we still see the remains of her sense of humour ,wonder how many times she has cracked that little joke ?Heffing (not sure if its spelt with an H ) is a little village near Limmerick ,in Ireland ,where she was brought up .Before she grew up ,and came to England ,and went on to become a nurse and eventually a Matron ,and now she is a confused little lady .living out her days in a nursing home ,but where I was pleased to note the room was pleasantly cool ,in comparison to the searing heat outside ,and they all had cool drinks by their side ,and cups of tea were  being served as we left .

Our next port of call was to pop in to see Kate and the boys who are now on holiday ,from school ,after a coffee for me and a cup of tea for Maurice ,and a natter of course .We then went on to see Maurices brother Mike and Jackie his wife ,Mike had been painting up stairs (in this weather !)we could hear Dean Martin singing to him as he worked !,so after catching up with all the family news ,we left for home ,then after dinner I caught up ,with all my alerts ,whilst watching tele out of the corner of my eye (good at multi tasking me !)and before retiring ,we....yes you've guessed it, watered the garden,....and so on that happy note I will wish you all a very nice day with love from .....

                

This lovely sig graphic ,with the cooling drink was made by Cherry ...Thankyou its lovely ...Cherry2sweet 2eat

It rained in our Gap !

Saturday ,woke to another ,very hot day ,we decided ,to go into Huntingdon,but on route Maurice wanted to book the Shogun in to get some work done on it ,he went in search of the guy... Im sitting in the car ,and there it was in the door way ,A mobile canteen ,I jumped out, with my ever ready camera ,what a photo oportunity ! whilst Maurice was booking the car in the fellow kindly opened up the back for me to look inside ,it was actually the owner of the garage who owned it and he said once he had closed up ,which he planned to do ,when he'd sorted out Maurices appointment for next Thursday ,he was off to drive it in a parade ,in fact his wife turned up just then with a change of clothes for him ,Isnt it a gem ?

  So off we went to Huntingdon ,where amongst other things we bought some new floor covering for the bathroom ,and some shelves for the kitchen .Pictures of which I'm sure you will see in due course ,We had a milk shake and a burger ,more for the excuse to sit ,than anything ,it was over poweringly hot ,We then made our way back to the car ,I even walked straight past Next ,who had a sale on ! so fed up was I with the heat ! As we drove home ,we noticed big black clouds forming and following us ,but still no rain ! ! we got home and heard ....Thunder ,then a wind got up ,it was blowing and swirling everything ,We took down the garden brolleys and Maurice even,took the hanging baskets down ...

Just as well he did ,it saved them from getting blown and dashed ,speaking to Jean (my sister) on the phone today ,she tells me Pete and her had been for a cycle ride ,and didnt get back in time,and their gazebo ,remember we sat in it,on Tueday on my visit , was blown around and damage that shes not sure can be fixed ! We got in doors just in time to sit and watch the rain ,come pouring down,                            I  unplugged the PC because we had lightening too....When it passed it was so lovely to breath fresh air ,the garden looks so much better for a drink ..I have been keeping out of the way Maurice has been fitting the vinyl whilst I do this entry ,I had better think about sorting out some food now ...so I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday ....With Love and

                 Jan xx