In Bare Foot days

Yesterday, Jeannette gave me some food for thought with her entry about early memories ,Iwas born in a village in Northamptonshire ,as was my life long friend S,who is five months older than me,and did she pull rank because she was older!I had a  brother who was three years younger than me and  my sister was six years younger,S came from a big family,there were ten of them .S and I were about eight I suppose,and we were charged with the job of minding our little sisters ,whilst our Mothers were busy,I can clearly remember us pushing our little sisters in their pushchairs as we as intructed took them for a walk !It was a warm summer day,and our walk took us about a mile from home ,along a country road towards the next village,(not much traffic in those days) just before a bend was a wide verge ,where I remember we parked our little sisters ,who were sitting in their pushchairs,strapped in of course ,we ducked under the barbed wire ,across the field to the bottom where the Willow brook ran,off came our socks and sandals and we had a lovely time paddleing in the brook.Afterwards back we went to were wed left our baby sisters ,both were howling their heads off as I remember !(Sorry Jean ),the babys had been sitting on pram rugs ,which were ideal for us to dry our feet on !! ...........Id rather you didnt point out to me how many things could have gone sadly wrong!!! They didnt! as we are all here to tell the tale .

At around about the same time,I suppose I ran all the errands ,both for my Mum and my Granny .I dont think we had electricity at that time and our "wireless",ran on a battery and what used to be called an accumulater I think!this thing was like thick glass enclosed in a metal cage about the size of a house brick,with a handle and sort of terminals that attached to the wireless ,well I was frequently sent to get it charged up at a house two streets away ,it seemed a long way as I remember,with the instuction to hold  it away from you (it was heavy ),and mind your coat!............Imagine a kid today walking the streets wth a container of acid !!!Good old days . 

My Dad was the village barber ,part time only .I used to be sent down to his little shop to collect his scissors , (Dad always pronounced it sithers)and take them on to my Grandad ,who would sharpen them for my Dad,.........Dad would give me his bunch of keys ,thats the shop key he would say ,he also gave me a news paper to wrap them in so I didnt "stick "myself with them !I was always told to make sure I locked up on leaving,and to keep out off the cupboard!!hed have been better not saying that because off course I looked ,didnt I ?this was a barbers shop !!!..........Any thing for the weekend sir ?

They are some of my memorys,or one might even say confessions!So maybe Id better stop...............Have a good day folks         Jan xx

Asewing machine,agirls best friend

Hello again,Maurice has gone fishing today with ,sister Jeans husband Pete,(it is so nice they get on so well together)I have the whole day to get some jobs done,thought I would go through my wardrobe,today put the summer cloths away into a suitcase in the cupboard in the hall,it contains winter ones at the moment ,but change over time is here I think.   So now you know what the pictures of skirts ,are doing there!These are some of the ones Ive made,I bought a pattern,last May from John Lewis,Macalls patterns were reduced,to half price on a pro mo I paid £3.50 for this one.I discovered some lovely materials on the market,for £1 a metre.So these summer skirts have been costing less than a fiver each ,with the exception of the the green one ,thats the embroidered green cord I told you about was more expensive but so much cheaper than the shops.           Yes ,since I retired I rediscovered my sewing machine,I made the bed head you saw at the back of the bed ,that Scooby sleeps on in our absence !! I also enjoy knitting and made a poncho in very heavy wool and telegraph poles,instead of needles(slight exageration) ,that made my wrists ache so was pleased to complete that, I make cardys to go with my skirts ,and have made some little jackets for baby Keira .I think I inherit my creative streak from my Granny,my Dads Mum.Yes I enjoy creating ,even if its only havoc !!!!! So now Im off to creat  a void in the ironing basket!!UGH .

         Hope your day is creative folks   with love Jan xx 

Carry on Matron!

Today, we went to visit Aunty Kitty,who now lives in a residential home for the elderly,the home isnt a purpose built building,in fact it was once a convent,a beautiful house still.It has been sympathetically adapted ,whilst still retaining many lovely features .Maurice ,can remember being taught by some of the nuns,who had lived there,with not particular happy memories of some of them!!either he was a naughty little boy or some of them were tartars !bless em !

Kathleen Wall,was born in Ireland in 1920,in a small village near Limerick, called Killmallock.She was the youngest of seven children,so she had five sisters and a brother John,her sisters were Bridie,Teresa,Lilly,one who sadly died at a young age,and Maurices Mother ,Mary,fondly called May .

Aunty Kitty is a frail old lady now , but on a good day ,it is still possible to see a spark of the lady she was ,She went into the nursing profession,as a young lady ,and I believe,fell in love,with a Doctor who,broke off the engagement and her heart.She then threw herself into her job,she worked in many ,aspects of nursing ,and became extremely qualified, and attained the position as a  matron.I can imagine her ,the old school ,standing for no nonsense from either her staff or indeed patients alike.She actually nursed Spike Milligan at one stage in her career,when I commented on this,and asked what he was like, she dismissed me with Oh I didnt particularly like him myself........so there !!Old age can be so cruel sometimes, all that knowledge has left her now.She can remember though  what to do with a nice glass of sherry,indeed why not,at eighty five her work is done,so she sits and watches ,her carers at work ,and looks forward to her visits from her family .Shes lovely!

After we left Aunty Kitty, we went shopping and stocked up the freezer, and home ,where Im typing this up, on a compooter that has a mind of its own ,and wants to change size of text to suit itself no amount of correcting by me ,has changed it so you can see who had the last word !!!  

  Have a good whats left of the afternoon and evening friends ,

            Jan xxx

Good morning,?is it ?    Well just ,we are going into Huntingdon,soon so a quickie again ,Ithought Id post a few pictures of our little garden today ,As you will see,Maurice put decking down to make a patio area, out side the back door ,also he made the trellis ,clever boy ,he is !!Can you see the ducks ,Ivy and Poppy,also pictured though not very well,we recently bought three hanging baskets complete with winter pansys in yellow white and my favourite violet ,in the back ground opposite the patio door you can see the summer house,also built by Maurice ,told you he was clever didnt I ?and just to bring some reality into the pics you can see the tea towels on the line,that I used to mop up whilst defrosting afore mentioned freezer,well as Isaid we are going out so will go and get ready ,dont want to keep anyone !waiting !!So this entry today is~(to borrow a saying of my Dads) Like a donkeys gallop ,short and sweet!!    Have a good day ,be happy ,Jan xx

Whos been sleeping in my bed??

Just a quick entry today ,Maurice has a few days off so, weve been doing loads of odd jobs around the house ,and garden,he has been cutting back a thick hedge at the side of the bungalow ,me Ive been defrosting the fidgefreezer we have shredded loads of paper ,dont you accumalate,some rubbish?

I go to the shops and when I return,there is signs that Scooby has been sleeping on the bed in our absence,we havent yet caught him but he kind of gives the game away....Ive found slippers,toys books ,on this occasion you will see hes even taken his dinner,he must nudge the toy Scooby to one side and curl up with a book to wait for our return,because,there is a warm patch on the bed,but he will be standing wagging his tail as we/I unlock the door!!           catch you all later          Jan xx  

What A O L did for me (not an advert!!)

Talking to a friend today  on I M,she asked me how long had I been with A O L, I suppose its probably,five /six months now .And on reflection its changed my life ,that is a bold statement to make ,but true .I spoke earlier about the difficulty I had adjusting to retirement,not being able to stucture my time etc.Maurice ,said ,at the time ,he didnt think I was mentally ready,with hind sight he was right ,but at the same time my body was telling me something different,working full time in a stressfull environment,and with alot of responsibilty ,was taking its toll,I suppose my employers acknowleded all this ,when I left but was invited to do holiday and sick cover.

So when my sister talked me into getting A O L ,it became away of life I didnt foresee,and I have now found the ideal way of exercising,the leetle grey cells!At first I was finding my way around ,clicked on to blogs ,then Jeannettes jottings ,went to people in her list ,hey this is good !!My sister came over to visit one ,have you done this showed her ,yer wow .....I read and commented,loved it ,I emailed Jeannette for some thing or other ,we had quite a correspondence going,she said why dont you do your own journal!!!WHAT ME ?????oh no ..........what would I talk about LOL ............some more time elapsed,I think I was physcing myself up ..............THEN I thought why not,did the entry ,pressed save and emailed Jeannette saying ,Ive only gone and done it !Ive had some hiccoughs along the way ,and yes youve guessed she sorted me out ,well here I am !Ive been read some 1500 times thanks everyone ,and the rest you know is history.Its great !! Im in the living room or kitchen(but not alot!!) when ....PING....goes an alert ,the dog automaticaly,trots into the study (posh word for you know now where )because he knows we will be in here some time .I have met some fantastic friends and enjoyed some wonderful stories,Its the bestest retirement hobby a girl (and fellah )can have.    With all my love and thankyou   Jan xx  

OUT OF THE BIT BAG

A miscellany,of pictures and storys today............Picture no 1.. At the old bungalow we lived in Maurice had built a fitted wardrobe,when we moved here ,the second bedroom, it was decided, it was far too small, so no attempt was made to furnish it with bedroom furniture,He rebuilt the wardrobe and it is  usefull storage,as you can see Matthew(Matt) , Sams big brother,is playing on the leccy organ ,Maurices guitars and bodrum are on the wall above the organ and computer.If grandchilren come to stay like Sam the other week,the organ is removed and a camp bed ,put in there,so now you see our music/computer room............Picture no 2  Was taken with the journal in mind so though it didnt show what I wanted it too Im posting it anyway!~the top plaque reads cemetary gate,underneath is the warning ,from the electricity board~   In danger of death keep out !!!........Picture no 3,My eighteen year old grandson Paul,has a girl friend,who recently had a baby ,her boy friend left when it was found she was pregnant ,Paul stayed and loves the baby like his own and his girl friend of course,well thats good enough for us,except that makes you know who a greatgranny!!!!!Which Paul tells me Ive always been a great  granny AHHH!  She is adorable,her name is Keira,and Ive loved knitting her lots of little jackets and buying little clothes for her.SO there you have it a patchwork of pictures today,with stories to match.And for all you workers out there except those doing shift work Maurice!!   I used to love to say ........"The weekend starts here " have a good one folks  JAN XX