OUR 55th Wedding Anniversary.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

OUR 55th Wedding Anniversary.

OUR 55th Wedding Anniversary.

So young !

I wrote this piece last year on our 52nd Anniversary so I'm just updating it as I don't think many people got to read it  then It was on another blog.

It was a cool,gray, end of March kind of day in Watford , England and anyone who has lived in the British climate will know what I mean.But on this date March 26 1960( how far away that sounds) to two people very much in love  the sun was shining. It was our wedding day and at that time we would never realize that 52(55) years later , again the sun would be still be shining but for real as only it can do in Texas.(Actually it was cooler here today at only 60 degrees here this morning but now the sun is out and it will soon warm up again.)

Now we would be in a land far away, having  lived in England, Canada and now in Texas. During that time we have bought different houses and cars , seen many different places , had our family and seen them grow up and expand to include new husbands and their families to add to all the happiness and sadness, hope and happenings and laughs that brings.
But on this special day we remember each other and our special day and it brings us joy .



I am forever thankful to Mike who I met on a beach in England , miles away from where I was living and thought this might be only a "summer holiday romance" Then I found out that he was also on a summer holiday and lived only a few miles from me and so the romance continues and still does today. I am extremely lucky to have met and married a man who makes me feel special, appreciated and loved.

Finally Spring...

Finally Spring...

Finally Spring....

The beautiful Bradford Pear trees in Spring

I guess Spring is my favorite season of the year but this year it was a long time coming here in North Texas. Usually we are getting signs as early as February but this year too many cloudy, cold and rainy days until this week when the weather started to actually look and feel like Spring.

We have only a few blossom trees in our yard but they are large and so make a great show especially against the blue sky.It just cheers you up to look at them.
The Bradford pear trees ,  an ornamental pear, grow easily and fast and tend to spread from suckers sent out by the root system so in some areas where there is adequate rain and sun spread too easily and are banned . Fortunately that is not the case here. I would certainly miss them.Such a pity as they really cheer up the yard not only in Spring but in Fall when they turn a beautiful red.

They do sometimes in the Spring give off a strange smell that isn't very pleasant but it attracts lots of small bee like creatures so you know that's a sure sign other plants will soon be out in flower.

St Patrick's Day 2015

St Patrick's Day 2015

St Patrick's Day 2015

We didn't get dressed up in our green clothing or pixie shoes this year as we had no guests coming and we were not going anywhere special but we did remember the day.I was wearing a sage green shirt  as I wanted to work out in the garden but that was more by luck than by judgement.MIke said his pixie shoes were a little tight now!

Mike poured our pre lunch drinks and came up with 2 very Irish drinks, a Bailey's cream  for me , and a nice brown Guinness for him. It was a nice treat to sit out on the patio in the sun for a change- it has been cold and rainy so far this month with very little "sitting" sunshine.

Then MIke made one of his interesting Irish lunches and one of my favorite meals - Colcannon. This is a very Irish dish made with potatoes ( I bet you guessed that,) , cabbage, butter and milk and then an added meat . WE had ham in our meal this time.It doesn't sound too interesting but I find it delicious.

Can you see the shamrock I added from HP Sauce?

I looked up the origins of this dish and found out it actually was served more often at Halloween. It also should have charms mixed in that were  supposed to tell your future for the next year. A button signified you would continue to be a batchelor, A thimble- a spinster, a ring - you would get married and a coin - you would become wealthy. It didn't say what would happen if you swallowed one by mistake.
The other strange custom was to hang a sock  full of colcannon on your front door and the first man that entered would become your husband!

I forgot Moch's Painting

I Forgot Mocha's painting.

 I Forgot the Painting  of Mocha.

Mocha , watercolor portrait.

If anyone comes to my house they will see various paintings of cats and dogs throughout the house. Each painting is of one of our pets that has already passed on to the land beyond the rainbow bridge. I try to paint each one as soon as I can as it is a great help to me when I loose a much loved pet.

Mocha passed on just before Christmas 2014 and so it wasn't until just after Christmas that I had time to paint her portrait and then Mike put it in a frame for me. So now it is hanging on the wall with Pug and Robbie and Blue Cat and all the others.

She would have loved to sit outside in the sun today . It was that kind of day!

Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffry Archer

Be Careful What You Wish For

by Jeffry Archer

This is the 4th book in the Clifton Chronicles  series and it certainly helps if you have read the previous books that deals with the saga of the Clifton and Barrington families during the period of the late 19th century and the early and mid 20th century in Britain.

This book open on a dramatic incident when parents, Emma and Harry Clifton are rushing to the bedside of their son Sebastian who has been involved in a car accident. Later it is found out the accident has been caused by their past enemy, Don Pedro  Martinez who appeared in the book 3.

The plot line throughout the book continues on a similar theme; Don Pedro is out to avenge the wrong done to him by the Barringtons and nothing will stop him.

He arranges for the new liner being built by the Barrington shipping line to be high jacked during its building by a gang of IRA thugs and almost bankrupts the shipping line.He is finally outed but not before a plan is set up to bomb the maiden cruise of the new liner. This book ends just as the bomb is set and the reader is left wondering and now waiting until the author pens the next book in the series to find out just what happened.

Was this the end of the Clifton and Barrington families?

Is this the last we shall hear of Don Pedro Martinez.

A soap opera in book form but very readable.

"Clouds" - challenge painting

"Clouds" - challenge painting

'Clouds" acrylic  20"x13"

This was the challenge for the  February Monthly Challenge Painting  on Face book and I looked forward to this  subject as I have always like looking at clouds . 
We usually don't get many clouds in the area I live as the skies are often just blue with very whispy type clouds if any at all. Sometimes like today, so many low lying clouds they have all joined together and blanket the sky in grey.Not pretty to look at!

Just once in a while we do get a big storm rolling through with even the possibility of a tornado and then the clouds tend to be of the spectacular variety especially if you can catch them just immediately before or after the storm passes.That's when those wonderful photos of storms are taken.

I was wanting to paint  billowing storm clouds and I soon found out his was a hard job to capture . I checked out many photos to see if I could get into the feeling and felt that I just didn't get enough lightness in the painting.

Clouds  watercolor 13"x9"

So I tried again with another painting this time in watercolor as I thought it would be easier to get the light shining through using this medium.  I remembered the cloud in Oregon and remembered how overall grey the scene was so that's how I painted it with blowing clouds and grey skies. 

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates

Carthage is the name of the town  in New York where this book takes place. It tells the story of a  well respected, loving couple and their two daughters Juliet ( the pretty one) and Cressida ( the odd and unusual one). It is a loving family but within the family are misunderstanding between the sisters and sibling rivalry. Into the family comes a young man Brett, who falls in love with Juliet , becomes engaged to her and then become a soldier who goes off to fight in the Iraq war. He comes back as a very disturbed and disabled man.The wedding is called off.

Soon after , the younger now 19. rather  odd daughter Cressida  goes missing and Brett is   thought to have had something to do with this . He is suspected of  murdering her. Under pressure he confesses. But why would he do this?

This could have been the end of the story but it is really just the start and continues with the telling of an intriguing story  with great writing and character description. By the end of the book you feel that you know this family.and  the justice and jail system . You can also understand a great deal about how a bad incident can change family dynamics and lead to many conclusions.Some wrong.

A very detailed book with good emotional understanding of people and their actions.