Paths leading here and there

September 6, 2011September 6, 2011 / Dee / 13 Comments

I love beaches. I love winding pathways that could lead to the start of an adventure or a leisurely walk, you’re never quite sure just what you’ll find at the end. This one led onto South Beach in Miami, one lovely sunny day in early March.

Another March day, this time on Ile de Re and a path that led eventually to a little harbour and a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. Delicious!!

Finally, this one is closer to home, wild flowers from a path behind my sister’s house. Aren’t they just stunning?

Hope you enjoy my photographs too

Stunning Portofino

August 9, 2011August 9, 2011 / Dee / 3 Comments

Revisiting my Dream House

April 14, 2011April 14, 2011 / Dee / 2 Comments

This morning for some reason I can’t explain, I took a detour from my usual route into work. Most days I take the same route and my journey passes almost as though the car is on auto-pilot, although I like to think I am still in charge!

Today though, I found myself driving past my dream house.

I first saw this house in the late ‘80’s. The house was everything I had dreamt would be mine one day. The rooms were generous, with high ceilings and large windows, letting in lots of light. There was a large lawn with flower beds and trees at the back of the house. Behind a hedge, there was a vegetable garden and a small greenhouse in the corner with tomatoes and cucumbers growing inside. Beyond that, was a rough area with a compost heap and a huge water-butt to collect the rainwater, for use in the garden.

My boys were quite young then and I could see them playing in the garden with their friends; climbing the trees and running around chasing each other, having lots of fun.

I imagined entertaining our friends there too, with barbecues on lazy summer evenings, relaxing and chatting together, while our children played. There were enough bedrooms for family and friends to stay for weekends or even longer and the hall was the perfect place for the Christmas tree. I could see it, lights twinkling, baubles shining, presents stacked beneath its boughs, waiting to welcome everyone to our home for Christmas.

My husband thought the house was too big; the gardens too time consuming and the work that would be needed on the building, daunting in the least. He couldn’t begin to see the potential that I saw that first day. Yes it would take time and money, and yes we would have to employ a builder, as neither of us is much good at DIY, but it would be worth it. We would have a home we would love.

We made an offer for the house, just below the asking price. “You never give them what they ask for first time,” my husband said when I begged him to give the owners the price they wanted. I was surprised how much I wanted this house.

But this was the time of gazumping. Prices jumped not by hundreds, but in some cases by thousands of pounds. And so it was for us. Our offer was rejected, so we offered the asking price, it was rejected again. We increased our offer and had it rejected yet again. We went as far as we could and after much anger and tears on my part, we realised that the house would not be ours.

We eventually found another house we liked and we have been there ever since. It is quite old and has lots of similar features, a beautiful garden that the family enjoy, but for me it has never had that certain charm that the other house had.

Today, as I stood and looked at the house from across the road, I thought it looked tired. The windows had not been replaced and now were badly in need of a coat of paint. One of the gates had come of its’ hinges and was hanging at an awkward angle. The hedge, once so neatly trimmed, was overgrown and parts of it trailing on the pavement. It had a look of neglect about it that I found upsetting.

As I got back in my car, an elderly man came round the corner with a newspaper under his arm. He walked slowly towards the house. I watched as he stopped and stared at the gate, before going in through the front door. Surely he wasn’t the same, rather dapper professor, who had taken us round his home all those years ago, pointing out his favourite flowers and proudly showing us round his greenhouse?

He was about the right age. But if it was him, what happened 25 years ago? Why did the sale fall through? Did the owners change their mind? I’ll probably never know.

I felt quite sad for a moment, but then very annoyed with myself. I have been very lucky. I have a happy, healthy family, good friends and a very nice home. I drove off hoping that, regardless of whatever had happened all those year ago, the old professor had been happy, living in my dream house.

Wedding vows lost in translation?

October 28, 2010October 28, 2010 / Dee / 2 Comments

Should you decide that you want your wedding, or the renewal of wedding vows, to take place somewhere more exotic than the local church or registry office, the sun kissed, palm-fringed, beautiful beaches of the Maldives must score highly under the heading of paradise on earth.

But, if this is something you are planning or know someone who is, then a word of caution – make sure you know what you are saying “I Do” to!

The news of the couple who thought they were being blessed but instead were sorely abused by a ranting celebrant, came to light after a video of the renewal of their vows was posted on You Tube; ironically as a joke by an employee of the hotel where the even took place, who obviously never gave a thought to the seriousness of the consequences of his actions.

Sight of the video has caused outrage among the government and hoteliers of the Maldives, reliant as they are on the currency generated by the tourist trade. Apologies have been made to the couple involved, together with an offer of compensation. Quite right too.

Perhaps, when we go abroad to marry or renew our vows, we should take the relevant translation with us, just to be on the safe side.

A morning in the attic – up to my knees in memories

August 26, 2010August 26, 2010 / Dee / Leave a comment

This all came about because my OH couldn’t find the black luggage label. The label is one of two we purchased in a little shop in Jasper, three years ago; it is made of black leather, with a cut out of the first letter of our surname in a contrasting pink leather – sounds a bit OTT, but trust me, it looks very smart when attached to one end of a piece of luggage. And different. I have never seen any more like them anywhere. I found the other one, the pink one with the black letter, but there was no way he was going to take that one with him on his trip!

I thought perhaps it had got inside one of the other bags and said as much, which was a mistake and resulted in an attic search on Saturday. Our attic, like most I guess, is the respository for things that don’t quite fit anywhere else, or you can’t quite bring yourself to throw out. Like luggage which takes up far too much room to be stored anywhere else; an old artificial Christmas tree, which gets a revamp every year and placed in the porch and all the decorations that adorn the “real” tree when it comes, various tins, boxes, bags, records, my old hockey stick, a pair of crutches (??) the list goes on.

So, rather begrudgingly, I took myself off to the attic, armed with a couple of bags for sorting the rubbish and my phone in case there was an emergency and I was needed (please) and the thought I would catch up with my twitter friends if I got bored! That worked out well, until I realised I was spending a little too much time tweeting and not enough time sorting!

I checked the luggage and found the black tag, yes! That is when I should have stopped and gone downstairs triumphantly with the find, but I didn’t because underneath the oldest of the bags, was a pile of photographs. And so I started going through them. Big mistake, huge.

You remember those pre-digital days, when we took snaps on rolls of film we bought at the chemist or supermarket, wound carefully onto the spool in the camera, away from bright light in case we damaged it? Then when we had finished the roll, it rewound, if you had the latest camera; or you had to rewind by hand, turning for ever until the film was wound back into its’ case. Then you took it out and handed it in to be developed. You waited with bated breath, hoping that the photograph you had taken of your grandmother’s 80th birthday party, with all those relatives you had never met before, turn out OK as they all want a copy as a keepsake. Well, there were envelopes full of photos like that!

Photos of my children on their first bikes, at the beach, on a slide, running in the egg and spoon race; a birthday party with a cake in the shape of a fire engine all red icing with white ladders on the top; school outings and new uniform days, the first day of “big school” all wide-eyed and anxious; scrubbed within an inch of their lives, ready for whatever was coming their way.

There were photos taken at friends weddings – why did I ever think I would look good in an outift like that? It is the clothes that date the photographs more so than the people, who somehow manage to stay more or less looking like they always have. Then the babies started to come along and there are piles of photos of them. Then, from somewhere at the bottom of the pile I found photos of my parents. They have both gone now, but looking at them, laughing into the camera lens, on holiday in Ibiza, the Yorkshire Dales or the Scottish highlands brought tears to my eyes and I remember them more clearly seeing the photographs, than I ever do just thinking about them.

I spent a long time in the attic. My knees were sore and I only had a small pile of rubbish to show for my morning’s work, but there were lots of happy memories

A busy weekend in Spain

July 19, 2010July 19, 2010 / Dee / 1 Comment

We spent a lovely weekend in Estepona, an unusual choice perhaps,but we were looking for somewhere a bit different and off the tourist radar. The hotel Kempinski backs onto the beach and was a lovey place to stay. After a day out and about, it was great to come back to a relaxing spa treatment before leaving later in search of some local food.

The local people were very friendly and welcoming, the food in the local restaurants was amazing. We had seafood platters ladened down with everything you could wish for, fresh bread and olives, delicious tapas dishes and some very drinkable local wine.

On Saturday we had decided to visit Gibraltar and whether you agree or disagree with its’ownership, it is well worth a visit. We joined the long queue of traffic snaking out of Spain waiting to cross into Great Britain (weird) and once we found a car park we set off to epxlore.

The main shopping street was crowded, bustling with people looking for duty free bargains and there were loads to choose from, Cameras, wine, spirits, makeup, tobacco, electrical goods, practically everything you could think of.

We decided to leave the crowds and head off up the rock. Before we had gone too far, we found the Barbary Apes, or rather they found us! Stealing crisps and chocolate and running off with their prizes was quite good fun it seemed. The views from the rock were stunning and well worth the climb. If you don’t feel up to the long walk, you can take the cable car to the summit.

On Sunday, we were up early to go up to Ronda. It is short drive north of Marbella and we were last there about 15 years ago. I am glad to say that it was still as beautiful as I remembered it. The drive up to Ronda and view looking back down into the gorge, is incredibly hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t been there.

Ronda was one of the last Moorish cities to fall during the re-conquest of Spain by the Catholic Monarchs. In 1485, the Crusaders took one look up the cliffs and decided it would be impossible to attack, so they cut off the water supply instead. Once the garrison guarding the water was taken, the city fell in 7 days. The town is now a must on the tourist trail, but it is so worth the effort to go there. A truly wonderful place.

The Convict in my tree – Part 1

June 27, 2010 / Dee / 1 Comment

I started researching my family tree almost ten years ago and today, like thousands of other people across the world, I am still trying to find my story; where I came from and what shaped me. I started where all good ancestry researchers should, with my living relatives. From them I got a lot of basic, necessary information like dates and places of birth and names of spouses etc which was a great place to start.

As I built my family tree, with more and more information gleaned from various sources, not least of which was ancestry.co.uk a story from my childhood kept coming back and niggling at the back of my mind. My paternal grandmother was a great storyteller; I used to sit at her feet enthralled, listening to stories ranging from fairies at the bottom of my grandfather’s allotment to the tale of the man who, being wrongfully accused of a very, very bad crime, was sent far, far away from his family and friends to a desolate place across the sea, never to return. I remember my sister and I having very bad dreams about him and my mother telling us not to fret as it was only a story and not true.

Over the years my research dragged on. Then one day, I got a letter from my aunt, in response to a plea for help with the seemingly endless list of children borne to my great grandparents. She listed all the children that she knew of and then, at the bottom of the last page, mentioned just how bad life had been for some people in those days and gave as an example, the visits made to Lancaster Castle by female members of my great great grandmother’s family. She had been told the stories as a little girl, about women walking miles to vist a male relative imprisoned in the jail there.

This must be the man in my grandmother’s story. He was real! I knew then that I wouldn’t rest until I had found out all Icould, I just had to know who this man was and if indeed he was one of my ancestors…………….(to be continued)

That Friday feeling…….

June 4, 2010 / Dee / Leave a comment

That’s the only trouble with Bank Holidays, it is lovely to have a day off from work, but then, for the remainder of the week you are playing catch up, trying to cram 5 days work in to 4. And, suddenly, it’s Friday again!

I have to admit that I do love Fridays. It is a feeling that has stayed with me from my schooldays, leaving school and getting on the bus to go home, lots of chatter about what people had planned for the weekend. In summer it was especially nice, the anticipation of two whole days off, staying up later, being allowed to go into town to meet up with friends and the joy of shopping, when you had a bit of pocket money or birthday money to spend.

Friday evenings were also the time my sister and I would go to the little sweet shop across the street, to spend the money our grandmother had left for us. She called in every Friday to see mum and left some money for us for sweeties! We had such a selection to choose from: Refreshers, Smarties, Fizzers, McGowans Highland Toffee (anyone remember them?) there were Gobstoppers, Aniseed Balls, Rainbow Drops, Liquorice Twists, Butterscotch Tablets, Punch Bars (do they still make them?) Fruit Salad Chews…the list seemd endless. We would buy as much as we could, quantity over quality every time, then go home and put everything on the table and share it out. Trouble was, my sister’s share would last her all weekend and mine was gone by Saturday!!

Even now, the sense of something to look forward to is still there; Fridays for me, are still the best evenings to meet up with friends; for a drink after work, for a trip to the theatre or cinema or a meal somewhere. Or just chilling at home, relaxing after a hectic week, knowing that you can switch off the alarm and have a lie in if you want one.

So, I’m off home to pour myself a cool glass of wine, sit in the garden and relax. Hope you all enjoy your Friday and have a great weekend!

Just saying………..

May 16, 2010December 6, 2011 / Dee / Leave a comment

I feel that I should blog something, but some days it isn’t easy. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say or share but sometimes I wonder if anyone is going to find what I do blog remotely interesting.

We are just back from holiday, so I guess I am still missing the relaxing, warm sunny days spent in Sicily, where we had a terrace almost to ourselves. We sat there most days after breakfast just looking out to sea and the view along the coast to Giardini Naxos. We went there one day in search of the archeological site that the brochure said was on the headland. It wasn’t that simple. We used TomTom (so glad I took it with us, would have been lost without it) and got to most places, except the rather well hidden ancient ruins at Giardini Naxos.

We stopped near some policeman and I got out of the car to ask for directions, in my best night school Italian! It was only when I got back in the car, with full directions, that it hit me that they had been fairly heavily armed! They were just standing there, laughing and talking in the narrow street when we drove past them, perhaps it was their lunch break!

I really enjoyed the food while we were away, I think the mediterranean diet is fantastic. Olives, tomatoes, crusty bread, fish soup, red wine…….I’m not sure that it totally fits in with my healthy eating plan and it isn’t the same without the sunshine.

We came home and the election still hadn’t been resolved, much to my OH’s delight as he couldn’t watch any tv whilst away, we only had CNN and the coverage was awful. So I watched the show unfold from Westminster while everyone waited for Nick Clegg to make up his mind. I had to smile at some of the reports coming in of a Rainbow Alliance and a Celtic Revival; then Gordon Brown catching them all on the hop by going off to see the Queen to tender his resignation. “The Likely Lads” then had to rush to get their act together before David Cameron could go and “kiss hands” with the monarch and accept her invitation to form a new government.

I don’t envy them their task when they have to relay to us the horrors they find when George Osbourne turns the key and opens the Treasury’s equivalent of Pandora’s Box!

I leave you with a couple of photos from my holiday, some wonderful Sicilian lemons which I found in the hotel bar and a view across towards Mount Etna which still had quite a bit of snow on the top. Ciao!

Down the Nile in style!

March 27, 2010March 27, 2010 / Dee / Leave a comment

For years we talked of taking a trip to Egypt – it’s been on the list for ages, you know the “let’s write down all the places that we want to visit and see how many we get to” list. It had to include a trip down the Nile though, to fulfill all those childhood tales of pharohs and pyramids, of desert and mystery!

After reading lots of brochures, talking to friends who had done similar trips and hearing their tales of things that had gone wrong, we decided to push the boat out (no pun intended) and we booked a holiday with Cox and Kings. We flew to Cairo and had two nights at the Mena House Oberoi hotel in Giza, I was told that I would be able to see the pyramids from there and was disappointed when we arrived to find I couldn’t see anything. “Wait till morning ma’am” said Mohammed our guide,” you’ll see pyramid”. As you will see from the photos, he was right and then some!

The Mena House is a fabulous hotel, standing in 40 acres of beautifully tended gardens, in the shadow of the great pyramids. I was proudly told by the duty manager that the hotel had entertained countless heads of state and many, many film stars and, looking around me, I could quite believe him. I had hoped that we would have a room in the old part of the hotel, but our garden wing room was just lovely. The staff were kind, courteous and very friendly and were delighted when they saw how pleased we were with everything.

We had a trip to the pyramids and learnt again all the things about them that we thought we already knew; the Museum in Cairo was unbelieveable. They have more artefacts stored in cupboards, cellars, spare rooms and under benches than they have officially on display. I have never seen so many ancient, beautiful treasures anywhere before. There is no air conditioning, or if there is it wasn’t working the day we visited and because of all the hundreds of people milling around, the place gets very, very hot. Then on the The Citadel. Standing on top of a limestone crag, looking out over the city of Cairo, the building takes your breath away. It was a governor’s pavillion many centuries ago, built to take adavantage of the cooling breezes that wafted round the hilltop; then Saladdin fortified it to prevent attacks by the Crusaders. Today, it houses many museums and is home to the Mohammed Ali Mosque. The views from the walls are quite spectacular.

Leaving Cairo behind, we flew to Luxor to join our boat the Oberoi Zahra . We were told that we would cruise the Nile in luxury and we did! The cabins were amazing and so was the freshly prepared food. There is a spa on board and a swimming pool on the top deck. There are just 25 cabins and 2 suites all with panoramic views of the Nile, the service was outstanding. An Egyptologist travelled with us and he led the daily excursions to the Temples of Luxor, Karnak, Dendara, and the Valley of the Kings. For seven wonderful days, we cruised from Luxor to Aswan, before flying back to Cairo for one night and then home. It is one of the best holidays I have ever had, that I would go again tomorrow says it all I think.