Sunday 29 April 2018

No Charge

Hello! 
I feel like I've been away from Blogland for ages.
I've had an issue with my laptop charger, as in it wouldn't charge my laptop.
Thankfully a new one was ordered and it was delivered yesterday.
Hurrah for that.
The amount of times I thought to myself 'oh I'll just look online and see......' and of course I couldn't.
First of all it was annoying and second it was surprising the amount of times I thought it, just goes to show how easy it is to find out what you need to know, it's all just a couple of clicks away. When the internet is accessible that is.
So here's a few days worth of goings on from when I last posted.

Friday 29th April is the birthday of Leslie Phillips. G bought me his autobiography for Christmas a few years back and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Mr. Phillips has such a distinctive voice and he has managed to make the word Hello well and truly his.
The long running Navy Lark is something I discovered through BBC radio 7 and  it was this programme on radio 4 I chose to listen to.



Saturday 21st was Tea Day. Let's face it there are hundreds of ways by which to celebrate this day. Holding a tea party, wearing a tea dress, trying a new variety of tea. I decided to bake a cake because after all tea and cake are a match made in heaven. I chose to make a banana and butterscotch loaf as I have had the recipe in my 'to try' pile for the longest time and it had been Banana Day on the 18th and so this tied in well.
Although it looks ok in the photo, it wasn't up to much and it's not one I shall be making again.



Although Sunday 22nd was Earth Day we had to wait until Wednesday evening for the activity we were going to do to mark the occasion.
We went along to our local nature reserve and took part on a bat walk. We learned about the bats we have living close by and as dusk fell we were able to see the bats flying around over the pond and just above our heads. It was fascinating stuff.
No photos of the evening, just one of the three of us as we set out from home.



On Monday I took myself up to bed a little earlier than normal and settled in with my book as it was World Book Night. This gave me the perfect opportunity to make sure I had enough time to finish off my latest read. 




When I was part of the library reading group we read The L Shaped Room which I did enjoy but I also found it a difficult read in places as it was set in the 1960s and attitudes towards certain members of society weren't at all accepting.
The Backward Shadow is the next part of the story and there is a third and final installment which I shall buy once I had read a few more of the books which are already sat waiting on my book shelves.

Tuesday was a fail. It was the birthday of Barbra Streisand and I had been planning something like this but I haven't found anything in the charity shops which I could use so this day will have to be set to one side for now and I'll try again.

Wednesday was Admin Professionals Day and as that's the work I do I emailed my lovely team of co-workers and asked if they would like to have a buffet for lunch so we could celebrate ourselves. We did and very nice it was too.

There's a little catching up for us to do for Thursday and Friday.
April 26th was Hug an Australian Day and I had a little craft project in mind for the three of us to do. S has youth club on a Thursday which means she's out at 6pm. Since going back to school this term she has been taking part in an extra science lesson on a Thursday which means by the time she came home there just wasn't time this week to do it. However with the youth club premises being used as a polling station next Thursday we'll be able to do a little craftiness then instead.
April 27th was Marine Mammal Rescue Day  S has dance each Friday and so again our time is limited. With this in mind I had planned for us to have a quick game of 'pin the fish on the sealion's nose' but unfortunately I had to work later than normal and so time ran away for us again.
It's set up ready for us to have a game this evening, once S comes back from the dance competition she's been at since 9.30 this morning.




28th April is known as Sardinian people's day. The flag features red and white and so I made sure I was wearing something with these colours and the bow on the side ties in with the blindfold.



To round off the weekend we shall we sitting down to watch The Seven Year Itch.
Today is the birth date of Tom Ewell which gives me the perfect reason for another viewing of this wonderful movie.
Mr Ewell plays the role of Richard Sherman, the neighbour to Marilyn Monroe's character known simply as The Girl.
When G and I went to New York as his 50th birthday gift from me the one and only thing I wanted to do was go and stand on the same spot of Marilyn. 
And I did! It was an absolute thrill to be somewhere when I knew she had once been. 


Thursday 19 April 2018

Ben, Bikes....

....but first up it's Eddie.
Eddie Cochran was a singer I heard plenty of in my childhood as my dad was a fan of his songs.
I bet there are a few of us who can sing along to C'mon Everybody and Summertime Blues.
Very sadly at the young age of 21 Eddie was killed in a car accident whilst on tour here in the UK on 17th April.
His style of guitar playing has been much admired by many musicians and so on Tuesday I borrowed this pin from G and wore it on my denim jacket.


Ben Hecht had a long and varied career using his creative writing talents.
Born in New York in 1894 he also passed away there on 18th April 1964 aged 70.
He wrote the play The Front Page which was adapted somewhat into the very fine romantic comedy His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell which G and watched together.
If you haven't seen this movie be warned you need to make sure you listen well as the dialogue is delivered at 100 miles an hour. 


Now today and Bicycle Day.
Although a bicycle does play a small part in it the origins for this day are related to something else quite different!
Not wanting to partake I decided it would be much more sensible to go along the bike route.
Call me boring if you will, I'd much rather that than the alternative.


Sunday 15 April 2018

12 Days.....

...... have passed since my last post.
This two week Easter school holiday has felt more like the six week summer break.
It seems like such a long time ago S was last at school.
Not that she agrees with me of course!

So what have we been up to.

With my family over on Easter Monday we found a way to mark Chocolate Mousse dayWednesday 4th was Vitamin C Day and easy to work celebrate with my daily glass of orange juice at breakfast time and then Thursday 5th was a fail.
I wanted to bake some biscuits for Star Trek first contact day but as we know school hols do have a tendency to cause plans to go awry and so this didn't happen.

Friday 6th was Tartan Day.
 I have been combing the charity shops for months hoping to find for a skirt suitable to wear, but all I could find were this type or worse (for me at least) tiny mini skirts.
In the end I went with changing into my PJs at the earliest opportunity!

.


Saturday 7th was a very important day in our home.
It was S Day. 
A little day out was planned but S woke with a sore throat and other cold symptoms brewing.
So the sensible thing was to put the original day out plans on hold and instead we stayed much more local and went out for a spot of lunch instead.
No photo of S from that day but here she is a week later feeling much better.



Sunday 8th was the slightly unusual Draw a Picture of a Bird Day.
So we did just that.
From left to right we have S's owl with huge hypnotic eyes, my grumpy looking chick and G's most excellent (non specific breed) bird.


G and I were also busy at the weekend completing another jigsaw.
This time it was Vintage transportation.
In the bottom right hand corner is a double decker bus, it's a shame the flash has blocked it out.


The coronation of Henry V took place on 9th April 1413. 
Many centuries ago Southampton was surrounded by walls to defend the town from would be invaders. We made a trip to Westgate which once led directly to the quay and through here in 1415 some of Henry V's army marched on their way to the battle of Agincourt.


10th April was Sibling's Day It just so happened that T was round to see us that evening and I asked both he and S if I could take a photo of the together, explaining the significance of date.
Both refused for the same reason. Neither were happy about how their hair was looking!
What are they like.
Instead I shall post a photo from when those things weren't an issue!



For years Dan Maskell was the voice of Wimbledon and 11th April was the date he was born.
Before I went off to work G and I did something simple and a little silly for this day.



S came to meet me after I had finished work as we had a couple of return to school purchases to make and in the shopping centre we came across a display of eggs which had been decorated my local primary schools.
This rabbit was my favourite.



The reaction you get from people when you mention Marmite, as in love it or loathe it and not much in between, was repeated whenever I mentioned that Thursday 12th was Liquorice Day.
I happen to love it and so was very happy to partake in celebrating with a sherbet fountain and it's (much smaller than they used to be) liquorice stick dipper.


Friday 13th was Scrabble Day. With G on a late shift and S out at dance there was no-one at home to have a game with so that day passed me by for the time being.

I decided to cheat a little when it came to 14th and 15th April and have one event mark both days and yesterday on a walk into town we detoured past two buildings which played their part in the event.

Admiralty House housed the Post Office headquarters and this building is situated not far from where RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on 10th April. I've never seen the movie Titainc but I understand this building features in it.



Titanic struck the iceberg on 14th April and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later in the early hours of 15th April.

Further along the same road is Canute Chambers where the White Star company had their offices.
As the plaque explains it was here that local people came to wait for information regarding their loved ones as many inhabitants of our City were employed working on board this ship.





Wednesday 4 April 2018

In The Pink

When I was planning my schedule of April days I decided I would give myself a little time off over the Easter weekend.
Thursday was another easy brooch day to mark the date in 1886 when John Pemberton brewed the first batch of the drink which would become known the world over as Coca Cola.

Having taken Friday off it was then onto some heavy construction work on Saturday.
Pink wafer biscuits and icing sugar were pressed into action to help us build our own version of the Eiffel Tower. This was to celebrate the date when after more than 2 years of building work Paris' famous landmark was complete.



Easter Sunday I took myself off for a walk over the bridge to St Mary's church.
As I mentioned a post or two ago I have been researching my family tree.
I decided to start with my dad's family and the earliest relatives I can find are George and Sarah both of whom were born in the late 1790's. 
They had a son George, who in turn had a son named Henry.
Henry had a son name Albert and his son William was my grandad.
I found out that Sarah was buried on 01/04/1838 and so I decided to go and leave some flowers for her. The church which stands today is not the one she would have known as that one fell into disrepair.
It would seem so many of my relatives lived and worked in this area of the city and so by leaving the flowers I wasn't only remembering Sarah but all those whose lives I am slowly uncovering.


If you read yesterday's post about the chocolate mousse then you'll know that we had my family over on Monday for food and games.
With G's help I was able to recreate the Pinterest plastic umbrella and pom pom idea as a little April showers display above the buffet lunch I had set out.
I was really pleased with the way it turned out.


Tuesday 3 April 2018

Good Clean Fun?


We've had a lovely long Easter weekend which ended with having my family over for food and games.
As you can see by the state of my sister T the last game we played involved chocolate mousse.
This game is for two people and both have to wear blindfolds.
Standing facing each other, but at arms length away, one feeds the other as much chocolate mousse as possible within 1 minute.
I guarantee watching this game will have you in stitches.
My mum was paired up with my sister C and repeatedly fed her mousse into her left armpit!
I don't think there could possibly be a better way to mark Chocolate Mousse day.