365/51 Fragile.

Well several of us in our house have been feeling rather fragile of late and that was my first thought when I saw this prompt but something kept coming to mind ... several of the challengers have gone off to find, or is that 'not find' little ornaments which have turned up a little broken....and again this came to mind.

Over twenty years ago, I think when my eldest daughter was born I bought a little frame with some money from my auntie... not sure how but the frame got broken really quickly but I felt gquite uilty about it and couldn't throw it away, so I put it back together, I think the photo. actually helped the parts stay together.. I moved twice since then and every year the photo frames get put away for the 'Christmas Dresser' to be done, and every year I wonder why I kept such a broken frame...

..I just took this picture and I amazed at how much more detail you can see in the photo when it is enlarged. It shows me and my Mum sitting outside our cottage where I grew up,  we appear to have our tidy clothes on so it must have been a Sunday!  I love seeing pictures of my Mum when she was young, so many of our memories are of our parents when they are older and less agile so it's nice to see her how my Dad must have seen her all those years ago.....and oh how like Lilly I looked...!

365/50 Fashion

Well there is so much I could say for this prompt.. and then I recall it's not a prompt for soapbox ranting, it is for a photo!

Our youngest is the most fashion conscious of our crowd, though she isn't a slave to it, knows what she likes. Sadly a full wardobe of what she liked in previous months is testament to what she liked then. She always loves to wear the latest purchase and last weeks bargain is often relegated pretty quickly!

As with so many these days she is a slave to the straightener and it is a long time since we saw her hair in its original state... but I did snap this example of the randomness her wet hair can make when we were on holiday. Come back the scrunched up look..(or does that date me!?)

365/49 Domestic

Well I think the only domestic thing I did yesterday was put on a wash before I went out. It was a great day!

I went to our monthly scrapbooking session, hung out and chatted with everyone and finished my New Year layout, loads of photos of the party and also fell in love with a weathered crackle effect to use on chipboard with acrylic paints. It rained almost all day, but had cleared by the time we left, so no problem to us.  Then we had out Chhristmas / 4th birthday eats at the Dolphin. Sadly a couple of our ladies couldn't be there but we agreed it was a nice social time and we should do it more often... maybe just to natter, or perhaps to see a film or a show.. x

My girl who loves to bake, and the other too had kind of trashed the baking cupboard so I asked for it to be tidied whilst I was out... mm, looks tidy, but still somewhat 'floury' to touch.. oh well if you want a job doing... get them to do it twice?

Today I have tried to make up for yesterady and have done lots more washing cyles, the ironing and tended the sick with breakfast, teas and tablets.. awhh. A soup is simmering for easy tea and back to school tomorrow so the status quo is restored... not actually a favourite state for any of us much.. x

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365/48 Abstract.

Not an easy word of the day for someone who likes her things symmetrical and with some kind of repeated form. I sit here on my sofa perusing a world where the tiles around my fireplace, the design on my wallpaper and on my carpet and front door are all versions of a rectangle.  Even my ornaments have rhythm and form, one side matching the other, no randomness to speak of in this little world of mine!  And it's not even something I try to do!


It really is quite revealing, rectangular mirrors and bookcases, diamond shaped nets of lights and circular decorative baubles...



I am waiting for Jordan to come home from her work and present me with one of her random examples of abstractness...



JB and her example of abstract-ism.



Kuramathi chairs!

It comes to mind something my scrapbook pal Linda once said when she saw me tearing a pair of papers across a Fiskars random edged ruler.. 'only you could tear in an organised fashion'.. though as I have shown before now on this blog I am not known for tidiness in the putting stuff away kind of manner ..x



And for the record, the most abstract photo I have..



Good day..

..JB had the ok from her dentist, he thought he had misread her teeth, he had forgotten she had a load out last year! Did a little shopping and back to the office for our customer visit. All good, phones quiet-ish and I played secretary, on tea and biscuit duty, but I can do more than that, honest!

Last night I wrote Zac an email as I thought it would be a little more for him than Facebook comments by his pals,  and I got a reply right back this morning, he's close to Mexico now and LA to swap passengers on Saturday. Sounding really perky and I think he's finding all the talking late into the evening with Col about ships and the sea pretty useful!

I took Col up on his offer of eating out this evening and we went for tea at the Dolphin, nice weather too, pretty mild and it was nice to chill out for an hour, looking forward to summery evenings again so we can wander the prom too.

(short interlude there as I went up to see what Kate is up to.. creaky floors.. Zumba to some alomst Indian music..)... and on the way down the stairs I spotted some of my oldest 'from my past items'... these pictures of little Dutch girls were a wedding present for my Mum and Dad in 1946., just after the war, the whole picture is made up of sweet silver papers.

I have them on my stairs and must take them a little for granted as didn't think of them for that challenge, but as it would have been Dad's 90th today I thought I'd post them now...

365/47 What's in my handbag...?

Funny prompt today and most of us in the challenge have produced picture of a jumble of items and I'm not going to be any different. Handbags are kind of security / comfort blankets for most of us I think, just knowing there are those things in your bag is enough, using them is leaping over another boundary altogether.

This is my list:
Car keys, usually both sets!
Wallet with latest receipts and various vouchers (50% out of date!)
Small dairy
Lists of wardrobe and pizza requirements!
Velvet glasses case, usually empty as glasses on head!, glass polish spray
Old tickets & small pack wet wipes (show visit with g,daughter)
3 packs chewing gum, various states of use
Pair gloves
Hairbrush
Pain killers
Cheque book.. yes, still have one
Lip balms, lipstick, 2 handcreams, eye pencil (backups, rarely used)
Small card from flowers Zac sent me when he was away for my birthday his first week at college...... awhhhh
...and a tiny 60 in gold from a pals birthday party couple years ago!

..

365/46 Bloom.

I was hoping that my orchid, which has been looking pretty forlorn since just after Christmas, no leaves to speak of and no flowers, would let the new buds open, but they are a law unto themselves and it will probably be March if current progress is anything to go by.

Then I wondered if I could use a less than obvious 'bloom' but to be honest today hasn't been very blooming marvellous at all, inspiration wise... I have had too many people emailing and calling me too many times, finished work late and as we are playing taxi to the teen who is working I declined an offer to eat out..

(anyway, pizza last night and far too many easy meals the past week made me feel guilty) so I set to and did salmon and veg, went down well, though Col and I are a bit tense, both ranting about almost unimportant stuff, rambling as much as ranting, but hardly relaxed.  (We have big customer visit tomorrow and lots on so hopefully the approaching weekend will help, not least of all for me as it is my scrapbook monthly meet on Saturday)

So what else.. Ross is settling in well, seems to be enjoying working a real week instead of a catering week where he leaves for work as we finish. He has been doing lots of manual stuff, partly as we like to tidy well before customers visit, a bit like painting before the Queen comes.. but also so he can get to grips with all the jobs which need doing around here. Next week he gets to be tidy himself and is out on some training and sales calls so that will be interesting and tiring in a completely different way for him! 

Just browsing my library and this is probably my best pic of a 'bloom', it is a delicate yet prolific flower we see on our holidays nd I just love the colour and the effect that real hot sun has on the quality of the pictures.

.. but wanted to remind myself also of a lovely layout I did of lots of the blooms a few years ago.. have to get my scrap head on again for Saturday or I'll spend the morning just vegging out and achieving nothing!