365/183 Grumpy

mmm, writing this a couple of days late but did have the word in mind on Sunday and should have a few pictures to illustrate..we had a nice day that day really, 1st July ..we left our lovely Holiday Inn in Lille and headed for Arras where I had read of a monument to the lost men of the Battle of the Somme. Colin is an avid watcher of most things wartime and I also wanted to see one of the cemeteries for myself.

 When we arrived the road was cordoned off as there was a music festival close by, so as we walked up the road, the oldest swingers in Arras, it was about the same time that Kate was queueing for T4 on the Beach at wet (grumpy?) Weston-super-Mare!




..one of twelve or more lstings of names

 

Well the Memorial was huge, listing the names of almost 36,000 men who lost their lives in 1916/7 at Arras.  It looked as if it had been recently cleaned and I wondered how many more cleanings the names would survive as some were fading almost into the stone..Panel after panel of names, so poignant, so similar a feeling to the Vietnam memorial we visited in Washington years ago, every name a son.

 




Detail..

 

..the upkeep of the memorial and the cemetery behind is fantastic and this was a fairly small one I understand.. I have included this written panel as it details the events at Arras and the unbelievable numbers of men lost... the life expectancy of a pilot in 'bloody' April 1917 fell from three weeks to 17 and a half hours..

So... no reason to be grumpy in our 21st century comfort , given a nudge as to the lives lived almost a hundred years ago..

..so we headed north to Calais and our ferry home.  Sadly we had a two hour wait and then a cold ferry with minimal services available (we had to be loaded as freight being a large van and there were no tourist facilities open.. )..

.. the view to Dover wasn't very happy and then the drive to Sevenoaks for a lacklustre hotel doesn't take long to feel a grump coming on.. and when internet costs at £16 a day (vs free in the same brand hotel across the Channel) and I can't get blogging..bah humbug..

... xxx

365/182 Gothic

.. To be sure I even looked this up.. sitting in a square beside a fountain in the twon centre of Lille.. the definition was very specific, architecture / French etc etc.. so all I had to do was look around!  We also went into  large church in the town, St Maurice, there were some amazingly Gothic looking parts to photograph.. and so many confession boxes, we smiled a lot as we reckon we would both be in there a long time if we had to confess all our 'sins'!!

I have also taken a bunch of other nice photos but I am saving some of them for a barren day when all I see is the inside of our office!

365/181 Silhouette

We spent the day .. well half of it.. eating!  We got up late-ish, breakfast (and Col is a recent convert to chocolate croissants) and then to see the guys again, but with a barbecue lunch for one of their birthdays.. it was good to show them our kit and talk more about business but we were back at hotel with a bottle of wine in the sun by 4.30 and hurrah for being an hour ahead, it stays warmer later!


ooops. didn't notice my finger there!



Needless to say my blog words may be somewhat slurred and Col is resting his eyes on a lounger by the pool.. it's a hard life but someone has to do it...

365/180 Free choice.. and no cooking..

.. to be fair these are the croissants I ate as we left home on Wednesday but they reflect that we are 'in France' ... ferry crossing was uneventful, baring that I hated having to walk between huge lorries in the car deck as we were classed as 'freight'being in a big van..

..we spent the day Thursday travelling over and then down to Lille to meet our French resellers and a new one from Belgium too.. it promised to rain but in fact never did, but was soooo hot, and Col works so hard explaining stuff and being so positive with these guys!  the day ended late with a fab meal at our Holiday Inn and a super comfy bed to boot.. just what we ordered after the tired sloping bed from the night before!!

365/179 Weathered

.. amazed I have managed a connection here at our hotel, so trying to blog speedily.. and send some pics for 'your enjoyment'..haha

'Weathered' .. I picked up the prompt en route to our stay in Hythe Weds eve but didn't manage to find a pic for the day.. sure made up for it as we queued for the ferry in Dover.. the pic we took on the ferry is rather tired, through a sea swept window but I liked it because there was a new piece of slippage, which you can see as very 'white' and it appealed to my geology brain..xx

365/178 Still life.

Short note today but must say thanks to everyone for their kind comments about Col.. his ego is boosted ..xx  We head off tomorrow so I am hoping to pick up the prompts on my

phone and at least enter something.. even if it's just a picture entry without being linked until I get back Monday.. so pop back and see if I manage it..

Still life...randomly took some pics around the house in last ten minutes (manic trip to town, shops and then extra five people here for tea tonight... well timed given I should be ironing or packing.. but hey, we are taking a van so maybe I'll just throw half my wardrobe and all my shoes I own in a box!!  )  ...and I even tried out a bunch of bananas..but settled for our growing family of meerkats and figures.

The sailor meerkat was JB's gift to Zac to celebrate his first sea phase at Christmas, the Aviator is Col's as homage to his fondness for the Battle of Britain stories .. oh and the diver figure was a present Col had many years ago .. it has a skull face inside and the helmet is gold plated.. not many of these about, but the irony was that when he was given the figure the same guy owed him quite a bit of money and things were toght and he would sooner have had the money!!  I think he would sell it given the chance but it is a piece of his history, not many people have walked on the bed of the North Sea have they, albeit in more modern kit!

(couldn't decide which picture, with or without flash!)

365/177 Sizzling!

Well if we are running a poll for most helpful photo prompt husband my Col will be the winner today for sure! After tea I was pondering the word of the day and he told me to shut up, relax and stop finding something to worry about... okay .. so I did..

.. just browsing some emails a while later and Col suddenly pipes up..he has a solution! Laughing I follow him with my camera ready on my phone.. across a flooded yard in my flip flops...

Col leading the way, unlocking the workshop, turning on lights.. and carrying a baking tray.....we donned safety glasses (got to do things properly!) and then he heated up a piece of metal and plunged it into the baking tray of water... truly sizzling!!!

Yeah, he was what I'd call a good egg.. funny, last week I'm sure it wouldn't have happened, I was so grumpy.. which comes first though,,the end of the grump or the betterhumoured husband!??.. ahh it's better now, who cares!

365/176 Pleasure

Well we are almost half way through the year's challenge, I missed a couple of weeks early on but try not to think of that too much, though my mind would feel a little 'tidier' if I knew I had done the ones at the begining.. keep busy and I may forget!

I wonder how we'll all end up by the day 366, it's really nice following other people's days along the way, the smiles and the frowns and the big events and the little ones too..as Anne says I do hope we can do something next year too.. maybe if Suzie's creative juices are at the bottom of the glass us stalwarts could take on a theme or month each.. would be interesting to see what everyone thinks.. I know several of you are pals on UKS  so I'm not sure what you did before this..

 

'Pleasure' .. well today's pleasures are simple ones after a hectic day yesterday, a lay in and then few chores, nip to the shop for bits and now a little blogging while we watch the F1.. this evening holds the promise of some wine and an early night.. ready for a busy week coming up.  Col and I are heading for France to visit a company who sell our kit, we've dealt with them for a good few years but this is our first visit there.. over in Lille, almost Belgium.  The idea was to fetch Kate on the way back, as she is off to T4 next weekend, the pop beach event, but after much planning I remembered our new van only has two seats!! Doh!  So Ross says he'll get her, he likes a road trip!

Picture for today is our Lyla yesterday enjoying a cupcake.. she loves food, especially when it is exactly the same as everyone else is eating, not cut up, not small pieces.. ...oh and this one of Lilly last summer just loving the fruit salad!

365/175 Nature

Before I left home today Zac called from Sydney and we caught up on all his news.. he says it's quite cool out there but almost always nice when they get to the South Pacific islands.. it's so good we can speak so easily, so different to when my childhood friends brother was in the Merchant Navy and just seemed to disappear unheard of for months on end.

Well the weather held out and Mazey Day was great; well, too many people for our liking but fine weather, some lovely processions and for me the best bit is seeing people I haven't seen in ages... kind of just what I need with the mood I've been in... yes, the grey cloud has lifted, at leats enough for me to have seen the fun in being out getting wet this evening!

I met my cousin Julie which was nice (I think  and then a girl from school just two other girls from our year walked past..and some friends who have kids the same ages as ours.. its so funny how we all seem to swap stories of our children's current whereabouts.. maybe it's the way us pre-Facebookers are..

I brought the girls home for a bit while M&D had a few hours 'off', I enjoy doing it even though sometimes it is a little hectic, it's a kind of pay-it-forward thing as I really appreciate now what our Mum's did for us.. and with five of them!!

Usually we hang out at ours and its a gradual deterioration into chaos before they go home, but today a pal was having a bit of a birthday thing on an old piece of restored Railway so we set off to say hello.. it was fun too.. me and Col juggling the girls, Lilly being extra confident asking all  kinds of questions from complete strangers she now reckoned should tell her everything and a train ride to boot! 

In the car park (which was quite a run back in the pouring rain) we spotted a proud peacock and I thought he's make a nice 'Nature' picture for today..

Lilly asked Col why he had a hole in his sock and she looked so hurt when I told her it was because I was a 'rubbish wife'... so she made me a card later to show me I wasn't!

I asked her later if she was hungry.. 'Just hungry for a drink'... howabout milk?...'Milk would be lovely'.. awhh Lilly, you are gorgeous.... 'Yes, I know'.............she cracks us up!

365/174 Sunshine?..Every cloud..

..what a miserable day..(Thursday).. grey rainy summer evenings can be so draining.. I had hardly any enthusiasm for anything and when I got in from work I sat down to chat to JB and grabbed a blanket to warm me up.. next thing I knew it was almost seven, I'd been asleep and J had cooked our tea.. what a hunney!


Poor Col had no such rest, drainage works.. yeah 'nuff said' but he was just finishing off when I set out to fetch Kate home from her beau's house..this is the view across the yard.. (phone camera hence the rubbish quality for sky images at 9pm but I liked it..)

I have a little thing for light showing from behind the clouds, it reminds me that just out of reach our Mums are there, watching, waiting, reminding us that even when life is grey here, then we should be thankful for whatever has been and whatever is coming soon.

I was chatting about that, about the summer barbecues and cream teas we used to have, often at Col's Mum's instigation and this time of year I often find myself missing having the older ladies about to nudge us into a 'bit of a do'... I know it's down to me now but the girls aren't just ready to play my role yet..

(Fri) I have been really quite mis' the last few days, it seems it's not only me though, and I do wonder if it is the weather.. but also I think, although I am nowhere near having an 'empty nest' then I am suffering the 'empty nest syndrome'.. I really miss the time with JB, fetching and carrying her, listening to her laughs and woes as she comes or goes from work or college, ... now she drives herself it's not quite the same listening in between ironing and making tea..

Kate is getting pretty self sufficient and well Ross, he is doing his thing.. I fell upon a pic of Zac last night, taken on the boat the other day and I was surprised at the sudden 'missing him' feeling I had.. he too does his own thing but when he's here we all kind of hang out more and 'do things'.. perhaps, to be fair it was the sunshine day on the boat in the picture I am also hankering after.. or just the 'having everyone about' thing.. blah blah  

2011 Mazey Day

Anyways, it's festival time in this neck of the woods and tomorrow is Mazey Day, I should be meeting Lisa and we can show the girls the processions and the bands..

Lilly will love it and Lyla will hate the noise, but maybe will like it from the safety of my arms..I shall hope for warm (or at least an almost dry day) and perhaps don a maxi dress and join the myriads of people in their tie-dies and home made handbags..

I should really paint a few flowers on my cheek, get some John Lennon sunglasses and go fully incognito!  Maybe then I'd relax a bit and have some fun and stop being the miserable cow I have become the last week or so ...