Window on Wednesday...the last one for 2010

I really like this window...the soft sandy colour of the wood....the blue and white cloth used for a curtain adds a touch of serenity...

Remembering my New Granny - 23rd December 1913 - August 1990

Christina - Smith - Mrs Mac

I met my New Granny for the first time at the age of four....she lived in Natal when we lived in Johannesburg...because of some family differences (there were always differences in our family at one time or another) our meeting was delayed. I remember my NG's house was filled with animals of none sort or another...her house always smelled of fresh lavender...my NG's favourite herb...when she died, my father and I found brown paper packets full of lavender, stuffed in amongst her underware, sheets and blankets.. I remember opening her fridge and smelling toffee...she gave me a houshold tip..."I always sprinkle a few drops of vanilla essence on the wipe down cloth after I have cleaned the fridge...that's what makes it smell like toffee!"

My NG always looked her best even when she was feeling her worst, she never grumbled about anything (though she had plenty to grumble about) and I never heard say anything bad about anyone. Her hands were always busy with something, be it knitting, sewing or gardening. When she wasn't doing any of that she was reading...she was never bored and I was never bored when I visited with her.

Happy Birthday Gran...in my heart always...

Window on Wednesday...

Nearly did not make it this week...our internet connection has been really bad....

The Girls....aka " The Ugly Sisters"...

These squares of fabric have been lounging in my fabric box sinice way back when...having gained some confidence drawing faces I thought I would give it a go here...sadly though I may have lost my way as I think I have created a collection of "Ugly Sisters"!

Window on Wednesday

The Windmills of Your Mind

Words & Music by Alan & Marilyn Bergman & Michel Legrand

Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,

Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel,

Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon

Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon,

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,

And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space,

Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own,

Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone,

Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream,

Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream,

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,

And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space,

Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head;

Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that I said?

Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand;

Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?

Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragments of a song,

Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?

When you knew that it was over, were you suddenly aware

That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair?

Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,

Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel,

As the images unwind, like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind.

It's December....again!!

There are many reasons why December is a great month....
I was born in this month...
My granny was born in this month..her birthday, when she was here on this earth, was the day after mine..
Then there's Christmas day...a very different kind of day for me now...
Another year is almost at an end...a sign of new beginnings...new things to come...new adventures to experience...

As the years pass I seem to spend more time thinking back to when I was really young..when we lived in a flat on Sunny Ridge....when we used to have a real Christmas tree with pine needles that pricked my hands when placing decorations on it....when my father left a glass of milk and a plate of biscuits under the tree on Christmas eve for Father Christmas...when I was so excited I could not sleep...when I waited impatiently for my old granny and grampa to arrive on Christmas morning....I can hear her now as she came into the kitchen from the car on  the drive ...."come on chummy" that was her name for my grampa....he would be following her laden with bags filled with gifts and cake tins one of which had the Christmas cake in it...poor old grampa how he managed all the parcels is still a mystery...everything seemed to be so easy in those days...

This we will spend a very quiet Christmas together, my dearly beloved and I...it will be good for our souls...no mad rushing here and there getting caught up in the madness of the silly season...

Window on Wednesday

These windows were taken in Leicester village...one of the oldest villages in Freetown....the EU(Eurpoean Union) have a farmers maket project in this area...some of the vegetables bought in Freetown come from this area...it is marginally cooler in this part of the peninsular as it is situated in the "mountains"....

It is 00:50 on my computer clock ...I have been at the sewing table all day and a good part of the weekend...pictures to follow...