Normal Service Resumes

MasterM has been shopping.

He has chosen these Masculine
and yet Interesting Flip-Flops.
which he found in H&M for MEN.
They tone with his Combat Shorts
which have Many Manly pockets
for Important and Manly items.
Please note that the
predominant colour is Olive Green
which, as we all know,
is the colour favoured by Ray Mears.

Olive Green is Not For Wimps.

I cannot imagine why
MrM who is supposed to be
a Retail Guru
should think they came from
Cath Kidston.

A Time of Transition

Lowell Crazy Quilt, 1893 - 1904
Blanche Wiggin Staples (Robinson)
Lowell, Massachusetts
72" x 60"
Silks, satins, taffetas, velvets
Appliquéd, pieced, and embroidered.
Gift of Judith Hall, 1989

New England Quilt Museum

Extract from Catalogue:

Victorian Crazy quilts were frequently embellished with commemorative ribbons. Through their study one can learn about the maker and her family. Blanche Staples made this quilt when she was a young woman and signed it in the corner using a multicolored silk floss. A silk bandanna from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair serves as the quilt's central medallion. It is balanced at the four corners by side corners cut from a handkerchief containing the flags of many nations. Someone, maybe Blanche's mother, gave her a souvenir ribbon from the Women's Pavilion at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 to sew into her quilt. Her father had political leanings, and perhaps offered Blanche the ribbon, which promoted Frederick T. Greenhalge's successful candidacy for Congress. Her parents were active Baptists and probably bought her the Adoniram Judson Centennial ribbon at Malden's First Baptist Church in 1888.

******

When I started this blog
it was my intention to write for a year
and then stop.
I knew exactly what I wanted to write
and how it would finish.

But there is one slight problem.
I don't want to finish now.

I had not anticipated
that it would become this important to me;
that I would make wonderful friends;
that I might still have things to write.

And so I find myself starting the second year
but the design is less clear to me.
It is a time of change for my family.

I think that this year will be more like a crazy quilt,
a collection of random pieces that I will sew together
and hope that they make a coherent whole.

I want to share the ups and downs of my new job,
news from MasterM's gap year,
MissM's adventures in South Africa,
MrM's high rise Birthday Celebration.

And so,
if you are prepared to set out with me,
let us go in search of the first piece
for my new quilt of memories.

My Patchwork Quilt.

This is my patchwork quilt
this vital thing of many pieces.

Old, new, patterned, plain,
dark, light, familiar, strange.

Each piece carefully selected
and sewn with tight stitches.

At first the eye is drawn to detail,
one piece attracts and then another,
and the pattern is not obvious.

Standing back, it is clear that it radiates,
starlike, from the centre.

I saw how it would be
from the beginning;
it lay clear before me
in the late nights and early mornings.

I knew that if I worked patiently,
day after day,
this quilt, this precious patchwork quilt,
this vital thing of many pieces,
would be complete.

Thank you!

I have been overwhelmed
by your kind messages today.

Thank you, thank you.

I am so fortunate to have met
such thoughful and generous people
through this blog.

I wish you all a fabulous weekend.

A Short Story

Three years ago I started my job and on the first day I was by myself in the office I had a phone call from a Head of Sixth Form. He sounded a delightful man and he told me about a very talented young pupil of his who, mysteriously, had missed out on a place at University. I was impressed. Dan sounded like just the sort of student we wanted and so I contacted everyone I could think of and got permission to squeeze him into the over-full degree programme.

Dan has not been a model student. He has missed deadlines and failed exams. He is a bright boy but is extraordinarily chaotic. He is also extremely amusing and has entertained me greatly over the past three years. There was one unforgettable day when he clanked into the office wearing yellow Lycra and snow-boarding boots. A lot of our correspondence has been reminders about penalties and meetings with his Year Tutor but he has never held it against me personally. If he had organised himself and been a bit more disciplined about late nights and skiing holidays he could have done very well but instead he has had a great social time at University and he will just scrape by. Probably.

Yesterday, he came into the office and I asked him what he will do after graduation. As far as I can work out, he plans to spend the summer on the beach and the winter on the ski slopes. I have no idea how he will finance this but he was as optimistic as ever. His back up plan is to do a post-graduate course which caused a suppressed but audible groan in the office.

I discovered that his entry in the Yearbook includes the following
Describe Your Time At University:
Alice C. It is not a sentence but it is concise.

Ironically, if I had to describe my last three years it would be:
Dan - start to finish.

because yesterday I was interviewed for a new role in another Department.

And I was thrilled when they phoned to offer me the job.

Advice to Teenage Boys

If you are going to phone your mother

and ask her to drive a long way
at the end of a long day

(oh, and could she bring some food
for The Way because
you are STARVING)

because you have decided to come home to revise

make sure that you are wearing the right T Shirt.


*****
MasterM is delighted with his bulk order of T Shirts
from Local Celebrity
which was personally delivered by a kind aunt
making a very short trip from the States.

The Tapas Meme

I am so ASHAMED...
I have been tagged for so many memes
over the past couple of months
that I have lost track of who, when and what.
It has been WEIGHING upon me
I thought that the only solution
to this EMBARASSING problem
would be to do a mixed selection;
rather like a table of Spanish tapas.

Lina wants me to expose 6 unspectular quirks
I can't even think of one
I so admire quirky people.
I aspire to quirkiness.
but QuirksRNotMe.

Not a good start.

Moving on...

Dottycookie did the 4 x 4 meme
and I thought it would be fun
to think about films I want to watch again
Titanic
so I can find out what happened
Men of Honour
MrM watched this in little bits on Sky
and I have never worked out which order they go in.
The Quiet Man
will MasterM really leap up
and throw the TV out of the window
to make it more interesting?
Picnic at Hanging Rock
I have only watched it 9 time
and I am minded to get to double figures.

Moving on...

Angie asked me to do a meme months ago
and I can't even remember which one.
Shall we pretend it was the book one?
So lets find the nearest book and go to page 123.
Oh no! It is a huge French dictionary
and there are NO page numbers.
Let's open it at random
(no - can't have that page - not comfortable with accents)
cauchemardesque - Nightmarish - great word!!
(I think I am going to drop that into conversation at least once today)

Moving on...

The Flickr photo meme
Everyone is doing the Flickr photo meme
and I am feeling so left out.
Joleo is only just back from holiday and SHE has done it.
Obviously it would help if I had a Flickr account.
Flickr? Who needs Flickr when you only have 5,500 photos
per year? You can organise them easily by numbers.
I want you to know that if I did do the Flickr meme
Nick Kennedy would be my celebrity crush.
I admit that he is not a celebrity - yet
but as Quilting Bebbs will confirm
he has
So.
Much.
Potential.
Sigh.

Are there other memes that I have missed?
And lovely people who have tagged me?
I am so sorry if I have forgotten.
I appreciate that you busy, busy people of Blogland
do not want to fritter your time away
reading lightweight posts like this
there are socks to be knitted
and eggs to be boiled in Pig shapes
(Sorry Ali - couldn't resist that)

Oh! I have just remembered the last one...
What was I doing ten years ago?
I salute Dragonfly for her courageous honesty
I was probably wondering what to have for supper.
No change there.

A Ministry of No Small Distinction

It was a very special day on Sunday 1st June.

My father-in-law, Thomas, celebrated
the 50th Anniversary of his Ordination.

He retired from the Cathedral some years ago
but took on responsibility for two country parishes.

His parishioners know how fortunate they are
to have such a dedicated and experienced parish priest
and insisted on making it into a Grand Celebration.

There was standing room only in the church
which was beautifully decorated with flowers.

Family and friends from far and wide
and clerical folk of great distinction
came to join the party and participate in the service.

Afterwards we walked across the road
to a thatched cottage with an exquisite garden
for a lunch of gargantuan proportions.

MrM overindulged in meringues.
Can you blame him?

There were speeches to applaud and cakes to cut
and a small jazz band to dance to.

Little boy-cousins were seen climbing up the marquee poles
and Granny and MissM spent some quality time discussing shoes.

And all the while the church bells pealed in his honour.

It was a wonderful day
and a great privilege to be able to recognise
a lifetime of prayer and service to others.

~ from the final hymn ~

Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
Urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
Sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided,
Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today.

Group Hug

My Favourite Half Term Photo.

*****

Thank you all
for your very entertaining comments yesterday
which kept us mightily amused
as we drove up and down numerous motorways.

It was a very special day for our family
- more about the celebrations tomorrow -
but right now the house is strangely quiet
and the huge pile of shoes has disappeared
because half term has come to an end.

I miss them already,
my untidy teenagers,
who make me laugh
and force me to think fast.

You will be relieved to know that
the Raspberry Trifle has been approved
and will now be referred to as
The Non-Traditional Trifle.

Raspberry Trifle

MasterM
What is THAT?

MrsM
Well, it's Raspberry Trifle

MasterM
We only have Mango Trifle.
It's a family tradition

MrsM
Well, I thought we could have
Raspberry Trifle in the summer
and Mango Trifle in the winter

MissM
We would have to agree on the changeover day.

MrsM
When the clocks go forward?

MissM
That's very early for a summer trifle

MrsM
The Summer Solstice?

MissM
That's a bit late really

MrM
Do you think it is ...a bit...
you know...suggestive?

MrsM
I give in.
No more Raspberry Trifle.

The moral of this story is:
Family Traditions Are Not Always A Good Thing