Saturday Again

How quickly the weeks pass and it’s already Saturday again and time for Six Word Saturday.  If you would like to participate please either click on the picture above or click this link.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB – I’M READING.

Copyright MyDoorSign.com http://www.smartsign.com/Office-Courtesy/Do-Not-Disturb-Brilliant-Minds-At-Work/SKU-S-5271.aspx

I awoke to a grey Saturday morning and decided that the best thing to do was to take my tea and toast back to bed with a good book.  And this set the rest of the day in train.

I had planned to meet with my French speaking buddies for lunch but that plan was quickly discarded after I had a long telephone conversation with my friend who recently found the huge lump in her breast.  While she didn’t want me to visit, she did want to talk.  After hanging up I realised that it was too late for the proposed lunch and so I stayed home.

I had started a Zoe Sharp book this morning in bed and after making a quick sandwich for lunch settled down to read more.  Have you come across this English writer?  Her protagonist is a feisty woman  called Charlie Fox.  I read the first book in the series after reading somewhere that Lee Childs thought her one of the best thriller writers to emerge in recent times.  High praise indeed.

Are you, like me, a trifle bored with all the macho male heroes protagonists that litter the current crop of best sellers?  If so Charlie Fox is a breath of fresh air.  Feisty as I said and not always charming, she takes life full on and faithfully stands by her friends and in this case, her charge even when it looks as if she is facing death herself.

So I settled down to read this book – First Drop.  Charlie Fox is a British ex-soldier, has taught self-defence  and now is a Bodyguard.  In this novel she is tasked with minding the 15 year old Trey, son of a computer programmer.  What starts out as a disappointing assignment for her, rapidly turns into a fight for her life, the life of her charge and her lover.  Swift page turning and I couldn’t put it down.

I had almost finished the book when I realised it was getting dark (around 5pm) and Lotte hadn’t had a walk yet.  So reluctantly I left the book at page 343 of 373 pages and did what any self-respecting dog owner does, I took my dog out for her walk.  And her delight more than compensated for the fact that I hadn’t finished the book.  But of course, once I returned, I finished it. 

I understand that there are 8 9 Charlie Fox mysteries and while I can’t quite work out the order in which they were written, it is clear that each one stands alone and so one can start reading anywhere in the series.  However, I read Killer Instinct first and this is the book that gives Charlie’s background and in some way, helps to understand why she does what she does.  I certainly recommend this author to you if you are looking for something a little different.

“You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”
Paul Sweeney

Footnote – Can you believe that I received a comment from Zoe Sharp (see below) and she has linked back to this post from her website.

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In Search of the Bonnets

 

After Daisie and her friend had left, Maisie sat back and considered the situation.  The bonnets were mislaid, not lost.  The girls knew when they last had worn them and they were quite sure that they had been left in the taxi after arriving at Charlotte’s house.   It was now necessary to find the taxi in which they had been left.

Photo thanks to Sallyann at Photographic Memories.
Click on the picture to go to Sallyann’s post.

The two girls had been so worried that Maisie couldn’t bring herself to tell them just how upset she was at the loss.  And one of the bonnets didn’t belong to her.  Although she knew that Juliet, the owner of the other mislaid bonnet, would take the loss in her stride, she was determined to do all she could to find them

First a cup of tea and Jackson was summoned to produce one.  Then Maisie set to work to find the bonnets.  She thought it would be a simple matter to find the taxi company and a telephone was brought to her so that she could start.  But it wasn’t that simple.  Oh there was a central booking service that handled  requests for a taxi but most of the taxis were individually owned.  And many of the owners didn’t use the central service.  And while the girls thought they had ordered a regular London cab they couldn’t be sure.  They might have been in a minicab one of the thousands of unlicensed and unregulated cabs that operate in the city.

After an hour and seemingly endless calls, Maisie was no closer to finding the taxi or the bonnets.  She decided to enlist help.  Another call to her best friend, Juliet (after whom she had named her only daughter) brought reinforcements.  Juliet duly arrived clutching her cellphone and so they now had two phone lines to use.  And really what was becoming such a dreary exercise suddenly became so much more fun when she had a friend with whom to share it.

More tea and cakes were called for as Juliet hadn’t had her afternoon tea before being summoned to Maisie’s side.  Then suitably refreshed the two women set about their task.

Another call to central booking was made, this time by Juliet, who managed to elicit a fairly full list of possible taxi owners and indeed, a number for property left in taxis.  It seemed fairly obvious to Juliet that this latter was the place to start.  However, no luck there but the very helpful person on the other end of the line suggested that it might be a day or two before the bonnets were handed in.

Anther hour passed without success, but as she expected, it was much better now that Maisie had a chum to talk to in between the phone calls.

By now it was 5 pm and the ladies decided that a little drink would be appropriate as payment for their hard work and they decided to continue their search the next day.  Again, Jackson was called into service and produced two very large G & Ts for the ladies.

And so began a very pleasant evening, starting with the drinks and ending several hours later with dinner in the company of Juliet’s husband at a nearby restaurant.  The two women couldn’t resist laughing at their exploits in a totally different establishment some years ago.**

To be continued….

**For more about this click here

“It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard drinking people.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

And some utterly useless information on gin and tonic – According to various sources, the gin and tonic was an invention of the employees of the British East India company, who were quaffing bitter tonic water as a prophylactic against malaria.  The story goes that gin—a Dutch medicinal invention of grain spirits flavored with juniper berries—was added to the tonic water to improve the taste (!?). Did they perhaps add the lime to ward off scurvy?

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Eleven Hints for Life

Having just returned from my son’s house after my Wednesday visit, I was sitting here wondering what I could post about today.  I turned to the notebooks that I have been keeping for so many years and a page almost jumped out at me.

I don’t know when I wrote this down, or where it came from, but it seems to make a lot of sense.  So here are somebody’s Eleven Hints:

1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return.  But what is more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just have to let go.

3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

4. It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone – but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

6. Don’t go for looks, they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth, even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

7. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be. Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

8. Always put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts that person too.

9. A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life. A timely word may level stress. But a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything they just make the best of everything that comes along their way.

11. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, ends with a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

“In the end, it’s not going to matter how
many breaths you took, but how many
moments took your breath away.”
shing xiong.

 

 

What a Difference a Day Makes

“What a difference a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain.”
As sung by Dinah Washington

After yesterday’s miserable Moaning on Monday post, Tuesday dawned with sunshine and no rain.  And after a good night’s sleep I was back to normal, looking for the positive in all things.

After a morning sitting at the computer beavering away for my real estate friend, Lotte and I went for our usual walk this afternoon.  I have talked written before about the bush that surrounds our city and the great walks that are available to us.  So we rugged up warmly (very cold again today) and set off.

We started our walk in Central Park (named after the area of the same name in New York).  The park separates Brooklyn (where I live) from the city.  The park was established in 1913 on Town Belt land, the park features among other things, a set of wrought-iron gates at its main entrance: gifted to the city and its inhabitants in 1920 by the then  Mayor, John Pearce Luke.

It is interesting to note that during World War II, American forces established a military camp in the park between 1942 and 1944. In October 1942 building work started with an initial requirement to accommodate 416 men of the US Marine Corps. The partly built camp could accept some occupants by 22 November 1942, and by July 1943 it could accommodate 540 personnel.

And just for fun –

If you live in Brooklyn, New York where is the furthest you can go from your home  yet still arrive in Brooklyn? The answer is Brooklyn, Australia, about thirty miles from Sydney.  The distance is about 10.530 miles.

And the second furthest?  Why Brooklyn in Wellington, NZ.  The distance between Brooklyn, NY and where I live is about 8,946 miles.

Now back to our walk.

It was late afternoon; the sunshine had disappeared and it was shortly before sunset.  The sun set today June 26 at 5 pm.  The trees were pretty bare and in places the fallen leaves which were damp were rather treacherous to walk on.

Lotte has to be kept on a lead in this park but in Tanera Park in Brooklyn she can roam in the designated dog area without a lead.  So we left Central Park and went into Tanera.  There Lotte saw a couple of friends and two very large strangers.  I am constantly amazed that my little dog thinks she is the same size as these Rottweilers, Dobermans (Dobbermen?) et al that inhabit our world.  But after an initial sniff, they seem to get on well.

Feeling thoroughly invigorated, but very cold, we returned home to our warm house for hot chocolate for me and water and a sleep in front of the fire for Lotte.

So yes, this has been a good day and quite a different day to yesterday.

“Every day is a new opportunity.  You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again.”
Bob Feller, American Baseball Player. 1918 – 2010

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Moaning on Monday

“If winter comes can spring
be far behind?”
from Ode to the West Wind. Percy Byshe Shelley

Here in the antipodes we are in the middle of winter.  In fact as Christina Rosetti’s carol has it, it is the Bleak mid winter here.  The past few days have been bitterly cold.  Oh not as cold as it gets in Montreal or Glasgow but cold for us.  Most days the temperature hasn’t risen above 12 degrees Celsius (about 53 degrees Fahrenheit).  And I don’t like the cold; nor does Lotte.

Too cold to get up

And today I spent six hours with a friend who has just discovered a large lump in her breast.  We went to the hospital for a barrage of tests and then to the specialist, who just so happens to be the surgeon who operated on my lump.  So apart from being cold it was a miserable day in all respects.

The one bright spot, another friend cooked dinner for me.

So now after this grumpy post I am going to take myself off to bed with my book and a cup of tea. And perhaps a Lemon Treat biscuit to cheer me up.

Hopefully tomorrow I shall wake up in my usual Pollyanna way, looking at the world through rose coloured glasses, etc. etc.

“No matter how dark the night we know that
whatever happens the sun will rise tomorrow
and then all the shadows
will be chased away.”
Judith Baxter 1938 –

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Saturday Once Again

How quickly the weeks pass and it’s already Saturday again and time for Six Word Saturday.  If you would like to participate please either click on the picture above or click this link.

OH WORDPRESS WHAT HAVE I DONE?

I really do wonder what I could have done to upset WordPress so much that he/she/it determines which of my comments will be directed to the Spam folders of others, and which he/she/it will allow.  For some people whose email address is available I have written asking them to look in their spam folders.  May I once again ask the rest of you to do so?  Thanks.

So what else to talk about this Saturday?

PLAYING WITH YET ANOTHER NEW TOY

I am now gradually coming to grips with my latest technological toy – a Samsung 10.1 Galaxy tablet.  I am told that I have to change my thinking entirely – this from my daughter who has all the latest and greatest techno toys.  So this week I am doing just that.

And to prove just how clever I am, this post is being published on the tablet.

And next week I am getting a new Samsung Galaxy 3 phone.  So this brain is being stretched at present, but I am loving all the new toys.

“There are toys for all ages”.
French proverb. or in French
” Il y a des jouets pour tous les âges “.**

** I have to confess I had help to get this just right.  This translation is almost exactly word-for-word.  A rare happening when translating English to other languages.

Photos – courteousy Samsung.

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Walking at Night

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet.

As a break from writing fiction, I decided to have another attempt at writing an Etheree, a particular form of poetry.  This form was created some twenty years ago by an Arkansas poet named Etheree Taylor Armstrong.  An Etheree, consists of ten lines of un-metered and un-rhymed verse, the first line having one syllable, each succeeding line adding a syllable, with the total syllable count being fifty-five.

Here’s my attempt

Why
Do we
We Still walk here
Every night
Small dog and I
Together in the
Cold empty streets of town
Where nothing moves and no dogs roam
Where all is locked and barred for the night
We should both go home to our warm safe house.

Lotte and I always walk in the daytime but I have often wondered how different the world would be if we walked at night.  But I know that even here it is not safe for a woman and a small dog to be out late at night.

Note – I saw the repeated word and have now changed it.

“No matter how dark the night we know that whatever happens the sun will rise tomorrow and then all the shadows will be chased away.”
Judith Baxter, Blogger and friend. 1938 –

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The Bonnets – Lost

The taxi duly arrived and the two girls climbed into the back….

By now Daisie was exhausted with the music, the noise, the chatter and the dubious drinks she had consumed both at the party and at the nightclub.  She almost fell into the back of the taxi and immediately went to sleep.  This left Charlotte, who was rather the worse for drink (she had lost count of what and how many) to instruct the taxi driver to their destination.  Unfortunately, in her befuddled way she gave the driver the address of her house instead of Daisie’s.  Daisie slept through the ride only waking when Charlotte shook her as they arrived at their destination.

Charlotte paid the driver and walked rather unsteadily towards her front door with Daisie following sleepily.  The two girls entered the house and went to Charlotte’s room where they immediately fell asleep.

They were awakened the next morning by Charlotte’s mother who in turn had been awakened by Daisie’s mother who was worried when the girls hadn’t arrived home.  It had been too late to call when they arrived the night before and neither girl awoke early enough to put Juliet’s mind at ease.

After hurried breakfast Daisie departed to face her mother.  And it was then that she realised that the two bonnets they had borrowed from Maisie and her friends were missing.  Presumably still in the back of the taxi.  She was in a blue funk.**

Having unsuccessfully tried to locate the taxi and the missing bonnets, Daisie felt very low in spirits.  How was she going to tell her beloved grandmother Maisie that the two bonnets were missing?  She was not sure how she would take the news.  But, being a child of the 21st Century she decided there was nothing to do but to go and face her Grandmother and see whether together they could perhaps come up with a way of tracing the missing bonnets.

Photo thanks to Sallyann at Photographic Memories.
Click on the photo to go to Sallyann’s post.

** Note.  Thanks to Christine at Trudging Through Fog for pointing out that I had not used the word ‘blue’ in my post.  This sentence was added after that.

This is the fourth in the series about the bonnets.  If you haven’t read the earlier posts check the links – The Bonnets The Bonnets Part 2 The Bonnets Part 3.  It is also a continuation of the Hats Series.  Links to The Hats posts appear on each of the above three posts.

And this last post fitted in well with Trifecta’s challenge this week and so this is my entry.  The challenge is to write an entry between 33 and 333 words using the third definition of the word BLUE (adjective) :
1  : of the color blue
2  a : bluish
b : discolored by or as if by bruising
c : bluish gray
3  3  a : low in spirits : melancholy
    b : marked by low spirits : depressing <a blue funk> <things looked blue>

If you want to try your hand at the challenge, you can find the complete guidelines on the Trifecta site by clicking the tricycle picture.

The Bonnets – Part 3.

The day of the party dawned….

The two girls were very excited.  They had all the right clothes, including hats, handbags and shoes, and were really looking forward to the party.

The day seemed to drag by.  They met for lunch and some desultory window shopping but all the time they were willing the hours to pass until party time.  It was agreed that Charlotte would come around to Daisie’s to get ready and then they would be driven to the party by Hudson, the chauffeur.  It was also agreed that they would call the house when they were ready to be picked up again, or if it was after midnight, they would get a taxi home.  Charlotte was to spend the night and so the girls would be together at all times.

And now it was time to get ready.  Much giggling and hilarity accompanied the getting dressed and Juliet, Daisie’s mother joined in.  Some of clothes that came from Maisie’s she remembered seeing all those years ago when her mother dressed to go out.  And she was a trifle wistful remembering when she too was excited about going to a party with her friends.

The car was brought around and Hudson was given strict instructions by Juliet not to leave the girls until he saw them safely into the house.  Juliet was a little concerned at the thought of the two girls in an unknown house in an unknown district.  But she consoled herself with the thought that while Daisie might appear to be flighty she was really a very sensible young woman.

When they arrived the party was in full swing. Loud music and very loud voices. So many people were there that it was difficult to hear oneself speak and as for finding anyone in the throng..well that was almost impossible.

Almost immediately, the two girls got separated and each was pulled into a group, given a glass of suspicious looking punch, offered cigarettes and some other dubious things and didn’t see each other again for some time.

There was dancing and somebody had produced a karaoke machine with 1950s songs and everybody had to take a turn at the microphone.  The two girls were really enjoying themselves.  Around 1am Daisie, being the most sensible of the two, thought they should go home.  But Charlotte was with a group who were going on to a nightclub and she wanted them both to go with them.

Somewhat reluctantly, Daisie agreed, and the group set off in several cars.  Once again the girls were separated.  The noise at the club was even louder than it had been at the party and Daisie quickly developed a headache and decided that she just had to go home.  But Charlotte was not ready to leave.  There was a slight argument between the two.  Daisie was well aware that her mother thought the girls were still at the party and didn’t know how she would react if she knew they were at a somewhat sleazy nightclub.

After some pleading, Daisie managed to persuade Charlotte to leave with her.  They declined the offer of a lift home in somebody’s car – how much had they all drunk that night – and called for a taxi.

It duly arrived and the two girls climbed into the back….

Photo thanks to Sallyann at Photographic Memories.
Click on photo to go back to Sallyann’s Post.

Related Posts
Hats On; Hats On Again; New Hats; The Beach

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The Bonnets – Part 2

Did you read yesterday’s post.  No I meant the part after my rant about WordPress.  Sallyann set a challenge for me :-

THE BONNETS – PART 2

Photo thanks to Sallyann at Photographic Memories

Click on the photo to go to Sallyann’s post.

Daisie had planned to go to her grandmother’s for tea that day.  However, she had a call from her friend Charlotte inviting her to a 1950’s party that weekend. The requirement was to dress up in 1950s clothes and to do this the girls had to go to a party hire shop to find the right clothes.

A telephone call to Maisie (who really hadn’t been expecting her granddaughter that afternoon) quickly established that Maisie wouldn’t be on her own as Juliet and Imogen were coming round for tea.

The two girls set off in high spirits.  They knew most of the people who would be at the party and were looking forward to meeting them again and perhaps meeting a few new and interesting people.

Unlike her grandmother and friends, these girls were used to finding their own way around town.  They were used to hopping on and off buses and tube trains.  They quickly worked out the best way to travel across town to reach the party hire shop.  All through the journey they talked and made plans, each outdoing the other in what they thought they would like to wear.

But what a disappointment.  They arrived only to find the shop closed for the day.  They hadn’t thought of phoning first having assumed all shops were open every day.  So they took themselves off for lunch and a discussion on where else they might find some 1950s clothes.

Suddenly, Daisie had a bright idea.  Wouldn’t Maisie, who was known to be a bit of a hoarder, have some clothes from that era?  Finishing their lunch they retraced their steps across town and arrived at Maisie’s in time for tea and in time to meet the Terrible Trio all together. Of course, Daisie had met them all before and had seen them all together, but for Charlotte it was a trifle overwhelming.

Having had a jolly good tea with the three women, Daisie broached the subject of clothes to her grandmother.  Maisie enthusiastically entered into the swing of things, telling the girls that she did indeed have some clothes that might fit the bill, and also encouraging her friends to seek out what they still had.  It was agreed that the girls would return the next day for lunch with the three women and that would give them plenty of time to try on the clothes and choose whatever was suitable.  And being Daisie she reminded the other two women that hats were required.

The next day dawned bright and sunny and the two girls met up to go to Maisie’s for lunch.  They were excited thinking about what clothes could possibly be on offer.  Of course, the women would have been older than the girls were now in the 1950s but nevertheless they were sure they would find something suitable to wear.

And what a lovely surprise they had.  On entering Maisie’s house they saw two very large suitcases parked in the hall and heard the chatter of female voices coming from the morning room.  They let themselves in and found the friends reminiscing about the 50s.

Lunch over the women and girls got down to the task of trying on and choosing clothes.  Maisie, as expected, had a hoard of dresses, jackets and hats to add to the two suitcases that were brought in from the hall by Jackson the maid.

What fun they all had.  Much giggling when clothes that were so outdated in 2005 were tried on.  But eventually they each decided on a dress, jacket or coat, shoes and of course a hat.  And what very pretty hats these were.  Not the sensible hats that were on display in the milliners just around the corner from Juliet’s house but concoctions of lace and flowers.  Any woman would smile if she were wearing one of these.

Tea was served by Jackson and then, clutching their trophies the two young women left the house.  As they made their way to their homes, they congratulated themselves on being so inventive.

The day of the party dawned…..

Related posts:

Hats On
Hats On Again
New Hats
The Beach

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