Those were the days

The media is alive with comment about strike action today. 'Public service workers' withdrew their labour. Just who are 'public service workers'?
Health service, customs n excise, border agency, toll booth operators at river crossings, not forgetting education staff...et al.
Yet, for whom is all the bad press and vilification reserved...the teachers.


Plus ca change...plus la meme chose...

Wordless Wednesday

Loyal toast...the Queen, Duke of Lancaster!

Lancashire Day allows us the opportunity to declare that we are proud to be Lancastrians.

The Lancashire Day proclamation will be read out by town criers throughout the county on 27th November. 

Lancashire Day commemorates the day in 1295 when Lancashire sent its first representatives to Parliament by King Edward I of England to attend what later became known as The Model Parliament.

knitted toys...

knitting Santa and the Frosties

Santa close-up

Santa and his sack complete with toy soldier and his companions Mr n Mrs Frosty

The knitting is finished for 2011.

Next week these characters will go to be part of the fund raising at the hospital.

Happy Thanksgiving...

∩ │◥███◣ ╱◥███◣
╱◥◣ ◥████◣▓∩▓│∩ ║
│╱◥█◣║∩∩∩ ║◥█▓ ▓█◣
││∩│ ▓ ║∩田│║▓ ▓ ▓∩ ║

•°*”˜˜”*°• From my house to your house •°*”˜˜”*°•
•°*”˜˜”*°•Happy Thanksgiving to All My American friends•°*”˜˜”*°• ♥ ♥

Borrowed from one of my click of the mouse friends...

Tis that time again...

Three Paddingtons

One Santa and Mr n Mrs Frosty ready for raffling/sale for charity.

Santa has already been to the library and was much admired. One Paddington has already gone to be raffled.

Christmas 'ends' on Monday when the knitted toys are collected and we begin to plan for Easter. I've found a pattern for Little Bo-Peep to try out.

My friend's daughter

lives an adventurous life...
I remember her a as little toddler...she's grown up to become a mountain skills instructor and member of a Mountain rescue team. The collies are SARD...search and rescue dogs.
Today there was a story about a rescue by the team. This sparked my curiosity. Last time I talked with her mother, she said her daughter had left teaching to go into outdoor pursuits full-time. So a quick search led me to seeing how her life has changed. I'm so proud of her.

Armistice day, Armistice day

that's all I really wanted to say....
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country'.

words

Until something happens it's all to easy to take reading for granted. How fortunate was I to grow up in a world of books and stories. Bedtime stories in particular were a rare treat. I heard folk tales such as 'why the sea is salt' and stories by the brothers Grimm. At Junior school we began with the now none pc Janet and John.
My favourite time of the school day was reading hour. Then came the day when I was so deep in a book that a board duster landed on my desk and broke my concentration! It was a teacher I liked, but somehow I could never forgive that rude awakening.
Moving on the grammar school when the head was our English teacher. Her oft repeated phrase..."First, we shall have bread and butter, then we shall have cake".
Meaning? Parsing nouns, pronouns adverbs and adjectives...English grammar...
That was the 'bread and butter.'
So, what was the 'cake'? Homer's Odyssey...And how old were we? 11
We had library time and I worked my way thro' legends of Greece and Rome. Then a friend mentioned some books by Tolkien and I was as they say 'hooked'. I saved up week after week. Went to a book-store miles away to purchase the books one after another.


Grammar school introduced me to Latin. I stood no chance with it as my mother decided it was 'useless'.
Then we got a new male teacher and my friend showed me how to write very, very tiny writing. Success! We noted the words for the spelling test on postage-stamp size pieces of paper. And, when asked our score loudly proclaimed 'SEX'. That being the Latin for six.


Moving on many years towards the end of my career... Stress and anxiety, such innocent sounding words. But, their toll lasted many years. How distressing to be unable to read and take in what you are reading... Reading phrases and sentences time after time without taking anything in. To a bibliophile that's a 'death knell'. 


It's taken years, but reading is a skill I'm so happy to have regained once more. Having an e-reader is a delicious treat...

Thankful

As Sayre says, "November is a month to recognize the things you are thankful for in your life - including the people who are serving our country. Tell us what you are thankful for!"

One of my favourite hymns from long ago...

"Thank you for every for every new good morning

Thank you for every fresh new day"

Sacrifice

November is the month to be thankful for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Another verse says

"Thank you, oh Lord, I want to thank you, that I'm free to thank"

This resonates in these troubled times; having just read "The bookseller of Kabul" by Agne Seirstad and "My forbidden face" by Latifa.


Companionship
Canine companions say nothing, yet speak volumes...
OH drives me mad; yet keeps me sane...
The two Ms and our coffee afternoons...
God-daughter.
Long time friends from school days.
Not forgetting my click of the mouse friends.


Learning and education...particularly the Open University and the friends I have made thro' my studies and on-line meetings.


To read more please pop over to Sayre smiles...

borrowed

A long-time friend has recently returned from holiday in China. Hoping she won't mind if I share some of her photos with you.

open wide

Once every six months a visit to the dentist is scheduled. Today was the day. A short walk up the road, a signature on a form, wait to be called into the surgery. Our new dentist is from Romania, her name is Indian. She told OH she loves her job having spent lots of time in her dad's surgery since she was about four years old.
An x-ray later, the news is 'receding gums' and gel on a particular tooth with instructions not to eat/drink anything for half an hour.
Then memories stir as I think back to my experiences over the years. 
1950s the one size fits all solution was extraction. It was commonplace for women to have all their teeth removed during pregnancy. My mother had dentures.
There was no notion of regular visits to the dentist. People went when in pain. One time I went and mother was told my front (milk) teeth were full of abscesses. So, no anaesthetic and I had them removed. Because I had been 'good' the dentist gave me sweets on the way out.

So for what seemed like forever I had speech problems, 's' in particular.
1950s - 1960s and the school dentist gave me nightmares! Extractions under gas and a rubber mask forced over nose and mouth; but I couldn't hold my breath long enough and the sickly gas rushed into my lungs. That's when I learnt to intercept the appointment card as it came thro' the letterbox and after a while they ceased.
1970s and at long last a good dentist recommended by a friend who had been at Leeds Uni with him. Mr Cross had come first in his year, his wife was nurse/receptionist. Both were gentle friendly souls. So now I visited the surgery regularly and the ravages of previous years were undone. 
1970s away from home and still returned to visit Mr Cross.
1980s and another dentist this time in Woolton, another lovely person, so reassuring. But, without warning he sold up and retired. The guy that took over came as a nasty shock, rude and impersonal, he only wanted private patients. I lost patience with him and left.
So, no dentist...and I'd noticed a surgery a few minutes walk away. I've been with them ever since. But since the original partner left, there have been a series of other dentists one after another. African, Polish and now Indian/Romanian. It's gone from Mr W and Mr B to being part of another company. Mr B remains, but sees only private patients.