The End of an Era...

Just occasionally in your life you meet someone who becomes a profound influence without ever stepping into centre stage. You know you are a better person because you have known them; you know they will continue to influence you for the rest of your life.
All this knowledge rarely shows itself to you until that person has gone. This is how it has been for me with regard to Len Hough.

Len was President of the local family history society. We first met when my mother volunteered me to be Minutes Secretary for the Executive Committee, that is a whole story on its own, and that was in 1994. Len was Treasurer for the Society and was justifiably wary of this new woman who had appeared out of nowhere. I spotted him as the one to go to for help - and asking him for help as the way to reassure him. I would draft the minutes on my computer, print them off and post them to Len. He checked and corrected and posted them back the same day. He never spoke of this to the committee so I didn't either.
Pretty soon after this the Editor of the Society Journal resigned and the Exec decided to have a Journal Committee while they searched for a new Editor. I expressed an interest and was given the chance to work more closely with Len in compiling the Journal. At that time it was still done with a typewriter, craft knife and glue. Cutting and pasting meant just that! Len watched carefully because he was not going to allow anything to sully the reputation of the society.
Eventually I became Editor and introduced the Journal to the wonders of the computing age - this was 1995 and there were still those who thought computers would never catch on except in the workplace.
Len was never afraid to talk to me about things, both good and bad. I discovered that he had been a primary school headmaster in his working life and I just knew that every child that went through his school would have been encouraged and praised. He taught me to step back and evaluate, to assess quietly and NEVER to assume that things were as they seemed. He showed me that there was always a way to get good behaviour from the most boorish of people and I never, in twenty years of knowing him, heard him raise his voice. He had a way of damning with faint praise that I envied and tried to learn. He never said a nasty thing about anyone and yet I was in no doubt of his opinion of certain people.
He gave me the confidence to serve on the Committee and to take on the post of Chairman for three years. He supported me when I fought to change the way the Journal was delivered to members and he supported the changes that were made to the society website while not liking them one little bit.
He was never a close friend, because that was not his way. We shared an interest and he and his lovely wife Isla always seemed delighted to see me whenever we met. I will miss his physical presence at meetings and open days but he will be with me always. Rest in Peace Len.

Shiny red apples?

I saw a picture of some lovely shiny red apples on someone's blog and it immediately brought a story to mind.
The location: A supermarket fruit and veg section on a Sunday.
The Players: a mother with a small son aged around five years old.
The script:

Mother: Shall we buy some apples? They would be nice in your lunch bag for school.

Child: Ooh, can we buy some of those juicy, red, poison apples?

Mother: (hiding her grin by turning her head away from him) Of course we can!

Now Mr M and I cannot go through the fruit and veg section without one of us asking "Shall we buy some juicy, red, poison apples?" and secretly watching the expressions on the faces around us.

Me on Monday? Let's give it a go...

It was a Saturday sleazing, kindle reading, legs elevating, hanging washing, Oops, we need food, shoes on and a visit to Farm Foods, last day of the holidays out for a ride, seaside cuppa, wild-life photographing, bomb disposal, old car spotting, chicken herding kind of a weekend.

Mr M pointing to a hole in his shirt, caused by a
bit of tobacco dropping from his cigarette when he used to smoke.
He gave up in June. I made a mental note to throw it out!

 Saturday was the sleaze around day doing not very much and doing it slowly. I looked at the thicket of brambles in the front garden and made a mental note to remind my Son-in-law that he has said he would "deal with" them. Mental notes are no good, not when your mental bit forgets to write them down!

A Dragon fly on a bench at Llantwit Major. I know it is a dragonfly
 because its wings are not folded.

Sunday started out slow and then Mr M reminded me that we would be having to eat the cardboard from the cereal packets if we didn't go out and do some blankety blank shopping. We went to Farm foods and spend loads - and got a £7.50 discount because we had coupons. We then gave the left over coupons to the people in the queue behind us so we did a Good Thing while shopping. Back home decanted the bags into the freezer and made a cuppa. I said. It's the last day of the holidays and I really feel as though summer has come to an end"

"put your shoes on" he said. So I did and we went out for a little ride. Stopped for a cuppa in Llantwit Major because we had discussed the fact that now my tablets are changed I should be able to go through the little narrow streets without sobbing. This has proved correct. I not only went through without sobbing I maintained my end of the conversation without hesitation.

Naval Bomb Disposal trucks. They did a controlled explosion
down on the beach because some very old phosphorus grenades
had washed up and were too deteriorated to be moved. 

Saw this car as we were leaving the area and did my best to get
a picture. It is very difficult at 30 MPH

We saw the Bomb Squad vehicles as we arrived and we wondered if this was something to do with the increased security because of the NATO summit next weekend. We got ourselves a cuppa. Mr M says that if you like stewed tea that is stronger than paint stripper then the beach cafe at Llantwit Major is the place for you. he poured his into the grass and I got him a diet coke. As we were drinking it there was a loud bang. a very loud ground shaking bang. We looked at each other and sat very still. Everyone around us stood up and rushed towards the beach. Now perhaps we are odd but why would anyone rush towards an explosion? The RNLI lifeguards stopped everyone from going onto the beach so they couldn't see anything. Mr M asked one of them what was happening and got all the details. We continued westwards, taking to the M4 around Port Talbot - or as it is known in our family Port tablet - and then headed north-east-ish towards Merthyr. We left that road and threaded our way along the heads of the Valleys Road and then came down through Blackwood, Abercarn and paused in Cwmcarn to drop in for a cuppa at our cousin's house. It is always good to see them and catch up on the doings of Mr M's family. Then full of gossip and tea (coffee for me) we came home and cooked a healthy dinner. I had salmon fillet with vegetables and actifry chips and Mr M had barbecue ribs, vegetables and actifry chips. 

And that was me on Monday

Some sweet words by Miss Boo

Don't you just love the tomato sauce on the nose?

My daughter told me this and I felt it just needed to be shared. Bear in mind that Miss Boo is nine and a half years old, an only child who spends a lot of time with Grandma.

We spent Sunday doing a Treasure Trail and the theme of this one was a treasure hunt where we had to answer all the clues and the location left at the end was where the "treasure" would be found. As Boo and her parents were walking from our house to theirs after our delightful day out she asked "Mummy, what was the treasure?"
Mummy replied that it was just the pleasure of working out the clues and finding the answer. Miss Boo walked a few more steps and then said
"No, the treasure was that I got to spend a whole day with my family." Then she skipped through the gate, eager to be in the house and curled up with her cats. This left my daughter and my son-in-law swallowing hard and trying to sniff quietly.
When I was told I did the classic sharp intake of breath and then quickly wiped my eyes and harrumphed a few times.
Sometimes that kid can reach the parts other kids don't know exist

Treasure Trailing AGAIN

We have had the booklet for the Usk walking trail for quite a while now. So we decided to have a day out with Miss Boo and her Mummy and Daddy. Mr Ms knees were bad so he stayed in the car and read his kindle while the rest of us walked the trail. We had a lovely picnic at The Island, the first time I had been back there since 1962 and then I decided that I was too fat to walk the rest of the trail so I made my way back to the Square and sat in the sun waiting. No anxiety no panic - new tablets so I am free of that and I revelled in the simple pleasure of being able to go where I like.

This is Twyn Square in Usk, where the trail begins. Are they looking at the answer to a clue? you'll need to do the trail to find out!

Mummy was so thrilled to find the answer to a clue we had to have a cup of coffee before we'd really got started

"Is this a Kissing Gate Grandma?" "Yes Boo, but that's not quite what it means."

This isn't part of the trail but we thought the idea of a book stall in the church was delightful

Not joining in a Meme, but...

I have looked at lots of Blogs that are doing the ZIZO meme and thought that I would never find anything to Zoom In and Zoom Out of - if you see what I mean. However, (don't you just love that word? I do, nearly as much as I care for "apparently", apparently)... I seem to be seeing good things to zoom into and that little voice in my head says "ZIZO!" so I am not joining in but...

this is Newport Castle, seen from the window of the coffee lounge of the Riverfront Theatre

These are "professional abseilers" it says so on their van. They are putting up new banners so that when the NATO leaders fly up from Cardiff in their helicopters they won't see the dirty ones left over from the 2010 Ryder Cup. Heaven forfend that they should be subjected to old banners!
I just keep thinking that Mr M is paying their wages with his council tax ~sigh~

Take to the Hills!!!

We had a day out with the Bluefunnels. Their turn to drive and choose the destination. They chose a Treasure Trails Spy puzzle in the Malvern Hills. We like Treasure Trails because they take you to places you would never stop at and make you seek out things you would never look for.

I pointed the camera and they all immediately went into the Cousin Pat pose-for-the-camera-mode.

We met Jill the clockwinder, She helped us with a clue and then told us about the cafe. We carried on with the trail as there were several clues in this village and she sought us out because she thought she might have told us the wrong answer. We talked to a great many villagers who asked if they could help. and even the ones that were just walking along the street said good morning. I could live there

We discovered a nice coffee shop in a village. Their pain au raisin was very nice. Admiral Lord BF didn't like the chocolate "thing" that Lady BF chose for him but Mr M and I both tried it and said it was very nice. Oh it looks like they are eating and we aren't! ours arrived after the picture. Mr M has pies from the butcher next door. Recommended to us by Jill the clock winder

we saw a witch in Wyche. It wasn't until I just really looked at this picture - I was standing still when I took it but we were parked in a bus-stop so I had to be quick - that I realised just how dramatic she looks against the sky. We were fortunate that it didn't rain on us at all although it did threaten several times

Lunch was "Just up the road" at the OK Diner in Leominster. This is our favourite eatery. I like that we can order a mushroom and cheese burger then say "No bun, no fries, just a side of coleslaw" and that's what they give you!

On the way home we stopped to show the Bluefunnels the delightful 12th century church at Kilpeck. This little Gem is an absolute must-see. We take all our friends there at some point and we always buy a pack of notelets and I usually put any odd change into the box as well