A Dragonfly tale...

There once was a family of water bugs living happily in a pond.
One day they noticed some other water bugs climb up a lily stem and disappear,never to be seen again.
"where do they go?" asked one of the water bugs,but none of them knew.

The family understood that one day each of them would have to climb up the lily stem and leave the pond,so they made a promise to each other."Whoever leaves first will come back and tell us where they have been" they all promised

A little while later one of the water bugs found himself climbing the lily stem.He didn't want to leave his family but couldnt seem to stop himself.

At the top of the stem he rested for a while and slept.
When he awoke he felt very uncomfortable.Then he had a giant burst of energy and suddenly he broke out of his old skin. Something amazing had happened...

He had become a beautiful Dragonfly with shimmering wings that lifted him up to the sky.
The world was full of bright colours,the air was warm and light and he felt happier than he had ever felt before.
As he danced above the water he looked down and it was then he saw the rest of his water bug family.They looked sad. Then he remembered his promise to go back and tell them what had happened.
He tried to dive into the water but he couldn't. his body had changed and now he just bounced off the water.
Another dragonfly saw him and came over to help.
"Don't worry " she said kindly "they will all be with you one day and will understand everything, just like us"
The dragonfly looked around and smiled at his new friend.
She was right,one day his family would find themselves climbing the lily stem and finding their way to this heavenly place.
Then the two dragonflies laughed and danced in the air for a while before flying off to explore their new world.

THE END

Today it's Josies anniversary, it will be two years today that this beautiful young girl left us after her hard battle with leukaemia.
I'll be wearing my dragonfly bracelet all day...I'm needing a bit of strength ,courage and happiness at the mo (I think we all are!) and those three words are inscribed on the little tag.

I'm thinking of you Jac, over in Thailand and sending you a big kiss xxxx (or four)

Josies dragonfly

Josies la la land

you can now also donate to this registered charity via Mission Fish on eBay

Pretty....spring flowers

Don't you just LOVE Spring flowers? Even the simple ones.
3 simple mugs of pret-tea!

D is for Dog

Well I stopped faffing about and painted those two wooden dogs last night. They do still need a bit of adjusting as I don't like the ball and the eyes and some of the furry lines,but hey-ho they are only test dogs.
This is Archie..the bigger bossier dog and he wants to play ball..(Except his ball looks a bit like a pumpkin at the moment!)
I would really love to keep those little vintage blocks at the bottom;but, I'm too precious and didn't want to ruin the set so they are bluetacked on for now, making him a bit like a peg rail.
Then I had the idea of these toadstool pegs I used to hang my Christmas cards from last year...so he becomes an instant notice hanger-peg thingy for all those important messag..um..cute postcards.Then this is Wilf; long lost cousin of Stanley (his claim to fame)He too may end up with pegs..although his eyes need to be sorted out, he looks a bit worried if you ask me.
I think it's all down to this book, My favourite from when I was little and we visited my other Granny.A rather well read 1949 edition of Ginger's adventures that belonged to her.
Little tan and white scruffy dogs are just so cute.Oh dear, someone's feeling left out..and big stinky black dogs are cute too.yep, I thought that would make him smile.

Faffing

I'm faffing about again, doing things that I shouldn't be doing when I have so many other things to do, more important boring things.
As a break from the endless amount of paperwork and sums I've been doing this past week,(as well as trying to make some curtains for someone with far too little fabric).. I've been faffing about with wooden dogs..you know I have a bit of a 'thing' for cute little old fashioned dogs.
I doodled this chap on the back of a cereal box,

(ignore the scraggy leg bit)

and Pete went into the man-shed full of scary tools and spare balancing furniture and made me this;

.(the ball needs work but this is a test dog )

and then this one which will have hooks or pegs I think, now I need to do some painting and gluing and 'prettifying' and we will see what happens with these little wooden dogs...I'll keep you posted.

One thing good about selling stuff on eBay, is that after they take their horrendous fees off, you get spare pennies to play with..especially when its Paypal pennies, as we all know in the land of shopaholics, that's not real money.. it's a bit like Monopoly money..(although the said 'Monopoly' money did come in very handy when the car tax was due)

Isn't Monopoly money pretty colours? It's like the colours found on old maps or toy tin globes.
I just love those colours.

So with the click of a Paypal button, presents arrive at your door..curious unseen 'gifts' from far and wide..wonderful 'gifts' for lifting the soul and cheering up the monotony of boring everyday stuff..(although these havent arrived yet, so I've borrowed this picture)

An increasing amount of kitsch has been finding its way into this house.You can't beat a bit of kitsch.

I can feel some of your toes curl looking at him in horror..but I think he's really rather lovely!
These gorgeous books are to blame, I'm often found dipping in and out of these for a bit of kitsch eye candy, especially American kitsch 1950s eye candy.. they were just the best producers of that kind of thing.I have a few bits of 50's kitsch stuff up in the loft, I must fetch it down someday.I know I have some pink china flamingos somewhere, now you can't get much kitscher than that!
(oh ok, maybe a pelvic rotating singing Las Vegas Elvis to go on your dash-and no, I dont have one!)

Anyway, thankyou for all those really nice messages about my Grannie..she would revel in all that attention and yes, she was a lovely lady who thankfully kept all her 'marbles' right to the end.

Thanks also for some really lovely awards and some tags..which by now I think you must have gathered I'm a bit rubbish at doing.. sorry, I 'll hopefully get round to it soon ..maybe when I've finished faffing about with bits of mdf and paint!

End of an era..

1914

98 years is a very long time, when you think of all the events and technology,the things we take for granted that have appeared over the last 10 decades, it's really quite surprising.



My Grannie saw many of these events during her life. She was born at the tail end of the Edwardian period.To put it in perspective at the age of one, The Titanic was in the news after that tragic maiden voyage and Charlie Chaplin was the comedy hero. She witnessed 2 world wars in which her father and husband both fought, witnessed television being invented at the age of 17, Saw Kings, Queens and endless Prime Ministers be in charge of the country and it would be 58 years after her birth that man eventually walked on the moon.

1923
I wonder if she watched in awe at the Royal wedding as I did at Charles and Diana's at a similar age..

and I wonder if it influenced her wedding to her childhood sweetheart 1o years later? 1933

In the 1940's she saw wartime England first hand,1944 with my mum

and tragedy when her young son was killed in an road accident.

Joy again when her 3 children married,producing children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
1954

at my mums wedding in 1958

I recently read an article my Grannie did for the BBC, her story was about mothers during the second world war..I love the part about the woolly hat, you can read her story by clicking here.

She was an amazing part of my life,all our lives, a truly wonderful lady who was always impeccably dressed, always had make-up and her earrings on, had an impeccable English accent and always rolled her 'R's. It is this Grannie who gave me an absolute love of social history,the head of our family, affectionately known as Dodo or Grannie 'Bunch'. Who spoke French to Grandpa when she didn't want us to overhear something.
The person who always signed her letters 'with fondest love'
and who's 'Rive Gauche' scent I shall remember forever.

This wonderful lady, my dearest Grannie, sadly passed away this morning.2008
Thankyou for 39 years of wonderful memories Grannie, it really feels like an era has come to an end today but I know you will be with those you so desperately missed and for that reason I'll try not to be sad. x

Dora Madeleine Wicksteed
1911-2009



Faure's requiem in paradisum