The Gallery - C is for Calm

Looking down from Frocester Hill across the Severn Vale, Gloucestershire

Calm.

Something I need a lot of in my life.

I create my own noise much of the time so I seek calm on top of hills, in cafes and in rooms with a view.

Look and breathe.



North Morte Farm Campsite. Devon.

 



Coffee at Nom Nom Cupcakery, Nailsworth



This is in response to 'The Letter C' on the Gallery, click the icon to see posts from others. Of course it should have been C for clumsy, but I don't have enough photographic evidence of my falls ;)

The Gallery - Boys

A group of boys, born within a month of each other, bound by their mother’s need for coffee, counselling and company. Products of the NCT ante-natal production line.

Almost 5 years on, the boys are as close as ever. More like brothers than friends, they play, they argue, they fight and they sit in silence together.

And the mums still mainly just chat.

But no matter what I do  and no matter how many I take (I have hundreds) they will never EVER pose for a sensible photograph.

This post is part of The Gallery, view the Sticky Fingers Blog to see more

Autumn - The Gallery

Autumn. Equal first best season (along with Spring, Summer and Winter). It's been one of the most colourful I've seen for years.

For me it's the season of puddle-jumping.

Morning mists

And crazy tree colours.   Lush.

The Gallery - Light

  LIGHT on the Gallery


Dappled....

Fading... 

Window..... (any excuse to show this pic)

The Gallery – T for Tummy

What struck me most about Russell Grant’s Paso Doble on Strictly Come Dancing this weekend, was his tummy. The man’s lost a lot of weight and he’s certainly got rhythm. But all I ever see is his belly (and I love it!).

I wasn’t going to bother with a gallery post this week, as Tara from the Sticky Fingers blog had given us the letter ‘T’ and no pictures immediately sprung to mind. Until I saw Russell’s tummy.  And thought of mine.

It’s another excuse to post a picture that always makes me smile. I took it myself, on a poor quality camera phone, in 2008, somewhere near the end of my first pregnancy.

Tubby Turnip Tummy……… call it what you like.  Terrific.

The Gallery - Shoes

I'm not a shoe girl, I'm more into stationery, or cardigans, or luggage. All of my shoes are practical and sensible. I don't own a painful pair of shoes that I wear just for the joy of it. The shoes gene went to my big sister, she's the SJP in our family (I'm more of a Miranda, season 1 and 2, before she got stylish).

That said, the gallery theme this week on the Sticky fingers blog is an easy one for me. When it comes to shoes I have one fetish,  and it's Camper.

Camper make quirky, comfortable, stylish and sometimes odd, shoes. Odd as in weird, odd as in 'odd' - see picture. These are Camper twins, the second pair I've owned. I've had 4 pairs of Camper in all. Not enough, but they're not cheap.

Find out more about Camper shoes here

Straight talking with my Nan

This week's gallery theme on the sticky fingers blog is 'grandparents'. So this got me thinking about mine - well, one in particular. Peggy Patch.

Peggy Patch is my maternal Grandmother. She's been known to me as Nan for most of my life, but the older she gets, the more nicknames we give her.

I love this photograph, taken with my husband before our wedding. At this point she was still sober, but determined to enjoy herself, despite the absence of my Grandad who'd died some years before. And enjoy herself she did, giggling all the way through the speeches like a naughtly schoolgirl, drunk on champagne.

There are many things that I love about my Nan, mostly her sense of humour and her love of life. She did everything a grandparent should do - which is basically everything your parents wouldn't. She put sugar in my tea and butter on my toast. She bought 99's from the ice-cream van and didn't tell Grandad we were drinking pints. She says 'fanny' and doesn't care if the kids wreck her house. And on a night out, she believes in having a good time and is always the last one to leave.

When my Grandad died, she crumbled. It was like her world had ended. For two years I shared the responsibility of staying with her, to help her get used to life alone. But I enjoyed it so much I ended up almost moving in. She didn't bat an eyelid when I returned home from clubs at 8am the next morning. She'd bring me water and empty the bucket when a night on the tiles left me throwing up for hours on end. She gave up her house so my friends could all stay. We would stay up late, drunk and laughing, unable to get to sleep. But best of all, she welcomed my husband-to-be into her home, giving up her bed so we could stay together - and then lied to my mum!

And now my 3 year old loves her too. He laughs whenever he sees her and she's just as naughty with him as she was with me. So when I saw the gallery post for this week was grandparents, I had to take this opportunity to honour my Nan. Margaret 'Peggy' Soden (nee Jones). One in a million and the funniest person I know.