Me right now - The Gallery

This is me, right now (11pm, Tues 31 Jan 2012)

Well it's a little bit of me (the bright white patch in the bottom right corner).

Tara Cain wants to know what we're doing right now, as we read this week's Gallery topic on the Sticky Fingers blog. It's 11pm, I'm sitting at the computer and a strange hooded man sleeps behind me.

Match of the Day is on. He turns it on, then falls asleep. I'm supposed to be working, but now I'm the one watching Match of the Day.

Me. Right. Now.       Life on the edge.

(can't go outside cos there's a big cat stalking us)

The Gallery - A Happy Memory

I'm late entering my post into this week's Gallery on the Sticky Fingers blog because I couldn't find the picture I wanted. Anyway, I found it in the loft, in a frame with lots of other pictures and I couldn't take it out (for fear of disturbing the 'arrangement'). So I took a bad photo of it, but you get the idea.

This is not only one of my favourite photos, but a really lovely memory. It makes me remember how much fun I have when I travel with my husband. When this was taken we weren't married and we were starting to fall in love with Spain all over again. This is nowhere unusual or glamourous, it's the Alhambra in Granada.

I took this photo as we were relaxing on one of the patios, basking in the sun after too much wine at lunch. We sat there and began to fall asleep.

I am a bit of a fake when it comes to romantic pictures. I have many 'captured' moments like these, but they are always taken by me (using timer delay) and most of the time I've planned them earlier. Don't tell me I'm the only person who does that??

I didn't plan this one in advance, but saw it in my mind as we sat there. So ran and set my camera up and ran back and struck my pose. And I love it.

Five minutes later we got told off by a security man for sleeping on the floor.We were embarrassingly ushered out of the area and asked to move on. Oh well. Memory made and kept.

The pic now sits in a frame with others from the same trip, when all we could afford were clip frames 'cos we spent all our money on holidays. Now they just look tacky, but I'm keeping them as they are. These kind of memories are the best.

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.