Doodle Week Day 7 (& Portrait of Words).......

Well here we are the last day of Doodle Week.

I hope you've enjoyed my (and the others) doodles. If you haven't seen the others already go here and take a look.

The theme for today is PARTY!

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Want to try out your writing talents?

Here's the perfect opportunity.

Jeff (A Word in Edgewise) has started up this monthly challenge, derived from a previous challenge from R.E.H.'s "Picture Fiction Challenge". This month is number 1.


Each month Jeff will give FOUR pictures which represent THE CATEGORIES and THREE pictures which represent THE WILD CARDS.


The object is to:
Write a story of any length or style. Long or short, comedy or tragedy, fact or fiction, etc,etc... it's up to you. Use each of the picture representations in your story. (one from the wild card options)


Go here to get this month's challenge details. Your story doesn't have to be posted until 15th - 17th September so you have a while to get your thinking cap on.


Go on, have a go, you know you want to.

Saturday Wordzzle # 28 (& Doodle Week Day 6)....

Wordzzle first then scroll down for Doodle Week Day 6.

The idea is, every week Raven (View From A Raven's Nest) gives you between 8 and 10 words/phrases and you have to create a small but coherent paragraph using every one of them and the same with the mini challenge. You can do either, both or a megawordzzle using all the words, or even all three, it's up to you, you can post them on your blog or email them to Raven. If you join in go to Raven's and put your name on the Mr. Linky so other participants can come visit you.




Here are my efforts - complete with my doodles.



This Week's Ten Word Challenge is: pogo stick, ant farm, psychic, tin box, wall safe, Waterloo, surge protector, pneumonia, ravages of time, turtle

Mabel Waterloo, was a famous psychic, who had starred at all the big theatres around the country. She was very popular, and a sight to behold bouncing around the stage as though she was on a pogo stick and had an ant farm in her pants. Her psychic abilities were exceptional and quite often when she was delivering messages to the audience the lights would dim to the extent that the theatres installed surge protectors whenever Mabel was appearing. After 40 years of unfailing duty to the spirit world, unfortunately Mabel’s health had now deteriorated, she had been made weak by the ravages of time and pneumonia. No more bouncing about on stage, Mabel was now as slow as a turtle but she still did private readings with her precious tarot cards, which she kept in a tin box because she hadn’t got a wall safe. Despite her failing health Mabel’s powers were still strong, in fact the neighbours often complained about their light bulbs blowing when Mabel was working!




And for the Mini Challenge: Swollen ankles, opera singer, toothy grin, oil paints, potter’s wheel

Carla picked up the hairbrush and sitting in front of her bedroom mirror, smiled her toothy grin and began to sing. In her mind she was an opera singer, a film star – she thought of her favourite film ‘Ghost’, she was Demi Moore sitting at a potter’s wheel with Patrick Swayze whispering in her ear, artists clamoured to capture her beauty on canvas in oil paints. Unfortunately none of her dreams were likely to happen, she was a middle aged woman about 20lbs overweight with swollen ankles and a voice that sounded like a cat on a hot tin roof.



Megawordzzle

Dame Marjorie Forsythe, the opera singer, took her place on the stage playing the part of Lady Hamilton in the new Opera ‘Waterloo’. Her mind wasn’t really on the part she was playing today, she just couldn’t stop thinking about the veritable ant farm that seemed to have developed in the kitchen of her house, first thing tomorrow she would phone the pest control people and have them send someone over.

Angus, the pest control man, had arrived like a whirlwind, displaying a toothy grin and a face that only a mother could love. Showing him into the kitchen she pointed out the problem, an army of ants marching relentless across her kitchen floor. Angus proceeded to tell her some story about him having been in hospital for six months with pneumonia but Marjorie wasn’t interested so she said

“Will this take long?”
Opening his tin box Angus pulled out a device which he plugged into the nearest socket.

“What are you going to do, electrocute them?” enquired Marjorie.



“Of course not” replied Angus “this is like a minature vacuum cleaner, I’m going to suck them all up and take them away.”

Hopping from one foot to the other because of her swollen ankles, Marjorie looked on as the ants disappeared up the tube. Suddenly there was an almighty bang and all the lights went out.

“Oops” said Angus “I think I should have used a surge protector.”

“Oh good grief, how old is that contraption, it’s certainly showing evidence of the ravages of time?” said Marjorie.

“I’m going to the summer house until you sort this lot out, let me know when you’re done” Marjorie told Angus.

In the summerhouse Marjorie fed the turtle in the aquarium and pondered whether to get out her oil paints and finish the self portrait she’d been working on, or rest her feet by sitting at the potter’s wheel, instead she chose to meditate.



Once Marjorie was out of the way Angus went on a search of the house, he guessed Marjorie was well off living in such a big house so there must be cash somewhere. Up in the bedroom Angus discovered a wall safe, which had been left open, behind a painting on the wall, what luck he thought as he busily filled his pockets with the contents. Suddenly he felt a crack on the back of the head and everything went black. Marjorie had walloped him with a pogo stick. What Angus didn’t know was Marjorie wasn’t just an opera singer, she was also a psychic!

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Ooooh Day 6 of Doodle Week already.

Are you playing? You can, it's really easy. Doodle something on TODAY'S theme of YELLOW and post it on your blog, then go here and put your name on Mr. Linky so others can visit you. Don't forget to visit other participants to see their doodles.

Here's my YELLOW doodle. It's a yellow capsicum, just in case you don't recognise it!

A Special Birthday......

Today would have been Reece's (our eldest grandson's) 18th birthday.

REECE

You are in our thoughts every day

but especially today.

The party would have been the best.

We love you sweetheart

Nanna and Granddad

xxxx

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 41 Fountain of Youth (& Doodle Week Day 5)

Fountain of Youth

The layers were peeled away,

white shiny skin underneath glistened seductively.

Sliding into the cool, pale liquid.

A liquid which would preserve the beauty keep it succulent and juicy.

Others were already in there, swimming around lazily,

Soaking up the liquid specifically designed for this very purpose.

Their life extended,

Pickled Onions in a jar.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

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Have you been taking part in Doodle Week?

You still can.

All you have to do is post your doodle on today's theme of AIR, go here and put your name on Mr. Linky (so people can come look) and visit the other participants.

Go on you know you want to.

Here's my AIR doodle.

Doodle Week Day 4.........

Day four already of Doodle Week.

If you want to join in post your doodle on today's theme of FIRE and go here and put your name on Mr. Linky so folk can come visit you. Don't forget to visit the other participants.

Here's my doodle for FIRE.

Body Worlds (& Doodle Week Day 3).......

On 15th August MWM and I went into Manchester to the Science and Industry Museum to see an exhibition called Body Worlds, by Gunther von Hagen, the anatomist/physician, which is an exhibition of Real Human Bodies preserved by a process called plastination which was developed by Gunther von Hagen in Germany. The process makes it possible to lend rigidity to soft body parts e.g. individual muscles, organs such as the lungs, or a single nerve. This means specimens of entire bodies can be inherently stabilized and posed in such a way that they are actually capable of standing, which was formerly restricted to skeletons.

Now you may think that this exhibition would be gruesome, or resemble a circus sideshow but I can assure you it is not, it's absolutely fascintating and incredible to say the least. It enables you to see all aspects of the human body in situ and I feel priviledged to have seen what was, before von Hagen's plastinates, restricted to the closed order of physicians. Plastinates reveal the inner structure and function of the human body from the human skeleton and its interplay with the muscles, to the functions of the inner organs of the respiratory tract and the digestive organs, to the nervous and cardiovascular systems to the beginning of life in the womb. The functions of the individual organ systems are explained in accompanying texts. Disease based organ transformations, such as degenerative joint disease, myocardial infarction, or the damage caused by many years of smoking are shown as well. Having had a knee replacement I was particularly interested in an exhibit of a knee showing degeneration due to arthritis.

Obviously taking photographs was prohibited and although I bought a catalogue showing photographs of many of the exhibits there is the question of copyright, so I am unable to scan any of the photographs to show you. You can, however, see examples here.

The Manchester exhibition finished on the 17th August but there is a permanent exhibition in Guben, Germany and also exhibitions in Edmonton, Baltimore and Los Angeles. If you are anywhere near any of these exhibitions I would encourage you to go and see for yourself (if you haven't already) - you'll be amazed.

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Day three of Doodle Week and todays theme is WATER.



If you want to join in post your doodle then click here and sign Mr. Linky to let others know you're playing. Don't forget to go visit the other participants.



Here's my WATER doodle.

Doodle Week Day 1 & 2.....

Doodle Week started yesterday and I forgot.

You get a different theme every day. If you want to take part click on the link and put your name on Mr. Linky so folks will know you joined in and visit the other Doodle Week participants.

Yesterday's theme was SUNFLOWER, here's mine.

Today's theme is EARTH, here's mine.

Kefalonia Part 4....

Continuing the bus tour we left Fiskardo and travelled south to the district of Sami to visit Melissani Lake.

Melissani Lake or 'Cave of the Nymphs' is located at Karavomlos, just 2km from the town of Sami. It is a unique cave structure, with a lake whose waters reach a depth of 39 meteres. To reach the cave one has to descend a sloping ramp down to the boats waiting on the lake. The cave is 160m long and 40m wide. Its stalactites date back 16,000 to 20,000 years in age. In the centre of the lake, where the covered section begins, there is a small island 30m in length on the surface of which are two small elevatioins, 8m and 9m in height.

A narrow channel between this little island and the walls of the lake leads to the rest of the cave. We were expertely ferried through the channel, 12 to a rowing boat, by one of the four boatmen who work at the lake.

Melissani has been the site of several excavations which have brought to light a number of finds, most of them from the 3rd and 4th centrues BC, and attesting to a cult of the god Pan. A number of female figures have also been found the famous Nymphs. The visitor can tour the lake on a boat and admire the wonderful colours to be seen in the water constantly changing as the sunlight falls on it ghrough the apeture in the roof above.

The lake is fed from the sea but by the time the water reaches the lake it has lost 90% of its salinity, this almost clear water is fed back into the sea. It was cool on the lake but not cold, though one could certainly feel the change in temperature ascending to the exit.

Melissini Lake is a beautiful natural phenomenon, well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Kefalonia.

Tune in for Kefalonia Part 5 and our visit to Drogorati Cave.

Saturday Wordzzle #27

The idea is, every week Raven (View From A Raven's Nest) gives you between 8 and 10 words/phrases and you have to create a small but coherent paragraph using every one of them and the same with the mini challenge. You can do either, both or a megawordzzle using all the words, or even all three, it's up to you, you can post them on your blog or email them to Raven. If you join in go to Raven's and put your name on the Mr. Linky so other participants can come visit you.




Here are my efforts - complete with my doodles.


This Week's Ten Word Challenge is: tiramisu, transfixed, evacuation, Queen of the Nile, pillowcase, grammatical, voice inflection, pacified, microclimate, swami

Dressed in a Cleopatra style dress Jolene felt like the queen of the nile. Charlie stared at her transfixed then asked

“What are you wearing, it looks like a pillowcase?”

“I look better than you” said Jolene, with a rather sarcastic voice inflection “you look more like a Swami than a sheikh!”

“Don’t be upset my little tiramisu, I was only joking” cajoled Charlie

But Jolene wouldn’t be pacified, she told him

“You’ll be too warm at the fancy dress party with that teatowel on your head, you know the Carter’s house has it’s own microclimate since they got that new central heating boiler.”

“Yeah but when they start the evacuation into the garden I’ll be the only one that’s warm!” said Charlie, flicking the teatowel back over his shoulder.

“Oh don’t be so grammatical” hissed Jolene.

“Don’t you mean dramatic?” asked Charlie laughing at the disgusted look on her face.



And for the Mini Challenge: maggots, thermal pocket, industrial, bovine, feminized

The makeover was supposed to have feminized her bovine features but the industrial make-up did nothing apart from causing her face to feel as though it was encased in a thermal pocket and the false eyelashes felt like maggots on her eyes!



Megawordzzle

Petunia delicately spooned the tiramisu into her mouth whilst enjoying the sunshine on the deck of the ‘Queen of the Nile’. She had booked the Nile cruise as a way of meeting people with the same interests, now she was a widow, and up to now she hadn’t been disappointed. Everyone on board was enthusiastic about the things they saw on their daily excursions to the ancient temples and she was transfixed watching the daily life of the people living on the banks of the river, even the bovine carcass full of maggots floating in the river hadn’t put her off. Today’s excursion to the magnificent temple of Hapsetshut had totally tired her out, it had been excruciatingly hot and even the bottle of water she’d taken in the thermal pocket to keep it cool had been boiling!


The cabins on board weren’t huge but were ample and the cabin boys (she laughed to herself – they were hardly boys) kept them immaculate, making sure the beds were turned down, a different towel animal sitting on the end of the bed and a chocolate and flower petals adorning the pillowcase each night.


She enjoyed the evenings on board most of all. There was entertainment laid on, but she found the after dinner conversations with her fellow sailors most interesting, their lives were diverse, teachers, shopkeepers, administrators, all walks of life.

The swami was the one person on board who had captured Petunia’s attention more than the others. She loved his gentle voice inflection and the occasional grammatical errors in his English, though he spoke it well, and she always felt pacified after a conversation with him. He was travelling with his assistant, Cedric, a young man who seemed somewhat feminized but was affable and had superb manners. Petunia was fascinated with the Swami’s tales of the orphanage he had founded in an area of Wales that seemed to have it’s own microclimate and was dismayed to hear there were plans by the local council for the evacuation of the place unless he could raise enough money to bring it up to health and safety standards. He showed her photographs of the children, all happy and smiling, and told her of the army of volunteers who helped him make their lives bearable since they lost their parents.

Ten years older than Petunia her husband had been an industrial giant, who hadn’t really had time to enjoy the money he’d made before he died from a heart attack at the age of forty-six, before they’d had a chance to have children. Her heart went out to the children Swami talked of and by the time the cruise was over she already written a cheque for the £100,000 he needed to complete the necessary work at the orphanage. Petunia said goodbye to the new friends she had made and made a firm promise to visit the orphanage to see the fruits of her generous donation in a few months time.

Back home in London Albert smiled at his growing bank balance. Looking at his companion he said


“Well that should keep us going for a while Cedric."


“It sure will Swami, I still can’t believe these rich women fall for the Orphanage story!” laughed Cedric.

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Next weeks 10 word challenge will be: pogo stick, ant farm, psychic, tin box, wall safe, Waterloo, surge protector, pneumonia, ravages of time, turtle.

And for the mini: swollen ankles, opera singer, toothy grin, oil paints, potters wheel.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #40 Hobo

Hobo

Underneath the unkemptness you could see she had something.

With love she could become the beauty she'd once been.

Greg decided he would take her home, if she'd let him.

She went willingly, he made her comfortable, gave her food, she seemed to trust him.

They would be great friends

he and this little dog.

Well she had to have a happy ending didn't she after being dumped a few weeks ago?

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Kefalonia Part 3......

We got a day's rest after the boat trip and had to be in bed early on the Saturday because we were being picked up at 7.30 a.m. ( I know, we're gluttons for punishment)on the middle Sunday for a coach tour of the island (Kefalonia).

Still half asleep we climbed aboard the coach with Julie and Dave, a couple who were staying at our hotel with whom we had struck up a friendship. We drove NorthWest past the capital Argostoli stopping to view the most photographed beach on Kefalonia, Myrtos Bay. (see slide show). Although beautiful it is not safe to swim in the bay because of the currents, but you can sunbathe on the beach, however the extremely steep, winding road down to the beach is not for the faint hearted and certainly not designed for coaches so we could only take photographs.

Travelling North to the beautiful little fishing village of Assos a small and charming village 36 kilometres from the capital of Kefalonia. It has about a hundred inhabitants and is one of the most picturesque and beautiful villages of the island. Dominated by the ruins of a 16th century Venetian castle, the village of Assos was built on a small peninsula that has the same name. Its traditional and charming atmosphere is created by the hospitality of its inhabitants, the traditional architecture, the narrow alleys and the excellent little taverns perched on the quayside that overlook the bay. This unspoilt village is a must for photographers, with its pretty white washed and pastel houses surrounded by a picturesque stone-terraced hilly terrain. Assos sits on the west coast of the peninsular on Kefalonia, sadly damaged by the 1953 earthquake, but beautifully restored with the help of a donation from Paris,which is why the square is officially known as Paris Square with a marble inscription acknowledging the assistance received from France in rebuilding the village. There are remnants of houses from the earthquake for sale at 100,00Euros, if you buy one you have to restore it in keeping with the architecture keeping the original as it stands. Everyone on the bus agreed that if they won the Lottery they would be returning to Assos, purchasing a ruin to restore and retiring there it was so beautiful.


Continuing our journey we skirted the northern tip of the island then took the road south to the harbour town of Fiskardo - the Marbella of Kefalonia. The rich and famous moor up there and consequently the restaurants and cafes think that everyone who visits is rich. Fiskardo was not affected by the earthquake so consequently most of the original buildings have survived. We had lunch at the Cafe Tselenti which has been owned by the Tselentis family since 1893 . We were given the picture below with our bill and the text on it reads:

In 1900 all of the inhabitants of Fiskardo assembled in front of the

building which has been owned by the Tselentis family since 1893 for what we presume was a celebration for a Greek National Holiday.

Fiskardo 1900

Apparently at the end of the holiday season there are only 100 inhabitants in Fiskardo.

Tune in for Kefalonia Part 4 and the rest of the Bus Tour, visiting Melissani Lake.

Knife Crime.....

Before Nick's brush with knife crime I had signed an online petition at 10 Downing Street saying:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to introduce a mandatory minimum 5 year setence for the possesion of knives in public.”

Details of Petition:

“Given the increase in knife crime the time has come to introduce a madatory minimum 5 year sentence for the possesion of knives in public places. Maybe this way we can avoid the increase in the news headlines about this subject.”

Read the petition·

I received the Government’s response on Thursday via email and thought you may be interested in reading it.

The Government takes knife crime very seriously. In 2006, we doubled the maximum sentence for possession of a knife without lawful authority or reasonable excuse from two to four years. Additionally, we have introduced a presumption to prosecute for this offence and people who are prosecuted for carrying a knife are now almost three times as likely to go to prison as in 1997, and for a third longer. There are, however, no plans to introduce a mandatory minimum sentence as suggested.

Where a knife is used in a crime, the consequences are likely to be very serious and a serious offence will be charged. Such offences carry severe penalties, including life imprisonment (for causing murder, manslaughter or causing grievous bodily harm with intent, for example).
Within the statutory limits, it is for the courts to determine what sentence to impose in any individual case, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, any aggravating or mitigating factors and relevant sentencing guidelines. The Sentencing Guidelines Council recently issued guidelines to the magistrates’ courts on the range of offences dealt with by those courts, including possession of a bladed article or an offensive weapon, to come into effect on 4 August. The Council has issued an update on 1 August relating to possession of a knife, in advance of the implementation of the new guidelines. This update reflects the recent comments of Sir Igor Judge in the Court of Appeal in which he stated that “Even if the offender does no more than carry the weapon, even when the weapon is not used to threaten or cause fear, when considering the seriousness of the offence, courts should bear in mind the harm which the weapon might foreseeably have caused.”

It is encouraging, we just have to wait and see if the courts take any notice.

There are any number of petitions on the go at any one time and I have signed quite a few, if you're interested see Petitions homepage.

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As usual we took Sam, Harry and Gracie to Great-Granddads on Saturday afternoon.

On the way home Sam sat in the middle of the back seat, with Harry and Gracie on either side. Suddenly Gracie piped up

"Harry bit me!"

I quickly turned my head expecting to see Harry with his teeth embedded in Gracie's arm, of course he wasn't, he was strapped in his carseat.

"Harry couldn't have bitten you Gracie, he's nowhere near you" I said.

"She means yesterday Nanna" piped up Harry "but it was an accident!"

You can bite someone by accident???????

Saturday Wordzzle # 26

The idea is, every week Raven (View From A Raven's Nest) gives you between 8 and 10 words/phrases and you have to create a small but coherent paragraph using every one of them and the same with the mini challenge. You can do either, both or a megawordzzle using all the words, or even all three, it's up to you, you can post them on your blog or email them to Raven. If you join in go to Raven's and put your name on the Mr. Linky so other participants can come visit you.


Here are my efforts - complete with my doodles.


This Week's Ten Word Challenge is: exponentially, Nightshade, braces, impossibility, the beginning of time, barracuda, playful banter, delve, automatic, bewildered

The Scrabble Championship was underway, after some playful banter just before the beginning of time being called. They studied the letters dealt to them bewildered at the impossibility of creating words that would fit.

Dad goes first for 10 points with BRACES

Then Liam for 17 with EXPONENT

Dad again for 9 with N I G H T

Liam gets 18 by making it into NIGHTSHADE

Crafty Dad expands on Liam’s EXPONENT and makes it EXPONENTIALLY to score 25!

Liam can only manage a 4 with AUTO

But Dad makes it into 14 with AUTOMATIC

Liam scores a paltry 5 on his next go with BAR

Dad gets 9 for DELV E

B R A C E S
A           X
R           P
             O
             N
D E L V E
             N
N I G H T S H A D E
              I
             A U T O M A T I C
             L
             L
            Y


Liam thinks he can get 14 on his next turn making BARRACUDA but it just won't fit - Oh bugger!


And for the Mini Challenge: fragment, hemoglobin, insipid, flourish, juxtapose

The spot of hemoglobin sparkled bright red against her skin, which was insipid in comparison. Withdrawing the needle, with a flourish, the doctor was horrified to find a fragment of the needle was still embedded in her arm. His memory flashed a picture of the tramp outside the hospital begging, juxtapose his career with the life of the tramp – that’s where he was heading after this!

Megawordzzle

Nightshade was, as her name suggested, deadly!

Rick, watched her sunbathing on the deck of his boat, the ‘Barracuda’, thinking how beautiful she was. His mind wandered back to the beginning of time, or so it seemed, before she became a permanent part of his life.

She had just been the daughter of the housekeeper, but she was a beautiful child and, although he was three years older than her, he had loved her. They spent hours together playing board games like Monopoly and Scrabble – he remembered how she used to come up with words he’d never heard of like ‘exponentially’, he wasn’t sure she even knew what they meant but it impressed him.

Their life-paths had, inevitably, taken a different course and they’d lost touch for ten years, then miraculously they met again at a meeting, which she attended as a secretary to one of the partners in his company. He’d recognised her straight away, though she had looked a little bewildered until he’d reminded her of the playful banter they’d enjoyed as children. He asked how long it had been since she’s had the braces removed from her teeth, just to tease her, but then sweetened the comment by remarking on how beautiful her smile was.

Nightshade, watched Rick almost salivating at the sight of her. When she saw his photograph in the paper she had begun to delve into what he’d been doing since they’d gone to college and their own ways. She had made it her business to secure the job in his company as soon as she’d found out it belonged to Rick, though she was aware of the impossibility that Rick would still remember her. She was still getting over the death of her husband of two years, Michael, who had died from a hemoglobin problem, when the blood he had been given after an operation was contaminated.

Juxtapose Michael and Rick, there was no comparison, Rick was but an insipid shadow to Michael, but she needed to be close to him. Turning on the automatic smile she had perfected since they’d met again at the meeting, Nightshade waved with a flourish at Rick, whilst cradling the fragment of Michael’s hair secure in the locket around her neck. Rick was going to pay dearly for his company’s mistake with the contaminated blood that had killed her beloved Michael.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #39 Round in Circles.....

Round In Circles

Round and round in a circle,

Moving slowly, pursuing each other.

Some joining, others leaving.

An array of colours, most different, some alike, diverse.

Wondering where they're from,

Where they've been,

Where they're going.

Some standing, some lying down,

Some smart, mostly jaded.

Being met and disappearing.

I'm sitting watching -
luggage on an airport carousel.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Playtime......

Last Thursday Nick asked if I would look after Sam, Harry and Gracie while he went to the hospital to have his plaster checked as he was getting a lot of cramp in his calf and thought the plaster may be too tight. As it turned out they removed the plaster and put a temporary one on until he had to go back for his proper appointment on Monday. Here's my boy thoroughly fed up.

Sam was playing some game on the Wii but I persuaded him to play me at tenpin bowling. He took great pains in showing me how to play and making sure I knew he was good, was he surprised when I beat him! Then we let the two little ones have a go, with Sam and I helping of course, that was hilarious. I offered Sam a return match but he refused and went back to playing his game.


After the bowling, as it was a (rare) fine warm day, Harry, Gracie and I played in the garden, Gracie mowed the grass with her toy mower whilst Harry whizzed round pushing Gracie's double buggy. I got to push them both on the swing then Harry decided he wanted to push Gracie, all went well until Harry got smacked in the mouth with the swing! No panic though I kissed him better and put some ice in a teatowel and held it on his mouth to prevent it swelling, he didn't even cry! I thought he'd forgotten all about it but when his mum came home he made sure she knew what had happened - I'm a bad Nanna!



Nick went back to the hospital on Monday where they xrayed his foot again and put another plaster on, so he's still on crutches until he goes back in three weeks. The doctor said it's healing well though it was a bad break, God alone knows how he managed to run on it after the attack. He's going stir crazy sitting at home all day and of course he's worried about the mortgage and the bills, I could murder the little b******ds that caused this. He hasn't heard anything from the police yet about what's happening with them, if justice isn't served I will be writing to my MP and the Godawful Gordon (Brown PM) for sure.



On a lighter note I'll leave you with some photos of the children having fun.

Kefalonia Part 2.......

Apart from sunbathing, reading, sleeping, eating and drinking, we didn't do a lot on the first week of our holiday. However we booked a boat trip round the neighbouring island of Ithaca for the second Friday we were there.

We were picked up by coach at 8 a.m. and taken to the little harbour at Agia Efimia, where much of Captain Corelli's Mandolin was filmed. In fact there's a taverna called Captain Correlli's there though we didn't have time to call in for refreshments.

We boarded the boat, The Ithaca Princess, and set sail towards the narrow strait between Kefalonia and Ithaca, which for the most part is between 3 and 5 kilometres wide. Approaching the strait storm clouds were gathering, the water became rather choppy and it began to rain - not a good start to a boat trip! Thankfully we hadn't opted to sit on the sundeck because all the people up there were asked to come down to the lower decks until we got through the strait. The captain promised the sun would reappear then. Do you remember the scene in 'Jason and the Argonauts' where they were sailing through the 'clashing rocks' well it was a bit like that! (See the 'storm clouds' picture on the slide show). Anyway the captain was right, once through the strait we left the storm behind and emerged into bright sunshine.

Neolithic finds in the north of Ithaca date it's earliest inhabitation back to at least 3000 BC. According to it's infamous mythology, the island was named after either Ithacus , son of the sea-god 'Poseidon' or Ithacis, the son of a Kephalonia king who settled there. It is said to be the home of Odysseus and reached it's peak around 1000 BC, which seems to correspond with Homer's writing of the much disputed Odyssey . Archaeological finds from this period have been used to support the reading of this epic as a literal description of historic events and can be seen in Vathi's Archaeological Museum.

Our first stop was in one of the beautiful bays for a short swim-stop. MWM doesn't swim and I seemed to have got something in my eye, which was watering mercilesly, so I gave swimming a miss and just enjoyed the scenery. (see 'swimstop' on the slideshow)

We set sail again to the village of Kioni where we docked for about forty-five minutes, giving us enough time to walk round the village, have an ice-cream and take some photographs. On the 20th of July, the inhabitants of the lovely village of Kioni, reach the small church of Agios Elias (built on the rocks by the sea) with their little fishing boats to attend the holy service and celebrate the feast of the saint with a huge feast back in Kioni, full of live traditional music, dances, tasty food and excellent wine. (see 'Sailor's Chapel' Kioni on the slideshow). Of course we missed it!

Setting sail once more for the capital of Ithaca, Vathi, we marvelled at how green yet mountainous the island is and enjoyed the running commentary given by the three guides on the boat. They gave us lots of historical information about Ithaca, none of which I can remember, but it was all very interesting if you want to read up on it here.

Sailing into Vathi we saw the seaplane taking off for one of its twice daily flights to Argostoli (Kefalonia's capital). Vathi is very picturesque and we had two hours there, enough time to have a delicious Greek salad, local bread and a beer for lunch in one of the harbour tavernas (see lunch in Vathi on the slideshow) before exploring the pretty cobbled streets.

Leaving Vathi we sailed round to yet another bay for a swim-stop, I chickened out again opting to bag one of the seats on the sundeck to catch some rays whilst it's occupants were swimming. The sail back to Agia Efimia was a lot smoother than the sail out. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 7 p.m. - a long day but a very enjoyable one, time to get showered and changed and out to dinner.

Tune in for Kefalonia part 3 soon.

Saturday Wordzzle # 25

The idea is, every week Raven (View From A Raven's Nest) gives you between 8 and 10 words/phrases and you have to create a small but coherent paragraph using every one of them and the same with the mini challenge. You can do either, both or a megawordzzle using all the words, or even all three, it's up to you, you can post them on your blog or email them to Raven. If you join in go to Raven's and put your name on the Mr. Linky so other participants can come visit you.

Here are my efforts - complete with my doodles.

This Week's Ten Word Challenge is: middle finger, text message. the letter “Q,” Shangri-La, melodramatic, compensate, elixir, band of brothers, quadruped, explicit

Chris sent a quick text message to the ‘Band of Brothers’, his rock group.

“Meet you at the Shangri-La at 8 for some elixir, I’ll be arriving on a quadruped”.

An immediate reply came from Jimmy in the form of the letter “Q”, which Chris knew meant OK.

Tony’s text said

“Why do you always have to be so explicit and melodramatic? Leave the horse at home!”

“OK” replied Chris “but you’ll have to compensate me, so you’re paying all night.”

“No way” thought Tony, mentally giving Chris the middle finger.




And for the Mini Challenge: deposition, monosyllabic, better off dead, dubious, posh

Standing in the dock Jane couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The prosecution lawyer was reading a deposition from the cleaner she had employed. Someone must have helped her write it thought Jane, she was only capable of monosyllabic conversations usually.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I was always dubious about her, too posh, conniving, married to an old man with money, I heard her tell him he'd be better off dead” relayed the lawyer.

“What was she talking about?” thought Jane, they really think I killed Arthur!



Megawordzzle

After the accident Melissa thought she would be better off dead. She felt she had been scarred for life in the crash but her family and friends said she was being melodramatic. They continued to visit and cajole her like a band of brothers, ignoring her monosyllabic replies to their enquiries as to when she was thinking of going back to work.

She had been knocked out in the crash and her memory of the accident was sketchy but she was having flashbacks, not enough to give a deposition in court though, as yet. She remembered leaving the country restaurant, The Letter “Q”, with Mark, he was driving his sports car along the windy roads back to town when the quadruped appeared in the middle of the road as they rounded the sharp bend.

Melissa was remembering their first date, she hadn’t been dubious at all as Mark was the brother of Tricia, a colleague from work. Tricia had been on at her for months asking if she fancied a date with Mark, eventually she relented and told Tricia she could pass on her mobile number to Mark. He sent her a text message and they arranged to meet. After only a few dates she found they got on like a house on fire, being with Mark was like elixir, exciting and heady. After six months Mark proposed, dinner at the posh restaurant was to celebrate their engagement.

Waiting for Mark to come and take her to dinner she flicked through the holiday brochures. During dinner Mark wanted to know what he could do to compensate her for the broken middle finger she had sustained in the accident.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve been looking at some holiday brochures and there’s this fantastic place called Shangri-La in the Caribbean where we could get married” said Melissa, giving Mark a dazzling smile.

“Could you be a bit more explicit?” asked Mark with a wink.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 38 The Trip

The Trip

“Come on, we’re going for a little drive” he said

“Oh great” she thought, rushing out to the car “I’d rather go for a walk, but beggars can’t be choosers”.

Suddenly he stopped.

"Out you get.......

I'm sorry,

we can’t keep you,

someone will find you and take you in, you’re such a lovely puppy.”

The number of abandoned dogs inspired me to write this rather poignant tale.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Kefalonia Part 1 ......

Ok y'all it's time to bore you with the holiday photos!

First of all the above picture is actually a photograph MWM took late at night of the moon on the sea on the beach road just near out hotel - isn't it beautiful!

We had a really early start to our holiday being picked up by taxi at 3.30 a.m. on Thursday 17th July for a 6 a.m. flight out of Manchester. We'd had about an hour's sleep but were raring to go. I'd packed everything except the kitchen sink and an umbrella but we weighed the luggage to make sure we wouldn't have to pay excess baggage, (the airports are really strict on luggage now), and off we went.

Our flight didn't actually take off until 6.25 a.m. but made up the half hour delay so we landed in Kefalonia spot on time. We were off the plane and on the bus on our way to the resort of Skala within 30 mins which is excellent for a Greek airport I can tell you.

The ride across the mountains and through the little windy streets of the villages in a huge coach is quite an hairaising one I can tell you, the coach drivers deserve a medal! The scenery was spectacular though so we didn't dwell too much on the sheer drops at the side of the mountain roads. The journey took about one and half hours with the drop offs at varioius hotels but it meant that we got to see the other hotels and were happy with our choice once we got there.

We stayed at the Aeolos Beach Hotel in Skala which is set up quite a steep hill about a twenty minute walk from the centre of Skala itself. You'll see from the slide show the magnificent views we had from the balcony and the pool area and it was really peaceful compared to the busling resort during the day.

The rooms are huge, with a power shower, comfortable beds, very clean and well maintained. The pool and it's surroundings are beautiful, with wonderful views and there are more than enough sunbeds and umbrellas even when the hotel is full. The staff at the hotel are friendly helpful - Angela is a charming and helpful manager, she is helped by Lisa, who always has a cheery good morning/afternoon and a lovely smile. Kat organises breakfast and cooks at lunchtime - her BLT's are to die for! Evo (the handyman) apparently was an Olympic weight lifter, which is believable when you see him lift two 20kg suitcases and run up and down stairs with them as though they were two bags of sugar! Michael, the barman, is friendly and mixes great drinks, we asked for our favourite - Ouzo, topped up with sprite and a dash of Grenadine - he said Ouzo Specials will now but put on the cocktail menu!

The hotel is about a 20 minute walk into the centre of Skala but we enjoyed it - a nice way to work up an appetite and walk off your evening meal. The hill up to the hotel is a bit of a killer though - not for the infirm, though saying that I didn't have a problem even though I had a knee replacement 16 months ago, I managed it with no problem apart from getting out of breath! We suggested they install an oxygen station half way up the hill. If you don't mind a walk it's the ideal location, if you turn left at the bottom of the hill instead of right into Skala centre, there are some great restaurants that way too - that would be a long walk if you staying in the centre though so we were ideally situated for a variety of restaurants. All the restaurants are good and we got 10% discount when dining at the Hotel's Restaurant, Aeolos, on the beach road. There was a Chinese and Italian restaurant which were a nice change from Greek food.

If you hover your cursor over the slides below it will show the description of the photo.

Hope you enjoyed your introduction to Skala, more soon.

Oblivious....

We have just spent two idyllic weeks on a Greek island obivious to the fact that our eldest son, Nick, was the victim of knife crime. Thankfully he had suffered no more than a broken foot which is why neither son had informed us whilst we were away.

Knife crime in Britain has become an epidemic of late with the youth of today.

Nick was walking home at 2 a.m. last Friday morning from a stag night for his friend, for whom he was best man last Saturday. It was no more than a 25 minute walk to his home, a walk he has done countless times. He is a respectable 37 year old father of three who had enjoyed a few beers with his friends but had left them to walk home alone because he was working the following day.

There were two young men on the opposite side of the road walking towards him and as the gap got smaller they crossed the road towards him, pulling up their hoods at the same time. Nick is a big strong man, he is fit for 37 because he cycles and runs, he has done Judo and Kick boxing and can take care of himself if he has to, his instincts told him there could be trouble.  As they approached him they asked for cigarettes, Nick said he didn't have any, not content with the answer the elder one, being only about eight inches away from him put his hand into his belt and started to pull a knife from it. Nick had the presence of mind to grab his wrists and turn the man's hands inwards preventing him from using the knfe. Nick said "You don't want to do this mate" to which the man replied "Why not?".

They tousled and Nick threw the man against a wall causing him to fall down and he dropped the knife, Nick ran. He could hear someone chasing him, he didn't know whether it was both of them or whether they had the knife, so he just kept running. The one who had drawn the knife was chasing him and managed to stamp on Nick's right foot stopping his flight. Nick went down and the man tumbled over the top of him. Nick jumped up and carried on running putting as much distance as he could between them before glancing back to see both men searching the floor, looking for the knife obviously.

Nick dialled 999 on his mobile, breathless and in pain from his foot he told the operator he had been attacked. They kept him on the line asking if he could see his attackers, they wanted a description and details of where they were heading. A few minutes later a passing patrol car had them in custody. They sent another car to Nick and an ambulance, which took him to hospital where they Xrayed his foot and found three broken bones, so they encased his leg in plaster. The police said he was very lucky but his escape with only a broken foot was down to him having had his wits about him.

The police told Nick when they challenged the men the elder one (one was 15 the other 23) produced the knife saying "I've got a knife!" When asked why he was carrying a knife he replied "for protection, I've just been jumped down the road". When they were questioned at the station the elder of the two would only say "No comment" but the younger one admitted to being there but did not take part in the attack, thereby dropping his friend right in it!

Presumably the two will be up in court, sometime, and get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again. In the meantime Nick is on crutches for two weeks, then a walking plaster for four weeks, he cannot drive, he cannot work, he doesn't feel he did the right thing by running, but of course everyone has told him he did exactly the right thing. Had he stayed and fought he could have been stabbed, he could be dead, or he could have picked the knife up and killed in self defence and be facing a prison sentence himself.

What is this country coming to? I despair I really do. I thank God that my son is a fit man who can take care of himself but even that is not enough these days. Had it been anyone not as quick witted and fit the outcome could have been so different. MWM commented that had he been in that situation, at almost 60 years old with high blood pressure, the outcome would most definitely have been very different.

I feel sick.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 37 Kaleidoscope

I got back off holiday yesterday afternoon but couldn't resist doing a 55, even though I've got a ton of washing to do!

Kaleidoscope

She sat fascinated, watching the colours swirling around.

Blending, dancing, embracing, circling around each other faster and faster.

A Kaleidoscope of colours.

“This is amazing” she thought “I’ll do this again!”

"Hang on, I don't remember seeing that before" she thought.

as she sat in the Laundrette watching her washing spin wildly in the machine.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.