Merry Christmas.....

 to all my readers

and thanks for sticking with me. 

xxxx

The Christmas Tree...

They were dirt poor, living in a poor neighbourhood but Christmas was always a magical time for Kit.  There was no money for fripperies but Kit needed a Christmas Tree.

"Joe, make me a Christmas Tree" she said to her youngest son.

"What?  How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.

"Use your imagination" said Kit.

Why did she always demand such things of him, Joe wondered, just for once couldn't she ask one of the others to come up with the impossible.   Oh well, there was no use in sulking, he would just have to get on with it and do his best because his mother would not accept anything less.

On his way back from work that day he decided to take the short cut through the park, as for once he didn't have any errands to do for Kit or the neighbours to whom she so readily offered his services.   Busy wondering how he could fulfill Kit's latest request he was not looking where he was going and suddenly found himself flat on his face having tripped over a broken branch off a tree, which had fallen as the result of the storm the day before.   Drat it, he thought as he dusted himself off, then *ding* a lightbulb lit up in his head - he could maybe do something with the branch!  It was quite a big branch with quite a few forks and twigs attached so he grabbed it by the thickest part and dragged it as carefully as he could along the streets until he got it back home.  

Once home he found a bucket and filled it with stones and soil and planted the branch carefully so that it was secure and standing proud.   He searched the cellar and found some white paint and set to work to paint the branch.  Whilst the paint was drying he searched the house for anything that would liven the tree up; bit of tinsel from a previous Christmas, a couple of paper chains Kit's grandchildren had made at school, a small doll one of the grandchildren had left lying about dressed in crepe paper would make a fairy for the top of the branch.  He carefully moved the branch to the front room and set it in the front window, it actually looked like a Christmas Tree he thought when he'd finished dressing it!

"I knew you wouldn't let me down" a delighted Kit told Joe.

Soon word got round the neighbourhood that Kit had a Christmas Tree, something no-one else had, and that's when the frequent knocks on the door started.  Neighbours arrived asking to see the Christmas Tree bringing little gifts to hang on it - an odd earring, another piece of tinsel, a long forgotten fripperie from more affluent times.  Before long the Christmas Tree was shimmering and sparkling and was truly magnificent.    Kit was thrilled and so were the neighbours who claimed part of The Christmas Tree as their own. On Christmas Eve Kit's family and neighbours gathered in the front room and sang traditional Christmas Carols whilst marvelling at the Tree.  Everyone agreed it was the best Christmas Tree they had ever seen and vowed that every year they would do the same thing again.


This is a true story - Joe was my Dad and Kit my grandmother.

Winter Sun.....

As you know we've just spent ten days in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for some much needed winter sunshine and we weren't disappointed.   We did absolutely nothing except lie in the sun, read (I read 7 books), eat, drink and sleep and it was wonderful!

Here's some photos of us enjoying ourselves.

 

I'm ready for Christmas now!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #213 Bad weather.....

The weather forecast is looking dire for the coming weekend and beyond.

Below freezing temperatures at night.

Frosty mornings.

Icy pavements.

Winter has arrived. I hate winter! YUK!

The possibility of snow, how will I cope?

Not a problem for me.

I'm flying off to Egypt on Monday.

Sun and relaxation for ten days. YAY!

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.


 See you all when I get back!

Wonders Of The Golden West Part 13....

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we joined our fellow travellers for a tour of San Francisco.

I've put together a  slide show of some of the most interesting places we saw, which I've described below.

 

The first interesting place we saw was Galileo High School, which Clint Eastwood and O.J. Simpson attended, then City Hall which was rebuilt after the '87 earthquake in the same style pre the 1906 earthquake.   I managed to get a photo of the Great Seal of California.   We drove round Alimo Square,characterized by Victorian architecture and a row of houses known as the 'Painted Ladies' , some of the most expensive houses in San Francisco because they usually appear in the foreground of panoramic pictures of the city's downtown area, movies, TV shows and commericals.  We continued our journey through the Castro area, to what our tour director described as the hidden gem for the day - Twin Peaks - which he explained he had not been able to visit for the previous three months because of the weather.   It was a truly beautiful day and the views were magnificent, I hope you think the photos do it justice, we even saw a Cayote, which I managed to photograph.

Travelling back down from Twin Peaks we found ourselves in the part of San Francisco noted for its role as a centre of the 1960s hippie movement, the Summer of Love (1967), the Haight-Ashbury district.   This was a special time in mine and MWMs life, so it was great to see this famous place for ourselveves and as we drove through the neighbourhood the local radio just happened to be playing the song most synonymous with the era, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" by Scott McKenzie, how cool was that?  

Next on the tour was Golden Gate Park, developed by John McLaren when he was appointed park superintendent in 1887,he stipulated that "There will be no 'Keep off the Grass' signs".  He built two windmills to pump water to the park and had the sweepings from San Francisco streets delivered as fertilizer.   I got a quick shot of the  'Living & Hilly Roof'  in the  California Academy of Science within the park and the Japanese Tea Garden. 

The next slide show features another highlight of the day - our walk over the Golden Gate Bridge, something we never thought we would do.  The views from the bridge were fantastic and well worth the hour's walk and apparently this was another part of the tour that previous travellers hadn't been able to do because of the weather.  Alan, the tour director, called us his lucky tour!

Once across the other side we continued our journey to Sausalito, where we had time to explore before taking the ferry across the bay back to the city.   Alighting the ferry at Pier 41 we headed to Pier 39 where we had a delicious lunch of fresh crab and prawn sandwich, washed down with a beer, before walking on to our hotel on Fisherman's Wharf.  We were amused to see some people on a Segway tour, not something I would like to do but fun to watch.  

By the time we got to our hotel we were in need of a nap but had only managed about thirty minutes when the fire alarm went off, reception explained it was a false alarm but 10 minutes later it went off again and we had to evacuate.  Luckily it was another false alarm though the fire truck did arrive, and after getting the all clear we were able to return to our room and get another hour's zzzzzzing, before it was time to shower and change and hop in a taxi to fulfil our ambition of dining in China Town..  

We asked the taxi driver if he could recommend a restaurant but he was unwilling to do so, saying they were all good as far as he knew but he would drop us off near the most popular ones.    We found a small place called Hunan Home's Restaurant on Jackson Street, where the food and service proved to be superb, if you ever find yourself in San Francisco I can thoroughly recommend it.   Absolutely stuffed to bursting after our meal we walked back to our hotel more than ready for a good night's sleep after another busy and thoroughly enjoyable day.

 

We went to sleep looking forward to the following day, when we were booked on a tour of Alcatraz and intended fulfilling another ambition - riding a cable car.  I hope you'll join me for Wonders Of The Golden West Part 14.

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #68

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is BACKBONE here's the picture and my offering, using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation
s the picture and my offering, using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Come on Dad,show some backbone, Sam's Mum is peddling faster than you.

If we lose this race I'll never be able to hold my head up at nursery!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #212 Novel Idea........

In Jackie's opinion this latest book was the best yet.

The idea had come to her almost in a dream.

She'd never written a novel so quickly – she amazed herself.

The crowd waited patiently as she smilingly autographed each copy.

Suddenly a voice from the back called

“You stole my book, I wrote it first!”

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.

Wonders Of The Golden West Part 12.......

Today we travel from lakes and mountains to metropolitan San Francisco.  Our route took us via California's capital city of Sacramento

 Sacramento State Capital Building

to our first stop the Old Town of Sacramento.

The city of Sacramento grew up in the mid-nineteenth century as a developmenet from Sutter's Fort.  However, the Fort was some way from the Sacramento River,  which was the main means of transport to the coast of California, and what was to become the modern city developed along the waterfront.

 There is a railroad through the town

 Before Sacramento's extensive levee system was in place, the area flooded quite regularly. Because of this, the city's streets were raised a level. Most of the sidewalks and storefronts have been filled in, however many tunnels still remain throughout Old Sacramento and the downtown area.

 By the 1960s, the area had fallen into disrepair and disrepute. A large effort was made to secure the area's future as an outdoor living history center. Several historically significant buildings were moved or reconstructed. Those that were beyond repair were demolished.

There's a Wells Fargo history museum,

 a statue dedicated to the Pony Express

 and some interesting stores and restuarants. 

After an interesting hour exploring the town we were back on the road again driving through the Napa and Sonoma valleys

 to

 Sonoma where we stopped for lunch.  We walked round admiring the place for a while

before deciding on The Girl & The Fig as the venue for lunch.  

We read the menu displayed outside the restaurant and decided the Cheese & Fruit, consisting of three selections of cheese, seasonal fruit, house made fig cake, spiced nuts and baguette, would be perfect with a nice glass of wine to wash it down.    We should have realised when we were asked if we had a reservation and found the place full of  well heeled 'ladies wot lunch' that it wouldn't be what we were expecting.  However, I have to say we were 'surprised' when our lunch arrived to find 3 miniscule pieces of cheese, a slice of apple expertly fanned, an inch square piece of fig cake and a few spiced nuts lovingly displayed on a huge plate, a six inch basket containing half a (small) baguette sliced, and a medium sized glass of California Red each. It was very nice but at $60 I can honestlly say it was the smallest and most expensive ploughman's lunch we've ever had!   LOL  

At $10 a glass we were very shocked to find that California wine is far more expensive in California than it is in the UK!  What's that all about???

Anyway lunch over it was time to board the coach again for the final leg to San Francisco.

 Highway 101 with San Quentin maximum security prison in the distance

Our first glimpses of 'Frisco

Alcatraz

 and the Golden Gate Bridge!

If you want to see more of San Francisco join me next time for Wonders Of The Golden West Part 13.

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #67

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is GENERIC here's the picture and my offering, using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation
s the picture and my offering, using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Their generic name may be ape but Charlie hated being put in the same category as idiotic Alf,

who was always making a spectacle of himself.

Let's party.....

I'm 21 (again)

Help yourself to a slice of cake

and a glass of bubbly

and let's party!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #211 Medical Notes...

She couldn't resist a peek at her notes.

DNR it said,

Do Not Resuscitate - were they expecting her to die???

"What does it mean" she asked the doctor on her return.

"Oh that? 

It's just my reminder I'm going to a Dance, 

I need to book a Nanny 

and take a prize for the Raffle!"

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.

Wonders Of The Golden West Part 11...

Leaving Columbia behind we continued our journey to our stop for the night, Lake Tahoe, passing the beautiful Silver Lake Reservoir.  The Old Emigrant Road was a long loop around the Silver Lake basin, this difficult portion of the road was used by thousands of vehicles from 1848 to 1863, when a better route was blasted out of the face of the cliff at Carson Spur (the present highway route).

 through Jackson Creek, where we stopped for a coffee and bought a sandwich for lunch.

On the road again watching the scenery

on the way to Caples Lake, a beautiful place,

 where in 1849 Dr. James Caples passed through on his way to California's Gold Country.   After a brief stay in old Hangtown (Placerville) Caples remembered the lake and returned here with his family to establish a way station, that served weary travellers for thirty years. The lake, known variously as Summit Lake, Clear Lake and Twin Lakes, is two miles long and has a surface area of 600 acres.   We stopped for a photo opportunity

before we were on the road again

and at Lake Tahoe.

Named the "Big Water" by the Washoe Indians, Lake Tahoe holds enough water to cover the entire state of California to a depth of 14 inches! 

We just had time to settle into our hotel, shower and change before we were heading down to the lake

 to join the 520-passenger, award-winning M.S. Dixie II, the largest cruising vessel in South Lake Tahoe, for a Sunset Dinner Dance Cruise to Emerald Bay.

 Sailing off into the sunset, we were on our way to a magical evening of dinner and starlit strolls.

Listening to a narration featuring intriguing stories about Fanette Island and Vikingsholm, whet our appetite for dinner, which we had selected from entrees like Center-Cut Certified Angus Beef New York Steak, Seared Blackened Salmon, Grilled Lemon Herb Chicken Breast and Spinach and Roasted Garlic Ravioli. After dinner we strolled on deck to admire the scenery.

MWM even went up on the bridge

 where the Captain let him take the wheel.

After that little adventure we retired to the bar where we joined some of our fellow travellers

to listen to Safari playing hits from all eras, we even had a dance!

All too soon the cruise was over and it was time to return to our hotel to sleep and dream of our next destination - San Francisco.  I hope you'll join me for that little adventure in Wonders Of The Golden West Part 12.