16.10.09
Today, at 10.30am, over 100 years of history stopped.
She was born before the two world wars.
Suffragettes were fighting for what they believed in and I now benefit from.
Before women pilots were allowed or even thought possible!
Before girl guiding started.
Before Marie Curie received her Nobel prize for chemistry.
Before the first woman was actually accepted entrance into the Royal College of Surgeons.
Before WRNs were formed.
Before women were allowed to stand in parliament.
She was born at a time when women were wives and mothers first and women last.
His Gran, our boys Great Gran.
I salute you Winifred - you shall always be remembered.

14.10.09

A 21st birthday present.

In 1963.

My mother's sewing machine.

Carted across borders, across continents, across the hemisphere - more than once.

As a child I learnt to sew on it

My sister in law learnt to sew on it.

It bears the scars of years of use.

Now it is mine.

If it could talk - it would tell of tales of making clothes and curtains, of costumes for children, of making tents and coats for dogs.
 It would reminisce about making secret gifts in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, of crafting with a teenager in South Africa in an attempt to make ra-ra skirts and shift dresses.
I am sure it would regale with laughter the samhain costumes it has made in the past and the samhain costumes it is making now.

It isn't pretty and it isn't easy to carry - despite its portable aspirations.

But it is mine.

Addendum......

13.10.09

I am very touched at receiving a 'One Lovely Blog award'  -

Thank you very much Jan  :) x

http://wwwbobbypinsboardwalk.blogspot.com/

Please go and have a look at Jan's site, it's full of inspirational ideas.

The rules, upon receiving this award, state that you must:

1. Accept the award;
2. Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link;
3. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered;
4. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. 

I shall follow the rules and let everyone know.

13.10.09

Sticky fingers.

Snipperty bits of paper on the floor.

Glitter stuck on a cheek.

Cutting and snipping and gluing and making.

And that's just me!

Tonight there will be 28 cubs doing exactly the same - so I better get it right.

12.10.09

After yesterday's rain - today is glorious.

The garden is bathed in soft sunshine,

warming my back and feeding my soul.

The light glowed from the plants and the last of the summer colour.

But there is a weather front coming..........

11.10.09

Autumn rain.

I'm sitting in the front of the car

watching as a sheet of rain water slides upwards

to meet the wiper rattling down.

A brief moment of clarity.

Then gone.

It's leaden out there,

 the road,

the sky,

the sidewalks.

But, inside

it is full of sound,

of music,

of boys chatting,

of us talking.

Just like I like it.

10.10.09

It's his birthday today.

We all piled onto our bed this morning as he opened his presents.

Our boys excitedly gave him home-made cards they'd spent ages secretly making the night before.

I sipped steaming coffee and watched.

To see his face, to see his smile is to love him.

I am very lucky, and I know it.