Saturday 22 September 2012

Not sure how to title this post

It's Mum's birthday next month, and I knew I hadn't got a card as yet, so decided to buy one today when I was out.
I am usually very definite about what I want in a card, but as I looked at each one I just got more and more upset.  All the verses said lovely stuff about what a special person the recipient was, but nearly all of them said in one way or another that the sender hoped their wishes came true, or they had every happiness on their birthday.  It just upset me so much, and is doing as I'm typing this.
If you follow my blog, you will know that my Dad died in February, and to me I think Mum will never be completely happy again, and her wish would be to have Dad there with her.  That is why I haven't bought a conventional card, and I don't think a funny one is appropriate.
I was fortunate though, as I asked the lady on the market stall if they had any blank cards.  I explained why. They had an assortment of cards, some blank, some saying thinking of you and some saying best wishes.
I know Mum's birthday will be difficult for her this year, and I had no wish to make it any more difficult.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

I've lifted this from Facebook







  I lifted the above from Facebook.  It intrigued me.
Right and wrong can sometimes just be a case of perspective.  Everyone from whatever country they live in believe that their soldiers are fighting for "right".
I'm not saying that extremists are right in their thinking. 
Ways of life, and in some countries religious beliefs can make people fight against others. And the soldiers in the armies are not always there by choice.  Even in this day and age there are countries that have mandatory military service.  These people may not agree with the reason their country is fighting, but will probably face the alternative of prison if they refuse to comply.
It would be lovely to live in a world where there is no fighting going on, but as long as some countries think they have a right to impose their will on others fighting will continue.

I know this post is not my normal sort of post, but it made me think, and my conclusion was there will probably always be fighting as each side usually believes that they are right.  It would be lovely for things to be settled by "talks" and "summits", but frankly I can never envisage that happening.

Let me know if you go to watch it.

On Friday of this week in the UK there is a film being released, Anna Karenina.
I did think I would like to watch it, but am now having doubts.
My copy of the novel is a massive 849 pages of small point print, about a 10. So it's a densely packed book.
So...how come the film is less than two hours long?
Pe3rhaps I should go to watch it to find out why.  Or maybe I would be so disappointed that they have missed so much out.
I was thinking it might be 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours long, but with screenings less than two hours apart, it can't possibly be longer than two.
Anyway, if you have seen it, or intend watching it, let me know what you think of it, please.  Also, if you've read Anna Karenina, let me know if it is faithful to the book, although being such a brief film I can't see it being.

Monday 3 September 2012

Babies

If you follow my craft blog, Fidgetty Fingers, you'll know that there have been lots of people having babies who I know, mostly colleagues, but also, my nephew's wife, and a few neighbours, or their son's partners
Even when my own children were babies, and before that I have always been cautious and never bigged up how bonny, how clever or how anything mine were.  And I will never say that a baby is bonny if I don't think so.  I won't say it's ugly, just won't comment.
Does that make me a horrible person?

I've just seen a friend, and she has been telling me how bonny her grandchild is, and how clever, and how much she likes her food, etc.  The baby in question was born 5-6 weeks premature and should be roughly the same age as my great niece, Amelia.  I might be wrong, but I always thought that premature babies were considered to be at the developmental stage at which they should have been if they were full term.  What I mean is, Amelia is six months old, and her parents are slowly introducing solids into her diet and have been from around four months, as recommended.  Surely, the baby that was born premature should only be at the same stage, if they were both due around the same date?  And Amelia was a rare baby in that she actually landed on her due date by natural birth, not Caesarian.
Is what I always thought wrong, and it's OK to ignore the fact the baby was premature?  And give it solids from four months after it's birth.
And yes, I know I'm biased, but Amelia is a very bonny baby, the other one is not.

Things we did in the school holidays, part 4

Silver Ether is to blame for me writing this post.  She posted a photo of a "den", like kids used to build in the days before parents weren't paranoid about potential child abductors on facebook. 
You know, the good old days?
During the autumn half term break all the kids where I lived would collect firewood, and anything people no longer had a use for, so long as it would burn, for their bonfire.
Where I lived, most of the houses had at least two kids most had three or more.  Sometimes we would gather bonfire "wood" in a groups, usually we would gather with our adjoined neighbours kids, but not the ones on the other side.
As you can appreciate, there was only so much material available, so once we had gathered all we could, we would make "raids" on each others stashes of bonfire "wood".  We never seemed to catch anyone raiding our stash, probably because we were busy raiding their stash.
Any way, sooner or later we would all decide to pool our stash to make one big bonfire, which we would take days building on the empty land at end of the row of houses. When building the bonfire we always made sure there was a den in the middle of it.  For a couple of reasons, so that the older kids had somewhere to "hang out" for a while, and so that before the bonfire was eventually lit on November 5th it could be filled with quick to burn items so that the bonfire took light easily.
An adult usually put the stuff in the space, so there was never any chance of some of the older kids being burnt in the bonfire.
The bonfire was always amazing, and nearly always smoldered for a couple of days afterwards.
All the parents contributed some food to be shared around, potatoes would be put around the edge of the bonfire before it was lit, and although Bonfire Night was rarely at weekends we would always light the bonfire on the 5th of November, with most parents, contributing fireworks, and the Dads supervising the lighting of the fireworks.
I suppose it was an organised bonfire, of sorts, but it never started out as one.

And on the subject of "Dens".  I used to have one at one of my Grandma's house's.  There was a lilac bush in the field that formed part of Grandma's garden, and it was hollowed in the middle.  I suppose it was three or four lilac bushes really.  Anyway, that was my den, I would go hide in the middle of it when I wanted to get away from my brother and sister, usually with a book.