STORYTELLING SUNDAY

 Yes, it's the last STORYTELLING SUNDAY of the year!  On the first Sunday of every month, a bunch of bloggers from various parts of the blogosphere get together and share stories- happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes- even pictures with very few words, and EVERYONE is made very welcome by the lovely SIAN over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY. 

This afternoon was to be the second of the monthly 'Afternoon Teas' that I help organise for the DROP IN CENTRE in our village.The afternoon is aimed at people who find themselves alone on a Sunday, which tends to be a very family-orientated day and therefore can be very long and boring for those on their own. 

I spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree and by this afternoon,with my merry band of helpers, had the place looking like a 'proper' tearoom as people started arriving. The urn wasn't far off boiling point, the tree lights were twinkling and people were just settling down for a chat ...when POW!- the electricity went off with a BANG! At first we thought it was an actual powercut but on checking, discovered that it was the fuse box...bearing in mind that the Centre is in one of the original village houses with very old wiring, we had basically overloaded it!

Whilst waiting for someone to come and look at it, more people kept arriving and we had to keep apologising for the lack of light, heat and tea. When it became apparent that it was a bigger job than the local handyman could cope with, panic was starting to set in...until I remembered the Cava (sparking wine) and fruit juice left over from the Christmas Bazaar and the tealights which had ,up until now, been for purely ornamental purposes. The outcome was a very pleasant afternoon, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

To read more seasonal  stories why not pop over to SIAN'S BLOG. On a personal note I would just like to thank Sian for another year of being encouraged to record my own stories, and to everyone else for sharing their stories too.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

SIAN'S STORYTELLING SUNDAY

 In case you hadn't noticed, it's the first Sunday in November, and that means STORYTELLING SUNDAY  over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY hosted by the lovely SIAN...bloggers from all over the globe get together and share happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes- even pictures with very few words, and EVERYONE is made very welcome.

I'll let you into a secret.....the month of November finds me with a huge case of ENVY.....I am SO envious of our American cousins, who get to have pre-Christmas decorating spree- namely THANKSGIVING! 

Since watching 'MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET', another of my 'bucket list' items was seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, so imagine my delight when we decided to go to NYC for Kirsty's 19th birthday...and her Birthday just happens to be  at the end of November...three days after Thanksgiving that year!

We arrived a few days before Thanksgiving itself and much as I enjoyed the shopping and sightseeing, the highlight of the visit was THE Parade. The apartment we were staying in was very close to the start of the parade route and we headed out early on the freezing cold morning to secure our spot.Even though we had arrived early (well we thought we had!) the crowd was about ten deep in front of us...and I was sure we weren't going to be able to see anything of the parade. While we waited among the humungous crowd, we talked with people who had been coming from all over New York state, to the same spot  for over twenty years to see the parade!

I have to confess that while we waited, Craig and Kirsty were ready to give up and go back to the apartment to watch it on TV, but I was determined to wait it out!

Poor Kirsty had about five layers of clothes under this huge hoody!!!

The excitement grew with every minute and eventually the sound of musical instruments heralded the start of the parade!  Admittedly, we couldn't see the marching bands but I was amazed at how HUGE the floats were - they towered as high as some of the apartment blocks...it was well worth the wait! We were absolutely freezing by the end of it, but another box had been ticked!

This layout was made in 2010

To read more stories, or indeed to add your own, pop over HERE.......

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

SIAN'S STORYTELLING SUNDAY

It's the first Sunday in October (though I have NO  idea how that can possibly be so!), and as on the first Sunday of every month  Bloggers from hither and thither get together and tell stories, encouraged by the lovely SIAN over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY ...happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes- even pictures with very few words, and EVERYONE is made very welcome..

Having had little time over the last week or so to think of a story, I started looking through my photo files...and discovered that just about this time last year I received this

The story is one of  courage, tenacity and grace....  we have seen them all from Marti, Deb and Carrie in that year...loving thoughts and prayers are with them and the rest of the family.

 To read a variety of stories why not pop over HERE ......I shouldn't imagine you'll be sorry!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

STORYTELLING SUNDAY

It's the first Sunday in September, and as on the first Sunday of every month  Bloggers from all points of the globe get together and tell stories, encouraged by the lovely SIAN over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY ...happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes, and EVERYONE is made very welcome..

'Too Cool for School' is the theme Sian suggested for this month....and I suppose that in a convoluted sort of way (what's new?!) this story might fit.

When I WAS  a schoolgirl, my favourite Rock Group was 'YES' .....I know,now I'm really showing my age! I bought all their albums... on vinyl!.....and generally drove mum and dad mad playing them as loudly as I could get away with. 

Needless to say, my taste in music changed over the years and 'YES'  got left behind somewhere along the way. The funny thing was that Craig started listening to them MUCH later (he was a 'JETHRO TULL' fan as a teenager) and there they were, being played -on CD by now- around the house.

In 2001 Craig had to go to visit Phoenix AZ  on a business trip, and we decided that I would go with him...that in itself was something to be excited about, but as is his wont when travelling, Craig checked what Bands were playing anywhere within travelling distance of Phoenix. We discovered that 'YES' were going to be playing at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles....not quite what I was thinking of as 'within travelling distance'! Craig insisted though that it was too good an opportunity to miss, especially as a concert at the HOLLYWOOD BOWL was on my 'bucket list'.. I had done some research on the venue while at College, and had been fascinated by it since....... the man is a gem, I tell you! He suggested we add an extra week to the trip, and  drive to LA: I couldn't believe it...we were going to  see my 'first love' in music AND at a place to which I had never really thought I'd  go!

After a long drive from Phoenix to LA (on the actual day of the concert), and not having taken into account the traffic congestion in and around LA, we barely had time to put our cases in the hotel room and get changed before heading off to find the venue. On arriving, the first thing that hit me was that we had fab seats...

...they were in little boxed off areas, each with its own little table and canvas chairs! Each box sat 4 people,but I can't remember if anyone else sat in the one were in. What  really AMAZED me though, was that people were bringing picnics and bottles of wine, champagne etc!....it just seemed so sophisticated to us!! We really wished we had known about that beforehand..especially as we hadn't eaten a proper meal since breakfast!! 

The concert itself was memorable..not only were YES performing, but they were doing so with the LA Symphony Orchestra..I was in my element! As darkness fell, it was just magical..the whole atmosphere, the music..I loved everything about it! Craig DID go and get me a glass of wine, but it came in a plastic cup...I remember being very jealous of all of these people with real glasses.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a scrapbooker then so only have a few photographs ..these are the pages I made for my album

So many lovely memories have come back to me, as a result of telling this story..which is part of the reason so many of us love STORYTELLING SUNDAY.....I think I may be 'updating' this album to a scrapbook, getting some of these memories  down, before they fade into the mists of time!

If you have a story to share, or if you just want to enjoy reading some to while away a few minutes then pop over HERE and see what a variety you will find.

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

P.S...if you missed it, I have a book ready to be passed on, as part of MELISSA'S PASS THE BOOK:YEAR 2.....you'll find the details in THIS post..just leave a comment  at the end of that post saying you would like to be included by midnight (GMT) tonight and it might just be on its way to you next. 
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JUST SNEAKING IN.....

...with a layout, based on this month's sketch from ANOTHER FREAKING SCRAPPY CHALLENGE

I had a few random shots I'd taken of mum and dad while they were here, and thought they might just work with this design.

I'm also linking up with THE SCRAPBOOKING SOIREE over at JENNIFER'S JUMBLES.

As this Sunday is the first one in September (I know, I can't believe it either!) SIAN will be hosting STORYTELLING SUNDAY over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY....I'm still deciding on my story, but I'll be there....hope you will too!

Have a lovely weekend

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

A BIT OF SCRAPPING....

....and I mean 'a bit'! After sharing THIS STORY as part of STORYTELLING SUNDAY, I was inspired to get a layout done.

 My scrapping mojo has definately gone AWOL in the heat, but I had seen a sketch  over at PAGE DRAFTS.....

...that I liked, and which linked to the Sketch Challenge over at GRANDDIVA'S CREATIVE CORNER

Here's a close-up of the layered embellishment I made, which allows me to enter the LO in the August Challenge at ROCHELLE SPEARS BLOGSPOT

I used chipboard, twine and a button

The journalling is hidden behind the photograph, and is copied from the Storytelling Sunday blogpost....it can be seen by pulling the date tab.

I just have to mention that this beautiful embellishment....

was handmade by, and sent to me by the lovely MITRA.

I hope you're having a great weekend...and are feeling a bit more creative than I am!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

STORYTELLING SUNDAY

On the first Sunday of every month, encouraged by the lovely SIAN over at  FROM HIGH IN THE SKY, Bloggers from all points of the globe get together and tell stories...happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes, and EVERYONE is made very welcome..

'A little Summer Loving', Sian suggested as a theme.....a tenuous link here, as the picture is from a Wedding- not our wedding but that of my brother and SIL, who celebrate their 21st Anniversary in a couple of weeks.

Did I REALLY look like that 21 years ago?!

I love this picture on many levels..the fact that Craig's lovely Gran is in it, that my nephew Graeme looks so sweet in his kilt, that Stuart, Kirsty and said nephew are obviously much more interested in what's happening off to the side...not to mention that I felt really good in that outfit..I had lost weight and the dress was a UK size 12!!!! 

But what REALLY makes me smile is what you can't see..and an incident which took place the following year!

Like I said, I really LOVED this dress, and wore it over Christmas a few times, before it went away over the Winter. It made a re-appearance round about Easter the next year, when I wore it to Church quite a few times.

One Sunday morning I ended up doing 'Creche Duty' with my friend Janette, who suddenly piped up as I was checking the baby in one of the prams:

 'Alison, were they the shoes you wore to David's Wedding, or do you have another pair?'

'No, it was these ones..why?'

'They're odd shoes you know'

I looked down and saw two perfectly matching shoes...or were they? Surely one didn't have a slightly less pointed toe than the other..off came the shoes (by which time Janette was almost crying with laughter)..and only then did I see that the heels were TOTALLY different- there was even about a quarter of an inch difference in height!! How on earth could I have FAILED to notice the difference?! I was mortified and hysterical with laughter all at once. not only had I worn the blessed things to a Wedding, but at various other times too!

Unfortunately, as this was pre-blogging, pre-scrapbooking days, I didn't take a photograph, but every time I look at this picture I'm reminded...so now I'm off to start a layout to get this story down for posterity!

If you have a story to tell, or if you just wish to sit and enjoy a story or two (or more!), please consider stopping by  HERE  ...you are sure to find a great collection to while away some time with!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

STORYTELLING SUNDAY.....

I'm a bit late to the Storytelling party today, but hopefully you've found plenty of other tales over at SIAN'S PLACE. If you don't already know, there's a whole bunch of bloggers who leave a story there on the first Sunday of every month...if you want to read a tale or two, or if you have one of your own to share, why not pop over?


My story today is not nostalgic at all..in fact it is VERY recent...it took place this very afternoon!

It took place in a Hotel in Barcelona...a meeting of two people, who, up until today had only 'met' in Blogland! 

It wasn't a long meeting (certainly not long enough for me!)..and it didn't go quite as straight-forwardly as planned...think four, wet (yes, they arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm!), lost travellers dragging their suitcases behind them and you have the picture. Much of the time was spent trying to locate the guy who had been supposed to meet them two hours previously, at the apartment they had booked....and eventually discovering that the address they had been given was not correct- Welcome to Spain, Rinda & Co.!!! 

It says everything about this lovely family, that they were taking it all in their stride...Rinda just  laughed and said it was part of the travel experience, and her hubby jumped in a taxi (cab) and followed Jose Maria (the very helpful, motor-cycling rep from the rental company they had used) to the correct place and then came back to pick up the family. In the time he been gone we managed to cover lots of ground, but all too soon DH and I had to go and fetch Kirsty ..and Rinda's two children needed convinced that they actually had somewhere to stay for the night!

It was the perfect end to a really special weekend. I am still smiling from our meeting...and hoping that we may get the opportunity to meet again one day..and hoping that you managed to find somewhere to join in the celebrations tonight Rinda & Co!!

Hope you've had a good weekend too...am looking forward to catching up with all your stories tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

AND WE'RE OFF........

......on the 2012 SUMMER SCAVENGER HUNT organised by RINDA. In her latest post, there would appear to be about 40 of us playing along...I participated last year, and even though I had to cheat  be somewhat inventive with some of my entries, managed most of it. 


The items we are looking for are as follows:


1. A pier
2. A clothesline
3. A border
4. A roadside stand selling something
5. A train
6. A historical landmark
7. A person playing a musical instrument
8. A person dressed as an angel or a statue of an angel

9. A fountain

10. A horse

11. A shadow

12. A maze, labyrinth, or trail.

13. A library

14. A person playing with a ball.

15. Someone dancing.

16. A bride.

17. A church, chapel, cathedral, mosque or temple.

18. A movie poster

19. An outdoor stairway

20. A swing hanging from a tree (or a hammock)
21.  A picture of you standing with something that symbolizes your nation

It has been Fiesta in our village for the last few days, and when we went down to watch the festivities a couple of nights ago, I managed to get my first few photographs.

SOMEONE PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT  (7)

There was actually a whole Marching Band of people playing musical instruments!

There were also stalls selling balloons and toys for the children, so this gives me A ROADSIDE STAND SELLING SOMETHING (4)

Now there are only 19 to go!

I am off to Barcelona tomorrow for Kirsty's Graduation, so am hoping to catch a few pics there...I'm also hoping to meet a special someone before I return home on Sunday..that might be a late entry for STORYTELLING SUNDAY over at SIAN'S BLOG! 

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

STORYTELLING SUNDAY

On the first Sunday of every month, encouraged by the lovely SIAN over at  FROM HIGH IN THE SKY, Bloggers from all points of the globe get together and tell stories...happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes, and EVERYONE is made very welcome...if you have a story to tell, or if you just wish to sit and enjoy a story or two (or more!), please consider stopping by HERE and joining us.

I apologise for a bit of self-indulgence here, but Sian mentioned 'anniversaries' as a possible topic , on one of her recent posts. As we all  know, not all anniversaries are of happy occasions, and I'm afraid that in June, the only anniversary on my mind is on the 25th, which is the Anniversary of the car crash in which our son, Stuart was killed, 18 years ago.

However, the story I really want to share is that we were returning from a wonderful family holiday at DISNEYLAND PARIS. We had spent a week there, staying in one of the on-site hotels and both Stuart and Kirsty  had a wonderful time. One of the best memories I have, is of the evening we walked through Disney Village and lo and behold, there were the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES..Stuart's heroes! He was SO excited and his face was a picture

Memories like these are special girls...that's why we scrap and why we tell our stories..and why we should live life to its full- enjoy as many moments with our families as is possible...life can be short- make the most of it!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

STORYTELLING SUNDAY......BUBBLE PAINTING

Today  is STORYTELLING SUNDAY in the little part of the blogosphere that I frequent....bloggers from all over the globe, brought together by the the lovely SIAN over at From High in the Sky, to share a story on the first Sunday of every month. It can be a long story, a short story, a story with or without a photograph or a layout...Sian welcomes everyone with open arms, and then we all do a bit of blog hopping, reading each other's tales....it's fun!- if you don't already do so, why not come along and take part?

Mine is a short story this month (inspired by THIS STORY by DEB last month..thanks Deb!)

Many moons ago, when Stuart had started school, and Kirsty was about a year old, I was a Playleader.....the older more mature  mums among us will remember the pre-Nursery days when we took our children to Playgroup for a couple of mornings a week, then rushed off to enjoy a blissful few hours of child-free cleaning, shopping, coffee-drinking or whatever your 'mission' was for those few precious hours (unless of course they were 'on duty' and had to stay to help. Well, I was one of the ladies the children were left with, and I have to say, I loved it...for those of you who don't know, working with children has always been my 'thing', and it's one of the things I miss most about living here in Spain. ...anyway I digress.

For the two years before Kirsty went to school, she was one of our Playgroup children...though she also attended another one, so that she had some experience without mum being there...and also so that I could have a few childfree hours of my own.

One of the favourite activities at our Playgroup was 'Bubble Painting'. The idea was to suck up a little paint in a straw, then to blow it down onto the paper and make prints similar to these....

SOURCE

....., but fun! It wasn't an everyday activity, but maybe we did it every three weeks or so.

On the first morning we bubble-painted when Kirsty was with us, my co-worker (and friend) Janette was overseeing the activity..and suddenly she let out a shout for me...I ran through (we had two rooms-a 'Quiet Room' and a 'Noisy Room') to discover Kirsty coughing and spluttering, with all this blue paint spurting out of her mouth and nose! Yes...I had the only child we had ever had, who forgot to stop sucking!! Janette and I just took one look at each other and burst out laughing....I hasten to add if it had been any other child we would probably reacted differently....but poor Kirsty got laughed at! I dragged her off to the toilets to clean her up ....and to try and convince her that we weren't really laughing at her, just at the fact it had never happened before (nor did it happen again) and that the fact she belonged to me made it even funnier!

She has never forgotten the incident, or quite forgiven us for laughing at her, but she does join in with the laughter when we tell the story!

To read (or, indeed join in with a story of your own) head on over HERE...and thanks again Sian, for the encouragement to get another story written down!

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

'ONE LITTLE WORD' update

After seeing a few 'OLW' posts over the last couple of days, I thought I would have a look at how my own  word  has fared since the beginning of the year. Although not taking part in the 'official' OLW, I chose 'ACTIVE' as the word that I would focus on this year....and here's my update:

MY AIMS

• to continue being physically active, with my Keep Fit and Line dancing classes ....and get back to walking Boo 'properly' (i.e. not just 'round the block'!!

- still attending both classes, and Boo has been having slightly longer walks.

• to lose at least another stone (14lbs/6.4kgs)

- have lost another 2kgs/4.4lbs, but am 'faffing' too much and keep taking it off and then putting it back on!

• to become more active in our local community....I intend to volunteer to work in our local Charity Shop, and have already volunteered to be part of the 'Front of House' team for our local Theatre Group- in fact my first 'duty' was yesterday, showing people to their seats for the matinee production  of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'! Lots of booing and hissing and good fun

-  I now  work  in the local Charity Shop every second Wednesday morning

and 'did my bit', looking after the 'Jams and Pickles' stall (note I  said 'looking after' NOT 'making') at a recent lunchtime event, am taking part in a 5km sponsored walk on Sunday....and making bacon butties at the upcoming May Fayre!

I've also become a member of the local U3A (University of the Third Age) but haven't joined any classes yet.

• to actively join in with blogging and online scrapping challenges

- participate in SIAN'S STORYTELLING SUNDAY on the first Sunday of every month ( that means this Sunday...why not come and join us?) SHIMELLE'S TEN THINGS (on the 10th of each month), as well as various online Challenges

• to actively limit my time online (am not at all sure how that one will go!!)

-NO COMMENT!!!!

• to actively make an effort to find some new recipes to keep me on target for losing that other stone

-PINTEREST has helped with this, but that means time online ;)

• to actively support DD as she makes her decisions about her future...this is her final year in Barcelona and she has to decide 'what comes next'-and it's not likely to include staying here in Spain.

- Kirsty is still working through her options, and I'm trying not to say things like 'I really don't want you to be applying for jobs on the other side of the world'! 

I reckon I'm not doing too badly...what about you...how are your goals, or your OLW going so far?

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Storytelling Sundays Yr2 - A CHANGE OF PLAN

Firstly let me say how grateful I am to RINDA, whose post on Friday gave me the inspiration for today's story....AND to get a Layout I'd been meaning to do for YONKS done!


You may remember way back last year, I shared my travels through the SW of the USA, ending with THIS POST, in which I intended to be back to share why our plans changed..and where we ended up. Eight months later (give or take), Rinda has unwittingly reminded me to do just that!


In that last post, we had spent a few days in Colorado Springs with the intention of driving south  to Austin TX, to visit with another friend and colleague of DH's. Whilst there though, DH stumbled upon an article about the 'jazz fusion' group RETURN TO FOREVER. They had reformed for the first time to tour...unfortunately nowhere near where we were, but they WERE playing in NYC the following week. 


Although I like some of their music, I am/never was a great fan....but DH is..there was no way I could deny him this (and I DO have to confess that the thought of a week in NY was no hardship for me either!) . 


As I mentioned before, we didn't do much planning ahead on this trip, and hadn't yet booked a hotel in Austin...as our plan had been to drive,  there was no air travel to cancel, nor had we made any firm arrangements for when we were actually IN  Austin...there was no reason we couldn't change our mind about where we were going next! Admittedly, we weren't going to drive to NY and we DID have to change our return flights out of JFK instead of Austin, but after sorting that out we just dropped the car at Denver Airport before flying East. I managed to find us an apt in the Upper West Side, which was really handy for walking everywhere and the weather was glorious. Our previous experience of NY had been in the Winter ( and I had had a broken toe, thus there hadn't been an awful lot of walking!), so it was a totally different experience for us!


Theconcert itself was pretty good OK, but DH did make it up to me...more about that in another post, which I promise shan't be eight months away!


As this was my chosen story, I was inspired to get a LO ( for which the photographs have been printed for about two years!) completed.

I used Shimelle's STARTING POINT for this LO

Why don't you pop on over HERE, where you will find a plethora of tales from Bloggers all over the globe, who come together on the first Sunday of every month for STORYTELLING SUNDAY, hosted by the lovely Sian.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison x